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A Corporate Slave Becomes a Villainous Nuisance ‌in a Zombie Apocalypse
Episode 48
The past.
Three people in their teenage years.
When Yusara still harbored feelings for Cyprus.
That day, snow fell heavily in the depths of winter.
In weather so cold it froze even tears, neither the Imperial Army nor their enemies could survive.
When winter arrived, both sides observed an unspoken agreement to cease their war of attrition and consolidate their forces.
Praha and Cyprus had also returned to the Capital as winter descended.
And the moment word of Cyprus's return spread, someone came rushing forward.
"Cyprus!"
"Yusara."
Morning.
At an hour that barely adhered to propriety—far too early for a noble girl to venture out.
Yusara, her ‌cheeks flushed crimson from the cold, knocked on the Grand Duke's Residence door, trudging through snow that buried her ankles.
Once shown into the reception room, the girl ignored Praha, who sat reading a ‌‌‌‌‌book in the same space, and spoke only to Cyprus, ‌‌‌the one she favored.
"I've been waiting for you!"
Spring, summer, and autumn felt far too long.
"I've come to love winter now. Because it's the season you return."
Half-melted snowflakes dripped steadily from her hair and gloved hands as she spoke her honest feelings.
Yet she smiled brightly, looking like a drowned rat. ‌‌‌
Praha, catching a glimpse of her, thought to himself.
'She didn't even bring a Young Maid.'
"Cyprus, did you receive my letter?"
"No. Letters don't reach the Northern Front."
'A lie.'
I saw unopened letters from you being used as kindling in your tent.
Unlike Yusara, Praha had no intention of visiting Cyprus this morning.
He had simply stayed late the previous evening reviewing the state of the war, and the ‌‌‌accumulated snow had prevented him from leaving—now he looked between the two with an awkward expression. ‌‌‌
"I see. Then I'll send more! At least one will get through."
'No matter how many you send, Cyprus won't read them.' ‌‌‌‌
"While you were gone, I...."
"Yes." ‌‌‌‌
Cyprus's expression remained serene as he watched Yusara follow him about.
"So I...."
Chatter, chatter.
What had happened in the Capital during the past three seasons, which streets had new shops, how many traitors had been executed ‌‌in the square.
Cyprus gently interrupted Yusara, who spoke without pause.
"Yusara."
"Yes!"
"I'm sorry, but I have an urgent letter I need to send. Would you mind waiting here for a moment?"
"A letter?"
"I received it over the summer. I haven't had a chance to reply yet."
"Oh, sure!"
"That's right. Praha ‌‌will keep you company in the meantime."
"Okay!"
Just moments ago, Cyprus had said letters never reached the Northern Front.
Now he was leaving to write a reply?
Yet Yusara simply nodded at Cyprus's unfailingly courteous and gentle demeanor.
Only Praha, suddenly left alone with Yusara, stiffened visibly, his lips pressing into a thin line.
"Then."
Cyprus departed.
Yusara, who until then had kept her gloves and hat on, finally removed her coat and handed it to a servant.
"It's cold...."
She murmured, moving toward the fireplace.
The cheerful chatter that had filled her mouth moments before fell silent.
"...."
"...."
Silence ‌‌‌settled over the drawing room.
Praha, seated by the window, quietly lifted his gaze, watching for a moment as water droplets fell from Yusara's dark hair and slowly dried by the hearth—
then lowered his eyes back ‌to his book.
"...."
"...."
Yusara did not speak to Praha.
Praha did not speak to Yusara.
Between the boy and girl who exchanged not a single word, only the crackling of burning logs echoed.
Ten minutes. Twenty minutes. Thirty minutes.
Three hours.
Until the sun climbed to its warmest position and the ‌‌‌snow had nearly melted, when Praha began preparing to return to the Palace.
Cyprus had not returned.
"...."
"...."
Yusara, who had been facing the fireplace, did not rise.
Her hair had long since dried. Her cheeks glowed warmly from the heat, yet still she did not move.
"The weather is turning cold, Your Highness."
To the Imperial Palace Attendant wrapping a scarf around me, I asked quietly.
"Where is Cyprus?"
"His Grace the Grand Duke has stepped out. He asked me to tell you that he will see you at the Palace tomorrow."
"...I understand."
Yusara must have clearly heard what the Attendant said. ‌‌‌
Yet Yusara stubbornly kept her back to him, her gaze fixed solely on the flames dancing in the fireplace.
