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A Corporate Slave Becomes a Villainous Nuisance in ‌‌‌‌a Zombie Apocalypse Episode 44 A small fiefdom in a strategically disadvantageous location. Barren land where commerce, agriculture, and industry all ‌seemed equally underdeveloped. Small population equals meager tax revenue. Yet the castle of a lord ruling such a desolate region was... this opulent? 'Is the lord a genius investor?' Did ‌‌‌‌he ‌‌‌make massive investments in overseas trading vessels? But even those require seed capital to begin with. If you start with 100 won and make 100% profit, you ‌‌‌‌still only have 200 won. While I tilted my head in confusion. "Your Majesties!" The lord and his wife appeared from the opposite direction, practically tumbling as they rushed toward us. "My sincerest apologies! We went to greet you but our paths crossed...." Jingle. Jingle. I found the sound emanating from the lord's waist whenever he moved his body quite peculiar. "To think the day has ‌‌come when I serve two Majesties! I shall regard it as the glory of my house!" Jingle. Jingle. ‌‌‌What on earth was that sound? "Was your journey here without inconvenience?" "Yes. It was most pleasant." Indeed, everyone in this castle was visibly tense. The lord, his wife, and their son who had now joined them at their ‌‌side bowed incessantly. The three similarly featured people fumbling about resembled a flock of ‌‌penguins. "You must be fatigued? We have prepared warm bathwater for you." The lord, who had volunteered to guide us, led us deeper into the Corridor. The entrance had been lavish, but the interior was even more so. Artwork was piled everywhere, having long since run out of wall space. "The painting you see now is the pride of our house. It originally hung in my private chambers, but upon hearing that you two Majesties and the Saint would be visiting...." Jingle. Jingle. "This painting depicts God's covenant—a sacred work. According to mythology...." The lord prostrated himself while watching Yujein's expression, and a bundle glinted at his waist. Jingle. Jingle. 'So that's the sound of keys.' The lord carried the family's key bundle directly at his waist—something typically entrusted to a butler or Head Maid. Each ‌‌time the heavy brass ‌‌‌‌keys struck one another, they produced a loud jingling sound. Jingle. Jingle. Jingle. "It seems the lord takes great interest in the arts." "Becoming a patron of the arts is my sole joy in life. Hehehehe." 'Yes, that certainly appears to be the case.' One could hardly tell if this was a residence or a warehouse for storing artwork. The paintings are left neglected in sunlit spots, suggesting relatively poor maintenance. "By discovering talented newcomers and sponsoring them...." The lord's words, delighted at the opportunity to showcase his ‌‌collection to the Imperial Family, showed no signs of stopping. Before long, the original goal of showing us around the room had taken ‌‌a backseat, and he was busy dragging the two men and Yujein around to boast about his acquisitions. By contrast, Tangerine and I were relatively sidelined. Or rather, ‌‌completely ignored. 'A provincial noble like this would benefit greatly just from connecting with a princess, so why is he ignoring me?' I found it slightly odd. But watching the ‌‌lord's son glance at me sideways and snicker, I understood. 'He thinks my companions and I are on bad terms.' Regardless ‌‌‌of why we came here, he assumed I'd forced my way into this group. So he was cutting ties from the start. "...." ‌‌‌Well, that works out fine. At least it's not noisy. "Are there any secret passages here? What's the fastest route to get outside?" Tangerine had already moved far away and was speaking with the butler. With the lord openly treating me as if I didn't exist, I leisurely made my way at the back of the group. Admiring the paintings as I went. 