The Isolated Marchioness Just Wants to Make a Living - Chapter 28
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 28
4. Alpheus’s Return
“Dahlia, Dahlia!”
Dahlia opened her eyes from sleep. The dawn light was dimly streaming through the window.
Baroness Hawin woke Dahlia while shedding tears.
“What are we going to do!”
“…Why? What happened?”
“Your father has been kidnapped!”
Dahlia bolted upright.
Father was kidnapped?
Was such a thing even possible?
“And they’re demanding five sacks of wheat as ransom….”
Dahlia’s pupils trembled.
Wheat? She was certain there wasn’t a single grain of wheat in the Central Region.
“Dahlia, what should we do? Huh?”
Dahlia snatched the note from Baroness Hawin’s hand and read it.
[We have Baron Hawin.
We will exchange him for five sacks of wheat.
Under the largest zelkova tree on Erollamo Hill, tomorrow night at midnight.
If you bring unnecessary people, the baron’s life is forfeit.]
“Wh-what about Father’s knights?”
Dahlia said while breathing heavily.
“We should tell the knights to track them down!”
“I don’t know where those knights are either.”
Baroness Hawin said while sobbing.
“Actually Dahlia…. Those knights and your father went to get wheat today.”
“What?”
“I don’t know the details either, but with Brisa, to exchange the territory people for wheat….”
“With Brisa Sears? Then was Brisa captured too?”
“I don’t know that either….”
As Baroness Hawin fidgeted restlessly and breathed heavily, Dahlia irritably rang the bell.
The maids came running hurriedly.
“Let’s go quickly, Mother.”
“Huh? Where to?”
Dahlia shouted while instructing the maids to dress her up.
“We need to see how things turned out, we have to go to Brisa Sears! Whether she was caught too, or if she saw anything!”
“That child must have been caught too, right? Since your father was captured…”
However, Baroness Hawin’s words were wrong.
When the mother and daughter went to the Sears Marquis Estate, Brisa was sitting in the reception room, elegantly eating bread.
It wasn’t just Brisa. The knights and maids were also biting into steaming bread, calling it breakfast.
“It tastes so good when eaten with wild strawberry jam.”
“Wild strawberries are growing well by the riverside these days.”
“The young lady told us not to cut these vines, it must have been because they were wild strawberry vines.”
Dahlia unconsciously swallowed her saliva.
It had already been over two weeks since she last ate freshly baked bread like that. If it weren’t for the dairy cows, she would at least be eating corn bread.
“What brings you here, Aunt?”
Brisa greeted them calmly.
While eating bread topped with a soft-boiled egg and spread with jam by herself, she tilted her head.
“Why did you come all the way here so early in the morning?”
Baroness Hawin was dumbfounded seeing that sight.
Looking at Brisa’s neat face, she felt like cold water had been poured on her.
“…Don’t even think about lying. I know you went out together with my husband last night.”
She lifted her chin and spoke.
“My husband was kidnapped and we received this letter.”
Baroness Hawin slammed the kidnapper’s letter down on the table with a thud.
Brisa casually lowered her eyes to read the text, then slowly nodded her head.
“Ah, so he was kidnapped.”
“So he was kidnapped?”
Dahlia’s eyes widened.
“You came back perfectly fine, so why didn’t our father? Did you write this? Didn’t you kidnap our father?”
“Why would I?”
Brisa tilted her head.
“I have plenty of wheat, don’t I? I don’t need about five bags. I brought loads of it.”
“That’s not what we’re talking about right now!”
Dahlia burst out in irritation.
“You kidnapped our father, didn’t you? Or you ordered someone to kidnap him, right? Who else but you would do such a thing?”
“Here they are. The territory residents your father sold off.”
Brisa spoke elegantly without getting excited at all.
“I have no reason to commit crimes against your father specifically. If nobles are caught trying to harm each other, they have to face legal judgment in court. It’s not like with territory residents where the lord can decide the punishment.”
After calmly explaining, she sighed and advised.
“Dahlia, study Imperial Law first. That’s something you can do even without going to the Academy.”
The maids behind them stifled their laughter. Even that was part of the calculated flow of conversation.
“I know that too! Who doesn’t know that nobles have to stand trial!”
Dahlia screamed, then muttered while seething with anger she couldn’t contain.
“But our father is….”
When she couldn’t finish her words, Brisa calmly explained.
“He was trying to exchange wheat with the Dark Mages when the Western Knights came barging in. Then the Territory Residents your father was trying to sell beat up both your father and the Knights. That’s all I know. We only came for the wheat.”
“What? Then why are you unharmed?”
“I only sold one person. There were many other Knights too. So I was able to subdue that one person.”
At the matter-of-fact explanation, Dahlia asked incredulously.
“So you just left our father behind and came back alone?”
“No.”
Brisa shook her head while stuffing the remaining bread into her mouth.
“I came back with my Knights and the wheat. As you can see.”
“That’s not what I meant!”
Dahlia glared at her and argued.
“Of course I know you resent us. But last night, Father moved together with you as the lord of the Territory. At least our father and you were on the same side then, in the same position!”
“We weren’t in the same position.”
Brisa answered without batting an eye.
“Unlike your father, I’m twelve years old. I was struggling just to take care of myself, so it was hard to look after a grown adult in that situation. A child’s abilities have limits.”
After that, Brisa gave instructions to the Maid.
“Spread plenty of Wild Strawberry Jam, and this time make two Sandwiches with Chicken and fresh Vegetables on top.”
“Yes.”
At those words, not only Dahlia but even Baroness Hawin couldn’t help but feel excited.
Bread with Chicken, and fresh Vegetables?
It had been too long since they had eaten such things. It was a one-dimensional instinct separate from anger.
These days they had been eating only things like Pickled Olives from the Grocery Store on Jezel Street. Even those were running low, so they counted them as they ate.
“And you seem to be forgetting something.”
Brisa looked at Dahlia and said.
“I don’t resent you. I just dislike you.”
“Is it because of the Territory? But our father legally took it from your father!”
“That’s why I didn’t sue. But I have no intention of discussing your father’s rescue with you amicably.”
Soon the Maid brought two Sandwiches on a Tray.
But the Plate that Dahlia and Baroness Hawin naturally expected would be placed in front of them was instead placed directly in front of Brisa.
“Now that your curiosity is satisfied, you should go.”
Brisa said while biting into a new Sandwich.
“I don’t have anything particular to say.”
That’s when it happened.
Baroness Hawin caught her breath and asked.
“Then could we borrow Five Sacks of Wheat?”
“Mother!”
“We have no choice. We have to find your father.”
She scolded Dahlia once, then glared at Brisa.
“We don’t have wheat to pay the ransom. But your Territory seems to have plenty.”
“Quite a bit.”
Brisa shrugged her shoulders.
“But I won’t lend them. Once Warp is restored, the prices will plummet. So I’ll only allow purchases.”
“Really? How much…”
As Baroness Hawin brightened up, Brisa smiled sweetly.
“Jezel Street and Beron.”
Dahlia and the Baroness’s expressions hardened.
Brisa picked up her second sandwich and said.
“That’s why you came, isn’t it, Dahlia? I told you last time that if you’re short on money, I’d give you a good price for Jezel Street.”
“When making a living becomes difficult, hand over Jezel Street. I’ll give you a fair price.”
Without a trace of laughter, Brisa calmly added.
“I never speak nonsense, you know.”
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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