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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 68
"I'll go ‌‌alone to negotiate with Marquis Prome."
"Why is that?" ‌‌
"A cornered rat will bite the cat, ‌‌‌after all."
Crunch.
I licked the sugar dusting my lips.
We'd bought pastries that looked like churros from the village bakery, each of us holding one in our mouths as we made our way back to Promé Castle.
When I stood gawking at the bakery's closing sale with my tongue practically hanging out, Tangerine bought them for me.
"My lady, you wanted those, didn't you?"
"How did you know?"
"Because I wanted them too!"
If you want something, you should eat it! Tangerine declared this with such enthusiasm that she kicked open the bakery door and marched inside.
Since Tangerine only had large-denomination bills that could buy the entire bakery, ‌‌‌I'd pretend not to notice that Praha paid for them instead...
'Let's just say Tangerine bought them with Praha's money.'
I continued speaking while brushing away ‌‌‌‌the cascading sugar crystals.
"Once the Lord realizes that both Your Majesties already know about his tax evasion, he'll think everything is lost."
"Then he might resort to self-destruction."
"...You're right. A cornered man will do anything."
"Yes. Normally we wouldn't care either way, but that's not what we want right now, is it?"
Our current goal isn't to deliver divine retribution upon that wicked Lord.
It's to quickly and ‌‌‌efficiently exterminate the zombies first.
"We can remember the Lord's crimes and hold him accountable after this is over. ‌‌‌‌For that to happen, both Your Majesties need to ‌‌‌pretend you don't know about this for now."
Ugh, it's too sweet. I can't eat anymore.
It's fried until crispy, rolled in sugar, and dusted with cinnamon—even half of it is too much.
"My lady, are you done eating?"
"Yes. Now I want a cream coffee. The kind where you stir the cream a thousand times until it's thick and fluffy on top."
"Can't you have it when we return?"
"All my maids should be ‌‌‌‌off duty by now, and I'd feel bad calling them back just for that."
I wished a fairy would appear and hand me a cream coffee.
As I muttered this, still awkwardly holding the half-eaten pastry, Praha approached and took it from my hand.
He finished it in two bites, then crumpled the ‌‌‌wrapper and tossed it into a trash bin.
The surroundings suddenly fell ‌‌silent.
I was taken aback too.
'He just ate what I left behind... Why would he...?'
Even my own mother wouldn't eat my leftovers...
While everyone else just rolled their eyes, only Praha's expression remained unbothered.
He didn't even seem aware of what he'd just done.
Calmly, Praha ‌spoke.
"This time we were fortunate enough to hear one person's circumstances and provide relief."
Cyprus received her words with an expression as though suppressing a laugh.
"Right, there are probably ‌countless people in this country in circumstances similar to Smoothie's. How should we save all of them?"
"...Indeed. Perhaps establish a suggestion box?"
"My lady, what is a suggestion box?"
"Well, it's..."
And so the explanation went on and on.
"My lady, you certainly know many ingenious systems."
"Yes, well. In any case, first the nobles who govern must come to their senses."
"Let's make an example of Marquis Prome this time and give him a thorough beating."
"Yes! Let's hang him in the Capital Square and stone him!"
"Tangerine, you ‌‌‌can kill a person with a single stone.... Isn't that just saying we should execute him?"
"Exactly!"
As we continued our conversation, the Lord's castle came into view ahead of us.
"In any case, ‌‌let's say I discovered the Lord's tax evasion while wandering about alone, as I do enjoy poking into such matters."
"Do you think the Baron will believe it?"
"He'll believe it if I say I came to negotiate alone because I wanted to monopolize the credit."
"Then we shall return and prepare to climb the mountain again tomorrow morning!"
"My lady, do your best!"
After concluding our conspiracy, I parted ways with the group.
"Wait a moment."
Praha stopped me as I was about to enter.
"What is it, Your Majesty?"
"Once you finish your conversation with the Baron, might I see you briefly in the courtyard?"
"Of course. I should report to Your Majesty how things have progressed."
