Chapter 54
If it was something he hated doing that much, he could simply not do it, yet Eden never took that path. He had a soft heart.
He denied it himself, shouting that he wasn’t a righteous man, but in Knox’s eyes, he was perfectly suited to be a police officer.
“How long was I out?”
Knox asked, leaning against the window frame. Eden sat on the edge of the bed as he answered.
“A full day.”
“No wonder I feel so refreshed.”
Knox massaged the back of his neck as he straightened up from the window.
Eden, sitting on the bed, held a water bottle in his hand. He set down the cup that had been resting upside down on top of the bottle and poured some water.
“Miss Cherry asked me to. I’m not doing this out of consideration for you.”
Eden spoke as if making an excuse, then stood up and held out the cup. Knox took it without a word.
“The reason I’m asking is because I feel like I might have been dreaming for a moment…”
“It’s not a dream. The outside is still crawling with monsters.”
When Eden gave a direct answer without leaving a shred of doubt, Knox let out an annoyed sigh. He wished it had been a dream.
He calmly surveyed the room, then looked out the window again. As expected, Happy House was incredibly peaceful.
“It feels like a different world in here…”
“I lit torches outside the walls. It seems those things hate fire. The perimeter of the mansion should be safe for the time being.”
Torches outside the walls. When had he installed those?
Then Knox remembered Cherry calling a repairman to reinforce the walls right up until the brink of the apocalypse.
“This mansion… It’s as if it was prepared for the end of the world.”
“I was wondering about that myself.”
“Our Miss Cherry is suspicious from head to toe.”
“But it’s a fact that both you and I are greatly indebted to her.”
Knox agreed with Eden’s final point. To him, Cherry was his savior. She deserved to be treated as such. Furthermore, hadn’t she even taken them into her home now?
“I’m thinking of heading to the capital after watching the situation a bit longer.”
Knox looked at him with a puzzled face at Eden’s words, but soon understood.
“Is it because of the Lancaster lady?”
Eden nodded in affirmation.
Knox quietly wiped his face with a dry hand. Then, with a face lost in deep thought, he fell silent.
Eden didn’t particularly wait for Knox’s answer and tidied up the water bottle and cup.
The action was so natural that Knox almost cracked a joke about whether he had been hired as a butler for Cherry Sinclair’s Happy House.
‘If I had, a water cup probably would have flown at my face.’
Knox shook his head and replied.
“I should stay here for now. I owe her my life, so I have to repay it.”
Eden, who was picking up the water bottle, looked at him. Knox continued, his gaze fixed on Cherry outside the window.
“It wouldn’t be bad to stay with Miss Cherry until she grows tired of this place.”
“Do as you like.”
Eden had an expression that said he didn’t care whether Knox did or not. Knox found that surprising. Weren’t the two of them quite close?
“But how do you plan to leave? It looks difficult to pass through the front of the mansion, let alone Brunel.”
“Right now, they’re agitated and running wild, but they’ll probably quiet down after some time has passed. I plan to wait until then before I move.”
That meant Eden would also have to stay at Happy House for a few more days, whether he liked it or not. In truth, though he said that, there was no telling exactly when those things would quiet down.
Knox watched Cherry while leaning languidly against the window frame. Cherry was now lying haphazardly on the garden floor next to the vegetable patch, staring up at the sky. He had no idea what was going through that small head of hers.
Her clear profile as she stared blankly at the sky looked incredibly empty. She looked exhausted, as if she were suppressing something, and appeared as though she might vanish at any moment.
Even though they were in the same space, it felt as if she alone were in a different world.
“Is Miss Cherry… all right?”
Knox asked, tossing the question out casually.
Knox knew she wasn’t physically injured. What he was asking about was her state of mind.
No matter how extraordinary her strength might be, wasn’t Cherry a sheltered young lady who had never even experienced society?
A lady like that would usually be shocked and easily fall into despair in a situation like this. In fact, that would be the normal reaction.
