A Korean Office Worker Who Became a Nuisance Villainess in a Zombie Story - Chapter 167

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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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“That ba— oh. Sorry. Who is that man?”
“Well, you see.”
I explained this and that, going into all the details.
“He’s garbage?”
“Exactly. Garbage.”
Standing beside Cyprus, who asked with utmost seriousness, I nodded with equal gravity.
Cyprus confirmed once more.
“So this man made Aspara borrow gambling funds from the Bank, and used his Mansion as collateral?”
“That’s right.”
“And instead of stopping your friend from sinking, he quietly encouraged him from the sidelines?”
“Precisely.”
“Then he can’t really be called a friend anymore?”
“Not at all. And on top of that.”
“On top of that?”
“Back then, Aspara fell for some opera singer and spent a fortune on her?”
“What?!”
“Thankfully, that singer had a small conscience. She took just ten diamond rings and disappeared immediately. So it didn’t spiral into a massive scandal, but….”
“That’s already a massive scandal?”
“And through it all, Aspara still believes that singer genuinely loved him….”
“Ugh.”
“Anyway. That man was the one who introduced him to the singer.”
That’s what was written in the letter.
Mother shouldn’t be wary of Tangerine, who lives her own life perfectly fine, ruining Aspara—she should be wary of a scoundrel like that instead.
As I sighed inwardly, Cyprus beside me furrowed his brow as if remembering something.
“Now that I think about it, I’ve heard that the family supplying incense to the Imperial Palace operates loan-sharking that walks a precarious line between the illegal and legal.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I remember a proposal came up in the Imperial Council to sever ties with that family for violating the Imperial dignity maintenance clause. But it fell through because many nobles connected to that family pulled strings.”
“Then.”
“Right. That man might have made Aspara borrow from his family’s Bank. If you can even call it a Bank.”
“So now he’s come to collect payment from Aspara.”
My mind spins rapidly.
I watched Aspara, who looked visibly anxious as he approached the man, and the Incense Merchant, who received him with one arm draped over the back of his chair, alternating my gaze between them.
A smug expression blooming on his pudgy face.
I don’t know what will become of that man’s family, but Aspara is the Empire’s only Minor Duke.
Yet the man didn’t even stand when Aspara entered—
instead, he lounged back in his chair even more leisurely, looking down on Aspara with an oppressive gaze.
“The Minor Duke is breaking into a cold sweat?”
“You can see that?”
All I see is Aspara’s obsequious smile.
A man with nothing but pride, without a shred of worth, didn’t even point out the other’s rudeness as he pulled out a chair across from the man and sat down himself.
For Aspara to be so cautious—that’s unlike him.
Just how much debt does he owe?
“What are you talking about? Cyprus, can you hear what they’re saying?”
“Ugh, I’m going to fall.”
As I leaned forward and nearly toppled over, Cyprus hastily caught me.
“I can’t hear anything.”
“Right. They’re inside, and we’re out here.”
“So what do we do?”
“What do you think? We go in and eavesdrop.”
“…Us?”
I looked up at Cyprus with suspicion in my eyes.
A strikingly handsome man like you sneaking in to eavesdrop on others’ conversations…. Is that even possible?
And I don’t have a hood today to hide my face.
Seeing me roll my eyes, Cyprus laughed.
“Of course we won’t go in ourselves.”
He whispered as if sharing a secret, explaining that we’d need to ask for help, and gestured toward the alley across the way.
A tall man in plain clothes immediately emerged.
“Have you found what you needed, Grand Duke?”
An Imperial Knight.
“Do you know the name of the man sitting across from Aspara?”
“I’ll find out within ten minutes.”
“An hour is fine. More importantly, I’d like to know what Aspara and his companion are discussing.”
“Yes, sir.”
The knight answered promptly and vanished into the cafe.
“Now we just need to watch and wait.”
Cyprus led me to a spot where we could see inside the cafe through the window.
“Can you see better from here?”
“Yes.”
The knight, seated with his back to Aspara and the Incense Merchant, was ordering coffee and sugar sticks.
From where we stood, the knight’s table was in plain view.
After receiving his coffee and taking a sip, the knight rested his chin in his hand with a bored expression and began tapping his fingers on the table.
Cyprus explained.
“It’s a cipher the Imperial Knight Order uses. By tapping his fingers like that, he conveys messages….”
“And?”
“When he lifts the coffee cup, the direction of his pinky finger, the direction he stirs the sugar, and where he places the cup—all of that can communicate more specific information.”
“I see.”
Certainly, those two would never suspect anything with a method like that.
“But what does that mean?”
“I’ll interpret it for you.”
