The Male Leads Are Trapped in My House

About an hour had passed. Eden, who had been waiting for me to calm down, finally spoke.

“If there are survivors in the village, we need to save them. They might be hiding somewhere, waiting for rescue.”

I wiped away my tears and turned to look at Eden.

Yes, this wasn’t the time to cry like this.

“Eden, I understand your feelings… But going to the village without any preparation right now is suicidal.”

Moreover, there weren’t enough weapons in the mansion. Even if we had guns, firing indiscriminately without silencer could attract more monsters due to the noise.

“I know that too. But we can’t stay here forever, can we?”

Eden was right. I would be fine staying here, but Eden had to go to Aurora.

If he got stuck here, I would have to find the scientist protagonist Ezra myself. I knew from the novel that he could use Eden’s antibodies to develop a cure.

But let’s assume that I sent Eden away just because I found it too troublesome to do all that. What if he got infected on his way to Aurora?

Without answering, lost in thought, I heard Eden sigh deeply, frustration filling his voice. After a while, he confessed his feelings.

“Yes, Miss Cherry. Honestly, I want to call the capital.”

“I understand Sir Eden’s feelings well enough.”

“There’s a phone at the police station. We need to know if the situation there is the same as here, and if my sister is safe.”

“Ah…”

Eden’s words made me realize that I also wanted to call Harrison. Is he safe? I wonder if the capital was destroyed as like the original.

Even if it was futile, I desperately needed that information now.

Hope.

Maybe if we called the capital, we could understand the reality and then plan what to do next.

After a moment of contemplation, I nodded my head.

“Alright. I have someone I need to find too.”

I couldn’t lose Harrison, especially when I couldn’t protect Susanna.

We confirmed the monsters gathered around Happy House and discussed our plan to go to the village after assessing the situation.

First, I climbed up the ladder from the second-floor ceiling of Happy House to reach the roof. I saw the lookout and slingshot that the wall repairman had set up.

‘Come to think of it, I hope that man is safe too.’

He had just finished the repairs yesterday. Could fate be so ironic?

I glanced around the area with a slightly confusion. The monsters were still surrounding the walls of Happy House.

Occasionally, I could see some of them struggling in traps I had set up, but overall, their numbers were still overwhelming.

“How does it look?”

Eden climbed up to the lookout alongside me. After scanning the area, he let out a sigh.

“It seems it will be difficult to move right now. We’ll have to wait until their interest wanes.”

“I’m thinking the same thing.”

In response to my answer, Eden rubbed his temples with a pained expression. It seemed he was troubled by the fact that he couldn’t immediately go to rescue Aurora.

And it was the same for me, who couldn’t get the news from Harrison.

“But this observation deck and catapult…”

Eden observed the surroundings for a while before he sighed. It took me a moment to realize that he had a question.

“They seem to be arranged appropriately as if they were prepared for this situation?”

“…That’s not possible.”

Although I had been considering the option of surviving at Happy House with Eden, I never thought this kind of situation would arise.

Eden stared at my face intently. It was as if his gaze was dissecting my inner thoughts. Unexpectedly, he gave up his questioning and muttered to himself.

“I can’t understand why the world has turned out like this. Where did these monsters come from, and why did people turn into monsters…”

“I want to know that too.”

Even in the original work, the mystery of the virus monsters was never solved.

‘Damn you, year-round novel.’

T/n: 연중 소설/ year-round (basically, the original novel was unfinished.)
Serialization discontinuation – Namuwiki

One thing was clear, all nightmares began with the experiments of Marquis Kay and the alchemists. What were they trying to achieve? What kind of experiment led to the destruction of the world, I couldn’t fathom.

We couldn’t easily escape from the state of panic. Standing by the railing, we just stared blankly at the horde of monsters gathering.

Although we had been preparing for this day, it felt like barely eleven days had passed since we made the initial decision.

The time was too short to mentally prepare for the end. Seeing the chaotic village and the crazy monsters surrounding the mansion, I lost confidence. Confidence in surviving.

Growl-

Just then, a signal of hunger came from me. Eden blushed as if he was embarrassed by the growling sound.

That’s when I regained my senses. I couldn’t continue like this.

“For now, shall we have a meal?”

Thinking about it, I realized that the messed-up kitchen needed to be cleaned too. I expected the essential goods and emergency rations to be scattered as they were.

