Chapter 26
In the end, the monster’s carcass was not moved but burned right there in the garden of Happy House. Thick gray smoke billowed into the sky all day long. The creature’s remains continued to burn for a very long time.
A strange atmosphere hung over the mansion. Vanilla, Eden, and I stood in silence, watching the carcass burn.
As everyone hesitated to speak, Vanilla finally broke the silence quietly.
“What on earth was that?”
She murmured, staring blankly at the hazy smoke.
“I don’t know either.”
For the time being, I feigned ignorance.
An uncomfortable silence settled over us once more. Crackle, pop. The sound of logs snapping in the heat was accompanied by the foul stench of the monster’s burning flesh.
Dark clouds gathered in the sky.
“Before…”
Eden started to speak, then trailed off. He furrowed his brow as if trying to recall something.
“I think I’ve seen something similar to this before.”
At his words, my heart skipped a beat. I asked him, pretending to be clueless.
“Where did you see it? And what happened to them?”
“It was the incident at Notium Street No. 61. I believe I saw things similar to this in Benton. There were no casualties. The creature died before it could do anything.”
“It died before that?”
This time, Vanilla looked at him with a puzzled expression. Eden replied without taking his eyes off the burning carcass.
“Yes. I heard a woman killed the monster all by herself.”
Then, Eden suddenly pulled a round brooch from his uniform jacket pocket.
“This belongs to the owner. I didn’t see her face, but I think she might know something about this.”
Eden muttered. The brooch in his hand was very familiar. It was the kind of accessory I suddenly felt a strong urge to ignore.
Vanilla looked at Eden curiously before glancing at the brooch in his hand.
“Wait. These initials… are they the owner’s name?”
“That is my assumption.”
“The initials are the same as Lady Sinclair’s.”
Vanilla and Eden both looked at me at the same time. Cold sweat ran down my back, but I smiled as if it were nothing.
“You’re right, that’s quite a coincidence. I… anyway, I saw the news articles too. I wonder what’s going on.”
I almost blurted out an excuse like, ‘I don’t even know how to use an axe,’ but I swallowed it just in time.
Eden hadn’t mentioned that the woman used an axe. I nearly confessed the truth with my own mouth.
Eden stared at me with a face that made it impossible to guess what he was thinking. I felt like the blood was draining from my body.
Then, unexpectedly, Eden said nothing to me this time either. I couldn’t tell if he knew and was pretending not to, or if he truly didn’t know.
‘This is even scarier.’
Silence fell again. We quietly cast our gazes toward the flickering flames.
“Notium Street No. 61. Why does that sound so familiar…?”
Vanilla, who had been murmuring to herself, turned to Eden and me.
“But if this monster appeared at Notium Street No. 61 as well, doesn’t that mean they’re appearing in other places too?”
“Based on what we saw earlier, there seems to be a risk of infection. If so, this is a serious matter,” Eden added.
Vanilla and Eden spoke in turn. I couldn’t give them an answer. Unfortunately, their concerns were already too late.
The virus was already spreading, and the end was not far off.
“Is that why that woman killed it immediately back then?”
Eden muttered to himself in a low voice. However, I heard him clearly and realized the woman he was talking about was me.
“I should inform headquarters first and proceed with a full investigation. We need to search and see if there are more of these things.”
Eden said, as if talking to himself. It seemed to be a monologue, though his voice was a bit too loud to be just that.
Vanilla nodded blankly beside him.
In a ruined world, it would be far too harsh for a man like Eden—who didn’t hesitate to sacrifice himself for others—to survive.
Eden is the one person who, above all else, must not sacrifice himself for others. Because his blood is what will save the world.
‘I really think it would be better for Eden to go back to the capital.’
Aurora is the protagonist, so there’s no way she’ll die; it would be better for him to be by her side.
As I’ve said before, if he doesn’t, I’ll be the one who has to protect him.
“If you’re informing headquarters and starting an investigation, will you be heading back to the capital, Sir Eden?”
I asked with a hint of hope. But Eden stared straight at me. His expressionless face was quite chilling.
Finally, he answered.
“No. I will be staying here.”
