The Male Leads Are Trapped in My House

"Wait... a cure? Is that even possible?"

Cherry’s voice wavered, clearly taken aback by Nox’s sudden proposition. Nox, in contrast, remained calm as he explained.
"I'm not just a doctor, Cherry. I’m also a researcher. I’ve participated in the development of new drugs and anesthetics before."
He quickly added, “Of course, I can’t guarantee success. There’s a chance I might fail. But isn’t it better than sitting here waiting to die in this ruined world? What do you think?”

Cherry’s face gradually brightened. Seeing her reaction, Nox allowed himself a small smile.
Extending a hand of kindness to someone first—it was a novel experience for Nox.
And the fact that Cherry was the first person he extended it to? It didn’t feel bad at all.

In fact, he thought, maybe he wouldn’t mind reaching out to her again. And Ethan, too. Those two people…
Because if the day came when Nox himself was bedridden and useless, he felt they would be the ones to sit beside his bed.
*****

Nox had just given her an unexpected proposal.
He could develop a cure?
Why hadn’t she thought of that before?

She had always assumed Ezra would be the one to create the cure. After all, in the novel The Love of a Doomed World, Ezra was the one destined to develop it.
But that was a novel that ended prematurely, she reminded herself.
The story never explicitly stated that Ezra successfully created the cure.

If the novel hadn’t reached that point, wasn’t it possible Nox could develop it first?
But in the novel, Nox never told Aurora that he could create a cure, she mused.
She tried to recall the details of the story.

*"The cause of the world’s end was an unknown plague. A plague. Wouldn’t Nox, a doctor, be able to develop a cure?
But Nox shook his head firmly.
‘I’m a doctor, not a researcher.’
—Excerpt from The Love of a Doomed World.*

Yes, Nox had definitely said that to Aurora in the novel. Yet, the words he had just spoken were completely different.
"I'm not just a doctor, Cherry. I’m also a researcher. I’ve participated in the development of new drugs and anesthetics before."
Why was the Nox in front of her now saying something so different from the Nox in the novel?

Did he lack the will to tackle the situation back then?
It seemed plausible. Nox was a man who harbored little attachment to life.
Cherry recalled the time she had climbed the clock tower to save him.

He had been leaning casually against the railing, puffing on a cigar, staring out at the world below with a calm indifference.
If she hadn’t saved him, it wouldn’t have been long before he succumbed to death.
But now... does this mean the current Nox has developed a stronger will to live?

She didn’t know what had triggered this change, but the Nox standing before her was undeniably different. It was almost as if he had awakened to something.
Wait. Does this mean Nox has undergone a transformation in front of me that he never experienced even in front of the novel’s heroine?
The realization left her feeling a bit dazed. Still, if it increased their chances of survival, it was a good thing.

Cherry looked at Nox, who was patiently awaiting her response.
“This mansion doesn’t have the materials you’d need for research. But if you’re serious about this, I’ll do everything I can to gather what you need.”
If Nox could develop the cure, there would be no need to wait for Ezra for two years.

If they could get the cure sooner, they wouldn’t have to struggle through this hellish existence.
But where am I supposed to find research supplies?
With Ethan and Vanilla injured, she’d have to take Harrison and Jose. The closest hospital to Brunel was in Kint.

Brunel only had a small medical clinic, barely adequate for their needs.
It would be great if the underground passage also connected to Hondorf.
She decided she’d ask the woman from Hondorf how she had managed to make her way here.

Hondorf was a larger city than Kint, so there would likely be more places to find research supplies.
Of course, the best-case scenario would be a route to the capital, Benton.
“Anyway, you focus on the research. Just tell me what you need, and I’ll get it. Whatever it is, I’ll make it happen.”

“Whatever it is? Cherry, do you even know what you’re promising?” Nox raised an eyebrow, smirking as his sharp eyes softened slightly.
“I’ll put together a list of what I need for the research,” he said. “I’ll narrow it down to things you can realistically find in places like Kint. Don’t overexert yourself trying to get anything too difficult.”
If it means ending this nightmare, isn’t overexertion a small price to pay? Cherry thought to herself, though she didn’t voice it.

If she said something like that, Nox would undoubtedly ask for materials that were easier to obtain, not necessarily what was most critical. That wouldn’t help anyone.
“Understood,” she replied, offering a smile.
*****

After sitting with Nox and Ethan for a while, Cherry quietly left the room. In the hallway, she ran into Harrison.
“Young miss, could I have a word with you?”
Harrison’s face was grave, and Cherry felt a twinge of unease.

