The Isolated Marchioness Just Wants to Make a Living - Chapter 99

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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 99

And so they arrived at the forest entrance.

Beneath the semi-transparent shadows cast by those damned transparent leaves, darkness lay spread.

The moment their footsteps reached the ominously dark entrance that had become supernaturally darkened beneath the transparent veil, looking far too sinister to anyone who saw it.

‘Oh, no.’

As if by magic, her breath caught in her throat.

‘I, I can’t do it…’

She absolutely couldn’t bring herself to casually say, ‘You can go in as far as that point over there.’

Meanwhile, Harrison spoke, trying his best to act nonchalant.

“Well, this forest is exactly where the Curse of Sleep has fallen.”

Cheria couldn’t bring herself to interrupt.

She should say it was okay to go in a little, that they should go in just to that point ahead…

With just those words, she could save Shania and bury the fact that she had handed over wheat to the Dark Mage…

However, Harrison, who had no idea what was going on, continued with his explanation.

“If you enter this place, you’ll collapse and fall asleep before long.”

She should tell him to stop, but her voice just wouldn’t come out.

That’s when it happened.

Brisa spoke calmly.

“Those transparent leaf-like things, that’s what you called the forest boundary earlier, right?”

“Oh, that’s right.”

Harrison nodded.

“So it starts from this point forward.”

He pointed to the shimmering boundary’s shadow and explained to Alpheus.

“The Second Prince entered with his close associates and never came back out.”

“Did, didn’t anyone try tying a rope and going in, then pulling them back out?”

“Who would dare tie a rope to the Second Prince?”

Harrison, who had become gloomy as soon as they arrived in the Southern Region, shook his head back and forth.

“The Second Prince said this: that the most precious thing to him was friendship. He said he had to hurry back to the Imperial Palace to report Lord Alpheus’s military achievements to His Majesty the Emperor and resolve that poverty, so there was no time to hesitate.”

“Ah.”

The literary young man was moved by his friend’s friendship, who had spread word of Sears’ poverty far and wide.

“That’s just like the Second Prince, who fought back-to-back with me across battlefields… Yes, we never spared our lives in front of each other.”

Harrison looked back at Cheria.

“Well, sister?”

He asked with innocent eyes.

“Call Little Sister over. You said there was a way.”

In truth, there was no way.

Cheria hesitated and moved her lips slightly.

‘I can’t do it, I can’t do this.’

Tears finally welled up in her eyes.

‘This won’t work. It absolutely won’t work. The horses are just falling into sleep, but isn’t that essentially the same as killing them?’

Cheria shook her head with tears filling her eyes and took a step back.

“A-actually… actually, I can’t summon them… I c-can’t do it…”

Brisa, who had been staring at her rambling, let out a deep sigh.

“Well then, Alpheus.”

Brisa crossed her arms with a cynical expression and walked briskly to stand in front of the entrance. Then she pointed to the dark interior and asked Alpheus.

“Looking at the Marquis’s expression, it seems like you won’t be able to summon Sister Delmia, so what do you think about just going in for now?”

“What?”

Cheria asked back in surprise.

“Wait, wait. You’re saying we should go in now?”

She shook her head in horror.

“What did you hear? No way! Are you out of your mind?”

“No.”

“If you go in there, you’ll fall asleep! What if you can’t come back forever like the others?”

But not only Brisa, who had been expressionless all along, but Alpheus also didn’t look scared at all.

“Well, if it’s necessary, then we have to go in.”

He said, raising his eyebrows.

“If the Second Prince didn’t hesitate for my sake, then I too must repay that friendship.”

Brisa shrugged and muttered to herself, ‘A protagonist afflicted with protagonist syndrome doesn’t spare their life.’ Alpheus clenched his fist resolutely, his eyes shining.

“Besides, I really feel like I can do it. Because I’ve always been fine. Especially when I have this kind of intuition.”

Now even Harrison was shocked.

“What? Elder Brother Alpheus? You’re saying you think it would be okay to go in there… without any logic? No, you’re the first person I’ve met who’s more reckless than me.”

He blinked at Brisa and Alpheus as if he couldn’t believe it.

“I mean, who just decides to go into a forest the moment they see it?”

