The Isolated Marchioness Just Wants to Make a Living - Chapter 105

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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 105

13. Second Prince Maximus

The last thing I remembered was being swept away by a sudden gust of wind and losing consciousness.

How long had I been unconscious like that?

“Yeonae, Yeonae?”

I groggily opened my eyes.

“Are you coming to your senses?”

Round green eyes were staring intently at me.

I bolted upright.

“…Your Highness?”

Light brown hair, handsome features, solid build. It was exactly the appearance of the Second Prince I knew, Maximus Liam Beviano.

“Are you alright? Why were you inside here, Yeonae?”

I blinked my eyes.

Bright sunlight filled the forest.

But this wasn’t the place where Maximus had been collapsed with the Imperial Knights earlier. It was a completely unfamiliar riverbank.

“Ah.”

I first examined my outfit, rustling around.

“My appearance…”

“A few leaves stuck to your dress hem isn’t exactly a disaster, Yeonae.”

Maximus said seriously.

“Because your maids aren’t here right now. If those maids had been here, they would have screamed so loudly that you could have suffered hearing damage.”

In the past, I had accompanied my maids to the Imperial Palace several times.

Originally, personal maids couldn’t be brought to the Academy. But during vacations, students who didn’t go home were allowed to call their maids.

When the Empress Dowager summoned me to the Imperial Palace and it coincided with vacation, I naturally brought my maids along.

They were quite imposing even then, and took great pride in the fact that I was favored by the Empress Dowager.

‘So he remembered my maids.’

Even though Maximus and I had encountered each other several times, we weren’t close.

It seemed my maids’ words and actions had left a strong impression in his memory.

“Ahem, cough.”

I coughed awkwardly a few times and removed my hands from my dress hem. Then I looked around and muttered.

“It seems the Curse of Sleep has been lifted.”

The transparent, tough leaves were drooping down with bright sunlight streaming through them.

Water was flowing and wind was blowing.

Most importantly, the Second Prince was up and talking normally.

Considering those three points, it was sufficiently deducible.

“It seems so.”

Maximus nodded.

“However, when I woke up, a very strong wind blew throughout the entire forest, and it seems everyone got scattered in the process.”

The Forest of Sleep had covered the vast territory of Marquis Naisar’s domain.

Since it had been a forest where the sense of time disappeared, it was highly likely that Alpheus and I had actually walked for days.

‘Then we’re stranded.’

I thought as I looked around.

‘I don’t even know which direction Marquis Naisar’s Estate is…’

Maximus also sighed as if troubled.

“I have no idea where we are.”

Both he and I were empty-handed. We didn’t even have horses to ride.

“We’ll have to find the direction closest to the outside and head out.”

If we kept going in one direction, we would naturally be able to get out. Or we could wander around and meet other people.

However, we needed to choose our direction carefully since we might face problems with food or stamina if we wandered aimlessly.

“But…”

Maximus looked down at me with a strange expression.

“I never thought Yeonae would cry easily to begin with, but you’re being excessively calm in this situation. You don’t have any memory problems or anything, do you?”

I nodded seriously.

“To be honest, that might be possible.”

And I looked into Maximus’s eyes, seeking permission.

“So I’m terribly sorry, but could you help me confirm just a few memories related to Your Highness?”

“Of course.”

Maximus readily nodded.

“It’s naturally something I can do for my comrade’s sister. Even saying you’re sorry is excessive.”

Having received permission from the royal, I immediately started talking.

“The Second Empress sent a large sum of money to my elder brother to get through winter. I heard Your Highness requested it – is that correct?”

“Hm?”

Maximus flinched at my strangely cold tone.

But since he had promised to help confirm my memories, he reluctantly nodded.

“That’s correct.”

I continued coldly.

“Your wise Highness knows my elder brother well. Then I think you would have anticipated how Alpheus would act when the Second Empress sent the money. Am I right?”

Finally, Maximus sighed and answered.

“…There’s absolutely nothing wrong with your memory, intelligence, or reasoning.”

