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Chapter 31
In the original work, Danha’s personal history only appeared briefly once or twice.
The King of Jeha had many children.
However, he was such a cold and heartless father that he never even called the names of some of the children he had sired.
Even if his children died of illness, became political sacrifices, were abused by the queen, or fell in battle—he remained indifferent to them.
Danha, however, looked after those younger siblings who were neglected by their father, almost like a parent himself.
Even when he wandered endlessly like a carefree idler, he would always return to the palace with his arms full of gifts.
Because there were his poor siblings waiting for him there.
So when he lost the bracelet that his youngest sister had given him, it was no wonder he lost his rational judgment.
I tapped lightly on my folded arms with my fingers.
‘Normally, this is where I should remind him—“Don’t you want to see your remaining siblings? They’re waiting for you.” But…’
I glanced at Sien, who was looking at Danha without a flicker of concern.
He still hadn’t found the former Tower Master’s urn, and that weighed heavily on his mind.
Perhaps he wanted to resolve that burden through Danha.
I lowered my gaze for a moment.
‘Fine. It’s not like we’re going back to the forest at dawn—it’s just delaying the escape by a day or two.’
And if he still couldn’t find it, then I could always knock him out and drag him along later.
Having settled my thoughts, I pulled out a chair at the table and sat down.
“Let’s eat before the food gets cold.”
Then I invited the others to take their seats as well.
Danha sat down looking dazed.
“……”
Yeager reluctantly sat too, folding his arms. At least he wasn’t refusing to come near the table anymore, though he still wouldn’t touch the food.
“Thank you for the meal, Lady Ria.”
As I picked up my utensils, Sien smiled lazily and began eating.
I cut the duck meat into small pieces and put one in my mouth before speaking.
“What do you think about postponing our escape by just one day?”
Clatter—!
Yeager slammed his hands on the table and shot up, glaring at me as if he would tear me apart.
“What are you saying? Weren’t we supposed to depart tomorrow?”
I swallowed the meat, set my utensils down, and dabbed my lips with a napkin.
“Yes, that was the plan. We were going to use the warp scroll to leave tomorrow.”
“Then why—”
“It’s just a single day’s delay, Duke.”
It wasn’t as though leaving immediately would suddenly awaken the Saintess who had been asleep for an entire month.
“……”
I looked up at him as I lowered my napkin.
Yeager frowned, visibly agitated. With that deep scar cutting across his eyebrow, his already severe features looked twice as menacing when furrowed.
“Do not make such decisions without consulting us.”
“I’m consulting you right now.”
“This isn’t consultation—it’s notification.”
“I am considering your opinion, aren’t I? If it were notification, I wouldn’t bother listening at all.”
Since learning that Redria had been Yeager’s first love, I had been trying to avoid clashing with him emotionally. But his aggressive tone made my own words come out sharper than I intended.
He stared at me hard.
The sharp air between us pricked at my skin like needles.
‘Is he about to grab me by the collar?’
I tried to keep my face impassive, but part of me worried that Yeager might demand the warp scroll right then and there.
Just then—
Crash—Bang!
The sound startled me.
It was Yeager’s chair toppling and slamming against the door.
“……”
Sien, having stretched his long legs beyond the table, calmly tucked them back in as if nothing had happened, continuing to slice his meat.
“Sit down.”
His voice, usually gentle, dropped low and harsh.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
Yeager ground his teeth, spitting his words venomously.
Sien slowly lifted his head. Shadows fell over his violet eyes beneath his lashes.
“I said, sit down.”
“……”
“Can’t you see you’re frightening Lady Ria?”
Finally, Yeager looked down at me.
Reflected in his dark pupils was me, clutching my collar tightly—like a fragile, terrified woman about to be manhandled.
Clink-clink.
At that moment, the Crown Prince tapped his knife against his glass.
When all eyes turned toward him, he grinned brightly.
“Why don’t you sit down, just like he says? Threatening people with your size isn’t going to solve anything.”
“……”
Yeager rubbed his face with his large hand and sighed. He glanced at me and muttered:
“I had no intention of threatening you.”
His voice carried a faint trace of self-reproach, which left me dumbfounded.
‘No, I was just holding my collar because I thought you’d grab me…’
Before I could explain, Yeager pulled his chair back and sat down again.
