🔊 TTS Settings
Episode 2
It was nothing short of a bombshell.
“…Zombies?”
Yulia, who had been pale the whole time, asked without even realizing it.
“The zombies I know?”
“Yeah.”
“The ones that go grrrr, eat people, and spread it if they bite you?”
“Not like that. They’re just zombie-like. Not real zombies.”
For reference, I’ve just borrowed the image of the “zombie” monster that’s been passed down through stories.
At my gentle explanation, Yulia seemed completely speechless.
Which was understandable.
Dying in a carriage accident and coming back to life was shocking enough.
But being told she’d become a zombie?
No.
not even a proper zombie, but something zombie-like?!
I had to choose my words carefully to calm them down.
“I didn’t have a choice. It would’ve been better if I’d asked for consent, but you were all already dead. I really am sorry I turned you into zombies without asking.”
“That’s not the problem!”
Yulia shouted sharply.
“How is something like that even possible?! I’ve never heard of anyone coming back from the dead! Even the holy saints of the Papal State, who can make the lame walk again, can’t revive the dead!”
“Strictly speaking, I didn’t bring you back to life. Right now, you’re closer to corpses than living people.”
Yulia clearly didn’t understand the difference. Her mouth opened and closed like she was at a loss for words.
While she was about to lose her mind, Isaac and Edmond were trying hard to look at the situation calmly.
“…Is that your ability?”
Isaac gave the closest answer to the truth.
“Yes.”
I answered plainly.
“Ha. So the ability you never showed once in twenty-three years… is controlling corpses?”
He roughly ran a hand through his hair. Without his glasses, his sharp eyes were fully exposed.
I gently corrected the mistake in his words.
“It’s binding the souls of the dead to me.”
“…What?”
“I force those souls to obey me and let them inhabit a new body. I used corpses because that was the only vessel available.”
“What are you even saying?”
Yulia asked in frustration.
“Normally, when a body dies, the soul leaves. I forcibly held yours in place.”
“So… we’re dead?”
“Yes. Our bodies did.”
If dead bodies were moving, what else could you call it but zombies?
The explanation was confusing from start to finish, but Edmond barely managed to hold onto his composure.
He already knew what this strange, eerie ability was usually called.
“…So you’re a dark mage.”
At that word, Isaac and Yulia flinched without realizing it. On this continent, that title is practically taboo.
But just like always, I calmly nodded.
“Yes.”
If my parents heard I was a dark mage, they’d probably crawl out of their graves.
Though in this case, the ones crawling out of graves were my siblings.
As a cold silence fell, Isaac’s wrist—already in bad shape all day—made a cracking sound and dropped off.
Thud… roll.
The wrist rolled across the floor and stopped at my feet.
Staring at the clean cut with no blood at all, Isaac muttered blankly,
“It’s real…”
No one spoke for a while.
Then Yulia suddenly jumped to her feet.
“This makes no sense! Dark mages—dark magic disappeared from the continent three hundred years ago!”
She shouted harshly, but unlike her sharp tone, her voice was trembling badly.
“And Emily is… a Walker.”
There was no denying that I was the fourth daughter of the Walker ducal house.
Some people doubted it, sure—but only doubted.
Because Yulia, my twin, was undeniable proof of Walker blood.
“Our family has always been born with one exceptional ability in each generation. Because it’s God’s blessing.
Now you’re saying God’s blessing is dark magic?”
It sounded absurd.
Dark magic denies God and breaks the world’s taboos through heretical means. There was no way a sane god would grant that as a blessing.
“But if not, how do you explain this?” Edmond countered immediately.
“Yulia, didn’t you feel it too?”
It’s hard to mistake the moment when the shadow of death falls over you.
“Well… yes, but—!”
“And look at my wrist.”
Isaac waved the severed wrist.
“Look at this cut. Does this look like a living body to you?”
He twisted it. Between layers of muscle and bone, empty blood vessels were visible.
“We died today. And Emily brought us back.”
Yulia couldn’t argue anymore. She clearly felt something was wrong with her body too.
Her sensitive fingertips could normally detect a difference of even 1 ml in a reagent. Alchemy demanded that level of precision.
But now, even her sense of touch was dull—as if she were wearing thick gloves.
Yulia stared down at her pale hand.
It moved when she willed it to, yet her face showed disbelief that her body was already dead.
But her despair didn’t last long.
We’d already learned once how to stand up after death.
