The Isolated Marchioness Just Wants to Make a Living - Chapter 13

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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 13

In the end, he had no choice but to reveal his identity and go to Baron Hawin’s Estate. It was because he was the owner of a wealthy territory in this vicinity.

Anyway, he was facing an indefinite period of living as a guest, but he couldn’t go to Sears where a twelve-year-old child was acting as lord.

Indeed, Baron Hawin welcomed him very warmly.

“Not going to Sears was an excellent choice! They probably don’t even have enough to feed themselves right now!”

Baron Forman knew nothing about farming, but he still tried to respond subtly.

“Still, they have Erenta, so they can catch fish, can’t they? I heard they also planted potatoes on the plain.”

Then Baron Hawin and his daughter, Dahlia, immediately responded.

“That land has poor productivity. They’ve grown olive trees for hundreds of years, but have hardly ever made a profit from olives. Whatever they plant probably won’t grow well.”

“Erenta is the same. Only small fish live in that river, and you can’t survive on just those and potatoes, right?”

The words that followed were almost all pessimistic.

“Even if they try to plant something new, they probably don’t have spare seeds. Around Erenta, they usually grow autumn radish. It’s spring now. Even if they try to grow something else, they won’t have many seeds. Other crops are just grown by individual households for fun.”

Listening to this, the situation in the Sears Marquis Territory was truly dire. So Baron Forman wanted to know the severity of the situation so badly that he couldn’t help but disguise himself as a fisherman.

Then he encountered Brisa, who was returning from patrolling the territory.

‘Hmm?’

Baron Forman blinked slowly.

‘Territory patrol at this time. A little miss?’

He impulsively spoke to her. Saying that the fish weren’t biting well.

He thought she might be offended. But surprisingly, she looked at him with very sympathetic eyes.

Though she didn’t say it out loud, her face clearly showed pity.

‘She’s a noble who cares for commoners more than I thought.’

And she didn’t make a show of it either.

Baron Forman examined Brisa carefully. She was indeed as beautiful as a porcelain doll.

‘I heard that from childhood, the last princess of Riente raised and personally educated her like she was made of gold and jade?’

He had heard she was a renowned genius of the Central Region.

But even if she was such a genius… in this kind of situation, she couldn’t shine. Ancient scripts and such things don’t put food on the table.

It seemed like he would soon see this child at Baron Hawin’s Estate. A young girl begging for just one sack of flour…

That’s when it happened.

Brisa quietly gave some order to her maid.

The maid was startled, but didn’t resist and rummaged through her pocket to hand something to Brisa.

‘…Paper? No, is it a card?’

Brisa took a pen from the maid and wrote something on that card-like object right there. Then she held it out to Baron Forman.

Baron Forman accepted the card in bewilderment.

[Invitation Card]

It was an extremely elegant, high-quality invitation card that might have been used 50 years ago.

‘Riente style.’

I heard that in Riente, maids carry invitation cards around. So that when their master wants to continue socializing with someone, they can immediately present an invitation card.

[To Mr. (Oliver Hansen)

In the hall of the Sears Marquis Estate, steeped in the fragrance of time,

We wish to prepare a (dinner banquet) to host an esteemed guest.

Under the gentle candlelight and the melody of strings,

When the deep bell rings three times and the doors open,

We hope that Mr. (Oliver Hansen)’s precious footsteps

Will become the final touch of elegance that completes our gathering.]

Inside the parentheses was Brisa’s neat handwriting, freshly written.

Baron Forman momentarily wondered if he had time-traveled.

Even in the Western Region, where aristocratic culture was most developed, this style of invitation had long gone out of fashion.

Baron Forman frowned as he checked the date.

‘A month and a half from now?’

Even if they emptied the marquis manor’s warehouse completely, surviving for a month would be difficult, wouldn’t it?

“Normally we should receive a written reply separately…”

Brisa asked elegantly.

“Would it be alright to hear your answer now? Given the circumstances, I can’t guarantee the postal service will function properly.”

