The Isolated Marchioness Just Wants to Make a Living - Chapter 29

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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 29

 

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I calmly bit into my sandwich and thought.

 

‘I hadn’t planned on taking Beron too.’

 

Originally, I only wanted to take Jezel Street.

 

Jezel Street, with its shops stocked with various goods here and there, would be very useful. Two months wasn’t yet the time when people would have scraped together and eaten everything edible and inedible without discrimination.

 

But Beron only had perilla seed fields.

 

It was a typical example of failed territory management.

 

“The land is small and distribution is easy… So wouldn’t it work to grow crops that aren’t commonly cultivated on the continent!”

 

So the crop Father chose was perilla seeds.

 

But there was a reason perilla seeds weren’t commonly grown on the continent. People simply didn’t seek them out much.

 

‘Beron also has a large elderly population. I have to feed all those territory residents too.’

 

It might be different if it bore Hawin’s name, but if it bore Sears’ name, I absolutely couldn’t let them starve.

 

‘Still, I had no choice.’

 

That day at the port, Baron Hawin had made the freed Wendy lose consciousness first.

 

After taking the warp, the intruders said this.

 

“Shouldn’t we kill this bastard right here and now?”

 

“Young Lady, otherwise we’ll be the ones to die.”

 

It was only natural. A lord who tried to sell out his territory residents and territory residents who beat down their lord couldn’t live under the same sky.

 

“You’re all from Jezel Street, right? Then by tomorrow you’ll come under my protection.”

 

If I brought Jezel Street into my territory, they would now become my territory residents.

 

I planned to personally take responsibility for the crime of kidnapping the lord’s uncle. For example, being forced to eat freshly baked bread spread with potato salad…

 

If that seemed insufficient, I’d also give them mushroom salad, and anyway, I was trying to resolve things in that manner…

 

“I, I live in Beron.”

 

“You live in Beron too, young man?”

 

“I, I’m taking care of my mother…”

 

Unfortunately, one of them lived in Beron. Then I had to take Beron too.

 

At the very least, these were intruders who trusted me and acted accordingly, so I had to take responsibility.

 

‘It can’t be helped. I brought a lot of wheat too, and if we all work harder together…’

 

First, I would need to plow up all of Beron’s perilla seed fields and plant different crops.

 

‘If I search through the shops on Jezel Street, I’ll definitely find seeds… Find them, plant them…’

 

The land where I had dug up potatoes was also sitting idle. I needed to get proper seeds and plant them again.

 

‘I’ve roughly thought about what to plant.’

 

Of course, the warp would be restored in a month, but we still had to make a living going forward.

 

‘Probably… Alpheus won’t be able to receive any reward money when he returns.’

 

Right now was the early part of the original story.

 

It meant the protagonist was still struggling.

 

The Second Prince would die, and ultimately his achievements wouldn’t be recognized. The setting was that when he returned to his territory, neither his younger sister nor his subordinates would be there—only his uncle.

 

‘I wonder if he managed to overcome the crisis with the Awakening Herb?’

 

If I had fully acknowledged my madness back then, I could have told him something more helpful.

 

Whether he overcame the crisis or not, the warp wouldn’t work for another month. It meant it would be quite a while before we’d see each other again.

 

‘But at least now there’s a place to return to.’

 

Anyway, we were still going to be poor a month from now. We wouldn’t be able to purchase grain from the Western Region cheaply like before.

 

That thought made me lose my appetite completely.

 

Dahlia bit her nails and then said.

 

“I’ll only give you Beron.”

 

She seemed to have made quite a big decision for herself.

 

“I’m giving up on Jezel Street.”

 

Of course, no matter what big decision she made, there was no one who would listen to her.

 

“Then you’re also giving up on your father’s life.”

 

I said calmly.

 

“You don’t seem to grasp the situation well, but we have nothing to lose. Ah, it’s not surprising though. Dahlia, you were never particularly bright to begin with.”

 

Dahlia couldn’t contain her anger and fumed.

 

Aunt firmly grasped Dahlia’s twitching hand.

 

Then Aunt asked calmly.

 

“…Then how about ten sacks of wheat?”

 

Before I knew it, Dahlia was also tightly holding Aunt’s hand.