Yeah. Getting summoned by Harrison has always been scarier than dealing with Dad.
Her father had never been particularly strict or intimidating, but Harrison? He was another matter entirely.
To her surprise, instead of leading her to the parlor, Harrison escorted her out the front door of the mansion. He sat her down on a bench just outside.

It was the same bench where she, Nox, and Ethan had often sat in the mornings, drinking milk and looking out at the vegetable garden.
The once-empty garden was now filled with lush green sprouts.
In the distance, she could see Susanna, Emma, and Jose tending the crops diligently.

Looks like it’s almost time to harvest.
The potatoes and peas were nearly ready. Not long ago, the villagers had brought in a corn harvest, which meant they wouldn’t have to worry about food supplies for a while.
At a glance, the scene looked peaceful. Cherry and Harrison silently gazed at it together.

Vanilla, whose ankle ligaments had been torn, was resting in her room, while Amy stood watch at the observation deck.
Victor was preparing dinner, and on the second floor, Kellyan and Charlie Green remained confined.
The new guest from Hondorf, a woman named Michelle Carter, had been given a room. One of the storage rooms had been cleared out for her.

For now, with monsters swarming around Happy House, it wasn’t possible to send her to Brunel Village.
And, of course, they couldn’t reveal the underground passage to an outsider either.
After a long silence, Harrison finally broke the stillness.

"Miss, have you heard anything from Chairman Sinclair?"
The question was unexpected. Cherry tilted her head, puzzled. Where had that come from?
"What would I have heard from my father?"

The setting sun cast a reddish shadow over Harrison’s handsome face.
“I’ve been thinking about the Kint branch of the Sinclair Hotel. The defense systems there are far too meticulous to be explained as simple disaster preparation.”
At Harrison’s words, Cherry recalled the structure of the Sinclair Hotel, including the defensive gate at the entrance that she and Ethan had passed through.

Harrison continued, “It seems like it was built to function as a bunker from the very beginning.”
Cherry agreed. She had been wondering about the same thing.
The facilities were far too advanced for an ordinary hotel preparing for disasters.

“Well, I don’t know. I haven’t heard anything about it,” she replied.
Her father had always been a man of many secrets.
But Cherry had never shown much interest, brushing off any suspicion about the Sinclair family’s affairs.

Back then, she had cared about little beyond shopping and parties.
‘I should have paid more attention to what my father was up to.’
Even if she had taken an interest, though, there likely wouldn’t have been much she could uncover.

“Remember this, Cherry. The world only remembers results. No one cares about the process. If you want something, you can’t afford to be picky about the methods,” her father had once said.
“Silence is a virtue for businessmen. The number of secrets you keep guarantees your success.”
...In retrospect, her father had always seemed more suited to being a villain than a hero.

‘He has the aura of a puppet master pulling the strings.’
As Cherry pondered this, Harrison spoke again.
“The letter, Miss. The one that said monsters would appear at 61 Notium Street and that the world would end. Who do you think sent it?”

Cherry thought back to the excuse she had given Ethan and Harrison when they had asked if she knew the world was ending.
Like Aurora, she had claimed to have received a mysterious letter.
“I wonder that myself,” she said nonchalantly.

Of course, her letter had been a fabrication, but the one Aurora had received was real.
"Come to 61 Notium Street. I will reveal the secret of your birth."
That was what the letter had said.

Who could have sent such a message to Aurora, and why? Cherry was curious about that too.
“I’ve wondered if that letter might be connected to Chairman Sinclair somehow,” Harrison speculated. “He was a man of many secrets.”
Cherry nodded in agreement. People were always thirsty for gossip about her father, just as they were about her.

Despite the widespread scrutiny of his every move, her father’s whereabouts often remained a mystery, even to the press.
[Chairman Sinclair’s Whereabouts Unknown for Two Days! It Turns Out He Was on a Business Trip to the Kingdom of Briwood...]
Headlines like that frequently graced the front pages of newspapers.

There had always been reporters stalking him like shadows, yet her father had somehow managed to elude their eyes.
At this point, Cherry couldn’t help but wonder: Had her father known something about the world’s impending collapse?
‘Could my enhanced strength after taking those supplements be connected to him as well?’

For some reason, she couldn’t shake the thought of the long-haired, middle-aged man with pink hair whom Vanilla had mentioned—someone who had visited the Ruskin estate.
Could that man have been my father?