Elenor stepped out of the kitchen and returned to the spacious openness of the living room. Turning right, she began walking down the corridor, once again noticing how meticulously every corner of the house had been planned. On her left stood a traditionally styled squat toilet, and right beside it a large laundry room. On the right side was a modern bathroom; inside were a relaxing jacuzzi bathtub, a transparent glass shower cabin, a wall-mounted toilet, and a wide sink. Around the large mirror above the sink, three slim cabinets had been recessed into the wall—a highly practical solution for storing bathroom supplies.
Continuing forward, she reached the elegant spiral staircase with its white steps and gleaming glass railings. Climbing each step one by one, she arrived at the second floor, where four bedroom doors awaited her in the corridor. With curiosity, she opened the first door on the left. Inside was a single bed, a simple desk, a three-door wardrobe with a full-length mirror, and a two-drawer nightstand, all furnished in the calming harmony of white and green. A single armchair in the corner added a warm touch to the room. There was also a square alcove and another door; when Elenor peeked inside, she saw it led to a small private bathroom attached to the room.
As she gently closed the door, she thought, '…This is definitely Jacob's room. He loves the color green… Though the entire house belongs to me now, I suppose. Still, this isn't quite my style.'
Silently leaving the room, she moved to the adjacent door. When she entered, the dominant tones of black and deep crimson created a dignified, almost imposing atmosphere that struck her immediately. With a double bed, two bedside tables, a massive four-door wardrobe, and an elegant vanity table, it was clearly a master bedroom. The classic chess set placed between two armchairs reminded her of Uncle Omar's strategic brilliance.
'…Uncle Omar and Aunt Amanda's room… Without a doubt. This doesn't suit me either.'
After closing the door, she turned and opened the room directly across from it. But the moment she was confronted by a sugary world of pink and white, she shut the door again in less than a second.
'…Definitely Ada's room.'
Elenor had carried, since childhood, an almost traumatic aversion to the color pink. As she descended the stairs, she muttered to herself, 'I don't understand how the daughter of a warrior couple like Aunt Amanda and Uncle Omar can think so… girly. We're the same age, we went through the same brutal training every day, yet unlike me, Ada loves accessorizing, dressing up, and decorating… I think it's completely unnecessary.'
With a sigh, she entered the final room. It was a rather plain, classic guest room with a double bed. On the nightstand sat a dusty old radio, and mounted on the wall above the bed were a saz and a guitar.
'…This room certainly isn't mine either. Grandfather truly thought of everything in detail… This was probably prepared for Uncle Omar's parents.'
When she closed the door and looked at the four doors in the corridor in sequence, she finally understood why the lower floor had felt so full. This level had been designed specifically for Uncle Omar's family, tailored to their privacy and comfort.
'Then our rooms must be on the top floor. I thought that was only the terrace, but apparently there's another level.'
With graceful steps, she climbed to the highest floor. Upon reaching it, she saw one door on each side of the corridor and, directly ahead, a glass door opening onto the terrace. She entered the room on the left first. Dominated by shades of gray, the room resembled a living museum; countless albums and framed photographs lined the walls and shelves. There was a work desk, computer monitors, bookshelves, and a violin resting in the corner. Large potted plants added vitality to the space. Elenor immediately understood—this had belonged to her grandfather.
As she looked at the photographs on the walls, a sharp ache pierced her heart. Her father, her mother, her uncle, her aunt, her cousins—and most of all, her older sister and brother… She looked at each of them one by one.
"I miss every single one of you so much," she whispered. "I haven't forgotten a single moment I spent with you. My only regret is that I was just a child back then, so I had so little time with you. Don't worry, I'm fine. Uncle Omar and Aunt Amanda took care of me as if I were their own daughter. Ada and I are like twins already, and I'm Jacob's favorite big sister…"
After letting out a sorrowful laugh, she moved through the room, gently brushing her fingers over the objects. She sat on the nightstand beside the bed and picked up a framed photograph. In it stood a young Soran and an extraordinarily beautiful woman beside him. The woman resembled Elenor remarkably, though her body proportions were far more typical. She was linked through Soran's arm, smiling warmly at the camera, while Soran, in his youthful shyness, scratched the back of his head, faintly blushing. Elenor traced her fingers over her grandmother's face.
