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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 42
I observed ‌‌the Imperial Knight rushing toward us.
"Your Highness! Your Highness, Your Highness, Your Highness!"
A uniform disheveled like a rebellious idol in a music video.
Red sauce smeared on ‌‌‌the sleeves.
Fluffy hair tousled by the wind into complete disarray.
The ‌‌‌knight, who ‌‌‌‌looked like a puppy that had napped for an hour with its head ‌‌pressed against something, grinned so widely her cheekbones bulged as she saluted sharply before ‌‌us.
"Imperial Knight Tangerine, just returned!"
"...."
What is this chirping thing?
"It's been so long since I've worked a joint operation with both of you! I'm so excited!"
I observed her flushed cheeks and sparkling eyes with a suspicious gaze.
'Was there always someone like this?'
If someone this conspicuous had been wandering the Palace, there's no way I wouldn't have noticed.
"Grand Duke, how have you been?"
She even spoke casually to Cyprus, as if they were already acquainted.
Both her tone and manner were far too spirited for an Imperial Knight.
'Can I ‌‌trust this person?'
I watched quietly as the sunlight-like knight circled around Praha and Cyprus, chirping away.
Yujein ‌‌‌‌whispered beside me.
"Do you think they brought a female knight out of consideration for us being women?"
"...No, it's just that she has the skills."
"Ah!"
On the surface she looks like an ‌‌‌excited large dog out for a walk, but look at her arms and thighs. Pure muscle.
'And Praha isn't the type to choose people based on consideration when lives are on the line.'
I can vouch for that as someone with ‌‌‌unrequited love experience.
"Tangerine, be quiet."
Praha, who had barely managed to calm down the chirping knight, brought her before us.
"This is Imperial Knight Tangerine, who will be accompanying us."
Only then did Tangerine, upon seeing Yujein and me, express her entire body's 'New people! How exciting!' as she greeted us.
"Looking ‌‌‌forward to working with you! Holy Maiden! And... Lady?"
Her eyes tilted curiously as she stared at me, filled with the question 'Is this person the rumored lady?'
Her curiosity was so blatant it actually came across as ‌‌innocent.
'Better than malice.'
"Tangerine is the coldest among the Imperial swords. Her hands show no mercy, and she doesn't let sympathy ruin her work. There will come a time when we need to cut down children or elderly who have become corpses, and I brought her because she's someone who won't hesitate in such moments."
Praha explained the reason for this selection from beside me.
'We would have just accepted whoever was brought.'
The fact that he explained it so seriously—it felt like he was really treating us as colleagues.
'Thinking back to that first zombie villa where he only spoke when necessary and then fell silent.'
It was a ‌‌leap forward.
"Your Majesty! If you say such things, it makes me ‌‌‌sound like a heartless ‌person!"
"Isn't it true?"
'So from now on, in dangerous areas, I'll be sharing a room with this person.'
She's a woman, after all.
Falling asleep with Yujein and Tangerine on either side of me.
Even if everyone else dies, I'll be safe.
Whoosh—
I entered the train under the guidance of the Station Master and Engineer who had been waiting.
The interior, finished in red and deep green in a Christmas style, caught my eye.
'It's like ‌‌the Orient Express.'
Naturally, our entire party had chartered all the first-class compartments and their attached lounges.
"It's truly magnificent!"
"Is this your first time riding a train, Saint?" ‌
"Yes, it's also my first time coming to Central Station."
Among the group unpacking their belongings, each claiming a bed, I also selected one for myself.
"Ah, it's hot."
I was struggling to lift the closed window.
Praha, who approached from the side, opened it with one hand.
"Thank you."
"Not at all."
And then a brief silence.
"Saint, the french fries from the Dining Hall here are delicious!"
"Really?"
"Yes! I'm going to eat some right now!"
Praha, glancing at Tangerine chattering busily from the opposite bunk, spoke.
"Tangerine is the younger ‌‌sibling of the Knight we saw at the Central Staircase that day."
"Ah."
