Chapter 31
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: An Unwelcome Spotlight
-----------------------------------------------------------------
‘What's this?’
Just then, Knox, who must have been passing by, spoke to me.
“Miss Cherry, where are you off to?”
“To the Kintne train station. I have to go pick someone up who's arriving today.”
“Someone arriving?”
“Something like that. When on earth are you leaving, Mr. Ludpersher? Please just go already.”
“I don't know why, but seeing you so desperate for it makes me want to refuse even more, you know?”
Knox gave a sly smile and shrugged. It was a little irritating. I could see why Ethan disliked him.
“Oh, by the way. Miss Cherry, you said you weren't hiding in Brunel Village.”
“I'm not exactly hiding, but I don't want people to know I'm here.”
“Oh, dear.”
What's that? Why the reaction?
And Knox didn't explain why. Instead, he simply reiterated my purpose for going to the train station.
“But it seems the trains are running normally?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“I heard that people who were traveling to the capital by carriage had to turn back because the roads from Westmore Station were blocked.”
The roads are blocked from Westmore?
There are four stations between Benton and Brunel: Benton, Westmore, Honderf, and Kintne (Brunel). Westmore, in particular, was a mandatory stop to get to Benton.
And they're blocking the roads from there?
Something felt ominous.
“I haven't heard anything about the trains being suspended... I should get going.”
I bid Knox farewell and hurried to the carriage rental.
I rented a four-wheeled carriage and was about to climb in when I noticed a crowd gathered at the entrance.
“What's going on?”
I asked the driver as I boarded. He glanced at the entrance and shrugged as if he didn't know either.
“Seems one of the drivers tried to go to the capital but couldn't and came back. Looks like the situation there is serious. They say the roads are being controlled.”
I'd heard this from Knox as well.
Giddy-up! The driver cracked the whip, and the carriage wheels slowly began to turn. As we passed, I carefully observed the crowd at the entrance.
“Luke, I think you have a fever.”
“Must have overworked himself and caught something.”
A middle-aged man, surrounded by people, was slumped weakly in a chair with his eyes closed.
The last thing I saw was people checking his temperature as my carriage pulled away from the rental.
The carriage wheels rolled mercilessly over the uneven dirt road. The ride was far from smooth.
I sat in the carriage, staring blankly at the scenery outside while anxiously biting my nails.
Something was wrong. The end of the world was still about ten days away, so why did I feel so anxious already?
And it wasn't until I arrived in Kintne Village that I understood why Knox had asked me that meaningful question, 'Weren't you hiding in the village?'
[Exclusive! Cherry Sinclair's Disappearance—Was It Because of Ethan, Heir to the Lancaster Family!?]
[Cherry Sinclair and Ethan Duncan Lancaster's Secret Tryst in a Country Village...!? "The Heron and the Crow, An Unlikely Pair" Society in Shock...!]
[An In-Depth Analysis of Brunel Village, Cherry Sinclair's Chosen Retreat...! A New Vacation Hotspot Discovered?!]
Damn it, what is this?
Analyzing the village's charms? What charms? I came here to survive! A vacation hotspot? What vacation hotspot! I need to survive!
Besides, Knox was here too, so it was very strange that only Ethan was mentioned.
For a moment, I wondered if Knox had tipped off the newspapers, but that didn't seem right. He might not get along with Ethan and could be as slippery as an eel, but he wasn't the type to pull a cheap trick.
‘He'd rather cause trouble openly.’
Moreover, to my surprise, the virus monster incident seemed to be completely buried under our scandal.
Not a single newspaper was covering the road closures at Westmore. It was all about Ethan and me.
‘It seems like someone is deliberately trying to cover up the incident. If so, why? What on earth is happening in Westmore?’
At this point, it wouldn't be surprising if other powerful figures were involved besides Marquis Casey, the apparent mastermind. It seemed unlikely that Marquis Casey could have orchestrated this massive event all by himself.