 

“Beron and Jezel Street, I’ll give you both for ten sacks of wheat. How about it, isn’t that good?”

 

I stared intently at those hands.

 

Two hands desperately held together by the remaining family to save their family member.

 

Uncle must have betrayed our father for the sake of these two people. He probably sold me out in the original story for their sake too.

 

The sandwich became even more inedible.

 

“That’s not good enough.”

 

I said curtly.

 

“Goodbye.”

 

And I stood up abruptly.

 

Aunt grabbed my arm desperately.

 

“I’ll, I’ll, I’ll, I’ll give it!”

 

“Mother!”

 

“I’ll give it, I’ll give it! I’ll give you both! So please give us five sacks of wheat. Please?”

 

At the same time, Dahlia cried out in shock.

 

“Mother, are you insane?”

 

Those were words I had never said to my mother in my entire life.

 

“Why are you listening to her? This is an absurd deal! Absolutely not!”

 

“We lived well without those two lands originally, Dahlia. With your father back, everything will be fine. We’ll live well again.”

 

My aunt tried to soothe Dahlia.

 

“We’re the ones who need this, Dahlia. Brisa is the only one here who has wheat, isn’t she?”

 

Then she asked me urgently.

 

“I can sign as a proxy, right? Since the lord is currently missing.”

 

Territory transactions were conducted through ‘Territory Contracts’ distributed by the Magic Tower. When a lord was absent from their territory, a proxy could automatically sign.

 

And the moment someone signed the ‘Territory Contract’, a record was left at the Magic Tower, making it impossible to deny later.

 

“So, I can sign right now? Right?”

 

It was only natural. Literally, I had nothing to lose.

 

When I gracefully gestured to the maid, a ‘Territory Contract’ was soon placed before us.

 

And so, after noon that day, Jezel Street and Beron became part of the Sears Marquis Territory once again.

 

“Now then.”

 

After assigning tasks to a group of knights, I spoke to the shopkeepers of Jezel Street.

 

“Anyone who has seeds stored in warehouses or anywhere else, bring them all. It doesn’t matter if they’re out of season or if the quantity is small.”

 

The people of Jezel Street, who had become part of the Sears Marquis Territory again after nearly two months, showed no resistance.

 

“I’ll exchange them for wheat or potatoes.”

 

Instead, they reacted to my words like this.

 

“Woooooooooooooo!”

 

I felt proud seeing the people so happy.

 

With that joyful feeling, I suppressed my wandering thoughts.

 

“We lived well without those two lands originally.”

 

But I can’t live well without land.

 

I’m in a position where I have to worry about my own food immediately.

 

No, actually, with dark mages backed by Sebon targeting my life, there was nothing I could do to prepare. Except hiding quietly within my own territory.

 

I even thought it was fortunate that warp didn’t work. At least outsiders couldn’t come here.

 

Illegal warps couldn’t be opened without mutual cooperation. It meant that at least no illegal warps would appear in my territory.

 

I was actually scared enough to welcome even that simple isolation. And yet I…

 

“With your father back, everything will be fine.”

 

I had no one to openly rely on in this situation.

 

I was the only one with Riente blood left in the Empire.

 

I didn’t want to tell the maids or knights. Not because I didn’t want to burden them. Honestly, it was because I was scared.

 

“Ah, they’re going to kill all of Riente’s bloodline? Then our lives are in danger too?”

 

“We’re honored to serve the last descendant of the Riente Royal Family, but, um, we don’t want to die….”

 

What if the maids leave?

 

In the original story, the maids followed me without knowing anything and all died.

 

Even if they had known the ending, would they have still followed me?

 

“What? Sebon and the Dark Mages are targeting the Young Lady?”

 

“Then what crime have we committed? Especially our Marquis has nothing to do with Riente.”

 

“We’re practically strangers anyway, aren’t we? Wouldn’t it be better to just hand her over and be done with it? The territory is already struggling enough….”

 

Even if the knights follow me, isn’t it all because of Alpheus’s orders?

 

They wouldn’t want Alpheus to be troubled because of me.

 

‘I’m scared.’

 

I bit my lower lip tightly.

 

I didn’t know how to share my fears.

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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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