The Knight at the Central ‌‌Staircase on the second floor of the Villa.
The one who, in a horrifying situation, fulfilled his duty by cutting down his own comrades, and ultimately became a zombie himself.
Now that I think about it, their facial features do seem similar...
I watched Tangerine, who was laughing at this sudden realization.
Praha spoke.
"When that Knight died, Tangerine became the ‌sole ‌heir of that family. Originally, we had planned to grant her an estate so she could live safely with her family."
"But she ‌‌‌volunteered, wanting to know why her brother died."
"Yes."
"...Didn't she resent it?"
No matter the circumstances, it was Praha standing right in front of me who cut her brother's throat.
At my words, Praha simply shook his head.
This situation is complicated too.
'That's enough. ‌‌As long as you don't harbor resentment and betray me later, ‌‌we're fine.'
Instead of sighing, I said something else. ‌‌‌
"I thought Dazling would be coming."
Dazling had experience with zombies, after all.
"Since Dazling is one of the few who has faced the walking dead, he must remain to defend the Capital."
"Ah, I see."
That made sense.
"Dazling and Mascarpone will have their hands full."
"Yes. We are grateful."
"Dazling and I are close! Dazling told me so much about the Princess!"
Tangerine, who had caught the word "Dazling" from across the room, cried out.
She had sharp ears.
"Oh, french fries! I'll go buy some french fries!"
Before I could stop her, Tangerine laughed and darted out without even closing the door.
Cyprus closed the special room's door in Tangerine's place and spoke.
"Even with what you just ‌‌said, she'll probably 'accidentally' open ‌every single compartment door on the way to the Dining Hall."
"We need to check for hazards."
"So that's the kind of person you are..."
Yujein nodded in admiration.
"All that talking is a form of camouflage..."
"But it's also true that Tangerine genuinely enjoys conversation..."
Was it just my imagination that Cyprus's eyes seemed somewhat hollow?
And I would soon understand the reason for ‌‌that hollow gaze...
"It's delicious, Saint! Princess, you should ‌‌try it too!"
Tangerine's chatter didn't stop even as we all set down our luggage and sat around the ‌‌‌‌sofa in the center of the special room, picking at french fries.
Truly an extraordinary amount of talking.
But I didn't mind listening, because everything Tangerine said was quite ‌‌fascinating.
For instance, ‌‌her testimony about Praha's temperament.
"On the Mountain, one person carries an injured comrade and runs while another team chases behind with swords! And they shoot arrows too! It was really fun!"
"That was... fun?"
"It was thrilling! The arrow the Crown Prince shot almost hit the back of my head!"
My comrade who was carrying ‌‌me in the injured role position unconsciously shielded me from the barrage of arrows coming from behind. To avoid getting hurt himself.
"I really ‌thought I was going to die!"
"So he saved you."
"How did he save me?"
I asked out of ‌‌curiosity.
Then Praha hesitated unusually.
"He saved me through conversation."
He clearly didn't want to talk about this, but Tangerine paid no mind.
Wiping the salt from her hands with a napkin, ‌‌Tangerine spoke brightly.
"He threw down his bow and rushed over himself to beat his comrade senseless. He said if we were going to abandon our ally over a mere volley of ‌‌arrows, we might as well die right ‌here and now."
The way he closed that vast distance in an instant—I thought I'd die of fright!
"A rather physical conversation, then."
Praha, who had been fidgeting, corrected himself.
"He didn't beat him senseless, exactly."
"He absolutely did! Asking if this was his true nature, saying he was disappointed!"
...As someone who had once used the family Knights as shields ‌‌in my first life and died by Praha's hand, that remark struck far too close to home.
The more I think about it, the more grateful I am that I didn't bring the family Knights along.
How do I know my own nature won't emerge in an extreme situation?
Pro tip for preventing your ‌‌‌true nature from showing: don't bring anyone with you.
"Oh, should ‌‌‌I tell you about the time a cat got ‌‌into the Grand Duke's trousers?"
"Tangerine, please."
"Why not! It's hilarious!"
