The Isolated Marchioness Just Wants to Make a Living - Chapter 253

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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 58
* * *
In truth, Leopold had braced himself for the scorn and resentment that would be directed at him. The Air Strike damage had been the first incident targeting civilians, after all……
Yet the moment they appeared on the shopping district, people began shrieking with delight.
“Wahhhhh! Your Highness the Grand Duke is here!”
“Ohhhhh! It’s the young lady! Brisa!”
It was his first time attending a festival of the Territory Residents, and clay pots scattered throughout the street caught his eye. The snowflake-like things inside them seemed to be the popcorn Brisa had mentioned.
Though the night was deep, children remained awake, stuffing popcorn of every flavor into their mouths.
Red-faced people shouted while holding beer glasses in their hands.
“Miss Brisa! Have you kept things in order?”
“Have you sobered up from the drinking yet? Ha-ha-ha, surely Your Highness the Grand Duke shouldn’t be drinking beer!”
These were commoners who ordinarily would never dare address him. Yet it was late in the night on the festival’s final day, and the pleasant intoxication had created a buoyant atmosphere. Moreover, the fact that they had come dressed in the festival clothes of commoners contributed greatly.
“Come on, do try some! When will we ever get to see Your Highness the Grand Duke like this again?”
The people’s gazes were gentle. In fact, they were warmer than when awe had mingled with them before.
Beside him, Brisa jabbed him sharply in the ribs.
“Um……”
Leopold finally opened his mouth awkwardly.
“I am deeply sorry for the damage caused, and the Ducal House intends of course to provide compensation at double the amount.”
It was his way of saying, “I’m truly and deeply sorry.”
As he awkwardly concluded his impromptu speech, the festive atmosphere of the street seemed to deflate.
Brisa sighed and stamped her foot firmly.
He flinched and opened his mouth again.
“I promise henceforth to refrain from drinking.”
Then, hesitating, he added:
“No matter how good it feels to be with my fiancée.”
That was his way of saying, “I love Brisa with all my heart,” and the street erupted instantly into cheers.
“Wahhhhhhhh!”
“Ha-ha-ha-ha! Kyahhhhh! Ahhhhh!”
The crowd cheered for the Prince of Nogen as never before. The reaction was more intense than when he had defeated a horde of monsters.
Watching this, Brisa murmured seriously.
“Now I understand that feeling.”
Leopold gazed at her grave profile for a moment. There had undoubtedly been a profound shift in her heart during his absence.
Since arriving on the continent and unable to contact her, he carefully probed her now, wondering if something had happened.
“It seems something happened while I was away.”
The question carried the weight of “I’m deeply curious and concerned about it.” Brisa responded with solemn sincerity.
“I’ve grown close to Rea. She’s taught me a new kind of joy.”
Leopold reflexively murmured:
“I have a very bad feeling about this.”
Meanwhile, watching the crowd’s cheers, Alpheus seized his heart.
“Leopold was with me too! We played card games together, ate snacks together! He even hugged me tight! We all felt good! It wasn’t just Leopold and Brisa who felt good together! Wait, why does this sentence feel so wrong?”
“Oh, please.”
Isabela snapped with an exasperated expression.
“Why don’t you just go drink some beer and keep your mouth shut?”
From the noblewoman dressed in a commoner’s clothes on a commoner’s street came an old habit of speech.
“While you’re stuffing your face, you won’t be talking, at least. Lucky for us, you’ve only got one mouth.”
Silvia giggled and nodded.
“Then shall we head over there? This street has the most famous brewery, and since this is our first time, naturally we should treat you to the finest beer in the Baron Forman Territory!”
Silvia, who had grown up carefree among many people in a peaceful territory since childhood, apparently had drunk plenty of beer, the commoners’ beverage.
She led them to the “grandest and most impressive brewery.” Leopold too had only come to a brewery for the first time since reaching adulthood in the territory.
“Ah, Miss Silvia, welcome! This way, please!”
The owner, recognizing Silvia, skillfully guided them into the tavern attached to the brewery.
Territory Residents who had been drinking beer looked at them and cheered. Of course, they showed no intention of interfering and did not approach.
“Please sit here!”
The owner neatly ushered them to the best table.
But Brisa rolled her eyes for a moment, then made a careful request.
“Can I look around over there?”
“Pardon?”
“Where they make the beer.”
The owner’s expression instantly clouded with confusion.
“Well, yes… um, that place is… I’m afraid that’s rather difficult.”
