A Korean Office Worker Who Became a Nuisance Villainess in a Zombie Story - Chapter 164

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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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The last time I spoke with Mother before leaving the Capital.
I had boasted grandly to her that I would save the world, and in front of her who rejected the light, I had opened the windows to invite the sunlight inside.
This was our first reunion since parting ways that day.
But it seemed I was the only one who had been nervous.
“You, you, you! Who are you! You disappear for months without a single word home, and now you show up with a woman?!”
“Your Grace!”
Mother, who had ended her voluntary confinement upon hearing of her beloved son’s return, emerged from the house.
Brushing aside the maids’ attempts to stop her, Mother tumbled down the Staircase and tried to grab Tangerine by the hair.
She failed, of course.
“Ah, Mother! What are you doing!”
Aspara, playing the protective brother, stepped forward to shield Tangerine, and Mother began wailing as she struck her younger son’s back.
“Are you really my son?!”
“Ow, ow! Ah! Mother!”
“….”
Why was I even nervous?
Mother didn’t even have me on her mind.
Yujein and I were left out in the cold in the chaotic entrance hall.
The excitement I’d felt—like bringing home the first friend I’d made in high school—shattered in an instant.
Starting with Cyprus and Praha, and now Mother too. At this point, I’m truly an expert in unrequited love.
“To bring home such a tomboyish woman!”
“Ah, Mother! You’re so embarrassing!”
As if a spotlight shone only there, Mother’s eyes saw nothing but her son and the woman he’d brought home.
Tangerine, who had followed along more in the sense of ‘escorting Yujein and me home’ rather than ‘following Aspara,’ widened his eyes.
“Grand Duke, why are you raising your voice at me?”
“…Because you’re the first woman Aspara has ever brought home—a boy who’s always been around men and lacks interest in women, impulsive at times perhaps, but a good and innocent child who would mature quickly if he met a good woman—”
“I didn’t follow Lord Aspara here.”
“By now, in our mother’s mind, you’re already Aspara’s girlfriend….”
“What?! That’s absurd!”
I have eyes too!
Behind the stern-faced Tangerine, the Blonde Head Maid I hadn’t seen in ages fidgeted nervously.
“Mother, seriously, why are you like this! You’re acting insane!”
“How do I not look insane right now! Not a single call!”
…A scene drawn from a painting, like something from a morning drama.
But Tangerine was far too clever to be the protagonist of a morning drama centered on mother-in-law and daughter-in-law conflict.
“Yusara, Yujein. I should take my leave!”
Recognizing this wasn’t the place, Tangerine immediately turned away from our house.
I caught the cheerfully departing Tangerine.
Still ignoring me as she bickered with Aspara—not a word of ‘welcome home,’ ‘how was it,’ or ‘you must have had it rough’—I glanced at Mother and spoke to Tangerine.
“How can you just leave like that? At least stay for a meal.”
“If I eat here, I feel like poison would be in my food!”
“Let’s eat in my room.”
I grabbed Tangerine’s sleeve and instructed the maids.
“Prepare my room so I can dine with my friends. And I’ll need a guest room—somewhere close to mine.”
“Understood, Miss. Which guest shall we prepare the room for?”
“Oh, this one. She’s my friend. Yujein.”
I linked arms with Yujein and asked if they all knew her.
Only then did the servants’ eyes widen as they recognized the “Saint Yujein.”
Yes, that Yujein—the one you all gossiped about endlessly as my rival, my nemesis, the girl who stole my man, and all that nonsense.
You assumed we’d be enemies forever, but we became friends instead.
I turned to my friends and spoke.
“Did you know? There’s supposedly a really delicious roasted chicken place in District 9. They roast the skin until it’s crispy and glaze it with honey.”
“Oh, then we should go—”
“No. Let’s have it delivered.”
I glanced once more at Mother and Aspara, still lost in their own world, then climbed the staircase.
Those two are filming their morning drama there. We’re making our escape.
* * *
“Ugh, I’m stuffed.”
After our grand adventure, we returned to eat whole roasted chicken together—just us women.
It was thoroughly satisfying.
Tangerine refused to use the front gate and climbed back out the window to return to the Knight Order, while Yujein dozed off holding a chicken leg and fell asleep in the adjacent room.
Aspara came rushing to my room later searching for Tangerine, but I didn’t tell him where she’d gone.
I’ll say it again: I oppose that romance.
“Tangerine, you’re working so hard.”
Why should the sole heir to his family be entangled with a gambling addict?
“It won’t do. It simply won’t.”
I was resolving to do everything in my power to interfere when I suddenly heard a tap! from the window.
At first I thought I’d misheard, but as I was shaking out my hair and pulling on my sleep socks, I heard the same sound again.
Tap!
“What is it?”
Not a zombie, surely.
Just in case, I grabbed the dagger I’d left on the vanity and approached the window.
On the balcony, I could see a small stone glinting transparently.
Looking closer, I realized…
“Are you serious?”
Is that a diamond?