"That too, but..."
"But?"
"It's nothing."
"What ‌do you mean, leaving your sentence unfinished?"
I narrowed my eyes and pressed Praha for answers. He kept his lips firmly sealed and merely shook his head obediently.
What was that about?
"Very well. I'll see you later then."
And so I entered the Lord's castle alone with confidence.
The two guards standing watch at the castle gate widened their eyes as ‌‌‌‌they saw me striding forward.
"...My lady?" ‌‌‌
"Yes, it is indeed the lady."
☆I make my grand entrance☆
What happened next proceeded roughly as follows.
I caused quite a commotion.
"Marquis Prome, come out!"
You know how it goes in those dramas.
I pushed past the employees ‌‌‌‌trying to stop me and stormed into the company, flipping it upside down.
'I've always wanted to do something like this!'
Grabbing and smashing everything within reach, I made ‌‌‌a beeline for the Lord of Prome's bedchamber.
The Lord of Prome, who had already retired for the night, bolted upright in panic.
"G-Grand Princess?!"
Jingle. Jingle.
'This man ‌‌‌even sleeps with a bundle of keys fastened to his waist.'
"G-Grand Princess. Why are you suddenly doing this...?"
I arrogantly tilted my chin up at the stammering Lord of Prome.
I repeated the exact words I'd spoken before the castle gates.
"That's right. I am the Empire's one and only Grand Princess."
Normally he ‌was so eager to dismiss me, but the moment I invoked my rank to crush him, he crumbled instantly. ‌‌‌‌
At my arbitrary ‌‌‌‌demands, tea and desserts were hastily prepared in the Lord ‌of Prome's private chambers.
I seated the Lord of Prome before me in his pajamas ‌‌‌and sleeping cap, then sipped my tea and ate cake at a leisurely pace.
'He can't even blink without permission. So this is the thrill of playing the villainess.'
After dragging out the moment long enough for his anxiety to mount sufficiently.
"Grand Princess, surely this isn't because I refused your companions' stay in Prome...?"
"That's not why I'm doing this. Your refusal means nothing to me."
Once you hear what I have to say, you'll have ‌no choice but ‌‌‌to retract that refusal anyway.
And indeed, that's exactly what happened.
The corruption in Prome Territory came pouring out of my mouth in torrents.
Tax evasion, embezzlement, and as a bonus, workplace harassment.
With each word I spoke, the Lord of Prome's face drained ‌‌‌of color in real time.
"Y-You should at least bring evidence if you're going to make such accusations...!"
"Evidence? Of course I have it."
"..."
"But here's the thing. I certainly have evidence, ‌‌but ‌do you think His Majesty the Emperor would even need evidence once he hears this story?"
You know His Majesty's temperament too, don't you?
You saw it during the ‌‌‌‌divorce trial, didn't you?
"If His Majesty learns that you evaded taxes through illicit means, he would probably..."
I placed the apple cinnamon macaron I'd been ‌‍‌eating on top of my head.
Pointing at it with my finger, I spoke.
"Put an apple like this on your son's head and have him shoot it down with an arrow from this~~~much distance away?"
How's your archery, by the way?
Confident?
"Of course, I don't want to be that cruel either. I have just one demand: let my companions achieve what they came to Prome for and leave in peace."
If you grant me that, ‌‌I'll bury your crimes (for now).
Just then, the door to the Lord of Prome's private chambers ‌‌‌opened, and the Lady of Prome entered.
She too had apparently been roused from sleep, wearing only pajamas and a robe. In her hands was a plate piled high with cinnamon rolls.
The ‌‌Lady of Prome offered them to me with an obsequious ‌‌‌‌‌smile.
"Fresh-baked cinnamon rolls. Your conversation seemed to be stretching on, so I thought you might be hungry."
Glancing at the plate, I saw an enormous cinnamon roll the size of my own face, wafting a savory aroma.
It was the very cinnamon roll Praha had raved about before, insisting I simply had ‌‌to try it.
