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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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A Corporate Slave Becomes a Villainous Nuisance in a Zombie Apocalypse
Episode 31
* * *
Upon returning to the Imperial Palace, Cyprus made his way directly to the Crown Prince's Palace. He entered the office without bothering to ask permission.
Praha, watching ‌Cyprus stroll in alone, asked him a question.
"You went without an escort?"
"What for?"
"If another corpse appears, I won't be able to protect you with that injured arm of yours."
"I wasn't planning to protect ‌‌‌myself anyway. I was going to run. Being alone makes that easier."
"What if an assassin gets close?"
"You're the one dealing with assassination threats, Crown Prince. Not me."
"That's exactly why I assigned one to you."
"What?"
"An escort."
"Then why did you ‌‌‌‌ask?!"
"Did you meet the princess?"
What was this sudden shift in conversation?
Cyprus let out ‌‌‌‌a soft laugh.
It seemed the last question was the real ‌‌‌‌point all along.
"If you assigned an escort, wouldn't you already know whether I met the princess or not?"
....
"Did you send me out to meet Yusara?"
"Did you meet her?"
"I did."
Cyprus held up the cup in his hand, mentioning how they'd shared a beverage and pastries together.
Praha fell silent upon seeing the green cup from the Capital's most famous Coffee House. His handsome face grew tense.
Now that he thought about it, after all that commotion yesterday, neither he nor Cyprus had managed to sleep a wink.
"Aren't you tired, Praha?"
"I am."
If he was tired, he should go take a nap somewhere. Why was he stubbornly staying here?
Cyprus tilted his head with a smile.
A few hours earlier.
The emergency meeting, hastily convened upon their return from the Villa, had adjourned around midday.
They had accomplished nothing.
'Let's hold an urgent meeting tomorrow!'
That was all.
They'd ‌‌‌kept everyone seated just to decide on that single point. Efficiency at its finest.
Frustrated at having his request to inspect his own Territory rejected, Cyprus had sprawled across a conference room chair in his dust-covered shirt.
An Attendant approached Cyprus hesitantly, ‌‌who was shielding his eyes with the back of his hand.
"Grand Duke, shall I escort you to the ‌‌‌‌Dining Hall?"
"What I need isn't a meal—it's a permit to use the Portal to my Territory."
"My apologies...."
"You have nothing to apologize for. ‌‌‌‌Don't worry ‌about it and go on your way."
It was then that Praha strode forward ‌‌before Cyprus, who was stretching while lying down.
He seized the massive figure sprawled across the chair by the arm and hauled ‌‌‌‌him to his feet without ceremony.
"Ow! I'm a patient, Praha!"
"You're leaving."
"Why are you suddenly kicking me out?"
"Go outside the Palace right now."
"But why so suddenly?! I need to contact my Mansion first and have clothes brought...."
"Wear mine."
"Ha."
What kind of Crown Prince lends his clothes to a Grand Duke?
"Just telling me to leave like that...."
Where?
I knew he was the type who only said what he wanted to say, but this was infuriating.
Regardless, Praha had gotten Cyprus on his feet.
Like ‌a dog tugging at his pants leg to come along, he dragged him to wash and dressed him in fresh clothes.
"Now go."
"...Am I really going?"
"Yes."
"Where? And more importantly, why?"
"...."
"Could you at least answer me...?"
In the meantime, several Imperial Knights took turns reporting something to Praha.
After listening carefully to the final report, Praha spoke to Cyprus.
"Go to District 4 ‌‌‌Helena Street."
"Which part of Helena Street?"
"...Just Helena Street."
"Why?"
He gives such specific instructions, yet clams up the moment I ask for a reason. What ‌am I supposed to do?
Cyprus, slightly irritated, asked with a smile (he tended to smile when annoyed).
"I don't know what it is, but you seem pretty set on whatever you want. Why don't you go check it out yourself?"
"I can't. I've summoned the generals. ...Let me correct that. Go to District 3."
"So what's going on, exactly?"
"Hurry."
"Hey!"