Damn it. Just let me find out who published these articles. Even if they come knocking on Happy House's door, begging for their lives after the world ends, I will never open it for them.
‘Anyway, this is a huge problem. To have my whereabouts exposed right before the apocalypse... I'm screwed!’
The thought of reporters flocking to Brunel Village was already daunting. Far from sending Ethan and Knox back to the capital, it seemed people would be swarming to Brunel instead.
‘What do I do, Harrison? I'm really screwed.’
Once Harrison arrives, I'll have to discuss this with him.
And so, I stood at the Kintne train station, waiting for Harrison.
* * *
At that same moment, in a social club in the capital, Benton.
People gathered in the salon were chatting away.
The topic of their conversation was Cherry and Ethan, the pair who had caused a stir in the capital all day.
“Goodness, have you seen the papers? Cherry Sinclair with the heir of the Ducal Lancaster family? They don't match at all.”
“The Lancasters are the nobility of the nobility.”
Due to his unconventional actions and rough speech, Ethan's reputation among the nobles wasn't the best. Nevertheless, his bloodline was considered exalted, even among them.
After all, the nobility valued lineage above all else.
Furthermore, Ethan Duncan Lancaster was known as a unicorn among the young ladies of high society. Meeting him was as difficult as plucking a star from the sky. And even if one did run into him by chance, he never spared a glance for women.
At one point, there were even doubts about his sexual preferences.
The young noblewomen huddled together, spreading out a gossip paper and once again putting Cherry on the chopping block.
“Even if she's from the Sinclair family, she's still a commoner, isn't she? Cherry Sinclair is a snob with nothing but money. How did she manage to capture a Lancaster?”
“I know, right? I heard Ethan Duncan Lancaster values skill and ability over a person's status...?”
“But Cherry Sinclair has no abilities. Isn't it all thanks to the halo effect of the late Chairman Sinclair and Harrison Howard?”
“That's true.”
Aurora, who had just returned from the restroom, quietly listened to their entire conversation from outside the door.
Walking into the salon now would surely only sour her mood. The topic, after all, was her older brother.
“The Lancasters are the nobility of the nobility.”
And into that Ducal Lancaster family, an orphan of unknown origin like Aurora had been adopted.
Just hearing them bad-mouth Cherry Sinclair, it was plain to see how much they must gossip about her behind her back. She didn't fit in with the Lancaster family, after all.
Aurora, deciding not to enter the salon and to head home instead, stopped in her tracks at the voices that followed.
“Maybe the Lancaster heir was so ashamed of a scandal with a Sinclair that he went down to the countryside to escape prying eyes?”
“That makes sense. Where on earth is Brunel?”
“This gossip paper even says the two have set up a love nest in some abandoned house.”
“Are they playing house or something?”
“Come on, in an abandoned house? That Sinclair? Given Cherry Sinclair's personality, there's no way.”
“That's true. Then the only other explanation is that the Lancaster is just toying with her, isn't it?”
Her brother and Cherry Sinclair...?
She had already been wondering why Ethan had suddenly gone down to some nameless country village.
She had no particular interest in Cherry Sinclair, but piecing together what people were saying, she didn't seem like a very good person.
But Aurora was already sick of people's prejudice and preconceptions because of her own circumstances. So she didn't want to judge Cherry by the same standards as everyone else.
‘I should hurry down to Brunel.’
She had, in fact, already booked a train ticket without her father's knowledge.
In the end, Aurora left the social club building without entering the salon. But then,
*CRASH—!*
A tremendous roar came from somewhere. It sounded like a building collapsing.
“What was that...?”
With a puzzled expression, she turned her head toward the sound. She saw a sign that read 'Bluewayne Street' go flying.
It didn't look like the sign had been torn off by a gust of wind; rather, it seemed as if someone had thrown it with immense force.
*Screeeeeam!*
People suddenly burst out of a side alley, screaming.