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Chapter 01
1. Potato Farming vc
“Miss Brisa, I regret to bring you such news.”
It was the day before the Capital Academy’s graduation ceremony.
“It is said that Marquis Sears has passed away due to a carriage accident. Please accept my deepest condolences.”
I heard of my father’s death while reading in the library.
“Also, the eldest son of Marquis Sears, who had long been missing, has been found.”
At the same time, I learned that my half-brother had returned.
“And so, the title of Marquis Sears…”
The instructor who delivered the news gently held my stiff shoulders.
“According to the will, it has been decided that the eldest son will inherit it.”
My father’s death did not affect me much. There had never been any affection between us to begin with.
During the two years I spent at the Capital Academy, I had not returned to the estate even once.
But the fact that a half-brother I had never even seen before had become the Marquis Sears—that was shocking.
Since I was very young, I had been raised as the heir of the marquis family. Yet now, I would not inherit the title…
If my mother, who passed away two years ago, were to hear this in the afterlife, she would probably kick open her coffin and storm the estate immediately.
“Do you really think that son born of a maid would return? If they haven’t found him until now, they never will.”
My father, Marquis Sears, had been married twice.
His first marriage had been a secret one, held in a rural shrine after he eloped with a maid from the estate.
Within days, the family discovered it and forced a divorce.
The maid, who had been pregnant with his child, disappeared.
Ten years later, my father married my mother.
In truth, from the moment of his divorce, my father had always been searching for his eldest son. The only thing he knew about the child in the maid’s womb was the gender the doctor had mentioned.
And he had always wanted to pass the marquis title on to him.
Because of that, my mother lived in constant anxiety, muttering to herself every day.
“There won’t be a day when that lowly thing suddenly appears, will there? With commoner blood mixed in, there’s no way he could ever become a proper Marquis Sears.”
My mother was the last princess of the Kingdom of Liente.
Although it had fallen after a defeat in war, Liente had been a kingdom with a long history.
So she always insisted that my bloodline was far superior to that of the eldest son.
“He’s probably been farming melons among commoners. There’s no way someone like him could have lived as a person worthy of the prestigious title of Marquis Sears.”
But all of those expectations were wrong.
My half-brother, Alphius Sears, was no ordinary man.
He had grown up among commoners as a mercenary, but his abilities were exceptional, catching the eye of the Second Prince, who had gone to resolve the Northern Civil War.
Called a war hero in the north, Alphius was even promised a title by the Second Prince.
After finishing the war and heading toward the capital, he learned who his real father was.
Unfortunately, my father died instantly in a carriage accident just before hearing the news.
After learning all of this, I headed to the estate anyway. I had to attend my father’s funeral.
* * *
I first met Alphius at the funeral hall of the estate.
A strikingly handsome face and a sturdy build.
Platinum-blond hair and sky-blue eyes—just like mine.
The young man in mourning clothes walked toward me with long strides and greeted me cautiously.
“Brisa? Are you Brisa?”
For a moment, my mind went blank.
“I’m, um, Alphius… I heard there’s a ten-year age difference between us. That makes you twelve, right? I don’t know if you’ve heard, but… um, I’m your brother…”
After that—
I don’t remember how the funeral proceeded or how I got back to my room.
My memory just cut off.
Because…
Am I going crazy?
The moment I looked at Alphius’s face, unfamiliar memories flooded into my mind.
This world I lived in was the setting of a novel I had read in my previous life.
The male lead is Alphius. He’s kind and simple now, but soon he’ll turn dark.
And the future awaiting me was nothing but despair.
After the funeral, I shut myself in my room.
“My lady! My lady!”
“What’s wrong? What is it?”
The loyal maids of the estate were at a loss, but I had no state of mind to respond.
My father’s death, whom I barely knew, and the appearance of the half-brother my mother had feared so much—none of that mattered right now.
What terrified me most was that I might not be sane.
This world being a novel? That made no sense.
I’ve lost my father, become practically an orphan, a half-brother I didn’t even know appeared, and I lost the title—it’s just shock.
Clutching a thick book as usual, I struggled to breathe.
First of all, I can’t let anyone find out that I’ve gone mad.
There was no way I could ever say something like “I suddenly know the future.”
“Did you hear? The last princess of Liente… she had madness.”
“Really? Then what about her daughter? Isn’t Brisa Sears not in her right mind either?”
“That’s likely. Why else would Marquis Sears keep searching for the son born to a maid?”
Recalling the whispers I had heard behind my back, I shut my eyes tightly.
If I talked about past lives or reincarnation, everyone would say I had finally gone mad like my mother.
Maybe it’ll get better with time. I don’t have hallucinations or hear voices yet…
Just then—
“Um, Brisa. It’s… Alphius.”
A knock came with a low voice. It was Alphius from the funeral.
