I don’t know when I fell asleep, but when I woke up, it was dawn.
Holy XX, I’m screwed.
I wiped the dried drool from the corner of my mouth with the back of my hand, not bothering to straighten my messy hair, and ran up to the roof.
Ethan was sitting alone on the observation deck, staring off into the distance.
He doesn’t move when I come closer.
Is he angry, or has he fallen asleep with his eyes open?
Knowing what I had done, I crept to his side and sat down gently. Suddenly, Ethan’s head turns to me, apparently not having fallen asleep with his eyes open.
“……Sorry, I woke you up. Aren’t you tired?”
Ethan crossed his arms and grinned in disbelief.
“I thought something had happened, so I went downstairs. You were sleeping so soundly, I thought your snoring was going through the ceiling.”
“I-I was snoring?”
I asked, embarrassed. I must have slept very soundly.
“I’m just kidding, you were sleeping so still I thought you were dead.”
“The sun hasn’t fully risen yet, Sir Ethan, and you need to get some sleep…….”
“I don’t think I can sleep.”
“Then shall I sleep some more in your stead, Sir Ethan?”
I asked expectantly, and Ethan looked at me with a ‘what’?
“‘Well, then I’ll be your talking partner.’”
“I don’t want to be talking to you.”
I’m about to be interrogated again.
“Whatever…….”
Ethan looks at me and shakes his head in disbelief.
“Has anything happened in the meantime?”
“No survivors in sight and the monster numbers seem to be growing.”
I sat down on the railing of the observation deck as Ethan spoke, and handed him the bucket of water I’d brought with me.
“It’s a good thing I filled the canteen before the town got like this.”
I’ll have to build a new filter before the canteen runs out of water.
Ethan took the canteen from me and gulped it down.
“You know what? Being on both sides of the Cherry seems to give you a bit of luck you didn’t have.”
I couldn’t bring myself to say, “That’s because I know the future and I’ve prepared for it,” so I just smiled.
“But what if the whole country is like this, what if the world has ended?”
“That can’t be true.”
“Look at that, did you see the rate at which people were turning into monsters? It was a hundred per cent contagion rate, so it’s possible.”
Ethan’s jaw clenches, then he leans his head gently against the railing and stares at me.
“So it’s just you and me in the world?” he asked.
It was very strange to hear him say that.
I mean, it’s not fair to say something like that while looking at me so damn hot like that.
“Aren’t there people like us, hiding somewhere, still alive?”
At least Aurora is alive. With her men.
“Let’s hope so. We have to have that hope, don’t we?”
Ethan muttered to himself. It seemed to me that he was the first to give up hope.
He stared off in the direction of town with a thoughtful look on his face. There was a heavy air about him that was somehow very different from the usual.
There was a moderately uncomfortable silence before Ethan cautiously spoke again.
“If it really is the end of the world and we’re the only two people left, I think it might be a little dangerous.”
“What’s dangerous about just the two of us?”
“That’s why it’s dangerous. I guess Miss Cherry trusts me?”
Ethan asked me, bending down to one knee and leaning his arm over it, a rather nasty smile playing at the corners of his mouth. Perhaps he was testing me.
I thought he’d still have his shit together since he’s such a smart guy, but I can tell he’s losing it already.
Is it me……?
I felt the need to take control of Ethan’s sanity. Or more accurately, a sense of responsibility.
Ethan must continue to be righteous. Because that’s what he did in the novel I know.
“I believe you.”
“How far?”
Are you going to raise the level gradually?
“As far as I can take it.”
“What exactly is ‘as far as you’ can take it’?”
“As far as my fist won’t go flying?”
In other words, you should not piss me off enough to make my fists fly.
Ethan stared at me blankly, at a loss for words. Then he burst out laughing at the absurdity of it all. He’s so pretty when he laughs.
Then, after drying his face, he turned to me.
“I was wondering why you were the only one left with me, but then I realised that I’m glad it was you.”
“Don’t swear at me.”
“It’s a compliment.”
Ethan replied, shaking his head, but at least his eyes seemed to have more life in them than they had earlier.
I lifted the binoculars and scanned the town again. Once the sun was fully up, we’d make our move.
But I wasn’t done with Ethan’s confessional “‘what if’s” yet.
“If the world ended tomorrow, what would be my last words to people… Well, I’ve thought about it. Though I didn’t really want it to happen.”
