The Isolated Marchioness Just Wants to Make a Living
Chapter 36
The Sears Marquis Residence.
“Wh-what is all this?”
“Daily sustenance for your body.”
I said, sitting with my arms crossed.
Alpheus stared blankly at the dining table.
A maid quickly brought out the dishes.
“Bread served with potato-and-egg spread and wild strawberry compote. Please enjoy it with blanched dandelion greens.”
The dandelion greens growing along the riverbank were not remarkable enough to cultivate as a proper crop, but they made a fine side garnish for meals.
“This is freshwater fish stew simmered with tomatoes and mushrooms.”
There were not many tomatoes, but they could still make an appearance for the occasional meal.
“And grilled crayfish infused with wild perilla.”
If you turned over rocks now and then, you could catch crayfish too.
These were not deliberately farmed either, but whenever the commoners caught some, they would send a few over to the estate.
“It is all thanks to the young lady that we have food to eat, so this is the least we can do!”
I had intended to eat it tomorrow, but I could not ignore Alpheus saying he was “hungry.”
Alpheus must have been truly famished, scraping every single plate clean. It was an utterly un-aristocratic display.
Unable to watch any longer, I sighed and spoke up.
“Bring him some more boiled potatoes.”
He was clearly acting this way out of sheer starvation, so I needed to fill his stomach quickly and put an end to this spectacle.
I had completely made up my mind about how to deal with Alpheus.
‘I just have to treat him normally. Just like I treat everyone else.’
That meant saying what needed to be said without crossing any lines.
Maintaining a relationship with a moderate wall and keeping my heart unattached. That was my specialty.
That was how I had treated everyone at the Academy.
“You know, um, while riding all the way here from the East…”
Alpheus said, dipping a potato into salt.
“I never ate this well. With trade cut off from the West—the Empire’s granary—well, um, everyone was on edge about food.”
Meanwhile, Rancy and Philip were sitting beside me, blankly watching Alpheus gorge himself.
Alpheus busily worked his fork, then stared directly at them.
“By the way, why are the two of you sitting next to Brisa?”
Rancy and Philip blinked at each other. Then, as if realizing something, they let out an ‘ah.’
“Aha, I was originally Captain’s man, wasn’t I? Not the noble young lady’s right-hand man?”
“I’ve been following only the young lady’s orders lately, so in my heart, Captain was already six feet under.”
Alpheus slowly swallowed the potato he was chewing. Then, with an expression of sheer disbelief, he muttered slowly:
“……You two…… don’t accept superiors easily, do you? Do you know how long it took to make you my people……?”
My heart sank in an instant.
Did Alpheus think I had stolen his subordinates?
It was entirely possible. He might never have expected them to follow me to this degree.
‘Though honestly, no one can resist good food…….’
My limbs grew stiff immediately after.
Mother had always said it: Alpheus and I were rivals from the moment we were born.
Just as my younger self had been on pins and needles fearing I would lose the marquisate, was Alpheus on edge fearing he would lose his authority to me?
“And yet, in a mere two months…… the two of you came to follow Brisa? Really?”
When Alpheus showed a dazed expression as if his soul had left his body, Rancy replied nonchalantly.
“A budget manager naturally follows whoever pays well. If not for the young lady, the estate would’ve gone broke on food expenses and we wouldn’t even have dirt left to eat.”
Philip chipped in as well.
“My Lord Marquis……. I suffer from an affliction where I simply cannot muster respect unless my master is elegant, noble, and dignified.”
I was utterly appalled.
‘Oh no, this is totally crossing the line.’
What if he misunderstands and thinks I am aiming for the marquis title?
Cracks were already forming in my plan to ‘get along peacefully with Alpheus.’ Terror froze my body.
‘At this rate, I’m going to get purged soon!’
It was just as I glanced at Alpheus, cautiously reading his expression.
“Ahahaha! You’ve realized it too, haven’t you? That my little sister is cute, adorable, lovely, and everything all at once!”
……Hm?
Not a single one of those three descriptions applied to me.
“I was going to warn you to treat her like a precious treasure, but there’s no need! Ahahaha! Let’s protect our tiny, darling little princess with our lives!”
At the words “tiny, darling little princess,” I pressed a hand to my forehead.