No matter how much I pressed, no ‌‌answer came back. (Hopeless.) Cyprus had no choice but ‌‌‌to head toward District 3.
'He said to go, so I went. Ugh.'
Grumbling as I wandered through the throng of hurried pedestrians, a disguised Imperial Knight slipped past and whispered.
"They're telling you to go to the Stock Exchange."
'What am I supposed to do about that?'
I was dead on my feet, and this nonsense was ‌‌‌the last straw.
Beyond irritation and into the realm of pure exasperation, Cyprus entered the Coffee House across from the Stock Exchange.
"Grand Duke!"
A familiar Barista greeted Cyprus warmly.
"How have you been?"
"Thanks to ‌‌‌your concern, I've been well. And you, Your Highness?"
"Oh, you know, managing."
These people couldn't possibly imagine that I'd spent yesterday fighting corpses.
After exchanging a few pleasantries, I turned my head.
An unexpected person was ‌‌standing there.
"...Yusara?"
My expression of surprise at that moment was neither an act nor exaggerated.
Behind Yusara, whose eyes had ‌‌‌widened in shock, a disguised Imperial Knight nodded and vanished.
'...So Praha was sending me to meet Yusara?'
Huh.
What is this all about?
Watching Yusara stand there with that sullen expression, I found myself laughing uncontrollably.
Yusara seemed to share the same thought, asking with suspicion written all over her face.
"But why did you really come here? There's milk at the Imperial Palace too, isn't there?"
Yeah, you're right.
I'm not so scatterbrained as to leisurely come out for milk in a situation where corpses are waking up and wandering about.
Praha sent me.
He went to considerable lengths, even mobilizing several Imperial Knights just to arrange this meeting between us. ‌‌
He seemed concerned about you.
I suppose he thought you'd find ‌‌‌some comfort in seeing me.
"Haha."
Yusara looked at me strangely as I continued laughing.
But I couldn't stop.
Praha and I were cousins and ‌‌‌‌close friends.
A conscientious friend would tell Yusara the truth about how I came to be here and let her know that 'Praha was worried about you.'
'But I don't want to.'
I didn't want to.
For reasons I couldn't explain, I preferred to appear as an idiot who'd crawled out from the Imperial Palace all the way to District 3 just to buy milk, rather than mention Praha here.
So I said nothing.
"I'm not going to cry."
Yusara's tightly clenched lips, struggling desperately not to shed tears, were exactly as they'd been ‌‌‌‌in childhood.
Her habit of tearing hot bread in half and eating it eagerly too.
'I wonder if the Duke still starves her.'
In any case, Yusara, whom he'd encountered, had returned with her sharp demeanor dulled from their first meeting.
This must have been what ‌‌‌Praha wanted.
Then it was settled, wasn't it?
The problem was.
Cyprus, awakening from his reverie, asked Praha.
"But how did you know Yusara was there? And in real-time ‌‌‌like that?"
"...."
"You didn't surveil Yusara, did you?"
"I surveil all high-ranking nobility."
"Right. But you don't usually track her every move in real-time like this."
How many Knights did you assign to her?
Cyprus remarked with slight sarcasm. Praha replied with an impassive expression.
"The Princess is a key figure in this incident. She could have been infected without realizing it. I simply assigned people to watch in case symptoms appeared later."
Praha mentioned that he'd also assigned people to Mascarpone and Yujein.
Cyprus took a sip of the milk he held and asked.
"Fine, okay. All good. But why didn't you go yourself? She would have preferred it if you'd gone to comfort her."
"I told you. I summoned the generals."
"Liar."
"...."
"You lacked the confidence."
"...."
"You didn't have the confidence ‌to comfort Yusara, who's surely despondent by now, did ‌‌‌you, Praha? You're not close to her. You've never been close. You lacked the confidence, so you sent me instead."
"...You were close, and it fell apart."
"Still, I know Yusara ‌‌‌‌better than you do."
"Yes. That's why I told you to go ‌‌‌‌see her."
Not because I lacked confidence, but because I thought the person Yusara needs right now isn't me—it's you.
Cyprus asked.
