Harrison, who had been harvesting crops, froze. He looked at me with a face that clearly said, "What kind of nonsense is that?"
"But Sir Ethan is alive, Miss," Harrison replied cautiously.
I nodded in agreement. "Exactly. That’s the trick."
Harrison, who had been wiping the foggy lenses of his glasses, finally seemed to understand.
"Because Kellyan’s objective is Sir Ethan," he concluded.
"That’s right. So why not see how he reacts when we tell him the person he’s here for is dead?"
Kellyan didn’t know Ethan’s exact condition yet, so it seemed like a viable plan. Plus, Kellyan’s reaction would undoubtedly mirror that of the leader of the Westmoor survival camp.
Harrison nodded, agreeing that it was a solid idea.
We weren’t planning to go around conquering survival camps, so the existence of one within Westmoor wasn’t particularly useful information to us. What we needed to know was whether they were genuinely developing a virus cure, why they wanted Ethan, and who their leader was.
For now, we decided to finish harvesting the crops before discussing the plan further.
Once we had harvested all the potatoes and peas, we started digging trenches beside the garden to prepare for a potential typhoon.
Of course, if a major typhoon struck, these trenches wouldn’t do much. Sweet potatoes, cabbages, and carrots might not survive the storm.
‘Still, what choice do we have? We have to try.’
The rain grew heavier, and the monsters surrounding the mansion began thrashing about as if in celebration.
"What’s their deal? Do those things like rain or something?" I muttered, shoveling furiously as I glanced toward the tightly shut stone gates of Happy House.
Beyond the gates, the monsters’ excited cries could be heard.
I wondered if they liked water because they disliked fire. I couldn’t remember if this trait was described in the novel.
"Either way, it’s creepy," I grumbled.
The three women nearby shuddered in agreement.
As I listened to the monsters’ cries amidst the downpour, I suddenly recalled the mutated monster that had attacked Ethan and disappeared.
I was curious about what had happened to it.
‘It didn’t seem like it intended to attack us, but maybe I was wrong, considering it bit Ethan….’
The evolved monster appeared to have at least the intelligence of a young child. Would it eventually evolve to the point of speaking like a human?
‘That’s horrifying to think about.’
I continued digging trenches, wiping the sweat from my brow.
Thud thud.
The rain grew heavier, turning into a torrential downpour.
I pressed down the hood of my raincoat to stop it from being blown away by the wind and looked at the canopy, which was swaying precariously. It was the one Nox, Ethan, and I had worked hard to set up together.
Leaving Susanna, Emma, and Michelle to pack up and head back inside, I grabbed Harrison’s arm.
"Harrison, help me take that down. If we leave it like this, it’ll tear. Let’s take it down properly and set it up again once the weather clears."
Harrison, wearing the same raincoat as I was, nodded at my words.
Annoyed by the raindrops obscuring his vision, he sighed and took off his glasses, slipping them into his pocket. He followed me toward the canopy, and together we began dismantling it.
"Did you set this up yourself, Miss?" Harrison asked.
I shook my head. "Sir Ethan and Mr. Ludfisher helped. The three of us were here together before you arrived."
Harrison froze at my answer. Even though he’d heard this before, he still seemed surprised. Shrugging, I rolled up the large, wide fabric.
"When you lie here and look up at the sky, it feels peaceful. It’s almost like the end of the world is just a dream."
"...I’m sorry."
"What?"
Harrison said something, but his voice was drowned out by the pouring rain. I moved closer, still rolling up the canopy.
The wind blew my hood back, and my pink hair scattered wildly.
Harrison, who had been holding a pole, set it down and stepped closer. With my hair obscuring my vision, I froze, unable to move.
‘This is so annoying!’
I was about to put the fabric down and fix my hair when I felt Harrison’s large hand gather my wet hair together. Then he pulled a hair tie from his raincoat pocket.
‘Why does he even carry that around…?’
Come to think of it, he’d always done this, even back at the mansion in Benton. Whenever I fell asleep on the couch in his office, he would fix my messy hair.
Standing beside me in the rain and wind, Harrison tied my hair back. It felt as if I were being embraced by him, though technically, I wasn’t.
"Sorry for being late, Miss."
"What?"
Confused, I looked up at Harrison.
Even drenched and disheveled, he was strikingly handsome—like a pure white lotus in bloom.
"Even though you asked me to hurry, I took my time. I regret it deeply," he said.
"What’s the point of regretting the past? We’ve met again, haven’t we? And you’ll stay by my side from now on, right?"
Harrison nodded silently.
"You’re the only family I have left now. Promise me you’ll never leave me alone."
Once again, Harrison nodded without a word. He carefully pulled my raincoat hood back over my head.
