The Isolated Marchioness Just Wants to Make a Living - Chapter 4

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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 4

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“Now, the Potato Squad will assemble in the garden.”

Brisa had given the name ‘Potato Squad’ to the knights led by Philip.

Philip felt deeply humiliated. To give knights a nickname like potatoes was truly a novel form of contempt.

‘Of course, I do particularly look like a potato, but isn’t this really going too far?’

She wasn’t going to tell them to roll around like potatoes in the garden, was she?

‘What good is being a genius who mastered Five Languages at age seven? What good is memorizing Imperial Law by heart? What good is being invited to the Empress Dowager’s banquets from age ten for perfectly mastering Social Etiquette!’

Philip gasped as he recalled the maids’ praise.

‘Only to become a noble young lady who would believe potatoes grow on trees…’

Naturally, she was their superior.

Before Alpheus left, he had instructed them that ‘in the Marquis Manor without me, Brisa is your master.’

But did that mean she could make people into laughingstocks like this?

He planned to properly protest when he faced Brisa again in the garden. But when Brisa appeared shortly after, she gave serious orders.

“Go to Jezel Street and buy as many seed potatoes as possible. For early harvest.”

At those words, everyone blinked slowly, unable to grasp the situation.

Was this a joke?

Or a new form of mockery?

Philip, who already looked like a potato, was momentarily seized with anxiety.

‘She’s not going to order me to buy seed potatoes and call them my children from now on, is she?’

To the bewildered Philip, the girl held out a fairly large box and said.

“Get ones that are balanced ovals, with no wounds or rotten parts. About egg-sized.”

Hm?

Philip, who had actually tried potato farming before, was genuinely surprised.

It was spring now…

Though it was a bit on the late side, it wasn’t impossible timing to obtain and plant seed potatoes.

“Choose firm ones with well-dried skin that have an appropriate number of eyes evenly distributed.”

This is the real deal?

“There’s no one in the Marquis Territory who has tried potato farming now. So put your heads together and choose good ones to buy. For money… sell this.”

Brisa held out the box to Philip.

The maids who saw it screamed.

“Kyaaaah! No, Miss!”

“This is Miss’s jewelry! If you sell this, Miss will have to dress up with the same accessories once a week! Good heavens, how terrible!”

Was wearing the same earrings twice a week such a desperate matter?

The maids weren’t even young. They all looked to be in their late thirties to forties.

Philip took the box despite his bewilderment.

Then Brisa spoke to one of the maids.

“You go with him. Help him get a fair price.”

“No, Miss!”

The maid refused vehemently.

“Even if a knife were held to my throat, I could never sell Miss’s jewelry!”

“I see.”

Brisa graciously respected that opinion.

“I was actually torn between practical benefit and curiosity anyway. I was curious how much the jeweler would lowball the price if the Potato Squad showed up trying to sell this.”

She continued quite seriously.

“Make sure to get a receipt, Philip. It’ll be a good example of market prices versus profiteering to include in Sears’ history books.”

The maid was horrified.

“Kyaaaaaaah! No! I’ll go too!”

The master graciously accepted that opinion as well.

“I see.”

With that, Brisa finished giving her instructions.

Then the remaining maids collapsed and began sobbing as if they had lost their territory.

“We couldn’t even protect the Princess’s jewelry from being sold off by the previous marquis…”

“How can we face the Princess in the afterlife… Each piece was meant to be passed down to Miss Brisa…”

Brisa stood among them with a detached expression.

Could a simple trip to buy seed potatoes really be this dramatic?

Philip felt the limits of his situational awareness and carefully spoke up.

“Um, Miss?”

“Yes.”

“Why… why are you making us do this?”

“That’s because I’m not in my right mind.”

Brisa replied quite seriously.

“I’ve been trying to come to my senses for the past three days, but I failed.”

Philip was momentarily flustered, though thinking about it, he’d been flustered for quite a while now. Still, not knowing how to react, he asked cautiously.

