The Heiress Nobody Saw Coming

Chapter 657 She Should Go Ahead and Do It Without Worry

Zachary's tone was gentle but firm. Though he hadn't spent much time with

Natalie, he trusted Marcus. And because of the help Natalie had given Sophia, he was also willing to trust her. In other words, Zachary believed in Natalie and Marcus as a couple.

The car sped along smoothly. They stopped every four hours to refuel, rest, and eat. When night fell, the GPS finally prompted them to exit the highway and led them into a small county town.

Once inside, the surroundings changed. It was nothing like the bustling city of Dithoria. The street lamps cast a dull yellow glow, barely lighting the roads and serving more as decoration than illumination.

Most of the shops along the streets had their lights turned off and doors shut tight. Even among the restaurants, only a few remained open.

"This place is called Everwyn County. From here, we still have a long drive through the mountains. After that, the roads only get worse," Natalie said, opening the map on her phone and showing it to Marcus.

"We'll stop near the edge of town to grab dinner and find a motel for the night. We'll continue the journey early tomorrow."

"Alright." Marcus nodded. "Nat, aren't you tired after sitting in the car for so long? We should've just taken a helicopter."

Natalie chuckled. "We can't use a helicopter here. If we would, do you think I'd have arranged for us to drive?"

"Poor Mr. Holden," she teased, reaching over to pinch his cheek. "I bet you've never been to a place like this before."

Marcus nodded honestly. "I really haven't."

"There are lots of poor counties like this in the country. The routes are bad, resources are scarce, and they can't attract business or investment. Most of the locals leave for work elsewhere," Natalie explained.

make it there, they fight to keep their place. Those left behind are usually the older folk

is poor, don't you? Then, you'd be wrong. There are places far worse than this-dozens, maybe hundreds of times

born there aren't treated as human beings. They're never seen

marriages to benefit

we're going-Coalmarsh," Natalie said, pulling up the map and pointing it out. "I funded a school there and hired qualified teachers to

how to identify herbs in the mountain and harvest them. Then, we arranged

in to teach them how

more remote a place was, the harder it was to change the locals'

leaning back again. "The people there are rough but united. We tried all kinds of

had to be even more ruthless. They were aggressive, so we had to be fiercer. Only

is incredibly closed-off. Mr. Langton once said that they've grown roots in the place. The fact that they accepted

them to desperation. They'd rather burn everything down than give in. Mr. Langton sympathized with

much, but even changing the

Some baby girls were drowned in water jars the moment they were born. Some, at just 11 or 12 years old,

bear to see it, so he

years since he began, but Coalmarsh was only discovered in the last couple of years. That's

And so are you," Marcus said. He now understood why Natalie worked so hard to

with a faint smile. "I just want to help those little girls

anything. I knew she'd had a hard time out there, so I never tried

me, we probably could have coexisted peacefully. But reality rarely goes the way we