‘Why am I like this?!’
Ruth Chricerne fell into the biggest confusion of his entire life.
Even if the wild, rude, and thoughtless villainess Elizabeth Keaton had shown a few changes…
‘Why is my heart beating so fast?!’
Completely overwhelmed and flustered, Ruth hurriedly dug into his spatial pocket and took out a potion.
It wasn’t the mana-recovery potion he had been drinking nonstop while traveling all night. It was a calming potion used when someone was extremely tense.
‘I’m just tired. It’s because I’m tired!’
Ruth drank the calming potion in one gulp.
The pale golden liquid slid down his throat and was quickly absorbed, but his head refused to calm down.
Even if he forced his heartbeat to slow, only one scene kept replaying endlessly in his mind.
Elizabeth aiming her silver gun at a zombie with the calmest, coldest eyes.
The relaxed smile on her lips that didn’t match how dangerous the situation was.
And the perfect skill with which she finished her target.
All of those images appeared so clearly that he couldn’t make them stop.
When the Duke of Keaton smiled after hearing that all eight zombies had been taken down… no one could deny how refreshing and bright that smile was.
‘Am I crazy?’
Ruth tried to cool his flushed face with his palms, annoyed at how the scene kept repeating in his mind.
Just then, a hand grabbed him from behind.
“Why have you been acting like this?”
“Uwah!”
Startled by the sudden presence behind him, Ruth quickly slapped the hand away.
The owner of the hand was none other than Elizabeth Keaton herself.
“Ah… um. Sorry for surprising you. You must be tired, and I wasn’t being considerate.”
Her white hand, which she awkwardly pulled back, had turned red.
“N-No. I was just lost in thought. I’m sorry, Duke Keaton.”
Ruth apologized immediately.
Their past was filled with bad blood, but as the new Duke Keaton, she deserved respect.
When she was still a noble lady, Ruth had refused to show any respect to a reckless troublemaker. But now, things had changed completely.
Ruth didn’t even realize he was using honorifics. Maybe it was because the Elizabeth he used to know felt like a completely different person from the one standing before him.
Elizabeth accepted Ruth’s apology easily.
“It’s fine. More importantly, since you came using teleportation magic without rest, you must be exhausted. Please get some rest.”
“…Is it really okay? If more zombies come near the estate…”
Elizabeth smiled confidently, as if she knew something for sure, and reassured him.
“Even beasts stay away from the place where their own kind die. Ten zombies had holes in their heads and stopped moving instantly. Once they see that, they’ll instinctively know approaching here means danger.”
“Is that true?”
Michael joined their conversation. Elizabeth shook her head.
“It’s not a permanent solution. Only temporary. Zombies that stop moving are basically just dead bodies again.”
“Ah…”
“Before it gets too late, we should bury them. They were just ordinary people before becoming zombies.”
‘They used to be ordinary people…’
Ruth suddenly remembered the zombie that tried to bite him, the one that looked like Sienna.
“W-Wait. Duke Keaton, there’s something I want to check.”
“What is it?”
“I want to confirm whether the zombie that tried to bite me earlier… could have been the Crown Princess.”
‘Will she be uncomfortable if I say Sienna’s name here?’
He swallowed hard. As Sienna’s friend, it was natural for him to worry, but Elizabeth had once been his romantic rival. He didn’t know how she’d react.
Maybe he shouldn’t have said it. His nerves tightened.
Elizabeth, resting her chin on her hand, replied calmly.
“It’s fine. You wanted to know the Crown Princess’s whereabouts. Now that things have quieted down, it’s not a problem.”
“Really?”
Her easy acceptance felt strange.
In the past, just hearing Sienna’s name would’ve filled Elizabeth’s purple eyes with jealousy and inferiority. But now, they were calm—so calm it was impossible to tell what she was thinking.
“Of course. Also, I have a request for both you and Sir Michael.”
“What is it?”
Michael, who had been standing quietly behind her, asked.
“I’d like Sir Michael to bring one of the zombies we took down. And Ruth, I want you to examine that zombie with magic.”
“!”
Ruth and Michael’s eyes widened.
‘I didn’t think of that…’
The maids, butler, and housekeeper—all of whom had been firing crossbows and mini magic bombs—also reacted with surprise.
“Um, Duke… isn’t that too dangerous?”
“She’s right. Even if their heads were pierced and they stopped moving immediately… it may still be risky to bring those things inside.”
Even with all their concerns, Elizabeth stayed calm.
“I give you my word—nothing will happen.”
Before today, no one would have taken her words seriously.
But now things were different.
“If that is your will, Duke…”
“We’ll follow it.”
Taking down ten zombies had earned her a great deal of trust. The servants stopped adding objections.
It wasn’t pleasant to bring in a corpse that had been a zombie, but Ruth decided to follow Elizabeth’s instructions as well.
‘For some reason… it feels like I should.’
Ruth had a good sense for these things.
“Understood. I’ll follow your orders.”
“I will too.”
When both Ruth and Michael agreed, Elizabeth smiled and placed her gun back into its holster.
“Thank you, Sir Michael, Ruth.”
‘…She really has changed.’
Elizabeth Keaton wasn’t wearing her usual flashy dress. Instead, she had put on a simple uniform.
It wasn’t strange for the head of the Keaton family to wear a uniform during emergencies. But on her, it felt different—oddly fitting, and unsettling because of it.
“…We’ll be back soon.”
Ruth headed toward the front gate with Michael.
Several zombie corpses were lying there.
“The smell is terrible.”
“It looks like they actually died days ago.”
Now that the bodies had stopped their forced movement, decomposition sped up again as if time had resumed.
‘At least they won’t move again.’
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