Abandoned Empress's Survival Manual Beside the Male Lead - Chapter 18

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 4
1. What exactly is my worth?
The carriage had been rolling for a week.
“Your Grace, we’ll be entering the Geunet territory shortly.”
One of Geunet’s knights, who had been escorting the carriage all this while, offered the information.
I opened the window and peered outside.
My first thought was how staggeringly vast the territory was.
‘Well, it is the Continent’s only Grand Duchy, after all.’
Even if the Grand Duke’s household was in terribly poor financial straits.
‘All because of the Previous Duke and Duchess, of course.’
The Previous Duke and Duchess, who had passed away in succession half a year ago, had been extravagantly lavish.
As a result, Sherkan inherited not only the title but also an astronomical sum of debt.
Yet he seemed remarkably unconcerned about the vast obligations thrust upon his shoulders.
The Continent was embroiled in war, and so long as he could win, there were countless ways to scrape together funds.
‘Of course, such confidence was only possible because Sherkan was absurdly powerful…’
This formidable and terrifying male protagonist felt genuine inferiority about something else entirely.
“Your jaw will drop if you find marrying a Barbarian half-breed so revolting—say it now.”
It was the matter of bloodline.
Sherkan’s mother was a Barbarian.
The most despised race on this Continent.
Barbarians were said to be a cursed aberration born from the mixture of humans and monsters.
Yet Sherkan’s mother, unlike other Barbarians, was said to possess a form remarkably human and extraordinarily beautiful.
That was why the Previous Duke had spent a night with Sherkan’s mother.
The Previous Duchess, naturally, would not allow it to pass.
When Sherkan’s mother became pregnant, the Previous Duchess force-fed her abortion drugs without end, but Barbarians possessed inherently robust and resilient bodies.
A Barbarian half-breed bastard.
So in the original work, Sherkan wished to marry a wife of the most noble bloodline possible.
That wife was Ayu, the daughter of the Saint.
Sherkan believed that if he married the Saint’s daughter, he could fill the void of his insufficient bloodline with legitimacy.
The reason Sherkan had disregarded even Duke Baetan and forced his marriage to me surely contained no small measure of calculation regarding bloodline.
‘Lorelitiana’s mother was also born of an exceptionally distinguished house as the legitimate daughter.’
Had the Saint not appeared in this world, Sherkan would surely have ravished my mother as his bride instead?
‘Age difference?’
Sherkan would have been capable of marrying even a woman on the verge of entering her coffin.
That was the extent of this bastard protagonist’s obsession with bloodline.
“Your Grace?”
I had been smiling slightly while thinking of Sherkan, but immediately composed myself and opened the carriage window wider.
“Yes.”
“Um, please speak freely… We shall arrive at Geunet Castle very soon. Do prepare yourself.”
“All right.”
I spoke curtly. Because I had no idea how to treat them.
The two knights who had driven the carriage relentlessly for a week found the awkwardness equally suffocating.
‘Well, a Grand Duchess who appeared out of nowhere—no wonder they’re bewildered.’
But I myself am bewildered, thank you very much.
A moment later.
“Shall we descend, Your Grace?”
“Thank you.”
Taking the knight’s escort, I stepped down from the carriage and lifted my gaze with a pounding heart.
The male protagonist’s castle!
The very castle where Ayu began living from the midpoint of the original work!
What would it be like, I wonder…
……
I was left speechless.
A ghost castle loomed before me, stark and undeniable.
* * *
‘My goodness, how barren…’
Calling it barren was being generous. This looked more like an abandoned ruin.
‘The size is enormous, but it’s so dilapidated.’
The castle’s stone walls crumbled in places, and the courtyard—if one could even call it that—was overgrown with weeds up to one’s knees.
The spires, which ought to have displayed the family’s former glory, were numerous only in number, their paint peeling everywhere.
Even knowing that Sherkan would eventually revive the duchy with his tremendous martial prowess, I felt bleak.
‘And we haven’t even gone bankrupt yet, but it’s already this bad?’
I wondered if there was anyone inside, but surprisingly, quite a few servants came rushing out.
“Who are you…?”
Then the knight escorting me hurried over and quickly explained what had transpired.
Everyone’s eyes widened. I smiled casually and examined them one by one.
There appeared to be no head maid or butler, and not a single male servant.
Oddly enough, they were all either very young or young maids.
Though their clothes were worn, the embroidered patterns on their collars were immaculate, without a single loose thread.
They even recovered their composure remarkably quickly. The maids straightened their dress in an instant and approached me, speaking kindly.
“Welcome, Duchess Lorelitiana!”
“You have a name as beautiful as you are.”
“Thank you.”
There was not the slightest hint of resentment among the maids. In fact, their expressions showed genuine reverence.
‘As expected of a great house—they’re different.’
The patriarch’s word is law.
The moment crimson eyes flashed through my mind, my thoughts shifted.
‘No. No one would dare defy Sherkan’s orders.’
“Duchess, shall we prepare your bath first?”
I nodded quickly.
Five maids followed me into the bathhouse, and this time surely they would demonstrate the dignity of a great house—
‘No. No, they won’t.’
The moment I entered the bathroom, I revised my thinking yet again.
This place, with only a single wooden tub that was remarkably narrow and decrepit sitting alone in it, was squalid enough to make one’s head spin.
Such poverty!
Such squalor!
The reason five maids had entered was that they needed to constantly add hot water and draw off the cold…
‘I’m going to cry. I really am.’
“Hmm… They must have used some distinctive perfume. There’s a faint smell of aged grapes. What scent is it?”
“That is…”
The maids hesitated. There was something awkward in their smiles.
“It’s not a perfume, actually…”
“It’s a bathtub modified from an oak barrel that was kept in the wine cellar. I suspect the lingering aroma remains…”
“We are truly sorry, Duchess…”
…
By the time they finished speaking, they were nearly in tears. I could say nothing and simply surrendered myself to the foam.
‘When Ayu first met Sherkan, it was after he had managed to recover the bankrupt Geunet domain.’
Sherkan called himself a mercenary, and he showed no hesitation in scraping together money from warfare.
He wandered battlefields staking his life, in a way that was hard to believe for a patriarch of a house.
And so he resolved that immense debt.
But now, we were truly in the depths of poverty.
I suddenly grew anxious.
‘Before I can even think about preventing bankruptcy, won’t I starve to death first…?’
* * *
Though worry had set in, fortunately I could eat that evening.
Judging by the bread, roasted chicken, and the bits of broth, it seemed I wouldn’t have to fear starvation just yet.
Of course, that was all there was.
Of food, clothing, and shelter, at least “food” was somewhat assured; but “shelter” was a bit questionable.
Indeed.
I was now lying in one room with fifty maids.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————