Chapter 94
- You know about the Westmore urban legend case, right?
Knox, having returned from checking the health of the villagers, lay down on his bed with a weary face.
There were a total of five rooms on the first floor of Happy House. Cherry and Eden occupied the two rooms near the banquet hall, while Harrison, Knox, and Vanilla used the three rooms near the salon.
Originally, Susanna had used the room Harrison was currently in. However, after Harrison arrived, Susanna had adamantly insisted on using the second floor. Cherry, who had a bit of a soft spot for her, had no choice but to give her a room on the second floor.
Susanna, Emmy, Vanilla, Victor, and Emma stayed on the second floor, and since there were still four rooms left over, they moved all the daily necessities they had stockpiled into them.
Knox’s arms were full of flowers. The surviving women of Brunel Village had picked them and given them to him as gifts. Furthermore, regardless of age, every single one of them had blushed while presenting the flowers.
Well, yes. For any woman looking at Knox, such a reaction was only natural.
‘Didn’t they say Cherry Sinclair likes handsome men?’
Knox thought as he lay on the bed.
‘How can that woman look at my face and remain so unfazed?’
It was a question that had plagued him since the moment they first met.
According to the gossip rags, Cherry placed a great deal of importance on a man’s looks.
Articles about Cherry were never missing from the popular gossip magazines in the capital. If one had to pick the person gossip magazines loved most, it would have been Cherry. Knox recalled the contents of an interview he had read back then.
[Exclusive Interview! Socialite Rising Star Cherry Sinclair Reveals Her Ideal Type!]
In an article with such a title, there was a description stating that Cherry Sinclair’s history of preference for looks was quite long.
According to the article, her first love was none other than Harrison Howard. When asked why he was her ideal type, she said she fell in love at first sight because he was so handsome.
At the same time, she also mentioned that she didn’t just like everyone just because they were handsome. Her ideal was an intellectual and elegant look, and Harrison possessed exactly that kind of appearance.
‘Hmm. That’s far from Eden.’
Eden leaned toward a sharp impression. One might say he enchanted people like a cat. He didn’t fit Cherry’s ideal type. Rather, if one were talking about an intellectual and elegant appearance, wasn’t it undoubtedly this Knox Cornel Rudfercher?
‘Lawyer Howard is a difficult opponent to win over, though. That’s why my sister fell for him, too.’
Knox’s sister and Harrison’s deceased ex-wife, Isabella, had also fallen for Harrison’s refined demeanor.
In truth, Harrison’s ideal type also seemed quite far from Cherry. He seemed to prefer delicate and pure beauties like Isabella.
Since Knox hadn’t been particularly interested in the affairs of the Rudfercher family at the time, he had likewise never paid attention to Harrison and Isabella’s newlywed life, but for some reason today, he felt a slight pang of regret.
If he had known it would come to this, should he have gotten closer to him back then? If he had won Harrison over first, wouldn’t it have been relatively easier to gain Cherry’s favor?
‘Well, I can just start winning her over from now.’
In a collapsed world, a doctor was in a position to receive good treatment even while standing still.
However, Cherry was Knox’s life-saver and also the authority figure of Happy House and Brunel Village. It meant there was no harm in Knox making a good impression on her first.
‘If I set my mind to it, there’s never been a woman who didn’t fall for me.’
Knox straightened himself up and rose from the bed. A delicious scent was wafting from the banquet hall.
‘Right. Since I’ve thought of it, shall I start actively wooing our Miss Cherry from now on?’
If possible, Knox wanted to become closer to Cherry than Eden or Harrison.
As he walked slowly toward the banquet hall, he saw people moving busily about. Among them were Cherry and Eden.
He leaned casually against the entrance of the banquet hall and quietly watched the interior. He had already received a report about today’s events from the talkative Emmy.
“I think the old fogey likes the Star Candy sister. I saw him following her around, asking her to be his partner.”
The speculation that Eden liked Cherry was absurd. However, it was certain that he seemed to have some favorable feelings.
‘And after treating her like a criminal all this time?’
Of course, since they had gone through thick and thin together at Happy House, Knox admitted that the two had become significantly closer than before.
As if to prove this, Eden’s gaze had recently always been fixed on Cherry. He suspected that the obsession to catch her in her criminal acts had now transformed into a somewhat different emotion. One might say he was the only one who didn’t seem to realize it.
Just then, Cherry, who was scurrying around the banquet hall, looked toward Knox standing at the entrance. She came trotting over to him.
“Is everyone okay?”
“Yes. Fortunately, there were no serious injuries.”
“You worked hard.”
Cherry gave him a bright smile. That radiant smile was captured in Knox’s eyes.
‘She is pretty.’
