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ABZ 9
“Yes?”
“You said you gave him your blood.”
“His Highness misunderstood and thought it was my blood, not the Princess’s.”
“So, why...”
After a very brief silence, Lilia asked urgently.
“Could it be that what you asked me to keep secret was the conversation we had back then? Did you want me to tell His Highness it was my blood and deliver it to him directly?”
“...Yes.”
I recalled what I had said to Lilia that day.
“But, Lilia, I’d appreciate it if you kept it a secret that I asked you to do this.”
I definitely said that...
“Ah, ah.”
Lilia outside the door seemed flustered, pacing back and forth before finally collapsing to the ground.
“I thought you wanted to deliver it yourself, Princess. I mean, I thought you wanted me to keep the fact that it was my blood a secret.”
Even in her flustered state, Lilia was speaking indirectly, as if trying to be considerate of me, but what she was saying was essentially this:
She thought I was trying to take credit for her sacrifice and score points with the Crown Prince by pretending her blood was mine, ...right?
“Am I...”
I almost asked, “Am I trash?” but stopped myself.
Because I remembered Penelope Lloyd’s other misdeeds. Above all, she was a woman who wanted to stand out, especially when it came to anything related to Idorian.
Taking credit for others’ achievements was Penelope’s specialty.
“I’m really sorry, Princess.”
Lilia apologized with a deep sigh. Her voice sounded muffled, as if she were covering her face.
...But, wait. Then why was she so happy last night? Even though she thought I was stealing her sacrifice?
“You suffered an undeserved punishment because of me.”
Of course, I felt a bit wronged, but it was also my fault for not explaining things clearly to Lilia. I had no idea she would interpret my words that way.
“I’m really sorry.”
Lilia apologized repeatedly, sounding genuinely sorry, but I was relieved that the misunderstanding with Lilia had been cleared up.
“The Grand Duke and His Highness were both angry because they misunderstood you, Princess.”
The Crown Prince and the Grand Duke already disliked Penelope Lloyd anyway. I doubted they would even notice if their hatred grew a little more. Besides, compared to my current worries, their hatred was nothing.
In fact, the most important thing right now was how sensitive I was to blood.
I wondered if I could become desensitized again over time, or if once I became sensitive, there was no going back.
So, I just needed to reassure Lilia and send her away, but...
“...Then, Lilia.”
Even so, there was one thing I really wanted to ask.
“Why were you so happy yesterday?”
“Lilia, are you not going to eat?”
My carefully worded question was completely drowned out by Uven’s voice calling for Lilia.
“Ah, Uven. I’ll be right there.”
I was wondering why she was so happy even though she thought I was taking advantage of her.
...She’s been through so much with Penelope, yet she’s so gullible. Is she really an idiot?
“Princess, what did you say? I didn’t hear you well.”
“...Is your wound okay?”
“Ah, yes!”
“Has the bleeding stopped?”
“Yes. It stopped around lunchtime. It wasn’t a very big wound anyway.”
“That’s a relief.”
I heard Lilia’s faint laughter from outside the door.
“Princess, would you like to come and have dinner with us?”
“No. I think I’ll just rest today.”
“Will you come out tomorrow morning?”
“Yes.”
Lilia, as if showing what the female lead’s personality should be, told me to rest comfortably and worriedly told me to come to her if I needed anything.
It was a fleeting moment, but it seemed like she was trying to push the day I hated her into the depths of my guilt and suffocate it.
“But, Lilia, haven’t you seen the Grand Duke? I thought he was going to see you...”
“I haven’t seen him.”
“Did he go up to catch zombies?”
The murmuring voices of the two gradually faded away and disappeared.
‘No matter what happens, don’t bite Lilia.’
That was when I made the resolution to become a zombie who knew gratitude, even as a zombie.
The moonlight, not obscured by clouds, shone through the window covered with ivy.
The light that reached deep into the room made me see it.
“...What is this?”
I fixed my gaze on the mirror I had passed by.
The face of the woman in the mirror, with her neatly raised eyes, plump forehead, high nose with a smooth curve, and beautifully placed red lips, gradually distorted.
Veins were rising on her flawless, snow-white skin, which was her pride.
Blue veins starting from her neck were crossing her right cheek. It was the characteristic of a zombie that I had tried so hard to hide.
“Why is this...”
Clearly, in the novel, it said that going into cold water would return her to a human-like appearance. That was how I was able to deceive people and enter the fortress.
But why are the veins swelling again?
I groped my face with my hands and hurriedly took off my clothes.
The veins were swelling again near my heart and the thigh where I had been bitten by a zombie. This change, which started from my chest, was traveling up my neck and onto my face.
It was only one vein that had risen on my face.
It was only one, but the unexpected situation made my mind go blank and my thoughts stop.
“......”
I belatedly regained my senses and put my clothes back on. I needed to think rationally, especially in times like this.
There were two possible reasons why the veins were rising again. Either it was because time had passed, or because I had smelled blood and become excited.
I didn’t know the exact reason yet, but I could probably return to normal if I submerged myself in water again.
...I can return, right?
No, I can definitely return!
I put my head out the window and looked outside. The waterway that entered from outside the Outer castle wall flowed from the northwest, passed through the Inner castle’s backyard, and exited back to the northeast.
So, there was a large canal in the middle of the Inner castle where the waterway passed through. It wasn’t for drinking water, and it seemed like they used it for things like laundry, but it was deep enough for me to submerge my body.
I struggled to push the desk blocking the door and slipped outside.
It would have been best if I could act secretly in the early morning when everyone was asleep, but zombies stop moving and sleep in the evening. The time varied slightly for each zombie, so I couldn’t say exactly what time it was, but they would fall asleep when the sun went down and there were no more stimuli.
The current me was also one of the zombies who fell asleep in the evening, and the sun had already set.
‘I have to do it now.’
It would be a disaster if I waited for the early morning when everyone was asleep and ended up falling asleep myself.
If Idorian used Lilia’s blood properly, he would definitely come inside by tomorrow, and he would come to me as soon as he returned and get annoyed.
So, now was the only chance. Now, when everyone was gathered in the dining hall for dinner.
‘Five minutes is enough.’
Without hesitation, I threw myself into the canal.
* * *
When the Crown Prince entered the castle gate holding Lilia Swedi’s hand, Heresdon Dwayne seemed to understand the situation.
Penelope Lloyd was dead.
But he wasn’t sad or particularly surprised. It was a situation she had created in the first place.
If Penelope hadn’t caused such a commotion, more people could have survived and arrived at this fortress, but her thoughtless actions led to the deaths of many. Including her own in the end.
There was no sympathy for a death she had brought upon herself. No, there was no sympathy for the death of that Penelope Lloyd.
However, Lilia Swedi’s eyes were swollen, as if she had been crying alone every night, and the Crown Prince often stared blankly like a lost person. As if they were mourning her death.
It was understandable for Lilia, who was kind and soft-hearted, but the Crown Prince’s behavior surprised him. That he would grieve for the death of Penelope of all people.
But his surprise was just beginning.
Penelope, who had no survival skills and could barely walk, had returned alive.
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