Became the Owner of a Poor Estate
Chapter 7
The man who emerged as if pushed out of the status window had brilliant silver hair that flowed down like moonlight.
With his sharp, grey eyes and cold smile, he possessed a beauty so ethereal he could easily be mistaken for a fairy or an elf.
Having appeared out of nowhere, the man stumbled momentarily as he lost his balance, then let out a deep sigh and plopped down onto the bed.
“Haah… Only 60 seconds.”
The man raised his right hand to inspect the back of it, his picture-perfect eyebrows furrowing.
Floating transparently above the back of his hand was a small hourglass, about the size of two finger joints. Instead of sand, it contained a glowing blue liquid that dripped steadily into the empty space below. The hourglass remained upright, spinning slowly in place.
Even as he sighed, the blue liquid moved rapidly from the top bulb to the bottom.
“Haa…”
He sighed once more, staring at the top bulb, which now had only about a third of its contents remaining. Then, as if he had no choice, he let out a short, hollow laugh and scanned the room.
His hair, catching the sunlight streaming through the window, shone brilliantly like a masterpiece crafted from silver.
“Is this another sacrifice…?”
Contrary to his mesmerizingly beautiful appearance, his voice was not just cold, but chilling.
A small, palm-sized status window popped up before his eyes.
- It might be a gift.
A faint, mocking smile touched the man’s lips as he read the words.
The lingering attachment he couldn’t let go of until the final moment felt pathetic and miserable.
Twinkle, twinkle.
The last drop fell from the top bulb of the small hourglass floating on the back of his hand.
Fwoosh.
Just as the man’s eyes swept across the room with a look of regret, the space became empty.
Chirp, chirp.
A sparrow flew back and perched on the windowsill before hopping down into the room.
When I stepped out of the bedroom and closed the door, a spacious parlor unfolded before my eyes. Grand and antique, it looked like something straight out of a medieval-themed TV show.
From the furniture like the sofas and tables to the ornaments placed here and there, everything caught Donghee’s eye.
‘Wow, I could probably make a fortune just selling the stuff in here.’
Faced with such rare valuables, a sense of greed naturally began to creep up. Donghee swallowed hard and tried to maintain a composed expression.
As she crossed the wide parlor, Donghee suddenly stopped and looked back toward the bedroom.
“Is something the matter?”
Thelma asked, sounding anxious that Donghee might change her mind. Though she tried to smile naturally, it was common for the fickle lord to change her mind at a moment’s notice.
“Didn’t you hear a sound from the bedroom?”
“No? What kind of sound?”
Thelma shook her head side to side.
Donghee tilted her head in confusion, then resumed crossing the parlor, her navy blue dress rustling against the floor. She felt a strange sensation, as if she had left something behind.
As Donghee reached the parlor doors, the massive double doors swung wide open as if they had been waiting for her. Donghee, who had intended to push the doors open herself, was startled by the automatic movement but took a deep breath and tried to act natural.
The heavy, thick doors were polished to a mirror-like shine, clearly well-maintained over a long time.
Glancing up at the doors that were much taller than herself, Donghee walked through them with practiced ease.
Once outside, she saw someone’s feet beneath the open doors. It seemed people had been waiting outside and opened them the moment they heard her approach.
Thinking of the two people who must have been waiting while listening for sounds from within, she felt a pang of guilt.
A complex mix of guilt for enjoying things that weren’t hers and discomfort with unfamiliar kindness swirled inside her.
However, those feelings quickly vanished at the sight of the grand spectacle before her.
“Wow…”
The mansion’s hallway was reminiscent of a famous European art museum. Not that she had ever been to Europe or an art museum, but that was the impression.
Donghee lifted her trailing navy dress slightly as she walked, unable to take her eyes off the paintings lining the hallway.
Most were portraits of unnamed individuals, but here and there were unique paintings of necklaces, tiaras, and rings.
Between the paintings, there were spots where only the traces of a frame remained.
“Where did the paintings here go?”
Donghee asked, pointing to a section where the wallpaper pattern was slightly clearer than the rest. The mark where the frame had hung was large and rectangular, like a window.
“Pardon? You disposed of them yourself, My Lord.”
Thelma’s voice was laced with grievance and upset. It seemed she had opposed the disposal of the paintings.
Donghee couldn’t think of anything to say in response, so she simply resumed her slow walk.
Even to Donghee, who knew nothing about art, the remaining paintings were quite impressive.
