I was at the potato field from dawn when one of the kitchen maids came running toward me.
“My lady, what should we do?!”
She blinked frantically, nearly stumbling over her own feet.
“I went to the produce shop on Jejel Street, and the ingredient prices are outrageous! They suddenly asked for five times yesterday’s price for strawberries! They were already expensive to begin with!”
Instability in the warp network meant instability in distribution.
And it wasn’t just the warps.
Soon, monsters would begin appearing along the borders of every territory as well.
Rising food prices had always been inevitable.
This is only the beginning...
At least they had bought the seed potatoes as quickly as possible.
In another month and a half, we’ll be able to harvest young potatoes.
Potatoes would provide both carbohydrates and vitamin C.
I emptied the last of my emergency funds into the maid’s hands.
“Martha, there’s something I need you to buy immediately.”
I had been waiting for this exact moment—when the distribution network began to falter.
There was something whose price could still be forced down and purchased cheaply.
We already secured enough grain from the grain merchants. Even with our increased numbers, we can survive for another month.
I had just finished giving Martha her instructions when—
“My lady!”
The gatekeeper came running in a panic.
“Lady Brisa! Lady Dalia has come to see you—right now!”
The moment the name Dalia was spoken, every maid froze.
The knights planting potatoes all wore expressions that clearly said:
Who’s that?
I narrowed my eyes.
“...Dalia? Here? Now?”
Dalia Sayers Harwin.
My cousin.
The same Sayers surname had once belonged to both of us.
Father had a younger brother.
Which made him my uncle.
After distinguishing himself through military service, my uncle had been granted the Harwin territory and founded the Harwin Barony.
Even so, he had been unable to let go of the name Sayers, keeping it as a middle name.
A ridiculous decision.
Middle names were generally reserved for royalty and high-ranking nobility, so people openly mocked him behind his back.
And the Harwin family...
They took most of our marquisate.
The day of Father's funeral.
Because of a contract Father had foolishly signed out of trust in family ties, the Baron Harwin family inherited Baron Territory and Jejel Street.
Father had truly made such an absurd agreement with his own younger brother.
Brothers who had been born and raised together in this territory.
That was why Uncle had been able to cherry-pick the most profitable lands—the Jejel commercial district and the Baron Plains.
Most importantly, losing Jejel Street had been catastrophic.
It was the center of trade throughout the central region.
Markets, merchants, warehouses—everything flowed through there.
There would have been plenty of useful seeds and preserved food supplies available in its shops, resources that would have been invaluable during isolation.
Yet they were gone.
Uncle Harwin hadn’t comforted me at Father’s funeral.
Instead, he had gone straight to Alphius and demanded that the contract be honored.
Alphius probably hadn't even realized the man was his uncle.
To him, Harwin had simply looked like another creditor.
But now...
Not Uncle.
His daughter.
Why is she here?
In the original story, Dalia did come to see me.
But that happened about a month later.
By then, my maids and I had already been worn down by hunger.
“Alphius even drove your butler away, didn’t he? Good heavens, if you stay here, those knights won't take care of you. You’ll starve to death first. Hurry and come to our estate. Even your former butler is staying with us.”
Because she was my cousin, I followed her with my maids.
And as a result—
We were loaded onto an illegal human-trafficking ship.
“Goodbye, Brisa.”
Dalia had personally shoved me onto the vessel.
Then she smiled and said:
“I've always hated you.”
It had been such an unexpected statement.
Hate me?
We barely interacted.
After all, before leaving for the Academy, I spent most of my childhood with Mother.
Mother was my teacher in every subject.
“You can catch up in two years. You're my daughter, after all. Let's get you admitted early.”
At the age of ten, I had placed first in the entrance examination for the Capital Academy—a school where most students entered at twelve.
When I received my acceptance letter, I carried it to Mother's grave.
Because while I had been taking the examination in the capital...
Mother had died.
“Don't contact Brisa. It might affect her exam.”
“You... you're truly insane.”
“Don't be ridiculous. I'm not insane.”
That had been Mother's final wish.
And Father—the man who had called her insane to the very end—had nevertheless honored it.
No one informed me.
I couldn't even attend my mother's funeral.
Growing up that way, I had never really had time to become close with Dalia.
Still...
If she truly meant I've always hated you...
Then perhaps the maids had been right all along.
Perhaps she had simply envied me.
By the time we reached the reception room, Dalia was already seated.
Brown hair.
Sky-blue eyes.
“Brisa, it's been a long time.”
She smiled brightly.
The same cousin who hadn't even attended Father's funeral.
“I heard you're no longer the heir of the Marquis family.”
Her smile widened.
“What a shame. I also heard your engagement was broken off.”
I frowned.
“Is that true? Wow. You never know where life will take you.”
The last time we'd met had been two years ago.
Back then, Dalia had never openly provoked me like this.
Only now did I realize something.
I had become someone she believed she could look down on.
And she'd been waiting for this opportunity for a very long time.
“You know Luman Joachim, right?”
Dalia crossed her legs.
“I'll probably become engaged to him soon. Father visited the Count Joachim family yesterday, and apparently they made an offer.”
“Ah. Luman Joachim.”
I answered lazily.
“Among all the nobles in the central region, I've always thought he was the most unbearable.”
Then I tilted my head.
“But starting today, I suppose I'll have to pity him instead.”
I smiled.
“Wow. You really never know where life will take you. Just like you said.”
Dalia's expression twisted.
I continued calmly.
“I suppose the Harwin family has grown quite wealthy lately.”
“...What are you talking about?”
“Well.”
I rested my chin on one hand.
“The Count Joachim family is famous for never accepting even the slightest loss. The fact that they've only now begun considering you as a marriage candidate says quite a lot.”
Her face darkened.
“At this point, shouldn't you invite my late father’s ghost to the engagement ceremony?”
I smiled pleasantly.
“He’s the biggest contributor to your family's success, after all. If it were me, I'd even ask him to give a congratulatory speech.”
“Don't be so arrogant.”
Dalia glared at me.
“You're just a parasite living under a marquis whose blood is half commoner.”
She clenched her teeth.
“Personally, I'm very curious where your half-brother plans to sell you off.”
“Then you'd better stay on my good side.”
I elegantly lifted my teacup.
“If I tell my brother to sell me to Luman Joachim instead, your precious engagement might run into a very serious... complication.”
Power struggles like this?
I had never lost one.
Still, it was boring.
After taking a sip of tea, I decided to get straight to the point.
“Why are you here?”
“...Since yesterday, the warp network has been in chaos.”
If I hadn't known the original story, I would only have learned that fact from yesterday's newspaper.
Dalia continued haughtily.
“Father immediately started investigating. The Magic Tower has already announced that it's because of the Monster Wave. They said it won't be resolved anytime soon.”
She paused dramatically.
Then copied me and took a sip of tea.
Finally, she smiled.
“You don't have much food, do you?”
There it was.
“Our family will take the Erenta region.”
She leaned forward.
“Hand it over to us.”
Of course.
The western grain guild master hadn't randomly singled out Erenta before.
The Harwin family must have approached him first.
Offering a high price in exchange for helping them seize Erenta’s fishing rights from the Sayers family.
And the guild master, desperate for money, had eagerly taken the bait.
