The Isolated Marchioness Just Wants to Make a Living - Chapter 86

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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 86

During the brief silence that followed, Brisa raised both hands and quickly wiped away her tears.

Leopold, finally coming to his senses, offered her a handkerchief. However, Brisa, who had already wiped away all her tears, lifted her head and glared at Alpheus.

“It’s because of you.”

It was her usual venomous expression.

“It’s all because of you.”

With her eyes still red, she blamed him bitterly.

“I was going to wait for the right time and only say just enough. I was already thinking about it.”

Brisa sighed deeply and grumbled.

“It would have left some uneasiness in our hearts, and we’d have lived with some unanswered questions that would be frustrating for life, but we should have just wrapped things up roughly around there.”

Alpheus swallowed a sigh inwardly.

The prim girl’s eyes were burning bright red.

“In the end, nothing got resolved, and I just showed you something ugly.”

While Leopold, who had offered the handkerchief, felt embarrassed and fumbled to put it back in his pouch.

Alpheus slowly approached Brisa. Then he knelt on one knee to match her eye level and hugged Brisa tightly.

Her eyes widened like plates.

* * *

“Hey!”

I was shocked.

“What are you doing right now?”

Alpheus was soaked with water.

So when he hugged me tightly, my clothes also began to get damp.

I was disgusted and tried to push him away.

But there was no way a twelve-year-old kid could overpower a war hero with strength.

Alpheus spoke in a sorrowful tone.

“You’re right, this is a complicated and tangled situation. Yes.”

He was unnecessarily solemn.

“Apart from the fact that a Dark Mage is involved, the days of pain and disappointment you must have endured for so long… are honestly too difficult for me.”

I, who had been straining to push him away, froze at those words.

Too difficult.

So Alpheus was saying such things after all.

Was he trying to say that it’s too difficult so he wants to give up, that I should do as I please?

‘Why am I disappointed?’

I organized my thoughts inwardly.

‘I expected this.’

I tightly bound my struggling heart.

‘I knew this would happen…’

Alpheus slowly continued speaking.

“Waiting for you, being good to you, cherishing you, these things don’t fundamentally solve… situations like this are really too difficult for me. And whenever this happens, there’s something I believe in.”

He spoke with a resolute voice.

“It’s sincerity.”

I gaped at that cringeworthy word.

My whole body cringed at that line which was the epitome of protagonist syndrome.

Just as I was about to scream from the fatal internal damage, Alpheus continued speaking.

“Actually, while you were in the Western Region, I felt so pathetic. I was so anxious because I felt like I wasn’t qualified to be your brother.”

“What? Why?”

He answered with a voice that drooped like a rain-soaked puppy.

“Sears doesn’t have vast lands, doesn’t have a Magic Library… I suddenly appeared claiming to be your guardian, but I don’t have any foundation to help you develop your abilities…”

Those words were effective at stoking my anger.

“What are you talking about right now?”

“I already knew I was lacking in many ways, but still, I’m a brother who has too little to give you… I still haven’t even received compensation from the Second Prince…”

“Why is the Second Prince coming up here? Is that your fault?”

“You happened to be able to display all sorts of abilities on your Former Fiancé’s land, so I was worried you might say ‘Is this what a brother is capable of? I feel embarrassed and annoyed thinking about coming back here.’…”

“Stop with the creative nonsense. Are you saying that’s all Leopold’s ability? He was just born as the Grand Duke of Nogen and naturally inherited it.”

I burst out angrily. Leopold muttered blankly from behind.

“Well, that’s true though… Hmm.”

Of course, it was drowned out by my continuing voice.

“Is it your fault that you lived diligently and ended up with a shitty territory? Is it your fault that you have no Information Agent, no money, no knowledge, no brains, no common sense!”

“Wait, Brisa. I don’t lack that much…”

“You lived diligently, and you don’t have that much, but at least none of it is your fault. So what kind of stupid talk is this about not being qualified?”

Leopold shook his head from behind, muttering ‘She has a lot of anger inside…’

I sighed for a moment.

It seemed this foolish being needed direct teaching.

I raised my hand and patted Alpheus’s wet back.

“You’ve been a good enough brother all this time.”

And I added bluntly.

“Do I have to teach you even this?”

But after saying that.

Really out of nowhere, tears welled up in my eyes again.

I thought I had already cried everything out.

“For me…”

The tears that started falling again were bewildering.

I roughly rubbed my eyes with my fist and said weakly.

“…For me, you were the best brother…”

I didn’t want to admit it, but I had always thought that way.

It was unrelated to being described as a ‘good person’ in the original work.

Rather, I always tried to doubt those descriptions. Since the situation had changed, people could change too.

Nevertheless, I thought Alpheus was a good older brother.

When did I start thinking that way?

Probably….

“That, that person from earlier who became your family starting today. Um, so even though your father passed away, you’re not alone….”

It hurts my pride, but from the very beginning.

“The Marquis Territory’s financial situation isn’t very good. Of course! It’s absolutely, definitely, not even slightly something for you to worry about. I’ll be back within ten days at the latest. I hope I can see your face then… I’d like that. Take good care of yourself.”

The first person to tell me I wasn’t alone.

The first family member to tell me to only worry about my feelings because he would protect me.

“I’m leaving all the Knights except for the Elite Unit, and I’ve already told them to listen to you well. I’ve told them to protect you well, so there shouldn’t be any problems with you staying safe even while I’m gone.”

No one at the Marquis Manor had ever worried about me and taken care of me like that.

It was also the first time I had received a promise that someone would protect me.

So even though I was confused, I had no choice but to give him the Awakening Herb.

It hurt my pride, and I couldn’t admit that I had completely fallen for those warm words… so I just deceived my own heart by saying I did it to look good to the protagonist.

But I never knew how to humble myself to look good to someone in the first place.

To be honest, I had given my heart to Alpheus’s warm words from the very beginning.

“Second or third, family being precious is just something decided from the moment you’re born!”

I always shook my head saying he had protagonist syndrome….

But actually, I liked those words that sounded like lines from a youth manga.

“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 Family Head of the Marquis House. I didn’t receive the marquis title to control your life.”

Even though it was embarrassing, it was comforting.

So I didn’t want to be abandoned by him anymore.

I thought it would be nice if the Alpheus inside me could continue to remain a good person.

For that to happen, I thought I should disappear at the right time, without being a burden….

“Brisa, you are….”

Alpheus answered in a choked voice.

“You’re really a stupid and wicked little sister.”

Huh?

I asked back in bewilderment.

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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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