🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 43
‘That man in particular, I’ll need to keep a close eye on.’
I glanced at Viscount Lafran.
Seeing how the male leads paid attention to me, he stepped back a few paces and shot me a look full of contempt.
It was the kind of unpleasant stare one might give a female who seduced a predator to seize power. And yet, whenever his eyes accidentally met those of the male leads, he would quickly cower and tuck his tail.
‘So he thinks I’m easy prey.’
Even if rumors called me a lunatic, even if I was from a high-ranking family, I was still a woman, just as they said.
To the viscount, a man steeped in a male-supremacist society, I was nothing more than someone weak and insignificant in a world where survival depended on force.
‘And he doesn’t even realize that his misunderstanding is an insult not only to me, but to the male leads as well.’
I didn’t feel the need to correct him.
‘Sooner or later, one of the male leads will make him pay dearly for that.’
That was honestly my only thought, and it amused me. Then I pointed upstairs for the new survivors.
“Viscount Lafran, Yand, Zenta. Please all go up to the second floor, take a shower, and change your clothes. We’ll talk more tomorrow morning.”
“Y-yes…”
“Understood.”
Sniffling, Yand answered and then took his brother’s hand, heading upstairs.
Viscount Lafran followed after them, glancing around at the parts of the interior he hadn’t yet seen.
I craned my neck, watching until they fully disappeared from view. But just then, the crown prince blocked my sight.
“Hey, young lady. Are you even listening?”
“Shh. Be quiet and come here.”
Once I confirmed they had gone up, I signaled the male leads with my eyes and led them out into the yard.
Standing in a circle in front of the storage shed, I crossed my arms and looked at them.
“We’ll need to delay our escape for a few days.”
“What did you just say…?”
Before Jaeger’s expression could turn hostile, I raised my hand.
“Please, hear me out first.”
It wasn’t like this decision was easy for me.
More than anyone, I wanted to escape this place.
And yet, there are two reasons I want to delay.
First reason.
The warp scroll can only transport five people.
But now, including the additional survivors, we have eight people.
We have to choose.
Who stays, and who goes?
The most “ideal” solution I had come up with was: send the four male leads—especially Yand, the weakest—back, while I stayed behind with the viscount and Zenta in the zombie zone…
‘But do you think these guys would just leave me behind like, “Goodbye everyone—!”?’
And even if I went off with the male leads, it would be impossible for the survivors left behind to endure until a rescue came.
In the original story, the Saintess would come to save them eventually. But I couldn’t just say, “Don’t worry, just wait until then.”
‘Besides, among them is a child and a young boy.’
There’s no way the male leads would abandon the weak.
Another option would be: send off the survivors with two male leads first, while I stay behind with the remaining two.
‘Of course, I’d prefer to stay with the crown prince and Danha… but would Sien ever leave without finding the previous Tower Master’s remains?’
Sighing deeply, I rubbed my forehead.
‘I should’ve gone to retrieve that urn after all.’
Sien might pretend he had no lingering attachment to it, but let’s be honest—that’s the only reason he’s insisting on staying.
‘If I stay behind with Sien, then what happens?’
I tried to imagine it.
Soon, monsters will appear in the Sacred Forest. Sien will sense it and lose control.
Then, he’ll suffer a heart seizure. And the survival of both me and whichever male lead is left with us cannot be guaranteed.
In the original story, Sien never caused anyone’s death. The crown prince had chased him to the Sacred Forest, but because of the “darkness” phenomenon in the Dawn Forest, he lost track of him.
But if I happened to be right beside him during his rampage this time…
I squeezed my eyes shut at the terrifying thought.
If the Sacred Forest ended up burned to ashes, who’s to say we wouldn’t burn along with it?
‘No. Sien absolutely must leave with the warp scroll.’
Reaching that conclusion—that the urn must be recovered no matter what—I let out a shallow sigh and glanced back at the cabin.
Second reason.
The new survivors are hiding something.
I don’t have proof. Just deduction and instinct.
But sometimes animal instincts are the sharpest—and the most frightening.
‘The fact that they woke up after a whole week in the Sacred Forest is strange enough.’
So is this supposed memory loss of theirs.
