Chapter 10
This was exactly why I’d hesitated before stepping into the police station—because I knew they’d interrogate me like this.
Should I say I wanted to use the phone? Or should I just leave? I was weighing my options when I noticed a man sprawled face-down on the floor, trembling so badly he couldn’t even lift his head, as if afraid a glass tumbler might fall on him.
I swallowed hard and looked at Eden. I already knew it, but that man really was something else.
When I froze, unable to answer, Eden smiled faintly and introduced the man lying on the floor.
“A domestic abuser. Please don’t misunderstand. This trash isn’t worth treating like a human being. His wife was rushed to the hospital because he smashed a liquor bottle over her. She still hasn’t regained consciousness.”
“My goodness. You left him alive?”
At my response, Eden burst out laughing as if he were amused.
I’d bet Harrison’s glasses that Eden was the one who’d turned the man’s clothes into rags.
Eden took a pocket watch from his trouser pocket, checked the time, and stood up.
“So, what brings you to the police station? Ah—are you here to invite me to your estate, by any chance?”
“I came to the wrong place. Excuse me.”
I closed the police station door just as neatly as I’d opened it.
Thinking about it again, if I wanted to use the phone, I’d have to make the call inside that tiny police station—right in front of Eden.
Absolutely not.
The moment the police station door shut, I heard the sound of a Scotch whisky glass shattering on the floor.
“Didn’t I say you’d die if you broke that? Oh—did you want to die?”
“Kyaaaah!”
Leaving the scream echoing behind me, I quietly walked away from the police station.
I should never get involved with that man.
In the end, I had no choice but to go to the neighboring town of Kintne to look for a phone.
But Kintne was just a slightly larger village than Brunel—still countryside through and through. The only places with phones were the train station and the police station, and of course, all the phones happened to be broken.
Is this for real? Nothing ever works.
So I gave up on calling and decided to send a letter from the post office instead.
I asked Harrison whether the weapons he was trying to procure included firearms, and I also checked if everything was peaceful in the capital. No matter how I thought about it, Eden being assigned to Brunel was far too strange.
I didn’t forget to add a request for him to find a way—if at all possible—to drive Eden out of this town.
It would take some time for the letter to reach him, but it was still better than making a phone call in front of Eden.
On my way back to Brunel, I stopped by Kintne and bought today’s daily newspaper.
[Social parties hit a slump due to the absence of the Gossip Girl… Just where in the world is Cherry Sinclair, whom everyone is waiting for?]
Does it even make sense that social parties would slump just because I stepped away for a bit? They were probably just bored because they had nothing to gossip about.
The next article wasn’t particularly interesting either.
[The Segrave family confirmed to be connected to ancient relics…]
The Segrave family existed only in legends—they weren’t supposed to be real. They appeared often in fairy tales I’d read as a child, as heroes who protected the world from evil, or as guardians of humanity. The kind of story you’d see in a superhero movie. Kids loved that sort of thing.
If a family like that really existed, I wish they’d show up and do something about this virus.
I let out a deep sigh.
Anyway, there was no news about the virus monsters I’d been waiting for, so I tossed the newspaper away without regret.
With everything I needed to do finished, I finally returned to the estate.
Now it was time to seriously begin repairs and cleaning.
I stood quietly in the middle of the garden, looking at the exterior of the estate I’d purchased.
This problematic, isolated mansion looked so bleak and filthy it seemed like ghosts might pop out at any moment. The original story never described Vanilla’s estate in detail, so I hadn’t realized it would be this bad.
The mansion was two stories tall, with sections of the outer wall crumbling here and there. The garden had clearly been neglected for ages, overgrown with weeds.
The inside was even worse. Furniture left untouched, piles of trash everywhere, and dust settling thickly in every corner. To be honest, it looked no different from an abandoned house.
Before cleaning, I decided I needed to give the estate a name. Otherwise, I didn’t think I’d ever grow attached to this ruin.
<Cherry’s Temporary Shelter>
I ambitiously made a sign, but the wording felt dull and uninspired.
