The Marquess of Sears’ residence.
“W-What is this?”
“Your daily rations.”
I said it while sitting with my arms crossed.
Alpheus stared blankly at the dining table.
A maid quickly brought the dishes over.
“Bread served with potato and egg spread, and wild strawberry compote. Please enjoy it with blanched dandelion leaves.”
Dandelion leaves that grew along the river weren’t impressive enough to bother cultivating, but they were still good as a side dish.
“Freshwater fish stew cooked with tomatoes and mushrooms.”
There weren’t many tomatoes, but we could manage a meal like this once in a while.
“Grilled crayfish scented with perilla seeds.”
If you flipped over rocks now and then, you could catch crayfish.
We didn’t raise them on purpose either, but when villagers caught some, they sent them to the marquessate one by one.
“We’re surviving thanks to you, miss, so at least we should offer this much!”
I had been planning to eat this tomorrow, but I couldn’t endure Alpheus saying he was hungry.
He really must have been starving, because he cleaned every plate completely. It was an extremely unaristocratic sight.
I couldn’t stand watching it anymore, so I sighed and said,
“Bring him more boiled potatoes.”
He must have been hungry—filling him up quickly would fix that disgraceful behavior.
By now, I had completely decided how I would treat Alpheus.
Just treat him normally. Like I treat everyone else.
Say what needed to be said, but don’t cross the line.
Maintain a relationship with a proper wall. Don’t get attached.
That was my specialty.
At the academy, I treated everyone that way.
“Well, um… when I ran all the way here from the eastern region,” Alpheus said while dipping potatoes in salt,
“I’ve never eaten this well before. Since we couldn’t trade with the western region—the Empire’s granary—everyone was very sensitive about food.”
Meanwhile, Langsi and Philip were sitting beside me, staring blankly at Alpheus as he ate.
Alpheus paused his fork and looked straight at them.
“But why are you two next to Brisa?”
Langsi and Philip looked at each other and blinked. Then, as if something clicked, they exclaimed at the same time.
“Ah, right. I was originally the captain’s man, wasn’t I? Not the noble young lady’s servant?”
“Lately I’ve only been listening to the miss, so in my heart, the captain’s been dead for a while now.”
Alpheus slowly swallowed the potato in his mouth and muttered in disbelief,
“...You guys don’t accept superiors easily. It took me forever to make you mine…”
My heart dropped.
Did Alpheus think I had stolen his subordinates?
That was possible. Maybe he never expected them to follow me this far.
Sure, no one can resist food, but still…
My limbs stiffened.
Mother always said that Alpheus and I were rivals from the moment we were born.
Just as I had once feared losing the marquessate, was Alpheus now afraid of losing his authority to me?
“Just two months… and you started following Brisa already? Really?”
As Alpheus stared at them like he’d lost his soul, Langsi answered calmly.
“Anyone in charge of budgets follows the one who gives the most money. If it weren’t for the miss, this territory would’ve gone bankrupt on food expenses already.”
Philip added,
“My lord… I suffer from an illness where I can only respect masters who are elegant, refined, and dignified.”
I was horrified.
This is bad. This really crossed the line.
What if he misunderstood and thought I was aiming for the marquessate?
My plan to “live peacefully with Alpheus” was already cracking apart. Fear stiffened my body.
At this rate, I’m going to get purged or something!
I cautiously glanced at Alpheus—
Then suddenly,
“Ahahahaha! So you’ve realized it too? That my little sister is cute, adorable, lovable, and everything!”
…Huh?
None of those descriptions applied to me.
“I was going to warn you to treat her carefully, but I guess that’s unnecessary! Ahahaha! Let’s protect our tiny little princess with our lives!”
At the words tiny little princess, I pressed my hand to my forehead.
The creepy nickname made me dizzy.
“Trust us now, Sears’ little princess!”
He even winked while chewing potatoes.
I groaned in genuine pain.
“Emergency. I want to buy new eyes.”
Langsi replied,
“Sold out.”
In the end, I had to endure it alone.
I looked at Alpheus seriously and warned him,
“Banned. That ‘little princess’ nickname.”
“Really? Then how about Sparkling Thumb Fairy?”
“That’s banned too.”
“Then Flap-Flap Baby Angel!”
This literary youth had a terrifying talent for producing low-quality nicknames endlessly.
“Should we play on the roof, um, blowing soap bubbles? Big brother bought them to play with Flap-Flap Baby Angel!”
“There’s a lettuce garden on the roof. Soap water’s bad for crops.”
“Then let’s play with balloons in the garden! Big brother will blow lots of them!”
“What if the chickens eat the popped pieces?”
I crossed my arms.
“And don’t call yourself ‘big brother.’ It’s creepy.”
“Our baby angel has so many things she can’t do…”
“Baby angel is absolutely banned. I’m twelve.”
“Then—Sears’ treasure forged with starlight!”
Watching us bicker, Langsi muttered,
“I’m gonna lose sleep.”
“What?! That won’t do! My little sister needs to grow taller!”
In the end, it circled back to my little sister.
At first, that title had shocked me, but now it felt like the least harmful option.
I rolled my eyes briefly, then spoke quietly.
“I—I was just acting as your proxy while you were gone.”
After all the chaos, I was still uneasy.
At this point, my life was practically in Alpheus’s hands. Especially if those Sebon bastards contacted him and told him to hand Brisa over…
With a trembling voice, I continued,
“I know better than anyone that I’m not the true lord of this territory, and I’m not Langsi and Philip’s superior. So you really don’t have to worry.”
“What are you talking about? Why wouldn’t I worry? It’s better if everyone gets along!”
Alpheus tilted his head.
He genuinely looked like he didn’t understand at all.
Then he scratched his head awkwardly and said,
“Well, actually, I received the marquessate without knowing the full situation. I just thought my little sister needed a guardian.”
“Huh?”
“I had no idea you were receiving heir education. I only found out when the maids told me on the night of the funeral.”
I was shocked—but I endured it.
From the start, Alpheus’s way of thinking had been completely different from nobles who learned to read heir politics while learning to walk.
“I’ve lived as a commoner for a long time, so, um… I even asked a lawyer if there was a way to give the title back to you.”
I was speechless.
I knew logically that I should watch my words around him. But because of my nature, that resolve never lasted long.
In the end, I cut him off in disbelief.
“Unbelievable. Start reading law books from today.”
Not knowing even basic imperial law.
There was no way to cancel primogeniture written in a will.
Even in the original story, Alpheus was ignored for a long time because of his “un-noble behavior,” but his title was legitimate until the end.
I clenched my fist and slammed the table.
“No matter how I lived, no matter how you lived—you are the lawful heir of Sears. A marquess recognized by imperial law. Got it?”
“Uh? Uh…”
“No matter who insults you, calling you a commoner or a mercenary, you don’t need to care. That doesn’t make your title disappear.”
“Uh? Uh…”
“I guarantee it. Once you revive this damn family in a few years, marriage proposals will probably even come from the imperial family. By then, no one will dare say things like ‘commoner’ ever again.”
I flinched.
Only after speaking did I realize I’d mentioned future events.
Damn it. Did I sound like I knew the future? What if he thinks it makes no sense?
I had sworn never to speak as if I knew what would happen.
Maybe because I’d always lived anxious about saying strange things, my heart started pounding wildly.
