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ABZ 5
“Penelope, come here.”
He opened a door and gestured for her to enter. Inside, there were several low beds and a small desk. The bare floorboards and the mirror hanging on the wall with peeling paint were not much different from her own room.
At the edge of the room, on the bed, lay Idorian's blue sword and a black cloak embroidered with silver thread. It seemed to be his room.
He took out a bandage from a drawer and approached her.
“Sit.”
Penelope quickly shook her head as Idorian tried to sit on the floor to wrap it for her himself. Well, her body wasn't as quick as she thought, so he had already settled on the floor.
“Give it to me. I’ll do it.”
“...You know how?”
Idorian tilted his head, looking surprised.
“You just wrap it, right?”
She didn't want to entrust her body to him. She was afraid that his sharp eyes might discover something else different or strange about her.
“I’m offering to do it because you can’t just wrap it any old way. Sit down.”
“Just tell me how. Then I’ll do it.”
He looked up at her standing blankly and frowned.
“You want me to teach you while wrapping it on my leg?”
Idorian seemed annoyed, as if he didn't understand why they had to go through such a troublesome process. Penelope eventually gave up trying to persuade him and sat down in front of him.
Idorian stared at her for a while before taking her foot.
She furrowed her brow and carefully examined her foot, worried that there might be some strange marks on her ankle. Her heart beat a little faster, perhaps due to anxiety.
But contrary to her worries, Idorian released her ankle without saying anything. About a minute had passed.
“Now that you’ve seen it, you can do it next time.”
He stood up, dusted off his hands, and handed her the remaining bandage.
As if his task was done, he headed for the door first.
Tap, tap, tap.
But before he could leave the room, a steady tapping sound came from the window. Idorian turned and opened it.
A bird flew in through the open window, circled above Idorian's head, and landed on his hand as if it were accustomed to doing so.
Idorian removed a small tube from the bird's neck, gave the bird some water and food, and then began to read the newly arrived letter.
“...Oh.”
After quickly checking the letter, he seemed to have completely forgotten about her presence and left the room.
He didn't give her any indication about the letter, but after quickly reviewing the early events of the novel, she soon realized who it was from.
Perhaps a genius who could quickly end this situation. A man she needed.
The name of that genius....
She couldn't remember the name of the genius who had brought only brief hope and crisis before dying, but she definitely remembered this event.
A commoner from a small Kingdom and a university classmate of Idorian Fidentre, he had traveled all the way to the Empire to see Idorian after a long time.
Having arrived at Leman Port near the capital by ship, he had planned to stay there for a few days, look around, and then take a train to the Imperial City, but the zombie outbreak had closed all roads leading to the capital.
Idorian sent him a letter while he was stuck on the train that had stopped on the tracks, and now the reply had just arrived.
He said that since he had come to see him anyway and the distance wasn't far, he would come to this fortress. But that was a naive judgment from someone who had never faced zombies directly.
In a zombie outbreak, the most important thing was to find a safe place to hide and secure food, but the genius, lacking information, set out on a reckless path and was bitten by a zombie halfway up the mountain.
The reason he was able to climb halfway up the mountain was due to his excellent observation skills.
Realizing that zombies reacted to sound and smell, he covered his body with the corpses of zombies that the main characters had cut down while climbing the mountain, and hid in the trees at night.
He eventually died because he bled. The smell of human blood could not be masked by anything, so he was eventually torn apart by the zombies.
‘But why was he bleeding?’
“Hmm....”
Anyway, if she could save that genius, she could calm this chaotic situation more quickly. But if she intervened and aroused suspicion, that would be a disaster in itself.
“Not gone yet?”
Idorian returned to the room, folding a piece of paper he had hastily scribbled on in half.
He glanced at her still sitting on his bed, then approached the bird that was drinking water. He stroked the bird a few times and then refilled the small tube with another letter.
“...Is there something you want to say?”
Idorian sat down on a nearby chair, seemingly willing to wait until the little bird finished eating, and awkwardly spoke to her. She silently pointed to the bird, as if asking for an explanation.
And belatedly, she wondered if it might have been a polite way of telling her to leave.
“A friend from university is coming here to see me.”
Idorian began to speak without any reproach.
“Are you going to pick him up?”
“...Yes.”
As if realizing something, Idorian's golden eyes flickered slightly.
“...I’m planning to go tomorrow morning.”
He lowered his gaze halfway and stroked the bird again. The little bird, having finished its meal, closed its eyes and enjoyed his touch, as if Idorian's hand was familiar.
In the novel, Idorian sends the carrier pigeon back to confirm his location, and then follows the bird to meet him.
Eventually, his friend becomes a zombie, and Idorian barely returns after three days with serious injuries.
...But she couldn't just say she would follow him.
Knock, knock.
As she was wondering what to do, Lilia lightly knocked on the half-open door.
“Princess.”
Lilia called to her as if she had something to say. Penelope gave Idorian a light nod and left the room. Lilia was holding a cup.
“I found some tea that helps with digestion, so I prepared it.”
Pushing aside the thought that she had another thing she had to pretend to eat, she reached out to take the cup, but Lilia shook her head.
“I have something I want to talk about. May I bring it to your room?”
Had Lilia Swedi ever asked Penelope for a conversation first? She quickly searched Penelope's memories, but the answer was ‘no.’
“...Yes.”
Lilia's voice sounded quite serious, which made her overthink.
* * *
At the end of the hallway.
Lilia, who followed her into the room, placed the cup on the small side table next to the bed.
‘What could she possibly want to say....’
She put the potato she had been holding next to it, sat on the bed, and looked at Lilia.
“I’m really sorry.”
Lilia didn't sit down but stood uncomfortably in front of her, bowing deeply.
“I can’t possibly know everything you’ve gone through because of me, as you said, Princess. I’m just guessing from a safe place.”
She had been watching her carefully since a while ago, and it seemed like this was what she wanted to say.
“But even though it’s just a guess, it’s been so painful.”
Lilia glanced at her again, holding back tears.
“If you hadn’t let me go up first, Princess, I would have been the one who had to stay there. I probably wouldn’t have been able to act as cleverly as you did, Princess, if I had stayed there.”
Lilia Swedi.
Wavy light pink hair and snow-white skin. Round eyes and slightly upturned lips gave her a gentle impression, but what you saw wasn't everything.
Of course, she was the heroine of a romance novel, and the male leads around her provided a lot of help, but she didn't survive in this apocalyptic world just by receiving help from others.
“I’m really sorry for leaving you alone among those monsters, Princess.”
Although she was now a lady who had grown up delicately in a greenhouse and had no strength to protect herself, she would become an excellent asset to this fortress over time.
“But I will never do that again. Just as you let me go up first, Princess, I will definitely take care of you too.”
Lilia, who would have the Grand Duke and the Crown Prince as her teachers and gain skills comparable to the knights of the Imperial City, promised her.
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