Carrying the dismantled canopy equipment, we returned to the mansion.
As we set the equipment down in the lobby, Ethan and Nox rushed over as if they’d been waiting for us.
Both handed me dry towels. I looked down at the two towels, then glanced at Harrison. Both of us looked like drowned rats.
"Give one to Harrison," I said to Nox as I reached for Ethan’s towel, but Nox shook his head.
"Better to give Sir Ethan’s towel to the counselor."
"What? Miss Cherry was going to take mine! Why don’t you put yours away?" Ethan snapped.
Just then, Susanna appeared, carrying several dry towels in her arms.
I snatched the towels from both Ethan and Nox, shoved them into Harrison’s hands, and ran over to Susanna.
She glanced at Ethan, Nox, and the towel-laden Harrison, tilting her head in puzzlement.
“I thought you’d be coming in soon, so I brought some towels,” Susanna said, approaching me with a bright smile. She took a towel and began drying my hair herself. Her gentle touch made me smile in return.
“I love it when you dry my hair, Susanna.”
“Oh, Miss, you’re too kind.”
We shared a warm laugh, but I suddenly felt a prickling sensation on my back. Turning around, I saw Ethan, Nox, and Harrison staring at us blankly, like dogs chasing a chicken and coming up empty.
“What are you all doing? Harrison, let’s freshen up and meet again later. I need to talk to Michelle before dinner.”
We had previously agreed to delve deeper into the topic of mutated monsters, as our last conversation had been too brief.
Harrison nodded, drying his hair with the two towels he was holding. Glancing at Ethan and Nox, he gave a sly smile.
“Thanks for the towels. It’s so considerate of you to prepare these for me. I’m truly grateful.”
Ethan and Nox looked at him with stunned expressions. Even I was taken aback.
I didn’t know Harrison could be so cheeky!
And there was definitely some bite to his words.
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Ethan and Nox scratched the backs of their heads awkwardly and backed away. When I burst into laughter, everyone else joined in, glancing at each other incredulously. The tension eased, and the atmosphere grew warm.
It felt peaceful.
Outside, the rain and wind raged on, and the monsters howled in glee, but in that moment, everything felt serene.
*****
Late at Night
I skipped dinner, took a quick shower, and collapsed onto my bed, utterly drained. I was exhausted from the day’s work.
Tomorrow, as planned with Harrison, we needed to hold Ethan’s "funeral."
‘I haven’t told Ethan yet. I’ll have to explain it to him tomorrow.’
Earlier, I’d had a brief conversation with Michelle on the second floor. It hadn’t lasted long because there wasn’t much more to uncover.
‘Still, I did learn something important.’
Michelle mentioned that a noble had once gifted medicine to the owner of a restaurant. That noble was none other than Marquis Casey.
Given that Marquis Casey was the one who spread the virus, it wasn’t surprising.
‘And Kellyan said he worked for Marquis Casey.’
That was another lead to follow up on. At the very least, Kellyan should know more about Marquis Casey than he does about Westmoor.
From what Michelle shared, it was clear that Marquis Casey had been developing “medicine.” It seemed connected to the alchemical experiments described in the novel.
‘Did the world end because they were trying to develop some kind of miracle drug, like in zombie movies?’
If so, I was curious about what kind of “medicine” it was supposed to be.
Michelle had been tearfully grateful to have been taken in at Happy House, saying it felt like a dream. She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d had a proper meal.
For months, she had been dragged around by a mutated monster, scavenging scraps of food while it slept.
‘Wait a second.’
I shot up in bed.
‘The mutated monster kept her alive for months without eating her?’
The more I thought about it, the creepier the idea of an intelligent monster became.
‘What were the mutated monsters like in Woven Love again?’
In the novel, there was no mention of them evolving further. They were described as anomalies, mutants that were rare in number.
‘Could that monster come looking for Michelle and find its way to Happy House?’
The thought sent a chill down my spine. I grabbed my head in frustration.
‘It’s entirely possible, isn’t it?!’
But I couldn’t just throw Michelle out. What a dilemma.
‘…Could I use the mutated monster’s curiosity against it?’
After considering it further, I dismissed the idea. It was too dangerous and unlikely to succeed.
Letting out a deep sigh, I lay back down. That’s when I heard it.
Creaaak.
A strange, unsettling sound, like rusty hinges moving, came from the foot of the bed.
I froze in place, too terrified to look toward my feet.
Creaaak.
The sound came again, like something shifting.
Creaaaaak.
It was like the sound of a door opening.
The only thing at the foot of the bed that could make such a noise was the fireplace. The fireplace that led to the underground passage.
‘The… the fireplace door doesn’t open from the inside… does it?’
But what if I hadn’t closed it properly?