I hadn’t expected someone like Ethan to have such a thought, and as I scratched my head in disbelief, he asked me again.
“Doesn’t everyone think about that, or is it just me?”
“Yes. I think it’s just you, Sir Ethan, I don’t.”
I’ve thought of quotes like, “If the world were to end tomorrow, I would plant an apple tree,” but I don’t do sentimental fantasies like that. I just thought, “If the world is going to end, I need to build a bunker fast.”
“Miss Cherry is…….”
Ethan trailed off, then shut up.
“What are you doing, trailing off, you’re making me sound weird.”
“I’ve never met anyone as one-dimensional as Miss Cherry.”
“You’re swearing again.”
“It’s a compliment.”
“It’s an insult.”
“I’d rather be a cherry on top than a complex thinker.”
“I was living happily ever after, past tense.”
I was happy until I remembered my past life, until the world ended.
I turned back to Ethan and leaned back against the railing.
Does that mean he’s a complex thinker himself? That was a little surprising. From the way he looked and the way he behaved, he didn’t seem to have a very complicated life.
‘Well, I suppose becoming a policeman instead of succeeding to the Duke of Lancaster’s throne is a complication.’
“Does Sir Ethan have a complicated life? He’s not what he seems, is that why you were unhappy?”
“I wasn’t unhappy, just frustrated.”
Face to face, Ethan was stoic. At the same time, it was a face that seemed to hide a lot of stories.
‘There wasn’t much about his past in the novel…….’
No wonder. Ethan wasn’t the male candidate, he was the female lead’s brother.
“What was your complaint? Everyone else seems to want to live as the heir to the Duke of Lancaster.”
“That was my complaint. That I am the heir to the Duke of Lancaster.”
What is he talking about?
“My father is a wonderful man. At least, that’s what I was raised to believe until five years ago.”
Five years ago would have been when Aurora was adopted. Did he rebel at the idea of a girl from her birthplace suddenly becoming her sister?
“You still have a very good reputation with the Duke of Lancaster.”
“Outwardly, yes. It’s a perfect mask, one that fooled even his own son.”
“A mask……?”
I don’t recall any of this in the original story. Aurora’s family history wasn’t mentioned.
“He doesn’t have blood on his hands, but he’s involved in all sorts of crimes and illegal activities.”
Ethan spoke so openly about his family history, a history that others would have kept hidden.
So I was a little taken aback. I’m Cherry Sinclair, and he’s telling me this?
“Is that why you became a cop?”
Ethan nodded.
“I guess you could say I took the cowardly way out.”
“Well, you had a conscience. At least you didn’t turn away, unlike me.”
I knew the Sinclairs had done a lot of illegal things to expand their business and make money.
But unlike Ethan, I had no conscience. I didn’t care about other people’s pain or what they thought of me, I only cared about my own happiness.
Ethan glared at me. He didn’t say it out loud, but he must have been thinking about the many things that had tangled with the Sinclairs.
He sighed and said.
“I’m not too conscientious, either, since I couldn’t bring myself to drag him down, so I just walked away and did my penance elsewhere.”
Like an a**hole.
The latter part was said so softly I’m not sure I heard it. Anyway, Ethan’s tone was gruff.
“I’m saying this because Miss Cherry seems to think I’m a good cop. My intentions in becoming a cop were impure anyway, and……. Lancaster’s blood, where would it go?”
“Whatever your beginnings and whatever your intentions, I’m sure anyone who has been helped by Sir Ethan is grateful to him.”
I said it with some care, but it didn’t seem to comfort him. He continued in a low voice.
“It was just a promise I made to myself. To put people like my dad away, so that one day, …….”
Ethan didn’t finish, but I half-guessed the next words he swallowed.
Maybe he was thinking of taking down the Duke of Lancaster one day.
“I thought you were like my father, which is why I hated Miss Cherry.”
“……No, why are you suddenly attacking me again?”
He even said I was like his father. I don’t know much about the Duke of Lancaster, but I found it quite insulting. It’s also the first time I’ve ever been told by a man that I looks like his father.
Actually, being compared to the Duke of Lancaster by the incompetent Cherry Sinclair is probably a compliment. Where the hell are we supposed to be the same?
“Cherry Sinclair is bound to be distrusted, and besides, I’ve seen it. Jose Cambron, an illegal weapons expert from the Kingdom of Briarwood, in covert contact with Harrison Howard.”