They were so detailed that she had wondered for a moment if they were photographs before she got closer.
Every painting caught her eye, but one portrait of a woman stood out in particular.
While it was similar in size to the others, the frame holding it was exceptional.
The wooden frame was covered in intricate carvings, as if the painting had been set inside a sculpture. Carved with flowers and unknown animals, the frame itself was a work of art.
Donghee stopped in front of the portrait without realizing it.
“Are you going to greet Madam today as well?”
The nanny asked in a casual tone, as if stopping before the portrait wasn’t an unusual occurrence.
Confused, Donghee turned her head to see Thelma looking up at the portrait with a sorrowful smile, her eyes glistening. It looked far too sad to be a look of mere longing for a former master.
“Mother…”
Donghee was startled and covered her lips with her hand at the unfamiliar word that had slipped out against her will.
Now that she looked at it, the woman in the portrait bore a striking resemblance to Chloe.
If there were any differences, it was the slightly smaller lips and eyes. While Chloe’s eyes slanted upward like a cat’s, the woman in the painting had eyes that drooped downward like a gentle puppy’s. She felt like a ‘kind version’ of Chloe.
Donghee only remembered her own mother’s face through photographs.
Her mother, who had passed away in a car accident when she was very young, was as vague as an old photo and lacked a sense of reality, as if she had never existed.
The few remaining photos had been hidden away somewhere after her father remarried, and since her father had died suddenly, there was no way to find them.
Suddenly, her throat tightened with a longing for the mother whose face she couldn’t even recall.
The thought that Chloe, whose body she was currently inhabiting, was in the same position made her feel a sense of pity and gloom.
“Thelma.”
Donghee called out to the nanny, her eyes still fixed on the portrait.
“Yes, My Lord.”
Thelma replied, gazing wistfully at the portrait as if lost in regret.
“Did Mother love me?”
“…”
Thelma didn’t answer.
Donghee felt her heart drop to her feet, wondering if she had asked something she shouldn’t have. Even though she wasn’t her real mother, she felt strangely mournful.
“I was just asking…”
Worried the atmosphere was becoming too heavy, Donghee spoke dismissively and turned her head, only for Thelma, who had been staring at her, to suddenly pull her into a tight embrace.
“Why?”
“My Lord, Madam loved you more than anyone else in this world. So please, stop blaming yourself. Do you understand?”
Blaming herself? What did that mean?
There was clearly a hidden story, but since she couldn’t investigate it right now, she decided she would find out in time.
Thelma, looking at the silent Chloe, seemed to think she was depressed and began to chatter away about things she hadn’t even been asked.
Thelma smelled like laundry dried well in the sun.
Donghee found herself sniffing the scent, which somehow deepened her longing.
“Madam used to sing you a lullaby every night before you went to sleep, and she gave you handmade dolls as gifts for your birthdays. She even decorated the garden with your favorite flowers. You were too young to remember, but you were everything to Madam.”
Thelma’s voice was thick with emotion as she recalled old memories.
The hand stroking her back was soft and warm.
Ding!
Just as her eyes were growing red and she was pressing her fingertips against them, a welcome sound rang out.
Sure enough, a heart about the size of a 500-won coin was floating above Thelma’s head, its red light twinkling.
Unlike before, it didn’t burst as soon as it appeared; it continued to twinkle before finally going pop!
A sense of anticipation began to rise within Donghee.
- The current favorability of the territory residents is -189,380.
‘It went up by 20 since earlier.’
Just by talking about the biological mother, the favorability had risen by 20. This meant that Thelma held Chloe’s biological mother in high regard. And very deeply at that.
It seemed she would have to talk to Thelma about her mother whenever she had the chance.
‘So my room was on the second floor.’
Donghee scanned her surroundings, her eyes darting here and there as she descended the spiral staircase leading to the first floor. The stairs also continued up to a third floor.
At first, the grand scale of the mansion made it impossible to see where the poverty lay, but the more she observed the interior, the more she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was missing.
A sense of desolation, perhaps?
The mansion was very clean, but it lacked vitality and felt empty, like a house where no one had lived for a long time.
“My Lord, I believe we must hurry.”
Thelma, who had reached the first-floor lobby first, urged Chloe, who was still lingering halfway down the stairs.
From the look in her eyes, she clearly thought Chloe was stalling because she didn’t want to go on the inspection of the territory.
