The Isolated Marchioness Just Wants to Make a Living
Chapter 26
He seemed to have just stepped away to the restroom, unaccompanied by any servants.
“Ah, it’s nothing much.”
My cheeks flushed red, realizing I had made a fuss over something so trivial.
“A bird over there……. Ah, again!”
Even so, the sight of the bird catching and swallowing a fish was fascinating.
Leopold’s gaze followed my pointing finger.
“……Ah.”
The boy tilted his head and asked, “Did you react like that because you felt sorry for the fish being eaten?”
“Pardon?”
I felt sorry that the bird was being wrongly accused, so I pointed out the truth.
“We just had a fish dish for our lunch, didn’t we?”
Leopold stared at me intently, blinking twice.
“Ah, you are still at a tender age, Young Lady…… so I assumed you simply felt pity for any prey.”
“A t-tender age?”
The seven-year-old was instantly stung.
I retorted with a deadpan face.
“I’m not young.”
“Yet you are seven years old.”
“I believe you are nine years old yourself, Young Lord. Aren’t we practically the same?”
“Ah.”
Leopold’s brow furrowed slightly. The nine-year-old had been stung as well.
“Seven and nine are similar…… That is quite an interesting claim.”
That was his way of saying, ‘You are speaking absolute nonsense.’
Having understood that distinctive Western manner of speaking, I lifted my chin and said, “I have already read all the required reading materials for the Academy. Our mental ages and conversational levels should be about the same.”
At that, Leopold narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms.
“I believe that might be a bit too radical of a statement…….”
That was his way of saying, ‘That is utterly intolerable nonsense.’
Though he maintained his breeding and dignity as a mature noble, he was denying my opinion as vehemently as he could.
Already sensitive about the topic of age, the seven-year-old flared up.
“In truth, there’s hardly any difference between seven and nine anyway.”
At that, the precocious nine-year-old boy finally broke.
“Ha…… How on earth are seven and nine the same?”
Originally, the creatures who cared the most about age in this world were children.
Since a nine-year-old was still a child, before long, we both lost our composure.
“When you were just learning to walk, I was already reading books by myself.”
“That was the difference between a one-year-old and a three-year-old. Now we’re seven and nine. Don’t you know numbers?”
“The difference is the same. Don’t you know subtraction?”
“As we grow older, that difference becomes increasingly meaningless. Don’t you know ratios?”
It was then.
A voice called out from far away.
“Now then, please gather on the deck!”
It seemed the prize raffle was starting.
“Ah. We should go…….”
Leopold was the first to come to his senses and murmured.
He turned toward Mother, who was staring blankly at the lake, and asked gently, “Madam, shall we head over together?”
It was natural etiquette. Mother was the eldest among the three of us, so he was asking for her consent.
‘Wait.’
Only then did I snap back to reality.
‘Mother was quiet the entire time?’
While Leopold and I were waging a life-or-death debate over age, Mother hadn’t said a single word.
‘That shouldn’t be.’
For a moment, an ominous foreboding turned my vision stark white.
The moment I turned to look at Mother with a frightened face, a whimpering sound escaped her lips.
“Depart? We’re departing now?”
My heart dropped with a thud.
It was the ‘other voice’ Mother produced every night.
“I don’t want to go…….”
Mother looked at Leopold with hollow eyes and said, “I don’t want to go, Martha.”
Martha was a maid Mother had brought with her. As a kitchen maid, she had not accompanied us this time.
Mother whispered desperately toward Leopold.
“I don’t want to go. I won’t go to the Empire. I would rather die in Riente.”
Tears were woven into Mother’s fragile voice.
“I don’t want to get married……. What good is surviving all alone in a foreign land where I have no one? They say that man has already been married before, too…….”
My mind went blank. My breath seized in my chest.
‘She keeps going back to that night she boarded the ship to leave.’
The night was a problem, but the boat was an issue as well.
I hadn’t known because there had never been an occasion to ride a boat in the marquisate until now.
My hands trembled in sheer despair.
“M-Mother.”
Of all times, of all times…… why now of all times……
“Mother…… Mother. Stop…… please stop.”
I murmured, my lips quivering. My heart pounded furiously as my body froze solid.
“No, Mother…… not now…… you really can’t do this right now.”
What should I do?
What on earth was I supposed to do about this?
