A Korean Office Worker Who Became a Nuisance Villainess in a Zombie Story - Chapter 30

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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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“Marquis Diane has refused to acknowledge Consomme’s death.”
The Grand Duke broached the subject I had been trying to avoid.
“Marquis Diane, you say?”
“Consomme’s mother.”
He paused briefly before exhaling softly.
The Grand Duke’s voice grew quieter, reaching my ears with a heavier weight.
“House of Diane will not hold a funeral for Consomme. They refuse to accept the very fact that she is dead.”
“….”
“They cannot confirm the body, nor can they go searching for it.”
I cannot accept my daughter’s death until I see it with my own eyes.
Moreover, if what you say is true—that my daughter still moves, still hears, still smells like a living person—then how can that be called death?
“That is what the Marquis said.”
As the Grand Duke spoke, I stared down at my cup, my mind wandering elsewhere.
So Consomme’s surname was Diane.
Consomme Diane.
I’ll admit, I always found the first name a bit amusing, but the surname was better than the given name.
“Marquis Diane has challenged Papri’s father to a duel on behalf of his deceased daughter. Though the Marquis is a renowned knight, he is nearly sixty years old and lost one eye in the last war, so if fortune does not favor him….”
The Marquis will lose his life.
I didn’t need to hear the unspoken words to understand them.
I simply stared down at the cup in my hand without responding.
‘This is infuriating.’
I yanked out the straw that had been bothering me, not caring if coffee spilled on my hand, and crumpled it aside carelessly.
The Grand Duke continued speaking.
“The Marquis harbored no resentment toward us. Rather, he expressed gratitude.”
“….”
“He thanked us for not leaving his daughter’s name tarnished in history. He said he would have chosen to remain there himself rather than have his daughter return infected and threaten the Empire’s peace.”
No.
Consomme was afraid.
She didn’t have time to think about such things.
She was simply afraid.
Lukewarm coffee dripped down the back of my hand—I was gripping the cup far too tightly.
I couldn’t release the pressure.
Seeing the brown liquid streaming down my hand, the Grand Duke spoke.
“It is not your fault that you could not save Consomme.”
“….”
“Yusara, are you listening? It is not your fault.”
Green eyes met mine directly.
I barely managed a response.
“I know. It’s not my fault.”
“Yes, so….”
“But what if you keep thinking about it, even though it wasn’t your fault?”
“….”
It wasn’t my fault.
I did everything I could.
But what if I keep thinking about it anyway?
What if I start believing that my best effort wasn’t enough?
Then what do I do?
“Grand Duke.”
“…Yes.”
“You’re a Knight, and you’ve been to war, haven’t you?”
“…Yes.”
“Did you feel like this every time?”
On battlefields where people died almost daily.
Every time you witnessed the death of someone close to you.
Did you feel this way each time?
I try to stay composed, but my throat keeps growing tight.
Does one ever become numb to this?
I lowered my gaze and murmured.
“…I know I have to become accustomed to it.”
This is a world where zombies appear, after all.
If I grieve over each individual death, I can’t even guarantee my own survival in the moment.
“But no matter how hard I try, I can’t become indifferent.”
If I keep experiencing things like this, will I remain intact?
‘It’s ridiculous. When I watch movies and the protagonist acts like this, I find it frustrating—and here I am doing exactly that.’
If only I’d stayed at the Villa instead.
If my life had been threatened every second, perhaps I wouldn’t have had time to think of Consomme.
But sitting here in a cafe on an afternoon with such warm sunlight, holding a lukewarm cup of coffee—
I couldn’t shake the feeling that I alone had survived.
“It’s heavy. Just heavy. Why do I have to experience something like this?”
I was just an ordinary office worker.
“When does this weight lift?”
“….”
“Will there ever be a day when it does?”
Unfiltered words spilled out of me.
In front of a man who was neither friend nor anything else. Simply because we’d endured that ordeal together.
Spilled out.
The Grand Duke, who had been listening to me in silence, replied gently.
“That day never comes.”
“….”
“It never lightens. Not for a lifetime.”
“….”
“The face of the dead, their smile, their expression, their voice—none of it ever becomes lighter. I still see it vividly. When I was thirteen, going into my first battle—the face of my retainer who took the blade meant for me and fell.”
“…Then what should one do?”
“Live while carrying that weight.”
Bearing the weight of each person who died beside me, one by one, on my shoulders. Striving to live in order to take responsibility for that burden.
“So please, never stop feeling that heaviness. That’s proof that you’re still alive.”
“….”
“If it ever becomes light, that’s when you should think, ‘Ah, I’ve lost my humanity.'”
Remember, grieve, regret, and reflect. And ultimately, you survive.
“So don’t cry.”
“….”
“Your tears won’t tear my heart apart, so stop it at once.”
“…I’m not crying.”
“Isn’t that coffee dripping down the back of your hand right now crying?”
“….”
“How about it? Doesn’t the annoyance make the tears disappear?”
The man who thrust his face toward me as I hung my head let out a chuckle.
His expression was infuriatingly mischievous.
“…I really hate this….”
“Yes, yes~”
The man teasing me this way was Cyprus, Yusara’s childhood friend.
The person who noticed the change in her soul that even Yusara’s mother hadn’t caught, saying “you’re acting strange today.”
Cyprus.
* * *
I ended up crying after all.
And I cried hard.
Afterward, I felt ashamed.
‘Crying in a public place. And in front of this guy, no less.’
Even as a newcomer, I never cried at the company—I always went home to cry. And now, after coming here, I’ve ended up crying.
My pride is wounded.
‘It’s fine. People cry sometimes in life.’
“You must be hungry. Should I buy you some bread?”
“Yes.”
