BOPE 36

Chapter 36 …

Originally, Donghee had planned to return to the castle right away and begin experimenting with komo wood and Tie stones. However, she changed her mind.

Seeing how happy the children were to receive clothes reminded her of the children trembling in the cold in other places too.

She had heard that the other three villages, aside from the two, were located further south, around Grace Castle, and thus were slightly warmer. It wasn’t a vast land, so the temperature difference wouldn’t be much, but Donghee wanted to believe it was.

“Yes, understood.”

Handsome bowed and then opened the small window on the side where the coachman was seated, calling out loudly.

“The Lord will be heading to Enol Village!”

“…”

“Enol Village!”

Since the coachman hadn’t heard properly, Handsome raised his voice even more.

“Did you hear the news?”

While plugging a hole in the wall with a mud mixture, Bron suddenly spoke as if he just remembered something. Their faces were covered in mud, but no one cared.

“What news?”

Nell responded indifferently and continued his work. It had always been Bron’s habit to bring up topics out of nowhere, without context.

Nell’s hands were also smeared with sticky mud. The weather was cold, and he had to blow warm air onto his hands from time to time, but he didn’t hesitate to plunge them back into the ice-cold mud.

His furrowed gaze stayed fixed on the patchy mud filling the hole in the wall. The mixture was too runny, and the mud kept oozing down sluggishly.

“It’s about Morta Village.”

Bron’s tone became more secretive.

“Why? Did more people starve to death there again? Our village isn’t far behind. I heard even the chief’s storage is completely empty as of yesterday.”

Nell’s expression remained hardened as he repaired the house.

Such makeshift fixes wouldn’t stop the freezing wind in winter. A stronger breeze could easily crumble the mud filling. But doing nothing was worse, and Nell couldn’t afford to sit idle. He had a three-year-old son who was constantly coughing.

He smeared more mud onto the wall, steadily shrinking the size of the gaping hole.

“That’s not it.”

Bron sighed in frustration and lightly tapped Nell’s shoulder.

“Charlie nearly died when he was attacked by bandits the other day. But someone from Morta took him home, fed him, and let him sleep there. He said even the houses looked completely different now.”

“No way.”

Nell couldn’t look away from Bron, even as he doubted the words.

Charlie wasn’t the type to lie or exaggerate. If Charlie said it happened, then it probably did. Without realizing it, Nell had stopped working and was focused entirely on Bron’s words.

After a few hours of traveling by carriage from Morta, Donghee arrived in Enol Village. Though it was also located in the northern region, the atmosphere was noticeably different.

Unlike the mess of Morta Village, the houses here stood without collapse, and the roads were clean.

“Is it livable here?”

“I heard the situation’s about the same, but this village chief is quite competent.”

Handsome quickly responded to Donghee’s muttered remark as she looked out the open carriage window.

“The chief?”

“Yes. He’s been storing the harvested grain in the village’s warehouse and ensured everyone gets at least one meal a day. So, no one has starved here yet. He also strictly manages the communal well, so the villagers can at least drink a little water.”

“Really?”

Donghee was genuinely surprised. She had assumed all villages were like Morta, so hearing this felt like a refreshing splash of hope.

“I want to meet him.”

“Shall I summon him here?”

“No, I’ll go to his house.”

She was curious to see the home of a chief who had managed a village so well in difficult circumstances. Also, the building materials here seemed different from those in Morta, and she wanted to see the interior. With such a capable chief, she was eager to see what kind of talents this village might hold.

Nell and Bron were the first to recognize the lord’s carriage as it stopped at the village entrance—their house was the closest.

“Isn’t that the lord’s carriage?”

Bron spoke with a blank expression, his face smeared with mud. His feelings toward the Lord of Grace weren’t pleasant, so his tone came out rough.

Nell just stared silently at the carriage.

“Hide, quick. What if they start tormenting you again?”

Despite Bron’s urging, Nell didn’t move.

“That was over five years ago. They probably don’t remember.”

Unlike the anxious Bron, Nell was calm. As they argued, the lord stepped down from the carriage and walked closer.

Flanked by knights, the lord had grown up and carried a different aura compared to five years ago.

Although Nell said it was fine, he still felt uneasy. The lord he remembered might slap him the moment she recognized him.

The two men bowed deeply toward the approaching lord.