"Why do you care so much?"
Praha didn't answer that question.
Instead, he handed over a sheet of paper.
It was a document bearing the Emperor's signature, granting permission to use the Portal to Cyprus's Territory.
"It's valid for four days. Return within that time."
Praha stood as if he'd finished what ‌‌‌he had to say.
"Where are you going?"
"I summoned the Security Division commanders."
Another lie.
Cyprus called out at Praha's back as he left the office entirely.
"Praha!"
"...."
"Are you going to tell Yusara that you sent Paprika back to the Villa?"
"No."
"Why?"
Praha continued walking without slowing his pace.
"Do you go around telling everyone what you ate yesterday evening?"
He meant Paprika's death wasn't worth mentioning.
"You're always so cold...."
Cyprus watched Praha disappear around the corner, his lips curving upward.
Had Praha developed an interest in Yusara?
"...Yusara did seem different ‌‌‌yesterday."
I saw it myself.
She used to shudder at the ‌‌‌mere thought of being in my line of sight.
But today?
'There was ‌‌no need for you to buy me coffee, which I dislike, simply to save face in front of others.'
The expression on her face as she spoke was composed.
She didn't seem to particularly like me, but neither did she seem desperate to devour ‌‌‌me.
She simply appeared indifferent to me.
As if I didn't exist at all.
How could she be like that?
Cyprus rested his chin on his hand and began methodically retracing the events from the Villa yesterday.
Where should I start?
Ah, let me begin with this.
'I'm not disappointed at all.'
'Why aren't you disappointed?'
'Disappointment requires some degree of expectation.' ‌‌‌
'....'
'I have no expectations of either of you, Your Highnesses.'
The expression on Yusara's face as she said those words.
The reason Cyprus had followed Yusara all the way into the Gallery yesterday was singular.
To prevent her from causing trouble.
Though everyone forgot about it after the corpses came pouring out, Yusara had ‌‌‌been humiliated in the 2nd Floor Corridor.
If she went inside alone and then recalled that incident in the dead-end Gallery, screaming or throwing a tantrum would be problematic.
That's why he followed her.
Whether she was crying alone inside or her pride was further wounded by being caught—he didn't care. As long as she didn't cause trouble.
But when she outright said she wasn't disappointed, it irritated me.
'Later, if the man I love and the Grand Duke both fall into the water, I'll save the ‌‌‌man I love first. Your Highness should do the same. Let's each do as we wish ‌‌and harbor no resentment.'
Why ‌‌‌won't ‌‌you resent me?
The moment I emerge after saving someone else, you should ‌‌‌glare at me from ‌‌‌the water with eyes full of betrayal.
If I don't save you.
Then who will you save?
But as things stood now, Yusara was.
'Save someone else instead of me? I suppose I have no choice.' And ‌‌‌I'd probably swim out on my own strength.
Or even if someone tried to rescue me, I'd refuse with 'The weak first!' or something.
"That's actually possible, isn't it."
Cyprus laughed again. He'd been laughing off and on since earlier.
'I thought no one knew Yusara as well as I did.'
Yet there were things about that simple, transparent Yusara that I didn't know.
That fact bothered me.
Whether my feelings were hurt or my pride was wounded. ‌‌‌‌‌
Either way, I was ‌‌‌annoyed.
The Attendants who had come to tidy the room bowed deeply to Cyprus, who stood alone holding the permit Praha had handed ‌‌him, chuckling to himself.
"Ah, sorry. I'll leave now."
The betrothal between Praha and Yusara fell through because of Praha's refusal.
But if things continued as they were.
If things kept going this way.
Who knows. ‌‌‌
'It's fine. Yusara liked Praha anyway. She's looking at him now with those exact eyes ‌she used to look at me with back then.'
If the two of them work out, I should bless them. That's what friends do.
So why does my mood ‌‌‌keep getting worse?
Cyprus's face twisted into ‌‌a smile.
"This is fun...."
Yeah. It was fun.
[(Temporary Safe Zone) Imperial Palace]
- Praha, Cyprus ‌‌‌‌(Survived)

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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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