Ding ding ding ding— ‌‌‌
"Ah, we're departing!"
The bell chimed at just the right moment, cutting off ‌‌‌Tangerine's words.
Soon, with the ‌‌‌‌Engineer's cry announcing the train's departure, the Capital's landscape began flowing past before my eyes.
Having claimed a window seat early, I let Tangerine's endless chatter go in one ear and out the other as I gazed outside.
Cream-colored buildings that made the entire city look like an enormous buttercream ‌‌‌cake. White statues rising high here and there. Jeweled fountains spouting water. ‌‌
Children dressed like Alpine maidens laughed and ran about on the platform....
"It's beautiful."
Even after seeing it again after decades, it remains beautiful.
The thought that zombies might appear in such a city makes me dizzy.
Cyprus, who had barely managed to silence Tangerine's chatter, responded to my observation.
"My Territory in the Southern Region is beautiful as well. White Villas ‌‌‌and Islands line the coastline, cradled by an emerald sea."
Cyprus boasted that while the Capital was like a yellow buttercream cake, his city was like a green jewel blooming in the sea.
I responded coolly.
"That sounds lovely." ‌‌
"It is. The sun doesn't set until late, and you can eat as much quality seafood and wine as you want. The fruit wines produced in the Southern Region are the Empire's pride. ‌‌‌As you already know, I'm sure." ‌‌
"Alcohol is a Class 1 carcinogen."
"A carcinogen...?"
"Yes. Either you're giving me that Territory, or stop bragging about it."
He pouted then.
"It's not bragging—I want you to understand."
"Why?"
Why should I care about the Territory of a ‌‌man ‌‌‌‌I rejected?
We're not that kind of people to each other.
But Cyprus apparently thought differently.
The broad-shouldered man drooped his shoulders and whined.
"You're cold. I went to visit my Territory, and you won't even ask how it is, if it's safe, who I left it in the care of, or how it's ‌‌doing?"
"You're not a zombie right now, and you're perfectly fine here. So you weren't bitten, were you?"
The weather's been hot lately—did I really need to contribute to global warming with such a warm ‌sentiment?
Though this isn't Earth, technically.
"And you have a sister, don't you? She'll look after your territory."
The moment I threw that out, Cyprus froze.
Then he laughed.
"That's right. I ‌‌‌‌do have a sister."
"Yes. I know that much."
"As expected."
"It's not 'as expected'—it's common sense. About members of the Imperial Family."
"Haha."
"Your Highness, you have a sister?"
"Yes. I grew up being beaten by her ‌‌since childhood."
Yujein, startled, spoke up, and he answered with a laugh.
"...."
I watched Cyprus sip his iced caramel milk.
He laughed as if nothing was wrong, making some joke about how he had such a good personality because he'd been beaten so much back then, and moved past it.
But I saw it clearly.
The moment I mentioned his sister, Cyprus's expression turned cold.
'Did I have some massive fight with Cyprus's sister in the past?'
No, that wasn't it.
I'd never even met Cyprus's sister before.
And it was nearly decades ago by my standards, so my ‌‌memory of it is hazy.
Since my second life as Yusara, a Korean, is mixed in there, all my past memories don't come back vividly.
'I can't help it. I'm the kind of person ‌‌‌‌who can't even remember the name of the elementary school I graduated from.'
I'll avoid mentioning his sister from now on.
Just keeping that in mind, I ‌‌‌tried to look away when my eyes suddenly met Praha's.
Praha was watching me as I watched Cyprus.
When our eyes met, Praha turned his gaze out the window, his expression hardening.
Seeing that rigid face, I reflexively flinched as a memory surfaced.
The final moment of my first life.
'How can you save others when you cannot even save yourself?'
Praha.
The man who killed me in the past.
Now that my memories have returned, what are my feelings toward this ‌man?
Well.
Let me just be honest.
[(Temporary Safe Zone) Inside the Train] ‌
- Yusara, Praha, Cyprus, Yujein, Tangerine (Alive)

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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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