The Isolated Marchioness Just Wants to Make a Living
Chapter 16
Baron Forman startled even himself the moment the words left his mouth.
Yet the words had come not from his head, but from his heart.
Just as he was scrambling to salvage the situation, a maid let out an enraged shout.
“How dare you!”
The maid, who had been clearing the dishes, grabbed Baron Forman by the collar.
“My Lady, never mind the dishes—I will clean this up first! After My Lady took such great care to feed you, how dare an ungrateful, dim-witted wretch like you spout such nonsense above his station!”
“Good heavens! How dare you utter such an uncultured, baseless, preposterous thing to our Lady!”
One of the knights guarding the kitchen came dashing over as well. Then he bellowed grimly,
“My Lady, shall I behead him and exterminate his clan to punish this crime?”
Wait, aren’t these knights the northern mercenaries Alpheus brought?
Why do they speak like the maids?
“The crime of daring to lust after My Lady cannot go unpunished!”
I didn’t lust after her!
As Baron Forman gaped in fluster, unable to speak, Brisa spoke with elegance.
“Indeed, Philip. Of course we cannot let him leave empty-handed.”
The young lady maintained a serene expression from start to finish.
“It would never do to send a guest away with nothing. Inform the kitchen to pack him some potatoes and radish sprouts for his journey.”
Unbelievable.
The moment he heard those words, another sentence slipped out before passing through Baron Forman’s brain.
“Please, become my granddaughter-in-law!”
Now, neither the maid nor the knight grew angry.
The two quickly exchanged glances, then promptly stepped back. Instead, when he left, packing him potatoes, radish sprouts, and even eggs, they whispered quietly at the door.
“Our Lady is generous to the mad. Now I see why she took you in and fed you.”
“She must have recognized his insanity at first sight… Ah, poor Lady.”
Baron Forman blinked slowly.
Only then did he realize. They were treating him like a lunatic.
He slapped his knee and chuckled.
“Ahahaha, you certainly have a good sense of humor.”
Yet he was the only one laughing.
“Ahahaha…… ha?”
Even when he tried laughing again, the maid and the knight remained dead serious.
“Aha…?”
When Baron Forman blinked awkwardly, the maid let out a deep, troubled sigh.
The burly knight called Philip also sighed and said,
“In this mansion, we don’t call people crazy as a joke. You’d better keep that in mind.”
Baron Forman knitted his brows.
Are they saying I’m truly crazy right now?
Philip lowered his voice to a whisper.
“If you throw that word around carelessly, at least in front of My Lady…”
Baron Forman tightly clutched the basket containing potatoes, radish sprouts, and eggs, unconsciously tensing as he waited for what came next.
“…She won’t give you potatoes.”
Good heavens.
Baron Forman shuddered.
She had a crueler side than I thought.
By now, he knew just how terrible a punishment that was.
Meanwhile, the maid and knight were conversing.
“Still… it would be nice to have grain, wouldn’t it?”
“Yeah. I want to eat bread.”
“My Lady said we would have wheat soon… but I really don’t know how she plans to get it.”
Baron Forman’s ears perked up.
“Tell me about it. It’s not as if wheat can even be cultivated right now. There probably isn’t a single grain left in the Central region. But My Lady will pull it off, won’t she?”
“Of course. She is the last bloodline of Riente, speaks five languages, and was the salutatorian of the Academy. She will surely manage it.”
Even if you spoke ten languages, you couldn’t pull that off.
Baron Forman furrowed his brows and tilted his head. Whatever else might be possible, wheat was out of the question.
Yet why was it…
For some reason, it felt like that calm young lady might actually pull it off…
Soon?
Baron Forman swallowed hard without realizing it.
After all, he had been desperately missing warm bread made of wheat.
* * *
Ten days later.
Soon, the potatoes were in season. Large, plump potatoes were unearthed one after another.
“Whoa… this one is seriously the size of my fist!”
They dug up potatoes every day.
It was an amount sufficient to thoroughly feed not only the Marquisate’s household but also the territory’s people for the remaining month.
What a relief.
Brisa breathed a sigh of relief. In truth, the people of the Marquisate of Sears had not been eating abundantly either.
