The Isolated Marchioness Just Wants to Make a Living - Chapter 163

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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 163

“I received your letter well.”

The Emperor in his fifties still looked robust. From the Crown Prince’s perspective, this must be a frustrating fact.

“I greet His Majesty the Emperor.”

Hilberry stood up with his crutch and paid his respects.

The Emperor waved his hand dismissively and said.

“I’d prefer we skip the troublesome procedures between us. By the way, you said you wanted a private audience.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Before coming to the capital, Hilberry had already sent a letter to the Emperor at Leopold’s request.

“Why delay unnecessarily? It’s better to speak quickly about what needs to be said. I’m not at an age to be dancing anyway.”

The Emperor spoke heartily.

“The congratulatory speech and opening remarks are scheduled after the second dance. Let’s finish before then.”

The Emperor disliked formalities and was the type to handle government affairs by gathering opinions appropriately.

Since he didn’t wield his power arbitrarily, few people had major complaints against him, but correspondingly, the Emperor had no personal achievements either.

However, Hilberry thought that ‘maintaining the status quo without disturbance’ was no easy task either.

Just as no one held the Emperor accountable, no one knew his true feelings or thoughts. Perhaps even the Empress and imperial concubines didn’t know.

Well, regardless of his judgment about the Emperor, Hilberry also wasn’t fond of dragging things out.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

He adjusted his grip on the crutch and limped along, following the Emperor.

* * *

Leopold slowly stepped outside.

The western entrance of the banquet hall was connected to the garden.

Near the garden entrance, in the bushes, Brisa was waiting for him with a cloth bag.

“You came alone without being seen by anyone, right?”

They were planning to go to a secluded place to transform.

For the ‘ring theft operation,’ Leopold needed to transform into a small dog.

Usually, the garden served as an excellent hiding place for men and women who had taken a liking to each other. It was a perfect meeting place where even servants tactfully avoided stepping foot.

Therefore, since the first dance at the banquet hadn’t even started yet, it wasn’t time for people to be crowding around.

“Looking from afar earlier, the Empress Dowager indeed came wearing that ring. Now we just need to steal it according to plan and destroy it.”

Brisa spoke quickly after making eye contact with Leopold.

“I hope you’ll be completely free from that damn curse tonight.”

Leopold raised his eyebrows and replied.

“For our first conversation after meeting at the banquet, this is too urgent, Brisa. Shouldn’t we at least exchange greetings?”

However, Brisa completely ignored his point and urged him on.

“Keep your distance and follow me. Let’s go quickly.”

Her voice pointing toward the garden restroom was somewhat stiff.

“If we’re both absent for too long, someone might suspect we disappeared together.”

Then she turned around and walked quickly, saying.

“It won’t be good if unnecessary rumors spread.”

Leopold sighed once. The golden ribbon adorning her hair scattered his vision chaotically like starlight.

“Brisa.”

He impulsively called out to the thirteen-year-old girl who was worried about scandals.

“What?”

Brisa looked back at him with slight irritation.

He asked quietly.

“If I asked you to get engaged again, would you do it?”

“No.”

The answer came very quickly.

She didn’t even give him a reason and quickly resumed her hurried steps.

Leopold finally moved his long legs and began walking about one step behind her.

Then she immediately became irritated.

“I told you to keep a proper distance. What if someone sees us from a window? I don’t want to become a laughingstock for sticking around with my ex-fiancé.”

“If I stay farther away, conversation becomes impossible. Does breaking off an engagement mean I can’t even talk while walking with you?”

“Did being around Harrison make you forget the concept of priorities? Engagement or broken engagement, that’s not what’s important to us right now.”

“Hmm, Harrison was indeed remarkably low-intelligence. But I have pretty good brain immunity, so I overcame the contagion.”

Leopold shrugged and said.

“I didn’t forget priorities, it’s just that… it seems like you’re showing the same symptoms I suffered from three years ago, so I brought it up.”

“What are you talking about?”

Only then did Brisa stop walking and turn back to look at Leopold.

Leopold also stopped walking and looked down at her, speaking slowly.

“After the curse manifested, I thought I was too inadequate for you.”

“What?”

“I felt like I was holding you back, so I couldn’t even think of standing beside you. I was afraid I’d be a burden to you somehow.”

