Chapter 19
While I was up on the roof tinkering around with the contractor, I could feel Eden’s sharp gaze from below.
‘Even if it looks suspicious, there’s nothing I can do.’
When I first came down to Brunel, I had planned to make this place a “secret” shelter.
But seeing how things were turning out, it seemed I would have to give up on the idea of secrecy. The apocalypse was drawing closer by the day. Even if I ended up looking suspicious, properly preparing for the end came first.
Standing on the roof, I lifted the opera binoculars I had brought and surveyed the surroundings.
‘Monsters might appear here too.’
In the original story, it was mentioned that right before the end, monsters appeared sporadically in various villages. That meant I couldn’t afford to let my guard down, even while preparing.
For now, at least, the town looked peaceful.
‘Still, I should come up here often to keep watch.’
After observing the contractor working on the catapult for a while, I climbed back down. The wall repairs looked to be about halfway done.
‘I should probably hire another worker.’
If I wanted the job finished quickly, that was the best option.
“What exactly are you planning to do with this mansion? I’m getting more curious by the minute.”
Eden approached me, resting an axe on his shoulder. He wiped the sweat from his chin with the back of his hand as he waited for my answer.
“I told you already. It’s my private vacation home.”
Eden looked at me like he didn’t even know where to begin responding.
Then his eyes slowly scanned my outfit once more. I was wearing a jumpsuit, boots, and a straw hat—perfect attire for farm work.
“Honestly, I’m starting to wonder if you’re really Cherry Sinclair. You’re completely different from the Cherry Sinclair described in newspapers and gossip.”
Eden said as he stroked his chin.
He wasn’t wrong. The old Cherry would never have even touched clothes like this. After all, she was famous as the most extravagant woman in high society.
“I don’t like wearing these clothes either. They’re not pretty.”
“No one forced you to act like this. Yet here you are, doing things that don’t suit you at all.”
True. No one made me do this. I just let out a long sigh.
I was chatting pointlessly with Eden when he suddenly grabbed my hand and yanked me toward him. He wrapped me in his arms and rolled us both aside.
Boom—
Large wooden beams crashed to the ground, shattering right where I had been standing. They had fallen from the roof.
‘Wow. His reflexes are insane.’
I was still trying to calm my pounding heart while pressed against Eden when the contractor shouted down at us, pale as a ghost.
“Ahh! I’m so sorry! Are you all right?”
“That could have killed someone!”
Eden glanced at me briefly, swallowed a curse, and shouted back up at the man. He pointed two fingers at his own eyes, then jabbed them toward the contractor in a fierce warning.
Honestly, it seemed more and more like Eden was only suppressing his bad temper in front of me. Probably because he wanted something from me.
Like exposing corruption within the Sinclair family, perhaps.
“Oh no, what have I done… I’m so sorry! So sorry!”
The contractor kept bowing frantically. After lecturing him a few more times to be careful, I turned back to Eden.
“Thank you.”
“You’re not hurt. That’s enough.”
Eden answered casually, patting my head once before turning away. He went right back to splitting firewood as if nothing had happened.
I stood there dazed for a moment, watching his back.
‘What was that?’
I touched my head awkwardly and tilted it in confusion. Eden acting kind felt strange. Of course, he was known to be selectively gentlemanly, but still.
Anyway, I picked up a hoe and headed to the vegetable patch. I had pulled all the weeds yesterday, so today was for tilling the soil.
If I plowed today and spread compost, I could plant seeds in two weeks.
Just as I was about to get to work, an unfamiliar voice rang out.
“Hahaha! Lancaster, what on earth are you doing? Have you become a lumberjack?”
Knox had arrived at some point and was laughing uproariously at Eden’s appearance. If Eden was the rough type, Knox was the annoyingly cheeky type.
‘There’s no way Eden is going to let that slide—’
Whoosh.
Sure enough, Eden hurled the axe he was holding. It flew straight and embedded itself into the ground right in front of Knox’s feet.
Knox stepped back with a pale face but still managed a grin.
