A Korean Office Worker Who Became a Nuisance Villainess in a Zombie Story - Chapter 132

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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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“Don’t look at me like that. I’m just as bewildered.”
Praha pressed his forehead with the air of someone nursing a headache.
Regardless, we all stared at Praha with our souls seemingly departed from our bodies.
“Pochacha invited His Highness to….”
“A coming-of-age ceremony….”
“And she was wearing nothing but underwear….”
“Was she even wearing underwear? I thought she was just wearing a robe…?”
“Eek.”
I covered my mouth with my hand, utterly speechless.
Pochacha, the heir to Sodom. Fifteen, sixteen years old? Being generous, she’s a high school student.
Praha. Already well into adulthood.
With such an age gap, why would she invite him to that?
Wasn’t a coming-of-age ceremony supposed to be something only adults participated in?
Like, “Want to come over and have ramen at my place?” kind of thing.
A seductive gesture exchanged between adults who knew exactly what they were doing.
Could a minor even do something like that?!
“Good heavens….”
The world truly is in decline….
“I won’t be going.”
Praha responded firmly to me, who was covering my mouth in shock. Apparently one firm declaration wasn’t enough, as he emphasized it twice, then three times.
“I absolutely will not go. I’d rather die. I’d sooner take my own life than set foot in that place.”
“Y-yes, you shouldn’t go….”
She’s just a child….
I’m too flabbergasted to even feel jealous.
A girl barely in high school thinking of inviting an adult man to a coming-of-age ceremony.
No, more than that—thinking of holding such a ceremony in the first place.
Does Sodom have no laws? No rules like “alcohol, tobacco, and coming-of-age ceremonies prohibited for minors”?!
Beside me, equally dumbfounded, Tangerine and Yujein murmured to each other.
“A coming-of-age ceremony….”
“I thought those only existed in novels…? Like when the Queen had an affair with the Grand Duke….”
“What kind of novels have you been reading, Yujein….”
“It seems Pochacha is eager to grow up quickly….”
“Y-yes, that must be it…. Adults are already struggling against aging….”
Now that I think about it, my mother once suggested I invite Praha to my coming-of-age ceremony.
I refused in horror.
Not only did I have no desire to invite him, but I doubted he would come anyway.
He only shows me his gentle side, but Praha is actually quite skilled at refusing things.
So why did he agree to go this time?
Just then, Cyprus asked the very question I was wondering about.
“Why did you agree to go in the first place, Praha?”
“I never said I would go. I refused the moment I heard about it.”
“Then?”
“She didn’t listen to me.”
“Hmm.”
“I’m serious. I really did refuse.”
Praha, having said this, watched our expressions carefully.
Particularly mine.
It wasn’t that he feared I’d be disappointed in him for fooling around with a young girl.
It was far worse than that.
He was terrified we’d see him as a perverted deviant who belonged with a child.
Sensing that the situation was becoming entertaining from Praha’s panicked demeanor, Cyprus smirked.
“My, what a wicked man! Tormenting a child by giving her false hope!”
“That’s not what—”
“Oh, it absolutely is! You scolded Pochacha in front of us, then secretly comforted her behind our backs, didn’t you?”
“…”
“I should spread the word. That the Empire’s Crown Prince chased after a minor’s coming-of-age ceremony.”
“…Try it. If you want another beating.”
“I don’t mind, but will you be fine? Attending the ceremony with a bruised face?”
“I’m not going!”
“Oh, now you’re shouting. Are you shouting because you’re caught?”
“…”
At this point, Cyprus seemed born solely to exasperate Praha.
When had Praha ever even hit Cyprus anyway?
“I’m not going. Absolutely not. Even if a blade were at my throat, I wouldn’t go.”
“I don’t believe you. I want to see you get angry.”
“That’s right! Children may act that way, but adults shouldn’t! For the Crown Prince to humor Pochacha’s adorable antics—how disappointing!”
“Hehehehe…”
Soon Tangerine and Yujein joined in teasing Praha as well.
Praha, his face flushed with indignation, tried to meet my eyes and offer an explanation, but I deliberately looked away.
“I really did refuse…”
“We won’t hear such cowardly excuses. Everyone, come this way.”
“Understood!”
The teasing finally ceased when scantily-clad servants rushed into our room en masse. Only then did Cyprus stop laughing and speak.
“I summoned them. I asked them to hang a curtain, carpet, or leather covering on the door if wooden or iron doors cannot be installed.”
“That’s an excellent idea!”
“Phew. It’s nice not having to walk all the way to the bathroom just to change clothes.”
Soon the servants, dressed in garments that seemed ready to fall away with a single tug of a string, began their work.
The work proceeded quite smoothly, except for how the servants kept glancing over here and smiling with their eyes the entire time.
“…Those people… they’re showing an awful lot of unnecessary skin, don’t you think, Yusara?”
“…Yes. They don’t need to, yet they keep unnecessarily raising their arms.”
