Chapter 60
Though she had just lost 2,000 points right before her eyes, the stress she’d been carrying finally melted away. Donghee felt incredibly refreshed.
“Since I’m in such a good mood, maybe I’ll go shopping?”
With a light heart, Donghee emptied her inventory and stepped inside her front door.
A moment later, 400 large golden toads, their eyes embedded with rubies, sparkled brilliantly on her bed.
* * *
“Darling, are you seriously going to just sit there and do nothing?”
Baron Patrasche felt like his ears were going to bleed from his wife’s nonstop nagging since early morning.
After returning from Morta, Aileen had collapsed in a fit of rage. Watching their only daughter suffer, Lady Rosebell had been hounding her husband day in and day out.
When Aileen first recounted what had happened in Morta, Rosebell had nearly flown into a rage, insisting they go storming over to Grace immediately.
“How is Aileen doing?”
The baron, suffering from a throbbing headache, couldn’t even open his eyes as he pressed on his temples.
“She cried again this morning. Imagine how humiliating it must’ve been to be made a fool of by that clueless girl.”
Just picturing it made Rosebell choke up with fury. The thought of her precious daughter suffering at the hands of someone as insignificant as Grace made her blood boil.
“She cried?”
“Yes! Tears fell from those big, beautiful eyes of hers, drop by drop. It just broke my heart!”
She clutched her chest and let out a dramatic sigh.
“Are you really going to let that audacious girl get away with this? Morta Village! You said we were going to acquire it! You boasted that once we had Morta, Enol would naturally fall into place. And now look where we are!”
Her shrill voice only made the baron’s headache worse.
“I’m working on a solution. In the meantime, please focus on helping Aileen recover.”
“What kind of solution?”
Suspicion filled Rosebell’s tone.
The baron, annoyed by his wife’s constant interference and lack of trust, looked at her irritably. But the moment their eyes met, he softened his expression and smiled gently.
“We need to make it so they have no choice but to sell Morta.”
“Do you have a plan?”
Her eyes sparkled with hope—an expression that reminded him far too much of Aileen. Thanks to all the tonics and creams she obsessively consumed to maintain her youth, Rosebell looked at least ten years younger than her peers, with a figure rivaling women in their twenties.
To her question, the baron simply answered with a smile.
That afternoon, Rosebell decided to take Aileen out shopping to cheer her up.
It was far better than having her hover around the house nagging. So the baron told them to shop to their heart’s content.
Once the carriage carrying the mother and daughter left the estate, the baron’s headache finally began to ease.
“Sir, he just arrived.”
Patrasche was reaching for a cigar when the butler burst in urgently with news.
“Now?”
He lowered the cigar back into its case and frowned. It was still daylight—far too early. He had heard this man was quick and precise, but this kind of surprise entrance was unsettling.
The butler, catching on to his master’s concern, quickly added:
“No one saw him arrive. I was startled myself—he just appeared right in front of me.”
“You’re saying he slipped past the guards?”
“Yes! None of the guards even realized he entered the estate.”
“Really now?”
The baron’s expression twisted with intrigue. The fact that someone could reach this heavily guarded place in broad daylight without being seen was both terrifying and reassuring. That said, the guards who failed to notice anything would be held fully accountable.
“Bring him in.”
At the command, the butler bowed and hurried out with small, rapid steps. The baron’s eyes narrowed at his undignified gait.
Moments later, a man entered the study—and the baron’s eyes widened in shock and disbelief.
He’d expected someone small and agile, given how stealthily he had moved. But the man who entered alongside the butler stood easily over two meters tall, with arms thicker than most grown men’s thighs.
Scars large and small decorated his face and body, making his already intimidating presence even more menacing.
Standing behind the scrawny, pale butler, his massive frame seemed all the more monstrous.
“Sir, this is Bartr.”
The butler stepped aside, and Bartr gave a polite bow.
“My name is Bartr.”
“You do anything you’re told, is that right?”
“Yes. As long as the pay is right, I’ll deliver results just the way you want—flawlessly.”
No sooner had he finished speaking than a large leather pouch hit the floor at his feet with a heavy thud.
“Two hundred gold.”
The baron had expected a gasp or at least a gleam of greed in the man’s eyes. But Bartr simply stared at the pouch in silence, making no move to pick it up.
The baron’s brows twitched slightly.
“I’ll decide whether that’s a fair price after hearing the job.”
Bartr straightened and looked down at the baron with cool, emotionless eyes. His height naturally made him gaze downward, but there was no arrogance in his gaze—just calm professionalism.
Patrasche was impressed. The man didn’t even flinch at the sight of a fortune, wanting to assess the mission first. That was promising.
“Leave us.”
The baron’s order was directed at the butler, who had been standing awkwardly in the room.
“Yes, sir!”
Relieved, the butler bowed and practically fled the room.
Now only the baron and Bartr remained.
Neither spoke first. Their eyes met, quietly sizing each other up, the air heavy with tension.
Bartr didn’t ask what the job was. He merely waited patiently.
Eventually, the baron broke the silence.
“I need a village ruined.”
“The price depends on the village.”
“Morta.”
“That’ll be five hundred gold.”
Bartr glanced at the leather pouch on the floor, his voice dry and composed.
* * *
The vault construction had grown far beyond its original scope.
At first, it was just Smith working on it. But then Builder joined in as well. The village construction was stable enough now that Builder could afford to be away occasionally without issues.
They planned to connect the room adjacent to the lord’s quarters and the one below it with a staircase, converting both the first and second floors into one massive vault.
Of course, the entire plan came from Donghee’s head. When she described its scale, not just Smith but even the butler and the treasurer, Scrooge, were stunned. Their faces said they were dying to know just what she planned to fill all that space with.
But that wasn’t all.
“I want the outside to look like a normal room.”
The lord’s request was highly unusual. She even showed Smith a rough blueprint she had prepared in advance.
“I want both the first- and second-floor rooms to be divided. From the outside, the visible parts should look like ordinary rooms. Only the inner portion, hidden from the hallway side, should be the vault.”
“So from the corridor, it’ll look like a regular room, but hidden behind that is the real vault.”
Smith nodded in admiration. He had worked on many projects, but none quite this peculiar.
“Exactly. But if someone enters from the hallway, they should only see the fake room. The vault should only be accessible from my room and the treasurer’s office on the first floor.”
Scrooge raised a question, puzzled.
“But my office is on the third floor.”
“Then move it to the first.”
When she had visited his office last time, the old furniture, faded wallpaper, and rodent damage had been bothering her. Now she had a good excuse to give Scrooge a total upgrade.
After a short meeting about the vault, Donghee returned to her room and collapsed on her bed, unable to resist the exhaustion.
Anna had followed her like a shadow. Though surprised by the lord’s completely different demeanor, she wasn’t scared or worried like before. In fact, the current version of the lord seemed far more likable.
“Would you like me to bring you some warm tea?”
Anna asked cautiously. But Donghee was too tired—she just wanted to lie there.
“No, I think I’ll just nap for a bit.”
“If you need anything, please call me. I’ll come running.”
“Thanks. And Anna, take a break too. You’ve been working hard all day, following me around.”
Hearing her lord’s drowsy, affectionate reply brought a radiant smile to Anna’s lips.
After Anna left, Donghee lay quietly with her eyes closed for a long while.
Then, a thought struck her and her eyes snapped open.
“What information haven’t I used yet?”
She had paid dearly—2,000 points—for that knowledge, enduring mind-splitting pain to gain it. Donghee was determined to make every drop of it count.
She began reviewing the data she had purchased.
Among it all, one piece of advice stood out—agriculture.
