The Isolated Marchioness Just Wants to Make a Living - Chapter 235

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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, Chapter 40
Audrey’s mouth fell open. Then she protested vehemently.
“What do you mean? You said you wouldn’t give any more orders once that was done!”
“To be precise, I said I wouldn’t give other orders once the seaweed cultivation is finished. But it hasn’t finished yet.”
I shrugged and continued.
“Besides, the Merchant Guild Leader has nothing to lose, does she? Marcel doesn’t seem to have much to do on that ‘path’ anyway… You could stay here a few days and handle your business.”
“How can you leave our son here alone?”
Jerdian whispered desperately from behind.
“Please, I’m begging you.”
He was practically pleading now.
“Please just order him to say one thing…… I won’t even ask for ‘I hate you, Mom,’ just something like ‘Mom, I’ll handle it myself’…”
It was certainly a tempting proposal, but I couldn’t break my promise.
I hadn’t thought about such creative torment, so I’d already said I’d only make him do seaweed cultivation.
“Well then, let’s go. I set up all the basics yesterday.”
I spoke while looking Marcel in the eye, and he nodded in response.
“Yes, my lord.”
But he was already pouting, clearly reluctant to go. Jerdian looked extremely satisfied.
“Come on, let’s get going!”
Alpheus called out cheerfully.
“You need to use your body to stay strong! Marcel, you didn’t have any muscle at all. Let’s go!”
To cultivate seaweed, we needed to obtain spores from wild seaweed.
After selecting mature seaweed, drying it briefly, and then submerging it in seawater again, the stressed seaweed would release spores.
Then we would spread the spores through the water and submerge ropes in it so the spores would attach to the rope’s surface.
“The management is a bit tricky. A few days later, fine sprouts should form, and you need to be really good at that.”
I transformed Marcel into a mermaid and explained the process.
“You can do it, right? When it comes to the sea, I think you’d be much more delicate and skilled than me.”
He was a sea creature who had lived in the sea for ten years. No matter how difficult seaweed cultivation was, there was no way a sea friend like a mermaid couldn’t manage it.
“Hmm……”
Marcel didn’t deny it, but his shoulders drooped and his expression showed he didn’t want to do it.
In the end, I resorted to threats.
“If it’s not going well by the time I return, I won’t transform you back into a human.”
Marcel startled and fluttered his tail in alarm.
Just as I didn’t trust the Centauros in the North, this mermaid was too unreliable for important work.
‘So I’ll just have him do labor.’
From the moment I started threatening with transformation, we could never be on the same side.
‘Right, I need to maintain neutrality in the Eastern succession dispute. Neither Ethan nor Marcel is worth backing.’
I looked coldly at Marcel and then spoke to Jerdian.
“I need you to oversee and supervise. I should visit Leah soon. I’ll check when I return from the Joneston Count Territory.”
“Yes?”
Jerdian asked in surprise.
“Has a letter already arrived from Miss Leah?”
“She’ll definitely summon me.”
I spoke with my arms crossed.
“Especially if she’s someone who values family.”
Then Alpheus, who had been sorting wild seaweed next to Marcel, suddenly turned his head.
“Brisa, where are we going? Joneston? Where is that?”
“Oh, I promised last night. I’ll stay in the Joneston Territory for a few days. Leah’s house that I saw yesterday.”
Now that I thought about it, Alpheus hadn’t been with me last night. I’d forgotten that fact.
But I figured it didn’t really matter. Alpheus was someone with absolutely no sense of scheduling.
However, Alpheus’s expression turned uneasy.
I tried to reassure him casually.
“It’s fine. I didn’t expect you to remember the name Leah Joneston anyway.”
“Huh? Um…… That’s not the issue…… Will it take a long time?”
“What?”
“How long will you be there……?”
“I don’t know.”
I frowned as I looked at Alpheus’s anxious expression.
“Why? Because of my birthday party? If everyone seems disappointed, you can just Warp back to the Sears Territory on that day for a bit.”
I knew roughly that they were preparing something. If they weren’t preparing anything, that would have been strange.
But since I despised receptions intensely and found gatherings of strangers absolutely dreadful, it was obvious they’d end up with just a small group of acquaintances at the mansion.
“Uh? Uh? Uh……”
Alpheus’s pupils wavered.
I immediately understood what was happening.
“Wait, is it being prepared in the Western Region?”
Then Alpheus sighed.
6. Reunion
“Stop banging your head against the window.”
I scolded Alpheus.
“No matter how little you use it, you can’t ignore the proper usage. Your head is for thinking, not for making banging sounds.”
But inside the carriage heading to Warp, Alpheus bumped his head against the window for the thirty-third time while muttering.
“I ruined everything…… This can’t be happening. I ruined the surprise party. I ended up making His Grace’s concerns come true after all……”
“Well, His Grace might actually be pleased.”
I tried to comfort him.
“His insight has been vindicated, after all.”
Then Alpheus blocked his head against the window for the thirty-fourth time.
“Sigh…… Leopold must be so disappointed too. He was definitely preparing with me……”
Alpheus seemed to think Leopold’s silence was due to my birthday party. For him, a surprise party was such an exciting event.
‘But I don’t think that’s it.’
I thought quietly.
Otherwise, Harrison wouldn’t have sent a letter saying ‘return immediately.’ Not while knowing Leopold was dealing with an urgent matter.
‘There’s definitely something going on.’
Hilberry mentioning the party to Alpheus might have been a smokescreen. Don’t worry too much about Leopold not appearing.
‘That’s exactly what His Grace would do.’
I had finally met the blood relative I’d been waiting for over six years. So it seemed he’d judged it better to let Alpheus and I spend good time together for a while. Without worrying unnecessarily about Western affairs.
‘And now that the Western heir has returned, it makes sense not to inform me.’
After all, it was right for him to handle his own territory’s affairs himself. Hilberry and Leopold weren’t Gillab Divostan.
‘Doesn’t really look like a crop issue anyway.’
I thought glumly.
‘Still, Leopold is competent, so he should be able to handle it, right?’
At least thanks to Berhila’s flowers, I’d been able to see him briefly.
Six years had transformed the boy into a full-fledged young man.
A tall frame and elegant features; a somewhat gloomy and cold atmosphere, yet eyes that subtly glimmered with mischief.
‘Sending a letter probably won’t help.’
I sighed.
‘Leah said she didn’t receive a reply either…… So even in the Western Region, they don’t know exactly where Leopold is.’
At this point, bringing in a skilled adjutant didn’t seem like a bad idea.
‘If I ask Jerdian to deliver the letter, that should be fine, shouldn’t it? After all, he’s skilled enough to protect himself, and having received a noble’s education, he’d be competent at handling affairs……’
There was a reason I couldn’t ask Philip or Wendy to deliver such messages.
To find someone whose exact location is unknown, cooperation from the local noble families in that region is essential, and they weren’t familiar with the procedures and methods for seeking help.
‘Yes. Let me take Jerdian on as my adjutant.’
Before that, I hoped to see Leopold safely again, and the carriage came to a stop.
“We’ve arrived at Warp.”
The coachman spoke politely.
“We’ll move to the Joneston Count Territory shortly.”

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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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