After our parents’ sudden accident, the old saying—that death comes without knocking—had been etched deep into our hearts.
Determination filled Yulia’s eyes.
Once she calmed down, Edmond stated the cold reality.
“A dark mage is executed on the spot if discovered. The moment the Papal State finds out, not only are we erased, Andrea won’t survive either.”
The entire Walker family would be destroyed. That much, even I wanted to avoid.
“Can’t we say we died in the accident and just disappear?” Yulia asked.
“Hide somewhere? Wouldn’t that be better than getting caught using dark magic?”
I shook my head.
“Then only Andrea and I would remain as Walkers. My legitimacy isn’t fully recognized, so Andrea would be the sole heir—and he’s too young.”
Under Bellonde imperial law, an underage heir can’t fully exercise their rights. A legal guardian takes control instead
“The council would never leave that alone.”
Isaac shook his head.
There were too many hyenas around the Walker family, waiting for a chance to tear us apart.
“When our parents died, Edmond was exactly eighteen. That’s why we didn’t lose the family. But we all know how hard that process is, even for a legitimate heir.”
That kind of luck won’t come twice.
This time, we would lose everything.
Everyone’s faces hardened as they imagined the family’s end.
“We can’t exactly reveal Emily’s legitimacy by announcing she’s a dark mage… this is bad.”
The panic had passed. Now everyone was thinking about the future.
I realized this was the right moment to speak.
“There’s only one option left.”
I met each of their eyes as I continued.
“Until Andrea comes of age, we’ll do everything we can to not get caught.”
That was the best answer I had.
“So we just have to survive seven years?”
“Yes. Once Andrea turns eighteen, we can figure something out.”
Edmond’s cold gaze drifted through the air, weighing the possibilities.
“Seven years…”
“Is that even possible? My body feels like my wrist could fall off while escorting a lady at a ball.”
“We’ll make it possible.”
Edmond said firmly.
“There’s no other choice.”
He was right.
“…What a mess.”
“My head hurts.”
Isaac and Yulia complained, but neither openly opposed Edmond.
Then Isaac raised his intact hand.
“Uh, sorry to interrupt the serious talk, but… my wrist is still like this. Emily, do you know how to attach it?”
He smiled awkwardly.
“Oh—right.”
“Yes. But it’s only temporary. As I said, this body is still closer to a corpse.”
I frowned slightly, uncomfortable saying the word corpse.
“That’s why it breaks easily.”
“So hugging the youngest once and putting him down could snap my wrist~.”
Isaac muttered quietly.
Once upon a time, he’d been strong enough to break rocks with his bare hands.
“It might hurt a bit.”
I aligned Isaac’s cold wrist and hand properly, then bit down hard on the tip of my pinky.
Before Isaac could say anything, a miracle happened.
My blood floated in the air, writhing like a living snake.
It rubbed against my wrist like it was showing affection, then wrapped itself tightly around Isaac’s wrist.
The red coil, like a bracelet, slowly melted into his skin. His wrist looked perfectly fine again.
“Whoa…”
Isaac rotated it a few times. It felt a bit tight, but not much different from when he was first revived.
Blood-mediated magic.
That alone was undeniable proof that I was a dark mage.
“Since when did this— no, that’s not important.”
Edmond made a clear judgment. Digging into my past didn’t matter now.
If I told them I stole and read forbidden dark magic books from the imperial archive… they’d freak out.
Yeah. Better not say that.
Isaac kept rotating his restored wrist, muttering in awe.
“Dark magic… and my little sister is a dark mage…”
At his words, I flinched.
Dark mages were the most hated beings in this land.
Enemies of all humanity. If discovered, execution was guaranteed.
That was why our parents had trained me from a very young age to hide who I was.
Maybe because I’d hidden it my whole life—my fingers started shaking.
I clenched my skirt tightly to hide it.
“Emily.”
My name was suddenly called.
I looked up, startled.
“…Yeah?”
“…You did well.”
I never expected that.
“If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t even have a future to hope for. The Walker family would’ve fallen straight into the council’s hands. So don’t bow your head like you committed a crime.”
Edmond’s tone was as cold as ever, but I could hear the kindness beneath it.
“No matter what others say, this ability is a blessing from God—and proof that you are a Walker.”
He reached out and gently patted my hair.
It felt like being a child again.
“So hold your head high.”
“…Okay!”
Knowing how much this awkward comfort meant coming from Edmond, I smiled brighter than ever.
