The Isolated Marchioness Just Wants to Make a Living [Novel] Chapter 83

Chapter 83

It was a land where I had issued every single instruction personally. Even if I hadn’t been able to see it with my own eyes while I was in the Western Region.

“My Lady, did you know that boats now sail to Erenta?”

The young man with zero talent for stealing spoke cheerfully.

“You mentioned you couldn’t trust the Warp, so they opened a waterway from the neighboring estate! It’s surprisingly worth riding. Since Erenta is on high ground, you can get a great view of the entire estate as well.”

“Oh, really?”

My face lit up.

Being able to view the entire estate from above sounded absolutely wonderful. I would be able to take it all in without having to walk everywhere myself.

“I want to ride it.”

“Please follow me!”

He said cheerfully, taking the lead.

“I will escort you myself!”

“Your movements are as exaggerated as ever.”

I shook my head.

“You really have no talent for stealing. Just keep living your life raising dairy cows.”

Meanwhile, the rumor that I was going to ride a boat spread like wildfire.

The merchants of Jezel Street kept trying to push this and that into my hands.

“My Lady, have some candy!”

“My Ladeeeey, please take this too. It’s pudding.”

“My Lady, if you get hungry, eat this! It’s freshly baked egg bread!”

Whenever I tried to pay for anything, they freaked out and stopped me. They insisted I just take it for free.

It was truly absurd.

I sighed and scolded them.

“You shouldn’t make a habit of giving things away for free right before winter.”

At that, everyone spoke in unison.

“We only survived because of you, My Lady!”

“If it weren’t for that potato field, we would have all starved to death chewing on olive tree bark, you know?”

Flustered, I muttered.

“You are all such insolent people. It seems you have forgotten the grace I showed you during the isolation period, seeing as none of you are listening to a word I say.”

I was being entirely serious, but everyone just burst into laughter. And then they shoved a few more precious snacks into my hands.

Martha tried to scold them for being impolite, but she missed her timing as she was busy munching on the bread she had bewilderingly received.

By the time we finally reached the dock upstream of the Erenta River, Martha and Wendy’s hands were completely full.

“Hah.”

I muttered, utterly dumbfounded.

“You guys have gotten arrogant, haven’t you? So now you’re refusing my orders and my money, is that it?”

“Yes.”

The servant who guided us spoke cheerfully.

“Thanks to you, My Lady, we are very full and arrogant!”

At a loss for words, I rubbed my forehead.

I felt hollow inside from how cheeky they were. So, I had no choice but to eat the snacks they gave me.

As we were eating freshly baked bread at the dock, a modestly sized boat soon glided in.

Perhaps because it served as a cargo ship rather than a cruise ship, it was loaded with more goods than people.

We quickly boarded the boat.

“We will get off at the stop after the next one.”

Wendy paid the fare while looking at a map.

“It’s a little outside the Sayre region, but there is a Warp nearby, so we should be able to take that Warp back toward Jezel Street.”

“Alright.”

I nodded.

After boarding the boat and finding a spot on a decent deck, we waited a little while before the boat finally set off.

The sunlight glittering on the river water was beautiful.

“Wow…”

I cheered blankly.

Behind it, I could see Sayre’s potato field.

Cows were now peacefully grazing.

Although I couldn’t see them well, it was obvious that chickens were also being raised in that area. Because that was the instruction I had left three months ago.

Because we were planning to increase the chicken population significantly as well.

As I leaned against the railing, resting my chin in my hand and staring blankly at the scenery, a white bird flew by.

The sight of it swiftly snatching a fish embedded itself in my vision.

“Oh.”

It was incredibly fast.

I was about to be reminded of someone.

Of course, I forced myself not to think about it. Thinking about an ex-fiancé would only make me feel complicated anyway.

It was then.

“Why?”

Like a lie, a familiar voice drifted over from beside me.

“Is it because you feel sorry for the fish being eaten?”