'All works by living artists, it seems.' A contemporary art enthusiast? I examined various pieces to broaden my knowledge. Suddenly, Praha, who had been walking ahead, came to an abrupt stop. "Thus...Your Majesty?" Ignoring the bewildered lord looking up ‌‌‌at him, Praha simply fell silent. When Praha, who had been leading the group, stopped, everyone else had no choice but to stop as well. "Your Majesty?" "Hehe." Among the confused people, only Cyprus laughed. Praha remained still. Until I, who had been lagging behind, caught up to their pace. And he came to stand beside me. "Ahem. You forgot the ‌‌‌‌princess." The flustered lord let out ‌an awkward cough. Praha, ignoring that remark as well, turned to the lord. Or more precisely, to the lady of the house, who had been walking beside her husband and echoing his words. ‌‌‌"Who are you?" ‌‌"Pardon?" "I asked who you are." Praha's tone, which had been ‌respectfully formal toward the lord's family, had shifted to casual ‌‌‌speech. The startled lady of the house quickly dropped into a bow. "I am Marquise Prome. I am the mother of the heir and manage the household of Promé." Praha tilted his head upon hearing her response. "I ‌‌‌‌was under the impression that the Marquis of Promé and ‌‌‌‌his wife divorced several years ago." "That is...." "I remember the divorce proceedings of you both, which the Emperor ‌himself attended. Yet it appears the divorced Marquise still conducts herself as mistress of this estate." "...." "If you live together, why did you divorce?" There was no accusatory tone in his question. It was merely an expression of curiosity. But I understand. Praha has taken offense at the Marquis's family. His cutting tone was evidence of that. The reason, ‌‌most likely. 'Because they disrespected me, one of his companions.' "We... ‌‌we never imagined you would remember such details...." The flustered Marquis and Marquise fumbled through their excuses. "We beg your pardon, Your Highness...." "There is no need for apologies. What I am curious about is the circumstances." "Well, you see...." "After our second child was born... our relationship deteriorated and we found ourselves in divorce court...! But afterward, we frequently exchanged letters regarding the child's education...." "Living apart made us realize how much we cherished each other...." Excuses worthy of a romance novel spilled forth endlessly. "The human heart is a fickle thing, after all...." I could see Praha's displeasure was twisted, yet they seemed unaware of ‌‌the reason behind it. 'Of course. They don't realize that while they weren't looking, we became comrades.' "Remarrying would entail so many tedious procedures...." "And since the heir is already established, there seemed little reason to do so...!" Affection this, procedures ‌‌that. I listened to their long, predictable excuses and laughed inwardly. Ah. Tax evasion, then? In my second life, I took considerable interest in investments, gifts, and taxes. It was natural to ‌‌make a living from such things. Why certain wealthy individuals register unemployed children as company employees, how cryptocurrency affects government tax revenue.... Such inclinations remained unchanged in this cycle. It meant ‌that while studying criminal law to squeeze information from the maids, ‌‌I had also perused tax law whenever bored. 'Of course, reading a few books doesn't suddenly make me fluent in Imperial tax code.' Yet the fundamental ‌‌‌methods of tax evasion are similar everywhere. There is one typical approach. Precisely what the Marquis and Marquise were doing now—divorcing only on paper. ‌1. ‌Get a divorce. 2. Divide assets with the wife during the divorce. 3. Asset division incurs no gift tax or capital gains tax. (The specifics vary depending on whether it's spousal support or asset division, whether the property is real estate, etc., but I'll skip the details.) 4. As a provincial noble, no one would come investigating, and the neighbors wouldn't even know about the divorce. They maintain a de facto marriage while evading gift taxes. 'I bet that's why they've ‌‍bought so many artworks and hung them up—tax evasion. There's probably some merchant guild operating under the family name.' If you buy ‌‌‌expensive artworks with company funds and secretly receive that money back, you can convert company ‌‍‌funds into personal money. And while you're at it, you process ‌it as ‌‌‌‌business expenses to reduce corporate taxes. It's a method that appeared on Netflix's "Your Lord Is Furious." In the Empire, people probably don't use tax evasion schemes like this very often, but on Earth, everyone knows about it. 'Anyway, this is all just a method used to evade taxes on money you already have.' But where did they get that much money in the first place? Praha, standing beside me, seems to have ‌the same thought and asks the lord. "If I may ask, what are the primary sources of income for this Territory?" "Ah, well... there's a merchant guild that our family operates..." 