The Isolated Marchioness Just Wants to Make a Living - Chapter 98

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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 98

Cheria even pressed her forehead to the ground at Alpheus’s feet.

“Marquis, I heard that you also inherited your territory overnight.”

Frustration was mixed in her voice.

“The feeling of helplessly watching territory residents starve and suffer from curses day by day… I believe you understand, Marquis.”

I looked at Shania and shrugged my shoulders once.

The game was already over.

After hearing such words that sought empathy, there was no way our protagonist Alpheus wouldn’t step forward.

“Yes, I understand!”

Alpheus said energetically.

“But of course, I’m not thinking of killing Miss Delmia outright or anything. You’re both thinking too extremely.”

He continued speaking while sincerely comforting Cheria.

“Like sincerely asking her to stop this phenomenon, or knocking her unconscious first…”

The solutions the war hero had thought of so far were excessively ordinary.

“Anyway, we need to think of solutions together like that! Harrison is like a younger brother to me too!”

That was a future decided from the moment Harrison called out “Elder Brother Alphy.”

“Thank you, truly thank you.”

Cheria said with her head bowed.

“Then for now… would you like to go to the forest together? I don’t know if we can call Delmia out of the forest, but I’ll try.”

Shania shook her head back and forth.

Then she looked at me with eyes that said ‘I warned you’ and left the reception room.

‘Right. Just looking at it, she seems like she’ll throw us into the forest.’

I thought with a cold expression while observing the situation.

‘Looking at how she’s saying let’s go to the forest first, rather than thinking of methods and setting up hypotheses to try together…’

We don’t know the geography well.

If she just said it was safe up to that point ahead, we’d have no choice but to enter.

‘Of course Alpheus would be fine, but…’

I watched that scene quietly and then stepped forward.

“Then, Marquis.”

Cheria turned to look at me.

Anxiety briefly crossed her face.

“There’s one condition.”

“Condition?”

“Yes.”

I crossed my arms haughtily.

“If by any chance we enter the ‘Cursed Forest’ and remain unharmed, would it be alright if we gathered materials in that forest?”

“…En, enter? You’re going to enter there?”

Cheria was startled even though that was exactly what she wanted.

“We might be able to enter.”

I said boldly.

“Anyway, if that’s the case, will you allow us to gather?”

“…Gather…ing? You mean things like grass, trees, mushrooms?”

Cheria stammered with a bewildered expression.

“Well, of course that’s possible…”

“Yes, if everything goes well…”

I said, recalling the ‘Cursed Forest’ I had seen from afar.

“The Southern Region will also escape from the food shortage.”

I had a plan from the beginning. It was also the reason I had come to the Southern Region despite the uncertain situation.

“What? The food shortage… in this winter? Even if Delmia really faints and the curse on the forest is lifted… surely that wouldn’t be possible?”

Cheria’s eyes widened.

“I’ll hear your apology for this situation then.”

I stood up from my seat and warned coldly.

“Even if Alpheus doesn’t understand, I’ve grasped the situation.”

* * *

“Sister, sister!”

Harrison spoke with a resolute voice.

“You know how to drag Little Sister Delmia out of the forest, right? Let’s ask Marquis Sears to make her faint first.”

Cheria stroked Harrison’s tired-looking head.

“Sure.”

In truth, she didn’t know any such method.

It had been a long time since Delmia had lost even the minimum of her reason.

“I can make her come out of the forest briefly.”

“That’s a relief.”

Harrison sighed in relief, but his expression remained dark.

“I just…”

He whispered while grasping Cheria’s gaunt hand.

“To be honest, I think it can’t be helped if something happens to Little Sister because Elder Brother Alpheus misjudges his strength or something. I believe Little Sister would want this too. She definitely asked us to kill her last time…”

“Yes.”

Cheria said with downcast eyes.

“Maybe we ended up like this because we couldn’t grant her that request then.”

Beside her brother who knew nothing, tears finally welled up in her eyes.

“Harrison, why is protecting something… so difficult?”