Bron, bowing far lower than Nell, was trembling, terrified that his dear friend might be taken away by the lord.

Please just walk past. Please.

Bron chanted like a prayer. Then he saw the hem of a luxurious navy-blue dress enter his field of vision.

He hoped it would pass quickly, but the dress didn’t move.

“Excuse me.”

A soft voice rang out, and Bron immediately dropped flat to the ground.

“Ah! My lord! This man is no longer a servant of Grace Castle. Thanks to the late lord, he became a free man five years ago. Please, I beg you, have mercy and let him live peacefully here.”

“Nell?”

At the sound of his name, Nell squeezed his eyes shut. But—

“Who’s that?”

Bron, flat on the ground, and Nell, eyes shut tight, both raised their heads in confusion.

The woman standing before them was undoubtedly the same selfish, immature, and spoiled lord they had known. But up close, her expression and tone were completely different.

And she didn’t remember him?

Nell knew the lord wasn’t particularly sharp, but forgetting him? That was strange. Maybe she had just been too young to remember?

Unsure of what to say, he hesitated, when the neatly dressed young man beside the lord made eye contact with Nell and shook his head subtly.

Handsome?

Nell mouthed his name, and Handsome nodded slightly with a gentle smile, then spoke in a calm voice.

“The lord wishes to meet the village chief of Enol. Could you guide us to his house?”

Seeing Handsome act like it was their first meeting, Nell quickly caught on.

“I’ll guide you.”

Apparently, the lord neither remembered him nor cared about the past.

As the man who had acted suspiciously before led the way, Donghee glanced curiously at Handsome.

It felt like she was the only one here who wasn’t already acquainted with everyone else. But it wasn’t the time to ask—she would question him on the way back. Donghee followed closely behind the man who was almost running ahead.

Nell, was it?

The moment she thought of his name, a stabbing headache struck Donghee, just like the day when Chloe Grace’s memories first started invading her mind.

Buzz!

It was like static interference—her vision darkened, as if she were stuck on a dead TV channel.

“Ah!”

Chloe, who had been walking just fine, suddenly staggered. Red Bear, her escort, quickly supported her.

“Are you all right?”

“Just a bit dizzy. I’m fine now.”

“You must be overexerting yourself. Perhaps it’s best to return to the castle. You can visit Enol another time.”

Red Bear spoke with concern, but Donghee steadied herself and opened her eyes wide.

“It’s already too late.”

And just like that, she stood tall and continued following Nell as if she hadn’t stumbled at all.

Before Donghee even arrived, the village chief had already rushed out of his house to greet her.

At first, he hadn’t believed Bron. It was unbelievable that the lord, who had always shown no interest in their village, would suddenly want to meet him.

Enol was a slum without a single noble resident. All the villagers were commoners. The region couldn’t even grow proper crops, so the taxes were minimal. The only reason the village was still functioning was that the lord had ignored them.

So this sudden visit made the chief incredibly anxious.

“I greet you, my lord.”

As Donghee’s group approached, the chief, just like Bron, dropped to the ground.

Seeing a grown man older than herself bowing so low before her made Donghee uncomfortable. No matter how class-based this society was, she had the soul of an old-school Korean who lived and breathed courtesy.

“Please, rise.”

As Donghee spoke quickly, the chief hesitantly stood up.

Despite being the village chief, he didn’t wear nicer clothes or appear healthier. In fact, he wore even more worn-out clothes than the other villagers. His broad frame made him appear bigger, but his exposed wrists showed bones poking through his loose sleeves.

Donghee’s fondness for the chief continued to grow.

But then—

-Enol Village Citizen Affection has been unlocked.

Ding!

Along with the cheerful alert came a crashing sound of all the favor she’d built up until now being wiped out.

Beeep! Beeep! Beeep!

Unlike the refreshing chime that played when affection points increased, a sharp warning tone rang out repeatedly.

-Combined Affection Score for the opened Village (2): -168,200 points.
Please raise the villagers’ affection above 10 points.
Success will expand your activity range.

Ugh. Negative?

She had been expecting it, but seeing all the affection she’d worked so hard to build crash into the negatives left her hollow. Knowing she’d have to go through this process with every village made her feel drained already. Still, at least it wasn’t as overwhelming as the first time—she’d done it once before.