Trapped at Home With the Male Leads

Chapter 2

If only I’d regained the memories from my past life earlier!

Currently, the virus would have already begun to spread throughout the entire country.

Even if I were to tell others, would they believe me?

Although people were rather intrigued by me, in the end, none of their interest was positive. My credibility was basically at zero since I was a topic of gossip and thus the furthest thing from credible.

I wouldn’t even believe myself.

Damn it. At this rate, there was only one way I could survive.

Now isn’t the time to just lie around!

Preparations had to be made to deal with the monsters that would appear after the end of the world. I needed some sort of shelter that I could defend, maybe a bunker. Even though the novel had been discontinued, I remembered a majority of the plot. As long as I made the proper preparations, I would be able to stay out of danger.

If nothing else, at least I was extremely wealthy. While “You can’t buy time” may be a common saying, that was only because the person saying it didn’t have enough money. With aggressive enough investment, I could build the shelter in a shorter amount of time.

Fine. It’s no problem. Since I have the memories from my past life, I can do this.

Having made my decision, I first set off to find Harrison, our lawyer.

* * *

I soon arrived at the office of the Sinclair family’s lawyers.

Harrison, who was about ten years older than I was, was basically like a brother to me. He had been by my side ever since I was young and had acted as the business proxy of the Sinclair family as well as an aide.

“I beg your pardon, Miss Cherry. What do you mean by weapons?”

Harrison was seated on the office sofa, sipping his tea with elegance. He had neat brown hair and warm green eyes. He pushed up his glasses and gave me a questioning look.

“Why do you need weapons, all of a sudden?”

“I want to protect myself.”

Harrison looked at me and gave a sudden smile—always an ominous sign.

“Please give me a detailed explanation. How are you going to use these weapons?” he asked, his tone gentle as if he was coaxing a small child.

It was like he was saying, What kind of schemes are you cooking up this time?

Damn, I don’t get the feeling he is going to help me out...

It would be fine if this was something I could handle myself. However, in order to procure weapons in particular, especially a large amount of them, I needed Harrison’s help. I hadn’t a doubt in my mind that if I were to try to handle this on my own, it would draw entirely too much attention. On the other hand, Harrison, with his skills, would be able to take care of it with ease.

Fine.

In any case, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to convince Harrison with a flimsy excuse like self-defense. I looked directly into his eyes. I gathered every scrap of sincerity, infusing it into my voice.

“I want to shoot a certain bastard to death.”

On the sofa across from me, Harrison paused with his teacup halfway to his mouth. I did not break eye contact. I was being completely sincere. After all, what person wouldn’t shoot to kill infected creatures if their life was on the line?

Harrison slowly set down his cup and raised his head. Light flashed from his glasses, obscuring his eyes for a moment.

“Tell me. Which motherf*cker do you speak of?” Harrison asked, fixing his glasses.

I had to be careful of what I said at this moment. Harrison was rather overprotective, so he would definitely look into the people around me. I pressed a handkerchief to my face, dabbing at my dry eyes in an effort to make myself look rather more pitiful.

“His name... I can’t bring myself to say it.”

Phew. Ahh, my cleverness surprises even me sometimes.

It was such a masterful misdirection that Harrison would be unable to ask me any more questions. That said, he would probably assign someone to tail me in secret, but I could handle that. Now, I could prepare for doomsday without worry.

There’s not much time left anyway!

For a while, Harrison didn’t say a word. He looked deep in thought and was probably trying to determine the identity of the motherf*cker in question. After a long period of silence, he finally spoke.

“For now, I’ll accept that, miss. What kind of weapons did you want exactly? I will also find someone to teach you how to use them.”

“I’m thinking of something like a sword, a crossbow, or maybe an axe. Really any kind of weapon will do. Anything and everything. But, Harrison, I don’t think I need a—”

“Miss Cherry. On this, I refuse to bend,” Harrison replied, resolute. His tone was firm with no signs of wiggle room.

Then again, since doomsday was only twenty-one days away, I might not have the chance to even meet the teacher he was planning on hiring. Regardless, the help of an expert was always welcome.