Is this neighborhood really going to be fine as it is?
But the real ordeal was only just beginning.
* * *
The next day.
My first morning in Sodom.
The Lord of Sodom had invited us to a “special event.”
So after a quick wash and breakfast, I set out from the castle with Muffin, Cheese, and even Cheese’s younger sibling in tow.
“What is this place? A performance venue?”
“There are so many seats! All of Sodom’s citizens could fit inside with room to spare!”
True to her words, an enormous amphitheater-shaped venue was bustling with event preparations.
“You there! Pull that rope tighter! Yes! Make sure it’s visible from this angle!”
The voice calling out from the center of the stage below carried cleanly to the very back rows, while couples with children and lovers were filling the seats.
In the VIP seating with a clear view of the stage sat the Lord of Sodom along with her two daughters, Pochacha and Melon.
Incidentally, Pochacha had sent someone (a maid dressed in scandalously revealing clothes) to our room early this morning to urge Praha to attend, only to be coldly refused.
“You’ve arrived.”
The Lord of Sodom stood and bowed upon seeing us, and Pochacha and Melon reluctantly rose as well.
With a pouty expression, Pochacha, having given up on Praha, began clinging to Cyprus instead.
“Your Grace, did you sleep well?”
“Quite well, thank you.”
Today Pochacha had her curly red hair twisted up into a single knot and wore a dress and accessories coordinated in shades of green.
The emerald earrings hanging from her ears were so large that her already small face appeared even tinier.
‘It seems she put extra effort into her grooming ritual knowing Praha would be attending.’
Though in the end, Praha didn’t go.
Just then, Pochacha, who had linked her arm through Cyprus’s, brought up the subject.
“Your Grace wouldn’t be the sort of man to wound a woman’s heart, would you? I’m planning to hold another grooming ritual tomorrow. What do you think—does it interest you?”
Cyprus laughed as he smoothly withdrew his arm from hers.
“How troublesome. There’s only one grooming ritual I wish to attend.”
“Once you experience mine, I’m sure you’ll change your mind.”
As if to prove her point, Pochacha spread open a feathered fan wide, fluttering it gracefully around her exposed neck.
The Lord of Sodom, who should have scolded her daughter for such behavior, merely laughed, while the rest of us stood frozen, unable even to sit.
“I don’t know who that special person of yours is, but I’m sure they’d understand. Any woman confident in her own charm would.”
“Even if that person were to understand, I still wouldn’t attend your ritual, Miss Pochacha.”
Cyprus replied, still smiling.
“Why not?”
“I was about to say it’s not about understanding—I simply wish to maintain my own integrity. But I can see you’re not convinced.”
“No, I’m not. It’s just a grooming ritual. Why do you act like a monk about it?”
“The ritual itself is the problem. You’re not yet an adult, Miss Pochacha.”
“I’ll be an adult in just a few years. What about then?”
“That would still be troublesome. By then, I’ll have become an old man.”
Pochacha, rejected repeatedly, pouted her lips in frustration. Yet refusing to give up, she turned her gaze back toward Praha.
The moment Pochacha’s eyes met mine, Praha spoke up.
“If you suggest it one more time, I’ll jump right off this balcony.”
“Why? Surely Your Highness doesn’t have a woman on your mind as well?”
“Does it not appear that way?”
“That’s impossible…”
Pochacha shook her head as if denying reality, then burst out.
“Why on earth? Whoever these women are that both Your Highnesses have on your minds, they can’t be younger than me. I’m only sixteen now. The youngest and most beautiful age, isn’t it?”
This is maddening. Here’s a sixteen-year-old actively building a catalog of embarrassing moments in real time—shouldn’t someone stop her?
“If I truly look nothing but like a child to you, then couldn’t you come more openly?”
“I want some sweets…… Can we sit down soon?”
Tangerine yawned beside me and muttered under her breath.
The moment we arrived, Pochacha clung to Cyprus, and we missed our chance to sit—we were still standing.
‘Now that I think about it, Pochacha…’
She’d only spoken to Praha and Cyprus the entire time, not saying a single word to us.
I clicked my tongue at her subtly dismissive attitude toward the women.
“Now, now, that’s enough.”
Only then did the Local Lord step in and end the situation.
We settled into the VIP Seating of the Amphitheater, arranged in two rows.
I seated Muffin and Cheese beside me—along with Cheese’s Sibling—noticing they were looking around curiously as if visiting a place like this for the first time, and handed them cool drinks.
“What are we watching today?”
“I have no idea. Some play or… singing?”
Seeing so many people in the audience with children in tow, it didn’t seem like they’d be showing anything obscene or violent—perhaps a puppet show of some kind?
Whatever it was, it would surely be child-appropriate.
With that thought, I sipped the sangria in my hand.
Soon, two handsome men took the stage.
[Sodom Amphitheater Performance]
-Yusara, Praha, Cyprus, Yujein, Tangerine, Muffin, Cheese, Cheese’s Sibling (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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