Her face flushed crimson, beads of perspiration gathering on her brow—
As if she hadn't heard a single word.
"Then."
With nothing left to say and no gift for eloquence to draw upon,
Praha merely bowed his head and turned to leave the drawing room, when at the last moment, ‌‌‌he spun back around.
"Your Highness."
It was impulse.
He lacked the words,
But leaving that hunched back alone, that stubborn silhouette—it was too much.
"Cyprus is not a good man."
"...."
He watched Yusara's unresponsive form for a moment before attempting to depart.
"I know."
Her answer came still with her back turned.
"I know Cyprus is not a good man."
"...."
"But he's the man I love."
"...."
"That's what matters most to me."
Separate from whether someone is objectively good, there is the man I love.
That's what matters most to me....
In the carriage returning to the Imperial Palace, Praha turned those words over in his mind endlessly.
* * *
Two winters passed ‌‌after that.
The voices of Praha and Cyprus, which had grown hoarse enough to amuse the generals for a time, began to deepen.
Their gangly frames, once unstable as young fawns with only elongated limbs, began to solidify into proper form.
This memory was ‌‌‌set at the Imperial Palace's New Year's banquet.
The Empire, locked in prolonged war, saw its high season of society during winter when noble officers returned from the front lines.
Moreover, that year was when rumors swept through all of high society that "the Grand Duke has finally rejected the ‌‌‌‌Princess."
The scandal sheets competed to publish accounts of Yusara's humiliation.
"At last, we'll see the Princess's shamefaced expression."
"I'm dying to know what expression she'll wear when she appears."
Even ‌‌‌those who had chosen plush ‌‌‌sofas and mulled wine over parties in ‌‌‌that harsh season stirred their heavy frames to attend the banquet, desperate to witness the Princess's face.
"If I could ‌‌attend only one party, I would choose the Imperial Palace's New Year's banquet."
"So would I. Both of the people we're anticipating will be attending that ‌‌‌banquet, won't they?"
"Isn't this the first time ‌‌the Princess will face the Grand Duke in public since that day?"
How trivial, to be so invested in a teenage girl's romantic rejection. These people had nothing better to do.
Praha thought this while still in his teens himself.
'There's no need to wound someone else's already damaged feelings further.'
Even if the entire world rushed to catch a glimpse of the Crown Prince's sister, Praha himself had no intention of joining them.
Which is to say, I swear by all that is holy, witnessing this scene was entirely against my will.
'You cannot breathe a word of what you've just seen. Do you understand?'
'....'
'Do you understand?!'
The problematic New ‌‌Year's Banquet in question.
Exhausted the moment I laid eyes on the crowd, Praha had slipped away early. ‌
I was alone in a Guest Room one floor above the Banquet Hall, reading a migratory bird encyclopedia.
Hidden behind the curtains, lest the Attendants discover my whereabouts.
Which ‌‌‌‌is precisely why encountering the Crown Prince's sister here was entirely unintentional.
"I absolutely won't ‌‌‌‌‌‌‌cry. Absolutely not!"
The Crown Prince's sister, who had been ‌smiling right up until she left the Banquet Hall.
Suddenly burst through the door with a bang and crouched down on the spot.
Praha nearly dropped the book ‌‌‌he was holding.
"Absolutely... absolutely!"
Yet tears streamed freely down the Crown Prince's sister's cheeks.
All the while, she clenched her teeth to keep from making a sound.
"...."
Watching Yusara cry so hard that both her cheeks were drenched.
Praha, still hidden behind the curtain, found himself at a loss ‌‌‌for when he should emerge.
'I'll just stay hidden.'
That was the conclusion I reached.
I would remain concealed until the Crown Prince's sister left, then slip out afterward without her knowing.
With that resolve, I folded my body—already far larger than most adult men—into an awkward crouch.
But then.
A Noble Lady who had followed Yusara (Praha, even now as an adult, still doesn't know this lady's name) opened the closed door.
"...!"
The eyes of the Crown Prince's sister, wiping away tears ‌‌with the back ‌of her hand, met those of the smiling Noble Lady.
"My goodness, Your Highness...! Are you crying right now?"
"You...!"
The Crown Prince's sister swiftly grabbed the Noble Lady's wrist and pulled her into the room, then locked the door.
