Chapter 21
“Do you have no work to do at the manor today?”
“Pardon?”
“The firewood.”
“You finished it all yesterday. That’s more than enough.”
With his immense strength, it seemed Eden had chopped nearly two years’ worth of firewood in a single day. A staggering amount was piled up in a corner of the garden.
“Then I shall assist with other tasks.”
‘What is with him? Why is he acting like this?’
I stared at Eden with a look of bewilderment.
‘Is he trying to keep a close eye on me?’
If that was the case, using the excuse of helping was a convenient front. After all, wasn’t he the one who had been pestering(?) me to show him around the manor from the start?
While I was in the middle of this conversation with Eden, Knox approached us.
“What are you two discussing so intently?”
As soon as Knox spoke, Eden drew his baton from his waist. No, sir, that seems like a bit of an overreaction.
As expected, a flustered Knox held his hands out in front of him to calm Eden down.
“Whoa, whoa. I was asking the lady here.”
Seeing the signs of another impending brawl, I simply ignored Knox’s question and kept walking.
‘I should get back to decorating the shelter.’
Belatedly realizing I was walking away, the two of them scurried after me.
“I’m busy. Don’t be a nuisance and get out of my way.”
“I am certain there is something I can help with. The place looks like it needs many repairs.”
“Lady Cherry, you said you needed me. We have more bugs to catch.”
Eden and Knox shouted in turn, trailing behind me. Then, Eden bared his teeth and growled at Knox.
“There’s no way you just came down to the countryside for no reason. I don’t know what you’re up to, but get lost. Unless you want a beating.”
“My, you’ve developed quite a foul mouth since becoming a policeman. If someone saw you, they’d think you were a street thug, not an officer. Hahaha.”
“There is no way this face would ever be mistaken for a street thug, so mind your own business and crawl back to Benton, you bastard.”
“Didn’t you hear? Unlike you, I’m here because Lady Cherry specifically asked me to come.”
“Ugh, so noisy.”
When I finally spat those words out, silence fell instantly. Wary of my temper, both Eden and Knox shut their mouths.
Eden, who acted like a perfect gentleman in front of me, dropped the act immediately and revealed his true colors to Knox.
The reason he played the gentleman with me was surely a setup to lower my guard for a ‘red-handed arrest.’
However, compared to Eden, whose motives were transparent, I couldn’t tell why Knox was approaching me.
‘Since things have turned out this way, I might as well use Knox’s interest in me to put him to work.’
Right now, I was short on both time and hands, so having an extra person to utilize was definitely a good thing.
‘But the moment he becomes a hindrance, I’m kicking him out.’
With that resolve, I climbed the hill.
Upon arriving home, I tasked Eden with repairing the perimeter wall. This was because the contractor who had been fixing the wall was still busy on the roof, installing the catapult.
Since I was told the Elpinus herbs didn’t require compost, I decided to plant the seeds immediately. Knox, of course, was the one doing the planting.
Today was the day the furniture delivery was scheduled, so I was set to be twice as busy as yesterday.
“To think the heir of the Duke of Lancaster is repairing a wall! Hahaha!”
Knox was crouching next to Eden with a lollipop in his mouth, mocking him as he worked on the wall. It seemed he had already finished planting the Elpinus seeds.
‘…Is this why he got beaten up by Eden?’
I recalled hearing that Knox had been pummeled by Eden quite often during their days at the Royal Academy.
Sure enough, Eden promptly grabbed Knox by the collar and sent him sprawling onto the ground.
They weren’t children. I knew for a fact they were both older than me, yet they seemed far more immature.
How on earth were these men the leads of a romance novel? Well, one of them was a brother, not a lead, but still.
Meanwhile, someone entered through the gate with a greeting. It was Susanna.
“My Lady. This manor is in a very remote location.”
She stepped into the garden, struggling with a large, rectangular suitcase.
“Susanna! You’re finally here!”
I jumped up from my seat and ran toward her.
“My Lady!”
