The Isolated Marchioness Just Wants to Make a Living - Chapter 108

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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 108

While I was recalling the original story that had now changed so drastically.

Alpheus energetically steeled his resolve.

“We should help each other in difficult times! Besides, Harrison is like a brother to me.”

“You… You said I was like a brother to you too… At this rate, you’ll make brothers across the entire continent. And what can we possibly do for an impoverished territory…”

“Ah, Your Highness doesn’t know?”

Alpheus winked and smiled mischievously like a little rascal.

“We were famous throughout the Western Region as the ‘farming genius siblings.'”

Unable to bear watching this scene, I hurriedly hugged the wolf-dog while Alpheus proudly declared.

“I’m the ‘elder brother’ part of that duo!”

“I see. That’s quite an honorable and splendid position.”

He agreed halfheartedly, then raised his eyebrows and tried to persuade Alpheus.

“Let’s just go up to the capital and I’ll ask His Majesty the Emperor for Southern Region support funds. You’re already a hero of the south just for breaking the Curse of Sleep.”

Of course, to be precise, the person who broke the Curse of Sleep was me. Not Alpheus.

But I didn’t want to reveal that much to Maximus. So I just didn’t point it out.

I had deliberately glossed over the situation earlier too.

“So Alpheus came this far, I followed along, the ‘Curse of Sleep’ has been resolved, and now we just need to get out and everything will be finished.”

“Combined with your contributions to the Northern Region civil war, you’ll surely receive substantial rewards from the Imperial Court.”

“That might be possible, but His Majesty will likely refuse the Southern Region support funds.”

I shrugged and interjected.

“Imperial support for the south would be unfair. The Western Region experienced an unprecedented monster wave, but the Imperial Court didn’t provide support.”

“That… might be true?”

Maximus was surprised by the twelve-year-old who wasn’t easily swayed.

“I didn’t know Lady had… this kind of personality.”

Because I had once been a child who easily went along with anything in front of the Empress Dowager.

“You were the one who asked me to treat you like Elder Brother’s close friend, Your Highness.”

I bowed my head as I spoke.

“Of course, Your Great Highness can withdraw that command at any time…”

“No, please!”

Maximus had his usual allergic reaction.

“Please, anything but that way of speaking!”

Meanwhile, Alpheus tilted his head and interjected uncertainly.

“I broke the Curse of Sleep? I just collapsed while beating up Lady Delmia.”

From his perspective, that’s how it would seem.

“So I had a really good dream too…”

I resolved never to ask about that good dream, but unfortunately, a disaster occurred when Maximus mechanically displayed social courtesy and asked the question.

“A good dream?”

“Yes.”

Alpheus’s eyes became dreamy and curved gently.

“It was a really good dream. When I called her ‘Bri-bri,’ Brisa called me ‘Brother Alphy.’ We lit a fire by the riverside in Erenta and roasted sweet potatoes and chestnuts. We blew soap bubbles and released sky lanterns, and on the lanterns we wrote wishes…”

I couldn’t stand it anymore and finally became serious.

“Absolutely not. If you release sky lanterns carelessly, you’ll cause a forest fire.”

“Right.”

Alpheus sighed and said.

“Now I can clearly tell this isn’t a dream. And as expected, our little sister isn’t even curious about what wish I wrote on the sky lantern.”

Watching this, Maximus rolled his eyes as if troubled.

“You… seem to get along much better with Miss Brisa than I expected.”

“Of course! She’s my only family!”

I looked at him and casually asked.

“Then if His Highness and I disagree, whose word would you believe?”

“Ah!”

Alpheus smiled brightly.

“I’ve always wanted to be asked this kind of question. Like ‘Do you like Mom or Dad better?’ and such questions, right? Of course I’d believe our Brisa!”

He answered without a moment’s hesitation.

“Because Her Majesty the Second Empress will believe Your Highness’s words!”

I looked at Maximus triumphantly.

Under the premise that Maximus wanted to unconditionally be on the same side as Alpheus…

“So I have to listen to Brisa no matter what!”

It was the moment when the power dynamic between Maximus and me completely reversed.

Only Alpheus, who noticed nothing, continued chattering enthusiastically.