“I’m… the person who became your family starting today. So, even though Father passed away, you’re not alone…”
Despite being a war hero, his tone carried a strangely naïve awkwardness.
“Um… would it be okay if I came in?”
I answered immediately.
“No.”
“…Would you like to talk?”
“No.”
“Then maybe just see your face for a moment…?”
“No.”
Seeing his face was what triggered these delusions in the first place.
What if it gets worse if I see him again?
It wasn’t hard to shut him out. I had never been particularly kind or gentle to begin with.
“Ah… are you busy right now?”
“Very.”
“Is it something I could help with?”
“I’m reading, so it would help a lot if you left.”
“What book? I love literature! If I’ve read it too, maybe we could discuss—”
“Understanding Livestock, Volume 17 – Mating and Reproduction.”
“….”
The literary youth outside finally fell silent.
After a brief pause, he spoke again cautiously.
“I’m leaving for the capital now. I need to receive the war compensation from the imperial family as soon as possible.”
“….”
“It seems the estate’s finances aren’t very good. Of course! That’s absolutely, completely, not something you need to worry about.”
I could tell immediately.
It’s absolutely, definitely something I need to worry about.
I had only just returned after two years, so I didn’t know the estate’s situation well. But it had never been in good shape.
“I’ll be back within ten days at the latest. I hope… we can see each other then. Take care of yourself.”
My breathing grew uneven.
Everything Alphius said was exactly the same as the “future” I had seen.
Could it be that even the butler was dismissed for embezzlement?
As if answering my thought, Alphius added:
“Oh, and… I let the butler go. Just, um, due to adult circumstances. I’ll leave my adjutant behind, so if you need anything, go to him.”
I despaired.
What if I’m not crazy? What if this is really the future?
But truly insane people never think they are insane.
My mother never admitted her madness until the day she died.
Still… if my delusions really are the future…
Then Alphius wouldn’t return in ten days, but in three months—gravely injured.
And when he did return, no one would be left alive in the estate.
Everyone would be dead.
If I say that out loud, I’ll definitely be seen as insane… or maybe I really am…
While I agonized, I heard Alphius’s footsteps growing distant.
I felt like I was losing my mind—but everything was unfolding exactly as I had seen.
If things continued like this… if I let Alphius leave just like in the original story…
No, no, no—!
In the end, I rummaged through my bag, pulled something out, and shouted toward the door—
“Wait!”
“Miss Brisa, I regret to bring you such news.”
It was the day before the Capital Academy’s graduation ceremony.
“It is said that Marquis Sears has passed away due to a carriage accident. Please accept my deepest condolences.”
I heard of my father’s death while reading in the library.
“Also, the eldest son of Marquis Sears, who had long been missing, has been found.”
At the same time, I learned that my half-brother had returned.
“And so, the title of Marquis Sears…”
The instructor who delivered the news gently held my stiff shoulders.
“According to the will, it has been decided that the eldest son will inherit it.”
My father’s death did not affect me much. There had never been any affection between us to begin with.
During the two years I spent at the Capital Academy, I had not returned to the estate even once.
But the fact that a half-brother I had never even seen before had become the Marquis Sears—that was shocking.
Since I was very young, I had been raised as the heir of the marquis family. Yet now, I would not inherit the title…
If my mother, who passed away two years ago, were to hear this in the afterlife, she would probably kick open her coffin and storm the estate immediately.
“Do you really think that son born of a maid would return? If they haven’t found him until now, they never will.”
My father, Marquis Sears, had been married twice.
His first marriage had been a secret one, held in a rural shrine after he eloped with a maid from the estate.
Within days, the family discovered it and forced a divorce.
The maid, who had been pregnant with his child, disappeared.
Ten years later, my father married my mother.
In truth, from the moment of his divorce, my father had always been searching for his eldest son. The only thing he knew about the child in the maid’s womb was the gender the doctor had mentioned.
And he had always wanted to pass the marquis title on to him.
Because of that, my mother lived in constant anxiety, muttering to herself every day.
“There won’t be a day when that lowly thing suddenly appears, will there? With commoner blood mixed in, there’s no way he could ever become a proper Marquis Sears.”
My mother was the last princess of the Kingdom of Liente.
Although it had fallen after a defeat in war, Liente had been a kingdom with a long history.
So she always insisted that my bloodline was far superior to that of the eldest son.
“He’s probably been farming melons among commoners. There’s no way someone like him could have lived as a person worthy of the prestigious title of Marquis Sears.”
But all of those expectations were wrong.
My half-brother, Alphius Sears, was no ordinary man.
He had grown up among commoners as a mercenary, but his abilities were exceptional, catching the eye of the Second Prince, who had gone to resolve the Northern Civil War.
