Chapter 168 - Village Chief (POV) (2/2)

When I stood there, not believing her refusal, she repeated the lines one more time, ”I cannot marry your son.”

I stumbled a few steps back from this unbelievable scene. My head was getting hotter as I stared at the insolent girl in front of me. She was scrawny and ugly from her worn out clothes. How dare this peasant refuse the marriage proposal to my son! I couldn't believe I even thought of marrying her to my son in the first place.

”GET OUT!” I yelled.

She quickly got up and disappeared from the house like a tiny mouse. I couldn't let my rage devour my thoughts. I had to contain any potential rumors that she had rejected the proposal or my reputation could be tarnished. Now that my plan was ruined, I had to come up with another way to pay back the debts.

I called for my wife as she was extremely creative to obtain the latest fashion from the capitol. We equally needed the money to continue our current lifestyle. My wife calmly entered the room, ignoring me who was pacing around the room.

”We need another plan,” I chewed on my fingertips.

”Don't worry, I always had another plan,” she smiled.

”You know how the king is giving out rewards to those who help with purging witches. She's the perfect target.”

My wife was right. Ten years ago, the king had sent out a decree of getting rid of all witches. I doubted that witches actually existed, but the reward was about one bag of large gold coins. It was the one of the few sources of income that fueled this poor village.

My wife and I made creative plans every few years to label a feeble peasant as a witch when we ran out of money. But we had to stop recently when the villagers were starting to get suspicious after the sixth witch in the sixth year after the decree.

I grinned as this was the perfect opportunity to utilize the girl with magical hands that could fix anything. I could already feel the nice clunking coins in my hands. The villagers were to starve from this winter anyways from the heavy rainfall. They would be appeased if we held a tiny banquet for them that cost one coin inside the bag.

It couldn't be helped to waste the girl's talent, we all needed to survive and she was the solution for everything. And no one would be suspicious this time as everyone had already witnessed her magical powers with their own eyes.