Chapter 5
I swung the axe at the monster lying on the ground once more.
More precisely, I aimed for its head.
Crunch─.
The blade of the axe sank directly into the monster’s head, and thick green liquid splashed everywhere.
Huff. Huff.
I stood there, breathing heavily as I looked down at the monster, which now appeared completely dead.
Only now did the terrible situation I was facing truly sink in.
This wasn’t a novel.
It was real.
‘I need to get down to Brunel as soon as possible. I have to build the shelter right away.’
Seeing the virus monster with my own eyes finally made my decision firm.
Fortunately, Aurora had been too focused on the monster to see my face.
I immediately turned my back to her.
Then I quickly wiped the axe clean, put it back into the holster, pulled my robe over myself, and hid my face.
Perhaps she had finally come back to her senses, because Aurora walked toward me.
“Are you okay?”
She removed the hood of her robe and grabbed my hand.
Beautiful silver hair flowed down to her waist, and her mysterious purple eyes were captivating.
She was a pure and beautiful woman.
The moment our eyes met, she had such an enchanting presence that I almost felt myself being drawn in by her.
“Did you see the man who ran out of this house?”
“He ran that way.”
Aurora pointed toward the end of the alley.
It seemed he had already run away and disappeared.
‘Still, I’m glad I saved him.’
The plan had succeeded.
I got the Elpinus herb, and I killed the monster without anyone getting hurt.
As the tension left my body, I felt like I could almost cry.
But Aurora was the one who started crying before I did.
“Thank you for saving me. Sniff.”
Aurora must have been extremely frightened because she held onto my hand and burst into tears.
“I don’t even want to imagine what would have happened to me if you hadn’t been there. You’re my lifesaver.”
She didn’t let go of my hand and continued crying loudly.
I looked at her awkwardly.
The few people who had been walking down the street were beginning to gather around us.
My face wasn’t visible because I had pulled my hood low and was also wearing a mask, but I still felt a little uneasy.
“Who are you?”
Then, a low and firm male voice came from somewhere nearby.
A man was approaching from behind Aurora with a revolver in his hand.
Even in the darkness of the night, his dazzling blond hair caught my attention.
His lips were set firmly, his nose was sharp, and his eyebrows were fiercely raised.
His blue eyes were as cold as a frozen lake.
‘Wow. He’s really handsome.’
His shirt was buttoned all the way up to his neck, and he wore a neat police uniform.
I felt like I already knew who this man was.
It was none other than Aurora’s older brother.
Eden Duncan Lancaster.
‘Damn it, why is that man here?’
Among the survival team Aurora formed in Ruined Love, the most capable person wasn’t Theodore, the Crown Prince and main male lead.
It wasn’t Knox, the doctor and second male lead.
And it wasn’t Jose, the weapons expert.
It was Eden, the police officer.
Not only was he highly capable, but he also had antibodies to the virus that could end this disaster.
He was someone who absolutely could not die.
Still, as long as he stayed beside Aurora, Eden probably wouldn’t die.
At least, that was how it had been in the novel I read.
He was practically Aurora’s right-hand man.
Meanwhile, Eden seemed to have realized that the woman holding my hand was Aurora.
“Aurora? What are you doing here at this hour?”
Eden asked her urgently.
He didn’t even glance at me.
It was as if nobody else mattered to him.
“Why are you here, Brother?”
“I was on patrol. We received a report.”
As he answered, Eden looked around.
Then he noticed the broken gate and the dead monster lying in front of it.
Click.
He aimed his loaded revolver at the monster.
“Fuck, what is this?”
Only then did Aurora remember the monster she had temporarily forgotten about.
Her body trembled, and she stepped backward.
Of course, she was still holding my hand, so I had no choice but to step back with her.
‘Please let go of me already, female lead!’
Now that Eden was here, he could take care of the monster’s body himself.
He was a police officer, after all.
I had to get out of here before Eden and Aurora discovered who I was.
It would be troublesome if I said anything and they started paying attention to me, or worse, discovered that I was Cherry Sinclair.
So I tried my best not to attract any attention.
But—
“This person saved my life.”
Regardless of what I wanted, Aurora firmly made Eden notice me once again.
Eden’s gaze immediately turned toward me.