Cyprus spent more money, apparently moved by how pitiful I looked while crying.
When I asked for all the bread here, only the owner was delighted.
I broke a steaming hot potato bread in half and bit into it.
‘Come to think of it, I’ve been starving this whole time.’
That crazy household wouldn’t even give me meals.
Even though I’ve suddenly fallen into a different world, I still crave coffee and feel hunger.
Cyprus, watching me eat eagerly with his chin propped on his hand, spoke.
“Doesn’t this remind you of when we were younger?”
“When we were younger?”
“You know—whenever you’d come home from the Palace after getting scolded, you’d always say you were hungry. I’d buy you bread back then too.”
“I don’t remember.”
“Of course you don’t. But look at you now—tears streaming down your face while eating bread, just like back then.”
“Good grief.”
It’s not that I don’t remember—I have no memory of it at all.
That was when I actually liked you, so why would I want to dredge up such embarrassing history?
‘This fool needs to cry his eyes out over a woman who doesn’t care about him. Only then will he come to his senses.’
“Still, it’s unsettling to see someone with an injured arm wandering about alone. Shall I escort you to the Palace?”
“Escort me? Aren’t you being rather formal with me?”
“Of course I should be formal. We’re not close, after all.”
“To say such a thing so bluntly… my heart breaks all over again.”
“How much longer is that heart going to break?”
Cyprus pouted at the rebuke.
“Why are you so curt with only me? You’re friendly enough with Praha.”
“Me?”
“You kissed his neck yesterday.”
“….”
“I saw it all.”
“That wasn’t a kiss—!”
It was an unfortunate accident!
Crash!
My attempt to set the record straight was thwarted when the Maid spilled coffee for the second time.
‘What’s wrong with her, reacting to every little thing like that?’
“Couldn’t you simply overlook such things, Grand Duke?”
“Ah, the way you overlooked me picking up a stone from an Attendant’s arms while sprawled across his lap?”
“….”
He struck right at the heart of it?
Cyprus smiled as he watched me fall silent.
“Shall we not speak of this?”
“Yes.”
‘Don’t ask. I still don’t know what that stone is myself.’
Besides, that stone is still in my pocket right now.
Seeing my wariness, Cyprus winked at me. The way he smiled as if granting me mercy was infuriating.
Cyprus casually rummaged through his own pocket and spoke.
“I’d like to wipe the bread crumbs from your lips, but I don’t have a handkerchief. This borrowed suit, you see.”
“It’s fine.”
“Would you like me to use this instead?”
He suddenly lifted the end of his necktie to wipe my mouth, and I recoiled in alarm.
“Stop pestering me!”
“Pestering you, you say….”
“You seem exhausted and out of your mind. Why don’t you go get some rest?!”
“Tch.”
Making that ridiculous sound!
“You’re really a strange person!”
“My teeth are perfectly fine. How dare you not appreciate the health of my dentition….”
“Ugh!”
Whether I was irritated or not, Cyprus only stood up after rambling on about his precious teeth for quite some time.
“Then I shall take my leave, my lady.”
“Yes, go quickly.”
“You should hurry inside too. Take this bread—it’s all yours.”
With his injured hand, he picked up a bag of bread and handed it off to the Knight standing behind me.
Cyprus waved his hand dismissively, saying there was no need to see him off, and walked away with only the milk in hand.
Beneath his shirt, the sharp blades of his shoulder bones moved smoothly in the sunlight, framing his broad back.
I watched that handsome retreating figure.
Then I slipped my hand into my pocket.
“….”
I pulled out the red stone that clinked softly inside.
“Sigh.”
What on earth is this stone really?
I exhaled deeply, placed it in my palm, and gazed at it. Then, without thinking, I held it up to the sunlight.
“…!”
“Miss, shall I wipe your hands?”
“…Yes.”
“…Miss? Are you all right?”
“….”
“Miss?”
“Oh. Yes. I’m fine.”
“If anything feels uncomfortable….”
“No, really. I’m fine. But, is there a Bookstore nearby?”
“Yes…? Oh, yes. There’s one just two blocks further.”
“Let’s go.”
“Yes.”
“And if we pass a Law Office on the way, we’ll stop there too.”
I exhaled deeply and rubbed my shoulders.
I placed the red stone back in my pocket.
This time, deeper than before.
‘I’ve figured it out. The true nature of the red stone.’
“Let’s hurry. There’s much to do.”
“Yes, miss.”
I rose with the beverage in hand, and my reflection caught in the mirror tucked away in the corner of the Cafe.
“….”
I posed a question to that familiar face wearing unfamiliar clothes.
Yusara.
If you could return to yesterday, would you act differently?
Ideally, I’d save Consomme before she’s bitten by a zombie, but if I couldn’t manage that.
Would I simply give up, accepting it as too late?
‘No.’
No matter how many times I returned, my actions would remain the same.
I would do my absolute best to save her.
Until the very end.
Even knowing I’d fail hundreds of times, I’d try hundreds of times again.
‘Then I mustn’t look back.’
If I’ve done my utmost, I must accept whatever result comes.
Whether this is a dream, possession, or my own delusion—while it remains my reality, I will give my all.
I will do my best and never look back.
‘The incident is only beginning, and the protagonist can’t falter here or there’s no point in watching.’
I’m not the protagonist but the villainess, you say?
So what.
In my life, I am the primary protagonist.
And the genre I’ve defined for my life is comedy.
I will never allow it to become melodrama or thriller.
‘And now I even have hope.’
I clenched the crimson stone in my pocket firmly.
‘But what about that insane household?’
There’s one method that just occurred to me, though I’m not sure if it’ll work… but I should at least try, right?
[(Temporary Safe Zone) Capital District 3 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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