The Isolated Marchioness Just Wants to Make a Living
Chapter 31
* * *
“Darling, darling!”
Baroness Harwyn rushed over in a panic and removed Baron Harwyn’s gag.
The moment Philip set down the five sacks of wheat on the other side of the zelkova tree and disappeared, Baron Harwyn, who had been dangling from a rope at the top of the tree, slid down smoothly.
Had they brought a crowd or failed to bring the wheat, the captors looked ready to cut the rope outright. In that case, Baron Harwyn would have plummeted to his instant death.
Just then, the masked assailant leaped down from the other side of the tree, hoisted the five sacks of wheat onto his back, and vanished into the distance.
“Pah, hah…!”
Having reached the ground in the meantime, Baron Harwyn gasped for breath.
The baroness quickly untied his ropes.
“Damn it, for those bastards to act so fast…”
Baron Harwyn actually had no memory of what happened after the Western knights swarmed in. He had been knocked unconscious by a blow to the head.
“What happened?”
At Baron Harwyn’s question, the baroness hurriedly explained everything from start to finish.
“What?”
Listening to the story, his eyes went wide as he demanded:
“You handed over Jejel Street and Beron? For a mere five sacks of wheat? Have you lost your mind?!”
“It’s only temporary. Don’t worry.”
Baroness Harwyn smirked as she spoke.
“Tom and Dahlia will be bringing Brisa here any moment.”
Tom was the stable boy at the Harwyn barony estate.
Even if he wasn’t a knight, overpowering a single twelve-year-old girl was child’s play.
“I even brought all the paperwork ready.”
Baroness Harwyn pulled the documents from her bodice.
“We threaten her to sign here again if she doesn’t want to die. Then we get everything back.”
“Suppose she signs right now. Do you really think that wench will keep her mouth shut? Once her brother returns in a month…”
“Which is why we kill her right now.”
Baroness Harwyn arched an eyebrow.
“Those kidnappers are going to live as fugitives anyway, so we can just pin the blame on them! Even when Marquis Sears returns in a month, would he really care about a half-sister whose very existence he was barely aware of?”
“Ah.”
Baron Harwyn blinked in admiration.
“Good heavens, darling… I had no idea you were this clever.”
“It’s all for the sake of our family.”
This was a hill right on the border of the territory. It was said that monsters roamed here, so foot traffic was practically nonexistent.
The kidnappers likely intended to risk their lives crossing over into the County of Joachim… so they wouldn’t be able to defend themselves anyway.
It was then.
“Mother, Father!”
Dahlia came running. Behind her was Tom, with Brisa slung over his shoulder.
“We’re here!”
“Dahlia!”
Baroness Harwyn rushed over with a delighted squeal and hugged Dahlia tight.
Baron Harwyn dusted himself off and stood up with a grin.
“Wonderful. You all did splendidly.”
Under the quiet zelkova tree at the foot of the hill, Tom set Brisa down.
Baron Harwyn personally untied Brisa’s blindfold.
Brisa glared fiercely at Baron Harwyn through the gag in her mouth.
“Now then, Brisa.”
He smirked and thrust out the documents.
“Did you have fun playing lord over the reclaimed territory for half a day? Since you’ve had your fun, it’s time to return it to its true master.”
Baroness Harwyn swiftly shoved a quill into Brisa’s hand.
“You have to sign.”
She whispered.
“Just like I did this morning. If you hold out to the bitter end, your corpse will end up buried in that wretched potato field.”
Brisa offered no particular resistance, but her wide eyes glared back and forth between Baron Harwyn and his wife.
“Sign it, Brisa.”
Dahlia snickered, chiming in.
“Oh, are you going to bring up Imperial law again? But what a shame—not a single soul saw you get kidnapped, did they?”
“……”
Even so, Brisa refused to grip the quill.
Baron Harwyn raised an eyebrow and spoke.
“Now, our Tom here is very good at beating horses. If you keep defying us like this, my lovely niece, Tom might just beat you the way he beats his horses.”