As I mulled it over, the crown prince was the first among the male leads to agree with me.
“You sensed it too, didn’t you? They’re hiding something. Especially Viscount Lafran.”
Then Danha, who had been deep in thought, joined in.
“I cannot say for sure. But even if our escape is delayed, I have no objection. After all, the warp scroll was never mine to begin with—it belongs to the lady.”
“What about you, Tower Master?”
I turned to Sien, but he just toyed with my hair as if none of this concerned him.
When my insistent gaze demanded an answer, he belatedly shrugged.
“If it’s what Lia wants, I don’t mind.”
‘That just leaves…’
I looked to Jaeger, silently asking for his stance. But he only stared at me steadily with unreadable eyes.
It wasn’t the same dissatisfied glare he’d worn when we delayed the escape because of Danha’s bracelet or the crown prince’s interrogation.
He wasn’t pressuring me to hand over the warp scroll, nor demanding to be included among those leaving, nor throwing a tantrum insisting we depart immediately.
He just looked at me—with a complicated expression.
‘Come to think of it, he’s been looking at me like that for a while now.’
Sensing the two of us needed a private word, Danha excused himself. The crown prince, lacing his fingers behind his head, was about to head inside but not before messing up my hair one last time and dragging Sien away by the neck.
Finally, with only Jaeger left, he seemed to collect his thoughts. With a quiet sigh, he spoke.
“If that’s truly your opinion, then I have no objection.”
“…Really?”
“As the Jeha prince said, the warp scroll is yours. Therefore, only you can decide who stays and who leaves.”
Who are you, and where did the real Jaeger go?
Where was the guy who had been nagging me constantly, acting like he was the one who owned the scroll? Suddenly he was being… reasonable.
Jaeger kept his eyes lowered, voice steady.
“I still don’t trust you.”
Of course you don’t.
“And I meant it when I said I’ll investigate you once we return.”
Sure, go ahead.
“I’ll also be keeping watch, to make sure those new survivors don’t try anything stupid.”
By all means.
He held my gaze for a moment, then turned slightly so I couldn’t see his expression.
“…But after meeting them, there’s one thing I must admit.”
“…”
“That I only managed to survive this far thanks to you.”
My eyes widened.
“So you’re saying… you’re grateful to me?”
Jaeger instantly scowled, glaring at me like I was spouting nonsense.
“Ohhh, or are you saying you no longer see me as a parasite, but as an actual human being?”
“Haa…”
I teased him a bit, and he let out a deep sigh, turning his back on me as if he couldn’t be bothered.
“I acknowledge you’re not a parasite anymore. So drop it.”
As he walked away, I called after him.
“You’re still applying medicine to your leg, right? Be careful not to let it scar.”
He rubbed at the corner of his eye—nowhere near his wound—before glancing back at me.
“…Don’t concern yourself.”
Though the menace that had surrounded him since the Dawn Forest had subsided, Jaeger was still as prickly as ever.
When we delayed the first escape, he’d been extremely anxious. The second time, he deliberately avoided being alone with me. And yet, his gaze was always fixed on me.
Too heated to be called cold, too lingering to be called indifferent.
I rolled my eyes.
‘Looks like he’s slowly letting go of that grudge he had against Redria.’
I smiled faintly as I watched him reach for the door handle.
I could only hope he’d rid himself of that heavy hatred before the day came when he finally left the zombie zone.
Just then, as Jaeger opened the back door—
Crash!
“…”
Down they tumbled—Danha, the crown prince, and Sien—collapsing like dominoes after eavesdropping on our conversation from below.
“….”
Jaeger gave them a disgusted look before storming inside.
The crown prince brushed back his hair as if nothing had happened and followed. Danha coughed awkwardly and went in after him.
And Sien…
“What’s wrong?”
He looked at me with a deeply sulky expression, his violet eyes shimmering with emotion so heavy I thought he might cry.
After staring at me for a long moment, he finally muttered, voice small and sulking:
“Lia, you dummy.”
…?
I blinked in shock, stunned.
‘Did he just… call me a dummy? But why?’
I had no idea why he was sulking like that, and it left me completely baffled.
And so, left alone in the yard, I let out a helpless, hollow laugh.
