This isn't how it works at all, and that number you came up with is outrageous, lol.
Simply scroll up and you'll see that you can get the first three chapters for $5 total right here on Itch. That's not even $1.67 per chapter.
As for Patreon: the people who support us there monthly are doing so voluntarily... as in it's moreso a pledge to us as developers (with some added benefits thrown in) than a 1:1 payment for the game. I regularly encourage them to only pledge the amount they'd like to give or they feel we deserve, and not a penny more.
Speaking of Patreon, for 5 whole dollars you can grab the game download then cancel your pledge. Doing so would also get you 30 days of access to all available chapters of the game, over fifty 4K wallpapers, dozens of polls, devlogs, commissioned art, exclusive videos, etc.
So yeah... not even close to $35-40, and certainly not hundreds of dollars. I understand why you came up with that figure, but that's not how it works at all. You're not signing a contract by pledging to Patreon: you can come and go at any time and access everything that has ever been posted.