Mission: Revitalize the Poor Estate!
The status window that had popped up out of nowhere sparkled brilliantly. The colorful lights blinking along its border like a string of bulbs made it clear the window itself was in an exceptionally good mood.
Mission: Revitalize the Poor Estate!
Please transform Grace Territory (Village 1) into a good place to live.
You who secured funds by cleaning out the gold and silver shop! Hahaha
What will you start with first?
Seeing it listed as Village 1, it seemed Villages 2 and 3 would appear one after another.
With both money and a plan now available, Dong-hee felt her fighting spirit catch fire. Her mood rose to match the blinking status window.
As soon as Scrooge stepped outside, Delma, who had been waiting with an anxious expression, strode forward and grabbed his arm tightly.
“What happened? Why is that boar-like man leaving with such a smug grin on his face?”
Every time Gold Rich visited Grace Castle, the estate’s funds were completely drained.
She had always felt he took far more money than the goods he left behind warranted, but when he claimed the value of noble jewels fluctuated wildly, she couldn’t press the issue. More than that, she was terrified that if she challenged him, his massive bodyguard might strike her and she would drop dead on the spot.
So Delma could only watch Gold Rich’s retreating back with eyes full of resentment. The moment Scrooge emerged, she pounced on him, desperate to learn exactly what had happened.
If the young lord had been swindled like a fool again, she was prepared to do whatever it took to get the money back.
Yet instead of foaming at the mouth and launching into a tirade as she expected, Scrooge simply stood there with a dazed look, as if something had bewitched him.
“Butler!”
“Yes? Ah… yes. I’m listening.”
Delma’s sharp shout seemed to snap him out of it; a little focus returned to Scrooge’s eyes. Even so, he still wore the expression of someone who had been hit hard on the back of the head.
“I’m asking what that man did to our young lord. Were you just standing there watching the whole time?”
Since she hadn’t been called inside, Delma’s frustration was even greater.
“It wasn’t like that.”
“That’s why I said I should have… wait, what?”
Delma finally processed Scrooge’s words and stopped mid-sentence.
Life slowly returned to Scrooge’s previously vacant face.
“Why… why are you like this?”
Though she didn’t say it aloud, Delma looked at his face and wondered if the man had finally lost his mind.
Scrooge suddenly broke into a wide grin, seized the hand of the bewildered Delma, and shouted.
“One thousand one hundred gold!”
“Pardon?”
“Our estate finally has a budget!”
Even after Scrooge’s hearty laugh and declaration, Delma still looked utterly confused.
Scrooge explained what had happened inside over and over, never seeming to tire of it. Only after he had repeated the same answers to her eight questions did Delma finally grasp the situation. She collapsed on the spot and let out a huge sigh of relief.
“But… where on earth did the young lord get those jewels? She didn’t steal them, did she?”
“It didn’t seem that way. They were probably part of a hidden inheritance. Our estate is saved!”
Honestly, if they dug into it they might have uncovered the truth, but Scrooge decided to turn a blind eye. Besides, the Chloe he knew might be lacking, but she wasn’t the type to commit evil deeds.
That night, at midnight.
Ding, ding, ding…
The moment the grandfather clock in the hallway struck twelve, a blue light suddenly appeared in the empty room.
Dong-hee, who had spent the entire day outside until her stamina was completely drained, had already fallen into a deep, unconscious sleep.
From the blue light hovering above the bed, the silver-haired man emerged, parting the glow.
It was a far more graceful entrance than the way he had been hurled to the floor last time.
Better than expected, right?
The status window that had spat out the man was much smaller than usual.
Yet the letters engraved inside it were clearer than ever.
“She might give up soon.”
The silver-haired man stood beside the bed, gazing down at the sleeping Chloe. His voice was flat and languid, completely devoid of expectation.
Moonlight slipping through the window gently illuminated the sleeping woman’s face.
It felt both absurd and unfamiliar that she could sleep so peacefully, breathing softly, after being dropped into a strange world overnight.
Which user is this?
“The seventy-fourth,” the man answered in a completely flat tone.
Even as he spoke, his gaze never left the woman lying asleep in the bed.
