The Isolated Marchioness Just Wants to Make a Living - Chapter 10

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 10

I had been at the potato field since dawn when a kitchen maid came running over.

“Miss, what should we do?”

She blinked her eyes frantically, making a fuss.

“I went to the fruit and vegetable shop on Jezel Street, but the food prices are too expensive! They suddenly raised the strawberry prices to five times what they were yesterday! Strawberries are already expensive as it is!”

The instability of warp meant the instability of distribution networks.

Moreover, it wasn’t just warp – monsters would soon start appearing at the territory’s borders as well. So the skyrocketing food prices here were practically predetermined.

‘This is just the beginning…’

At least it was fortunate that I had bought the seed potatoes as quickly as possible.

‘In a month and a half, we’ll be able to harvest young potatoes.’

Potatoes would serve as a source of carbohydrates and vitamin C.

I emptied out my last emergency fund and pressed it into her hands as I spoke.

“Masa, there’s something you need to go buy right now.”

I had been waiting for this moment when the distribution networks began to destabilize. There was something I could purchase at a bargain price right now.

‘I’ve secured enough grains from the grain merchant. Even with the increased personnel, we can last a month.’

It was right after I had finished giving Masa the related instructions.

“Miss!”

The gatekeeper came running over urgently.

“Miss Dahlia has come to see you right now!”

At the name Dahlia, all the maids’ faces hardened completely.

The knights who had been planting seed potatoes all had expressions that said ‘Who’s that?’

I narrowed my eyes.

“…Dahlia? Right now?”

Dahlia Sears Hawin.

She was my cousin who used to share the Sears surname.

Father had a younger brother. So he would be my uncle.

That uncle had achieved military merit and received Hawin Territory, establishing a new Baron Hawin lineage.

Yet he couldn’t give up the name ‘Sears’ and fixed it as a middle name.

Even though middle names were usually used by high nobles or royalty, and he was openly ridiculed behind his back for it.

And the Baron Hawin family…

‘They took most of our marquis territory.’

On the day of Father’s funeral.

Thanks to a contract Father had thoughtlessly signed, trusting in blood relations, Beron Territory and Jezel Street were transferred to the Baron Hawin family.

In other words, Father had made such an absurd contract with his own brother.

‘Brothers who were born and raised together in this territory.’

So he was able to pick and choose the prime lands from Sears Marquis Territory – Jezel Street and Beron Plains.

Most importantly, losing Jezel Street, which was the central distribution hub and marketplace of the central region, was truly a massive blunder.

They would have quite useful seeds and stored food supplies in various shops, which would be very helpful in an isolated situation.

Baron Hawin didn’t even comfort me at Father’s funeral. He just went to Alpheus and urged him to fulfill the contract.

Alpheus probably didn’t even know that person was his uncle, and just thought of him as a debt collector.

But the fact that it wasn’t Uncle who came, but his daughter…

‘Why did she come?’

In the original story, Dahlia also comes to find me. But it was about a month later than now.

She comes to find me and the maids when we’re exhausted from hunger.

“Alpheus kicked out your house butler too, right? My goodness, if you stay there, those knights won’t take care of you. You’ll starve to death first. Come to our house quickly. That butler is at our house too.”

Since it was none other than my cousin, I followed her with the maids…

And ended up being loaded onto an illegal human trafficking ship.

“Goodbye, Brisa.”

Dahlia said this while personally pushing me onto the ship.

“I really hated you.”

It was an unexpected statement.

Hate or not… we didn’t even have much interaction, did we?

Behind her, Baron Hawin was receiving wheat sacks as payment for our bodies. They too were suffering because of the isolated distribution network.

But the situation was different now. The real hunger hadn’t even begun yet.

“Let’s go for now.”

I stood up, bringing the maids with me.

The maids grumbled and made comments from behind.

“I don’t like that young lady.”

“Hmph, she’s definitely jealous of our Miss Brisa’s noble bloodline.”