“Wh-why?”
When I reacted with flustered confusion, Eden raised an eyebrow as if displeased by something.
“The monster appeared here. Shouldn’t we conduct an investigation in this area as well?”
Dammit. My heart sank again at Eden’s words.
‘Well, there’s still a little time left…’
I calculated the remaining days once more.
Time remaining until the end: 10 days.
Happy House was starting to look like a proper shelter.
The kitchen was well-stocked with groceries and cooking utensils, and the water tanks were filled to the brim.
The banquet hall was ready to host guests at a moment’s notice, and the wall torches and chandeliers in the hallways had been replaced with clean, new ones.
The catapult on the second-floor roof, prepared for the moment monsters might storm the place, was also finished.
The rooms on the second floor were being used as storage, packed with various daily necessities and furniture—enough for three people to use comfortably for over two years.
Just then, Susanna came down the lobby stairs.
“The second floor is all organized. You cleaned it so thoroughly, My Lady, that there was nothing left for me to do.”
Susanna approached me in the lobby.
Since I had never skipped cleaning the mansion from the moment I bought it, the place looked quite clean despite its age. Susanna looked at me with sparkling eyes, holding a broom.
“To think you even know how to clean. I was truly surprised. Is there anything our Lady can’t do?”
I’ll say it again: Susanna is an angel. I ran to her in a single stride, took her hands, and shook them.
“Susanna, you’re the best.”
Susanna smiled shyly and nodded. I patted her head, then opened the front door and looked out at the garden.
On the right side of the garden, I had planted plenty of Elpinus herb seeds and marked them with a sign. On the left side, where the rest of the crops would go, I had spread compost and was waiting.
Beyond the garden was the chicken coop, and in the small shack next to it, I had stocked up on various weapons and gardening supplies.
The walls surrounding the garden and mansion had been repaired, making them much thicker and taller than before.
I had also installed fairly thick barbed wire, so it wouldn’t be easy for monsters to climb over.
To see such an excellent shelter completed in such a short time, I felt like I might actually cry. My past hardships flashed before my eyes like a panorama.
‘Money really is the best.’
Since I had tended and decorated it with my own hands, I truly felt an attachment to this house. To the point where I could even spout nonsense like wanting to live in Happy House until I grew old and died.
In fact, this was practically independence. I had realized the dream of owning my own home—something I had never done in my past life!
‘You worked hard, Cherry. You did great.’
I patted myself on the back and looked toward the main gate. Susanna, who had followed me out, pointed toward it.
“Opening and closing the gate isn’t hard, but the crossbar is so heavy, My Lady.”
She pointed to the bar leaning next to the Stone Gate.
“There won’t be any reason to go out anyway.”
Of course, Susanna didn’t understand what I meant.
‘Now I just need Harrison to arrive.’
Today was the day Harrison was supposed to come from the capital to Brunel. I got ready and stepped outside the mansion.
Since morning, police officers had been patrolling the outskirts of the village and the area around Happy House.
The search was proceeding just as Eden had said. It seemed they were investigating the incident from that day as well as patrolling.
I also grabbed my cricket bat and briefly scouted the area around the house with them, but naturally, nothing turned up.
“We’ve searched from morning until now and haven’t seen a single beast, let alone a nest. Does such a monster really exist?”
A middle-aged officer with a magnificent mustache said as he poked through the bushes. I quickly chimed in.
“Exactly. There’s no way there are more of them. This much searching should be enough.”
Unless the apocalypse had been moved up, monsters wouldn’t be coming out in droves yet. Even if they did, the ones appearing now would all be weaklings. In short, they were the kind of things I could kill in one go with a swing of my bat.
Still, I was grateful they were patrolling, so I looked around a bit more before saying goodbye to the officers.
“I have some business to attend to, so I must be going. Thank you for coming out today, officers.”
Then I hurried out of the forest.
‘So much to do, so much to do.’
I had to get to the train station quickly to meet Harrison.
I went down to Brunel Village to rent a carriage, but the atmosphere was strangely peculiar today. Every time I passed by, the villagers would stare and whisper amongst themselves.
