The Isolated Marchioness Just Wants to Make a Living - Chapter 48

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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 48

 

“He was insulting my elder brother, talking about monsters and such.”

 

At those words, Leopold glanced at Alpheus.

 

“Brisa, it seems you siblings have grown quite close.”

 

That was a roundabout way of asking ‘Is your elder brother trustworthy enough to have this conversation in front of him?’

 

But Alpheus cheerfully answered that question.

 

“Of course! We’re the only family each other has left in this world, aren’t we? It’s only natural to feel affectionate the moment we meet! Hahaha, but I’m truly grateful for the compliment that we look good together!”

 

“See?”

 

Brisa shrugged her shoulders.

 

“Just speak comfortably. Though the ‘hahaha’ laughing isn’t okay.”

 

Alpheus didn’t particularly mind that either. He just thought he should laugh ‘uhaha’ from now on instead.

 

“Monster…”

 

Brisa muttered once more.

 

“It must definitely be about that house’s second son. When I took Alpheus’s side, he brought up that story while going on about ‘dirty blood’ and such.”

 

Duke Dibostane’s second son was a bastard with half commoner blood mixed in.

 

Though Alpheus wasn’t a bastard, their circumstances were similar anyway.

 

“Suddenly hearing that strange sound echoing through the duke’s estate, Alpheus said it definitely sounded similar to a monster’s cry. Since there’s no reason for monsters to appear inside the house… that second son and ‘monster’ must be connected.”

 

Leopold remained silent.

 

Alpheus tilted his head and said.

 

“Then Brisa, are you saying that second son transforms into a monster? There are lots of stories like that in beautiful fairy tales! The princess’s kiss turns him back into a human… how about we find a woman who loves him first?”

 

“Transforming into a monster? I’m amazed by your one-dimensional imagination.”

 

“One-dimensional? Then shouldn’t you not be amazed?”

 

“Because the princess’s kiss was zero-dimensional imagination.”

 

Brisa sighed and waved her hand dismissively.

 

“A woman who loves him? What’s the point of that… if this fact gets out, his perfectly fine engagement will be broken first.”

 

The duke’s second son had a fiancée. She was a foreign princess arranged by his birth mother who was a merchant leader.

 

That bastard second son was superior to the first son in many ways, both in ability and character. So the retainers wanted to somehow make the second son the heir.

 

His birth mother even had the financial power to support that opinion with both material and moral backing.

 

What gave wings to that unprecedented movement was precisely the engagement with the princess.

 

“Engagement? He was engaged?”

 

“A political engagement.”

 

To Alpheus’s question, Brisa replied coldly.

 

“If your imagination were true, forget a kiss – she’d run away immediately. Where in this world would you find a woman who wants to marry a man who transforms into a monster?”

 

“Well, that’s true.”

 

Alpheus immediately agreed.

 

“You can’t live with a monster.”

 

Leopold said nothing.

 

A moment of silence passed.

 

Leopold slowly checked that no filth had gotten on his shoes, then slowly turned around.

 

“How about we head to Warp for now. Great-grandfather will be worried.”

 

Both Alpheus and Brisa agreed. It was obvious that Wendy and the maid would follow along from that distance anyway.

 

As they started walking, Leopold casually asked Brisa.

 

“Is it okay to talk about the broken engagement now? I’m being a bit careful though.”

 

Hm?

 

Alpheus swallowed dry saliva and listened carefully.

 

No matter how much he tried to act mature, a kid was still a kid. Though he seemed to ask the question calmly, to adult eyes it was clear he was quite nervous.

 

‘This kid… don’t tell me.’

 

Fourteen years old.

 

Though young, it was an age when one would start taking interest in the opposite sex.

 

Alpheus had also had his first love at fourteen. It was the bakery sister who gave him leftover bread.

 

Every time that sister gave him bread, Alpheus’s heart, which had been starving all day, filled with joy, and he waited every day just for the moment to receive bread.

 

The smell of bread from that sister was so wonderful that it even appeared in his dreams.

 

‘Does this kid perhaps like Bri-bri?’

 

It was possible.

