Chapter 36
Chapter 36
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Sears Marquis Residence.
"Wh-what is this?"
"Daily bread for your body."
I sat with my arms crossed and spoke.
Alpheus stared blankly at the table.
A maid quickly brought out the dishes.
"Bread with potato and egg spread, and wild strawberry compote. Please enjoy it with blanched dandelion leaves."
The dandelion leaves growing along the river weren't remarkable enough to be worth cultivating as a crop, but they were still good as an accompaniment to a meal.
"Freshwater fish stew simmered with tomatoes and mushrooms."
There weren't enough tomatoes, but we could still manage a meal with them now and then.
"Grilled crayfish seasoned with perilla."
Sometimes, if you turned over rocks, you could catch crayfish.
We didn't deliberately raise these either, but whenever the villagers caught one, they sent it to the Marquess's Residence.
"We're able to make a living thanks to you, my lady, so we should at least send this much!"
I had planned to eat it myself tomorrow, but I couldn't stand Alpheus saying he was hungry.
Alpheus must have truly been hungry, because he cleaned every single plate. It was truly un-noble behavior.
I really couldn't stand by and watch, so I sighed and spoke up.
"Bring more boiled potatoes."
He was probably acting like that because he was hungry, so I needed to fill his stomach quickly and put an end to that disgraceful display.
I had now completely decided how I would get along with Alpheus.
'I'll just treat him normally. The way I treat everyone else.'
It meant I would say what needed to be said while living with him, but without crossing any lines.
Keeping a proper distance and not getting attached—that was exactly my specialty.
At the Academy, I had gotten along with everyone that way.
"I, well, came running all the way here from the east."
Alpheus said as he dipped a potato in salt and ate it.
"I've never eaten this well before. Since we couldn't trade with the west, which is called the empire's granary, well, everyone was touchy about food."
Meanwhile, Rangsi and Philip were sitting beside me, staring blankly at Alpheus as he ate heartily.
Alpheus moved his fork diligently, then looked straight at them.
"But why are you two sitting next to Brisa?"
Rangsi and Philip looked at each other and blinked. Then, as though realizing something, they let out a small "Ah."
"Aha, we originally belonged to the captain, didn't we? Not the noble young lady's hands and feet?"
"Lately I've only been following the young lady's orders, so in my heart the captain was already dead and gone."
Alpheus slowly swallowed the potato he had been eating. Then, with a look of disbelief, he slowly muttered.
"......You two...... don't easily acknowledge your superiors, you know? Do you know how long it took me to win you over......."
My heart dropped for a moment.
Did Alpheus think I had stolen his subordinates?
It was possible. He might not have expected them to follow me this far.
'All this time, no one could resist the power of food, but.......'
Right after that, my limbs went stiff.
Mom always said it. That Alpheus and I had been rivals since birth.
Just as I had been anxious as a child, afraid my marquess title would be stolen, was Alpheus also tense, afraid his authority would be stolen by me?
"But you two, in just two months...... came to follow Brisa? Really?"
When Alpheus made a face as if his soul had left his body, Rangsi spoke nonchalantly.
"A budget manager naturally follows the person who pays the most. If it weren't for the young lady, the territory would've already gone broke from food expenses, and we'd have been unable to even dig up dirt to eat."
Philip chimed in too.
"Marquess....... I've contracted an illness that makes it utterly impossible for me to feel respect for any master who isn't elegant, noble, and dignified."
I was utterly horrified.
'Oh no, this is exactly the kind of thing that crosses the line.'
What if I was misunderstood as aiming for the marquess title?
My plan to "get along peacefully with Alpheus" was already cracking. I was so scared that my body froze.
'At this rate, I'll be purged before long!'
It was just then that I glanced at Alpheus, trying to read the mood.
"Ahahahaha! So you two have figured it out too? That my little sister is cute, adorable, lovable, and good at everything!"
......Huh?
Not a single one of those three descriptions applied to me.
"I was going to warn you to serve her like a precious treasure, but I guess I don't need to! Ahahaha! Let's all protect our darling little princess with our lives!"