Father was inside the cabin, and the maids were unaware of the situation right now. They were only watching us from a distance.
On top of that, right now Leopold was…….
‘It’s my fault. It’s all my fault.’
Tears welled in my eyes from anxiety and regret.
‘Because I…… because I lost my temper at being called young and acted just like a seven-year-old…….’
I wasn’t just a simple seven-year-old. I wasn’t supposed to act like a child.
I shouldn’t have engaged in a long conversation; I should have just sent him on his way.
He must never find out. This was my engagement, something I had to take responsibility for.
‘W-What do I do…….’
Now Leopold would take a step back with an awkward expression. An expression filled with fear, disgust, and a faint curiosity.
I knew that look all too well. The head butler of the marquisate had always worn that exact face.
Amid the dreadful silence, only Mother’s whimpers continued.
“Martha, please…… I don’t want to go. Please?”
Mother’s eyes had already lost their focus entirely.
“The Kingdom of Riente will be fine……. There is no way we could fall like this, we…….”
It was then.
“Then do so.”
Leopold spoke calmly.
“You do not have to go to the Empire, Princess.”
I whipped my head around to stare at Leopold.
Among the people of the Empire, not a single person ever called my mother ‘Princess.’
“So please calm down. Let us go back.”
“Really, Martha?”
Mother blinked as she looked at Leopold.
“Truly, I do not have to go to the Empire? I don’t have to get married?”
Joy seeped into Mother’s voice.
Leopold nodded.
“Yes, Princess. Everything will be as you wish.”
At that, Mother gasped in breathless excitement.
“Is that so?”
Mother grabbed Leopold’s hand tightly, her eyes wide as she asked once more, “Will Father permit it? He will, won’t he? He treasures me more than anything else in the world.”
“Of course.”
Leopold offered a gentle smile to soothe her and patted the back of Mother’s hand.
“However, the hour is very late right now, so it would be best if you sleep tonight and make your request to His Majesty the King tomorrow morning.”
Then, he took a medicine bottle from his pocket.
“Tell me if you feel seasick. I brought sleeping pills. For seasickness, there is no better remedy than falling asleep.”
It was the exact same sleeping pill Mother had shown earlier.
“Please take it. It will help you sleep soundly.”
“Hmm?”
“You must fall asleep quickly so tomorrow comes sooner. Anxious nights are far too long, after all.”
“Yes, Martha. You are right. Thank you.”
Mother eagerly took the pill from Leopold and uncapped it.
“I don’t think I could fall asleep tonight without sleeping pills.”
Mother shuddered as she muttered, “To marry such an old man and bear his child…… It is horrific just to imagine. Yes, Father would never let my life become like that.”
Right in front of me—the very child born from that marriage—Mother swallowed the pill in a single gulp and collapsed limply.
Leopold hastily caught Mother with his shoulder and arm.
Seeing that, the maids in the distance came running over.
“My Lady!”
“Heavens, Princess!”
The maids received Mother, who had folded like a sheet of paper.
Leopold spoke quietly.
“Her seasickness grew severe, so she took a sleeping pill and fell asleep. Her condition is poor, so take a warp gate and return the moment the ship docks.”
At his words, the maids answered at once.
“Yes, understood!”
“Thank you, Young Grand Duke!”
Afterward, they took Mother to the cabin.
Only Leopold and I remained by the railing.
A brief silence descended. In the distance, the announcement of the raffle numbers sounded like a dream.
After taking a couple of breaths, it finally felt as though color was returning to the world.
“Th-thank…… Ah, this is…… this was m-my responsibility…….”
Words spilled out in a tangled mess.
I felt ashamed that this was my burden to bear, yet I had panicked without resolving a single thing.
“I’m sorry…… I’m sorry. I c-couldn’t do a-a-anything…….”
At that, Leopold smiled warmly.
“You’re young. You can just stay still.”
Now, I could no longer argue against being called ‘young.’
Yet a strange feeling washed over me. It was the first time I had ever heard someone tell me that ‘I could just stay still.’
I was always supposed to try hard. I was always supposed to do my very best.
“Go to your mother.”
Leopold guided me on what to do until the very end.
“Everything will be fine.”
The reason I couldn’t say anything in reply was because I felt tears threatening to spill.
I nodded and turned away. I could feel Leopold’s gaze on my back, watching over me, but I did not look back.