A Korean Office Worker Who Became a Nuisance Villainess in a Zombie Story - Chapter 10

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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“Mascarpone’s family runs a trading company. There’s no other major merchant house besides yours that has a license to handle enchanted items.”
“And?”
Mascarpone’s expression grew guarded. From the look on her face, she already knew what I was about to say. I shrugged and asked.
“Don’t you have something that might be useful?”
“Pardon?”
“I mean the magical items you’re carrying. Even if you couldn’t bring weapons to the Imperial Palace, surely you have something like self-defense tools.”
“….”
“I’d think you’d have at least one.”
“I don’t.”
The immediate response surprised me. As I blinked, Mascarpone shot back at me.
“As you said, this is an Imperial Family villa, and I didn’t anticipate something like this would happen, so I didn’t bring anything. I left my self-defense items with offensive enchantments at the Imperial Palace with my knights.”
“I see.”
“If I had something useful, I would have brought it out already. Why? Is it my fault for not anticipating this and not bringing anything? What are you blaming me for?”
Why was she accelerating into defensiveness like that…
‘She must be sensitive because the Troublemaker called her dead weight earlier, and I touched a nerve.’
My desperate question, grasping at straws, must have sounded to Mascarpone’s already-hostile ears like: ‘You’re the daughter of a magical shop family and didn’t bring even one decent self-defense item? What dead weight you are.’ That’s probably how she heard it.
That wasn’t what I meant at all.
Her unexpectedly sharp reaction left me flustered. Mascarpone was staring at me with a thoroughly venomous expression.
I exchanged glances with Mascarpone for a moment—she looked ready to counter with a hundred words if I said even one.
“No, I’m sorry. I was just asking on the off chance.”
“….”
“I wasn’t trying to suspect or blame you.”
Without waiting for a response, I stood up.
I asked Dazling.
“Is it alright if I go inside?”
At my request for his permission, Dazling’s eyes widened. The Crown Prince answered instead.
“Why do you wish to go inside?”
“To see the treasures.”
“…Yes. Please go ahead.”
Alright then, let’s go.
I grabbed my left arm with my right hand and pulled it diagonally downward. Stretching thoroughly, I walked into the gallery.
On my way, I made sure to step on the Troublemaker’s hand as if by accident.
“Ow!”
“Oh my, I’m so sorry. I did that on purpose~”
“You crazy… ugh!”
“Papri! Please be quiet!”
Before the Troublemaker, having heard my conversation with Mascarpone, could come at me with ‘What, lady? You got something? Hand it over! You don’t? What dead weight!’
* * *
I was actually feeling a bit of responsibility for the situation we were in.
‘We’re trapped here because I provoked the Troublemaker, after all.’
Because the Troublemaker, furious, kicked the wall with a bang.
If I hadn’t angered the Troublemaker, he wouldn’t have kicked the wall, and if he hadn’t kicked the wall, the zombies wouldn’t have appeared.
‘Though ultimately, it’s the Troublemaker’s fault for running his mouth without thinking.’
Regardless, I had to fix this.
Still, this group are the protagonists—they won’t die pathetically trapped here.
There has to be a way. I just haven’t found it yet.
And I had a feeling finding it would be easier than I thought.
‘Grant me strength, directors of this absurd blessing at dawn.’
In those stories, they always evade and escape zombies using all sorts of methods!
Remember something! There are plenty of ways!
I shuffled forward as if playing an escape room game.
Fatigue washed over my feet as I dragged the heavy military boots along.
Drowsy, exhausted, worn out.
“I’d rather go back to the company.”
I couldn’t believe I’d said I wanted to go to the company. It was the first time since my job-hunting days.
In the dark gallery, the Imperial Palace treasures were displayed on either side along the corridor, placed casually on rectangular pedestals wrapped in velvet as if no one ever considered theft.
Under the dim, hazy lighting, only the treasures gleamed like stars.
Tiaras worn at coronations, sculptures from the temple that once stood where this villa now is, and other priceless, precious items.
I was gazing at the first emperor’s cocoa cup made of opal and white crystal.
“If you want it, take it.”
“Yelp!”
I turned around to find the Grand Duke standing there.
The Grand Duke, who had appeared behind me without warning, lifted the cocoa cup I’d been looking at and handed it to me.
“This villa was built as His Majesty’s birthplace. Praha was born here and stayed until his hundredth day. This cup was brought then.”
I looked at it hesitantly before asking.
“If I take this, will I be executed?”
“Well, this island is already ruined anyway. No one will ever know you took it.”
“No one will know? The heavens know, the earth knows, I know, and Your Highness the Grand Duke, who could report me, knows. I’ll pass.”
Is he trying to let me take it so he can report me later and have me executed?
At my words, the Grand Duke laughed.
“Do you think I would report the lady?”
The Grand Duke’s golden hair gleamed under the dim lighting as he spoke. Hair brilliant enough to deserve a place among the Imperial Family’s treasures. A radiance that outshone the opal and white crystal before me a hundredfold.
“Tell me, lady. Do I seem like the type to report you?”
