Trapped at Home With the Male Leads

Chapter 3

“Miss, are you perhaps having a quarter-life crisis—”

“Should I show you what a true crisis looks like?”

“I misspoke. I simply... shudder at the mere memory of your tumultuous teenage years, miss.”

In the novel, when Cherry had been a teenager, she had been known to have her own way of looking at life. Her idea of teenage rebellion had been to take the family yacht out for a joyride. Not only that, but she’d been brazen enough to sail the aforementioned yacht across an ocean, effectively running away to an entirely different continent.

Back then, my parents and Harrison ran themselves ragged trying to find me.

After all, it was unthinkable for a sailing novice like me, armed with only the barest hint of knowledge, to decide to cross an ocean. Fortunately, the weather had stayed fair, and the universe had ensured my safety.

Even I know I can be rather difficult to deal with.

I could completely understand why Harrison treated me the way he did—like I was out of my mind. Nevertheless, I pressed him for an answer.

“Harrison.”

He sighed. “All right, Miss Cherry. It has been a while since I’ve gone on a trip with you, so I suppose I will go along on this one.”

I did an internal fist pump at his reply.

“However, I’ll have to wait to join you in a few days. I must first procure the weapons you requested, and there are some urgent documents left for me to deal with.”

I was slightly disappointed at the delay, but Harrison had promised to join me after a few days, which was all that mattered.

That’s fine, just as long as you come to Brunel in the next twenty-one days!

“I understand, Harrison. I’ll be waiting for you in Brunel. Make sure to hurry. Seriously. You have to come as quickly as possible.”

“I understand, miss. I’ll make sure to join you as soon as I can.”

I had felt the need to repeat myself, to emphasize the need for haste, and only got up after receiving Harrison’s affirmative response. Now, it was time to head to the bank.

* * *

The Central Bank of Benton, the capital city.

Today, I was determined to take out the maximum number of available loans. The assets of the Sinclair family, which had been passed down to me, would only be available to me after I turned twenty. Basically, I would have to wait for yet another year.

The money generated by the family business came in each month in notable amounts. As such, there had been no worries about expenses up to this point. However, now I needed a large sum of money, one many times greater than what I had been getting.

To begin with, most of the money that came in each month was used to keep things operational. If I were to take off with that money, Harrison and our family’s many other dependents would suffer until the next payout arrived. Then again, even without cash, there were additional assets such as real estate and stocks. However, it would take time to liquidate those assets, and I wouldn’t be able to make immediate use of that money. In conclusion, the only answer was to take out a loan.

“I beg your pardon, Miss Sinclair. I must have misheard. You couldn’t possibly be wanting to take out a loan.”

Morton, the head of the bank, stared at me. He looked like he couldn’t believe what he had just heard. I smiled widely, my expression cheerful.

“No, you heard correctly. That’s exactly what I said.”

“You really wish to take out a credit loan for one hundred million gold?” Morton asked once more.

I nodded without hesitation. That amount would be plenty enough to fund my preparations for doomsday, with some money to spare. In all honesty, with only three weeks left, I didn’t know if it was even possible to spend it all. However, anything could happen, so I was determined to pad out my emergency funds as much as I could.

When will I get another chance to take out a loan for a hundred million gold? It’s now or never.

“That’s correct.”

At my response, Morton nodded and handed me some paperwork, still looking bewildered.

“To follow the standard procedure, please tell me your intentions for this loan.”

“I’m planning to use the loan to fund my preparations for doomsday.”

“Do you require assistance?”

“Pardon?”

“If you’re currently being threatened by someone, I can send a discrete missive to Mr. Harrison Howard—”

As I had expected, he didn’t believe me. Saying these kinds of things would only make people treat me like I was some kind of crazy b*tch. For some reason, I felt like crying.

“It’s nothing like that.”

“Ah. Is this because of the club? I had heard that several diamond mines were on the line in a bet, but to think a sum of this amount would be necessary—”

“Mr. Morton. I was joking.”

I had been running a gambling club until not that long ago. What could I say? I was an immature heiress, following my whims and chasing my pleasures. People had criticized me, calling me frivolous. But ironically, at the same time, there was fierce competition for a chance to become a member of my club. It was a great source of extra money and information, so it made sense.

It seemed that Morton had come to the conclusion that I had placed an excessive bet and needed quick cash to pay for it.

“It’s been a while since I stopped going to the club. I was even planning to pass off the management of it to someone else in the near future. What’s with this prolonged questioning? I feel like I’m being interrogated. Are you perhaps looking down on the Sinclair family?”

