The Isolated Marchioness Just Wants to Make a Living - Chapter 249

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

Part 2, Episode 54
Why on earth were people here who shouldn’t be?
I wondered if I was dreaming when Brisa gathered him up, clothes and all, into her arms.
“If you don’t want to look, you don’t have to.”
She whispered softly.
Leopold gazed at her face, clouded with worry.
Did she even realize what decision she’d just made?
It was as good as dragging his precious brother right before a formidable enemy once more.
He thrashed violently, but she shook her head.
“It’s Alpheus’s decision. Of course, it’s mine too.”
He wanted to beg her to turn him into the wolf-dog instead and have him attack, but Brisa only held him tighter.
“Don’t do anything you can’t live with.”
She spoke with concern.
“But… even if Alpheus kills that person, will your heart be at ease?”
Surprisingly, Alpheus and the mysterious assailant displayed comparable physical capabilities in close combat.
The assailant seemed superior in raw strength, but Alpheus had his mechanical arm—an indestructible shield of sorts.
The assailant, realizing the stalemate wouldn’t work in his favor, shifted his gaze toward Brisa and raised his right hand toward her.
In the end, Alpheus kicked the assailant far away to prevent his Air Strike from reaching Brisa, sending him flying with a thud.
Alpheus was about to rush after him when—
“Get out of the way!”
A roaring voice echoed from far off.
As Alpheus hesitated, Hilberry limped down from his horse.
“This is something only I can do!”
Without hesitation, he unleashed an Air Strike toward the fallen assailant.
“Just because I’m old and frail…
Hilberry panted as he spoke.
“I won’t throw my young grandson into a Monster Wave.”
It was only one Air Strike, but it was enough to sap the old man’s strength. He staggered and leaned against his horse, muttering to himself.
“At least I can still go back to sleep and give one wayward son a piece of my mind…”
The assailant, struck squarely by the unexpected Air Strike, crumpled to the ground.
Alpheus murmured dazedly.
“For victory, a surprise attack is, well, a good strategy, but, ah, um…”
I stared at Hilberry, bewildered.
I never dreamed he’d appear. Given Leopold’s nature, there was no way he would have told Hilberry about this situation. But…
Hilberry’s eyes turned toward Baekgu, whom I was holding.
“In the Western Region, there’s nowhere my eyes don’t reach, my little friend.”
Hilberry breathed heavily and forced the corners of his mouth upward. A tear streamed from the eye not hidden by the eye patch.
“I knew even when you sent Flowers to Brisa…”
The old man’s tears ached just to see. What must he have felt rushing here, and what heart must he have had to unleash an Air Strike against his own child…
“Your Grace…”
I couldn’t find words, just staring at Hilberry, when he contorted his face into a smile.
“I have no face to show House of Sears.”
Whether from the aftereffects of the Air Strike or emotional distress, the old man’s hands trembled violently.
“And today is supposed to be your most wonderful day…”
Finally, tears welled up in my eyes and spilled down my cheeks.
I couldn’t begin to imagine what everyone in the Western Region felt preparing my coming-of-age ceremony, or with what hearts they smiled as if nothing were wrong before me.
“And yet, shamefully, I find comfort in your presence. I suppose I really am getting old.”
Still, Hilberry could not bring himself to look at the fallen assailant.
“And… thank you for saving Leo.”
I approached Hilberry and handed him Baekgu.
“His name when he was small was Baekgu.”
Only as I spoke did the name Baureliandugius come to mind. Somehow, without realizing it, I’d been using the name Alpheus had given him. It was something I felt terribly sorry for toward Leopold.
I wiped my tears with my sleeve and handed the whimpering Baekgu to Hilberry, clothes and all. Then I approached the fallen assailant.
The assailant lay completely limp from Hilberry’s Air Strike. But I couldn’t rest assured that he was dead. After all, he had been in a state of being dead yet responding to someone’s commands.
As I laid the assailant straight, Alpheus hurried over frantically and grabbed my arm.
“Brisa, it’s dangerous!”
“Let go.”
I held back my tears and spoke.
“We can’t leave him like this.”
If we simply buried him again as he was, he might rise once more. Rising again to follow someone’s commands, never reaching true rest.