"Hmph."
You've locked the door. But can you lock your own mouth as well?
The Noble Lady's lips curled ‌‌upward, as if to say: go ahead and try.
And Praha witnessed it.
The moment the Crown Prince's sister used 'that ability'.
"You cannot tell anyone what you've just seen."
It was the moment Yusara awakened her hypnotic magic for the first time.
"...!"
The Noble Lady's lips trembled under the spell's influence before forcibly sealing shut.
The Noble Lady's expression, producing only faint whimpering sounds, was so peculiar that all three of them immediately recognized it as magic.
And they all knew exactly who had cast it.
Whirrrr whirrrr whirrrr—
The Imperial Palace's security alarm, detecting the magic, began wailing loudly.
"Miss, what did you just do to me...?"
What Yusara, using this ability for the first time, didn't know was this:
This magic was not permanent.
Once the ability's time limit expired, the Noble Lady would be freed and would leave to spread word of the scene she had just witnessed.
Of course, that 'scene' also ‌included the ‌‌‌strange magic Yusara had cast on me.
Whirrrr whirrrr whirrrr—
"Who goes there!"
I could hear Imperial Knights rushing toward us from a ‌‌distance.
Before me: a Noble Lady grinning cruelly. Behind me: a door about to burst open with knights.
Yusara, ‌‌‌‌her face drained of all color.
'What do I do.'
I deliberated, but my body was already rising to its feet and stepping forward before my mind could catch up.
The door swung open!
"What's the matter...! Your Highness?"
"It's nothing. I made a mistake."
I, Praha, emerging from behind the curtain, calmly handled the Imperial Knights who had rushed in.
Soon, when only the three of us remained in the room,
I spoke to the two girls, who were shocked at the discovery of another person's presence.
"I would appreciate it if everything the Noble ‌‌‌‌Lady experienced here remained confidential."
More precisely, ‌‌‌‌‌I ‌spoke to the Noble Lady standing before Yusara.
"Y-yes?"
"If it becomes known that you followed the Crown Prince out of the Banquet Hall, it wouldn't be good for you either, would ‌‌it?"
It was Yusara, not me, whom the noble girl had followed, but I spoke as though I didn't know.
"Do not speak of this. ‌‌‌In return, I will not pursue the matter of you secretly following me."
"B-but Your Highness. You saw it yourself. The magic...."
"The alarm went off due to my mistake."
"That's...!"
"I tend to make many mistakes."
With an expressionless face no different from usual, I threatened her.
Never to reveal to anyone what happened in this room for the rest of her life.
"Otherwise, I myself cannot predict what rumors I might spread about you."
It took the Noble Lady, her face flushed crimson, less than five minutes to rush out.
Only the two of us remained in the room.
"...."
"...."
A sigh.
"I told you I'm ‌‌‌‌‌not a good man."
Though there was much else he could have said, those were the words that emerged from Praha's lips.
At his words, Yusara looked up at Praha.
Their eyes met.
I thought to myself, 'This is the first time she's looked at me with such intensity,' Praha reflected.
For ‌‌some reason, I found myself unwilling to look away, so we ‌‌held each other's gaze for a long moment.
Yusara spoke.
"Your Highness saved me."
"...."
"Why did you do that? When you don't ‌‌‌‌‌even like me."
"It ‌‌‌seemed like the right thing to do."
"You're not saying you don't dislike me?"
"...."
Because I do dislike you.
Yusara stared intently at Praha, who met her gaze with stubborn silence.
"Your Highness."
"Yes."
"If that Noble Lady hadn't come ‌‌in, you would have stayed hidden until I left, wouldn't you?"
"...Yes."
I cannot lie.
At Praha's affirmation with a nod, Yusara fell silent.
A smile slowly bloomed across her tear-stained ‌‌‌face.
"Not a good man...."
Two winters ago, in the reception room of the Grand Duke's Residence, Yusara remembered the conversation they ‌‌‌had shared.
Suddenly, Yusara asked.
"Then what about you, Your Highness?"
Are ‌‌you a good man? ‌‌‌‌Someone worthy of my love?
To that question, Praha had answered thus.
[What the three attendees of the New Year's Banquet were most concerned with]
Yusara: I must shine the brightest here today.
Praha: When should I slip away to make it seem natural?
Cyprus: ♩ ♪♬(Lost in thought)

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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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