“Hmm. It has no soul.”
So I rewrote it.
<Cherry’s Temporary Shelter: Happy House>
With my hands on my hips, I quietly admired the sign.
“Now that’s kind of cute.”
I smiled in satisfaction.
If I’d known what meaning Happy House would later hold for humanity, I never would have named it this.
That this name—“Cherry’s Happy House”—would one day appear in history books… I had absolutely no idea back then.
Anyway, after hanging the sign by the front door, I dusted off my hands and went inside.
In the first-floor lobby, I spread out the estate’s blueprint that Vanilla had given me, to familiarize myself with the layout.
The two-story estate was shaped like a rotated “ㄷ” (⊓), turned ninety degrees clockwise, with a fountain in the center.
In front of the fountain was a garden, which contained a well and a small hut—probably a storage shed.
Only after passing through this garden would you reach the estate’s main gate.
Just like Vanilla said, the garden’s spacious—perfect for a vegetable patch.
I’d never grown one before, so I bought plenty of related books. My survival depended on it, so I had to make it work somehow.
I can do this.
To survive safely for two years, I needed to create an environment where I could be self-sufficient in food and water. I also needed to build defensive barriers to protect the estate from monster attacks.
That’s when I noticed something strange written on the back of the blueprint—ink scribbled with a fountain pen, then crossed out.
Huh?
Holding the blueprint up to the sunlight streaming through the window, I examined the writing more closely.
[Things you must remember.
No. 1 is Brunel, No. 3 is Spring Water, No. 6 is Hague, No. 8 is Notium.]
That was about all I could make out. The rest was illegible.
What does this mean?
I knew Brunel was the village name, and Notium was a street in the capital, but what were “Spring Water” and “Hague”?
It was a memo full of unanswered questions.
But since I had so much to do, I pushed the cryptic note to the back of my mind and focused on my tasks.
Priorities first.
I stood in the first-floor lobby and calmly surveyed the mansion.
To the left of the lobby were two rooms, a banquet hall, and a kitchen. To the right were three rooms and a large salon.
One of the rooms near the banquet hall and kitchen was flooded with sunlight. With windows facing the garden, I chose it as my main room.
It was filthy, containing only an uncleaned bed and a broken wardrobe. Still, it had a fireplace, which made it seem fairly livable for one person.
I’ll need to clean the fireplace too.
I sat down in front of it. Part of the brick mantel had collapsed, blocking the firebox.
When I cleared away the broken bricks, I saw the iron log grate inside—filled with half-burned firewood and ash.
“Wait… what was being burned here…?”
Among the logs, I spotted something that looked like scraps of fabric, also half-burned.
There were pieces that looked like a man’s jacket, and others that resembled dress sleeves. Beneath them was a stark white, rigid rod.
“This is…”
Staring at it in confusion, a thought struck me.
Human bones?
Startled, I flinched and let go. The fabric scraps fell into the ash, sending fine dust puffing into the air.
“Cough, cough.”
Goosebumps rippled over my skin. After the dust settled, I could see inside the fireplace more clearly.
On top of the ash lay the fabric I’d dropped—and beneath it, the white rod.
Looking closer, it turned out to be nothing more than a piece of chalk.
“Hah… you scared me.”
I let out a relieved breath and rubbed my chest.
Even knowing it wasn’t human bones, being alone in this room still gave me the creeps.
Why were torn pieces of fabric in the fireplace, though?
That question bothered me deeply. After staring at the fireplace for a moment longer, I left the room.
I’ll deal with the fireplace later.
Stepping out, the corridor looked strangely chilly.
Maybe it was because I’d been so startled—but the hallway that had seemed perfectly normal earlier now looked like something out of a ghost story.
“No, Cherry. Don’t be weak. From now on, this is your home!”
Slapping my cheeks, I barely managed to pull myself together and walked toward the central lobby.
Right. Vanilla survived just fine here in the original story. I can do it too.
I steeled my heart and pressed on.
