BOPE 37

Chapter 37

The village chief’s house was old, but incredibly tidy.

Despite the walls being made of mud, which should easily shed dust, not a speck could be seen on any of the furniture. It spoke volumes about how diligent the mistress of the house must be. Matching the neat home, she wore her hair tied up tightly in a single bun, and though her clothes were worn, they were freshly laundered and neat.

Donghee sat on a wooden stool without a backrest, provided by the chief, and took a sip of a strange tea his wife had brought.

“Ugh!”

The tea in the wooden cup was far too bitter.

Her tongue felt numb, and before she could stop herself, she spat the tea out onto the floor.

“Ugh, so bitter!”

“I-I’m so sorry! That’s all the tea we had at home…”

The chief’s wife was flustered and on the verge of tears. Donghee, still unable to lift her head because her tongue was tingling, waved her hand to signal that it was okay.

Even as Donghee reassured her, the chief’s wife kept apologizing. With her throat burning from the bitterness, Donghee looked up with tearful eyes.

“It’s fine. It just didn’t suit my taste. Must be good for your health, judging by how bitter it is! Hahaha.”

She added a lame joke to ease the woman’s guilt. It must’ve worked—her face relaxed slightly.

After the awkward laughter, an unhandled silence followed.

The village chief kept glancing at Chloe nervously, his expression twisted with both suspicion and fear. His wife sat on edge. Nell and Bron, who had brought Donghee here, waited outside restlessly like puppies needing to pee.

“Why would the lord come to such a humble place…”

The chief trailed off, cautiously breaking the silence. Donghee set her teacup down and stared at him.

His cheeks were sunken, but his eyes were unnaturally clear—so much so, that one could trust him if he claimed peanut butter was made from fermented soybeans.

“How much food is left in this village?”

Donghee tried not to let her rising affection show as she asked.

“My lady… the villagers are barely surviving on one meal a day. If you raise the taxes again, we will surely perish.”

The chief, misinterpreting Chloe’s question as a tax warning, pleaded out of fear. Yet Donghee found him admirable for standing up for his people despite his own fear.

“This isn’t about taxes.”

“Then…”

“How much food is left?” she repeated calmly, staring him straight in the eyes.

“In truth… the storage was emptied as of yesterday.”

His voice sank as if he were confessing a crime. As he bowed his head, his gaunt neck stood out sharply.

I’m the one at fault. I’m the criminal.

“I’ll have grain sent to the village soon. It should last you at least a week.”

“R-Really…?”

He hadn’t expected any help and asked in disbelief.

“But that’s as far as free aid goes. The rest—you’ll have to earn. Work, and buy what you need.”

“But it’s not the farming season. It’s hard to find work. If you could just show a little mercy…”

His tone quickly shifted to pleading again.

“I’ll provide the work.”

Donghee took another slow look around the house. From the outside it seemed solid, but now that she was observing carefully, there were quite a few damaged areas.

“What kind of work?”

The chief didn’t understand what she meant. The image of the lord he had known and the one now sitting before him felt like completely different people.

“We’ll refurbish the village. Fix the roads and repair houses to withstand winter. The materials will be provided by the estate, and those who work will be paid accordingly. The steward will explain the details.”

With that, Donghee stood up, signaling she was done here.

“Steward.”

“Yes, my lady.”

“Leave a horse and a few knights. You’ll explain everything, then return. I’m too tired—I’ll head back first.”

As bandits had been frequently sighted in the area, she left behind a few knights for protection.

“Yes, understood.”

After Donghee left the house, Handsome followed her command and explained everything that had happened in Morta Village to the still-bewildered villagers.

After asking several times in disbelief, the villagers eventually erupted in cheers and relief, some even tearing up as they exclaimed they were finally saved.

-Affinity with the territory residents has increased by 10.
-Affinity with the territory residents has increased by 10.

As soon as Donghee sat in the carriage, ding ding, alarm sounds rang incessantly in her ears.

What had initially felt like a welcome sound was now as annoying as a mosquito’s buzz.

“So damn noisy.”

Would you like to switch to mute mode?

A welcome suggestion.

Donghee, utterly exhausted, thought the service was unusually thoughtful today and quickly nodded.

Switching to mute mode. The cost is 50p. The deducted points will be converted to MP index.

“Hey!”

She shouted in regret, but the points had already been deducted.

Reactivating sound mode will deduct an additional 50p. Proceed? The deducted points will also be converted to MP index.

Donghee clenched her jaw at the state window’s scam-like prompt. If she could see it in real life, she’d grab it by the collar and shake it.

“No. Keep it muted.”

Grinding her teeth, she reluctantly replied.

As she glared at the status window, her eyes caught the word that had been bugging her for a while: MP index.

It had gradually increased in tiny increments after it first appeared quietly at the bottom of the status window. And now, it was stealing her points outright.

“What even is this MP index? You’ve never explained it before. Why are you suddenly taking my points for it? Wait—are there more people like me? Is this some kind of pyramid scheme?!”

Bombarded by her barrage of questions, the text on the status window wobbled and blurred before clearing up again.

Though it was just text, Donghee had the odd feeling that the window was flustered.

Curious about the MP index? You can unlock the info using your current points.

“How much?”

She was willing to spend 20 or 30 points to find out. That’s how curious she was.

Until now, she hadn’t paid much attention to it since it never affected her. But if it was secretly draining her points, she needed to know more. What if one day, she couldn’t do something important because her MP was too low?

Just 100,000,000,000p.

“…Get lost.”

You’re the broke one, not me.

“I said get lost, not call me a beggar.”

Ah, my bad. Well then. Toodles.

The status window vanished, cheekily flashing a phrase that had gone out of style years ago.

“Why do I feel like I’m being gaslit…?”

You’re not.

The window briefly popped back up to drop that line, then vanished again. Donghee couldn’t pinpoint what MP was, but one thing was clear—they really didn’t want her to find out.

“Ugh, this is so shady…”

Donghee grumbled in irritation for a while before starting to nod off.

Her head rocked back and forth, then thumped against the carriage wall with a dull thud.

“Ow!”

Startled awake, she clutched her aching head and winced.

“Ow, my head…”

“My lady, are you alright?”

The coachman slowed the carriage and called back worriedly, hearing the loud impact.

“Yeah, I’m fine—keep goAAAHHH!”

As she turned her head, Donghee finally noticed the silver-haired man sitting beside her.

Terrified, she shrieked and scooted up against the wall of the carriage.

The sudden scream brought the fast-moving carriage to an abrupt stop. Nearby knights rushed over.