He gripped Brisa’s chin with a sinister sneer and threatened:
“Then, even after signing, you might not be able to walk back to your territory on your own two feet. Let’s not waste each other’s energy, shall we?”
Just at that moment.
“Good grief.”
A voice brimming with fury rang out from the darkness.
“To think a creature lower than a beast is my uncle…”
Alongside everyone else, even Brisa—who had remained calm the entire time—was struck dumb with shock. This was the one thing she had never anticipated.
“I’ll make sure you’re the one who never walks on your own two feet again!”
The man who emerged, exuding raw bloodlust, was none other than the war hero of the North, Alpheus.
* * *
No, what on earth is going on?!
Why is Alpheus showing up here?!
Gagged as I was, I couldn’t even say a word; I could only widen my eyes in disbelief.
“Milady!”
Philip rushed forward and lifted me up.
“You’ve been through so much!”
“Mmph, mmph!”
“Ah, let me remove your gag!”
“Phaah!”
The moment I caught my breath, I looked around in sheer disbelief.
Getting kidnapped and having Philip rescue me had all been part of my expected scenario.
In the first place, it made no sense for Philip not to notice Tom lurking near Dahlia. After all, he was the capable vice-commander of the mercenary corps that had ended the war alongside Alpheus.
Even if he had been farming potatoes up until now.
He was incomparable to a mere stable boy from the Central region, where not a single territorial skirmish had ever taken place. That was why I had given Philip advance instructions.
“Once you disappear, I’ll probably get kidnapped. Just leave them be for the moment.”
“Pardon? No, why on earth…”
“They will definitely try to threaten me to reclaim Jejel Street and Beron.”
“But must you go through such hardship, Milady?”
“I must.”
This had all been part of my plan.
“Reclaiming Jejel Street and Beron alone isn’t enough to satisfy me.”
They were far too vile to coexist with peacefully.
Even if it belonged to an erased future, they were the ones who had ultimately sold me off.
Leaving them in the neighboring territory posed too great a risk. Wouldn’t they continue to watch for every opportunity to hand me over to the Kingdom of Sebon?
“Then what in the world…”
“I have a way.”
I had arranged everything.
But Alpheus’s arrival was truly outside my calculations.
‘The warp gate won’t even be active until a month from now, so how?!’
Even in the midst of this, Alpheus’s appearance looked completely fine. He must have taken my Awakening Herb right on time.
“I didn’t recognize you because of the name Harwyn, but you’re my uncle? Huh?”
Alpheus grabbed Baron Harwyn by the collar and hoisted him up. Then he slammed him violently against the zelkova tree.
“Are you even human? Kidnapping your starving niece just to seize her territory?”
Having kidnapped my starving uncle to seize his territory, I kept my mouth firmly shut.
In the meantime, Wendy, who had been hiding near the zelkova tree, bound Dahlia and Baroness Harwyn.
“Um, Milady.”
Wendy blinked and spoke.
“I did as you instructed, but… was the Boss—I mean, the Marquis’s arrival part of your plan too?”
She murmured with an uncertain expression.
“If you graduated salutatorian from the Academy and speak five languages, can you predict things like that too?”
“Of course not.”
I answered calmly.
“I am thoroughly shocked right now.”
“You really don’t look it… In any case, the Marquis’s appearance was a surprise to you as well, right?”
“His arrival aside, what on earth is that hideous scrap of cloth tied around his neck? It doesn’t look like a cravat.”
“Ah… it’s a floral-patterned handkerchief.”
Wendy’s answer left me appalled.
“Why on earth would someone tie a handkerchief around their neck?!”
When I saw Alpheus at the funeral, he had been dressed in mourning attire. He looked impeccably sharp. In other words, this was the first time I had ever seen Alpheus in civilian clothes.
‘In the original story, it said that after turning to the dark side, he only ever wore black! So that’s why no one criticized his fashion sense!’
The fashion sense of a male lead who hadn’t turned dark was truly spectacular.
By now, Alpheus was throwing a punch right into Baron Harwyn’s face.
At that moment, I shrieked at the top of my lungs.
“Don’t kill him!”
In truth, Baron Harwyn had to stay alive here. Because…