“If that’s correct, then I think I can accurately inform Your Highness about the current situation, which is fortunate. So I’ll report the subsequent events.”

It was speech that observed all courtesy and etiquette.

No matter how royal Maximus was, he couldn’t find fault with my words.

I continued my report with loyalty on the surface and criticism at its core.

“So Alpheus rushed here to save Your Highness. After hearing the last words Your Highness left, he tried even harder to resolve things somehow. It’s an honor to be able to report my elder brother’s loyalty.”

For everyone to hear, ‘I’m entering the forest for Alpheus’s sake.’

Wasn’t that clearly pushing for people to be moved by friendship?

Maximus didn’t particularly refute it. He just remained silent with a strange expression.

“Anyway.”

I slowly closed and opened my eyes.

“So Alpheus came this far, I followed, and we solved the ‘Curse of Sleep.’ Now we just need to get out and everything will be over. It’s all thanks to Your Highness’s grace.”

Very politely, prostrating myself more than necessary so no fault could be found.

“So I dare ask.”

Finally, I stated my conclusion.

“Since everything has turned out as Your Highness desired, would it be acceptable to ask if we may record this as Sears’s infinite glory in the Sears history books?”

Maximus still said nothing, only quietly raising his eyebrows.

Silence flowed between us.

His light brown hair fluttered in the wind. Kind-looking, slightly drooping green eyes gazed at me quietly.

“Since when?”

After a long silence, he asked.

“Since when did you realize it was all a scheme I orchestrated?”

“How could I dare…”

“I’d really appreciate it if you’d drop that way of speaking. Yeonae, you know well what kind of treatment I received in the Imperial Palace, don’t you?”

Maximus said in a gentle tone.

“Even the youngest court attendant in the Imperial Palace didn’t speak to me with such courtesy.”

I knew that well too. That the ‘treatment’ wasn’t the kind where he could speak so casually.

“That kind of Imperial Palace flattery speech is too… creepy.”

That’s how I discovered Maximus’s weakness.

“Please just treat me as you would a comfortable friend of your elder brother. I ask again. Since when did Yeonae realize my intentions?”

So I answered calmly.

“From the beginning…”

Maximus opened his mouth slightly, looking greatly surprised.

I looked at that expression and added.

“…No, that wasn’t it. If that were the case, I never would have come to the Southern Region.”

In fact, I hadn’t harbored any suspicions about the Second Prince. Not even when the Second Empress sent a large sum of money along with her letter.

In the original work, the Second Prince dies early on, so there wasn’t much description of him. So I just thought, ‘I guess he has a recklessly kind personality similar to Alpheus.’

But I realized it when I heard Harrison’s words in front of the forest.

“The Second Prince said this. That the most precious thing to him is friendship. He said there was no time to hesitate because he needed to quickly return to the Imperial Palace and report Alpheus’s achievements to His Majesty the Emperor to resolve his poverty.”

Yet he had already told the Second Empress to send money before winter.

From the standpoint of having arranged a backup plan in advance, there was no reason to say ‘there’s no time to hesitate.’

And even giving him the benefit of the doubt, well, even if he really wanted to work hard to get Alpheus recognized by the Emperor, it was definitely strange.

“Actually, I said earlier that I would go in for the Second Prince’s sake, but honestly, I was a little scared too. I could have fallen asleep in there and never come out for the rest of my life.”

It was a forest that even made protagonist Alpheus, who suffers from protagonist syndrome, hesitate.

Even after hearing the speculation from the Marquis of Naisar Family that ‘Charm doesn’t work on Sears.’

Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t have been able to step foot in there easily either. If only I hadn’t been muttering strange things to myself lately.

‘But a person of the Second Prince’s status recklessly jumped into this forest?’

And after saying things that would provoke Alpheus’s sense of friendship and loyalty?

After which the Second Empress sent money to Alpheus, putting him in debt again?

‘He definitely lured Alpheus to enter this forest.’

I was certain.

‘This person knew something. That something would be resolved if Alpheus came in.’

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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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