Accidentally Formed a Reverse Harem in the Apocalypse Chapter 50 - The Blazing Estate

“What did you say?”

What do you mean?

As I stared at her in shock, Jacqueline kindly—perhaps too kindly—filled in the details.

“Whitewood Grand Duke’s name is Aston Clitter. Before he was stripped of his right to the throne and demoted to a remote grand duchy, his name was Aston Hainsworth.”

“……Wow.”

Hainsworth was the surname of the current imperial family.

There was no denying it—he was imperial blood through and through.

“S-so that means Prince Louis, the Crown Prince, is his…?”

“Half-brother. The Crown Prince is two years older.”

So they weren’t full brothers…

The hidden younger brother of the original male lead.

And not just that—a tragic Second Prince whose existence was completely erased despite being alive.

With that character setup alone, you could write an entire romance fantasy novel.

Unable to resist, I cautiously asked Jacqueline,

“Um… the territory granted to the Whitewood Grand Duke—what part of the empire is it in?”

“…Why do you ask?”

“Oh, no reason. Just personal curiosity. Please don’t think it’s strange.”

Jacqueline answered sincerely.

“To the north. It’s in the northern region, where snow falls for about three-quarters of the year. The land is extremely barren due to the harsh climate.”

“…Let me guess. Is it a place frequently attacked by magical beasts, wild animals, or foreign enemies?”

“Oh my, how did you know? It borders Miora, so bands of thieves often cross over. And the magical beasts, driven by hunger, frequently raid villages—it’s a constant problem.”

“…….”

What the hell. That’s exactly a Northern Grand Duke.

At my loss for words, Jacqueline added some extra trivia.

“Whitewood is the name of the territory he governs. Because of the cold climate and constant blizzards, white-colored trees grow there naturally. That’s why the land was simply named Whitewood.”

“I… see.”

“He came to the Celeste Marquisate because His Majesty suddenly assigned him to escort foreign envoys. So he traveled to Tricala with us and returned… only for this to happen.”

Jacqueline sighed, but her words barely registered.

All my attention was fixed on that man—Aston Clitter.

A man with all the makings of a future favorite, standing right in front of me in 3D.

This stimulation is way too intense.

I staggered slightly and looked for Zero on my shoulder.

“Zero… listen. Is that Whitewood Grand Duke maybe some fantasy construct you proposed to higher-ups just to motivate me? Like, a mirage that disappears once I defeat all the zombies?”

If we’d known this would be your taste—yes, absolutely.

Is this reincarnator welfare?

「What nonsense. Get ready to cross the bridge. It’s already your team’s turn.」

About ten people were crossing at a time—more than half had already made it across.

Since Jacqueline and I had volunteered to go last, it meant our turn was coming up soon.

「Even if he barely appears in the original story, you can’t just fabricate a human being out of nowhere. That man—the Whitewood Grand Duke—has always existed in this world.」

“I… I see.”

Damn it. If only he had been the male lead, I could’ve immersed myself so much harder…

As I kept glancing regretfully at Aston Clitter, our eyes met.

The moment I looked into those cold, emotionless red eyes, I instinctively looked away.

…Why did I dodge his gaze? I didn’t do anything wrong.

Just then, Michael, who was guiding the group, called out loudly,

“Duke Elizabeth Kitten! Please move this way!”

“I’m coming!”

Half flustered, half rattled by that eye contact, I grabbed Jacqueline’s hand and ran toward the bridge.

“Y-Your Grace? You don’t need to hold onto this while running…”

“I just… need to hold onto something right now. Please understand.”

Spouting nonsense, I climbed onto the bridge with all my strength—

trying very hard not to be conscious of the Whitewood Grand Duke, who was in the same group.

…What’s with that look in his eyes?

Did crushing loneliness really hollow a person out like that?

Aston stood there like a doll, eyes burned black, devoid of any human warmth.

There wasn’t a hint of emotion on his expression—so blank it crossed from pitiable into eerie.

They said he lived like a ghost… and truly, he looked like one, steeped in gloom.

Zero, who had been bounced off my shoulder by my frantic running and was now floating nearby, seemed to feel the same way I did.

「That guy… is he really human? There’s none of the emotional residue you usually see in people. It’s like someone who was born incapable of feeling emotions—but that’s not it either. How can someone be like that…」

Zero reacted with open disgust.

I was the same. I’d only been briefly dazzled at first, but the moment I saw those hollow, inhuman eyes, I felt repulsed and ended up clinging to Jacqueline and running across the bridge without thinking.

Click, clack.

The Whitewood Grand Duke, Aston Clitter, didn’t care one bit about my reaction. He simply walked slowly across the bridge.

With him as the last, all sixty-six people safely made it onto the bridge.

