A Korean Office Worker Who Became a Nuisance Villainess in a Zombie Story - Chapter 37

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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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Soda, who had secured her position as Head Maid of the Duke’s Residence before even reaching thirty, found herself thinking.
‘The young lady has been acting strange lately.’
Yusara.
The Duke’s daughter.
Excluding the Emperor and a handful of imperial relatives, the most exalted woman in the entire Empire.
A villainess. A fool. An empty-headed woman.
Her mistress—the one who had taught her that even a beautiful, wealthy noble lady amounted to nothing when stripped bare.
Or rather, precisely because she was beautiful and wealthy, there was something exhilarating about dismissing and mocking her—
A woman she found herself hoping would fall to ruin.
‘Did the young lady really fall for it? That easily?’
‘She did! When I pretended to be shocked that she didn’t know, she got even more flustered!’
Delicious gossip for the servants working in the Mansion.
‘Hey, you don’t even work under the young lady. Do you know what she said yesterday?’
When speaking with maids from other Mansions she was acquainted with, it was evidence she could use to whine about how hard she worked.
‘Eyes never lie, after all.’
‘Honestly, I’m not even sure if the young lady is beautiful. Her bearing certainly isn’t that of a pretty person.’
A common enemy who united everyone present in singular purpose.
And lately, that young lady had been acting strange.
It had started after she returned from the Villa, following the Crown Prince whom she harbored an unrequited love for.
‘Just because she was born with good bloodlines, she gets to live luxuriously.’
For Soda, who insisted she lacked nothing compared to the young lady, her mistress was simply infuriating—blessed with the Crown Prince’s favor merely because she had fortunate parents.
‘Where is the young lady?’
‘In her bedroom. She’s fainted.’
‘Why?’
‘Who knows. Maybe the Crown Prince held Yujein’s hand, and seeing that made her so upset she fainted.’
‘Go pinch her and wake her up.’
‘Are you insane!’
‘What!’
But when the young lady awoke—or pretended to—not a single word about the Crown Prince escaped her lips.
‘The Crown Prince was so worried about you!’
Even when Soda cautiously probed the matter, the response was the same.
‘Why are there only stones? Where are the slippers?’
Suddenly, she was searching for some slippers out of nowhere.
‘That filthy thing?’
Soda had no intention of retrieving that disgusting object she’d thrown into the trash the moment she saw it.
It made no difference whether Soda found it herself or not.
‘Very well, very well.’
Letting out an exasperated sigh, Soda whispered to the Junior Maid.
‘Go out and busy yourself with chores, then come back once the young lady has forgotten about it.’
With her limited intellect, ten minutes would be enough for her to forget why she was even angry in the first place.
What if she doesn’t forget?
I’ll just show her a newly made lace.
True to Soda’s word, the young lady never mentioned those slippers again.
But she began acting increasingly strange.
‘Young lady, aren’t you sleeping?’
‘Just let me finish this. Could you bring me a glass of ice water? Thank you.’
When she returned from an outing, she’d bought stacks of books (the fact that the young lady had met the Grand Duke at the Coffee House that day became the talk of the Duke’s Residence all day long, and Soda was even more irritated).
She opened a book the moment she woke in the morning, read while eating, and continued reading until just before sleep.
In fact, it seemed she wasn’t sleeping at all.
‘You weren’t sleeping, were you? You were awake until it was my turn to watch.’
‘Yes, even when it was my turn.’
‘Yes, me too.’
Soda learned for the first time that a person could spend eighteen hours a day with her nose in a book.
‘But she’s still just a young lady.’
Unable to believe that the young lady possessed such persistence, Soda dismissed it outright.
‘She must have heard that the Crown Prince likes intelligent women.’
‘Perhaps.’
‘That’s it! Anyway, she’s an effort-maker. A woman making an effort to look good to men.’
Such remarks faded away after a day passed.
‘Young lady, aren’t you hungry?’
‘I am hungry.’
‘Please eat something at least.’
‘Never mind. You’re just going to give me lemon water anyway.’
Without a desk of her own, the young lady placed books on her vanity or tea table and sat hunched uncomfortably all day long.
A delicate beauty with a slender neck and wrists, frowning in concentration over the text, appeared surprisingly intelligent—contrary to expectations.
Even watching her like this for four days straight, Soda deliberately ignored it.
Seeing a person change for a few days doesn’t erase the habit of always dismissing that person overnight.
Her young lady couldn’t be allowed to change. She had to continue existing so pathetically, earning criticism from all sides, filling Soda’s sense of superiority.
But.
“Would you rather be locked in the Colonial Prison a month’s voyage from here, or listen to what I say?”
Had she known that the changed young lady would be the first to turn a blade on her.
“The choice is yours.”
She wouldn’t have been so complacent.
The young lady’s eyes, meeting hers head-on, gleamed with intensity.
The opposite of Soda’s wavering gaze.
* * *
“Head Maid, I intend to report you to the Public Security Bureau as a thief who stole my master’s slippers.”
I continued speaking while flipping through the book I’d marked with folded pages and the organized notebook I’d prepared.
“You claim you accidentally discarded them and couldn’t find them, but I already have a witness who can testify that you never even looked for the items.”