I don’t know when I fell asleep, but when I woke up, it was dawn.
Holy XX, I’m screwed.
I wiped the dried drool from the corner of my mouth with the back of my hand, not bothering to straighten my messy hair, and ran up to the roof.
Ethan was sitting alone on the observation deck, staring off into the distance.
He doesn’t move when I come closer.
Is he angry, or has he fallen asleep with his eyes open?
Knowing what I had done, I crept to his side and sat down gently. Suddenly, Ethan’s head turns to me, apparently not having fallen asleep with his eyes open.
“……Sorry, I woke you up. Aren’t you tired?”
Ethan crossed his arms and grinned in disbelief.
“I thought something had happened, so I went downstairs. You were sleeping so soundly, I thought your snoring was going through the ceiling.”
“I-I was snoring?”
I asked, embarrassed. I must have slept very soundly.
“I’m just kidding, you were sleeping so still I thought you were dead.”
“The sun hasn’t fully risen yet, Sir Ethan, and you need to get some sleep…….”
“I don’t think I can sleep.”
“Then shall I sleep some more in your stead, Sir Ethan?”
I asked expectantly, and Ethan looked at me with a ‘what’?
“‘Well, then I’ll be your talking partner.’”
“I don’t want to be talking to you.”
I’m about to be interrogated again.
“Whatever…….”
Ethan looks at me and shakes his head in disbelief.
“Has anything happened in the meantime?”
“No survivors in sight and the monster numbers seem to be growing.”
I sat down on the railing of the observation deck as Ethan spoke, and handed him the bucket of water I’d brought with me.
“It’s a good thing I filled the canteen before the town got like this.”
I’ll have to build a new filter before the canteen runs out of water.
Ethan took the canteen from me and gulped it down.
“You know what? Being on both sides of the Cherry seems to give you a bit of luck you didn’t have.”
I couldn’t bring myself to say, “That’s because I know the future and I’ve prepared for it,” so I just smiled.
“But what if the whole country is like this, what if the world has ended?”
“That can’t be true.”
“Look at that, did you see the rate at which people were turning into monsters? It was a hundred per cent contagion rate, so it’s possible.”
Ethan’s jaw clenches, then he leans his head gently against the railing and stares at me.
“So it’s just you and me in the world?” he asked.
It was very strange to hear him say that.
I mean, it’s not fair to say something like that while looking at me so damn hot like that.
“Aren’t there people like us, hiding somewhere, still alive?”
At least Aurora is alive. With her men.
“Let’s hope so. We have to have that hope, don’t we?”
Ethan muttered to himself. It seemed to me that he was the first to give up hope.
He stared off in the direction of town with a thoughtful look on his face. There was a heavy air about him that was somehow very different from the usual.
There was a moderately uncomfortable silence before Ethan cautiously spoke again.
“If it really is the end of the world and we’re the only two people left, I think it might be a little dangerous.”
“What’s dangerous about just the two of us?”
“That’s why it’s dangerous. I guess Miss Cherry trusts me?”
Ethan asked me, bending down to one knee and leaning his arm over it, a rather nasty smile playing at the corners of his mouth. Perhaps he was testing me.
I thought he’d still have his shit together since he’s such a smart guy, but I can tell he’s losing it already.
Is it me……?
I felt the need to take control of Ethan’s sanity. Or more accurately, a sense of responsibility.
Ethan must continue to be righteous. Because that’s what he did in the novel I know.
“I believe you.”
“How far?”
Are you going to raise the level gradually?
“As far as I can take it.”
“What exactly is ‘as far as you’ can take it’?”
“As far as my fist won’t go flying?”
In other words, you should not piss me off enough to make my fists fly.
Ethan stared at me blankly, at a loss for words. Then he burst out laughing at the absurdity of it all. He’s so pretty when he laughs.
Then, after drying his face, he turned to me.
“I was wondering why you were the only one left with me, but then I realised that I’m glad it was you.”
“Don’t swear at me.”
“It’s a compliment.”
Ethan replied, shaking his head, but at least his eyes seemed to have more life in them than they had earlier.
I lifted the binoculars and scanned the town again. Once the sun was fully up, we’d make our move.
But I wasn’t done with Ethan’s confessional “‘what if’s” yet.
“If the world ended tomorrow, what would be my last words to people… Well, I’ve thought about it. Though I didn’t really want it to happen.”
