The Isolated Marchioness Just Wants to Make a Living - Chapter 218

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Part 2, Episode 23
‘Ordinarily when something bothers me……. Wait.’
Maximus’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Don’t tell me the Grand Duke doesn’t approve of Brisa as his match?”
Alpheus answered with a displeased cough instead.
Maximus tilted his head and asked.
“But there’s hardly anyone on this entire continent as suitable as Nogen the Grand Duke, is there? You’re not one of those immature types who whines that my little sister should live with me forever, are you?”
“That’s absolutely not it. If she finds a good match and makes a fresh start, of course I should bless her and support her, even if my own heart feels wistful and bitter.”
Alpheus drew a sharp breath, then drained his glass in one gulp.
“But that scheming little brat from Nogen…… sigh…….”
Alpheus, his face a tangle of conflicting emotions, poured his glass full of wine again and tossed it back.
Maximus shook his head firmly.
“Now, Alpheus. That Grand Duke has been like a walking etiquette manual since childhood. You can’t call his careful courtesy scheming.”
“Ha! Etiquette?”
“Of course emotions may linger from the broken engagement process due to changed circumstances. But couldn’t you also frame that as simply a preference for clean, uncomplicated relations?”
“Ha! Ha! Clean?”
“Especially to you—hasn’t he treated you equally from the very first moment, without the slightest prejudice, exactly as he does Brisa?”
“Ha! Ha! Ha! Equally?”
Alpheus’s hand trembled as he held the glass.
“If that were true, he’d have come to my bed!”
In that instant, Maximus’s expression hardened.
“You’re drunk.”
And he immediately rose and turned away.
“I did want to share frank words with you, but not to this degree…….”
Alpheus pressed his forehead and sighed heavily. Then he shook his head and muttered.
“How much did I do for him…… how much…….”
In the end, Maximus picked up the wine bottle and stood.
“Well, it’s getting late. You should get some rest. Starting tomorrow, in any case, we need to go see those strange flowers. Hahahaha…….”
* * *
Five days had passed in Behila.
Though there had been some misunderstanding, Alpheus had actually devised a fairly decent remedy for Brisa.
Having stayed for several days due to Gillab’s insistence, Brisa announced she would remain for “just one week” before beginning to survey the entire territory.
“Wendy is sufficient as my escort.”
Brisa had instructed Alpheus.
“Don’t waste your time—practice with your sword.”
Alpheus still wasn’t comfortable handling a blade. Everything else was fine, but he had no tactile sensation.
“But still…….”
“By my assessment, vampires absolutely cannot reach here.”
Brisa spoke seriously.
“If I’m being hyperbolic, this land is safer than the Imperial Palace itself.”
“That statement is incorrect.”
Maximus too nodded in agreement.
“There’s no need for hyperbole whatsoever.”
In any case, Alpheus took up his sword in the Behila Mansion’s training grounds, while Brisa, attended by Wendy, dispensed counsel here and there.
The first day was the tomato field near the Warp.
“You said you told Alpheus that this land was always the same to him? You’ve been planting tomatoes for years, so they’re wilted and weak. The soil’s depleted of nutrients. Plant peanuts in between.”
On the second day, she offered her thoughts on crop selection.
“Herbs…… they’re simple to cultivate, but the Western Region right next door produces them massively. You can’t compete on price. Since your population density is higher than the West, try planting something more expensive that requires more labor-intensive care.”
On the third day, she made a comment that Gillab would absolutely never accept.
“Garlic is fine to plant—absolutely fine. But there’s no reason for the garlic field to be this massive…….”
The fourth and fifth days were similar.
“Cherries split easily when it rains—why plant them here? What? Because Gillab likes them? That’s poor taste. Tell him to change it.”
All the while, Gillab had trailed after her. As he did, he instructed the servant beside him to take careful notes of everything Brisa said.
Seeing this, Brisa spun around sharply and scoffed.
“Didn’t you say before that nobles didn’t need to concern themselves with this sort of thing?”
“Of course!”
Gillab raised his chin confidently.
“High nobility are so busy cultivating refinement. This sort of thing is naturally what people worried about feeding themselves should care about, isn’t it? Why would someone like me, of Divostan’s direct lineage, need to know this?”
