🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 57
Before long, Renier pulled me along and walked toward the dining hall.
His blade was still pressed against my neck.
As we entered the dining hall, we saw Heresdon and Lillia collapsed on the floor.
It looked like Heresdon had collapsed while carrying Lillia out of the kitchen—she was draped over his back.
“Renier, they collapsed just a moment ago.”
“We should move them to the parlor.”
At Renier’s short command, the others moved quickly.
Lillia was lifted lightly into someone’s arms.
Renier pushed my back, urging me to keep walking.
“You don’t have to worry, my lady.”
As we passed the fallen pair and made our way toward the kitchen, Renier spoke.
“All we want is to take the food and leave this place. As long as you don’t interfere with that, we won’t harm you.”
His voice lingered in my ears slowly.
“Is that really true?”
I quickly assessed whether he meant what he said.
Even in the novel, these people only drugged the protagonists to make them sleep—they did not threaten their bodies.
They had taken Lillia hostage only because Heresdon had woken up halfway through, despite the sedatives.
“If Heresdon hadn’t woken up… would they have simply stolen the supplies and left?”
I glanced over the faces of the people busily moving around.
They already had the upper hand in the situation, yet they didn’t look relaxed at all.
On the contrary, they looked more desperate than I’d ever seen them.
“Why bother keeping us alive?”
“…What?”
In the end, I judged that Renier truly meant what he said—that they wouldn’t harm us as long as we didn’t interfere.
So I deliberately provoked him, hoping irritation might make him spill something useful.
“It’s true, isn’t it? Wouldn’t it be easier to just kill us all and take the supplies?”
Even in the novel, there were moments when they could have killed the protagonists.
When everyone was asleep from the drug, for example. Or they could have put a lethal dose in the food in the first place.
But the people of Letern had never done so, even when they had the chance.
If their goal was murder, they had had ample opportunities.
“We are not as cruel as you people.”
Renier clicked his tongue coldly.
Stealing all our food while claiming they weren’t cruel… how shameless.
If they were taking everything, it meant they didn’t care whether we lived or died.
“……”
Not as cruel as us—his words carried clear resentment.
It seemed there was something I didn’t know, something the novel never mentioned.
“I think you should serve tea to His Highness Idorian and Uben as well.”
But I wasn’t particularly interested in their circumstances.
“What?”
“You never know when someone might suddenly fight back again.”
Just because they had a reason didn’t mean their actions were any less wrong.
They had stolen all our food, and in this situation, robbing us of food was no different from telling us to starve to death.
“You look busy. No need to waste time.”
I pointed toward the stores of food being carried out of the pantry.
What I needed to prevent was someone being taken hostage and dragged all the way outside the fortress.
Their backstory didn’t matter for that.
If anything, if I wanted to keep people from getting hurt, the best thing was to ensure our group stayed sedated.
That way, the Letern people wouldn’t be interrupted as they escaped with the supplies.
“And His Grace Heresdon should drink more so he doesn’t wake up again.”
“…Jade, don’t go down. Make more tea.”
Renier grabbed Jade, who was about to head down to the storeroom.
Jade looked confused, but eventually followed Renier’s orders and set the teapot back on the fire.
“When will they wake up?”
“…How did you know it was a sleeping drug?”
“You said you wouldn’t harm anyone.”
Renier let out a baffled laugh.
“You believed that?”
I shrugged lightly—there wasn’t much else I could say.
The pressure of his blade on my neck eased slightly.
“They should wake up before the day ends.”
“Once the food is moved, you leave—and I’ll open the gate for you, right?”
Renier removed the arm he’d draped around my shoulders and shoved me hard toward the wall.
“You’re not worried at all, are you?”
He frowned deeply, sounding annoyed.
“Or is it because both you and His Highness the Crown Prince are here, so you think someone will come rescue you soon?”
His snide tone made me frown.
“The food is already gone. What else can I do? I just hope no one gets hurt, like you said.”
They acted like they hadn’t done anything wrong while taking all our food.
Now he seemed irritated that I wasn’t panicking enough.
“If that’s what you want, the only way is for you to quickly take the food and leave the fortress.”
“……”
“We have no food left. At the very least, we should stay healthy.”
Renier sighed slowly and turned his head away.
“If you’re finished, hurry up and take it already! What are you dawdling for?”
Suddenly, he snapped at Jade.
“Make His Grace Heresdon drink the tea again.”
“But he already—”
“Just do it.”
Jade, unfairly caught in his anger, scrambled out of the kitchen with the teapot.
Renier clicked his tongue again.
His expression looked painfully conflicted.
“If we take all the food, you’ll likely starve to death here.”
Then, without warning, he said something like that.
“If you’re lucky, the crops in the garden might grow fast enough for you to survive until then.”
“…I know.”
“But we can’t leave the food behind.”
I nodded silently, and his expression twisted once more.
“We all have families waiting for us.”
Then he added:
“They haven’t eaten anything for over fifteen days.”
His defensive explanation ended abruptly.
Even though some of their own were injured, they were desperate to leave—likely because of this.
I had already suspected as much.
The rumor that their lord had taken all their food was probably true.
The men must have left the territory to find food, while their wives and children waited inside the territory, starving.
After finishing his explanation, Renier said nothing more—just bit his lip in frustration.
“Do you think the lord won’t take it away again?”
In the end, I broke the silence.
“If he was cruel enough to force you all to leave the territory in search of food… he’ll probably take it again.”
“We won’t let him take it this time.”
Renier said firmly.
He seemed to have determination, but no real plan.
And honestly, I wasn’t even sure they could make it back to their territory alive.
This time, unlike when they climbed to the fortress, they would be weighed down with supplies and chased by zombies.
This is why I didn’t want to hear their story.
Because now that I knew, his expression looked less hateful than before.
“Renier, we’ve moved everything. Let’s go.”
“A few of you check on Jade. We’ll take the food outside the castle.”
As Renier grabbed my wrist again, I hesitated—then spoke.
“Zombies use hearing and smell to locate people.”
“What…?”
“If you wear the corpse of a zombie, you can mask your scent.”
His eyes trembled.
A suppressed emotion flickered across his face.
He quickly turned away, but it was too late—his expression had already completely crumbled.