“I’ve never seen it before.”
Brisa spoke as was natural for a noblewoman.
“I want to see it.”
At that, Alpheus sprang up at once, clasped his hands together, and pleaded with the owner.
“Please! Brisa wants to see it, and I really want to show her! I’ll do any chores you need — can’t you let us?”
Isabela also chimed in with a dark tone.
“Is there any reason our Brisa shouldn’t go? Were you instigated by someone? Then just give me a name. I’ll make sure they disappear without a trace.”
Honestly, Leopold couldn’t restrain himself either. He made a brief proposal to the owner.
“I’m curious about the price of the brewery.”
This meant, “I’m desperate to have it right now, so throw any number at this fool standing before you.” Once they acquired the ownership, Brisa could see it whenever she wished.
Faced with the momentum of all three, the owner stammered and waved both hands.
“It is not a place for noble feet. The floor is dirty, there’s a strong smell of barley, and there are failed instruments from attempts to develop better beer still lying about……”
Brisa cut off the owner coldly.
“That’s not a problem at all. Show me the way.”
And so they headed into the brewery.
But as they followed the brewery owner inside, Leopold caught what Alpheus was whispering to Isabela.
“Something’s changed in Brisa.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s a first.”
They seemed to think Leopold and Brisa couldn’t hear their whisper, but his keen hearing caught every word.
“Since I came back, Brisa’s been showing enthusiasm about seeing new things.”
Only then did Leopold understand.
Brisa hadn’t called today a “reunion” for nothing. He had returned to the continent recently, but he knew nothing of what she had endured in his absence.
“Before this, she only ever wanted to go back to the Sears Territory. She wouldn’t move without some catalyst.”
Just as he had borne the weight of reburying his dead father, she too must have carried deep wounds from spending all that long time alone, anxious with only her one brother left at the Magic Tower.
“But now, Brisa is doing what she wants to do of her own will.”
Alpheus continued, breathing a sigh of relief.
“Finally, time is flowing through Brisa’s life again.”
* * *
At that same moment, in the Imperial Palace.
Maximus received a letter.
After confirming its contents, he raised an eyebrow with interest.
“Cardipol……”
After reading the letter twice more, Maximus handed it to his aide. The aide’s eyes widened in circles.
“She truly is formidable. No wonder she’s the finest merchant guild leader of the Eastern Region. Honestly, when I first heard she wanted to elevate that illegitimate child to heir of the East, I thought she was dreaming……”
Maximus rested his chin in his hand and fell silent in thought for a moment. This woman’s abilities and ambitions were truly remarkable.
“This strategy is something only that woman could accomplish, if I’m being honest.”
The aide ventured a careful question.
“But according to what the letter says, doesn’t that mean civil war will soon break out in the East? Like in the North……”
“That’s precisely why she’s formidable.”
Maximus blinked slowly as he spoke.
“I suspect that Brisa may be the only person who has never been swayed by that woman.”
This woman who wielded both the Duke Dibostane’s House and the entire Eastern Region seemed all the more impressive in light of how Brisa had left her in another continent for six years.
“Hmm, what shall we do? Didn’t the Crown Prince say last time that he didn’t wish to ally with her?”
At the aide’s question, Maximus adopted a thoughtful expression.
“I don’t yet have the desire to ally with her, but neither do I wish to interfere. Ethan Dibostan is, after all, our rival.”
“Personally, I find the merchant leader’s proposal appealing.”
“I thought you might.”
Maximus stretched and spoke.
“You write the reply. Something suitably vague like ‘I shall observe,’ if you please.”
“Understood.”
The aide folded the letter again and placed it in an envelope, answering respectfully. Then, after gazing at Maximus for a moment, he spoke hesitantly.
“Forgive my presumption…… but I truly cannot fathom your intentions, Your Highness.”
At that, Maximus chuckled quietly.
“Much obliged for the compliment. If even my aide saw through me, would I have the makings of an emperor?”
It was time to sleep. He rose of his own accord and drew the curtains as he spoke.
“The only time my thoughts were laid completely bare and I broke into a cold sweat was when I met twelve-year-old Brisa in the Southern Forest. That was the first and last.”
No matter how he tried not to think of her, she was an exception that appeared everywhere in his thoughts — that fresh, cool woman with her pale blue eyes that seemed always to see right through him……
‘How strange. The Sears siblings have identical eyes, yet Alpheus sees through me not at all.’
He did not know how much comfort that fact gave him now.

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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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