I nodded. “All right. Make extensive preparations and have a surplus of the weapons at the ready if possible. Since we’re going through with it, I want to do it properly, so make an armory as well. You know what I’m like, don’t you?”

Up until yesterday, I had been an immature heiress, preferring to spend enormous amounts of money to get what I wanted. For that reason, Harrison just nodded, not a hint of suspicion on his face. Instead, the words I see that she’s going to stir up trouble seemed to be written across his otherwise calm face. When I thought of how Cherry Sinclair had acted up until now, Harrison’s mistrust was easy to understand. Though it stung, I couldn’t say anything against it.

“Where are you planning to build the armory?”

“I’m planning to build it in a village called Brunel.”

“Brunel...?” Harrison cocked his head, his expression a bit strange.

What’s with that look?

I composed myself and replied, “It’s not that far from the capital. Look for yourself. It’s on the map.”

Harrison got up from his seat. He took out a map from his desk drawer and spread it out on the coffee table. He scanned the map, searching intently.

Brunel was a tiny village not very far from the capital, located a short way southeast.

“Miss, why did you choose this village?”

Harrison lifted his eyes from the map and looked at me. His gaze was filled with questions, which was understandable. Brunel was just a tiny village in the countryside. It didn’t even have a train station. However, I had picked Brunel for a reason. In LIARW, this exact village had been mentioned.

[For an entire six months, Vanilla survived on her own, sheltered in a secluded house in the village of Brunel.

According to her, the house was special. She had even added that the house was optimized for survival.

And she was not wrong.]

—Taken from Love in a Ruined World.

It was something to that effect… Either way, Vanilla, a side character, had managed to survive on her own for six months in this house.

Six entire months...

And that was why I had chosen this village. In the original novel, it would be six months after doomsday before Aurora and her companions would stumble upon Vanilla in that very house. Vanilla’s secluded house was a hilltop stronghold. The gardens were expansive and perfect for growing crops. Not only that, but the house was flanked by mountains, which were full of resources that could be gathered.

However, no one had strong survival skills in Aurora’s group. The group would continue to grow, but their lack of survival skills quickly forced them out of the stronghold as food sources dwindled. Later, after meeting the second male lead—a weapons expert named José—the group would gradually become better at survival.

As long as I can live off the land, I won’t have to worry about feeding myself.

In my past life, my parents had been farmers, rich landowners even, and, their land would have been my inheritance. Of course, I had never done any farming myself, but I had often helped out and had gained a lot of second-hand knowledge in doing so. Therefore, I wasn’t concerned about my abilities. It would be two years before the group would meet the protagonist with the ability to develop a cure. So really, I just had to survive for two years.

Would Harrison believe me if I told him the whole truth?

Since I had nothing to lose, I decided to bring it up.

“Harrison, the world is coming to an end. Soon, an infectious disease will start spreading that will turn people into monsters. I’m going to Brunel to prepare for the apocalypse.”

The expression that appeared on Harrison’s face was indescribable... and rather unpleasant.

“Miss Cherry, do you need more medication? If you don’t want to continue being treated at Rudfordshire Hospital, I can look for a different facility. In fact, what do you think about checking yourself in for a few days to get some re—”

“N-no, it’s nothing! I’m joking! It was just a joke! I just... I had a dream. It was rather vivid...”

I waved my hands, trying to convince Harrison that I was perfectly fine. After my parents passed away, I’d become depressed and needed to be medicated for it. I hadn’t thought that would come back to bite me in the ass.

No way am I facing the apocalypse while trapped in a hospital!

“I’m just relieved to know you’re okay,” Harrison replied, letting out a sigh.

He really was the only person still looking out for me. No matter what, I had to make sure Harrison made it to the shelter.

“By the way, why don’t you come with me to the village? I don’t know much about armories, and it’s not like I have the skills to personally assess it.”

At that, Harrison stared at me, almost as if to ask, So why are you even doing this if you don’t even know anything about weapons?

Unable to defend myself, I just chose to squarely meet his gaze.

“I shall arrange for someone to accompany you.”

“That’s not what I meant. I want you to come with me,” I said.

I had to make sure he wasn’t in the capital when it started.

Harrison frowned, looking baffled. There might as well have been the words What trickery is this? stamped across his forehead in extra-large letters.