Yet despite his confident assurance, Cyprus fell silent for a long while.
I watched Cyprus’s lips anxiously, unable to look away.
The smile that had been playing at Cyprus’s lips gradually hardened.
“What’s wrong?”
“…It was that man who first introduced the Minor Duke to card games and horse racing and such.”
“What?”
“It seems he planned it from the start. He lends money when there’s none, introduces new games when the Minor Duke grows bored, grants extensions on repayment. And now it’s come to this.”
Cyprus stopped speaking and looked down at me.
“Did you know the Grand Duke’s Residence in the Capital was seized as collateral?”
“…Yes.”
“Did you also know the Minor Duke borrowed additional funds—an amount that couldn’t be repaid even by selling that mansion?”
“…No?”
“That he borrowed money at interest rates unheard of because there was no more collateral?”
“How much is the interest… no. Don’t tell me.”
“You naturally have no idea how much that debt has swollen to—several times the principal—while the Minor Duke ignores and avoids it.”
“…I’m going mad.”
I pressed my forehead with my hand.
Cyprus continued.
“That man is now saying… if the Minor Duke sells the family’s Grand Duke title to him, he’ll forgive half of the total amount—principal and interest combined.”
“This is insane. What about the other half?”
“That’s…”
“What is it? Tell me quickly.”
I grabbed Cyprus’s hesitant elbow, and he finally opened his mouth.
“Since the Emperor might not allow someone without connections to take the Grand Duke title…”
“Might not?”
“He says he’ll marry Princess Yusara. Then he’ll forgive the remaining half as well.”
“Insane!”
I shot up, unable to comprehend.
My fate is being decided without me, just like this?!
If only Yujein hadn’t seen Aspara passing by earlier! Then!
“Am I being sold like this? No, right? This is illegal, isn’t it? There’s no precedent for this, right?”
Cyprus spoke with a dark expression.
“I promise you won’t be sold. But… it’s not as though such things have never happened before.”
“What?!”
“In humble families with incompetent heads, such cases have occurred often. They sell titles, and they sell their children too.”
Though I’ve never heard of a case where the only Grand Duke’s House in the Empire—and a younger brother who isn’t even a Grand Duke yet—sells his older sister.
Cyprus added.
“Insane…”
My legs gave out and I collapsed.
“Yusara, don’t worry. The Imperial Family has established various systems to prevent such things from happening… and besides, it won’t come to that for you.”
“That’s not why I’m worried.”
“….”
“That’s only if the head of the house personally incurred the debt. I heard from Smoothie before—he said a mere successor can’t mortgage a mansion owned by the family without the patriarch’s authority.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. The transaction itself wouldn’t be valid. If the original deal is void, then any debts that accumulated afterward would be void too. I’ve been looking into it more carefully.”
“Then why are you still doing this?”
“…Because of the betrayal.”
He’s a useless brother, but he’s still blood—and that blood betrayed me by selling me out.
If I hadn’t died at Praha’s hands before my regression, I wouldn’t have known any of this back then—
I would have become that purple pig’s wife and lived a miserable life forever.
The betrayal by my own family would have gnawed at me.
“How could he do this? I’m his older sister. I saved him from being trapped in Sodom Underground. And the moment he returns safely, his first thought is to sell me out?”
It’s not sadness.
It’s not even fresh disappointment.
It’s just… absurd. Utterly ridiculous.
“I really hate people….”
Cyprus, who had been staring down at me with a hollow laugh, crouched in front of me.
Cyprus whispered.
“Yusara, this is a secret.”
“…If it’s a secret, don’t tell me.”
My head’s already about to explode from my own problems.
But Cyprus was resolute.
“No. I want to tell you.”
“…What is it?”
“I’m going to kill all of them.”
I snapped to attention.
“What? Why!”
“Because they hurt your heart.”
“I’m not even hurt— Hey! Where are you going!”
“Hahaha! I’m going to kill them all!”
Cyprus suddenly burst into laughter and leaped up, kicking through the door and disappearing into the cafe.
The Imperial Knight drinking coffee looked up in alarm.
Cyprus grabbed a sugar stick from the Imperial Knight’s table and strode purposefully toward Aspara and the Incense Merchant.
For reference, a sugar stick has a crystallized sugar gem hardened at the end of an elongated wooden rod.
Once the sugar dissolves completely….
‘All that’s left is a sharp wooden stick.’
Just like the one Cyprus was holding right now….
I panicked and rushed after him.
“Hey! Don’t kill them!”
The hollow feeling from moments ago with Aspara vanished completely!
[Commercial District Cafe]
– Yusara, Cyprus (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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