A Korean Office Worker Who Became a Nuisance Villainess in a Zombie Story - Chapter 72

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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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“….”
“….”
“…This place is far too filthy and squalid.”
“…Yes.”
“…There are wounded in the Adjacent Room as well. Since their ears aren’t damaged, they’ll hear everything.”
I don’t want to make you a spectacle.
“…Yes.”
“…Besides, the circumstances are unfavorable.”
“…Yes.”
“…I am not a beast, but an educated man.”
“….”
“So…. I.”
I will exercise restraint.
Praha clenched his teeth and whispered.
Restrain yourself from what?
But if I asked, I sensed there would be no turning back.
Praha’s sunset-hued eyes, still fixed upon my lips, burned with intensity—the blazing brilliance of light just before the sun descends beyond the horizon.
Gazing into those eyes, my chest tightened as though bound by invisible chains, and I found myself unable to look away.
“….”
“….”
“My lady.”
“…Yes.”
“Could you speak of something else? Anything to redirect my attention. Anything at all?”
“….”
“Please.”
I couldn’t think of anything.
Praha exhaled slowly, and his body heat was so intense.
In panic, I grasped at whatever topic first crossed my mind.
Something cold.
Something practical.
“I’m personally overjoyed that Your Highness is here… but is this truly acceptable? You are the Crown Prince. You shouldn’t be doing this for someone like me. I know we’ve discussed this before, but I keep worrying….”
The moment I spoke, I realized it was the worst possible topic.
Yet Praha responded lightly.
“Even if I were to be deposed because of this, I would harbor no regrets.”
“Pardon?”
“Is a man without power so undesirable? Then let me reconsider.”
“I value appearance and wealth more than power… No, that’s not what I meant. Are you serious? Your Highness has always prioritized duty.”
“Indeed. Once cast out from the Crown Prince’s seat, I could simply serve as a lapdog in my lady’s Mansion.”
What are you saying?
“That would be difficult, though. I plan to keep a small dog instead, so I can carry it and flee in emergencies.”
“I’ll do my best to hold it together.”
“What are you talking about…!”
I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity.
My sudden breath tickled Praha’s cheek, and only then did I realize he’d made that joke to ease my tension.
‘…That was a joke, right?’
It would be a problem if he actually showed up at my house claiming to be a dog later.
I’d like to let him stay too, but my house is in ruins…. There’s no space for him.
“You’re really something else, I’ll give you that….”
I straightened my posture while glancing at Praha.
Watching me, Praha asked quietly.
“Aren’t you afraid of being trapped?”
“Of course I am.”
But it’s far better than when I was trapped alone at first.
Praha said his own actions were reckless and irrational, but I felt reassured that he came to my side as quickly as possible.
Someone whose mere presence fills me with the certainty that everything will work out somehow.
“Still, I didn’t rush in completely unprepared.”
“I never thought you would. What did you do?”
“I sent a cipher to Cyprus. He’ll likely notice the situation immediately. He probably already knows by now. Since he’s no fool, he’ll suspect the Baron first, and since we’re outnumbered for now….”
He’ll hide my absence and pretend to leave, then come back.
“So we….”
“Just need to hold out here. Or escape.”
“They said they’d sell me as a slave in Sodom.”
“I heard.”
Praha’s expression darkened.
“That won’t happen, but if it does, I’ll save you. Even if I have to turn all of Sodom into a sea of fire.”
“If it comes to that, I absolutely must not look back and just run….”
I’d become a pillar of salt.
I shook my head firmly.
After that, we made idle conversation.
“I remember holding back the princess’s ankle when she was thinking of emigrating, so I have no face to show now.”
“It’s fine. Your Highness will make it a good place to live.”
“What if I can’t have cream coffee?”
“I’ve already forgotten the fact that I even wanted to drink cream coffee….”
Meanwhile, Praha continued testing the walls by tapping them and gauging the strength of the iron bars by pulling them.
I carefully unfolded the blood-stained handkerchief the Local Lord had thrown in and covered the tongue rolling across the floor.
From the Adjacent Room, intermittent groans began to be heard.
The Unlucky Adventurer can no longer speak.
“Um, Your Highness.”
I broached the subject carefully.
“About my ability….”
“Yes.”
“What do you think about using your ability to escape if someone comes down to the basement next time?”
My ability.
A hypnotic power capable of influencing my target for roughly fifty seconds.
Fifty seconds should be more than enough to make them throw their weapons and keys into this cell, shouldn’t it? Then we could use those to escape.
I had clearly stated earlier that I didn’t know how to use that ability, yet I was subtly changing my story now—and Praha didn’t call me out on it.
He tilted his head in thought before speaking.
“It’s worth attempting, but… escape will still be difficult. The Local Lord is likely the only one who possesses the key to this door.”
“I see.”
“Fortunately, I….”
That was when it happened.
Bang!
“Feeding time!”
The door leading upstairs burst open, and a short man stormed in.
Startled, I quickly threw a sack over Praha’s head to conceal him.
Praha obediently lowered his head without resistance. He didn’t seem surprised—as if he’d already known someone was coming.
“Your face can’t be seen. If they realize they’ve kidnapped the Crown Prince, there’s no telling what reckless thing they might do.”