Eden and I headed to the first-floor kitchen. He also seemed taken aback by the state of the messy kitchen.

“Was this the work of those monsters?”

“Yes. Those emergency rations are like our lives…”

My mumbled words caught Eden’s gaze. He didn’t throw a question at me like before.

But I could tell from his expression that he was silently questioning me about it.

“They seem to be arranged appropriately as if they were prepared for this situation?”

If he were to ask me again, I intended to say that I occasionally had precognitive dreams, and it happened this time too.

Unexpectedly, he didn’t ask again. Instead, he started cleaning the kitchen.

Even though Eden lived a civilian life as a police officer, it was only in his professional life. Fundamentally, he was the successor of the Lancaster Duke.

For someone like him to start cleaning without being told was unexpected.

Eden picked up a broom and looked at me.

“Back when I lived in the police quarters, I did the cleaning myself, so don’t look at me like that.”

The question I wanted to ask was evident from my expression. I awkwardly nodded and brought a mop.

I needed to clean up the spilled flour on the floor and shelves.

“It’s even more surprising that you’re doing something like this without hesitation, compared to me.”

I didn’t respond.

“Of course, if we’re talking about something truly astonishing, it’s this mansion.”

With Eden’s comment, a heavy silence fell between us. Frankly speaking, neither Eden nor I were in our right minds.

Sweeping, wiping, and clearing trash. We silently cleaned the kitchen for a couple of hours.

It wasn’t properly organized or clean, but considering what Eden and I had been through, I thought it was pretty good.

Then, I decided to make a simple stew. After being reborn as Cherry, I had never cooked before.

Of course, I didn’t know how to cook in this world’s style, but I was thinking of making something like Korean-style stew.

As I stood in front of the kitchen counter, Eden looked at me with surprise once again.

“Can you cook?”

“Yes. If we’re going to venture outside the mansion, we need to fill our stomachs.”

I took out a cutting board and a knife and placed them on the counter. Then, I washed and lightly prepared potatoes, mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, carrots, and broccoli.

Since there was no refrigerator, these things wouldn’t last long. We needed to eat them quickly.

With the knife in my hand and my stance ready, Eden reached out with an uneasy expression.

“I can handle the chopping…”

Chop, chop, chop, chop.

Eden stepped back from me. I was chopping the vegetables so skillfully that he looked alarmed.

I took out a frying pan and placed it on the stove. Then, I placed the firewood Eden had prepared in the hearth and ignited the fire.

Once I confirmed that the pan was hot enough, I added olive oil, butter, and the vegetables, and started sautéing.

When the vegetables were sautéed to a certain extent, I added water, tomatoes, bay leaves, minced garlic, and cheese, and let it simmer.

The stew bubbled and the color deepened in the tomatoes, creating a rich hue.

The diced potatoes and vegetables seemed to be getting cooked and ready to eat.

Finally, I added the broccoli, adjusted the seasoning with salt, and turned off the heat.

I took out two bowls, divided the stew into Eden’s and mine, and placed them on the counter.

“It’s hard to believe even when I see it with my own eyes.”

Eden mumbled absentmindedly as he looked at the finished stew. We didn’t move to the dining table; we just stood at the counter and had our meal.

Our impatience was that intense.

We just wanted to fill our stomachs quickly and head to the village to confirm the well-being of our loved ones.

“I have to admit that I’ve been looking at Miss Cherry very narrowly.”

Eden said so earnestly. I looked at Eden while eating my stew.

“You act so formal only with me. I heard that from Lord Ludpershire.”

Eden’s hand, which was lifting a spoonful of stew, froze.

He put down the spoon, looked at me directly, tilted his head slightly, and said to me with an expressionless and cold face.

“Why? Should I treat you like I do with others?”

“…No.”

“Now, there’s no need for formality.”

“Still, do it.”

Eden shrugged and then gave me a small smile. Then, he started eating the stew in silence again.

“I never expected to have such a great meal in this situation.”

Eden said as he looked at the neatly emptied bowl.

“Moreover, it was really delicious. I didn’t expect that. Thank you.”

“Right. Even in this situation, food is comforting. It’s fascinating.”

With my words, silence settled in again.

We placed the empty bowls on the counter and did a quick wash before leaving the kitchen.

Now, we really had to make a plan