The Isolated Marchioness Just Wants to Make a Living - Chapter 45

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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 45

 

6. Brisa’s Fiancé

 

I pressed my forehead in annoyance.

 

‘This is seriously exhausting me to death.’

 

Even after getting out of the carriage, Alpheus didn’t go straight into the mansion. Instead, he fell into a panic and rambled incoherently for quite a while.

 

“Listen, you know. I really didn’t… expect your engagement to be broken off. If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have followed that lawyer to the Marquis Manor in the first place. I came because I heard a child was left alone, wanting to become your guardian. Honestly, this is too much of a shock.”

 

“Your progress is remarkable. Shock therapy was the answer.”

 

I found one meaningful thing in his words and praised him for it.

 

“To speak that long without saying ‘um’ even once.”

 

“Brisa, if you want, I’ll somehow arrange another engagement… Oh, wait. But if he’s the type to send an annulment letter just because conditions changed, isn’t it better that the engagement was broken off? How could I send you to such a guy?”

 

“Then that’s settled. But when will this boring one-man show end?”

 

“What kind of guy was he to be against the engagement from the start? Ha, he’s definitely an annoying idiot. I can see right through him. Isn’t he already engaged to someone else?”

 

So absorbed was he in his thoughts that Alpheus didn’t seem particularly bothered by the mansion’s servants glancing at us.

 

“You seem to have suddenly developed a lot of interest in my engagement.”

 

I sighed and hurried to reassure him.

 

“Don’t worry too much about it. I’ll do whatever you say for the next engagement.”

 

“…What?”

 

Alpheus became serious.

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

“You’re now the head of the Marquis House. You can decide my marriage.”

 

I explained calmly.

 

“It’s true that my personality isn’t easy to deal with, but I still know my place well. Since we haven’t known each other long, I’ll tell you this – I’ve never once been a burden to anyone.”

 

In reality, I was cold and blunt in personality. But I never received much criticism from others. It was because I knew well the appropriate boundaries given to me.

 

I had no close friends at the Academy, but I wasn’t hated either. Even if I got the nickname ‘Ice Princess,’ I never heard anyone call me a ‘nasty brat.’

 

“I promise, really.”

 

I looked at Alpheus seriously and said.

 

“No matter who you match me with, I won’t rebel much, so you don’t need to worry in advance.”

 

“…Brisa?”

 

“I won’t be troublesome. I won’t rebel much either. Well, of course…”

 

Even so, worried that he might send me off too early to just anywhere, I quickly added.

 

“…Still, this time I’d like to get engaged after becoming an adult.”

 

Then I glanced at his expression and asked carefully.

 

“I’ll do much better, so could you… could you do at least that much?”

 

“Brisa Sears!”

 

He rolled his eyes as if incredulous.

 

“Your marriage is for you to decide! The person you love, chosen by you!”

 

For a moment, I felt a pang of guilt.

 

This was Alpheus who always acted like a gentle bear in front of me.

 

Honestly, I often thought he seemed a bit foolish. In fact, from observing him for a month, he consistently lacked awareness, sense, and cunning.

 

But he truly was a war hero. In an instant, the atmosphere emanating from him became sharp.

 

“Of course, even if you make the wrong choice, I’ll always be a place you can return to. That’s why I’m the head of the Marquis House.”

 

He looked straight into my eyes and spoke clearly.

 

“I didn’t receive the marquis title to control your life.”

 

I normally never felt intimidated in any situation. But at that moment, I genuinely flinched.

 

“So never say such things again.”

 

I found myself nodding without realizing it. I could see why Wendy and Philip were overwhelmed by him.

 

Countless rebuttals starting with “But” remained only in my heart.

 

“It’s not just marriage. Try doing whatever you want to do.”

 

Alpheus continued speaking while breathing heavily.

 

“Brisa, life is always unfair, but in the end it ends fairly in emptiness. That’s how sad life is.”

 

I was reminded anew that he had been through the battlefield until now.

 

An unfathomable abyss, having crossed the boundary between life and death countless times.

 

Such dark things flickered in his eyes.

 

“So at least you need to cherish your own life.”

 

I…

 

“At least you need to listen to your own heart.”

 

I really, absolutely couldn’t stand it.

 

“I understand. And let’s have such embarrassing conversations at home.”

 

Here we were reciting such clichéd lines like a youth novel in someone else’s front yard.

 

I grabbed Alpheus’s arm and pulled him along.

 

“Let’s go inside first. Don’t you see all the mansion servants are staring at us right now?”

 

“Hmm? Isn’t that natural?”

 

Alpheus tilted his head.

 

“People always stare at me.”

 

Hmm? What does that mean?

 

“They say I’m handsome.”

 

…Ah, well, that’s true.

 

“And in the end, they all like me.”

 

Well… that would probably be true too.

 

“So I never worried about high society or anything like that from the beginning. Nobles are people too, aren’t they? I might be ignored a few times at first, but if I give my all, they’ll all follow me in the end.”

 

The protagonist who hadn’t turned dark was very positive.

 

“Anyway, wherever I go, I get attention. So it’s nothing special.”

 

“Yes, let’s go inside first. But don’t take high society lightly.”

 

The road ahead seemed like endless mountain ranges.

 

Not everyone maintains basic manners with everyone like the people from the Western Region.

 

‘No, it’s not that they have good manners.’

 

The reason the Western Region people didn’t disrespect Alpheus wasn’t because they were righteous. They were genuinely just not particularly interested.

 

Taking a step back and observing worldly affairs with leisurely detachment.

 

That was a privilege only those with power could enjoy, and it was the attitude the Western Region nobles had maintained until now.

 

Anyway, that’s why I hadn’t worried much when Baron Forman’s Estate was our destination.

 

But Divostan was a somewhat different story. There was a high possibility they wouldn’t treat Alpheus as a proper marquis.

 

‘Of all places, his first noble house visit has to be Divostan.’

 

The difficulty level was much higher than expected. So I needed to teach Alpheus about the situations he might face, even if just briefly.

 

“For now, just think of them as divided into two groups.”

 

I held up two fingers as I spoke.

 

“People who look down on you, or people who are indifferent to you.”

 

“What about people who like me?”

 

“There aren’t any yet. At most, there’s the Second Prince, right? Your comrade-in-arms.”

 

But from what I knew, that Second Prince was quite a complicated person.

 

He had outstanding abilities, but unfortunately he was the son of the Commoner Empress.

 

The Crown Prince had sent him to various battlefields to get him killed, but every time he was sent, he only returned with more achievements. Even now that he had returned alive, unlike in the original story, it was the same.

 

‘This time too, the Crown Prince sent him to another battlefield.’

 

Claiming it was an emergency situation, he didn’t even hold a victory banquet for ending the Northern Region civil war.

 

Alpheus had tried to go to the Capital to collect money from the Second Prince, but the Second Prince was sent to the Southern Region as soon as he arrived at the Imperial Palace.

 

“Well, it’s not combat or anything like that. He simply went to solve problems. He’ll be back soon. Then I’ll have to go ask for compensation money once again.”

 

Alpheus didn’t give up on his begging.

 

“But before that, let’s first decorate my territory cutely with my little sister!”

 

It was farming for survival, but Alpheus thought of it as ‘territory decorating.’ It was an incredibly positive mindset.

 

I sighed inwardly and entered the reception room following the servant’s guidance.

 

The reception room was empty. Leopold and Baron Forman hadn’t arrived yet.

 

Even in the reception room, Alpheus still couldn’t move on from the earlier topic.

 

“By the way, what’s your former fiancé’s name? How old is he?”

 

At that moment, he asked while picking up finger food from the table.

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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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