“Can I keep talking about my dream? Anyway, the best part of my dream was…”

He hugged the wolf-dog next to me and smiled brightly.

“We stole the wolf-dog from Leopold! So the wolf-dog became completely my dog! In that dream, the wolf-dog refused to sleep with you and only slept with me! He kept staying close only to me!”

Hearing this, the wolf-dog growled.

Maximus kept tilting his head in confusion.

“Dogs can’t understand such complex speech…”

Even so, he didn’t seriously object, worried I might say something like ‘Should I record it as a bird then, Your Highness?’

I looked at Alpheus and vaguely summarized the situation.

“Anyway, well, you must have unleashed some finishing move before you collapsed.”

“Maybe? I did hit her hard.”

Alpheus was probably the only person who could beat up the Empire’s greatest beauty, nearly naked, with such matter-of-fact composure.

I stroked the wolf-dog’s head and suggested.

“Then let’s go outside now. We need to see Marquis Naisar first.”

Of course, there were still various mysteries to solve.

First, why did Maximus use himself as bait to lure Alpheus here?

Second, what connection was there between my calling ‘true names’ and the Ancient Curse?

‘After roughly hearing the Second Prince’s words, I think I’m getting the gist of it…’

But the most important thing, as always, was making a living.

“And remember what I asked Marquis Naisar? About doing some gathering. Please help me with that.”

“Oh, right!”

Alpheus responded like a skilled worker.

“What should we take? A lot?”

“For now, the more the better.”

Then Maximus stepped forward.

“I’ll help too!”

Of course, I had already finished all my major evaluations of him.

‘He’ll be useful for heavy lifting.’

So I didn’t decline and bowed my head.

“If Your Highness’s noble hands would help us, it would be infinite glory for Sears…”

“Please stop… Lady, are you making fun of me?”

The Second Prince, who grew up reading people’s faces, was quick to catch on.

I immediately denied it.

“Of course not, absolutely not.”

Making fun? This was revenge.

“I’m just asking that Your Highness continue to ‘use’ us in the future…”

“Please, please stop!”

When the word ‘use’ came up, Maximus jumped in shock.

‘That’s what you get for doing things you can’t be proud of in front of the people involved.’

Even if he used himself as bait.

‘If he used Alpheus, then it’s only natural for me to use him in return.’

Even though the outcome was good, I didn’t feel pleased about being used. So we had to use him much more thoroughly on our side to repay this resentment.

As I was making this resolution, Maximus looked around and asked.

“What, should I take some fancy mushrooms I’ve never seen before?”

He added seriously.

“If Yeonae is really on my side, don’t use that tone with me and just stuff those mushrooms into my mouth instead.”

“Well, we’re not going to gather mushrooms…”

I raised my head to look up.

The large, unusual Southern leaves that could no longer serve as a barrier and hung limply.

In the original story, Alpheus takes one of these leaves with him.

He tears it off thinking it’s hard glass, but it was described as going limp the moment he left the forest.

‘He just throws it away, saying it’s translucent and tough but completely useless.’

But from the moment I recalled the original story, I had been coveting these leaves terribly.

‘It’s exactly like plastic.’

In fact, I had come to the Southern Region practically because of these leaves.

“Now, those leaves.”

I said, pointing upward.

“Let’s take as many as possible.”

This is just the beginning, surely the honorable Prince wouldn’t go back on his word?

* * *

At that moment, outside the forest.

“Actually, I don’t really know. I don’t know anything.”

Delmia was crying and sniffling while wrapped in Alpheus’s cloak.

She had luckily fallen to the forest boundary when the wind swept through.

After that, she met Cheria and Harrison and told them what had happened.

“How did I end up like this… But Brisa told me the name of the demon that was controlling me, and from then on I was able to confine the demon inside me.”

At the same time, people who had been asleep in the forest began staggering out.

Everyone was dumbfounded and in confusion.

While Cheria gathered them to explain the situation, Harrison asked Delmia with a stunned expression.

“You confined it?”

He looked at his little sister with apparent anxiety.

“It didn’t… disappear?”

“Yes. It’s inside me. I can feel it.”

Delmia said, trembling all over.

Harrison let out a shaky sigh. He thought that Delmia might lose control again.

If that was the case, they still weren’t safe.

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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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