🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 21
It took me a little while to understand what Lumi meant.
“Ah…”
So, it seemed that Uben had been complaining about me behind my back.
He had clearly asked me to catch birds because we were short on food, yet he’d told others that I was being uncooperative.
“……”
His eyebrows were furrowed, and his fingers nervously picked at each other. Uben looked visibly uncomfortable.
Heresdon was quietly watching me, as if waiting for my response. Lillia looked troubled.
Idorian’s gaze shifted between us, while Lumi’s eyes were fixed steadily on Uben.
‘Do they all think I’m the one at fault?’
If the claim about food shortages had been a lie, then sitting around all day catching birds in the fields must have seemed lazy and irresponsible to them.
“Lady Penelope, Uben didn’t mean any harm—”
“I understand. I’ll be more careful next time.”
I cut off Lillia, who had tried to speak on Uben’s behalf, and simply nodded.
Lumi, who had been sitting beside Uben and watching him, suddenly turned toward me.
He frowned slightly, as if surprised by my reaction—perhaps he hadn’t expected me to take it so calmly.
As for Uben…
“But it’s not like I was whining about food. I just thought it’d be nice if we could all eat something like meat together.”
When our eyes met, he flinched and turned away sharply.
Did he do this because he disliked me? Because he wanted everyone else to dislike me too?
“I won’t skip work anymore.”
“You weren’t skipping work, were you?”
Just as I tried to wrap the matter up, Heresdon interjected.
“The lady fetches water every dawn. I’d say that’s more than enough contribution.”
Apparently, he had noticed me getting up earlier than everyone else to fill the day’s water supply.
“That was Lady Penelope, not Uben?”
Lillia looked down at Uben in surprise.
“I mean, that’s, uh…”
He glanced between Heresdon and Lillia, but couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence. His head hung low.
So he had told Lillia that he was the one doing it.
If I wanted to, I could expose every lie and falsehood Uben had told about me right now.
But… seeing his flushed face and trembling, anxious hands made it hard to do so.
“No, that was something Uben and I did together.”
“…I see.”
I covered for him again. Heresdon gave a short, noncommittal reply, then turned his head toward Idorian—wanting to get back to the reason we’d all gathered in the parlor.
“His Majesty has decided to mobilize the army,” Idorian said at last, after glancing briefly in my direction.
When Idorian assured Lillia that her family’s safety would also be checked, I found myself looking at Uben, sitting beside her.
Perhaps worried that talk of family would remind him of his own loss, I checked on him—but his head was bowed low.
His shoulders were hunched, his small frame shrinking into itself.
“If we hold on a little longer, we’ll be able to return to the capital,” Idorian said with confidence.
“…No. It’ll take much longer for the Imperial Army to reach this fortress,” Heresdon said firmly, shaking his head.
He was directly contradicting Idorian’s hopeful tone.
“When the Emperor first ordered the evacuation from the capital, it likely meant that the situation there was far worse than here,” he said, quickly scanning the Emperor’s letter.
“No one knows how many Imperial soldiers have survived. Even assuming the losses weren’t too severe, it would still take months to eliminate all the zombies in the capital.”
At his words, Lillia’s face fell. The fragile hope she’d been clinging to began to crumble.
Heresdon noticed but continued nonetheless, perhaps believing it was better to face the truth.
“Moreover, since the monsters attack in swarms, it won’t be easy for the army to handle them efficiently.”
He must have thought that we needed realistic expectations, not false optimism.
“It’ll take at least a year before we can return to the capital.”
And indeed, in the original story, Heresdon had been right.
“In the worst case, the army might even fall mid-way and turn into zombies themselves.”
Lillia exhaled deeply, unable to hide her despair.
The unease she’d been suppressing seemed to come flooding back all at once.
“I agree with His Grace,” I said quietly. “It’ll take time before we can go back.”
I sided with Heresdon’s assessment.
Idorian seemed to be deliberately taking a more optimistic stance to comfort us, but sometimes, it was the accurate understanding of danger—not blind hope—that gave people the strength to endure.
And if we were truly going to be stuck here for a year, then we needed to face reality and prepare accordingly.
“No,” Idorian said, shaking his head. “We’ll be confined to this fortress for at most four months.”
He still refused to bend his view.
“His Majesty has mobilized the army. That means he believes enough forces remain to reach us.”
“Your Highness…”
Enough forces to reach this place.
“Regardless of the exact number of troops, that means the Imperial Army should be here in about four months.”
Of course, the army would eventually arrive—but what made Idorian so certain that it would only take four months?
‘He must understand how dire our situation is. Then why is he so confident?’
As if sensing my doubt, Idorian cast a quick glance my way before continuing,
“If we use the method Penelope suggested—to lure the undead with blood—it’ll allow us to clear the area much more efficiently.”
“Ah…”
Only then did I understand where his confidence came from.
He had seen firsthand, during the mission to rescue Lumi, how strongly the zombies reacted to blood.
He must have concluded that the same tactic could greatly aid the army’s advance.
“Oh! That makes sense!”
Lillia was the first to react, her eyes widening in realization as she looked between Idorian and me.
“If that works, then not only would we avoid direct combat, but we’d also reduce the risk significantly. In that case, yes… we could indeed be on our way back to the capital in about four months,” Heresdon said, lowering his gaze thoughtfully before nodding in agreement.
“Then, Your Highness, let’s inform His Majesty of this immediately!” Lillia exclaimed, clasping her hands in relief.
‘…Four months.’
That was less than half the time it had taken in the original storyline.
If that were true, then the development of the cure could begin sooner—and I could return to being human far earlier than I’d anticipated.
“Uben, just a little longer. We can endure this,” Lillia said brightly, patting his back encouragingly.
But Uben still sat there, hunched over.
He merely nodded once, then slid down from his chair.
“I should start preparing dinner. Excuse me.”
He quietly excused himself, volunteering to handle the meal.
Before leaving, his gaze met mine for a fleeting second—but he quickly turned away and walked out.
Strangely, he didn’t seem happy at all about the idea of returning to the capital in four months.
You’d think he’d be glad—he wouldn’t have to fetch water every day or cook for everyone anymore.
‘It must be because of his family.’
As I watched the door close behind him, Lumi—sitting beside me—let out a faint sigh.
When our eyes met, his narrowed slightly.
