.jpg)
ABZ 23
“It’s about Uven.”
Lumi added a brief explanation.
“He was tricked by the child into thinking the fortress was short on food and tried to catch a bird, right?”
His blue eyes slowly scanned me, as if trying to read the answer in my expression.
“Isn’t that right?”
He seemed to have already reached his own conclusion, even as he scrutinized my face as if to confirm the whole story.
“I even found out that Uven was making up stories behind your back.”
“......”
“Why did you cover it up?”
He let out a soft sigh, as if he truly couldn’t understand my actions.
“Lumi, you noticed in the drawing room that I was under the mistaken impression that this fortress was short on food, right?”
Lumi nodded vaguely, as if that wasn’t the answer he was waiting for.
“So you deliberately leaked Uven’s words to correct the situation.”
Come to think of it, Lumi had been looking at Uven, not me, even as he was scolding me back then.
“Yes, that’s right. I didn’t expect you to admit it so readily there.”
Lumi nodded lightly.
He had deliberately brought up the topic to clear up the others’ misunderstanding of me. It must have been to help me.
“The reason I covered up Uven’s mistake is...”
I hesitated for a moment before continuing.
“It’s because the child has nowhere else to go but here.”
Now, the only people Uven could rely on were the people inside this fortress.
He had to clash with us every day while living in this fortress, and the same would be true on the way to the capital.
In the capital, where he had no connections, the only people Uven could rely on were the main characters.
Of course, even if Lilia found out about Uven’s mistake, she would treat the child the same, but whether Lilia would still be comfortable for the child was another matter.
“Because there are things that are shameful and that you don’t want to be caught doing.”
Everyone had clumsy meanness or pettiness that they didn’t want to show, and if something they wanted to hide was revealed, they would be ashamed and worried about how others would evaluate them, which would eventually make the other person uncomfortable.
And it seemed like this time was one of those mistakes that Uven just wanted to hide. At least, that’s what Uven seemed like to me in the drawing room.
“That’s all there is to it.”
“...If you don’t address it clearly, he’ll scheme again next time.”
Lumi, who had been listening to me quietly, expressed concern, as if it was a bad choice.
“Don’t worry. I made it clear to Uven that this is the only time he’s getting away with it. He won’t do it again.”
“Well, if you say so, I understand.”
Lumi still seemed doubtful, as if he didn’t agree with me, but he eventually nodded.
“You just want to let it pass quietly, right? I won’t interfere in this matter any further.”
“Thank you for helping, Lumi.”
“...Really?”
I nodded to express my sincerity once again.
“Then can I expect something in return?”
He blinked slowly, as if it was an unexpected expression of gratitude, and said with a faint smile.
“Pardon?”
“No, it’s just that I have some laundry...”
It seemed like he wanted to pass the work on to me and rest.
“Will you do it? Well, I wasn’t trying to help hoping for something like this, but if you really want to repay me.”
Actually, doing the work wasn’t that difficult for me.
I had to concentrate, but it didn’t exhaust me physically.
And Lumi...
‘He’s even worse at work than I am.’
Lumi was even more unskilled at handling tasks than I, a zombie, was.
After all, I had ended up re-cutting the onions that he had clumsily chopped.
“Yes, I’ll do it.”
Lumi was trying hard to suppress the corners of his mouth from rising, as if he was satisfied.
He left the kitchen, leaving behind words he didn’t mean, saying that he would be in his room and to call him if I needed his help.
* * *
Even as I went down the stairs and settled near the waterway to do the laundry that Lumi had passed on to me, my mind was entirely on the storage.
‘It was definitely mentioned in the novel that there was a shortage of food.’
The storage I had personally checked had more than enough food stored for the six of us to eat.
‘Or did the food go bad?’
Like the onions had gone soft, all the other food in the storage had gone bad, and eventually...
“Why are you doing it alone?”
As I was trying to slowly retrace the novel, a low voice cut off my thoughts.
Heresdon looked down at me from the top of the stairs and asked.
“Where are His Grace’s friend and Uven? They weren’t in the kitchen either.”
“I decided to do it today.”
“...Let’s do it together.”
Heresdon rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and came down the stairs.
Sitting next to me, he naturally took the piece of clothing that had been soaped in front of him and began to beat it.
‘Originally, he wouldn’t have approached Penelope first.’
Heresdon seemed to have changed just a little since the last apology.
In fact, he still didn’t greet me in a friendly way or approach me to talk first.
He was still keeping his distance, but if it used to be intentional neglect, now it felt like it had turned into indifference?
‘It wasn’t a big change, but...’
I felt a glimmer of hope.
Thump, thump.
Heresdon seemed to be beating the clothes roughly with a blank face, but because he was strong, the pile of clothes quickly decreased.
“It’ll be over soon with your help.”
I looked at Heresdon, as there wasn’t much work left, but he didn’t seem to hear me and kept beating the laundry with the washing bat.
“Grand Duke?”
His already dark eyebrows were even more noticeable because of his slightly distorted brow.
“Grand Duke...”
He stopped his hand and looked at me only after I touched him lightly.
“Did you call me?”
He asked back a beat late, as if he had been deep in thought.
“Yes, it’s nothing much, but I was saying that we’re almost done with the laundry.”
Heresdon checked the remaining clothes and nodded.
The sound of the bat returned at a steady pace.
Thump, thump, thwack.
The speed gradually slowed down and soon stopped.
“Do you... think the zombies outside can return to being human?”
“Pardon?”
He had been looking down for a long time, as if it was a thought that had come out of his mouth unconsciously.
“Lady Swedi thinks it might be possible.”
Heresdon continued to speak just as I was about to ask why he had asked such a question.
“It’s a ridiculous thought.”
The moment his eyes met mine, he quickly asserted, as if he realized something.
“Let’s finish quickly and go in.”
With those words, Heresdon didn’t say a single word until he went to hang up the laundry.
I often glanced at him, and he still had a complicated look in his eyes.
‘What kind of conversation did he have with Lilia that he’s worrying about something like this?’
When our eyes met, Heresdon took the large tub I was holding. It seemed like he had mistaken it for a signal that I was asking for help.
“But about what you asked earlier.”
Heresdon, who had been walking ahead of me with large strides, stopped.
“Never mind. It was a pointless question.”
“I think they can return to being human.”
Heresdon, who had been looking at me for a long time, frowned slightly.
“For what reason?”
“That’s...”
But how could I say that it was because I had read the novel and knew the future?
“I thought you would know a lot about zombies since you survived alone in the forest.”
Heresdon continued to speak as I was trying to gloss over it.
“You saw it yourself.”
His voice was somehow stubborn.
“They can’t even communicate. They lose their reason and rush at you if they smell human.”
Heresdon let out a deep sigh, as if he really couldn’t understand my thoughts.
“It doesn’t matter to them whether the person rushing at them is family or a friend. How can those beast-like things that have lost their memory and reason...”
His eyes trembled finely as he couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence.
“It doesn’t make sense that they could return to being human.”
Strangely, Heresdon in front of me seemed to be afraid of something.
But he skillfully composed his expression and shook his head firmly.
“Believing in such an absurd possibility and letting the zombies live is reckless and irresponsible.”
“What do you mean...”
Letting the zombies live?
Did Lilia say that?
I don’t know how such a radical topic of letting the zombies live came up.
“Where is Lilia?”
It was a topic that I, a zombie, couldn’t be left out of.
.jpg)