I Reincarnated Into a Healing Game… and It’s a Zombie Apocalypse?! - Chapter 67

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 67

The return journey went smoothly. They didn’t encounter the zombie hordes they had worried about.

As soon as they arrived at the clubhouse, Brody fed warm oat porridge to the starving people, and once their stomachs were filled, they fell asleep like they had fainted on the warm carpets.

A peaceful night after so long. But Nana couldn’t fall asleep.

She slipped out of the lounge where everyone was sleeping and sat on a garden bench. It was because of the System Message spinning in her head.

【The special zone Royal Palace cannot be conquered with Lady Adrienne Rogueton’s current level.】

‘The Life Stone mine is right beneath the Royal Palace.’

Then did the royalty know?

That the things they took for granted were luxuries built upon someone’s fingernails and blood. If they knew but turned a blind eye, that would be a more terrible sin than ignorance.

“Hah…”

It was when a deep sigh scattered into the night air.

Rustle, rustle. Quiet footsteps on grass. It was a familiar presence she could recognize without turning her head.

“The night wind is cold.”

It was Ishanka.

Instead of asking why she wasn’t sleeping, he quietly sat beside Nana. Not asking, not pressing, just silently staying by her side.

That was Ishanka’s way of showing consideration.

Nana let out a weak smile.

“It’s just… my head is a bit noisy.”

Silence flowed again.

When only moonlight quietly illuminated the space between them, it was Ishanka who broke the silence.

“Your attitude toward me has changed since returning from the Royal Palace.”

Nana’s shoulders trembled slightly.

Ishanka slowly turned his gaze from the night sky to look at Nana.

“I’m asking just in case, but are you avoiding me?”

What was bound to come had come.

Nana moved her lips, then after long hesitation, confessed.

“The thing is, I saw your past that day.”

“…”

“It wasn’t what I wanted. The system… no, a god showed it to me. Those things you went through as a child.”

Nana hugged her knees and lowered her head.

“After seeing that, it became hard to look at you properly. You know? After secretly peering into someone’s painful past, it would be strange to sit face to face and ask ‘how hard was it back then?’ but it was also too much for me to act like nothing happened when I knew so much.”

Nana raised her head to look at Ishanka sitting beside her.

“Sorry. When I’m in front of you, I felt sorry for no reason and avoided you.”

At her honest confession, Ishanka’s eyes widened briefly then settled. He nodded calmly.

“I see. But you don’t need to feel sorry. I was planning to tell you directly someday anyway.”

His voice was excessively calm.

As if he were talking about someone else’s story.

“You know I’m from a minority ethnic group, right? After my parents died before my eyes, many things happened. I was young but had to lead the tribe, and I didn’t even have time to grieve.”

Ishanka smiled bitterly.

“I’ve never regretted it. It was my burden to bear. It’s just that when I see anything related to magic, memories from those days come back. It’s probably an undesirable emotion for a ruler.”

Nana looked at him quietly.

Ishanka’s eyes seemed clear as if they held no emotion, but that made them feel even more lonely.

Nana unconsciously reached out and covered his cold hand.

“Don’t take it for granted.”

“What?”

“The weight you carried, the times you had to endure without even a chance to grieve. Don’t speak of it as if it were natural.”

Ishanka’s gaze wavered at the warmth transmitted from Nana’s hand. Nana looked straight into his eyes.

“You lost your parents before your eyes. That’s something even adults would find hard to bear. The fact that you, as a child, killed your emotions and lived for the tribe – it’s truly admirable but also heartbreaking.”

“…”

“So at least in front of me, you don’t have to be an excellent ruler.”

Nana squeezed the hand she was holding.

“It’s okay to just say it hurts. Isha.”

At those words, Ishanka’s firm eyes wavered.

Nana felt as if she could see the texture of his heart seeping through his light purple eyes – something he had never shown before.

The wind died down and it seemed as if only the two of them remained in the world.

Ishanka didn’t pull his hand away.

Instead, very carefully, he turned his palm over and clasped Nana’s hand.

His rough but warm hand wrapped around Nana’s hand without any gaps. It was a night when the moonlight was exceptionally bright and piercing.