It was a face he had seen until he was sick of it over the past several hundred years.
Countless human souls had passed through that small body—so many that he sometimes worried it might wear away completely.
Would this one be any different?
Creak—creak, creak—
The faint, ominous cries that had been barely audible grew clearer and louder on the wind.
The man stared silently at the woman sleeping without a care in the world, then flicked his fingertips toward the window.
A light as transparent and bright as his silver hair shot out like an arrow.
Thud!
A moment later came a short scream followed by the sound of something bursting.
As if it were nothing of importance, the man glanced out the window, stared at the hourglass on the back of his hand, then scattered into blue light.
It had been exactly seventy seconds since he appeared.
The next morning, Delma came to Chloe’s room without much expectation and was so shocked to see the young lord already awake and preparing to head out that she rubbed her eyes several times. She couldn’t tell whether she was seeing things or still dreaming.
“M-Milord?”
“Why are you so late? Hurry up and do something with this hair. It’s so long I have no idea what to do with it.”
Dong-hee had risen at dawn, bathed, and tried her best to tie her hair, but it refused to cooperate.
There were no tight elastic bands, only floppy ribbons. How was she supposed to tie anything with these?
After failing for the seventh time, she had reached the point where she didn’t even want to look at a ribbon anymore.
“Understood. I will bring Anna at once.”
“Good.”
She didn’t know who Anna was, but from the context it seemed she was the dedicated maid who assisted the head maid. But hadn’t Delma helped her yesterday?
Dong-hee tilted her head in brief confusion, then turned back to the mirror and continued combing her hair.
“It really is beautiful.”
Even though her hair was a tangled mess from poor combing, the face that looked back at her was stunning no matter how many times she saw it.
The deep brown eyes, like melted chocolate, were the same color as her glossy hair. Her flawless white skin formed a perfect oval, and the nose at the center of her face was the very definition of “after” in any plastic surgeon’s before-and-after photos. Even without makeup, her lips were cherry-red, plump, and as charming as a single lovely blossom.
Knock, knock.
“Milord, may I enter?”
While she was staring at the mirror, lost in a bout of narcissism, a knock sounded and Delma entered with a maid Dong-hee had never seen before.
The maid’s eyelids were so swollen that it was hard to tell whether her eyes were open or closed.
Beneath her neatly worn hood, springy yellow-brown curls poked out in every direction.
“Anna?”
“Yes, milord. I only just arrived this morning. Thanks to your generosity, I was able to hold my mother’s funeral without trouble.”
So that’s why her eyes were swollen.
Dong-hee felt a pang of guilt for having wondered about it and offered an awkward smile.
“I see. Sorry for calling you first thing in the morning when you must be exhausted.”
“Pardon?”
Anna’s eyes widened as if she had heard a foreign language.
She glanced at Delma beside her and raised her eyebrows, clearly trying to figure out what was going on.
Even in the middle of her confusion, her hands remained politely clasped in front of her.
“Just make my hair a little less cumbersome, then you can go rest.”
“…Am I being dismissed?”
Only now understanding the situation, Anna’s eyes reddened as she asked the question. The moment tears welled up, her small round nose turned pink.
Her hesitant, pitiful voice stirred such guilt that Dong-hee hurriedly waved her hands.
“No, that’s not it at all. You just look tired, that’s why.”
“I’m not! I’m not tired in the slightest. I can work as much as you need. Milord, I have five younger siblings to support.”
She was the sole breadwinner for her family.
Dong-hee’s heart ached with sympathy.
“I have absolutely no intention of cutting your hair, so please just tie it up nicely and go get some proper rest. You can start working tomorrow. Understood?”
Dong-hee spoke slowly on purpose, looking straight into Anna’s eyes so there would be no misunderstanding.
Her sincere effort seemed to work; Anna’s tearful expression gradually calmed.
“Then… may I truly continue working here?”
Anna asked while rubbing her still-pink nose.
“Of course!”
At the young lord’s refreshing answer, Anna—who had been firing off words like a broken machine gun—finally let out a slow breath and nodded.
A single tear that had been clinging to her lashes rolled down her cheek.
Young lord, young lord. Just how on earth did you live?