The Head Maid’s eyes before me widened as if they might burst from her skull.
“Even if you did discard it by mistake, the moment you carelessly threw away your master’s possession, your career here is already finished.”
By the way, the witness who heard you say ‘there’s no need to look for it’—that’s me.
I pointed to the maid standing one step behind the Head Maid.
She was the one who attended to me this morning before I entered the Palace.
On the day I first woke up in this house, I overheard the Head Maid whispering in her ear.
She had gladly agreed to become my witness to avoid being charged with theft herself.
“You…!”
The Head Maid’s body spun around. The maid flinched and averted her gaze.
I cleared my throat to draw attention back to myself.
“Perhaps you’re thinking this: ‘So what? Who would believe the claims of a foolish young lady?'”
Even if this matter escalated to trial.
Wouldn’t the judge simply think, ‘Yusara again, always Yusara,’ and side with the poor maid?
But that’s not how it works.
“You may think I’m disrespected here, but I’m still nobility.”
No matter how villainous that noble may be, if a maid could carelessly handle a noble’s belongings and face no punishment?
The nobles would think.
That the same could happen in their own homes.
So this time, they would all take my side.
“The only thing left for you is exile.”
So, what will you do?
I asked leisurely, crossing my legs.
1. Blackmail the maid with theft charges.
2. Secure the testimony of the frightened maid.
3. Using the testimony secured in step 2, blackmail the Head Maid (also) with theft charges.
My plan to split apart this household that had united against me was nearing its final stages.
To carelessly discard the master’s belongings.
In a class-based society, did that even make sense?
I’d verified it because Yusara seemed to be living as a complete fool.
And she was indeed a fool.
‘In the original timeline, this would never have happened.’
In this world, stealing even a ribbon from the master’s sleeve could earn you ten years imprisonment.
Moreover, the laws here resembled 19th century England.
Which meant criminals were shipped off to colonies as exiles.
Places like America or Australia.
‘In modern times, being sent to America or Australia for free would be a steal, but in the 19th century, it certainly wasn’t.’
Q. So what exactly do you gain by blackmailing the maids one after another?
A. A key ring.
The Head Maid’s waist, where her hands had begun to tremble. The heavy keys hanging there.
‘The key ring that can open and lock every room in the Duke’s Residence.’
Obtaining that key ring was my ultimate objective.
Q. Why?
A. Because.
‘A zombie is about to appear in this house!’
Look, just hear me out.
1. My Younger Brother disappeared right at the moment I possessed this body.
2. Yet the mother who overprotects her son makes a fuss but doesn’t seem genuinely worried.
3. And the mother herself is suspicious!
She pathologically avoids sunlight, eats nothing, yet constantly gurgles and belches.
During meals, she won’t touch any other food—only drinks blood.
Her neck rotates nearly 180 degrees.
Isn’t that exactly how people look in movies right before they turn into zombies?
Even if the Capital is supposedly safe until the Investigation Team departs, shouldn’t I be cautious rather than blindly trust that alone?
The Grand Duke could very well be the mastermind behind a zombie outbreak in the Capital after the Investigation Team leaves!
I had to cut off any possibility at the source.
Honestly, I wanted to lock her away somewhere immediately and summon a priest.
‘But I have no power.’
Not a single person in this Mansion would obey my commands.
The Maids won’t even listen when I ask them to fetch the slippers I threw away or bring me a proper meal.
Would they listen if I said, ‘My mother seems like she’s becoming a zombie, so let’s lock her in her room’?
Of course not.
I’d be the one getting locked away instead.
I also considered telling Praha or Cyprus, ‘Something’s wrong with our mother,’ but I dropped the idea.
It was obvious they wouldn’t believe me either.
Mother is acting strange, my Younger Brother has vanished, and I’m powerless.
Blackmail was the only method available to me.
“Ah, Miss.”
I watched the Head Maid turn ashen at the thought of possibly going to prison.
‘I’m sorry.’
But having your keys stolen by me is better than having your flesh torn off by a zombie, right?
“W-what should I do…?”
“Well. First.”
“….”
“Don’t prostrate yourself like that.”
I helped the Head Maid up from where she knelt on the floor.
“No matter what mistake you’ve made, I’m not the sort of noble who would make you kneel. Don’t do it.”
A noble forcing a servant to kneel—it’s the very picture of abuse of power.
Even though I’m possessing this body now, I’m still a person from the 21st century.
Just because I woke up as a noble doesn’t mean I want to flip my position overnight and lord it over others.
What, would I then possess Hitler next time and commit atrocities while I’m at it?
‘I know someone could argue that my blackmail right now is also abuse of power. But there’s a clear difference between not being a pushover and being tyrannical.’
“There’s only one thing I want. Your key.”
Since it was originally my house key anyway, I didn’t think you’d have any reason to complain.
“And there’s something else I’d like to ask your opinion on.”
“Y-yes….”
“Is there a way to legally keep Mother confined to her room of her own volition?”
A method to prevent the Grand Duke—whether she was a zombie or not—from moving of her own accord.
Even as I spoke, I wondered if such a method could possibly exist.
Surprisingly, it did.
[(Temporary Safe Zone) Duke’s Residence]
– Yusara (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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