A Korean Office Worker Who Became a Nuisance Villainess in a Zombie Story - Chapter 190

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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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On Earth, what do people do after a wedding ceremony? Present gifts to the parents?
Here, we hold a Ball.
The nobility who attended the marriage ceremony earlier, university professors who once taught Praha and the Former Empress, war heroes… and everyone else who couldn’t fit into the venue due to space constraints—they all gather to eat, drink, offer congratulations, and exchange well-wishes until dawn. That’s the sort of affair it is.
I’m rather dissatisfied with this.
‘Isn’t one supposed to sleep at night?’
Congratulations, live happily together—words I’ve already spoken hundreds of times—and yet here I am, drinking late into the night, dancing, indulging recklessly. What is the meaning of this?
Why must I spend my wedding day in such idleness?
It’s a day of new beginnings—shouldn’t I be retiring early and rising early instead?
“That’s a lie. You’re upset because you’ll have less time alone with Emperor!”
“Is it that obvious?”
“Very obvious!”
“Ugh.”
I’d been caught. I clicked my tongue.
“It’s the wedding night… Why must I spend it all in the Ball Hall…”
Beside me, Tangerine—dressed today in an unusually unwrinkled uniform—giggled mischievously.
“Slip away secretly!”
“But I’m the main guest?!”
“I’ll help you!”
“How?!”
“Whoever asks first where the two Emperors went—I’ll slit their throat! Then everyone else will know better than to ask!”
“Eek!”
Never mind, I won’t leave! I’ll stay put!
“Regardless, I don’t care much for Balls…”
I have no fond memories of them. Only humiliation.
In the first place, this whole affair of wearing such a dress and spinning about in circles doesn’t suit me at all. I’d rather be working.
“But I must attend.”
Because I’m the Empress.
This Ball is being held to commemorate my marriage to Praha.
Everyone in the Banquet Hall has gathered to offer me their congratulations.
It’s like saying, ‘Mother, I don’t want to go to school,’ and hearing in return, ‘You have to go anyway—you’re the headmistress.’
“There’s a Ball on Foundation Day, a Ball on my birthday, a Ball at year’s end… How many Balls are there in a year? I wish we could skip a few.”
Why don’t we wake early in the morning, gather together, and all go volunteer instead?
“In times like these, I envy the Former Empress. No one says anything even if she leaves early because she dislikes Balls.”
I rose from my seat with a grumble.
I touched up my makeup, changed my clothes, and confirmed everyone had entered—now it was time for the main guest to make her entrance.
“I’ll enter first, and Praha will enter about ten minutes later, yes? And we’ll exit together.”
“Yes! Everyone will see the two of you exit together!”
“Ugh.”
How mortifying. I shook out my hands.
“Empress, shall I escort you?”
Cyprus, who had been waiting at the door, rose to his feet.
“Huh? I thought you were supposed to enter alone?”
“That’s right. I’m just escorting you to the entrance of the Banquet Hall.”
After today, your partner will always be Praha.
“This is my last chance to escort you.”
“Ah….”
I didn’t know how to respond to words spoken with such casual composure. I nodded awkwardly and looked at Cyprus.
He’d worn blue formal attire during the day, but now he was dressed in purple formal wear.
‘Looking at just the color, it’s like a trot singer’s costume.’
Yet he pulled it off flawlessly with just that subtle difference.
Cyprus, receiving my gaze, lifted his chin.
“It was tailored at the Macaron Atelier.”
“You did?”
“When did you even have time to go to the Macaron Atelier with everything you’re juggling?”
“Right, tell me about it.”
Between performing imperial duties as Empress, managing my Territory as Grand Duke, and squeezing in classes at university whenever I could.
(Why attend classes, you ask? I went from being a working woman to becoming Empress. It’s a complete career change to a different industry, so studying is essential.)
“I reserved this formal attire three months in advance to wear at your wedding ceremony.”
Cyprus spoke with pride, his tone light.
Cyprus was unchanged from his usual self.
The gentle smile resting on his face, the playful tone of his voice.
Just as he had smiled while hiding the hatred in his heart and remaining my friend, so too did he smile today when the me he loved had become Empress.
Right up until the moment he released my hand at the entrance to the Banquet Hall.
“Go on in.”
“…What about you?”
“I’ll enter through the side door. You’re the main character, after all.”
“….”