The Baron's wife personally serving refreshments—how attentive.
She must have been quite desperate.
"No matter how important the conversation, filling your stomach comes first, doesn't it? Do try some, won't you?" ‌‌‌
I was already full.
I shook my head firmly.
"It's fine. I don't want any. I'd rather hear your answer to my proposal first."
"My lady, please don't be like that...."
"Choose. Do we go to the Emperor right now as things stand? Or will you allow us to roam the mountain?"
"My lady...."
The Lord of Prome whined, his mouth corners drooping pitifully.
He dragged out his response, refusing ‌‌to commit to an answer.
Beside him, the Lady of Prome licked her lips anxiously, continuing to ‌‌press the cinnamon roll upon me.
Something felt off in that moment.
'This shouldn't be something to hesitate over.'
Choosing between execution and hunting?
The atmosphere felt wrong somehow.
My mind, lost in thought, let words tumble out unbidden.
"...The reason you two don't want us going to the mountain—it's not simply ‌‌about the hunting ground, is it?"
"...."
"Are you two doing something else up there on the ‌‌‌‌mountain?"
As the words left my mouth, I bolted upright from my seat.
'I made a mistake.'
I shouldn't have revealed that I'd caught on.
I needed to leave here.
But the Baron's wife was faster than me.
Thud.
"Husband!"
"Do something, Baron! Move the lady away!"
The Baron's wife, who had hidden a poker beneath her gown, brought it crashing down on my head, then stomped on my fallen back.
Crash.
The plate holding the cinnamon rolls clattered to the floor.
"Baron, hurry!"
"B-but!"
"There's no 'but'! If what we've done is exposed, ‌‌not only will we face execution, but our children will too!"
Smack. Smack.
The Baron's wife, her reason consumed by panic, rained blows upon me while spurring on her husband.
The poker that had just struck the back of my head now battered my shoulders and back indiscriminately.
I curled into a ball against the pain and thought.
'That was a mistake.'
My oversight was not accounting for the Lady of Prome.
With a divorce on paper and no rights to the ‌‌‌‌‌territory, I would have become a kite with a severed string.
Yet this woman still reigns here as the Lady of Prome.
I should have anticipated that she would be far ‌‌superior to her husband.
Smack!
"Baron! Don't just stand there like an idiot!"
"But my lady! The princess said she would keep the tax evasion matter secret!"
"Foolish nonsense! These people are about to comb through Prome Mountain thoroughly! And if by some misfortune they discover that we're hunting ‌‌humans there, ‌we're all dead!"
What? Hunting humans?
Smack!
"How do you even know if that talk ‌‌‌about corpses wasn't just them testing us after figuring out everything we're doing!"
Smack!
"It's all or nothing! Whether we die for human trafficking or for kidnapping the princess!"
"Yes, ‌‌‌yes! I understand!"
"The two Majesties said their schedule is tight, so they won't waste time searching for some missing princess...."
If I just sell the princess off to some foreign land quickly and say she ran away with a man, no one would ever know....
The Lady of Prome pulled the tablecloth away and threw it over my body.
When I resisted, she kicked my head with her foot.
I bit down hard on the ‌‌‌‌sofa, pretending to endure the pain.
'I saw it on TV—the FBI does this when they're kidnapped. I ‌‌forgot why, but!'
It's better ‌‌‌than doing nothing!
"Ugh...."
Blood trickled down my forehead. Soon my body was shoved into something like a box. ‌‌‌
"Ahhh!"
The Lady of Prome mercilessly bent my fingers backward ‌‌‌‌as I resisted being pushed in, then shut the lid and locked it from outside.
'I was careless....'
I should have been more cautious.
'But who would have guessed they were hunting humans in this rural fiefdom.'
But you were careless too.
My companions will come looking for me ‌‌when I disappear.
Definitely.
I'm 100% certain.
[(Temporary ?Safe? Zone) Promé Castle]
- Yusara (Alive)
- Praha, Cyprus, Yujein, Tangerine (???)

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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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