At that, Morton grew flustered, wiping at his forehead with a handkerchief, and apologized profusely.

“I beg your pardon, Miss Sinclair. I was just surprised to hear that you, the heiress of the Sinclair family, of all people, would want to take out such a substantial loan.”

I wouldn’t even be here if I could just get my inheritance now.

Of course, there was no way anyone could imagine what I was planning.

“I need it for some business overseas. As you well know, due to the number of businesses my family has, all the liquid funds necessary for operation are currently tied up.”

Understanding dawned on his face, and Morton smiled brightly. It wasn’t long before the money was prepared. Large bags, stuffed to the brim with cash, were placed on the counter. They looked rather heavy. I had brought along several of the family servants and was satisfied to see that I had made the correct decision.

Money is the best. Hooray for rich people!

Soon, the country was going to crumble, and this money would soon become useless. As such, it felt prudent to spend as much as I could in preparation for doomsday.

I should stock up on as many survival commodities as I can.

I just needed to keep myself alive in the shelter until the main characters found the cure.

You can do this, Cherry!

I had just managed to boost my confidence and was about to get up from my seat when the headline of the newspaper that Morton was reading caught my eye.

Monster Uproar at 61 Nottingham Street. Additional Eyewitness Account? Dismissed as groundless by authorities. No evidence to support eyewitness accounts...

It seemed to be the follow-up article to the one I had read earlier. Back then, there had only been a single eyewitness... As a result, people had treated them like madmen and ignored their words. However, this time around, multiple people had seen it.

My blood ran cold. After seeing the article with my own eyes, adrenaline seemed to flood my veins. The sense of urgency was nearly overwhelming.

I’m anxious.

If I recalled correctly, around the time the story began in earnest in the novel, one or two infected creatures had already appeared across the country, serving as an unnerving prelude to what was to come. Without anything to eat, most of the creatures would die off or would be killed off after being noticed by someone.

Later, stronger creatures will begin to show up, and in three weeks, the virus will overtake the entire kingdom.

“Do you want to read it?”

My stare had been too obvious. Morton handed me the newspaper, which had been lying on his desk.

“Thank you.”

My cheeks turned red, but I didn’t refuse. After all, I wanted to know what was in it. Just like that, I exited the bank, quietly reading the paper.

In the evening, the day before this article was published, an infected creature had appeared at 61 Nottingham Street. This was also the moment that Aurora, the heroine, would encounter one of the creatures for the first time.

Wait a moment. Wasn’t there also…

The aelfinas herb! The herb could be used as a type of vaccine. However, no one knew where it was from, how it had developed, or why it had been at the house at 61 Nottingham Street, of all places.

The novel was discontinued, so there’s no way to know!

Nevertheless, by consuming it, you would be immune to infection—at least for a little while. The effect was single-use only and became useless after that one time. In the original novel, Aurora hadn’t known the properties of the suspicious-looking herb and had chosen to ignore it. She would only learn about its usefulness two years later after meeting the scientist. Afterward, she would intensely regret her decision to leave the herb behind.

All right. I’ll leave for Brunel, but I’ll make sure to bring that with me.

Aurora, unaware of the herb’s properties, wouldn’t be able to use it. However, I was going to take advantage of it. And if I ran into an infected creature on the way? Well, I would have to deal with it somehow. There would probably only be one creature, and I was pretty strong.

“Wow... Miss Cherry, your strength is incredible.”

Memories of what Susanna had said surfaced.

When I had been younger, as a hobby, I had even competed as a cricket player. As a result, I knew how to effectively wield a bat and other blunt weapons. For instance, a weapon like an axe.

All right. Let’s do this.

Truthfully, even now, none of this felt like reality. I only remembered the description in the text and had never seen an infected creature with my own eyes. I currently had no way of knowing how powerful these creatures were. That was probably the reason I felt more courage.

The aelfinas herb is an absolute necessity!

Right now, I decided to prioritize the aelfinas herb and thus, my own survival.

* * *

It was the dead of night in an alleyway off of Nottingham Street. I tightly wrapped my robe around me and then poked my head out of the alleyway, scanning my surroundings. The late-night street, lit by gas lamps, was filled with a surprising amount of people.

If I’m not careful, I’ll draw attention.

I had prepared a mask to cover my face just in case. In my haste, I had grabbed the first thing I could find. However, it was a costume mask, meant to be worn at parties and was rather elaborate, seeming to defeat the purpose of wearing it.

It’s fine as long as my face isn’t recognized.

Nevertheless, I waited for the right moment, reviewing the characteristics of infected creatures.