“I, I’ll come!”

Baron Forman answered in genuine bewilderment.

“I’ll visit at the appointed time. It’s truly an honor.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

Brisa nodded slightly, then turned around first, accompanied by the maids.

Baron Forman blinked while holding the invitation card.

‘What just happened… Well, really.’

He couldn’t guess the girl’s intentions at all.

‘What’s her motive?’

* * *

‘By then he’ll be very hungry, and if the old man starves, it’ll be difficult…’

I thought to myself, leaving Baron Forman behind.

‘Right, he’s come all this way and is suffering, so I can at least treat him to a meal in the Central Region.’

He’ll probably go hungry if he stays at that baron’s estate.

‘Selling horses to buy dairy cows…’

I swallowed a sigh.

‘That’s how he ended up selling me and the maids. If he hadn’t done that, he could have held out a bit longer.’

Actually, whether he did or didn’t, it had nothing to do with me.

But what unexpectedly moved my heart was the old man’s work ethic.

“Th-thank you. Thank you, Miss.”

He wasn’t fishing. He was on duty.

At his age, still trying to make a living by following Grand Duke Nogen’s orders…

A month and a half from now would be when the food shortage hit Baron Hawin’s estate too.

‘Judging by how he appears again in the original story later, he’ll safely return to the western region, but still, he should at least have a proper meal.’

I had a psychological debt to Leopold.

He might have already forgotten, but I felt like I could never forget that debt for the rest of my life. So I could at least treat Baron Forman to a meal.

We would probably be quite well-off by then, and also…

‘He’s Leopold’s grandfather.’

Thinking about that, even two meals would be fine.

When we arrived at the marquis manor like that, Masa, who I had sent to Jezel Street in the morning, had already arrived.

I met her in the garden.

“Miss! I bought everything you requested as ordered. Just as you said, the market prices have dropped quite a bit.”

Masa didn’t look happy.

“But they say an order came down to Jezel Street. Not to trade with people from Sears…”

I expected as much.

Jezel Street, where the shops were concentrated, was no longer part of Sears Marquis Territory. It was the first action Baron Hawin could take after deciding to strangle Sears.

“It doesn’t matter.”

I said nonchalantly.

“It’s only a matter of time before they run out of food ingredients there anyway.”

Before I knew it, knights had flocked to the garden to see what Masa had brought.

“I naturally thought you would plant these seed potatoes in the garden and courtyard…”

“The garden has another use.”

The owners of the garden I had in mind were…

“Cock-a-doodle-doo, cluck cluck cluck…”

“Peep, peep peep!”

The knights exclaimed in admiration.

“So cute!”

“My goodness, look at the shine on their feathers.”

I also quietly crouched down and petted the chicks that came with the chickens. And I looked at the chickens with eyes that found them absolutely adorable as I spoke.

“They’re our protein source.”

Raising chickens requires land.

However, since the Central Region doesn’t have much land, this area developed the distribution industry instead of the poultry industry.

Chickens were simply raised three or four at a time in households with large yards, so the chickens in the market weren’t originally intended for the Sears Marquis Territory.

Therefore, they all had to be sold through Sears as a transit point to other regions.

But since buyers couldn’t come, the prices had no choice but to drop.

Moreover, it was burdensome for households to buy more chickens.

Because chickens don’t grow for free.

‘These guys need to eat something too.’

So increasing their numbers was a burden in a situation where food shortage was expected.

“But do these guys… eat things like flour?”

Langsi, who came to see the chicks, expressed intense concern about whether there was anything to feed them.

“Then all of you, if we count by knights, would eat one person’s worth? You need to grow well and protect the territory properly…”

I relieved his worries.

“We have dried rice bran and wheat bran in the warehouse. Start by scattering that first.”

“If you give us the rice bran and wheat bran remaining in the guild warehouse, I’ll also let you collect roots.”

Rice bran and wheat bran were nothing but trash to grain merchants. I asked for them knowing this. All of what remained in the warehouse, at that.

A month and a half passed like that.

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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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