 

Even at a glance, they seemed to have trust in each other. Just the way they casually discussed crisis situations showed that.

 

‘Perhaps a close friend who couldn’t approach because of the fiancé?’

 

He barely managed to hold back a snort that was about to escape.

 

His chest felt ticklish and his shoulders kept twitching.

 

‘I should keep my mouth shut.’

 

Alpheus did his best to remain silent.

 

‘So the two of them can focus on each other’s conversation…’

 

Even so, he couldn’t stop the corners of his mouth from constantly rising.

 

Brisa touched her hair and then answered Leopold.

 

“It’s fine. I expected it anyway, so there was no shock.”

 

“Are you feeling okay though?”

 

“The congratulatory bouquet you sent helped quite a bit.”

 

Then Leopold muttered with a defeated expression.

 

“…I sent it anonymously though.”

 

“I can figure out that much. What do you take my deductive abilities for?”

 

Leopold sighed deeply and showed his annoyance.

 

“There’s no satisfaction at all in sending it anonymously.”

 

Then Brisa drooped her eyebrows and comforted him.

 

“I’ll record in the Sears Family History Book that Leopold sent it anonymously. That should give you some satisfaction.”

 

“Are you joking, Brisa?”

 

“Not enough? Then I’ll have them underline the word ‘anonymously.'”

 

Meanwhile, Alpheus held back his increasingly rough breathing.

 

Aaaah, goodness.

 

‘That’s right, that’s right.’

 

Alpheus felt like stomping his feet from the thrill.

 

‘He was really waiting for the annulment with his fiancé. He even sent flowers anonymously? Crazy, this is crazy.’

 

With this kind of pure heart, he could approve of him as his sister’s match!

 

Alpheus wasn’t a narrow-minded young man with thoughts like ‘I can’t give my sister to anyone!’

 

‘It would be nice if she paired up with a kind-hearted man and lived peacefully together.’

 

Watching such a happy independence was his small wish.

 

Of course, he could still whine a bit like ‘Taking away my most precious treasure, it makes my heart ache and feel empty…’

 

Still, Leopold matched well with Brisa. At least the two of them could have conversations where neither was overwhelmed.

 

‘That alone is a pass.’

 

Brisa continued speaking calmly.

 

“So I also knew that you always wanted that annulment.”

 

Leopold was startled but still answered nonchalantly.

 

“Really? I don’t think I ever showed such feelings.”

 

“Did you think I was that oblivious? Are you perhaps confusing me with Gillabrang?”

 

“My goodness, to think you noticed even that. Your hair is similarly whitish, so I sometimes got confused. Anyway.”

 

Leopold took a moment to catch his breath before speaking.

 

“It worked out well. There’s no such thing as free in noble marriages. If it was forcibly arranged when conditions didn’t match, it means they had hidden cards.”

 

Alpheus really wanted to put his fist in his mouth now.

 

Could these kids’ love story be this entertaining?

 

Was waiting for lines like ‘come to me instead’ getting too ahead of myself?

 

Well, these children are still young…

 

Brisa answered calmly.

 

“Don’t criticize him too much. I know he showed me the utmost courtesy he could.”

 

Good heavens.

 

Alpheus felt like pounding his chest.

 

To take the side of that trash-like former fiancé here!

 

To a pure-hearted man who finally got his chance and was trying to comfort her!

 

How miserable must the boy from House Nogen be feeling right now.

 

He too, when he was fourteen, felt terribly frustrated when Bakery Sister said, ‘What should I do, Alphy? I gave all the bread to Paul today, so there’s nothing left.’

 

That night, lying on a pile of straw with an empty stomach, he was too sad to sleep. All night long, how much he thought about the bread that sister used to give him…

 

Alpheus was originally weak when it came to children. Moreover, a hurt child at that.

 

“Brisa, that’s not right!”

 

Therefore, he ended up joining their conversation.

 

“What kind of courtesy is it to immediately send an annulment letter just because you’re not the heir? If I had known about it then, I would have chased after him right away and hung him upside down to beat his soles!”

 

Handsome boy of Nogen, I’ll take your side!

 

None other than the brother of your crush!

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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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