The Sequel to the Romance Fantasy Was a Zombie Apocalypse – Chapter 74

“♪♬♩~”

Esmela’s humming echoes through the hallway.

“You seem to be in a good mood, Young Lady.”

“Of course! I’ve finally returned home.”

She spreads her arms wide and spins around, the full bag on her back making a dull clattering sound.

Lanit watches the excited Esmela with a strange expression, casually glancing at the hallway of the mansion they are currently walking through.

There wasn’t a single intact spot.

Three years ago, when the zombies attacked, most of the hallway’s windows were shattered, leaving shards of glass scattered all over the floor.

Even aside from that, the floor and window frames were thickly coated in dust, and the red carpet laid on a neglected, worn-out floor…

Anyone could see it was just an abandoned house. A huge ghost mansion with dozens of rooms.

While moving his gaze around the horrifying scene in the hallway, Lanit’s attention stopped at a bloodstain on the floor.

‘That spot is definitely…’

It’s the blood of the mutant zombies that tried to attack Esmela during the raid. Cleared up by Head Maid Elina.

Even if Lanit turned his gaze towards the garden with an uneasy heart, there would be no peace in his mind.

The garden was strewn about with the bodies of zombies that he had dealt with while subjugating the northwest district, left in a tragic state.

“Is the… mansion’s condition alright? What about hygiene…?”

“Why? It’s perfectly fine. I’ve seen much worse over the past three years, haven’t I? It’s dirty, so just clean it up~”

Leaving only a nonsensical reply, Esmela cheerfully hummed her way back to her bedroom.

Lanit stared at her swaying ponytail, already pulling his hair in frustration over how the two of them would clean this vast mansion and where to take the bodies in the garden to dispose of them.

“Haa…”

I need to correct myself. Not ‘the two’ but ‘alone.’

After returning to the mansion, Lanit started a thorough cleaning with Esmela.

First, targeting the rooms on the 4th floor where Esmela would stay, Lanit took on the heavier tasks like sweeping the floor and picking up trash, while Esmela was assigned the relatively lighter duty of dusting and wiping down the dusty furniture.

Clink!

“AAAH!”

“Young Lady?!”

And just 30 minutes into their cleaning, Esmela broke the vase on the window sill in the study and the mirror on the bedroom wall one after the other.

Ultimately, he had to shove Esmela toward the study to organize the bookshelves, and then, including the mess from the shards she had additionally broken, Lanit was left to clean all by himself.

“It’s nice that Esmela is actively trying to help me…”

But he didn’t say the trailing thought “but she doesn’t really help,” out loud, considering her dignity.

Curiously, while Esmela had grown remarkably in combat over the past three years, she had produced disastrous results in any of the domestic work, including daily chores.

It wasn’t that she was doing it half-heartedly—Esmela took the initiative and diligently tried to learn under Lanit’s guidance.

Cooking, cleaning, farming, furniture repair…

Lanit had tried letting Esmela take on all sorts of tasks he could think of and reached one conclusion.

There was definitely a debuff that caused her to fail at household chores every time.

“Alright. What’s the point of complaining? I should just clean up and take a break…”

Satisfied with Esmela’s positive attitude, Lanit consoled himself and started sweeping up the various trash piled on the hallway carpet.

Meanwhile, in Esmela’s study.

Esmela was puffing her cheeks, clearly showing her displeasure, even though no one was around.

“I don’t want to make mistakes either.”

She continued to grumble to herself about Lanit shoving her away.

Deep down, she vaguely sensed that her real anger was not directed at Lanit, but at her own uselessness in not being able to help him.

Still, she turned her eyes away from that and vented her frustration on Lanit for no good reason.

While sulking, she randomly took books off the shelf and put them back in different places to pass the time.

“Ah…”

Esmela’s hand, while feeling around the bookshelf, stopped on the spine of a book.

“Ah, right. Here it is. The Twin Sorcerers.”

She pulled the book out and quietly stared at it.

[Twin Sorcerers Who Became Stars]. It was her favorite fairytale book.

The version she had was much older than the one Lanit had found in Yuria’s room.

Perhaps that’s why the book had a worn-out reddish-brown leather cover and not even one proper illustration, making it a bit dubious to call it a fairytale book except for the slightly larger text.

“Hmm…”

With nothing else to do anyway, Esmela thought to pass the time by flipping through the pages from the beginning, reminiscing.

Flick, flick.

One page, two pages…

Having read the fairytale hundreds of times, counting the ones her mother had read to her, she didn’t need to read it closely and flipped through with her eyes.

As she skimmed through, memories of time spent with her mother resurrected in her mind like a movie with every turn of the page.

And in the movie-like scenes of the memories, a character always appeared in a supporting role alongside her mother and Esmela.

“Elina…”

Head Maid Elina. The exclusive maid of Lady Herve, Duke Tereed’s partner, and Esmela’s personal maid from Elina’s passing until Esmela graduated.