'Hmm. Tax evasion.' ‌Even if Praha is the Crown Prince, unless he's a tax expert, ‌‌‌‌‌he wouldn't know such detailed methods. Should I tell him? 'Nah, ‌‌‌forget it. I'm not even certain about this.' This is all just suspicion. Without evidence, I shouldn't go poking around. I filed away the lord's family's tax evasion problem in a corner of my mind for now. 'I'll remember this, and use it later if something comes up.' While hoping that day never comes. * * * After unpacking and bathing, I had to attend the banquet the lord's family had prepared. Since we hadn't brought any attendants with us, the lord's family assigned servants to us. "Until the day you depart, I shall have the honor of attending to the Young Lady..." I bathed while attended by maids whose eyes gleamed with curiosity as they beheld the notorious villainess of the Capital, whom they'd only heard rumors about. "Which dress would you prefer...?" "Something simple and unadorned. I don't need help. I'll dress myself." "Pardon? But Young Lady, these lace decorations can't be done alone..." "I won't be wearing them." After that, the maids' hands as they combed my hair became noticeably brusque. How dare I attend their master's banquet in such plain attire. They must have thought I was disrespecting them. 'Your master disrespected me first, girls.' I'd made an effort to ‌‌be ‌‌as courteous as possible given this zombie apocalypse. ‌‌‌"Have a pleasant evening, Young Lady." "Yes. Don't wait for me—go rest early." I was starving. I couldn't wait for the maid to open the door and yanked it open myself. And my eyes met directly with Cyprus, who was yawning outside. "Oh." What are you doing here? Cyprus's eyes widened slightly at my simple attire, then he smiled. "I've come to escort you, my lady." "Ah...." Right. A noblewoman needs a partner to enter the banquet. But I didn't expect him to come. Why didn't he go to Yujein? "Why are you here? Why didn't you go to Yujein?" "Miss Yujein will be escorted by the Lord." "I see. You must be disappointed." "Do I look disappointed?" "Yes." "I'm not." Sure you're not. I suppressed a sigh and placed my hand on Cyprus's arm as he extended it toward me. "How is it? Impressive, isn't it? The muscle?" "It's just thick." "Come on. Feel it properly." ‌‌Cyprus smiled at the Young Maids, who had frozen at the sight of his handsome face up close, and led me forward. "Aren't you hungry, my ‌‌‌‌lady?" "Starving. Tell everyone not to eat anything. I'm going to eat it all." "That won't do. Leave at least one piece of bread." "Because of what Your Majesty does." Indeed, since the Villa, his manner toward me had become subtly more ‌‌‌familiar. Perhaps a sense of camaraderie had formed between us. From my perspective, it was welcome. 'We'll be working together going forward, so there's no benefit to him putting me down.' Though I can't know what he's truly thinking. Cyprus spoke. "Praha went to escort the Lord's wife. He's the ‌‌‌highest-ranking man among ‌‌‌‌us." "I see." So the Lord escorting Yujein also means he's treating her as the highest-ranking woman here. "If you felt slighted that the Lord didn't come to you...." "What? No. Not at all." After Yujein's awakening, I already knew our statuses had become equal. Equal in name, but in reality, it's reversed. In rarity or ability. By any measure, the Saint ‌‌‌outranks me. "Isn't it still better to go with me than with the lord?" "Going alone would be best." We ‌‌‌‌bickered our way out to the Backyard. ‌‌The Prome Family, seizing the opportunity of a lifetime, had arranged the space in the Backyard since the castle lacked a suitable venue. 'They really spent some money.' Blue roses adorning the entire garden, cream-colored ‌‌‌‌ribbons, candles. Channels flowing with chocolate and mead. A tower stacked with pumpkin pies. Multiple tables. The invited retainers of Prome were already filling the elegantly carved circular tables. A servant in formal attire approached us and guided us to our seats. I paused for a moment upon ‌‌‌seeing my assigned seat. "...." Did these people not understand moderation? [(Temporary Safe Zone) Promé Castle] - 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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