The Male Leads Are Trapped in My House

Next was the second floor. I climbed the stairs in the central lobby and arrived at the upper level.

There were nine rooms in total on the second floor. The last room at the end of the hall seemed to be a nursery, filled with a crib and baby supplies.

The other rooms also bore traces of past occupants. It appeared quite a few people had lived in this mansion.

‘And it doesn’t seem as old as I expected.’

Although dust and scratches made it look dirty, most of the furniture was still usable.

I was inspecting the rooms and glancing at the large sofa in the second-floor lobby when—

Creak.

I froze mid-swipe, my hand hovering over the dust-covered fabric.

What... was that sound?

It definitely came from the nursery. Of all places, why did it have to be the nursery?

Slowly, I turned my head. The dimly lit hallway came into view, and at the very end, I spotted the nursery door, slightly ajar.

‘Was that door always half-closed like that?’

I was sure I had checked inside and left the door wide open.

I stood there, frozen, for what felt like an eternity.

Creak.

The strange sound came again. This time, I was certain it came from the nursery.

I took a slow step forward. Whatever was making the noise, I had to check. This was my house now, after all.

Creak. Creak.

The sound kept coming from the nursery. It was like something was moving inside.

I swallowed hard and started walking.

Thud.

Unfortunately, I miscalculated my steps, and the sound of my footstep echoed down the hallway.

Creak—

The noise from the nursery stopped abruptly. My body stiffened, unable to move.

‘Terrified!’

I had seen scenes like this in horror movies far too many times. I wanted to turn and run, but I couldn’t. I had to make this house into a proper shelter no matter what.

‘Right. Compared to virus monsters, a ghost is nothing.’

Grinding my teeth, I stepped forward quickly and threw the nursery door wide open.

The curtains fluttered in the breeze coming through the open window. Warm sunlight streamed inside, accompanied by the wind.

Creak.

I noticed the rocking chair near the window moving slightly. It must have been the wind.

“You scared the hell out of me.”

Wiping the cold sweat from my forehead, I let out a heavy sigh.

‘Damn it. How is this supposed to be a romance novel? This is straight-up survival horror.’

Just my luck. My genre’s always different. Always.

Once I calmed down, I carefully examined the nursery. That’s when I spotted the word ‘Segrave’ carved into the rocking chair.

The Segrave family often appeared as heroes or guardians in fairy tales, so it wasn’t unusual to see their name engraved on baby products.

Maybe it felt more familiar because I had seen an article about the Segrave family in today’s paper.

Still, an empty nursery gave off an incredibly eerie vibe.

‘I need to clean this place immediately.’

Feeling unsettled, I hurriedly started cleaning. Perhaps clearing out the furniture and scrubbing the room spotless would make it feel different.

‘Maybe I should just call for help...’

A single phone call, and Harrison would send people to this rural town. With enough manpower and money, they could transform the mansion into the perfect shelter in no time.

But then, this shelter would attract too much attention. After all, I was Cherry Sinclair, the center of every scandal.

In a post-apocalyptic world, people might flock to Happy House, banging on the door and begging for help.

‘Would I even have the energy to take care of others when I’m barely surviving myself?’

I knew I wasn’t cut out to be a leader. Not even close.

‘I can’t let that happen.’

With a sigh of resignation, I focused on cleaning. Grabbing a broom, I swept the floors vigorously.@@novelbin@@

Cleanliness was directly tied to survival. Besides, this mansion was filthy to the point of being unbearable.

Some rooms still had beds and furniture. After tossing out the bedding and wiping away the dust, they looked somewhat usable.

Of course, I’d still have to buy a new bed for myself.

I also dragged all the unnecessary furniture from the nursery down to the garden and piled it up outside.

One advantage of having brute strength? I could move furniture alone without any help.

Brushing my hands together, I felt satisfied as I looked at the heap of furniture in the yard.

Now, I needed to refill the empty rooms, which meant taking a trip to the neighboring town where the furniture store was located.

‘Later. That’s a problem for later.’

After clearing the furniture, I grabbed a rag and focused on wiping down the marble floors and frequently touched surfaces.

Thank god for my past life memories. The old me would’ve never scrubbed floors, even in a crisis.

Wasn’t this the very definition of a self-inflicted disaster? Either way, the road ahead promised endless suffering.

After just one round of cleaning, the rag was covered in black grime. I had to keep a bucket of water nearby, but it got dirty so fast that I spent more time going back and forth to the well.

Damn it.

But the real problem?

I’d spent the entire day cleaning, and I’d only managed to cover half the mansion.

“Damn it. It never ends!”

Ends!

Ends!

...!

My shout echoed back at me in the empty house, mocking my efforts.

*****

No. This isn’t right. This isn’t something a person should have to endure.

I slumped down at the only restaurant in Brunel and ordered an orange juice.

Cold droplets rolled down the corner of my eye. No, this wasn’t a tear. It was sweat.

Survival was way too hard. The real struggle hadn’t even started yet, and I already felt like this?

Maybe I should just tell Harrison everything. Damn it. I had this thought dozens of times a day.

But then I imagined ending up locked in a hospital, waiting for the apocalypse. Grabbing my head, I shook off the image.

“No, absolutely not!”

“What’s not?”

Ethan asked from across the table. He was sitting there leisurely, reading a newspaper. I let out a dry laugh.

“Excuse me, but don’t you have a home to go to?”

Finally, Ethan folded the newspaper and placed it neatly on the table. He flashed me a faint smile.

“This is my home now. Brunel’s police station is my new post. I’m on duty.”

What part of that looks like police duty? What kind of public service was he even performing? It looked more like he was slacking off.

“Sure, right. Whatever you say. Keep up the hard work.”

I responded half-heartedly and avoided his gaze.

Ethan was good at leading conversations. If I let him, he’d pry information out of me in no time. My best bet was to play dumb and act like I knew nothing.

‘Should I just recruit him to my side?’

Ethan was the number-one person I didn’t want as an enemy. His survival skills and combat abilities were unmatched. It might actually be worth bringing him over to my side.

‘But that would make things way too complicated.’

Ugh.

‘There’s still some time before the world ends, so I’ll put this on hold for now.’

Right then, my orange juice arrived. The waitress who brought it looked oddly familiar.

“Huh? Ruskin?”

Vanilla Eddy Ruskin. The mansion’s former owner.

For the record, having a three-word name in Graydon usually meant someone was a noble—like Ethan Duncan Lancaster.

“What are you doing here?”

Vanilla balanced the tray under her arm and answered confidently.

“I’m working part-time.”

Wait, wasn’t she a noble?

I swallowed the question. It felt like it’d be rude to ask.

“Uh, good luck with that.”

She simply nodded in response. But even after the short exchange, she didn’t walk away.

Did she have something else to say?

I quietly looked up at her, and she rubbed her thumb and index finger together.

“You didn’t leave a tip.”

Watching her bold gesture, I wondered if I’d somehow misheard her name earlier. Was it really Vanilla Eddy Ruskin? And wasn’t tipping more of a Briwood Kingdom thing?

Tilting my head in confusion, I reached into my pocket and handed her some coins.

Vanilla then turned to Ethan, who casually pulled out some money and handed it over as well. He probably had plenty of cash, just like me.

Her face lit up as she looked at both of us.

“I really like you two.”

With that cheerful remark, Vanilla turned and started walking away.

“Wait a second, Ruskin!”

Suddenly, I remembered something. This was perfect timing.

I quickly unfolded the mansion’s blueprint that I’d brought just in case.