Everything felt overwhelming to Cheria.

The Territory Residents were starving.

She had to take responsibility for them.

The curse had devoured the land. When the land disappeared, there was no food. On top of that, Warp didn’t work either.

Her parents scraped together all the family and territory’s assets and tried every possible method, but failed. In the end, they too were consumed by the curse.

The Former Marquis Naisar tried to protect everything. His beliefs, the law, his children, and love.

‘If I act like my parents, I’ll lose everything. I must at least protect what needs to be protected.’

Cheria, who became the marquis, acted differently from her parents.

‘I can’t protect everything.’

That became Cheria’s standard for action.

‘I must prioritize what needs to be protected and abandon the rest.’

First, she abandoned her beliefs.

When a Dark Mage offered to buy Southern Wheat at a high price, she secretly sold it.

She sold territories far from the ‘Forest of Sleep’ to supplement her funds, and with that money, she summoned a famous Shaman. There was a Shaman who demanded a huge sum, claiming he could ‘definitely solve it.’

The Shaman’s words sounded plausible, and at that time, Cheria truly wanted to try anything.

Her parents would never have dealt with Dark Mages, but…

However, that Shamanic Magic had no effect at all, and the situation only grew worse.

As the forest expanded, usable land decreased, and since they had given the Southern Wheat to the Dark Mages, food supplies hit rock bottom.

On top of that, Warp wasn’t working properly either, so distribution was a mess.

In the midst of all this, the Second Prince came down claiming he would solve the Curse of Sleep.

“Your Highness the Second Prince, you must not enter the forest carelessly. No one has ever come out.”

However, the Second Prince led his Knight Order and stubbornly entered the forest.

But shortly after, a secret letter arrived from the Crown Prince.

[Well done. I’ll send you grains.]

Cheria trembled as she received the letter.

The three words ‘well done’ were more terrifying than anything else. She hadn’t deliberately sent the Second Prince into the forest.

But a few days later, grains really did arrive in secret.

Next, she abandoned her conscience.

She didn’t send those grains back. Winter was approaching and there was no food circulating in the territory.

In the end, she shared the grains the Crown Prince had sent with the Territory Residents and survived early winter.

Meanwhile, the Cursed Forest continued to grow larger.

But then another letter arrived.

[Hand over your sister as my concubine, and agree to the new law.]

After checking the contents that followed, Cheria squeezed her eyes shut.

While it would be a personal tragedy for Shania, handing her sister over to the Imperial Family was tantamount to letting them control the entire Southern Region.

She loved Shania, and the moment she sent her sister as a hostage, she would have no choice but to agree to all of the Crown Prince’s proposals.

[If so, I’ll keep your dealings with the Dark Mages buried as a secret.]

It felt like being caught in a tight noose.

Even if she had to go to prison for her crimes, what about the Southern Region?

Both Shania and Harrison were still too young. They hadn’t received proper heir education.

Handing over the territory to them and going to prison in this difficult situation would mean the destruction of the Southern Region.

It was obvious that civil war would break out just like in the Northern Region.

She hesitated and couldn’t give any answer.

But recently, another letter had arrived.

[The Marquis Sears siblings will arrive in the Southern Region. If you dispose of that Marquis Sears bastard in the forest, I will withdraw my proposal regarding your younger brother.]

At the same time, she received a letter from Harrison saying he was coming to the Southern Region with the Marquis Sears siblings.

Cheria cried painfully for a long time.

‘I can’t protect everything.’

Now it was time to abandon her humanity.

So Cheria led the Marquis Sears siblings to the edge of the forest.

“I don’t know about Alpheus, but I understand the situation.”

Brisa’s cold words pierced through her heart, but there was no choice.

If she acted like her parents, she would lose everything.

Her younger brother and the Southern Region were more precious than Marquis Sears, whom she had just met.

Besides… if something happened to Alpheus, couldn’t Brisa inherit the marquis title?

Brisa was a smart child who had been continuously educated as the next marquis.

The House of Sears would be fine even without Alpheus.

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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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