Became the Owner of a Poor Estate
Chapter 36
Normally, she would have returned to the castle immediately to begin experimenting with the Como wood and Tie stones, but Donghee had a change of heart.
Seeing the children so overjoyed to receive the clothes made her think of the other children who must be shivering elsewhere.
She had heard that the other three villages, being located south of Grace Castle, were slightly warmer. Though they weren’t far enough apart for the temperature difference to be vast, Donghee wanted to believe it.
“Yes, I understand.”
Handsome bowed in response, then opened the small window facing the driver’s seat and shouted loudly.
“The Lord wishes to go to Enol Village!”
“……”
“To Enol Village!”
Thinking the driver hadn’t heard him, Handsome raised his voice even higher.
“Did you hear the news?”
Bron, who was patching a hole in a wall with mud paste, spoke up as if he had suddenly remembered something. Both their faces were a mess of mud, but neither cared.
“What news?”
Nell reacted listlessly, continuing his work. It was Bron’s long-standing habit to start a conversation out of nowhere, cutting out all context.
Nell’s hands were also covered in thick mud. Despite the cold, he didn’t hesitate to plunge his hands into the ice-cold mud paste, occasionally blowing on his fingers to warm them.
His frowning gaze remained fixed on the mud that was haphazardly filling the hole. The mixture was too thin, and the mud he applied kept oozing back down.
“About Morta Village.”
Bron’s tone became even more secretive.
“Why? Did more people starve to death there? Our village isn’t far behind. Rumor has it even the Village Chief’s warehouse was emptied as of yesterday.”
Nell’s expression remained grim as he repaired the house.
This kind of makeshift fix couldn’t block the winter winds. Even a slightly strong gust would easily crumble the dried mud. However, it was much better than doing nothing, so he couldn’t just sit idly by. He had a three-year-old son who suffered from a constant cough.
The mud on his hands was smeared thickly onto the wall. As his hands moved, the size of the gaping hole gradually shrank.
“That’s not it.”
Bron, who had brought it up first, tapped Nell on the shoulder in frustration.
“The day before yesterday, Charlie ran into a pack of bandits nearby and was on the verge of death, but someone from Morta took him in, fed him, and gave him a place to sleep. He said the houses there look completely different now too.”
“That’s impossible.”
Though Nell thought it couldn’t be true, he couldn’t take his eyes off Bron.
Charlie wasn’t the type of person to lie or exaggerate small matters. If Charlie said so, it was true. Before he knew it, Nell stopped moving and began to focus on Bron’s words.
After driving several hours from Morta Village by carriage, they arrived at Enol Village. Though located in the north as well, the atmosphere was quite different.
Unlike Morta Village, which looked like a disaster from the entrance, the houses here stood without any collapses, and the paths were tidy.
“Is it a bit more livable here?”
“The circumstances are similar, but the Village Chief here is quite competent.”
Handsome quickly answered the question Donghee muttered while looking out the open carriage window.
“The Village Chief?”
“Yes. I heard he collected the harvested grain in the village warehouse to ensure everyone could eat at least one meal a day. That’s why no one has starved to death in Enol yet. Moreover, he manages the communal well strictly, so they can at least drink a bit of water.”
“Is that so?”
Donghee was surprised. Having vaguely assumed all the other villages would be like Morta, she felt as if she had encountered a welcome rain in a drought.
“I should meet him.”
“Shall I tell him to come here?”
“No, I’ll go to his house.”
She was curious about the home of a Village Chief who managed a village this well despite the hardships. Furthermore, the building materials seemed different from those in Morta, and she wanted to see the interior. And since the Village Chief was so capable, she had high expectations for what kind of talented people she might encounter here.
The first people to notice the Lord’s carriage stopping at the village entrance were Nell and Bron. Their houses were the closest to the entrance.
“Isn’t that the Lord’s carriage?”
Bron said with a dazed expression, his face covered in mud. His feelings toward the Lord of Grace were so poor that his words came out bitter.
Nell only stared at the carriage without answering.
“Hide, quickly. What if she torments you again?”
Despite Bron’s urging, Nell stood his ground.
“It’s been over five years. She won’t remember.”
Unlike the anxious Bron, Nell was calm. While the two were arguing, the Lord stepped out of the carriage and gradually approached them.
Accompanied by knights, the Lord had grown much since five years ago, and her aura was different.
Though he said he was fine, Nell was secretly uneasy. Given the Lord’s personality as he knew it, she might slap him the moment she recognized him.
The two bowed deeply toward the approaching Lord.
