Chapter 33: The Village

As Lauren pulled Li An out of the room, a muffled “mmph” came from Anne behind them.

Clearly, it was the resentful murmur of a kitten left at home.

Anne couldn’t help but reflect on this.

“Why meow? Why meow? Why meow?”

“Aren’t we supposed to create a future together meow?”

Unfortunately, Lauren had already left with Li An, so he was destined not to see Anne’s internal struggle in the room.

Or rather, even if Lauren knew what Anne was thinking, he wouldn’t do as she wished.

‘Please, you sick-in-love girls, stop messing with me. Even if it’s dating, life is already troublesome enough. I don’t want a super-gravity romance. Can’t everyone just be straightforward?’

Lauren had no mind to deal with Anne for now.

He led Li An through the foyer and pushed open the door.

The afternoon sunlight instantly flooded in.

He squinted at the clear sky outside and felt his mood improve greatly, if he ignored the collapsed wall and courtyard gate.

“Nice weather today. I hope nothing else goes wrong.”

“Lauren dear, you’re joking. How can there be so many accidents in life?”

Li An followed behind Lauren, and the two chatted a few words.

It was mostly Li An who initiated the topics; Lauren wasn’t a talkative person.

“Where are we going?”

Li An followed Lauren’s steps and asked from behind.

“Just a walk.”

“Huh? Where to?”

‘Old place, just wandering…’

Although Lauren wanted to say that, he certainly didn’t voice it.

The other person wouldn’t understand this joke, and then he’d be the only one laughing foolishly.

That would be too awkward, making him look mentally underdeveloped.

He didn’t try to be clever, but answered quite seriously.

“The village.”

Li An was stunned for a moment, then quickly caught up and walked alongside him.

‘What does this mean? Is he going to my house?’

Li An’s small eyes darted as she speculated on Lauren’s purpose in her mind.

‘Could it be that we’ve reached the step of meeting the parents so soon?’

‘No, no, no, I’m not a lovesick girl. Besides, Lauren dear doesn’t seem like that kind of boy at all—the type to fall in love at first sight!’

Having lived two lives, Li An could tell at a glance that Lauren was the type who only developed romantic feelings for someone after a long period of friendship.

‘So, what does this mean?’

‘Is there something in the village he needs to find?’

Li An recalled the information she knew from her previous life, trying to sniff out clues about Lauren’s current goal so she could prepare a countermeasure in advance.

‘Oh!’

‘There’s nothing. Can’t figure it out.’

Li An smiled helplessly ╮(╯▽╰)╭.

‘Lauren dear, your changes this time are really too big!’

‘I have no idea what you’re planning. Looks like you have quite a few secrets.’

Of course, Li An wasn’t angry.

It was just a lack of information.

With her intelligence, she would eventually learn all of Lauren dear’s secrets, she thought.

‘As for now, I’ll just coax it out of him!’

With that, Li An darted out from beside Lauren, moving happily as if dancing.

She walked backwards, spreading her arms toward him as if to embrace him.

“Lauren dear, where do you want to go? I’m the most familiar with the village! I’ll take you!”

Seeing this, Lauren couldn’t help but shake his head.

He turned her around, pressed his hands on her shoulders, and pushed her forward.

“If you’re going to walk, walk properly. You’re not even walking like a human. Don’t fall.”

“Mmph! How could I fall…”

Li An pouted, a little defiant.

‘You don’t understand a girl’s heart at all. You should be complimenting me on how cute I am.’

Lauren ignored her little tantrum and asked on his own accord, based on what she had said earlier.

“I need to go to the farmland in the southeast corner of Duke Village.”

“You lead the way.”

Li An’s eyes widened in shock. ‘Huh?’

‘Where is that? Isn’t that the place I was last night?’ Recalling that in her previous life, Lauren had tied her up there, Li An couldn’t help but guess, ‘Could there be something good buried in that land?’

Of course not!

How could Lauren tell her that he was taking Li An to investigate her tracks?

It was all because of this brain-dead system being too rigid.

It was a simple walk, so Li An naturally didn’t refuse. She agreed.

“Alright, Lauren dear. I’ll take you.”

‘Then I’ll just see what you’re up to.’

Lauren and Li An walked along the country path, one after the other, passing through continuous rice paddies under the sunlight.

Occasionally, they spotted a few scarecrows.

Although the area was on a dirt road, the infrastructure wasn’t too bad; at least the path was flat.

“Who’s in charge of this area now?”

Lauren suddenly asked.

He was curious.

After the Scotmart family lost control of this territory, who took over?

After all, such details weren’t mentioned in the original game text.

It only glossed over the fact that everything seemed to run naturally later on.

It also didn’t explain how his villain family declined, or why.

Since he wasn’t the protagonist, a lot of information about him was skipped over, as if the background was specially created to make a stereotypical villain, with no regard for details.

‘You just need to know he’s a bad guy. As for what bad things he did and why, that’s none of the player’s concern.’

“The current master of this area is the Kefen family,” Li An replied.

“Back then, the Scotmart family’s territory was seized by the Kefen family.”

“Oh? It’s them!”

Lauren recalled information about this family from the original owner’s memories.

They were also a ducal family.

Although their ancestor wasn’t as renowned as his own, they were still founding heroes of the empire.

Moreover, the Kefen family was different from his.

They had a large household with many descendants.

Their family also didn’t have any inexplicable curses that caused dwindling numbers and decline.

Lauren recalled the information about this family from the original game.

They were a secondary character family known for being the rich-young-lady type in the Thornflower Empire faction.

Mentioned briefly, with no more plot weight than a roadside weed.

As for the original owner’s memories, it was a slight connection from childhood, meant for a marriage alliance.

The engagement with Yuli was also set up around that time.

Lauren recalled that this memory held a significant weight in the original owner’s heart.

He must have been deeply impressed, even leaving a serious psychological scar.

So much so that even now, Lauren could feel that disgust, not even wanting to hear their family name.

The original owner was a gloomy, misanthropic person.

He didn’t even care about losing his territory.

‘I’m about to die anyway, can’t pass it on. Why bother with external things that can’t be taken away?’

So he couldn’t be bothered to learn such information.

He only wanted power.

But now, Lauren didn’t mind.

He easily dispersed the discomfort in his heart.

“I’ll remember them,” Lauren said.