The cringe-inducing title made me dizzy.
“You can count on us now, little princess of Sears!”
He even winked while chewing on his potato.
I voiced my deep distress.
“Emergency. I want to buy eyes that haven’t seen that.”
Rancy responded.
“All sold out.”
In the end, I had no choice but to overcome it on my own.
I gave Alpheus a solemn warning.
“That ‘little princess’ whatever title is banned.”
“Is that so? Then let’s go with ‘Twinkling Thumbelina Fairy.’”
“That one is banned too.”
“I see! Then ‘Fluttering Baby Angel’!”
The literary youth possessed an uncanny talent for endlessly churning out atrocious nicknames.
“Shall we, um, blow soap bubbles on the roof? Oppa bought them to play with his fluttering baby angel!”
“There’s a lettuce patch on the roof. Soapy water is bad for crops.”
“Then let’s play with balloons in the garden! Oppa will blow up a whole bunch for you!”
“What if the chickens accidentally eat the popped balloon pieces?”
I said with my arms crossed.
“And referring to yourself as ’oppa’ is banned too. It gives me goosebumps.”
“Our baby angel has so many bans…….”
“’Baby angel’ is especially forbidden. I’m twelve years old.”
“Then ‘Sears’s Starlight-Crafted Treasure’!”
Watching us bicker back and forth, Rancy chimed in.
“Dawn’s gonna break at this rate.”
“Aargh, we can’t have that! My little sister needs to grow taller!”
In the end, after going full circle, it was back to “my little sister.”
When I first heard it, it had certainly appalled me, but now it had the effect of seeming like the best option.
I rolled my eyes for a moment before speaking quietly.
“Uh, I was just a proxy while you were away.”
Once the commotion passed, it still weighed on my mind.
My life and death were virtually in Alpheus’s hands now. Especially if those Sebon bastards ever contacted Alpheus demanding he hand Brisa over…….
I continued in a trembling voice.
“I know better than anyone that I am not the true lord of this marquisate, nor am I Rancy and Philip’s superior. So you really don’t need to worry.”
“What are you talking about? Why wouldn’t I care? It’s great if everyone gets along!”
Alpheus tilted his head.
He wore an expression that said he genuinely had no idea what the problem was.
He continued sheepishly.
“You see, truthfully, I accepted the marquis title without knowing the full situation. I just thought my little sister, ten years younger than me, needed a guardian.”
“Huh?”
“I had no idea you were being trained as the heir, either. I only found out when the maids told me on the night of the funeral.”
I was stunned, but I held it in.
In the first place, Alpheus’s mindset was completely different from aristocrats who watched their step over succession from the moment they learned to walk.
“I lived as a commoner all this time, so, um, I actually even asked a lawyer if there was a way to return the title of marquis to you……”
It was truly mind-boggling.
In my head, I knew I needed to walk on eggshells around him. But due to how I was raised, that resolve did not last long.
In the end, I cut him off in sheer disbelief.
“Good grief. Start reading the legal code this very day.”
To not even know basic imperial law.
There was no way to revoke primogeniture laid out in a will.
In the original work, Alpheus was looked down upon for quite some time due to his ‘un-aristocratic words and conduct.’ Yet even so, his title remained legitimate until the very end.
I clenched my fist and slammed it down onto the dining table.
“Regardless of how I’ve lived, and regardless of how you’ve lived, you are the legitimate heir of Sears. You are a marquis recognized by the laws of the Empire. Do you understand?”
“Huh? Uh……”
“It doesn’t matter if people out there insult you, calling you a commoner or a mercenary. It’s not as if the title of marquis you inherited will disappear because of that.”
“Huh? Uh……”
“I guarantee you, once you revive this damn family in a few years, marriage proposals will probably come pouring in even from the imperial family. When that time comes, not a single soul will dare utter a word about you being a commoner.”
I flinched for a moment.
After blurting it out, I suddenly realized I had mentioned details straight from ‘the original work.’
‘Damn it, did I sound like I know too much about the future? What if he thinks it makes no sense?’
I had vowed never to say anything that sounded like foreknowledge.
Perhaps because I had spent my whole life on edge, terrified of saying something strange, my heart pounded wildly against my ribs.