Bron, bowing even lower than Nell, was trembling down to his fingertips. He was terrified that his precious friend might be dragged away by the Lord.
Please just pass by, just pass by.
While Bron was whispering like a prayer, a luxurious navy-blue dress hem entered his field of vision.
He hoped she would pass, but the dress hem remained stationary.
“Excuse me.”
When a soft voice spoke, Bron threw himself flat on the ground.
“Oh, my Lord! This man is no longer a servant of Grace Castle. It has been five years since he became a freeman by the grace of the previous Lord. So please, show mercy and let Nell live here.”
“Nell?”
Nell squeezed his eyes shut when he heard his name. However,
“Who is that?”
Both Bron, who was prostrate, and Nell, who had shut his eyes in dread, looked up instinctively in confusion.
The person standing before them was certainly the same thoughtless, selfish, and spoiled Lord they knew. But seeing her up close, her expression and tone were completely different.
And she doesn’t remember me?
Nell knew the Lord wasn’t particularly brilliant. But failing to remember him was strange. Had she forgotten because they were young?
While he was fumbling for words, unsure of what to say, a neat young man standing beside the Lord met Nell’s eyes and shook his head slowly.
Handsome?
Nell recognized him and mouthed his name. Handsome gave a slight smile and a nod before continuing in a refined voice.
“The Lord wishes to meet the Village Chief of Enol. Could you lead us to his house?”
Seeing Handsome act as if they were meeting for the first time, Nell quickly grasped the situation.
“I will guide you.”
It seemed the Lord neither remembered him nor had any interest in the past.
As the man who had been acting suspiciously led the way, Donghee looked at Handsome with a questioning gaze.
She felt like everyone here knew each other except for her. But since it wasn’t the right place to ask, she decided to get the details on the way back. Donghee followed the man who was practically jogging ahead.
Nell, was it?
The moment she thought of his name, a dizzying headache struck Donghee, just like the day Chloe Grace’s memories first invaded her mind.
Crackle!
A sound like static interference rang in her head, and her vision went black. It felt like a television channel that wouldn’t tune in.
“Ah!”
When Chloe, who had been following along fine, suddenly stumbled, Red Bear, who was guarding her, caught her in alarm.
“Are you alright?”
“I just felt a bit dizzy. I’m fine now.”
“It seems you’ve overexerted yourself. How about returning to the castle now? It won’t be too late to visit Enol Village another day.”
Red Bear spoke in a worried voice, but Donghee straightened her swaying body and opened her eyes wide.
“It’s already too late.”
Then, with a posture as straight as if she hadn’t stumbled at all, she followed Nell.
Even before Donghee arrived, the Village Chief had rushed out of his house to prepare to greet the Lord.
At first, he hadn’t believed Bron’s words. It made no sense that a Lord who had no interest in this place would suddenly want to see him.
Enol was a slum where not even a single low-ranking noble lived, so the villagers were all commoners. Since it was an area where farming was difficult, the taxes they paid were very low. They had managed to maintain this much only because the Lord was indifferent; for her to visit so suddenly… the Village Chief’s hands and feet tensed up with anxiety.
“I greet the Lord.”
As the Lord’s party drew near, the Village Chief pressed his body flat against the ground, just as Bron had done.
Donghee felt uncomfortable seeing an elder much older than her bowing so low. No matter how much this was a class-based society, Donghee’s soul carried the blood of a people from the ‘Land of Eastern Courtesy,’ who lived and died by etiquette.
“Please rise.”
At Donghee’s hurried words, the Village Chief hesitantly stood up.
Even though he was the Village Chief, he didn’t wear better clothes or have more meat on his bones than anyone else. In fact, he wore clothes that were older than the villagers’. He only seemed larger than the others because of his naturally broad frame. However, the gaunt bones revealed beneath his loose sleeves could not be hidden.
Donghee’s favorable impression of the Village Chief grew.
However.
[Opening the Favorability of Enol Village residents.]
Ding!
Along with a cheerful notification sound, she heard the sound of her painstakingly gathered favorability plummeting.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
A series of sharp warning sounds rang out, unlike the refreshing chime that played when favorability increased.
[The combined Favorability of the residents after opening Village (2) is -168,200p.]
[Please increase the residents’ Favorability to 10p or higher.]
[Upon success, your range of activity will be expanded.]
Damn it. Negative!
She had braced herself, but seeing the favorability she had worked so hard to raise get ruthlessly slashed into the negatives left her feeling hollow. Thinking about how she’d have to go through the same process every time a village opened made her feel drained already. The only silver lining was that, having done it once, she didn’t feel as hopeless as she had the first time.