“Everyone’s up?”

“Yes, Mage.”

“I’ve put the spirits on standby. The stairs connecting the bridge to the ground can be blown up at any time.”

Ruth, Michael, and Benedict exchanged quick opinions.

Once Aston had moved a safe distance away from the stairs, Ruth shouted loudly,

“Blow up the stairs, Ben!”

Noble estates are always equipped with magic barriers.

But those barriers have a fatal weakness: without mana stones to replenish them, they can’t be deployed in an emergency.

The mana stones maintaining the Celeste Marquisate’s barrier were as dangerously low as their food supplies. We escaped just moments before everything shut down completely.

Which meant—

“Graaah! Guaaaah!”

“Uuaaaah!”

“Kyaaaah!”

As the magic barrier melted away like ice cream, the zombies finally became aware of the Celeste Marquisate.

Shrieking horribly, they rushed toward the estate.

The zombies that had been shambling along awkwardly suddenly moved like lightning, reaching the front gate in an instant.

“Guh… uaah…”

“Uaaah!”

“Kyaaah!”

There were so many zombies, yet the gaps in the closed gate were narrow. As they forced their bodies inside, disgusting cracking sounds echoed—bones breaking, most likely.

They weren’t smart enough to think of opening the gate or climbing the walls. They just mindlessly shoved at the entrance.

“Gheee…”

“Uuaaaah!”

With their numbers growing, the zombies began stacking on top of each other like Tetris blocks. Those crushed underneath screamed, but it didn’t matter if their bones snapped or muscles tore.

The zombies arriving later, driven mad by the scent of humans lingering inside the collapsing barrier, stepped on the ones below and crawled over them to get through the gate.

The scariest part was how fast it all happened.

Benedict, who had been guarding the rear, flew up using the spirits’ power, landed on the bridge, and shouted,

“Ruth, detonating the stairs now!”

“Spirits, please!”

【Leave it to us.】
【Destroying things is easy.】
【Kyaa! This looks fun!】
【Fireworks! I love fireworks!】
【Bang bang bang bang!】
【Explode.】

As the spirit-language commands rang out, blazing red flames burst from the stairs.

The stairs Ruth had formed from silvery mana shattered into pieces and vanished without a trace.

But Benedict didn’t stop there.

Boom. Ba-ba-boom.

“Kii… kieeeeh!”

“Guaaaah!”

“Kyaaaah!”

Small mana bombs planted throughout the historic Celeste Marquisate were triggered by the spirits and exploded in a chain reaction.

The zombies rushing in were caught in the blasts. Their screams of agony flooded the air like the cries of hell itself.

Hot, vivid red flames licked upward, devouring the estate—and the zombies along with it.

“…Oh my.”

The old mansion, once known for its neat and elegant beauty, was reduced to nothing more than firewood and burned away.

We had discussed this with Jacqueline and the Celeste family beforehand, but…

Seeing it burn until nothing remained still made my chest feel tight.

“Wow. It’s really burning well. Hopefully the sparks don’t fly this way.”

Jacqueline, the former owner of the estate, calmly covered her mouth and nose with a damp handkerchief to avoid breathing in the smoke.

“S-sister. The house is on fire.”

Jessica clung tightly to Jacqueline’s back as she spoke.

“Yeah, Jessica. I always thought if I ever saw this house burn while I was alive, it’d be because of the Whitewood Grand Duke. Didn’t think we’d be the ones to burn it down ourselves.”

“D-do you think… the small mana bombs I made helped? I made them because I wanted to be useful to you.”

“Of course. Jessica, I keep telling you—you’re a genius in magical engineering. Those bombs only had that much power because you made them. Ahh, it’s burning so nicely.”

Watching Jacqueline stare without hesitation as the house she’d lived in collapsed into flames made her seem a little unhinged.

At the same time, I envied her. She seemed like someone who wasn’t afraid of starting over anywhere.

“…Aren’t you sad? It’s basically offering your home as a sacrifice because of the zombies…”

When I asked carefully, Jacqueline shook her head without hesitation.

“Not at all. If it lets us deal with the zombies that invaded our home, it’s a cheap price. I already secured the most important information separately, so I have no regrets.”

Crackle. Crack.

The Celeste Marquisate, spewing massive flames, began to collapse.

“Graaah! Aaaah!”

The zombies, intoxicated by the lingering human scent in the air and on the lawn, were so obsessed with chasing those traces that they didn’t even notice the burning mansion collapsing.

“Graaah…”

Many zombies had their heads blown apart and fell lifeless. Others had limbs bent or broken, leaving them unable to move.

Without looking back at the hellish scene, our group kept walking.

And walking.

Until we reached the end of the silvery bridge.