“Then why are you doing this?”
“For my children! My children won’t be high nobility.”
Brisa’s mouth fell open at Gillab’s objective, unwavering logic.
“As time passes, my children, my grandchildren—they’ll live as mere lords. Won’t they need to worry about making a living then?”
Gillab spoke with his arms crossed.
“Besides, my brother’s out for my blood. Once he becomes Duke, I don’t think he’ll be sending me any stipends.”
In other words, he’d burned bridges with his source of funds.
“Of course I have my own private wealth, so I’ll live well. But what if I have three children? If they have to split this territory among them, it’d be nice if they all lived comfortably.”
Brisa regarded him quietly.
In truth, no one understood the weight of not receiving a noble title better than she did. It was what her mother had once feared so desperately.
Unless one married someone who held a title, the family lineage proving one’s blood remained a temporary thing.
Moreover, if one hadn’t received much money when breaking from one’s original house, within a few generations descendants could emerge indistinguishable from commoners.
“By the way, I’m going to divide everything equally among however many children I have.”
Gillab said, chin raised.
“None of that nonsense where you give everything to the eldest son, favor only him, and make the rest just supporting players. I absolutely won’t do that. And of course…….”
He drew a breath before speaking low.
“……I won’t have any illegitimate children either.”
Brisa stared at Gillab. Then she sighed deeply and shot back.
“You don’t even have a fiancée yet and you’re talking about illegitimate children?”
Gillab’s face flushed scarlet.
“T-that’s because our brother doesn’t have a fiancée either! Mother just didn’t have the energy to look after me too!”
To be precise, Ethan had his engagement broken.
He’d originally been engaged to a relative of the former Empress, but when the Empress was deposed, the Duchess of Divostan quickly produced an annulment letter. There was no reason to burden Ethan with a severed in-law family.
Moreover, now that the succession struggle with Marcel had begun, Ethan’s marriage was a valuable card to play.
“Your mental age is about seven in mine.”
Brisa raised an eyebrow and remarked.
“Your mother decides your engagement anyway, doesn’t she?”
Ordinarily, nobles in positions where political marriage wasn’t necessary had the freedom to court as they wished.
Gillab’s ears burned red to the tips at her insinuation that he couldn’t arrange his own engagement.
“I-I just think marriage should be deliberated carefully, weighed against various factors. Like you and Leopold.”
“What?”
That was when.
“Aaaahhhhhhh!”
Gillab shrieked and leapt back.
“Bees! Bees! Bees! Bees! Aaaahhhhhhh!”
“Where there are flowers, there are naturally bees.”
“But this isn’t a flower field!”
“But bees have wings, don’t they?”
“Aaah! Go away! Go away!”
Brisa watched Gillab flee and let out a long, tired sigh.
The “strange flowers” that had frightened Gillab possessed tremendous life force.
It wasn’t unusual for plants from outside to become a dominant species, and it was common for them to regrow no matter how many times you pulled them out, just like weeds you couldn’t eradicate completely, but…….
“The number of bees has grown considerably though, hasn’t it.”
Gillab’s servant ventured carefully.
Brisa shrugged and replied.
“The flowers look like sunflowers. Honeybees naturally prefer sunflowers.”
“Ah, is that so?”
“Honeybees especially see yellow and blue hues well, and a single sunflower is actually a structure of hundreds of tiny flowers clustered together, which makes it ideal for bees to gather nectar.”
“I see…… But Young Lady, aren’t you frightened of bees?”
“Gillab is more frightened.”
Brisa answered composedly.
“In that sense, let’s go to the flower field. Gillab won’t set foot near it for a while.”
Though she had offered counsel on the territory overall, she observed the flowers every day.
Despite Gillab’s fuss, the flowers had no remarkable features beyond blooming. In fact, they were quite beautiful, spread across the meadow like velvet.
Today, on the fifth day, was no different…… truly nothing unusual at all.
Brisa had even dissected the flowers but found no particular anomalies.
‘Well, of course. I’m no botanist. I don’t know much about flowers you can’t eat.’
And around the time she decided it would be better to request a botanist from the Academy instead.

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