Called a war hero in the north, Alphius was even promised a title by the Second Prince.
After finishing the war and heading toward the capital, he learned who his real father was.
Unfortunately, my father died instantly in a carriage accident just before hearing the news.
After learning all of this, I headed to the estate anyway. I had to attend my father’s funeral.
* * *
I first met Alphius at the funeral hall of the estate.
A strikingly handsome face and a sturdy build.
Platinum-blond hair and sky-blue eyes—just like mine.
The young man in mourning clothes walked toward me with long strides and greeted me cautiously.
“Brisa? Are you Brisa?”
For a moment, my mind went blank.
“I’m, um, Alphius… I heard there’s a ten-year age difference between us. That makes you twelve, right? I don’t know if you’ve heard, but… um, I’m your brother…”
After that—
I don’t remember how the funeral proceeded or how I got back to my room.
My memory just cut off.
Because…
Am I going crazy?
The moment I looked at Alphius’s face, unfamiliar memories flooded into my mind.
This world I lived in was the setting of a novel I had read in my previous life.
The male lead is Alphius. He’s kind and simple now, but soon he’ll turn dark.
And the future awaiting me was nothing but despair.
After the funeral, I shut myself in my room.
“My lady! My lady!”
“What’s wrong? What is it?”
The loyal maids of the estate were at a loss, but I had no state of mind to respond.
My father’s death, whom I barely knew, and the appearance of the half-brother my mother had feared so much—none of that mattered right now.
What terrified me most was that I might not be sane.
This world being a novel? That made no sense.
I’ve lost my father, become practically an orphan, a half-brother I didn’t even know appeared, and I lost the title—it’s just shock.
Clutching a thick book as usual, I struggled to breathe.
First of all, I can’t let anyone find out that I’ve gone mad.
There was no way I could ever say something like “I suddenly know the future.”
“Did you hear? The last princess of Liente… she had madness.”
“Really? Then what about her daughter? Isn’t Brisa Sears not in her right mind either?”
“That’s likely. Why else would Marquis Sears keep searching for the son born to a maid?”
Recalling the whispers I had heard behind my back, I shut my eyes tightly.
If I talked about past lives or reincarnation, everyone would say I had finally gone mad like my mother.
Maybe it’ll get better with time. I don’t have hallucinations or hear voices yet…
Just then—
“Um, Brisa. It’s… Alphius.”
A knock came with a low voice. It was Alphius from the funeral.
“I’m… the person who became your family starting today. So, even though Father passed away, you’re not alone…”
Despite being a war hero, his tone carried a strangely naïve awkwardness.
“Um… would it be okay if I came in?”
I answered immediately.
“No.”
“…Would you like to talk?”
“No.”
“Then maybe just see your face for a moment…?”
“No.”
Seeing his face was what triggered these delusions in the first place.
What if it gets worse if I see him again?
It wasn’t hard to shut him out. I had never been particularly kind or gentle to begin with.
“Ah… are you busy right now?”
“Very.”
“Is it something I could help with?”
“I’m reading, so it would help a lot if you left.”
“What book? I love literature! If I’ve read it too, maybe we could discuss—”
“Understanding Livestock, Volume 17 – Mating and Reproduction.”
“….”
The literary youth outside finally fell silent.
After a brief pause, he spoke again cautiously.
“I’m leaving for the capital now. I need to receive the war compensation from the imperial family as soon as possible.”
“….”
“It seems the estate’s finances aren’t very good. Of course! That’s absolutely, completely, not something you need to worry about.”
I could tell immediately.
It’s absolutely, definitely something I need to worry about.
I had only just returned after two years, so I didn’t know the estate’s situation well. But it had never been in good shape.
“I’ll be back within ten days at the latest. I hope… we can see each other then. Take care of yourself.”
My breathing grew uneven.
Everything Alphius said was exactly the same as the “future” I had seen.
Could it be that even the butler was dismissed for embezzlement?
As if answering my thought, Alphius added:
“Oh, and… I let the butler go. Just, um, due to adult circumstances. I’ll leave my adjutant behind, so if you need anything, go to him.”
I despaired.
What if I’m not crazy? What if this is really the future?
But truly insane people never think they are insane.
My mother never admitted her madness until the day she died.
Still… if my delusions really are the future…
Then Alphius wouldn’t return in ten days, but in three months—gravely injured.
And when he did return, no one would be left alive in the estate.
Everyone would be dead.
If I say that out loud, I’ll definitely be seen as insane… or maybe I really am…
While I agonized, I heard Alphius’s footsteps growing distant.
I felt like I was losing my mind—but everything was unfolding exactly as I had seen.
If things continued like this… if I let Alphius leave just like in the original story…
No, no, no—!
In the end, I rummaged through my bag, pulled something out, and shouted toward the door—
“Wait!”