“……Are you the one who did this to this beast?”
He asked me.
It wasn’t a beast.
It was a monster.
But instead of answering, I simply nodded.
Eden politely thanked me and asked me to reveal my identity.
“First, thank you for saving my sister’s life. I would like to reward you, so could you show me your face……?”
“Aaaah─!”
I wasn’t sure if I should call it lucky, but Aurora suddenly screamed loudly at that exact moment.
The monster’s body twitched as if it were having one final spasm.
I had split the monster’s head open with my axe, so it really was already dead.
But Eden didn’t know that.
He quickly stretched out one arm in front of me, as if protecting Aurora.
“Stay back.”
Then Eden pulled the trigger at the monster.
Bang─!
A gunshot echoed through the city in the middle of the night.
One after another, lights came on in the houses surrounding the mansion at No. 61.
The monster’s corpse didn’t move again.
Now it was completely dead.
Aurora looked completely shocked with fear, while Eden was busy lowering his head to examine the monster’s body.
‘……Now!’
I shook Aurora’s hand off and quickly ran away.
There was no way I was going to allow my name to appear alongside Aurora’s in tomorrow’s newspaper headlines!
“Huh? Wait! My lifesaver! Where are you going?!”
Aurora shouted after me in a sorrowful voice like a tragic heroine.
She called for me desperately, as if she were a prince searching for Cinderella after she had run away and left behind one of her shoes.
“Please, at least tell me your name……! Please, just tell me your name before you go!”
But the more curious Aurora was about me, the more I couldn’t reveal my identity.
After running for quite a while, I thought no one would be following me anymore, so I carefully looked behind me.
But then I saw Eden running after me.
“Ah, aah! What?! Don’t follow me!”
I immediately started running with all my strength again.
But this time, Eden blew his whistle.
Preeeet─!
At the loud sound, windows opened along every street we passed.
People who had been awakened by the noise looked outside to see what was happening.
“Stop right there!”
Eden shouted at me.
But stopping now and getting caught would look even more suspicious and strange.
There was no turning back now.
I absolutely had to escape.
So I gritted my teeth and kept running.
But Eden had far better physical abilities and incredible stamina.
Once he seriously started chasing me, the distance between us kept getting smaller and smaller.
‘Why did Eden have to appear here of all places?! Damn it, use your brain, Cherry.’
I needed a way to distract Eden.
Even while running at full speed, I looked around.
‘Is there anywhere I can hide?’
Notium Street was like a maze, with an extremely complicated layout.
That meant there were plenty of places to hide.
But it also made the area dangerous.
Then I remembered the axe strapped to my back.
I had enough strength to take down even those damned virus monsters.
‘If things get desperate, I’ll hit Eden on the back of the neck and knock him out…….’
But after thinking that, I shook my head.
No.
The world hadn’t ended yet.
Let’s not make things worse.
I gritted my teeth and climbed over the iron fence blocking the alley.
“I’m pretty sure I told you to stop.”
Eden’s voice came from behind me.
He wasn’t even breathing heavily.
But that didn’t mean I was going to stop.
I jumped down from the fence and immediately turned into the alley in front of me.
There were three paths.
I hid underneath the stairs of a basement house directly beside the left alley.
They say it’s darkest under the lamp.
Tap, tap, tap.
I heard the sound of shoes running in my direction.
Tap.
Step.
The footsteps suddenly stopped at the entrance of the alley.
The sound was so close that I held my breath as much as possible.
Step. Step.
This time, the footsteps came right up to the wall.
Only one brick wall separated us.
I covered my mouth with my hand.
Sweat filled my palms from the tension.
I stayed like that for a long time, carefully listening to Eden’s movements.
Then, eventually, I couldn’t hear anything anymore.
‘What? Where did he go?’
For some reason, it felt darker than before.
As if a shadow had fallen over me.
With an uneasy feeling, I slowly raised my head.
And my eyes met the blue eyes looking down at me.
I was so shocked that I couldn’t even scream.
“I’d like to hear why you ran away.”
“Ah, aah!”
I ended up falling heavily onto the ground.
Eden stretched out his long arm and grabbed the back of my robe by the collar.
Damn it. Why am I always so unlucky?!