"It's been a long time, Grandma… I always wonder how you are, wherever you may be. Don't worry, that troublesome old grandfather of mine and I are doing fine. Even though I try to keep him out of trouble, he still behaves like a child. I wish that night had never happened… Maybe my life would have been very different then, but I know you can't change the past. The future, though, is always full of surprises."
She placed the photograph back in its place and stood, renewing her resolve.
"But today… Today is in my hands."
As she turned toward the door to leave, she knew she did not want to stay in this room; it reminded her too strongly of the old pains she had buried. Just as she was about to step out, her eyes fell upon a beige trench coat hanging on the wall.
"This… This is one of the two trench coats I bought for Grandfather as a gift!" she laughed. "Because his clothes kept getting destroyed during laboratory experiments, I bought them as backups—but since it was the first gift he ever received from me, he got so excited… He treated them like treasure and never wore them during experiments so they wouldn't get dirty."
She lifted the trench coat from its hanger and brought it close to her face, inhaling deeply.
"…It still smells exactly like Grandfather."
She gently stroked the fabric.
"…Don't you dare die, you rotten old man, or your little rabbit will truly cry."
Elenor raised her hand to hang the trench coat back in its place—but then she hesitated for a brief moment. Noticing something missing on herself, she changed her mind and slipped the trench coat over her shoulders instead. She rolled her arms slightly and examined her reflection in the mirror.
"Yes, it definitely suits me, but I'll need to make some adjustments. Because of my chest and hips, fully fastening the front doesn't seem very possible—at least not around the waist."
Wearing the trench coat, hands tucked into its pockets, she stepped out of the room. As much as her grandfather adored her, Elenor was just as deeply attached to Soran. After losing their families, they had bound each other's wounds together, surviving side by side. Now, wrapped in the trench coat and breathing in his scent, she felt as though her grandfather were standing right beside her.
When she exited the room and closed the door behind her, she leaned her back against the wooden surface and drew a deep breath. Grasping the collar of the trench coat, she inhaled the familiar scent embedded in the fabric once more before walking toward the room across the corridor. The moment she opened the door and stepped inside, relief instantly softened her features. A room blending white, red, and black in a modern harmony awaited her—exactly as she had imagined. A soft rug covered the floor; in the corner stood a wide bookshelf lined with rows of computer games. There was a massage chair and a massive computer desk with an enormous screen. With its private bathroom, a few fresh flowers, and an aquarium still empty for now, the space was truly her personal sanctuary.
Elenor nodded with satisfaction, smiling.
"This is my room!"
She walked slowly through the space, examining every detail. Simple, functional, orderly, and filled with her hobbies—it reflected her character perfectly. She chuckled to herself.
"…Hahahah… Though from now on the entire laboratory is technically my playground, this is different."
She threw herself onto the bed and bounced slightly, spreading her arms wide and stretching.
"Mmhmm… I'm really exhausted. Maybe I should take a short nap? I barely slept at all last night."
After lying there for a few minutes, staring at the ceiling, she raised her arm and tapped her watch. Her brows knit slightly at the warning displayed.
[No Signal.]
'Still no signal… So this isn't a simple electromagnetic wave. Either a massive energy surge caused by the simultaneous rupture of the rifts triggered this, or an extremely powerful monster emerged that disrupts frequencies. In Turanya or Azera, there are countermeasures against EMP attacks—but this is different; it seems to target only communication and radio waves…'
Realizing she could no longer indulge in the comfort of the bed, she sighed and stood up. As she left the room, she muttered to herself:
"You don't have time to be lazy, beautiful. There's a mountain of work to do, and time is running out. Once Grandfather's training mode activates on my watch, I won't have a single minute to spare for myself."
She went downstairs and approached the carrier platform. Cracking her knuckles, she smiled. Carried away by the upbeat rhythm flowing from her watch, she got to work. She transported the food packages into the kitchen, placed the sacks of seeds onto the veranda table, and then stacked the jewelry and cash she had brought from the city onto the living room table.
'…I'll count them one by one later and calculate their total value.'
She returned to the platform, picked up the clothing bags, and left them temporarily in front of the stairs. Before moving on, she looked at the clothes she had brought—and then at the nano suit clinging to her like a second skin.
'…None of these clothes fit me anymore. What am I even supposed to do with them? My clothing problem has been completely solved. Right now, these are just unnecessary items taking up space.'