However, once they began adding plenty of potatoes to their meals, it was a different story. At the very least, they would no longer go hungry.
And the news of the bumper potato harvest inevitably reached the Barony of Hawin.
Now, the people of the Barony of Hawin secretly bartered with the people of Erenta for potatoes.
More and more, the people of the Barony of Hawin envied the Erenta folk who had remained in Sears.
“All this… Lady Brisa taught them?”
“Yeah. Word is, their chickens even lay an egg a day.”
In the second month of isolation without any production capacity, the people of the Barony of Hawin were now peeling and eating tree bark.
In the midst of this, the Black Magicians from the Kingdom of Sebon across the sea installed an illegal warp gate. It was a warp gate that connected directly to the harbor. They offered sacks of wheat in exchange for human beings.
“Heavens, are they completely out of their minds…?”
Baron Forman clicked his tongue.
“Without the Magic Tower’s surveillance, the Black Magicians run wild. Exploiting human hunger to commit such atrocities?”
However, Baron Hawin thought differently.
Though he did not inform Baron Forman, an outsider, he was already planning to sell the territory’s orphans to the Black Magicians.
For his precious daughter, Dahlia, was withering away to skin and bones.
“Father…”
Dahlia murmured in a lifeless voice.
“I’m so sick of dried corn… I want to eat fresh vegetables or meat, things like that…”
“Yes, yes. I will bring some from the territory’s people. Giving them salt should suffice. Just wait.”
Baron Hawin extorted various goods from the warehouses of his people. The grocers of Jejel Street had held a considerable inventory of preserved food.
Of course, after more than two months, very little of that food remained.
Even the corn piled in the Baron’s storehouse was finally showing bottom, having been devoured in massive quantities by the dairy cows previously.
Though he knew the warp gate would return to normal in just one more month, each approaching meal was terrifying.
There is no other way.
Although the relatively prosperous County of Joachim bordered the territory, monsters swarmed along the mountains and hills that formed the border.
Contact with them was impossible.
Thus, there was only one place they could reach.
“Go to Sears and steal them.”
Ultimately, Baron Hawin, his nerves frayed by a meager diet, gave the order upon hearing news of the bountiful potato harvest.
“Dig up a few lumps in secret, I say!”
However, the attempt failed before they could even try. Knights were guarding the potato fields.
To the servants who returned empty-handed, Baron Hawin roared,
“…Then at least go ruin them!”
“B-but the knights are guarding—”
“It can’t be helped.”
Baron Hawin panted heavily.
“Set a fire. Uprooting potatoes might be hard, but surely you can do that much and run away, can’t you?”
And so, that night.
A few people from the Barony of Hawin snuck into the potato fields.
Good heavens.
Hearing the news belatedly, Baron Forman leapt up in shock.
Is that man even human?
He was not staying here out of any fondness for Baron Hawin. He was merely lodging as a guest because Hawin’s lord was older than the one in Sears.
Even so… should he continue staying in the manor of such human scum?
He surely knows his own people are surviving the starvation by smuggling potatoes!
Burning those potato fields meant destroying the food supply of a land they could trade with.
…This man is irredeemable.
Though he had no intention of interfering in the affairs of the Central region…
Baron Forman’s eyes gleamed coldly.
Yet the gleam faded quickly. All his connections and power lay in the West.
Just wait a month. Once the warp gates are working…
For now, he had nothing but his own body.
Baron Forman changed into shabby clothes and pulled a hat low over his head. He bent his back with practiced ease.
Then, he began sprinting toward the potato fields. He had to warn them somehow.
Yet no matter how hard he ran, an old man’s body was not swift.
It seemed far too late to catch up with Baron Hawin’s servants, who had set off carrying torches.
Furthermore, out of fear of getting caught, he had to take secret paths, making the route far more roundabout.
No… No!
The moment he arrived at the potato fields, gasping for breath—
In the pitch-black night, the potato fields, which should have been shrouded in darkness, were brightly lit by flickering torches. Through the firelight, a cold face came into view.
…Brisa Seers?
Baron Forman stopped dead in his tracks.
How on earth… did she?
