The Heiress Nobody Saw Coming (Natalie and Marcus)

After Natalie finished speaking, Lynette, Sue, and Ann exchanged glances. Then, all at once, they dropped to their knees in front of her.

"Ms. Natalie, thank you. Really... thank you so much," Lynette said.

"Don't say that. Go get ready. We're probably heading out this afternoon," Natalie said, quickly helping them back to their feet.

"We're about to grab something to eat. Want to come with us?" she added.

She and Marcus had just come back from foraging herbs in the mountains. They'd walked a lot, worked up a sweat, showered, changed clothes, and now they were starving.

The three girls nodded.

This place had no proper roads and no cars-wherever they needed to go anywhere, they had to walk.

When Natalie and her team had first come to build the school, they had hauled in most of the construction materials by mule. It had taken a ton of effort just to get Hope Elementary up and running.

The road out of the village was long and rough. They knew they'd need their strength for the journey, so there was no way they could leave without a good meal first.

Natalie and Marcus brought them to the school's cafeteria. There, Zachary and Sophia came over to join them.

"Mr. and Mrs. Holden, I just spoke with Sophia and got a better understanding of what's going on here. I have a question I'd like to ask Mrs. Holden," Zachary said as he led Sophia to sit across from them.

His expression turned serious as he continued, "The environment here is so harsh. The conditions are rough, and even the villagers aren't cooperative.

"Mrs. Holden, have you ever considered reaching out to higher authorities or government departments for help? I mean, wouldn't it be better to let official programs handle the poverty relief?"

"Zachary, we already know all that," Lynette suddenly said, raising her hand. "Ms. Natalie, can I explain?"

Natalie nodded. "Yeah, go ahead."

Lynette lowered her hand and began explaining to Zachary, her tone serious.

"Zachary, here's the thing. Before Ms. Natalie came with her team, no one from our village had ever left. We didn't know anything about the outside world-we didn't even know there was an outside world.

"When Ms. Natalie found us and learned about our situation, she did reach out to the government and other higher-level departments.

"They did send people. But on the way, while they were still in the mountains, they were ambushed by the village chief and his men. One of the officials had his leg broken.

"After that, even though more people were sent, none of them made it back unharmed. Eventually, no one from the government wanted to come anymore.

"They said there are people worth saving, but there are also people who bite the hand that feeds them. And they weren't about to risk their lives in these remote mountains for a poverty relief program.

"Ms. Natalie kept trying to talk with them, trying to work something out. But the truth is, the county didn't have much money, and they didn't have the manpower or resources to help a group of people they couldn't even properly locate or identify.

"The officials told Ms. Natalie they wouldn't stop her if she wanted to help, but they also asked her not to push them anymore.

"They hadn't even known a place like this existed up in the mountains, and they were fine continuing not to know.

"If someone higher up found out and started investigating, they'd be the ones to take the blame. But they said they'd already tried, and all it got them was injury after injury. They told Ms. Natalie that they were just regular people. They weren't willing to die for a job.

"The village chief had even threatened them. He said that if they came back and tried to interfere with our lives again, he'd send people to kill their families in the middle of the night and burn their houses down.

"After that, only Ms. Natalie dared to come back. And when she did, she brought her people, and they were armed. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to get in at all, let alone help us."

After Lynette finished speaking, Zachary's expression darkened instantly. He glanced at Sophia, whose face didn't look much better.

When they'd first arrived, Maverick had seemed so warm and friendly-smiling and pleasant while they ate at his house. But the moment he turned his back, his whole demeanor changed.

People like that were truly terrifying.

Noticing the shift in Zachary's mood, Lynette spoke again, her tone more cautious this time.

"Ms. Natalie invested a lot of money here. In the beginning, she brought in a whole team, and everyone on her side was armed.

"The villagers didn't have a choice. They couldn't win in a fight, so they finally started listening. She got them to dig herbs, plant fruit trees, and grow other crops. All the seeds and fertilizer were provided by her.

"The officials said this kind of work eats up money and needs a lot of manpower, and in the end, no one says thank you. It's a thankless and dangerous job.

"They told her that as long as no one died, they'd turn a blind eye to whatever she wanted to do. As far as they were concerned, this place neverexisted. As long as it didn't affect the outside world, they wouldn't interfere."

Zachary let out a long breath. After hearing Lynette's explanation, he couldn't blame the authorities.

Everyone just wanted to live and work in peace. Risking their lives for a bunch of ungrateful people simply wasn't worth it.

The officials had tried. But all they got in return was hostility, injury, and threats against their families.

He thought back to the small town they'd passed through on the way here. It hadn't been well-off. In fact, it was still struggling with poverty.

Just managing to develop that town would already be an accomplishment. How could they possibly spare the energy and resources to deal with a hidden group of mountain-dwelling savages?

If they couldn't fix it, they chose to stay out of it.noveldrama

As for Natalie and her team, if they were willing to take the risk and do the work,

that was their choice. The officials would help where they could, and when they couldn't, they'd simply step back and stay out of the way.

"Zachary, you saw for yourself how bad the roads are out here. If it rains heavily, there are mudslides. Ms. Natalie tried to get the villagers to move. She even worked with county

officials to arrange relocating

housing, but the villagers absolutely refused to leave.

"They fought with the government workers, some of them even got hurt more than once. Ms. Natalie did all of this because she felt sorry for the girls here. Otherwise, she could've just walked away."

As Lynette spoke, her eyes turned red with emotion.

"A lot of people in the village still hold on to very backward thinking. If we hadn't received an education from Mr. Cole and being influenced by Ms. Natalie, we probably wouldn't have wanted to leave, either.

"We would've ended up having the same fate as all the women before us- married off or traded like property once we reached a certain age.

"On the other side of that mountain, there's another village. It's even poorer. The people there are even scarier. If we were traded, we'd be sent there.

"Ms. Natalie's team started with us, hoping that once things changed here, they could move on to help that village next, but it's going to be even harder over there. The girls there have it worse than we do.

"That place is surrounded by mountains. There's no way to run, nowhere to escape. They're stuck there, day after day, until their lives are completely wasted away.

"If we'd never seen the light, maybe we could've accepted the darkness. But now that we have, we can't go back to living the way women here always have. That's why we have to get out.

"I have a dream. I want to go to school and get into a good university. And when I've made something of myself, I want to come back and lead a team to help every girl from this place get out so they never have to return.

"Leaving this place... that's the only way we can truly change the fate of

the girls who come after us.

Because someone kind and willing to fight for others like Ms. Natalie... most people will go their whole lives without ever meeting someone like her."