I hadn’t expected someone like Ethan to have such a thought, and as I scratched my head in disbelief, he asked me again.
“Doesn’t everyone think about that, or is it just me?”
“Yes. I think it’s just you, Sir Ethan, I don’t.”
I’ve thought of quotes like, “If the world were to end tomorrow, I would plant an apple tree,” but I don’t do sentimental fantasies like that. I just thought, “If the world is going to end, I need to build a bunker fast.”
“Miss Cherry is…….”
Ethan trailed off, then shut up.
“What are you doing, trailing off, you’re making me sound weird.”
“I’ve never met anyone as one-dimensional as Miss Cherry.”
“You’re swearing again.”
“It’s a compliment.”
“It’s an insult.”
“I’d rather be a cherry on top than a complex thinker.”
“I was living happily ever after, past tense.”
I was happy until I remembered my past life, until the world ended.
I turned back to Ethan and leaned back against the railing.
Does that mean he’s a complex thinker himself? That was a little surprising. From the way he looked and the way he behaved, he didn’t seem to have a very complicated life.
‘Well, I suppose becoming a policeman instead of succeeding to the Duke of Lancaster’s throne is a complication.’
“Does Sir Ethan have a complicated life? He’s not what he seems, is that why you were unhappy?”
“I wasn’t unhappy, just frustrated.”
Face to face, Ethan was stoic. At the same time, it was a face that seemed to hide a lot of stories.
‘There wasn’t much about his past in the novel…….’
No wonder. Ethan wasn’t the male candidate, he was the female lead’s brother.
“What was your complaint? Everyone else seems to want to live as the heir to the Duke of Lancaster.”
“That was my complaint. That I am the heir to the Duke of Lancaster.”
What is he talking about?
“My father is a wonderful man. At least, that’s what I was raised to believe until five years ago.”
Five years ago would have been when Aurora was adopted. Did he rebel at the idea of a girl from her birthplace suddenly becoming her sister?
“You still have a very good reputation with the Duke of Lancaster.”
“Outwardly, yes. It’s a perfect mask, one that fooled even his own son.”
“A mask……?”
I don’t recall any of this in the original story. Aurora’s family history wasn’t mentioned.
“He doesn’t have blood on his hands, but he’s involved in all sorts of crimes and illegal activities.”
Ethan spoke so openly about his family history, a history that others would have kept hidden.
So I was a little taken aback. I’m Cherry Sinclair, and he’s telling me this?
“Is that why you became a cop?”
Ethan nodded.
“I guess you could say I took the cowardly way out.”
“Well, you had a conscience. At least you didn’t turn away, unlike me.”
I knew the Sinclairs had done a lot of illegal things to expand their business and make money.
But unlike Ethan, I had no conscience. I didn’t care about other people’s pain or what they thought of me, I only cared about my own happiness.
Ethan glared at me. He didn’t say it out loud, but he must have been thinking about the many things that had tangled with the Sinclairs.
He sighed and said.
“I’m not too conscientious, either, since I couldn’t bring myself to drag him down, so I just walked away and did my penance elsewhere.”
Like an a**hole.
The latter part was said so softly I’m not sure I heard it. Anyway, Ethan’s tone was gruff.
“I’m saying this because Miss Cherry seems to think I’m a good cop. My intentions in becoming a cop were impure anyway, and……. Lancaster’s blood, where would it go?”
“Whatever your beginnings and whatever your intentions, I’m sure anyone who has been helped by Sir Ethan is grateful to him.”
I said it with some care, but it didn’t seem to comfort him. He continued in a low voice.
“It was just a promise I made to myself. To put people like my dad away, so that one day, …….”
Ethan didn’t finish, but I half-guessed the next words he swallowed.
Maybe he was thinking of taking down the Duke of Lancaster one day.
“I thought you were like my father, which is why I hated Miss Cherry.”
“……No, why are you suddenly attacking me again?”
He even said I was like his father. I don’t know much about the Duke of Lancaster, but I found it quite insulting. It’s also the first time I’ve ever been told by a man that I looks like his father.
Actually, being compared to the Duke of Lancaster by the incompetent Cherry Sinclair is probably a compliment. Where the hell are we supposed to be the same?
“Cherry Sinclair is bound to be distrusted, and besides, I’ve seen it. Jose Cambron, an illegal weapons expert from the Kingdom of Briarwood, in covert contact with Harrison Howard.”