“Well… isn’t it right to report a thief when you see one?”
“You have little faith in me. I followed you all the way here deliberately to protect you as you entered alone.”
“That was quite unnecessary of you. Thank you regardless.”
“Were you very disappointed by what happened earlier?”
At his sudden question, I tilted my head in confusion.
What happened earlier?
Oh.
You and the Crown Prince ignored me and only looked after Yujein.
‘When are you bringing up ancient history?’
So much had happened in the meantime that it felt like something from the distant past.
When you think about it, it was the catalyst that got us trapped here in the first place.
“No, Your Highness.”
I spoke to the Grand Duke, who was observing me from above.
“I’m not hurt at all.”
“Why aren’t you hurt at all?”
“Because you can only feel hurt if you had some expectation to begin with.”
“….”
“I have no expectations of either of Your Highnesses.”
That’s a lie. Truth be told, I’m incredibly hurt.
But I have my pride. I’ll never admit I’m hurt.
I straightened my shoulders and lifted my chin.
I made my declaration to the Grand Duke.
“If Your Highness and a man I love both fell into the water later, I’d save the man I love first. You do the same. Let’s each do what we want and hold no grudges.”
The Grand Duke, who had been staring at me intently, spoke.
“But the princess likes Praha, doesn’t she?”
“….”
“And that Praha prioritized Yujein over the princess just now.”
That’s right. Damn it. He did.
“…I suppose I’ll have to find a new man.”
The Grand Duke’s eyes widened slightly, as if my answer was unexpected.
I met his gaze boldly, without hesitation.
Even when surprised, he’s handsome.
Remarkable.
‘Believe what you want. I don’t like you. Why? Because you’re too far from me.’
You’re from a different world than me, and you don’t like me. More than that—you hate me.
And with your excessive height, even the distance between your lips and mine is too great.
‘Everything about you is distant. Just all of it.’
I’m too worn out and tired to cling to a man who says he dislikes me, sacrificing my pride.
These self-assured handsome men need to learn that there are plenty of other options in this world besides themselves.
‘It was the princess Yusara who liked the Crown Prince and Grand Duke from the start… not me.’
With that resolve, I didn’t avert my gaze.
The bright eyes meeting mine gleamed with intrigue. The Grand Duke, who had been fixing those pale-grape-colored eyes on me and staring for a while, suddenly burst into laughter.
“Do you know how funny you are right now?”
“Me?”
“Your expression is rotten, but your tone is so polite.”
“Ah.”
“When I talk nonsense, my family’s butler has exactly the same expression as you.”
So your butler is also a weary office worker, it seems.
The Grand Duke, chuckling at his own amusement, set down the cocoa cup he’d been holding carelessly. I regarded the blonde handsome man who’d suddenly latched onto me with obvious displeasure before speaking.
“Anyway, I’m not upset, and I have no intention of saying anything to Yujein about what happened earlier. That’s what you were curious about, isn’t it? Now that you have your answer, please leave.”
“My lady, I….”
The Grand Duke tried to say something, but my attention had already shifted elsewhere.
I squinted at the pillar-like form lying in the corner.
‘What is that?’
Frowning, I approached it.
It was a corpse. A decapitated corpse.
Before the final display—a portrait of a young armored emperor—lay a severed body, its head separated from its torso. Someone had carelessly shoved the severed head into a corner. The blood seeping from the severed surface reeked of decay.
I stopped, afraid I’d slip on the sticky blood.
The Grand Duke, seeing me stare blankly at the corpse’s torso, stopped speaking and laughed awkwardly.
“That’s why I said you should come with me.”
“….”
“Are you alright?”
“…Did His Majesty dispose of this corpse?”
“It was already dead when I found it. Dazling severed the head, and I merely cheered him on.”
“….”
I’d make sure not to provoke Dazling from now on!
“My lady, are you truly alright?”
Without responding, I crouched before the corpse’s torso. Turning my back to him, I flipped the prone body with my fingertips.
…As I thought.
This one has it too.
I slipped the glimmering object that fit in my palm into the pocket of my dress skirt under the pretense of examining the corpse, then stood up.
The Grand Duke asked.
“Why bother flipping over someone else’s severed body? Is looting corpses your hobby?”
“It wasn’t looting—I was examining it.”
“Why examine a corpse? Do you know this one?”
“…I do know them, but.”
It was that Attendant from before.
The one who’d stepped between Mascarpone and me when we’d quarreled right after I’d possessed this body.
“You do know them, but?”
“It’s nothing important. Anyway.”
I stared intently at the zombie corpse that had already lost considerable blood.
Zombies lack vision and rely on hearing and smell to detect us.
‘What if I dismembered this corpse and smeared its organs and blood on my body? If I could deceive the zombies’ senses that way.’
Where had I seen this method before? Was it from The Walking Dead?
The method itself seemed sound, but….
I simply turned my head to the side. I surveyed the tall, handsome man peering over my shoulder.
[Imperial Villa First Floor Gallery—Interior]
– Yusara, Grand Duke (Alive)

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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