The explosive tension simmered down, and I lost the timing to clarify.
I accidentally met Sien’s eyes.
He gave me a sly little smile as if asking, Didn’t I do well?
‘Well… it was a misunderstanding, but…’
I gave him a discreet thumbs-up under the table.
“Um…”
Then Danha, sitting beside me, hesitantly opened his mouth, looking guilty as though he had caused all this.
“My lady, about finding the bracelet… I think it’s better to give up.”
“Why?”
“Because it won’t be found.”
“Still, let’s at least try. You’ve been to the forest, right?”
“Yes. Though I came back quickly.”
I took a sip of water before continuing.
“Then we can split up and search the hut and the nearby forest.”
Danha turned his whole body toward me, fidgeting awkwardly.
The other men began to eye him curiously.
He glanced around at us all before speaking with visible discomfort.
“The truth is… I cannot harm zombies.”
…What?
“So I cannot be of help searching outside the hut.”
He avoided my astonished gaze and went on.
“They are not mere monsters—they are the remains of someone’s loved ones. Just because they’ve turned into strange creatures doesn’t mean I can kill them.”
Ah.
I set my glass down with a thud and pressed my forehead.
‘Right, I’d forgotten about this because he was otherwise so easygoing…’
Danha might be close to my ideal type, but he was…
No, honestly, he was extremely frustrating.
If Yeager was rigidly bound to rules and principles, then Danha was bound to moral purity.
In the middle of the original novel—
When Danha joined the male leads who had fled to the western shelter, he knew nothing about zombies.
He had never fought in life-or-death battles with them, nor suffered losses because of them.
So he couldn’t accept them as monsters—he saw them only as the remains of someone’s family, friends, and lovers.
Zombie Apocalypse Villains Top 10!
Danha ranked third on that list.
(For reference, food-stealing Redria was number ten.)
There’s always one in zombie stories, isn’t there? The one who hides a zombie “family member” or “friend,” only to doom the entire group.
Of course, in the original story, Danha wasn’t quite that bad.
Later, when food ran out and they were forced into battle with zombies, his convictions began to shift.
And like the others, he gradually descended into madness…
Well, let’s leave it at that. After all, we’ll be back to the capital before reaching that point.
‘There’s no helping it.’
I sighed repeatedly and said:
“Just give me one day. I’ll do the searching myself.”
All the men looked at me.
The Crown Prince pondered for a moment, then answered first.
“Well, if the young lady insists that much.”
Sien smiled over his glass of water.
“If Lady Ria is fine with it, then so am I.”
Yeager stared at my wrinkled collar, then quickly looked away when our eyes met.
“Just one day.”
He said it firmly.
‘It’s better than him insisting we leave immediately… but his compliance is almost unsettling.’
With mixed feelings, I stood up from the table.
“Then, as thanks to everyone, why don’t we let Danha do the dishes?”
“Very well.”
Danha kept bowing in gratitude to me and the others.
‘…But does he even know how to wash dishes?’
Just as I wondered, he blinked innocently and asked:
“But what is… dishwashing?”
Ah. So he’s just as hopeless with chores as the Crown Prince.
* * *
In the forest near the shelter.
I dug through the soil with a small spade before collapsing beneath a shaded tree.
“Ugh, I can’t do this anymore.”
It had been six hours since I started searching for Danha’s bracelet.
It felt like looking for a needle in a desert.
I slowly closed and reopened my eyes.
The bright sunlight flickered through the dense green leaves swaying above.
Graaaagh!
The ghastly cries of zombies echoed faintly in the distance, yet the scenery itself was peaceful.
I blew my bangs out of my eyes in irritation.
How long had I been lying there?
Staring blankly at the rustling leaves reminded me of the fundamental reason for my labor, and suddenly I grew indignant.
‘I’m supposed to be a romance-transmigration heroine. Shouldn’t I be wrapped up with a handsome man, living out a romance plotline? So why am I lugging around a hammer, going from one male lead to another saying, “Join my party”?’
Instead of a straw hat, I had a hammer.
Instead of a sea chart, I carried a zombie-zone map.
Instead of stretchy arms like cheese, I swung a mallet.
‘What’s the point of being a noble lady when I’m stuck in a zombie-infested apocalypse?’
Kim. Deok. Soo…
I ground my teeth again as I thought of that name.