* * *

Ishanka stared blankly at Nana, who looked more hurt than he did.

He was the one who had suffered the pain, so why was she making an expression as if she was about to cry?

Nana was always like that.

A person whose heart reacted first rather than calculating gains and losses.

When everyone wanted to hide behind his strength and be protected, she was the one who found the child crouched inside that hard shell and insisted on talking to him.

To her, Ishanka wasn’t a divine incarnation to be worshipped.

He was just pitiful human Ishanka, who carried a slightly heavier burden than others and couldn’t even scream when in pain.

That tender gaze opened the lock on sorrowful memories he had forgotten.

The minority ethnic groups had mourned the death of the young tribal leader couple. It was certainly a tragedy. But that sadness didn’t last long.

Before their tears had even dried, they began praising the young boy who had become Aibanu’s incarnation.

They cheered for the god’s descent in their despair, and in those cheers, the child’s sadness was erased.

What he was given wasn’t a warm embrace but a cold throne, and he had to hold a sword instead of tears and learn commands instead of emotions.

That life… was more bearable than expected.

He was clever and quickly learned how to kill his emotions. For a child who had become an adult too early, hardship was a luxury.

He had lived like that, deprived even of the chance to grieve.

“It’s okay to just say it hurts.”

Those words cracked the dam he had built solidly throughout his life.

It was the first time in his life.

The first person to give him permission to cry without any conditions, not as a divine incarnation or tribal leader, but just as a person named Ishanka.

‘You are…’

The reflection of himself in Nana’s eyes wasn’t a king.

Just an ordinary man who wavered, hurt, and deserved comfort. That gaze was so warm that Ishanka felt an unfamiliar pain.

A warmth rising tenderly from a corner of his chest. This wasn’t simple gratitude.

Jealousy, anxiety, and thirst. The selfish desire for those eyes, that warm warmth, to be directed only at him.

Just imagining her making such an expression to someone else twisted his insides.

He was afraid. Because he couldn’t fathom the depth of this emotion. But at the same time, he absolutely didn’t want to let go.

Ishanka gripped Nana’s clasped hand a little tighter. Words he couldn’t speak aloud lingered on his tongue.

‘I want you to keep looking at me like this.’

‘Only me, and no one else.’

Deep in his heart, through the cracks where his ruler’s mask had broken, a thick and dark possessiveness was slowly raising its head.

* * *

A night where not even a speck of moonlight was permitted.

The Royal Palace, with heavy dark clouds pressing down, was as quiet as a massive tomb.

Prime Minister Alekson Lankaster, alone in his study, leaned deep into his chair back and looked down at the reports scattered messily across his desk.

The contents of the document could be summarized as follows:

[Intentional damage traces confirmed on parts of the outer wall, signs of intrusion through those gaps detected.

Based on all circumstances, it is most likely that mages from the Magic Tower infiltrated.

Confirmed that the intruders took livestock from within the Farm.

This is presumed to be a preparatory stage for militarizing the secured personnel.]

“A plausible hypothesis.”

Alekson snorted and tossed the report aside. The paper fluttered helplessly to the floor.

“What does it matter if those mage bastards ransack the Farm or burn it down? That place is just…”

His fingers tapped the desk rhythmically, tap, tap.

“Nothing more than a device for manipulating the Foolish Pigs of the Palace at will.”

So what if it’s destroyed? If needed, he could just build it again.

Humans were like weeds—no matter how much you cut them down, they stubbornly grew back. The streets were littered with replaceable labor, no, replaceable parts.

Alekson opened his drawer and pulled out a worn piece of paper from deep within a Secret Space that was locked with double and triple security.

His gaze swept over the complex magic circles and formulas written on the paper.

[ Undying Army ]

A perfect weapon that knew neither death, pain, nor fear. That was the sole goal he had devoted his entire life to building.

“Still, it’s a bit disappointing. I was planning to conduct the final test at that Farm.”

Well, it doesn’t matter. After all, there are plenty of materials in the Royal Palace too.

His gaze turned beyond the closed Study door, toward the inner parts of the Royal Palace where people were indulging in lavish banquets and luxury.

His eyes glinted strangely like a snake’s.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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