chapter 47
“Ku-eeek!”
The next morning, the Crown Prince, Count Lafran, and I got up at dawn and searched the western forest.
Fortunately, around the afternoon, we found Lady Lafran—her dress hem caught in the bushes, shuffling in place.
“Oh? So this is what happens when one is infected.”
The Crown Prince stroked his chin, observing Lady Lafran—now a human zombie—with interest.
Her skin was beyond pale, tinged bluish-green. Her eyes were blood-red. She had lost all reason and craved human flesh.
Her body was torn in several places, as if she’d been bitten multiple times—flesh ripped so deeply that bone was visible, blood dripping steadily.
It was my first time seeing a real zombie, not just one from media, and I was a little shocked.
But only for a moment. I regained my composure.
We had something to resolve.
I took out the dagger Count Lafran had used the previous day and handed it to him.
“You need to stab it through her eye and pierce the brain.”
Zombies usually die when their brains are destroyed. It should be the same here. If not, crushing the skull would do.
Count Lafran went pale with horror.
“M-Me? You mean me?”
“Then who else, if not you, Count Lafran?”
I forced the dagger into his hand as he tried to recoil in fright.
His trembling hand dropped it.
“P-Please don’t do this. I can’t. She’s my wife—how can I do such a thing? I… I can’t….”
Pitiful?
I let out a scoff.
Was it not pitiful when you fed her to zombies to save yourself?
He pleaded again, but I had no intention of merely scaring him and letting it go.
Live with at least this much guilt.
I may not have the right to judge others, but for someone who prioritized comforting himself over his wife’s death, wasn’t this level of punishment acceptable?
“Hurry and do it. Leaving her like this is far more cruel.”
Even after that, Count Lafran whimpered that he couldn’t do it, but unable to withstand my urging, he finally drove the dagger into his wife’s head.
Pshhk—!
When he pulled the blade out, blood spurted forth. Shocked by the sight, he collapsed to the ground.
Rustle—thud.
Thankfully, Lady Lafran, struck in the brain, stopped moving and fell into the bushes.
I glanced at the dazed, trembling count and picked up the bloodstained dagger beside him.
Wiping it clean with a towel I had brought from the shelter, I slid it into my holster.
“We’ll bury her.”
The Crown Prince and I dug a grave, buried Lady Lafran, and held a moment of silence for her.
Right after, I looked at the back of the Crown Prince’s head as he stared disdainfully at the shell-shocked count.
“Your Highness, have you been sleeping well lately? You were awake early again this morning.”
That was why I’d tried to wake only the count and leave the two of us behind—but ended up coming out as three.
The Crown Prince turned back to me and lifted one eyebrow slyly.
“Oh? Are you worried about me?”
“Of course I am.”
I didn’t want him sleep-talking nonsense again or dozing off and becoming zombie food.
After saying that casually, I picked up a stone near the grave that had been bothering me and tossed it aside.
Suddenly, I felt a slanted gaze on me and turned around. The Crown Prince was looking at me closely, wearing an awkward expression.
“What?”
“…This is troublesome.”
What is?
“At this rate, it’ll truly become troublesome.”
What will?
Instead of answering my questioning eyes, he let out a sigh.
“I can see why the Tower Master is angry. Young lady, you truly are…”
He trailed off and narrowed his eyes at me.
“When you look closely, you’re quite cruel.”
“…?”
With that single remark, he turned and walked away.
I stood there blankly, staring at his retreating back in confusion.
What did I even do?
After walking a good distance, he suddenly stopped and turned to look at me with the eyes of someone witnessing a hopeless case. He let out another deep sigh and shook his head.
“Cruel. Very.”
“What?”
A hollow laugh escaped me.
Wasn’t I supposed to be kind? Didn’t you say I had a lot of affection?
I stood there, dumbfounded, staring at the back of his head for a long time.
That afternoon, just as I was preparing a meal—
Click.
Jaeger entered through the back door. He looked as though he had just returned from hunting.
“Where is His Highness?”
Hunting teams worked in pairs.
Jaeger glanced at me once and replied calmly.
“After the hunt, he went into the forest for personal training.”
“Ah. I see.”
I nodded and stole a glance at Jaeger.
Ever since the day he thanked me, he had responded to me without irritation whenever I spoke to him.
Because of that, my mental fatigue had lessened considerably these days.
I lowered my gaze with a faint smile—and noticed the rabbit carcass in his hand.
A dagger was embedded in its belly.
“Ki-ing!”
Lapo, who had been rolling around in the living room, saw it and dashed to the kitchen in alarm.
He leapt onto the wooden sink and clung to me, trembling while keeping a wary eye on Jaeger’s movements.
Jaeger glanced at him as if used to the reaction, then went toward the front to organize the backpack he had borrowed earlier.
I leaned over the wooden sink and stretched my neck to look at him.
“You caught another rabbit? Are you going to butcher it yourself again like last time?”
Meaning: You’ll handle it again, right?
Jaeger gave me an indifferent look.
“I will.”
Yes!
I cheered inwardly.
Good thing he didn’t tell me to handle the butchering just because I had done the hunting again.
Last time too, he had prepared the rabbit himself. At first, he didn’t know how—like a proper duke—so I gave him a relevant guidebook. After that, he became quite efficient.
He spread a cloth over the table and placed the rabbit on top, then stepped away briefly to prepare.
Only then did Lapo, who had been trembling in my arms, cautiously peek toward the living room.
His little back rose and fell in relief. He was so cute that I suddenly wanted to tease him.
“Oh? Is that Lapo?”
I approached the table and pretended the rabbit was Lapo.
“Ki-ing! Kking!”
Lapo hurried after me, bouncing in place as if to say he was right here.
I turned to him in mock confusion and tilted my head.
Then I grabbed him by the ears, lifting him up, and compared him with the rabbit carcass.
“Laaapooo!”
Lapo let out a long cry, as if protesting that he was not food.
I almost burst out laughing but held it in, putting on the most awkward performance.
“Oh, this is Lapo. You were sleeping.”
After saying that to the rabbit carcass, I tucked Lapo under my arm and headed for the kitchen.
“Guess we’re having rabbit today.”
“Kking! Ki-ing! Kking!”
Lapo wriggled desperately to escape my arms.
Ah, poor thing—but so cute.
I was holding back laughter when I suddenly felt someone watching me.
Jaeger had just come in through the back door. He was staring at me with a dumbfounded expression.
“What are you doing?”
“……”
Embarrassed that he had seen me teasing Lapo so childishly, I avoided his gaze.
“I-I was just playing with Lapo.”
“Wasn’t Lapo the one playing with you?”
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
Ahem. I cleared my throat and carefully set Lapo down.
Then—
Pfft.
A faint sound of air escaping someone’s lips. It was unmistakably a laugh.
Did that man just laugh?
Not wanting to miss such a rare sight, I whipped around to look at Jaeger, eyes wide.
Unfortunately, when I looked again, he was expressionless as ever.
He furrowed his brows slightly, as if annoyed.
“What are you looking at?”
“No, it’s just—you smiled just now…”
“Me?”
We were the only two here.
And I wasn’t the one who laughed.
That left only one person.
I nodded slowly.
“Yes, you just smiled.”
Jaeger’s eyes widened slightly, trembling as though shaken. Then he slowly lowered his gaze.
As if thinking, I… did?—utterly shocked.
Afraid he might snap out of it and accuse me of slander, I quickly slipped into the pantry. Then I glared at the closed door as though it were him.
Is it really that damaging to his pride that he laughed because of me…?
What’s wrong with a person smiling once in a while?
Grumbling to myself, I grabbed the ingredients irritably.
