Chapter 117
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 99
Chapter Title: A Fork in the Road
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“We still don't know when the path to Notium Street will open, or if it even really exists… I may have suggested it, but we have to consider the worst-case scenario.”
“Traveling above ground is just as difficult in the current situation. And now that we know His Highness Theodore has Aurora with him, I'm a little less worried.”
To get from Brunel to Benton, you have to pass through Kintne, Honderf, and Westmore.
Even if they made it through Kintne and Honderf safely, there was no telling what might happen in the problematic Westmore. Besides, the capital, Benton, would surely be teeming with even more monsters, given its size.
All things considered, finding a way through the underground passage was the safer option.
Of course, this was also based on the belief that Aurora would be safe, now that he had confirmed she was with Theodore, just as he had frankly told Cherry a moment ago.
“You trust His Highness Theodore a great deal.”
At Cherry's words, Ethan nodded without hesitation. He trusted Theodore that much.
“He's a capable man. He's managed to hold onto his position as Crown Prince all this time on his own, without any factional support.”
At the very least, the Theodore he knew would do his utmost to protect Aurora, simply because she was Ethan's sister.
It had been the same during their days at the Royal Academy. Theodore hadn't been particularly fond of Duke Lancaster. That was because Duke Lancaster was a nobleman who fully supported Prince Lloyd.
In such a situation, one might have expected Theodore to harbor ill feelings toward Ethan, the legitimate heir of Lancaster, but he didn't. He was the type of person who had the ability to see people for who they truly were, rather than treating them with prejudice.
That was why, during their time at the Royal Academy, Theodore had been Ethan's only friend. Knox had always been by Theodore's side as well, which was how he and Ethan had ended up on such bad terms.
“But…”
Ethan quietly studied Cherry's face. There was a small cut on her cheek.
“What happened to your face?”
“Ah, this…”
Cherry replied, as if it were nothing.
“I fell.”
“Where?”
“Over there, just now?”
Cherry pointed to the vegetable garden. Ethan narrowed his eyes and scanned her appearance. Now that he looked, her dress seemed rather dirty and rumpled today.
“It stings a little now that I'm thinking about it.”
As she said that and reached for the wound, a startled Ethan grabbed her wrist. Cherry, surprised in turn, looked up at him.
“It'll get infected. Don't touch it.”
Ethan gently took her chin and examined the wound more closely. Her breath tickled the tip of his nose.
Belatedly realizing how close he was to Cherry, Ethan slowly raised his gaze. His eyes met her shimmering golden ones. Now that he was aware of it, he even had the illusion that her unique sweet scent was growing stronger.
To hide his flustered feelings, he lowered his eyes again, only to see Cherry's red lips. She was pursing them, about to say something. He found himself focused on the movement of her small lips…
“Can you punch me in the face?”
She was talking nonsense.
Stunned by the unimaginable response, Ethan couldn't even think to pull away and just stared at her.
This time, a genuine, wry laugh escaped him. No. To be honest, it was a little baffling. To use a phrase Cherry sometimes used, it felt like the tables had turned.
Before the apocalypse, the line between criminal suspect and police officer had been clear, but now it was completely blurred.
“What in the world are you talking about?”
“The cut stings so much, I thought I'd try to forget it with a greater pain.”
“…”
“It's a joke. I'm not an idiot. Don't look at me like that.”
“I'm a police officer. Not some thug who hits a lady. And there's no rule that says you have to forget pain with more pain, is there?”
“So you're saying there's another way?”
Instead of answering, Ethan subtly glanced down at Cherry's red lips. Since she had flustered him with her nonsense again, he intended to tease her back.
But when he looked at her again, she had an unexpected reaction. The moment their eyes met, her face turned as red as an apple.
She slowly opened her mouth.
“If you look at me like that…”
Look at her like that? What other absurd thing was she about to say?
Ethan waited for her lips, which had trailed off, to open again.
“Agh, you scared me! There are kids around, let's be more careful. You don't own the place.”
Just then, Amy suddenly entered the lobby, spotted them, and shouted. Both Cherry and Ethan blinked, looked at each other, and then turned to Amy.
“I wasn't talking to you, Star Candy. You know how I feel, right?”
Amy winked at Cherry.
Only then did Ethan and Cherry move away from each other. They had been so focused on one another that they hadn't even realized how close their faces had been.
Ethan, feeling a little embarrassed, rubbed the back of his neck and took a couple of steps back. But Cherry, as if she had never blushed at all, hurried him along.
“Let's go. You said you found path number 2.”
I quickly changed into the clothes Emma had mended for me and returned to my room. That is to say, I had gone somewhere else to change, despite having a perfectly good ‘my room’.
