The Isolated Marchioness Just Wants to Make a Living - Chapter 165

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

Chapter 165

Baureliandugius came running from far away.

I hurriedly picked up Baureliandugius.

“I apologize, Your Majesty the Empress Dowager.”

Baureliandugius moved his mouth as if pretending to bark for anyone to see.

I quickly whispered “No” and then spoke in a flustered voice.

“This is a puppy I’ve been keeping close lately, and he won’t leave my side, so I had no choice but to bring him. Since entry to the banquet hall interior is prohibited, I’ll take him away immediately.”

“He doesn’t seem trained enough to be brought to a banquet hall.”

The Empress Dowager looked at Baureliandugius with disinterested eyes and sighed.

“How about having a servant take him away?”

At the same time, a maid who had been waiting behind came forward.

Then Baureliandugius threateningly bared his fangs at the maid and growled. The beast’s message of ‘I’ll bite you if you lay a hand on me’ was firm.

I hurriedly bowed my head and answered.

“I’ll take him away myself immediately. He’s very particular about people, so I’m worried he might hurt someone else.”

Just then, Baureliandugius sniffed around and sneezed violently.

“Achoo!”

“I’m, I’m, I’m sorry!”

I stepped back while holding Baureliandugius tightly.

“I’ll have a servant send him home entirely. I’m truly sorry.”

The Empress Dowager slowly nodded her head.

“Very well. The night is long for the banquet, so let’s meet again.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

I carefully stepped backward and then turned around appropriately. My heart was pounding.

Before I knew it, Alpheus had approached.

“Hey, Baduk! How could you run straight to Brisa after staying still?”

He pretended to scold Baureliandugius and then whispered quietly to me.

“Did it go well? You said to pretend to let him loose appropriately.”

“Yeah, it went well.”

I answered with a grin.

“I successfully applied the ‘tracking scent’ to that ring.”

Well, I chose a somewhat messy method.

Baureliandugius looked quite dissatisfied. He must have felt uncomfortable having water mixed with tracking scent in his mouth.

Moreover, sneezing was ‘completely unbecoming of a noble.’ I was certain it was Leopold’s first sneeze in front of others.

“It’s Baureliandugius. Not Baduk.”

I glared at Alpheus and corrected him. Of course, it didn’t work.

“We’ve become friends, so I can call you by a nickname.”

Baureliandugius looked completely disagreeable, but Alpheus muttered contentedly.

“Our Baduk successfully completed his very important first mission of sneezing.”

Meanwhile, I was a bit dissatisfied for another reason.

The Empress Dowager didn’t say anything about Alpheus.

If she had said something like ‘I heard about my elder brother,’ I could have introduced him as Marquis Sears.

As expected, her face showed no interest at all.

It was different from the Empress on the other side who was looking at Alpheus with an incredulous expression. That was closer to hatred than indifference.

“Did anyone talk nonsense while I was gone?”

I whispered to Alpheus.

Harrison was also in the banquet hall because of the operation, so Alpheus had been alone on the terrace while I went to see the Empress Dowager.

It was obviously the perfect environment for villains to appear and get under his skin.

Alpheus asked while holding Baureliandugius.

“Nonsense? Who would talk nonsense to me?”

“…About your background, things like that.”

Even as I spoke, I gritted my teeth. Thinking about how Gillab had looked down on Alpheus in the Eastern Region made my fighting spirit boil.

It was fine for me to criticize Alpheus as naturally as breathing. But others weren’t allowed to.

“There was no rude person who said such things!”

Meanwhile, Baureliandugius desperately escaped from Alpheus’s arms.

After that, he approached a dog water bowl prepared on one side of the terrace and rinsed his mouth with water. The neat noble wolf seemed displeased with the tracking scent-mixed water remaining in his mouth.

Alpheus continued cheerfully.

“There was just one person who kindly approached me saying he wanted to see my dagger skills. He said he was the Young Duke of Divostan, and he was much more friendly than that friend of yours, Gillab or whatever!”

The Young Duke of Divostan would be Ethan Dibostan, the first son of the Divostan family. With a bad feeling, I slowly asked back.

“…What?”

“He said he didn’t know much about dagger skills but it would be an honor to see my abilities, and he praised me in front of others!”

My expression completely hardened.

Baureliandugius, who had been rinsing his mouth with water several times, also spat out water with a “pffft.”

“I was grateful that someone older than me approached first, but it was a bit disappointing. Outsiders are prohibited from bringing weapons.”

Anger began to boil inside me.

Nobles don’t learn dagger skills. They consider it unbecoming of nobility.

Even if they learned it for self-defense, they only used it in emergencies. Moreover, as Alpheus pointed out, outsiders are prohibited from carrying weapons when entering the Imperial Palace.

In other words… he wasn’t really interested in dagger skills, but literally mocked him by elegantly saying ‘You’re from mercenary origins, aren’t you?’

“So what did you say?”

To think such a thing happened while I was briefly away.

Then Alpheus answered brightly.

“I also said I recommended dagger skills to my younger sister! No matter how noble she is, you never know what might happen in this harsh world, so shouldn’t she at least be able to protect herself? I told him to try learning with his younger brothers!”

At the same time, both Baureliandugius and I froze with our mouths open.

“Then he said he had to greet someone else and left? I hope we meet again later. I could recommend types of daggers that suit his build too.”

Of course, Alpheus would have answered sincerely.

He really gave me a dagger as a birthday present and actually taught me a few times.

“Brisa, it’s time for you to learn simple self-defense too. I’ll teach you directly.”

But considering that ‘dagger skills’ symbolized commoner blood in that conversation, and mentioning ‘younger brothers’ on top of that…

It could be interpreted as ‘Even noble-blooded Brisa had her marquis title taken by me, who has commoner blood. You could face the same between siblings, so be careful.’

‘He completely gave him a strong comeback, didn’t he?’

I rolled my eyes while looking at the grinning Alpheus.

Literally, he had perfectly countered Ethan, but being recognized as a worthy opponent was better than being ignored as a ‘stupid pushover.’

‘Is he really the protagonist? Why does his attack power become customized and strong when dealing with others?’

He cheerfully defeated Leopold’s Western dialect, and now he subtly and chillingly repaid the Young Duke of Divostan’s insult…

Just then.

As soon as the first dance ended, Harrison, who had been dancing with Silvia in the bustling banquet hall, raised his hand and shouted.

“Wait a moment!”

Baureliandugius, Alpheus, and I quickly made eye contact.

Now the full-scale operation to secure the ring was being carried out.

“Please, just for a moment, I ask for your cooperation. Dark magic energy is being detected.”

He took something out from his chest. It was the document proving the Magic Tower’s investigation authority.

“If you could grant me the Magic Tower’s investigation authority in recognition of my past contributions, I think I could be of more help.”

This was why I had Harrison obtain investigation authority to use at times like this.

“I received investigation authority from the Magic Tower due to my unprecedented sensitivity to dark magic.”

The Magic Tower Master and mages couldn’t attend the banquet. Therefore, Harrison, with his noble status, was the only one who could raise this issue here.

“What appears to have dark magic cast on it seems to be the ladies’ rings. Since it’s being detected within the banquet hall, could I please examine the ladies’ rings just once?”

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