“What, are you going to miss me?”
Cyprus teased.
“Did I suddenly look handsome to you? Are you regretting not choosing me instead of boring Praha? I’m always welcome. Should we take a Portal together and run away to the Southern Region?”
“Ugh!”
I released Cyprus’s hand and turned away, pretending not to notice how his hand weakly grasped the tips of my fingers one last time before letting go.
“The ruler of the Empire who shines alone, the territory where the sun never sets….”
The moment I entered the hall, every noble stepped back and bowed.
This was precisely why they had the newlywed couple enter separately.
So that everyone could witness them bowing to me alone.
Among the nobles who parted before me like the sea splitting, I could see the noblewoman who had once received a scarf from Cyprus as a gift.
‘She’s currently sponsoring my Theater Troupe in Sodom.’
“Please, rise.”
I spoke in an unnecessarily solemn tone, deepening my voice.
I surveyed the faces of the nobles as they rose to their feet one by one.
At the central table of honor sat Mascarpone, Consomme, Yujein, and my other friends. And in the corner where they were gesturing frantically.
‘Pochacha.’
The daughter of the former Lord of Sodom. Pochacha, whose status had been demoted from nobility to commoner as she inherited her parents’ sins. Today, she had been invited to this gathering as a scholarship student at the girls’ academy I sponsored.
And it was I who specifically invited Pochacha.
‘Because.’
I looked once at Pochacha, standing almost isolated, and then at the people watching me with favorable gazes.
‘I heard there was bullying.’
Though Pochacha had once been a noble, she was no longer one.
From the noble students at the same academy, and also at the social gatherings where Pochacha went about trying to reclaim her status.
When you think about it, Pochacha’s circumstances became laughable because of her parents, not because of any fault of her own.
“….”
Once, I had been someone like Pochacha.
‘When was it? When Cyprus rejected me?’
At a New Year’s Ball years ago, everyone had attended to watch me be humiliated.
They all waited with bated breath for my arrival, and the moment I entered, they watched my expression and snickered. I pretended to be composed, but ultimately couldn’t bear it and hid alone in a corner, weeping.
‘That was when I received help from Praha.’
But now.
Everyone looks up to me.
Now I don’t have to cry.
I don’t have to receive anyone’s help.
Pochacha is a reckless girl—arrogant and underage—who once invited Praha to a morning grooming ceremony, but I was once like that too.
I was a far more willful villainess than Pochacha.
‘Pochacha can change too. Just as I have.’
So helping Pochacha now is the same as helping my past self.
I nodded to my friends, who were still looking my way and trying to appeal to me with their mouths.
I turned sharply and headed straight toward Pochacha.
“You came. Pochacha.”
I spoke warmly.
“The dress suits you well. You had it tailored at the Macaron Atelier I introduced you to, didn’t you?”
On my first day as Empress, the first person the Empress addresses upon entering the ball.
The nobles surrounding us rolled their eyes busily, understanding where my attention lay.
And.
Pochacha, who knew the weight of me speaking to her first—I who had lived my entire life as the eldest daughter of a noble house until my title was stripped away—
“How are your studies going?”
“…Hic.”
Tears welled up in her eyes.
“We’re putting on a new play in Sodom soon. It’s called 【Litham】… I’ll send you tickets, so visit with your younger sibling.”
The hall had already fallen silent, so my words spread to every corner of the Banquet Hall, but I spoke deliberately louder and glanced around.
That was when.
“I should take a vacation to match that day as well.”
Praha appeared beside me without any announcement.
Rather than entering like an Emperor, he arrived as silently as an assassin, causing the surrounding attendants to scramble and bow hastily.
“Rise.”
Praha, speaking without much enthusiasm, received Pochacha’s greeting.
“Then, Pochacha. I’ll send an Attendant tomorrow. Let’s have some coffee together.”
Do you like iced coffee? I tapped Pochacha’s shoulder once and headed toward the center.
As I walked, I whispered.
“Was I too much?”
Did I show favoritism too openly?
“No. I believe it was an appropriate action—showing in advance what the Empress’s conduct will be like going forward.”
“Then I’m relieved.”
“Yes. I will have today’s events recorded in the history books as a lasting lesson.”
“That’s going too far.”
This man would praise me even if I became a tyrant. Shaking my head, I linked arms with Praha.
The Emperor and Empress’s first dance.

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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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