Who throws diamonds at someone’s bedroom window!
Thank you so much!
I picked up the diamond that had fallen from the sky. A luxurious piece of paper with a fragrant scent was attached to it.
[May I come see you now?]
It was Praha’s handwriting.
“Now? I suppose I could, but… how am I supposed to send a reply?”
“A reply is not necessary.”
“Ahhh!”
I startled and hurled my blade without thinking.
The knife I’d thrown embedded itself at someone’s feet. A man smiled down at it with amusement, then casually drew the blade free from the floor.
It was Praha, dressed in a servant’s attire.
Praha, who had been concealed in the shadow of the Garden’s trees, asked calmly.
“May I enter?”
“Come up here quickly! Hurry!”
Before anyone else sees you!
Praha then stepped back to gauge the distance, grasped the ornamental wall fixture, and vaulted into my room in one fluid motion.
With a soft thud, Praha’s feet touched the balcony. He swept the dark strands of hair that had fallen across his forehead upward.
Black uniform, white gloves. An elegance that seemed to flow endlessly.
The sort of figure wealthy nobles would boast about—hiring at exorbitant cost for their households to display such a handsome servant—yet in truth, a prince of a fallen nation concealing his identity. That was what he resembled.
Praha adjusted the loose cuff buttons on his sleeve, then returned the blade he’d been holding to me.
“Throwing a sword first, no less…”
“I apologize…”
“You did excellently. Please continue doing so in the future.”
Praha taught me seriously—not to thrust downward from below, but to throw it sideways like a projectile if I wanted to lodge it in someone’s throat—then fixed his gaze upon me.
No. Yes.
“How did you even get here! I told you I didn’t have time!”
“Then I would have pretended I never came and left.”
He would have just left.
“What is this diamond?”
“Something that came up from the Eastern Mines. When I saw it, I thought of you.”
“And what about that outfit?”
“A disguise.”
“Do you disguise yourself often?”
“Yes.”
Praha approached and kissed my cheek.
He embraced me as though we hadn’t seen each other in a hundred years, then released me and began rummaging through his pocket for something.
It was a magical salve.
“Apply this to your hands.”
“Oh, that’s right.”
I’d torn my palms fighting zombies earlier.
“Come inside first.”
I drew back the curtain and invited Praha in.
It was a simple invitation to enter the room, yet he hesitated noticeably.
I suddenly grabbed Praha’s elbow and pulled him inside.
“May I enter?”
“Of course! Yujein and Tangerine came by earlier as well.”
“How jealous I am.”
Praha’s gaze fixed upon my feet—his eyes sweeping across every corner of the room with desperate interest, yet straining to conceal such obvious curiosity.
Upon catching sight of the bed, his face flushed crimson.
I remained seated on the bed alone as I continued our conversation.
When I invited him to sit beside me, Praha jumped back and stood before me instead, applying ointment to my palm from his own hand.
“I came to inform you of the results of my discussion with the Emperor.”
“Ah, that’s right. What did he say?”
Why didn’t you make any preparations?
Though I phrased it as a question, I already knew the answer.
They were keeping it quiet out of fear that divine authority would grow stronger.
That’s how those in power typically behave.
Rather than relinquish the authority they clutch, they would sooner choose the nation’s ruin.
History had shown far too much for me to argue that it would be better to abandon greed than to perish together.
“I intend to persuade him consistently. However, to do so, I must first appease the Emperor.”
“How do you intend to appease him?”
Can we even manage to appease him?
From what I saw before, he seemed to favor beautiful and handsome things—should I apply makeup and perform a fan dance?
“He mentioned holding a ball.”
“A ball?”
“Yes. To celebrate our safe return, and to quell the troublesome rumors circulating lately.”
“I see….”
“It appears he has been preparing for several weeks already. An invitation should arrive at the Mansion by tomorrow.”
“Yujein will receive an invitation as well, won’t she? She’s currently staying with me.”
“Yes. I will instruct them to send an invitation for Yujein to the Duke’s Residence as well.”
“Ah… I’ll need to purchase a new dress.”
I certainly couldn’t attend a ball hosted by the Emperor himself in worn clothing.
While I personally believed any clean garment would suffice, the Emperor likely held different standards.
Besides, the dresses Yusara had previously owned were far too revealing, leaving me feeling as though my dignity had plummeted to the floor.
“While I’m out, I should look at dresses for Yujein as well. And I can meet with Mascarpone at the same time.”
I was far too busy to waste time on something as trivial as clothing.
As I formulated a plan to accomplish everything in one outing, I observed Praha.
“It’s done.”
Praha, who had been rubbing my palm longer than necessary, pressed his lips against my hand where ointment still remained.
Upon seeing my face and the bed visible behind me, his ears flushed bright red once more.
“Why? Do you wish to lie down?”
Are you truly not going to sit?
I tapped the space beside me.
Praha’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down once as I watched him directly.
[Duke’s Residence—Yusara’s Chamber]
– Yusara, Praha (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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