“I saw it in Sin-i-su’s Diary… this is a Curse from Another World too.”
This was different from the Curse that had been imposed on the four families across generations. That’s why it was Dark Magic itself that couldn’t be subdued by invoking Jinmyeong.
I drew out a Silver Rod made of silver from within my clothes. I’d asked Silvia to prepare it. I’d thought it would be easy to find silver candlestands and such in a noble’s mansion.
“Here, the item you asked for.”
Then it happened.
With limping steps, Hilberry approached.
“Young Lady Brisa. Whatever procedure this is, surely you can let me do it?”
The old man holding Baekgu pleaded with wet eyes.
“I don’t wish to burden young people with giving my child his rest.”
He looked utterly exhausted.
“Please…”
But it seemed a will I couldn’t break.
“This is something I must do myself.”
I took a deep breath and handed the Silver Rod to Hilberry.
This time, Alpheus picked up Baekgu. It was a wish finally granted after so long.
“You need only pierce the heart,” I said quietly.
I spoke in a low voice.
“Then he won’t be under the Vampire’s control anymore.”
Hilberry nodded once and carefully removed his Robe. What lay beneath was no longer a human body—black forms clung to it like scabs, thick and dark. Around them, black smoke churned.
From within, Hilberry covered the wide-open golden eyes with his trembling hands again.
“It would have been less painful if there had been no reason at all,”
he murmured quietly.
“That your spirit could not bring itself to kill your Territory Residents, and in the end couldn’t harm your own child…”
Tears spilled from my eyes again. Alpheus was already sobbing, holding Baekgu tightly.
“Rest well now.”
Hilberry gripped the Silver Rod and whispered.
“I love you, my son. We’ll meet again in peace.”
Then he thrust it firmly into the left chest with a soft sound. At the same moment, the black smoke swirling around that body vanished.
It was as Hilberry staggered and fell to his knees.
“Brisa!”
A horse came galloping from afar.
“Brisa!”
Light brown hair streamed in the wind. It was Aibella.
In truth, I was the one who’d asked Silvia to summon her immediately.
“I sent the Letter you requested as soon as we learned of Leo’s whereabouts.”
“W-what on earth is happening here…?”
Aibella had arrived in such haste that she still wore her Reception clothes.
After she leapt from her horse and rushed toward us, she flinched seeing Alpheus, but hesitated only briefly beside him as tears streamed down his face before she ultimately didn’t turn away.
Her eyes fixed on the black form with the Silver Rod lodged in it.
I quietly made a request of her confused face.
“Sister, could you use Purification?”
Purification was the power to reverse “Contamination,” the byproduct of Dark Magic.
There was no rule saying that Special Ability, which could restore things to their original form, could only be used on the ground.
We couldn’t undo everything, but surely we could restore his form to wholeness.
‘I’m not certain, but… it’s worth trying.’
Aibella swept her gaze across the Plain scattered with traces of Air Strikes.
Her expression darkened instantly.
Without a single question, she knelt before the black form. In silence, her right hand began to emit light. Soon, with a whooshing sound, even the black form disappeared. What remained in the Robe was a skeleton.
Hilberry bowed, breathing heavily.
“Thank you, Your Grace.”
“Not at all.”
Aibella shook her head.
“Really… I… I couldn’t… do anything…”
She couldn’t finish her words.
A moment of silence fell.
It was Hilberry who broke the silence first, amid the sound of sniffles.
“I must set things right…”
The hunched old man arranged the Robe with his weathered hands.
“Go to your wife’s side, my son.”
Then something fell from beneath the Robe with a flutter. A small Portrait.
‘Ah…’
I’d heard about it from Silvia, but seeing it in person, I could barely breathe from the sadness.
“In Riente, there’s a legend. Only when the most precious thing is buried together can the spirit find peace and leave this world.”
All Curses from Another World were fundamentally rooted in Sin-i-su.
Since Sin-i-su had lived in Riente, the legends of Riente were unknowingly woven into her mind as she explained the Undead.
Seeing that photograph, Alpheus hugged Baekgu and finally collapsed, overcome with sobs.

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