“Understood.”
With only his eyes exposed, Praha pushed me behind him.
Clang, clang.
“Damn, this is heavy!”
The Thug dragging what looked like a food cart down the Staircase muttered curses to himself.
“You all doing well, you mutes?”
He shook the iron bars threateningly, then raised his voice as if making sure we heard him.
“Feeding time’s late today. Some crazy bastards have been wandering around the Mountain, so it took time.”
His clothes were filthy, his face was bruised, and he drooled as he looked at us—yet he didn’t flee.
“Where the hell did those freaks come from?”
It was exhausting catching and killing them all!
“Even after taking arrows, they wouldn’t run away! I cut every last one of their necks. That’s why it took so long. Did you mutes wait for your big brother?”
I didn’t know what percentage of the imprisoned were women, but there were definitely men here too—so why “big brother”?
“Oh, you probably didn’t even notice I was late, did you? Since you don’t have a clock!”
Guffawing, the Thug began distributing food, setting down plates with a clang near the Staircase where he’d descended.
To get a better view of him (or more precisely, to count how many cells the prison had), I craned my neck forward, but Praha pushed me back behind him.
Clang, clang, clang.
“Oops, spilled some?”
The Thug, grinning with apparent delight, arrived at the cell where Praha and I were held.
More precisely, he returned after finishing his distribution all the way to the back of the prison.
“So, I heard there’s a noble lady in here….”
He leaned in with an unpleasant smile, as if he’d heard about me, but when he saw Praha—a massive figure with a sack covering his head—he flinched.
“What’s with this strange guy? Where’s the woman….”
Praha cut off the Thug’s muttering.
“A mere errand boy for meals shouldn’t talk so much.”
“What, what?”
“If you’ve brought food, set it down and get out.”
“Hah….”
The Thug’s mouth fell open.
It seemed this was his first time a prospective slave had talked back to him, and though he floundered for a moment, he soon began to seethe.
The Thug pulled a knife from his back pocket.
At a glance, it was a crude pocket knife that clearly had never been used in earnest.
“Say that again! I’ll carve a mark into the table for every word you speak!”
At that, Praha rose from his seat.
As he stood, he shed his robe without hesitation.
The Thug involuntarily stepped back as Praha’s massive frame rose up from the ground like a pillar.
The height difference between them was… nearly a full head.
Praha, looking down with narrowed eyes, swept his gaze over the short, stocky Thug and spoke.
“You’re so short—can you even reach my table?”
“What did you say?”
“If you have time to come here and make noise, do some stretching exercises to grow taller.”
“What are you saying, you slave bastard?!”
“You heard me. Or did your eardrums get carved up?”
“Why you!”
The dwarf Thug’s face flushed crimson as he kicked at Praha through the iron bars.
Clang!
But in his mistake, he kicked the iron bars instead and yelped, clutching his foot and rolling on the ground.
During the commotion, one of our soup bowls tipped over, which Praha observed with indifferent side-eye.
“You live a hard life.”
“What the hell….”
“If you’re angry, open the door and come in.”
The door is this way, Praha said with a slight nod of his head.
Brazen.
An expression composed of words that seemed to have no connection to Praha’s entire life appeared on his handsome face.
“Why, are you scared?”
“….”
“If you’re scared, go upstairs and bring your colleagues. However many you bring, the result will be the same.”
Praha bent at the waist to meet the Thug’s eye level and smiled wickedly.
The Thug looked furious, but when Praha reached through the iron bars to snatch the knife, he flinched in surprise and retreated.
“Damn it….”
It was a clear victory for Praha.
The seething Thug let out a shriek, then slammed the door shut and left the prison.
He seemed to have already forgotten his mention of me from a few moments before.
In the now-silent prison, Praha folded the sack he’d been holding and carefully set it down, watching my reaction.
“My apologies. From that angle, the shadows would obscure my face.”
“…No, that’s not it.”
‘If Praha hadn’t stepped forward to draw the Thug’s attention first, he would’ve latched onto me instead.’
“…Thank you. For protecting me just now.”
“Are you truly grateful?”
“Yes…? Yes.”
“Then allow me to become the princess’s little dog….”
“Stop it!”
How did he get so fixated on this “little dog” nonsense?
“Just eat your meal!”
I stretched my arm and pulled the remaining soup bowl toward me—somehow it hadn’t tipped over in all the commotion.
The wooden bowl, chipped and missing teeth in places, held something that looked like pale chicken porridge. There were no actual chunks of meat.
‘They said it was chicken soup, so I assumed there’d be chicken. But what is this….’
Still, grease floated on the surface—evidence that something had been boiled in it. There was even a bone with a bit of flesh clinging to it.
The stench of food wafting through the fetid prison stirred the other cells; I heard rustling and movement from rooms that had been deathly silent until now.
But how was I supposed to eat this?
Drink it straight from the bowl?
Uncertain, I offered the soup to Praha first.
“Would you like to eat first?”
But suddenly Praha’s expression darkened.
He stared intently at the soup bowl in my hands and spoke.
“You cannot eat this.”
“Why not?”
“This is not chicken.”
“Then what is it?”
[Mount Prome: Underground Level ? Prison]
– 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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