At his sincere confession, Brisa’s pale blue eyes wavered momentarily.

“When today’s work goes well and my curse is completely lifted…”

The midnight garden was quiet.

Now dance music was flowing from far away, indicating the first dance had begun.

“You’re thinking of avoiding me. You’re already starting to act on it at public events like this.”

The number of dance songs they couldn’t dance together despite being at the same banquet kept increasing.

Amid the cheerful waltz music, he spoke calmly.

“I understand that feeling completely. I’ve experienced it all myself.”

Brisa’s lips moved slightly, but she said nothing.

Leopold could guess all of Brisa’s inner thoughts.

Leopold, freed from the curse, would become the ‘perfect Grand Duke who has everything’ again.

Actually, they didn’t really know how to destroy the ring, whether destroying it would solve everything, or what the full story behind this matter was.

They had postponed the unknowns, deciding to ask the necromancer in Rudolph Village in the North later.

But anyway, things were going smoothly… the ‘contamination’ was resolved, so the Western Region had no more worries.

On the other hand, Brisa was the target the Dark Mages were after to complete their experiments.

Unless they completely eradicated the Dark Mages across the sea, Brisa would probably have to live her entire life in that anxiety.

She was the child who couldn’t even tell her elder brother because she was afraid of being a burden.

So surely Brisa must be thinking she was now an inadequate match for Leopold.

At a banquet with so many people gathered, she would obviously try even harder not to cause him trouble with unnecessary gossip.

“But as someone who’s suffered from that ‘I’m inadequate so I must let my partner go’ disease, let me tell you.”

Leopold spoke quietly to the silent Brisa.

“That’s pretty tough. So don’t do that.”

“What…”

“You haven’t seen me getting close to other girls until now. That’s why you don’t know that pain. It’s probably better if you never know.”

Brisa finally sighed openly.

“So what are you trying to say? Don’t tell me you want to get engaged?”

Finally, she properly opened her mouth.

“Alpheus clearly said he wouldn’t arrange an engagement while I’m a minor. And even without Alpheus’s interference, I don’t want to. One engagement where the conditions are heavily tilted and I become a one-sided beneficiary is enough for my lifetime.”

Now logical harsh words were obviously about to pour out.

“Didn’t you desperately pretend not to know my feelings because you didn’t want to do that either? People like us are terrified of becoming a burden to others.”

“Wow.”

Leopold shrugged once.

“How can you follow the exact same thought process I had back then? You’re not two years younger than me for nothing, are you?”

“As I keep saying, our mental ages are similar. But do we really have to have this conversation now? We haven’t even achieved step one of our operation.”

“Yeah. Sorry, but I’m about to lose the ability to speak.”

Leopold said, pointing to the restroom.

“So I have to do this on the way there.”

“Then let’s finish this quickly. Just summarize the main points of how your thoughts have changed after aging two more years and wrap it up.”

“Well, just. The conclusion is simple.”

He spoke while taking in the sight of Brisa’s golden ribbon fluttering in the wind.

“Don’t miss out on small momentary impulses while worrying too much about the distant future, something obvious like that.”

The unsmiling girl’s eyes deepened.

Leopold continued with a faint smile.

“From what I’ve lived through, the time you can endure with moments when you were briefly greedy turns out to be longer than expected.”

Brisa stared intently at his face. Perhaps nervous, her small hands kept fidgeting with the hem of her skirt.

“We’re still young, so even if much later you meet another man instead of me…”

At this part, he had to suffer from shortness of breath for a moment.

“If he’s the type who can’t recognize your true worth because of this level of scandal, just don’t meet him.”

They had been strange from the very beginning.

They proceeded with a thoroughly political engagement. Hidden their sincerity in the deepest place due to guilt over concealing their shortcomings.

Even during their engagement, they didn’t expect to truly end up together.

So they missed every opportunity that ordinary boys and girls would have to naturally grow closer.

With the music heard from far away as background, he asked, unable to hide his nervousness.

“…So, may I walk beside you?”

His voice trembled slightly.

“The garden is pretty, isn’t it.”

Surprisingly, they had never once taken a walk alone together.

“The night breeze is cool, the smell of grass is nice, and the flowers are beautiful.”

What the boy truly wanted after facing Brisa who had been waiting.

“Let’s walk together, even if just for a moment.”

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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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