Then Brisa said curtly.

“It’s possible. Don’t worry too much.”

“How can I not worry…”

“Anyway, Alpheus can’t kill your Little Sister.”

Harrison’s voice cut off abruptly at Brisa’s words.

She continued with her arms crossed.

“So your initial request to kill your Little Sister wasn’t wrong either. Don’t feel too guilty about it.”

“No, that’s not what I…”

“I didn’t want to say this to you too, but ‘no’ is forbidden.”

Brisa sighed and warned him.

The girl well-versed in etiquette had now begun giving home education even to other people’s children.

“You just started three sentences in a row with ‘no.’ That looks too undignified for a Young Master of a Marquis House.”

While Brisa was sternly giving her lesson, Cheria forgot about appearances and grabbed Alpheus’s arm.

“Wait a moment. Don’t act rashly and let’s go back first…”

That’s when it happened.

“Well then, I’ll go in and take a look first.”

Brisa, who had been standing there without a care in the world, suddenly dashed into the forest.

“Huh?”

Cheria was so shocked that she tried to grab the back of Brisa’s neck, but the little girl who had suddenly taken off was fast.

Moreover, Brisa had been standing closest to the forest entrance.

“No!”

Harrison shouted in alarm.

“Wait, what are you doing, Brisa!”

The figure of the child who had lightly leaped in was quickly swallowed by the darkness.

“Brisa!”

Alpheus tried to follow after Brisa in shock. However, Cheria grabbed his arm tightly, causing them both to tumble down together.

Alpheus shook off Cheria like lightning and got up, trying to run after Brisa as he shouted.

“Bri-briiiiiii!”

Cheria was completely dumbfounded.

“What do you think about going in and taking a look?”

Had Brisa herself been the subject of that “going in and taking a look”?

She naturally thought Brisa was ordering Alpheus to do it!

At that moment, Cheria had actually been thinking to herself, ‘Is this child doing this on purpose because she wants to become a marquis? Is she really that cunning?’

But to think she would suddenly go in herself!

No one could have predicted it.

“You can’t!”

Cheria grabbed Alpheus’s ankle while still lying on the ground.

“If you follow her in, you’ll fall asleep too!”

Of course, the war hero shook off Cheria’s wrist more easily than swatting a mosquito.

Just as he was about to charge into the forest’s darkness.

“I really can’t live with this.”

Cheria nearly fainted from shock.

From within the darkness, Brisa had smacked Alpheus’s arm.

“I told you no more ‘Bri-bri’!”

Her face was perfectly fine.

The girl walked out with the same cold expression as before and pointed at Harrison.

“You’re the same. I told you to stop putting that damn ‘wait’ at the beginning of your sentences. You’re not buddies with Alpheus for nothing. You’re both at the same level.”

Cheria felt like she was going to faint.

* * *

As expected, both Harrison’s guess and the original story were correct.

‘I thought if Alpheus was fine because he’s of Sears bloodline, then I’d be fine too.’

It really didn’t affect me at all.

However, when I walked to the Forest Entrance to check, it was true that people were sleeping there.

“It felt like time itself had stopped in the space inside the forest. It’s dark, but not so dark that you can’t see ahead.”

I explained to the shocked people.

“There’s not even a breath of Wind blowing in there, and none of the plants are moving either. It’s just a world where time has stopped.”

“I saw it briefly when I was young too.”

Cheria answered in a daze.

“Back then, it was before Delmia had completely taken control of the forest… I could often come out and live a normal life outside.”

“Then you must know it well.”

I continued speaking calmly.

“People are scattered everywhere, sleeping. They absolutely won’t wake up even if you shake them.”

Cheria had definitely said this forest was gradually growing larger.

So people who had entered recently would surely be near the entrance.

“Don’t you think Harrison’s little sister is probably somewhere in the middle of the forest?”

I said while looking at Alpheus, who had followed me out of the forest and was standing behind me.

“Of course, I’m not saying we should go to the center right away, but I think it would be good to do some exploring first.”

But… Alpheus was acting strange.

Normally he should be shouting ‘Let’s hurry and go rescue the Second Prince!’ right now. But he was just quietly staring at me.

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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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