The Isolated Marchioness Just Wants to Make a Living
Chapter 28
- The Return of Alpheus
“Dahlia, Dahlia!”
Dahlia stirred from her sleep and opened her eyes. The dim light of dawn was filtering through the window.
Baroness Hawin was weeping as she woke her.
“What are we going to do?!”
“…Mother? What happened?”
“Your father has been kidnapped!”
Dahlia shot upright.
Her father had been kidnapped?
How was that even possible?
“And now they’re demanding five sacks of wheat for his ransom…”
Dahlia’s eyes trembled.
Wheat? She could bet everything that there wasn’t a single grain of wheat left in the entire Central region.
“Dahlia, what are we going to do? What do we do?”
Dahlia snatched the note clutched in Baroness Hawin’s hand and read it.
[We have Baron Hawin.
We will exchange him for five sacks of wheat.
Beneath the largest zelkova tree on Erolamo Hill, tomorrow night at midnight.
Bring anyone unnecessary, and the Baron dies.]
“W-What about Father’s knights?”
Dahlia asked, breathless.
“We have to tell the knights to track them down!”
“I don’t know where any of those knights are, either.”
Baroness Hawin said through her tears.
“The truth is, Dahlia… those knights and your father went to get wheat today.”
“What?”
“I don’t know the exact details, but… with Brisa, to trade the estate’s people for wheat…”
“With Brisa Seers? Then was Brisa taken too?”
“How would I know…?”
As Baroness Hawin gasped in agitation, Dahlia irritably rang the bell.
The maids rushed into the room in a flurry.
“Let’s go quickly, Mother.”
“Huh? Where?”
Dahlia shouted as she barked instructions to the maids dressing her.
“We have to go see Brisa Seers to find out what happened! Whether she was captured too, or if she saw anything!”
“Wouldn’t she have been taken as well? Even your father was captured…”
But Baroness Hawin was mistaken.
When mother and daughter arrived at the Seers marquisate mansion, Brisa was sitting gracefully in the drawing room, eating bread.
And not just Brisa. The knights and maids were also taking bites of steaming bread, enjoying their morning meal.
“It’s so delicious with wild raspberry jam.”
“Wild raspberries grow so well by the river these days.”
“The young lady told us not to cut down those vines—I guess it was because they were wild raspberry vines.”
Dahlia swallowed her saliva without even realizing it.
It had already been more than two weeks since she last tasted freshly baked bread like that. If it hadn’t been for the dairy cows, she might have at least been eating cornbread.
“What brings you here, Aunt?”
Brisa greeted them nonchalantly.
Eating a piece of bread topped with a soft-boiled egg and spread with jam, she tilted her head.
“Why have you come all the way here so early in the morning?”
Seeing her like that left Baroness Hawin completely dumbfounded.
Looking at Brisa’s pristine face felt like having cold water poured over her head.
“…Don’t think of lying. I know you and my husband went out together last night.”
She held her chin high and said,
“My husband was kidnapped, and we received a letter like this.”
Baroness Hawin slapped the kidnapper’s letter down onto the table with a clatter.
Brisa lowered her eyes nonchalantly, read the words, and slowly nodded.
“Ah, so he was kidnapped.”
“’So he was kidnapped’?!”
Dahlia glared, her eyes widening in fury.
“You came back completely fine, so why couldn’t my father?! Didn’t you write this? Didn’t you kidnap my father?!”
“Why would I?”
Brisa tilted her head.
“I have plenty of wheat. I don’t even need five sacks. I brought back a whole haul.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about!”
Dahlia flared up in irritation.
“You kidnapped my father, didn’t you? Or did you order someone to do it? Who else would do such a thing if not you?!”
“Right there. The estate’s people your father tried to sell off.”
Brisa spoke elegantly, entirely unruffled.
“I have no reason to go out of my way to commit a crime against your father. If nobles are caught trying to harm each other, they have to face justice in the imperial court. It’s not something a lord can just decide on their own disposal, like with commoners.”
Having explained calmly, she offered a sigh and some advice.
“Dahlia, study imperial law first. You don’t even need to attend the Academy to do that.”
Behind her, the maids stifled chuckles. Even that reaction was part of her calculated flow of conversation.
“I know that too! Who doesn’t know that nobles have to stand trial?!”
Dahlia screamed, then huffed in uncontrollable rage as she muttered,
“But my father…”
When Dahlia failed to finish her sentence, Brisa casually explained.
“We were about to trade for wheat with the Black Magicians when the knights of the West raided the place. In the middle of it all, the estate people your father tried to sell off beat down both your father and his knights. That’s all I know. We only took the wheat and left.”
“What? Then why are you safe?!”
“I only tried to sell one person. And I had plenty of other knights with me, so we were able to subdue that one person.”
Dahlia asked in utter disbelief at the calm explanation.
“So you just left my father behind and came back by yourself?”
“No.”
Brisa shook her head as she popped the rest of the bread into her mouth.
“I came back with my knights and the wheat. As you can see.”
“That’s not what I meant!”
Dahlia glared at her and demanded,
“I know you’re jealous of us. But last night, Father acted alongside you as the master of the territory. At the very least, you and my father were on the same side and in the same position then!”
“We weren’t in the same position.”
Brisa replied without batting an eye.
“Unlike your father, I’m twelve years old. Taking care of myself was overwhelming enough; looking after a full-grown adult in that situation was out of the question. A child’s abilities have their limits, after all.”
Afterward, Brisa gave instructions to a maid.
“Spread plenty of wild raspberry jam, and this time, top it with chicken and fresh vegetables to make two sandwiches.”
“Yes, my lady.”
At those words, not only Dahlia but even Baroness Hawin couldn’t help their hearts fluttering.
Bread with chicken and fresh vegetables?
It had been so long since they had eaten anything like that. It was a primal instinct, completely separate from their rage.
Lately, they had only been eating things like pickled olives from the grocery store on Jejel Street. Even those were running low, so they had to count them one by one as they ate.
“And in case you’ve forgotten,”
Brisa said, looking at Dahlia.
“I’m not jealous of you. I just dislike you.”
“Is this about the estate? But my father took it legally from your father!”
“That’s why I didn’t sue. But that doesn’t mean I have any intention of sitting down cozily with you to discuss saving your father’s life.”
Soon, the maid brought out two sandwiches on a tray.
Yet the plate they naturally assumed would be placed before Dahlia and Baroness Hawin was set directly in front of Brisa.
“If your curiosity is satisfied, you may leave now.”
Brisa said, taking a bite of her fresh sandwich.
“I don’t particularly have anything else to say.”
It was then.
Baroness Hawin caught her breath and asked,
“Then… could you lend us five sacks of wheat?”
“Mother!”
“There’s no other way. We have to get your father back, don’t we?”
After snapping at Dahlia, she glared at Brisa.
“We don’t have the wheat to pay the ransom. But your estate seems to have plenty.”
“Quite a bit.”
Brisa shrugged.
“But lending is out of the question. Once the warp gate is restored, the price will plummet. So I will only allow a purchase.”
“Is that so? For how much…?”
As Baroness Hawin’s face brightened, Brisa offered a radiant smile.
“Jejel Street and Beron.”
Dahlia and the Baroness froze, their expressions hardening.
Brisa picked up the second sandwich and said,
“Isn’t that why you came, Dahlia? I told you last time, if you were short on money, I’d give you a good price for Jejel Street.”
“When it becomes impossible to make a living, hand over Jejel Street. I’ll give you a good price.”
Without a trace of a smile, Brisa casually added,
“I never make empty promises.”