“I told you not to wander in front of me.”
At Eden’s irritated warning, Knox raised both hands.
“I came at Lady Cherry’s request.”
Both men turned to look at me at the same time. I sighed deeply and nodded.
“Mr. Rudfisher promised to help catch insects today.”
“Did I?”
“Insects?”
The first question came from Knox. The second from Eden.
“You weren’t serious about that yesterday, were you? I didn’t realize you meant catching insects ourselves.”
Knox shook his head playfully, saying he could help with herb cultivation but catching bugs personally was a bit much.
“Well then, I don’t really need you. You can leave—”
“As a gentleman, I can’t do that. I’ll catch the insects.”
I narrowed my eyes and watched Knox begin hunting for bugs in earnest. A man who looked like a noble prince was now bent over, wandering the garden searching for centipedes.
Knox’s reason for doing this was probably the same as Eden’s—he wanted to keep a close eye on me.
Of course, their intentions were clearly different.
As Knox himself had said before, Eden was wary and suspicious of me, while Knox was strangely friendly.
Watching Knox catch bugs and Eden chop wood, I shook my head.
‘Yeah… the idea of making this a secret shelter is completely ruined. Totally ruined.’
But strangely enough, I felt more at ease.
Forget the original story. From now on, I would leave everything to fate and focus only on my own path.
Then I asked Knox something I’d been curious about.
“How long are you planning to stay in Brunel, Mr. Rudfisher?”
“Why do you ask? Are you interested in me?”
“Yes.”
More precisely, I’m interested in your physical abilities.
Of course, I kept that last part to myself. Knox looked startled by my blunt answer.
Since I’d already decided to make use of his help, I needed to calculate how to get the most out of him efficiently.
“I don’t have a fixed return date, but I plan to rest for a while. I’ve worked nonstop until now—shouldn’t I get to enjoy a break like this?”
At his words, I glanced at the jar he was holding, which now contained a captured centipede.
Calling this “rest” seemed questionable, but perhaps to Knox, this counted as leisure.
Well, as long as he stayed, that was fine.
I nodded to myself and said to him,
“I’ll be counting on you.”
Kingdom of Greydon, Crown Prince’s Office.
Crown Prince Theodore looked up with a puzzled expression as his aide Elderson delivered his report.
“Where did you say Eden and Knox went?”
“They’ve gone down to a village called Brunel, Your Highness.”
“Brunel? Both of them?”
Elderson nodded.
Theodore, Eden, and Knox had all attended the Royal School together.
Although Theodore was at odds with Eden’s father, the Duke of Lancaster, he personally liked Eden. Unlike his father, Eden was honest and trustworthy.
But for the past few days, Theodore hadn’t been able to contact either Eden or Knox—and now he was being told they were both in Brunel, despite not even getting along.
“Why are they down there?”
“Sir Eden has been assigned to the Brunel Police Station.”
“What? Eden got assigned to some rural police station? Does that even make sense? There has to be a real reason.”
“……”
“Find out.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“And Knox?”
“I will look into that as well.”
Theodore set down the documents he’d been reading and stared at Elderson in disbelief.
Was the man seriously reporting to him without even checking something as basic as that?
Noticing Theodore’s irritation, Elderson turned pale and bowed his head.
Theodore shook his head.
‘I swear, that man can’t do anything properly.’
As he grumbled internally, his gaze fell on today’s newspaper.
[Cherry Sinclair Halts All Social Activities for Five Consecutive Days… Lawyer Howard Says “No Safety Concerns.”]
Theodore picked it up.
“I get that Sinclair is a big name, but who is this woman that she’s constantly in the headlines without even doing anything? Why is she mentioned more often than me, the Crown Prince?”
In short, he was irritated that Cherry seemed to appear in the news more frequently than he did.
Elderson glanced at the paper and answered.
“Cherry Sinclair is currently the hottest star in high society.”
“Since when?”
“About a year ago… It’s been quite a while.”
At that, Theodore looked at the newspaper with mild surprise.