I think I need to move to a different room. The thought of a suspicious passage connecting to all sorts of places right by my bed made it impossible to sleep there. Besides, given that it was a passage, people were constantly coming and going.
I scanned the people gathered in front of the fireplace. Jose, who had been cooped up on the roof all this time, caught my eye. Harrison was apparently taking his place.
They said they switched because Jose had tearfully complained that he was about to grow moss on his body. Well, Harrison was also suited for guard duty, since he used a long-range weapon, the crossbow.
In any case, my room was bustling with everyone from the guards and the doctor to those who had been tending the garden.
Ethan was standing by the door, waiting for me.
I grabbed his wrist and pushed my way through the crowd to the fireplace. Knox stared with a rather peculiar expression at our linked hands.
Ignoring him, I made a solemn declaration.
“We'll be back.”
Then I coolly turned to enter the fireplace, but I tripped and stumbled, and Ethan quickly caught me by the waist.
“Be careful, Miss Cherry.”
Flustered, I awkwardly regained my balance and nodded.
“L-Let's go.”
My waist, where his hand had touched me, seemed to be in shock from the unexpected contact. I moved into the underground passage with my joints creaking like old wood.
I couldn't deny it anymore. Ethan and I were partners. And pretty good ones at that.
I didn't realize that Knox was watching the two of us from behind with a still gaze.
“I wonder where path number 2 leads.”
I asked Ethan as we moved forward, lighting the iron wall torches.
To be honest, I was just as curious about path number 3, which led to a spring. What on earth could ‘a spring’ be?
“…Well, I hope it connects to the capital.”
He answered in a calm voice, but I could sense the underlying worry and hope.
Looking back at Ethan's behavior up until now, it seemed his heart was split right down the middle. Half of him wanted to leave, and half of him didn't.
But the latter part… The reason he seemed to not want to leave this place…
Why?
Because he likes Happy House?
‘No. That's not it.’
Even though Happy House had become a bit more viable for survival with more people and the reclamation of Brunel, it wasn't enough to make him stay and forget his sister.
‘Then could it be… because of me?’
Lately, he'd taken to saying, almost like a habit, “Who would stop you if I weren't here?”
Is that really why? Because he's worried about me? Or in another sense…
‘I've definitely gotten a lot closer to Ethan.’
It was inevitable. From the days I first came to Brunel and he watched me with suspicion, to the days we spent together, trapped in Happy House after the world ended. I'd spent quite a lot of time with just Ethan.
In the world before the apocalypse, even fiancés wouldn't have seen each other every single day like this, but Ethan and I were together from morning till night.
That's why even I had grown attached and found myself hoping he wouldn't leave.
But…
“I told you I prefer it this way. Being formal. This is the appropriate distance for us to maintain when we talk.”
Ethan had definitely said that before. That this was the appropriate distance for us.
Right. Get a grip, Cherry. No matter what, there's no way Ethan is staying because he's developed other feelings for me. That's impossible.
‘I shouldn't get the wrong idea. This is just me being self-conscious.’
I pushed aside the useless thoughts.
* * *
Path number 2 was even longer than path number 1. It seemed to be a passage leading to a region farther away than Brunel.
Ethan allowed himself a sliver of hope that this path might actually lead to the capital.
His gaze fell upon Cherry, who was lighting the iron wall torches in the passage. She seemed completely focused on the task.
Watching her, it was clear she was a far cry from a pampered princess raised in the Sinclair household.
‘She never thinks to rely on others.’
That's why she always takes the lead in everything. She has a tendency to overestimate her own strength.
Of course, she did have more than enough ability to back it up. To be honest, in terms of pure physical strength, Ethan was practically insignificant compared to Cherry.
‘But the most dangerous time is when you trust too much in your own strength.’
And that was exactly Cherry's state right now. Normally, she acted as if she would do anything to survive, but when it came time to be cautious for the sake of her own life, she would sacrifice herself without a second thought.
That's why she could so easily suggest things like attacking Kintne.
However, Ethan also agreed with the opinion that they needed to take Kintne. The ‘conquest’ Cherry was talking about didn't mean controlling all of Kintne like they did with Brunel now, but rather eliminating the threat that was Elliot Ready Vernonham.
From what he'd heard, Elliot was too dangerous a figure to be left alone.
“This path is a bit complicated. There's another fork.”
Just then, Cherry's troubled voice broke him from his reverie.
Quickly moving forward to the fork in the road, Ethan stood there and fell into thought alongside Cherry. This time, the paths weren't even numbered.
“They made it just like a maze.”