Susanna welcomed me warmly. We held hands tightly and spun around in a flurry of excitement.
“It was a difficult journey, wasn’t it?”
“It’s alright. This is the manor where I’ll be staying with you, so I must get used to it.”
Whose maid is she? She speaks so beautifully. As I was stroking her hair, Susanna noticed Eden and Knox and asked me,
“Oh? Who are these gentlemen…?”
“Ah, just laborers. Go unpack your things first.”
Since we wouldn’t be seeing each other after the apocalypse anyway, I didn’t bother formally introducing Eden and Knox to Susanna.
Knox and Eden looked back at me with bewildered expressions. Susanna cast a wary glance at them, then picked up her suitcase and bowed to me.
“Then, may I go inside and unpack?”
“Yes, yes, go on in.”
Once Susanna was inside the manor, the furniture I had ordered from the neighboring village of Kintne arrived.
Workers from the furniture store began moving pieces into the house one after another. Eden and Knox, glancing at me tentatively, started helping with the heavy lifting.
I brought out drinks for everyone and watched with pride as the manor was gradually furnished. It finally felt like everything was coming together properly.
If someone were to ask what the secret to building a magnificent shelter was, I would answer confidently.
‘Money!’
By spending money freely to fill the place with supplies, a truly wonderful shelter was being created.
Eden and the delivery men looked shocked when they saw the food and various daily necessities stored in the pantry off the kitchen.
“It looks like a war bunker.”
Hearing the workers mutter that made me realize I was truly doing this right.
Time remaining until the end: 14 days.
Knox and Eden stayed at Happy House until late into the night, helping me organize the supplies.
Since both had worked hard and sweated all day, I generously granted them each a room.
As a result, they had fallen into a sleep so deep it was almost like they’d fainted, only waking up this morning.
“…My apologies. I did not intend to stay the night.”
Eden, having woken up, approached me with an embarrassed face to give his greetings.
I gave him a half-hearted response and left the room carrying a net full of bells. Seeing this, Eden’s eyes widened in confusion.
“What are those bells for?”
“Ah. I have a use for them. I’m going to be busy today, so I don’t think I can see you off. Please give my regards to our doctor as well.”
As I hurried out of the manor after dismissing him, Susanna quickly grabbed a robe, threw it over her shoulders, and followed me out.
“My Lady! Wait for me!”
I handed some bells to Susanna as she followed me across the garden. Then, I pulled a rope from the belt bag at my waist.
“What are you going to do with these?”
“I’m going to hang them in the woods.”
Those things are sensitive to sound. So, by hanging bells here and there, I can use the noise to distract them.
I hung bells on trees throughout the small forest directly behind the manor and connected them with ropes. This way, the bells would ring if the ropes were pulled from the manor when needed.
Next, I brought a shovel and dug deep trenches around the perimeter of the manor to create traps. Then, I left a sign that read:
<※CAUTION: TRAPS※>
Monsters wouldn’t be able to read it, but humans would see it and be careful.
“My Lady… where did you learn to do things like this?”
Susanna, who was keeping pace with me while carrying a heavy load, asked tentatively.
“Well…”
From movies? This was something any modern person could easily come up with.
However, it was a different story for the upper class of this world. Especially for someone like Cherry Sinclair, who had the image of a flighty heiress; she never would have imagined such a thing.
‘The memories of my past life are a godsend.’
Thinking that, I searched for a plausible excuse.
“I traveled abroad a lot with my mother and father since I was young, remember? I learned it somewhere on the Western Continent. We did a lot of interesting things.”
However, the look on Susanna’s face seemed to scream a question she couldn’t bring herself to ask: ‘Just what exactly were you doing?’ I had no further explanation to offer, so I just laughed.
Regardless, I was relieved that the preparations for the end were progressing steadily, but in Brunel Village, I seemed to be known as ‘the madwoman of the abandoned house.’
For some reason, my eyes felt like they were sweating. Is this really going to be okay?