“She’s just a bit peculiar; she’s perfectly fine.”
Eden answered dismissively. His tone sounded exactly like someone defending a pet dog. Knox glanced at Eden and narrowed his eyes.
“That’s not what I mean. I’m talking about her mental state. She’s still a young lady. No one can be in their right mind in a situation like this.”
Even Knox himself had been somewhat broken after surviving alone in Brunel since the monsters appeared. Knox didn’t think his current self was perfectly fine either.
As for Eden, he seemed to have never been sane consistently enough for himself to admit it, so he was an exception.
Anyway, Eden conceded to Knox’s point.
“That’s true. If it were Aurora, she would have been wailing and throwing a fit by now…”
But if it was the Cherry that Eden had seen so far, she wouldn’t break as easily as Knox feared.
“Hey, Rudfercher. You’re a doctor. Take a look and see if Miss Cherry is okay.”
Knox felt a slight sense of resistance at Eden’s words.
“Psychiatry isn’t my specialty.”
“You say you’re worried because she’s a young lady, and now you’re backing out so quickly? To be honest, I’m not without my worries for her either. She might just be pretending to be fine.”
Knox didn’t answer. Then Eden added one more thing.
“Take good care of our landlord, Doctor. So she doesn’t break down. She’s your savior, after all.”
Savior. Those words hit home, and Knox muttered them as if reflecting on them.
In this chaotic situation, it was Cherry who had saved Knox’s life, and it was Cherry who had saved Eden’s life.
After being lost in thought for a moment, Knox nodded with a tired face.
“I’ll keep an eye on her.”
Only then did a satisfied light appear on Eden’s lips. And the gaze of the two men fell upon Cherry once again.
In truth, both men inwardly believed that there was no way Cherry’s mind could be perfectly fine.
I lay in the garden for a long time, then sat up when I saw the sun beginning to set.
Thump— Thump—
While I was lying there, I heard the sound of a few monsters pounding on the Stone Gate. What was their problem?
Because I had lit torches outside the walls, most of them didn’t come near the mansion, but a few kept lingering around the Stone Gate.
The gate was made of solid, thick stone walls, so it wouldn’t be easily breached.
Those things have no intelligence, so if their prey isn’t immediately visible, their frenzied state usually doesn’t last long. However, those few had been in that state for a full day since I brought Knox back.
Why are they doing that? At this point, I’m starting to get nervous.
Up until now, it was right to say I had evacuated to Happy House. But if this continues, the word ‘trapped’ will become more appropriate than ‘evacuated.’
Just then, Eden approached me.
“What are you doing?”
“I was resting.”
Eden looked down at me with a somewhat strange expression. He held out his hand to me. I quietly took his hand and stood up.
My ‘vegetable garden look’ was a mess, covered in dirt. Because my hands were dirty, Eden’s hands quickly became dirty too.
He took a handkerchief out of his uniform’s inner pocket, wiped my hands, and then wiped his own. It looked like the handkerchief he had lent me last time when I was vomiting in the garden. He must have washed it and brought it back. A man who carries a handkerchief around—he’s better than me.
“What about Knox?”
“I was just about to tell you. He’s awake. I gave him water, just as you asked.”
“You gave him clean water, right?”
At my question, Eden paused and stared at me. He looked somewhat shocked.
“Do I look like such a piece of trash to you?”
“Huh? No, that’s not it… Uh… Did you really give him perfectly fine water?”
Eden seemed even more shocked by my rambling. No, it’s just that I know Eden hates Knox so much he even throws axes at him…
“I’ve learned exactly how you see me, Miss Cherry.”
Having nothing to say, I couldn’t answer. I only asked because Eden has quite a temperament. Of course, I’m the one who entrusted Knox to him knowing full well he has that temperament.
Then, Eden spoke with a very serious face.
“I’m planning to leave for the capital.”