At the words "darling little princess," I pressed my hand to my forehead.
I felt dizzy at the skin-crawling title.
"Now trust us, little princess of Sears!"
He even winked while mumbling around a potato.
I appealed to him, sounding genuinely distressed.
"This is urgent. I want to buy a pair of eyes that haven't seen this."
Rangsi answered.
"Sold out."
In the end, I had no choice but to overcome it alone.
I seriously warned Alpheus.
"That 'little princess' or whatever title is banned."
"Is that so? Then let's go with Sparkly Sparkly Thumb Fairy."
"That title's not allowed either."
"Is that right? Then Flappy Flappy Baby Angel!"
The literary youth had a talent for endlessly producing low-quality nicknames.
"Shall we, um, blow soap bubbles on the roof? Your big brother bought them so he could play with Flappy Flappy Baby Angel!"
"There's a lettuce patch on the roof. Soapy water is bad for the crops."
"Then let's play with balloons in the garden! Your big brother will blow up a whole bunch for you!"
"What are you going to do if the chickens accidentally eat pieces of a burst balloon?"
I said with my arms crossed.
"And you're banned from calling yourself 'big brother.' It's creepy."
"Our baby angel sure has a lot of rules......."
"'Baby angel' is the one that's really not allowed. I'm twelve years old."
"Then, the treasure of Sears, molded from starlight!"
Rangsi, who had been watching us bicker, spoke up.
"The sun's gonna rise."
"Whoa, we can't have that! My little sister needs to grow taller!"
In the end, after going around and around, it came back to "my little sister."
It had sounded horrifying when I first heard it, but now it somehow seemed like the best option.
I rolled my eyes for a moment, then spoke quietly.
"Well, I was just a stand-in while you were gone."
Even after the commotion passed, it still bothered me.
Now my life and death were effectively in Alpheus's hands. Especially if those Sebon bastards contacted Alpheus and told him to hand over Brisa.......
I continued in a trembling voice.
"I know better than anyone that I'm not the real owner of this marquisate, and that I'm not Rangsi and Philip's superior. So you really don't need to worry about it."
"What do you mean? Why wouldn't I worry? It'd be great if we all got along together!"
Alpheus tilted his head.
His face truly showed he had no idea what I was talking about.
He continued awkwardly.
"Actually, I accepted the marquess title without knowing the details. I just thought my little sister, ten years younger than me, needed a guardian."
"Huh?"
"I had no idea at all that you were receiving heir training. I only found out because the maids told me the night of the funeral."
I was shocked, but I held it in.
From the start, Alpheus's way of thinking was completely different from that of people in noble houses who had been conscious of succession from the moment they learned to walk.
"I've lived as a commoner all this time, so, well, I actually asked a lawyer if there was any way to give the marquess title back to you, but......."
It was truly astounding.
I knew in my head that I needed to read his mood. But because of my background, that resolve didn't last long.
In the end, I cut him off as if dumbfounded.
"Good heavens, starting today, read the legal code."
To not even know the basic imperial law.
There is no way to cancel the eldest son's inheritance written in the will.
In the original novel, Alpheus was looked down on for quite a long time because of his "un-noble words and actions." But even so, his title remained legitimate to the end.
I clenched my fist and struck the table with a thud.
"No matter how I've lived all this time, and no matter how you've lived, you are the lawful heir of Sears. A marquess recognized by imperial law. Got it?"
"Huh? Yeah......."
"You don't need to care if anyone insults you by calling you a commoner or a mercenary. Because that doesn't make the marquess title you received disappear."
"Huh? Yeah......."
"I guarantee that eventually, a few years from now, when you revive this damn family again, marriage proposals will probably come in from the imperial family and all. By then, no one will be able to say a word about you being a commoner or whatever."
I flinched for a moment.
After speaking, I suddenly realized I had even mentioned the events of the original novel.
'Oh no, did I speak too much like someone who knows the future? What if he thinks it's nonsense that doesn't fit common sense?'
I had resolved never to say anything that made it seem like I knew the future.
Maybe because I had always lived in fear of saying strange things, my heart was pounding wildly.