The reason those notoriously fastidious and haughty socialites didn’t cast her out even while badmouthing her was that her appearance played a significant role, in addition to her being a ‘Sinclair.’
Why else would the jewelry she wore or the dress designs she chose inevitably become huge hits the day after they appeared in the newspapers? Cherry Sinclair was a woman who possessed the trendy splendor that young nobles these days admired.
“Miss! Could you take a look at this?”
Just then, Victor called Cherry from the kitchen.
“Oh, yes!”
Just as she was about to head to the kitchen, Knox caught her by the wrist.
“Huh? Do you have something else to say?”
Cherry whipped around to look at Knox.
Even if he had nothing to say, shouldn’t he make something up if he wanted to have a private conversation with her? Of course, Knox actually did have a topic he needed to discuss with her.
“Shouldn’t we talk about the Elpinus herb again?”
Beyond the simple reason of wanting to make a good impression on her, he wanted to have a more in-depth conversation with her about the problematic monster that had caused this situation.
“What are you talking about?”
But then, an interloper appeared. The sight of that face, smiling while adjusting his police cap, was extremely irritating.
Knox gave Eden a sideways glance and then looked back at Cherry. He was waiting for her answer.
“Oh… I’m going to go talk with Knox privately for a moment. It’s about the Elpinus herb.”
Cherry looked at Knox and gestured with her eyes. At that, Eden’s face contorted with dissatisfaction. It was quite satisfying.
Knox pointed outside with his thumb.
“Miss Cherry, shall we?”
If only Cherry had fallen for him at first sight, things would have played out more interestingly.
Well, actually, the fact that she hadn’t was part of why he liked her more.
Knox kept his eyes on Cherry for a long time as she followed him out into the hallway.
I entered the salon on the opposite side of the banquet hall with Knox. Then, I sat across from him on the sofa.
Knox slowly scanned the salon with a relaxed attitude. Eventually, he turned his gaze toward me, sitting across from him.
“What do you think about cultivating the Elpinus herb in the underground passage?”
He asked me out of the blue.
Huh? Cultivating Elpinus in the underground passage. That was an idea I had never even considered.
“Will it grow well without sunlight?”
“Why would a gloomy plant that grows by eating bugs need photosynthesis?”
…If I were an Elpinus herb, I think I would have cried hearing those cold words.
Anyway, hearing Knox’s words, I counted the number of Elpinus seeds currently remaining.
“There aren’t many seeds left, so we can’t afford to fail…”
“Emmy said that a herb shop in Kintne used to sell Elpinus herbs.”
“If they were displayed in a herb shop, wouldn’t the monsters have already smelled them and eaten them all up?”
“Hmm. That is a possibility. Then there’s the method of searching for the Elpinus’s natural habitat… I think we’ll have to look through a herb guide. Those usually list the natural habitats.”
I nodded at Knox’s words.
“In that case, we’ll have to find a bookstore. There’s a bookstore in Brunel too.”
“I’ll try going to the bookstore tomorrow. I don’t know if there will be any usable books left, since it’s a mess.”
Startled by Knox’s words, I shut my mouth. In fact, the one who had made that bookstore a mess was me. When Knox was isolated in the square, hadn’t I thrown stones and collapsed the bookstore?
‘But I did it to save Knox, so whatever…’
I asked Knox.
“Where did you store the large quantity of Elpinus herbs found in the mansion in Westmore?”
“Unfortunately, those are being kept at the Westmore Police Station.”
Aw. Pie in the sky, then. Just as I was feeling disappointed, Knox spoke up again.
“Now that I think about it… I wonder if the mansion at Haig 10th Street, which appears in the Westmore urban legend case, might have also had an underground passage like this one.”
Haig 10th Street. Haig 10th Street… It was a familiar address.
“There’s no way to know. We can’t check it now anyway…”
As I was sighing repeatedly, I suddenly realized where I had heard the place name ‘Haig 10th Street.’
“Uh… I don’t know what Haig and Spring are.”
“It probably refers to Haig Street. It’s near Westmore Station.”
“Ah, I remember now. Westmore, Haig 10th Street. That’s also an inherited mansion. But I have no idea about the Spring. I’ll let you know if it comes to mind later.”
Vanilla!
Wasn’t Haig 10th Street the mansion owned by Vanilla?
I jumped up from my seat and ran straight out of the salon. Knox followed behind me as if surprised.
Bursting into the banquet hall, I searched for Vanilla with my eyes. The others looked puzzled at my sudden appearance in the banquet hall. Eden approached me, but I left him behind and went straight into the kitchen.
Vanilla was trimming meat with Gary at the outdoor workbench attached to the kitchen.
“Oh? Miss Sinclair. What’s going on…?”
She had a puzzled look on her face as she watched me come running in a hurry.