“The Princess personally educated her and she even went to the Capital Academy. Of course she’d be envious.”

Dahlia and I didn’t have much in common.

Before leaving for the Academy, I stayed in the territory until I was ten, but I usually spent time with Mother.

Mother was my teacher in all subjects.

“You can catch up in about 2 years. You’re my daughter, aren’t you? Let’s do early admission.”

When I ranked first at age ten in the Capital Academy entrance exam that others usually take at twelve.

I went to Mother’s cemetery and laid down the acceptance certificate.

Mother had passed away while I was taking the entrance exam in the capital.

“Don’t contact Brisa. It might interfere with her exam.”

“You… you’re really crazy.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not crazy.”

That was Mother’s last will, and Father, who had said ‘you’re crazy’ as his final words, somehow accepted that will and never contacted me.

I couldn’t even attend Mother’s funeral.

Living like that, I had no time to socialize with Dahlia.

But seeing her say ‘I always hated you’… maybe what the maids said was really true.

When I arrived at the reception room like that, Dahlia was sitting there with her brown hair and sky-blue eyes.

“Brisa, it’s been a while.”

She, who hadn’t even come to Father’s funeral, said with a bright smile.

“I heard the news that you’re no longer the heir to the Marquis House. What a shame. I heard you got your engagement broken off too.”

I frowned.

“Is that true? Wow, life is really unpredictable.”

The last time we met was two years ago.

Dahlia had never once picked a fight with me so openly like this.

Only then did I realize that I had become someone she could ‘look down on,’ and that Dahlia had been waiting for this moment all along.

“You know, you know Ruman from Count Joachim Family, right? If nothing goes wrong, I’ll probably get engaged to him. Yesterday Father visited the Count’s family and apparently received a proposal then.”

“Ah, Ruman Joachim. I always thought he was the most disgusting among the Central Region nobles.”

I answered indifferently.

“But from today on, I’m going to feel sorry for him. Wow, life is really unpredictable. Just like you said.”

This level of provocation was easy to brush off.

I slowly nodded my head and continued speaking.

“I suppose Baron Hawin Family’s territory has expanded quite a bit lately. Seeing how Count Joachim Family, who never takes any losses, is only now starting to consider you as a potential fiancée candidate.”

“What?”

“At this point, shouldn’t we invite our late Father’s ghost to that engagement ceremony? He’s the biggest contributor after all. If it were me, I would have asked him to give a congratulatory speech.”

“Don’t act so arrogant.”

Dahlia glared at me with huffing anger.

“You’re just someone who ended up groveling under a marquis with commoner blood mixed in.”

She gritted her teeth and fought back with all her might.

“I’m so curious about where your half-brother will sell you off to.”

“Then you better stay on my good side.”

I said elegantly while lifting my teacup.

“If I tell my brother to sell me off to Ruman from Count Joachim Family, it would create quite a significant ‘incident’ for your precious engagement.”

I had never lost in this kind of power struggle.

But feeling a bit bored, I took a sip of tea and spoke directly to the point.

“Why did you come?”

“…The Warp has been messed up since yesterday.”

If I hadn’t learned about the original story, this would have been something I’d only find out belatedly thanks to yesterday’s article.

Dahlia continued speaking primly.

“Father quickly looked into the situation everywhere. The Magic Tower already announced that it won’t be easily resolved because it’s due to the monster wave.”

Dahlia seemed to want to build suspense as she followed my lead and took a sip of tea. Then she smiled wickedly and said.

“You don’t have much food, do you? Hand over the Erenta Region to us.”

As expected.

It wasn’t for nothing that the Guild Leader of the Western Region grains merchant specifically mentioned the Erenta Region.

The Baron Hawin Family must have approached him first. Telling him they’d pay a high price if he could take away Erenta’s fishing rights from Sears.

The Guild Leader, desperate for money, had simply fallen for it.

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