Abandoned Empress's Survival Manual Beside the Male Lead - Chapter 4

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 4
1. What Is My Value?
The carriage had been traveling for a week now.
“Your Grace, we’ll be entering Gonnet territory shortly.”
One of Gonnet’s knights, who had been escorting the carriage the entire journey, offered this warning.
I opened the window and looked outside.
My first thought was how impossibly vast the territory appeared.
‘Well, it is the only grand duchy on the Continent, after all.’
Though the Grand Duke’s House was in far from prosperous circumstances, it had to be said.
‘It’s all because of the Previous Grand Duke and Duchess, of course.’
The Previous Grand Duke and Duchess, who had passed away one after another half a year ago, had been extravagantly profligate.
As a result, Shelcan had inherited the title along with a staggering mountain of debt.
Yet he seemed scarcely troubled by the enormous burden he’d assumed.
The Continent was at war, and so long as one could win, there were any number of ways to rake in wealth.
‘Of course, that confidence only worked because Shelcan was monstrously strong…….’
For all his power and terror, the male protagonist harbored genuine inferiority in one particular realm.
“Your jaw must be hanging. If marrying a Half-Barbarian disgusts you, speak up now.”
It was his bloodline.
Shelcan’s mother was a Barbarian.
The most despised race on this Continent.
Barbarians were said to be a cursed variant—born from a union of humans and monsters.
Yet Shelcan’s mother, unlike other Barbarians, was said to possess a form nearly indistinguishable from human, and possessed extraordinary beauty besides.
That was why the Previous Grand Duke had spent a night with Shelcan’s mother.
And the Previous Grand Duchess certainly did not let the matter rest.
Once Shelcan’s mother became pregnant, the Previous Grand Duchess forced abortion potions upon her without end, but Barbarians by nature possessed hardy, resilient bodies.
A Half-Barbarian bastard.
In the original work, this was why Shelcan desired a wife of the most exalted bloodline possible.
That wife was Ayu, daughter of the Saint.
Shelcan believed that by marrying the Saint’s daughter, he could legitimize his own inadequate bloodline.
When Shelcan pushed ahead with our marriage, even dismissing Duke Baetan, bloodline calculation must surely have played its part.
‘After all, Lorelthiana’s mother came from an extremely distinguished house as the legitimate daughter.’
Had the Saint never appeared in this world, Shelcan would certainly have abducted my mother as his bride instead.
‘Age difference?’
Shelcan would have been capable of marrying a woman on the very brink of the grave.
Such was this bastard protagonist’s obsession with bloodline.
“Your Grace?”
I had been smiling faintly while thinking of Shelcan, and I quickly straightened my expression and opened the carriage window.
“Yes.”
“That is—please, speak more freely…… We’ll be arriving at Gonnet Castle soon. Prepare yourself.”
“Understood.”
I spoke curtly, uncertain of how to treat them.
The two knights who had driven the carriage relentlessly for a week were equally uncomfortable.
‘It makes sense—a Grand Duchess who appeared out of nowhere is bewildering enough…….’
But I’m bewildered too, believe me.
A short while later.
“Please descend, Your Grace.”
“Thank you.”
With the knight’s assistance, I stepped down from the carriage and lifted my head, heart racing.
The male protagonist’s castle!
The very castle where Ayu began to live from the middle of the original work!
What would it be like…….
…….
I was left speechless.
There stood a ghost of a castle, bold and unmistakable.
* * *
‘Desolate, truly…….’
“Desolate” was generous—I wondered if this was an abandoned ruin.
‘The size is enormous, yet it’s so decrepit.’
The castle’s stone walls crumbled in places, and the courtyard—though calling it a garden was an embarrassment—was choked with weeds waist-high.
The spires that were meant to display the family’s glory were numerous in count alone; every one of them had paint peeling away.
Even knowing that Shelcan would eventually revive the Grand Duke’s territory with his tremendous male prowess, I felt a deepening dread.
‘And we haven’t even gone bankrupt yet, but it’s already like this?’
I wondered if there would be anyone inside, but unexpectedly, a fair number of servants came rushing out.
“Who are you…….”
Then the knight escorting me hurried forward and rapidly explained the situation that had unfolded.
Everyone’s eyes widened. I surveyed them one by one, my smile casual and composed.
There appeared to be no head maid or butler, and not a single male servant.
Remarkably, they were all either young or very young maids.
Their clothes were worn, but the embroidered patterns along the collars were neat without a single loose thread.
They even recovered their composure extraordinarily quickly. The maids, having tidied their appearance in an instant, approached me and spoke kindly.
“Welcome, Grand Duchess Lorelthiana!”
“You have a name as beautiful as befits a Grand Duchess.”
“Thank you.”
Not a trace of territorial resentment showed in the maids. Indeed, their expressions were entirely reverent.
‘As expected of a great house, it’s different.’
The master’s word is law…….
The moment a pair of blood-red eyes flashed across my mind, my thought shifted.
‘No. No one could defy that terrifying Shelcan’s word.’
“Grand Duchess, shall we prepare a bath for you first?”
I nodded quickly.
No fewer than five maids followed me into the bath chamber, and this time they would surely demonstrate the dignity befitting a great house…….
‘That’s not it. That’s not it at all.’
The moment I stepped into the bathing chamber, I immediately revised my thoughts again.
Remarkably narrow and dilapidated, with only a wooden tub sitting bare and desolate, the space was so squalid it made my head spin.
How could they be this poor!
How could it be this miserable!
The reason five maids had followed me in was because they had to constantly add hot water and scoop out cold water…….
‘I’m going to cry. I’m truly going to cry.’
“Hmm……. It seems they used some distinctive fragrance. There’s a faint scent like aged wine. What fragrance is it?”
“That…….”
The maids hesitated. There was something awkward in their smiles.
“It’s not a fragrance, but…….”
“It’s a bathtub that was refashioned from an oak barrel that was in the wine storage. I suspect the lingering scent from that is what remains…….”
“We are truly sorry, Grand Duchess…….”
…….
By the time they spoke those last words, they were nearly on the verge of tears themselves. I hadn’t the nerve to say anything further and simply surrendered myself to the foam in silence.
‘When Ayu first met Shelcan, it was after he had painstakingly reclaimed his bankrupt Gonnet territory.’
Shelcan, who called himself a mercenary, had no qualms about scraping together money from wars.
It was hard to believe he was the head of a household — he staked his life and wandered through every imaginable battlefield.
And through all that, he had resolved enormous debts.
Yet now, they were truly at an extreme of poverty.
I found myself growing worried.
‘Before preventing bankruptcy and all that, I’m not going to starve to death first, am I……?’
* * *
My worry notwithstanding, fortunately I was able to eat dinner.
Looking at the bread, roasted chicken, and the solids in the soup, it seemed I needn’t worry about starvation just yet.
Of course, that was all there was.
Of the three necessities — food, clothing, and shelter — “food” was assured to some degree, but “shelter” was somewhat ambiguous.
That was right.
I was currently lying in one room with fifty maids.

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