“Uh… this is, I mean, just nobles talking nonsense, something like that, right Miss?”

Brisa’s expression grew serious.

“Remember this well, Philip. Since we don’t know each other well yet, I’ll tell you in advance – I don’t say nonsensical things.”

Philip flinched at the girl’s serious declaration.

Come to think of it, if he excluded Alpheus since he’d thought he was a commoner all this time, this was his first order from a ‘real noble.’

It was somehow much stranger than he’d imagined.

“Miss, may I ask just one question?”

Philip hesitated for a moment before voicing the question that had been lingering on his tongue.

“You do… see us as human beings, right?”

Just a few hours ago, he’d been certain she wouldn’t see them as people.

But now that he was facing her directly, while it was a bit strange, it didn’t seem to be like that.

So had they been misunderstanding something all this time?

Brisa’s answer was indifferent but without hesitation.

“I clearly recognize that you are all human beings like myself.”

Philip and all the knights were surprised at that moment. They hadn’t expected the phrase “like myself” to be added.

Brisa added with a rather serious expression.

“You have to eat three meals a day.”

Wait… Was this the point of the conversation?

That’s when it happened.

The gatekeeper came running urgently.

“Miss, miss! Th-th-this is terrible!”

He gasped as if he was about to collapse from breathlessness.

“The, the, the, the Western Grain Merchant Guild Leader has come! He says to repay the de-debt immediately… that he’s been le-lenient enough already!”

Philip didn’t understand what this meant.

But the maids who had been collapsed and wailing behind Brisa chuckled.

“Looks like the newbie made some mistake. We’ve always been late with debt repayment, haven’t we?”

“Of course, it’s true that we’ve been behind the contractual dates every year, but they’ve always overlooked it as custom.”

“Calm down. The marang fish season in our marquis territory is early winter. There must be some misunderstanding.”

Marang fish, a type of freshwater fish, was the main source of income for the Sears Marquis Territory. The few valuable lands of the marquis territory were located along the river.

After reassuring the gatekeeper this way, the maids began wailing again.

Brisa wasn’t particularly flustered either. But after muttering “I guess going crazy was the right choice,” she answered:

“I’ll meet with the guild leader in the reception room right away.”

After giving that brief reply, she turned her head again to look at Philip. Then she very elegantly placed her hand on Philip’s forearm.

“Leave this place to the others… You should depart for now.”

Her voice was very solemn.

“The lives of our territory’s people depend on the Potato Squad.”

…Suddenly?

Philip felt like he was heading to a battlefield.

Brisa’s gaze as she looked at him was very serious.

“Though the situation is difficult, do your best in the mission entrusted to you.”

The small hand gripping his forearm tightened with strength.

“The future created by the Potato Squad’s efforts will surely return as glory.”

After speaking solemnly, she stepped back.

“Go quickly. I’m counting on you for the seed potatoes.”

Philip even had the illusion that he was receiving a life-or-death deployment order.

The maids sobbing behind them made it feel even more so.

Is receiving orders from a ‘true noble’ always like this?

Philip took a deep breath for a moment and bowed his head.

“Yes, miss. Please leave it to me. And… I’m truly sorry about earlier.”

His belief that she had been looking down on them must have been a misunderstanding.

She was even giving orders in such a reverent noble manner.

Pride welled up within him.

“I’m delighted to receive such a distinguished command. This is my first time experiencing something like this, so I’m just overwhelmed…”

Wait. These words make me sound too pathetic.

After rambling incoherently, he came to his senses and lowered his voice to whisper urgently.

“Pl-please keep it a secret from others that I said such things.”

“No.”

Brisa answered immediately.

“I’m going to record it in the history books.”

After that, she turned around and spoke to the Gatekeeper.

“Guide me.”

Then she declared with cold eyes.

“I’m heading to another battlefield.”

The girl walked away with an upright posture.

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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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