Shrugging, she answered her own question:
"Ah, whatever. Maybe they'll be useful somehow in the future…"
After placing the bathroom supplies where they belonged, she saw that the platform was finally empty. Resting her hands on her hips, she stretched.
"Yes! For the first time in seven years, I feel this light! Normally, after this much movement, my neck would stiffen and my back would ache. But right now, I feel like a feather! Nanotechnology really is number one—long live technology!"
With no one around, Elenor felt no need to hide her emotions. From the outside, she always appeared like a "cold queen"—partly a defense mechanism, partly her natural disposition. For a long time, her body proportions had silently made her life more difficult. She had always been a woman focused on functionality, someone who did not wish to draw attention in crowds—yet this body forced the opposite upon her. Wherever she went, her snow-white hair, ruby-red eyes, and striking physique inevitably drew every gaze. Even her close friend Ada secretly envied those proportions; yet for Elenor, they were nothing but "dead weight." Thanks to the suit, however, she felt for the first time as though she had been freed from that burden.
Finally, she retrieved the weapons she had selected from the platform and arranged them appropriately in the living room. When she glanced at her watch, she saw that unloading the platform had taken roughly two hours.
'Next is to prepare a proper supply and ammunition list, and then I need to head out to the garden and plant the seeds.'
With that resolve, she moved toward the kitchen. When she lightly pressed the touch-sensitive point beside the island counter, an ergonomic stool rose smoothly from the floor. Elenor seated herself gracefully, crossing one leg over the other. Tapping her watch, she opened her digital notepad; taking a deep breath, she began counting her provisions one by one and updating her inventory list. She started with the fresh vegetables—the items most likely to spoil first.
Elenor began sorting through the piles of vegetables laid out before her, separating and counting them one by one with methodical precision. As she logged each item into her digital notebook, the only sound filling the quiet kitchen was her own soft whisper:
• [14 tomatoes]
• [22 cherry tomatoes]
• [24 hot peppers]
• [9 eggplants]
• [69 potatoes]
• [46 sweet potatoes]
• [33 red potatoes]
• [7 red bell peppers]
• [13 cucumbers]
• [12 carrots]
• [9 heads of garlic]
When the counting was finished, she stretched her arms wide, rolling her shoulders back until her spine gave a faint, satisfying crack. Rising from her seat, she carefully arranged the fresh produce into the refrigerator's crisper drawers, organizing them meticulously by type. Next came the frozen goods. She walked toward the deep-freeze room adjacent to the kitchen. The moment she opened the door, a blast of icy air struck her face, making her shiver involuntarily.
Without hesitation, she entered a command into her watch, activating the thermal mode of her nano suit. From the center of the device, faint micro-cables embedded beneath the suit illuminated, and a warm, reddish glow coursed along their pathways, spreading across her entire body like flowing veins of heat. She felt her temperature rise rapidly, a pleasant warmth replacing the biting cold.
"Mmhmm~ it still feels strange…" she murmured under her breath, savoring the artificial warmth wrapping around her skin.
Refocusing, she turned her attention to the bagged and frozen items stacked on the shelves. Upon inspection, she noticed that each package had been prepared in half-kilogram portions. She quickly updated her list:
• [2 tubs of chocolate chip ice cream]
• [4 cone ice creams]
• [7 ice cream bars]
• [5 small tubs of ice cream]
• [4 bags of frozen peas]
• [8 bags of frozen ground beef]
• [3 bags of frozen dried beans]
• [32 bags of frozen diced beef]
• [18 bags of frozen beef chops]
• [56 bags of frozen lamb chops]
• [23 bags of frozen beef steaks]
• [12 whole frozen chickens]
• [7 bags of frozen chicken wings]
• [5 bags of frozen chicken drumsticks]
• [9 bags of frozen salmon]
• [12 frozen trout]
• [4 frozen mackerel]
• [4 whole frozen lambs]
• [3 whole frozen cattle]
When she finished counting, Elenor frowned slightly, her expression tinged with astonishment. Now she understood why there was such an overwhelming amount of meat stored here.
"…I truly admire Uncle Omar's love for meat," she said with a quiet laugh.
"They were here only a few weeks ago, yet it's obvious they've already stocked up massively for the birthday we'll celebrate next week. The good part is, I won't have any issues with meat for a very long time. Uncle Omar's insatiable greed for meat has practically become a lifesaver in my current situation."