Chapter 14
“Yeah, she looks like she’s never had to struggle a day in her life. Just like a noble lady.”
“Right? I’ve never seen a face this glamorous in my life.”
“Candy. Yeah. Pretty like candy, right?”
Eden got goosebumps at the awkward comparison. He could understand why everyone talked about candy when they saw Cherry, yet at the same time, he couldn’t.
“Still, our young officer is handsome, so they make a good pair.”
“Looks like he just follows her around all the time, though.”
“Is that so?”
Eden furrowed his brows, immediately showing displeasure. The villagers exchanged glances again, giving him some rather unpleasant looks. Eden chose to ignore it and stood up.
“Where are you headed?”
Seeing Eden grab his jacket from the chair, Chief Hans asked.
“Going to see the girl from the abandoned house, I guess?”
The innkeeper answered quietly on Eden’s behalf.
“No…”
He instinctively started to deny it but closed his mouth. In truth, he was indeed planning to visit Cherry’s mansion as part of his surveillance.
The villagers’ eyes sparkled as they watched him.
Tch. Annoyed, Eden clicked his tongue, put on his police hat, and informed Chief Hans:
“I’ll go on patrol.”
I set the scarecrow in a corner of the garden and opened the front gate.
The repairmen were busily working on the mansion.
Yesterday, I had gone to Kintney Village to buy furniture and requested the repairmen to fix the doors and other parts.
And today, they had come on-site to repair the mansion.
Of course, I had offered five times the usual price.
I paid half of the fee upfront and promised the rest if they finished within a week, which made them rush over eagerly.
‘Money really is the best. Being rich rules!’
How fortunate I was to be born an heiress. Preparing for an apocalypse like this was surprisingly easy.
At that moment, the wall repairman approached me.
“Miss, you wanted torches installed on the wall, right?”
I nodded.
“Make the wall much higher, thicker, and sturdier. Install wall-mounted iron torches on the outside. Also, put barbed wire on top of the wall.”
“Wall-mounted iron torches on the outside? Outside?”
He asked multiple times to confirm. I nodded firmly, and he scratched his head, saying it was the first time he had ever received such an unusual order.
It did look unusual.
The structure I requested was a defensive wall I had devised after carefully reviewing the traits of the virus monsters described in the novel.
‘They’re weak to heat, so I need fire to keep them away from the walls.’
I planned to install torches on the outer wall to threaten any approaching monsters. It couldn’t always be lit since it would attract attention, but as a temporary measure, it was useful.
I watched the wall repairs in progress and turned to the repairman responsible for the front gate.
Several men had brought a huge stone door. I decided to call it the stone gate.
“I heard there are wild animals like bears in the forest. I need a strong gate that won’t open even if a bear tries to break in.”
“This will do. Very sturdy. It was extremely difficult to get.”
The repairman wiped the sweat from his forehead. No wonder—they were being paid five times their usual rate.
“Is it easy to open and close?”
“Well… not really. It’s a stone gate. Especially this stone latch is heavy, needs two men to lift. But it’s sturdy. Once locked, it won’t open from the outside.”
Other workers were finishing the stone gate. As he said, the latch was made of stone and looked secure.
It seemed heavy enough that two workers would have to lift it together, but my superhuman strength made that no problem.
After confirming the gate installation, I prepared the vegetable garden. This time, I planned to plant Elpinus herbs.
Luckily, the herb box I secured from 61 Notium Street contained seeds as well. There was a generous amount.
‘I think there’s a natural habitat for Elpinus herbs. I might have to go gather more.’
After planting, I’d tend the garden. It was late spring, just before summer—perfect for planting crops.
‘Wait… whenever I think things are going well, something crappy usually happens right after…’
No, that can’t be… I’m not some unlucky fool.
I shook my head and looked at the unkempt garden.
For Happy House, I prepared tomatoes, cabbage, onions, carrots, potatoes, and green onions.
Without a modern refrigerator, I couldn’t store food for long, so growing it myself was the only option.
I first visited the village general store and bought shovels, hoes, trowels, watering cans—everything I could find. Then I even bought a “gardening outfit.”
I bought enough seeds to last two years.
Back at Happy House, I immediately changed into the gardening outfit: a jumpsuit, boots, straw hat, and towel around my neck.
‘Ugh… I hate this outfit.’
Cherry Sinclair being fashion-conscious wasn’t an exaggeration. Though my memories of past and present lives overlapped, I’d lived as Cherry for 19 years.
I could never tend a garden in a dress.
Fully equipped, I began pulling weeds with a trowel. Only after clearing the weeds could I hoe the soil.
‘I’m really working hard.’
I wiped sweat from my face with the towel.
‘Haa…’
After a long while, exhausted, I gazed at the sky.
The afternoon sun was scorching.
Bright and hot… exhausting…
I was hungry.
‘Did I really want to live this hard?’
Yes, this was what working for survival felt like. But future Cherry would be thankful.
Just as I grabbed the trowel again…
“Stop.”
Someone aimed a revolver at me. Startled, I looked up—it was Eden. When did he arrive?
I glanced to the side. The gate was open, and the workers installing it were retreating in shock.
“Ah!”
The wall repairman screamed, falling off the ladder when he saw the gun. Eden didn’t flinch and barked at me:
“Cherry Sinclair. You are under arrest for drug smuggling.”
Wait, what?
“Drug smuggling?”
“Don’t bother explaining. Those herbs and seeds there—aren’t they drugs?”
Eden pointed at the Elpinus herbs and the herb boxes on the ground.
He clearly assumed that anything I had was automatically illegal.
Why does my reputation have to be like this?
“Hah… so the infamous Cherry Sinclair hiding out in this rural corner does seem suspicious.”
Eden looked at me with contempt.
See? I knew it—just when I think things are going well, something terrible always happens.
From now on, my name is Kim… Sinclair, damn it.
In the end, I was stuck at the Brunel Police Station all afternoon.
At Eden’s request, in the evening, a drug investigator from Benton Police and a drug expert were dispatched to determine if my herbs were illegal.
The problem was the consultant.
I scrutinized him alongside the investigator and Eden.
He wore a luxurious suit completely out of place in this village and a top hat—like the one used by gentleman thieves in stories.
Most striking were his dazzling looks, with honey-colored eyes constantly smiling.
If he weren’t holding a lollipop, he could almost pass for a gentleman.
‘Knox Cornell Rudfisher.’
This consultant was the sub-male lead from the novel Mangsarang.
‘Why are you here!?’
I must be cursed. All I did was steal Elpinus herbs from 61 Notium Street and flee to Brunel!
The novel’s main setting was Benton, the capital, yet the main characters somehow ended up in this rural village before the world even fell apart.
Is this… the butterfly effect…?
