I Don't Know the Original, I'm Too Busy Trying to Make a Living-Chapter 156

“I’ve heard stories about you while staying here at the castle. They say you’ve been managing the territory admirably.”

“...That’s correct,” Penelope replied almost instinctively, caught off guard by her father’s rare praise. However, Baron Rencer’s expression soon turned cold, and his gaze sharpened.

“But tell me, how much longer do you intend to remain unmarried?”

“...”

“Managing a territory is a man’s responsibility, not a widowed woman’s. A lady has her own duties to attend to. It would be wise to find a suitable man and marry quickly.”

“...Ah.”

Penelope couldn’t help but let out a soft exclamation.

So this was why her father had traveled all this way to see her.

Imagining how shocked Baron Rencer must have been upon reading the gossip columns about her in the newspapers, Penelope couldn’t suppress a small laugh.

Her brother Abe’s face turned red as he glared at her.

“How dare you laugh when Father is speaking? Is this how you show respect?”

“You haven’t changed a bit, have you, Brother?”

“B-Brother?! Is that how you address me? Father only refrains from scolding you because of his restraint, but do you even understand how far your reputation has fallen in Bayton? Listen carefully! An unmarried widow seducing men is disgraceful behavior. Do you understand?!”

Wow. What an outdated, insufferable chauvinist.

Penelope’s jaw dropped. Such an archaic, rigid statement seemed more fitting for a Confucian scholar from Joseon than a noble of this era.

Seeing her family again after a year made them feel even more distant than her family in her previous life. The contrast made her recall her past life suddenly, leaving her with an unintended side effect.

Bayton, despite its status as a city, was so rural it barely deserved the title. Generations of succession and isolation had shaped its nobles into narrow-minded traditionalists.

The old Penelope would have swallowed her indignation and complied. Unfortunately for them, the current Penelope knew far too much to tolerate it.

“Well, Brother, if we’re going to talk about proper manners, let me share something with you. In front of the most prominent nobles of the capital, I received the Baronial title of Halo directly from His Majesty the Emperor. Along with it, I was granted full authority as the ruling lord of Halo. So, who should be addressing whom with respect here?”

“...What?”

Abe’s eyes widened in disbelief. The obedient younger sister who once couldn’t utter a word against him had vanished without a trace.

Penelope smiled and gestured to herself, then pointed at Abe.

“I’m a baron. You’re a common noble.”

“...?!”

It was a finishing blow.

Not only Abe but the rest of the family sat in stunned silence. Baron Rencer’s face turned red as his clenched fists trembled.

Clara, Abe’s wife, stepped in indignantly.

“Even if you’ve received a title, he’s still your elder brother! How could you speak to him so disrespectfully? And let me tell you, Father came all this way because he couldn’t stand the malicious rumors being spread about you. Do you think any of this benefits us? We’re doing this for your own good!”

“Oh, I see.”

Penelope felt an odd sense of relief. Now she understood why her father had rushed to visit with the whole family.

‘For a moment, I thought they were here to leech off me.’

She stifled a sigh of relief. Clearly, her experiences with her late husband’s family had left her with a certain level of paranoia.

“So, you came all this way because you didn’t want to hear bad things about me?”

“What... What did you just say? Is that something you should be saying to Father?”

“Didn’t you just say it yourselves? That I’ve been the subject of terrible gossip. Isn’t that what you meant?”

Clara’s face flushed with anger.

To her, Penelope’s newfound confidence as a titled baron seemed haughty and arrogant. Determined to put her sister-in-law in her place, Clara raised her voice.

“Do you have any idea how terrible the rumors about you are in the capital? And what about the businesses you’re running? The Bayton nobles are in an uproar, accusing you of engaging in lowly pursuits! Some even had the audacity to insult Father to his face!”

“...Ah.”

That explained everything.

Summing up Clara’s words, they had come to discipline Penelope because they couldn’t endure the humiliation from other nobles.

‘So that’s what happened.’

Having lived as a respected Bayton noble all his life, Baron Rencer must have found the contempt from his peers utterly intolerable.

‘Even the Halo retainers aren’t this rigid.’

Even among the great nobles of the capital, personalities like this were rare.

The only person Penelope had encountered who was comparably out of touch was Carla, Lianel’s stepmother—a villainess officially designated by the author.

Penelope couldn’t help but marvel anew at her family’s stubbornness. It felt as if the events of a year ago were from an entirely different era—perhaps even further back than her previous life. If her mother from her past life, Yi Soon-jung’s mom, felt closer to her than her current family, that said it all.

‘Maybe I should just pretend my family died in a previous life.’

Without a shred of guilt, Penelope mentally committed this outrageous act of filial defiance.

While Penelope remained silently stunned, Clara, emboldened by her seeming victory, confidently handed her an envelope. Penelope hesitantly accepted it.

“A letter?”

“Father has carefully selected potential husbands for you. It would be wise to choose one of them. Normally, the marriage of the eldest daughter would be decided by the head of the family in consultation with other noble houses, but this time, we’re generously allowing you the opportunity to choose for yourself.”

An opportunity? An opportunityyyyy?

Penelope felt her stomach churn.

“So, does this envelope guarantee that any of these potential husbands won’t squander my territory’s wealth?”

“What... what did you just say?”

Clara’s eyes widened in shock. Penelope nonchalantly continued,

“Obviously, whoever becomes my husband must have more wealth than I do. What’s the point of marrying someone incompetent who brings no benefit? I’ve worked hard to grow the wealth of this territory! Surely, there’s no parasitic leech in this envelope who would live off his wife, right?”

“T-that’s... We’ve carefully selected candidates with good reputations and respectable backgrounds...” Clara stammered, visibly shaken.

The source of this c𝐨ntent is freeweɓnovēl.coɱ.

“Well, reputation won’t pay the bills, will it? Money will. Oh, and if they’re better looking than my boyfriend, then I’ll consider them.”

“Excuse me?!”

Clara was rendered speechless, utterly flabbergasted by Penelope’s brazen remarks.

What on earth happened to her in the past year to turn the once-docile Penelope into someone so fierce? Clara felt as though her heart might burst from the sheer absurdity of the situation.

“You have a boyfriend?”

It was Baron Rencer who spoke this time.

“Oh,” Penelope mumbled, avoiding her father’s gaze. She hadn’t intended to let that slip, but in her irritation, it had come out.

This time, her mother, Florin, spoke up.

“A boyfriend? Whose son are you seeing?”

“His family...” Penelope trailed off. Ahwin was an orphan. He had no parents, and consequently, no family lineage to speak of.

“Then what about his title?”

“....”

Penelope couldn’t answer this time either. She couldn’t recall Ahwin having a title.

‘Didn’t the previous Emperor offer him a title? Oh, right... he refused.’

Officially, Ahwin held no title. He had preemptively declined any offers of nobility from the Emperor to avoid being entangled in obligations or authority.

At this point, Penelope decided it was time to highlight Ahwin’s strengths.

“But he’s incredibly wealthy. And handsome.”

“Wait... are you saying a noblewoman like you is dating a commoner?”

Florin’s expression grew pale, as though she might faint. The mere thought seemed inconceivable to her.

Baron Rencer, meanwhile, was visibly struggling to contain his rising anger, the veins on his forehead bulging. Abe and Clara, too, couldn’t hide their shock.

“Goodness...” Florin stammered, her voice trembling. “I... I can’t even...”

Baron Rencer finally spoke, his tone cold and resolute.

“A relationship with such a lowly man brings no benefit to your reputation. End it immediately.”

“...Lowly?”