A woman with secrets—concealed her identity, hometown, age… everything except her name and face—even from her mistress, Esmela.

The last time Esmela and Lanit saw her was while they were trying to rescue Esmela from the black witch, when they ended up being captured by the black witch themselves.

For the past three years, Esmela, trapped in this cage-like royal capital, had been unable to hear any news of her or inform her of her situation to seek help.

All she could do was face the lonely nights, suddenly waking from nightmares as flashes of Elina’s terrified final expression emerged in her dreams.

“…”

Could the black witch truly be Elina’s mother? If so, why didn’t she ever tell her?

Did Elina, in contrast to Esmela’s reliance on her, not trust her that much?

Questions about her began to spread like fog in Esmela’s mind, clouding her thoughts.

However, at that moment—

Whoosh-

“AAAH!”

A disgusting breeze laden with moisture hit Esmela’s face, startling her so much that she dropped the book.

“What, what was that?”

Only after the wind died down could Esmela finally open her eyes and check the book spread out on the floor.

Whoosh-

And what she saw was black smoke rising from the book.

“No. This isn’t smoke; it’s the shadow that Elina manipulated…”

It was a remnant of dark magic, Elina’s specialty, that Esmela had seen many times before.

“Why is this here?”

Muttering the question that came to her mind, a voice came from within the shadows, answering her.

“Esmela-sama. It’s Elina.”

“Elina?!”

As if whispering amidst a fierce gale, Elina’s faint voice resonated from beyond the shadows.

“Esmela, is that really you? How? Did you cast a communication spell using this book as a medium?”

“Esmela-sama must be hearing my voice right now because an unavoidable situation has forced me to leave your side. And you, Esmela-sama, have opened this fairytale book at my request.”

However, Esmela quickly realized that Elina’s response didn’t align with her questions and that this voice must be a pre-recorded message from Elina.

“First and foremost, Esmela-sama. No, Young Lady. I would first like to say this.”

Elina’s voice, usually formal, carried traces of hesitation in that moment.

“…I’m sorry. I must apologize. For not stopping you from going on a rampage while you were attending the academy, and instead, out of pity for your miserable situation, I taught you the curse to harm Yuria.”

Esmela was so taken aback by the unexpected confession that she forgot to close her mouth and stared blankly at the shadow that contained her voice.

“And after taking responsibility for that, I resolved to keep my origins a secret from you and everyone else. I thought I was unworthy of even sharing secrets to achieve inner peace. Ever since that day, I have been self-reproaching every day.”

“…However, the situation has changed drastically. Now that the unknown entity known as the zombies threatens our lives, I shamefully admit that I’ve become frightened. It worries me that this secret I hold might be forgotten if I meet an untimely end. Therefore, I am leaving a message in this fairytale book that you hold dear, though you haven’t opened it much lately.”

“Elina..?”

What on earth was she trying to say? Even in the midst of listening to Elina’s voice as if entranced, such questions briefly flitted through Esmela’s mind.

“Once again… I apologize, Young Lady. What I am about to tell you is very important. You might be shocked to learn this. So, I will give you one last warning. It is acceptable to close the book. You may choose not to know; it’s a horrific and distasteful story that would not obstruct your remaining life in any way.”

Elina’s warning was filled with concern. However, Esmela did not close the book.

“…Alright. I’ll interpret it as you are ready to hear it, and I will begin the story.”

“Ugh…”

A groan escaped Lanit as he stretched.

Cleaning the fourth floor took much longer than he anticipated.

How long would it take to clean the entire mansion if it took this long just to tidy up a small part?

Lanit tried to shake off that ominous question popping up in his head and attempted to savor the achievement of finishing the cleaning.

“Uh, Young Lady. Have you finished organizing the study?”

Just then, as he was stretching his tired body, Esmela approached him.

Lanit initiated a meaningless light conversation.

“…”

However, sensing a strange demeanor from Esmela since she didn’t respond, Lanit quickly noticed something was wrong with her attitude.

“Young Lady? Are you alright?”

Unable to meet his gaze, she fidgeted, as if trying to say something, but eventually sealed her lips.

“Young Lady, what happened in the study?”

As Lanit pressed her, Esmela was about to speak when—

Crash!

“AAAAH!”

“Wha, wha, what?!”

A massive shockwave shook the mansion, causing both of them to lose their balance and stagger.

BANG! BANG!

Crash…

Amidst the deafening noise, a faint sound of something shattering reached Lanit’s ears, sending a chill down his spine.

They had experienced such phenomena before—

“Don’t tell me!”

Hurriedly running to the hallway, Lanit looked up through the shattered window into the sky.

What he saw overhead in the royal capital was an unbelievable sight.

The barrier that had trapped them in this royal capital for three years.

It was now on the verge of collapsing.