Startled, I turned to the side.

Five years ago, on the day of our engagement ceremony.

Coincidentally, we had also ridden a boat that day.

I raised an eyebrow at the fourteen-year-old Leopold, who was five years older than he had been back then. And I answered haughtily.

“I eat fish very well. We lived together for almost three months, and you didn’t notice?”

At that, Leopold let out a low chuckle.

His voice, much deeper than I remembered, was laced with playfulness.

“No, I just figured that since you’re so young, you would unconditionally say you felt sorry for the fish.”

Those were the exact words that had provoked seven-year-old me.

Twelve-year-old me was immediately provoked just the same.

I retorted haughtily.

“You and I are classmates at the Academy. Our intellectual levels are identical.”

“That sounds like a topic worth debating if we ever get the chance.”

Leopold elegantly nailed the coffin on my statement, essentially calling it ‘utter nonsense.’

Instead of fighting childishly like I did five years ago, I narrowed my eyes and asked.

“I thought you had business to attend to? Why did you suddenly get on this boat?”

“Because you got on.”

“That’s a very long and detailed answer. Please summarize it in a book and send it to me by mail.”

After throwing one sarcastic remark, I turned around.

Wendy and Martha were staring at us with wide eyes.

Wendy, her hands full of food, hiccuped and said.

“I really had no idea. His Highness the Young Archduke is just so good at hiding his presence…”

Martha was alternating her gaze between Leopold and me, practically hyperventilating.

“Reuniting after breaking the engagement… Oh my lord… But a marriage between His Highness the Young Archduke of Nosen and My Lady was the Princess’s dying wish… S-S-S-Somehow… We must make this happen somehow…”

Looking at the two of them, I ordered.

“Go somewhere else. I want to talk to him alone.”

At that, Wendy hesitated, rolling her eyes.

“Pardon? But…”

“Because, as you said, Wendy, Leopold seems to be much better at using his body than you are.”

Martha was the one who answered.

“Yes, ma’am!”

Then, with surprising strength, she dragged Wendy away and muttered as they vanished.

“Your Highness the Princess, please rest in peace in the afterlife.”

Busy trying not to drop the food in her arms, Wendy couldn’t even put up a fight.

Martha spoke rapidly, as if in prayer.

“In many ways, the guaranteed Young Archduke Leopold Nosen is far better than some cowardly, nameless idiot boy who sends flowers anonymously because he lacks courage and then does absolutely nothing else.”

It seemed my mother’s dying wish served as a massive source of motivation for Martha.

Once it was just the two of us, I turned my gaze back to the water.

Why did Leopold suddenly follow me?

Truthfully, I had a hunch.

I had suspected it since I called Harrison, but to Leopold, all of this must have been a baffling incident.

That was practically the same as saying Dark Mages had begun infiltrating my surroundings.

I could also roughly guess what Leopold was going to say.

“You came to tell me you’re going to protect me, didn’t you?”

I said, looking out at the river as the sunset began to fall.

“You came because you wanted to add a word telling me not to worry since you’ll help, right?”

After spitting that out apathetically, a sigh escaped me on its own.

The ensuing conversation was obvious.

Leopold would say something like, ‘As your former fiancé, I want to take responsibility,’ or, ‘That is the duty of the Original Five Houses,’ or something along those lines.

Then I would get angry and ask why Nosen, which has nothing to do with me, would protect me.

Yet Leopold tilted his head.

“No.”

“Huh?”

He asked slowly, as if genuinely puzzled.

“The fact that Dark Mages are after you… Was that something I needed to comfort you about again? Haven’t we talked about that a lot?”

Well, th-th-that’s true, but.

“And even if I don’t go out of my way to say it, don’t you already know I’m worried about you?”

I was completely flustered.

Just then, Leopold leaned against the railing next to me, his back to the river. Then, he continued leisurely.

“I came because I had something else to say.”

I could feel his gaze on the side of my cheek.