Accidentally Formed a Reverse Harem in the Apocalypse – Chapter 57 – The Last Party Member

Author: Asternkm

When I woke up after a deep sleep, shocking news was waiting for me.

After barely calming down Lina, who had apparently been extremely worried, I was enjoying breakfast on a soft bed when Zero wriggled his way between the plates and told me everything.

“What? Aston Clitter was included as the last party member?”

「Yeah! The system said he met the conditions as a hidden party member, so it included him!」

“You didn’t do it?”

「No! I didn’t! I was sure the last party member would be the original story’s final villain, ‘Kieran Woray’!」

Zero squeaked and kept pouring out his complaints nonstop.

I let his whining go in one ear and out the other as I thought to myself.

‘……How did this happen?’

The condition for the sub quest Zero gave me, ‘Gather the Party Members!’, was simple: people who could defeat zombies.

In this world that fully contained the story of original novel, anyone capable of dealing with mysterious zombies had to be extremely powerful.

And people with that level of power were, without exception, the sub male leads and the final villain from the original story. So both Zero and I had firmly believed that the last party member would be Kieran Woray.

But now, out of nowhere, Aston Clitter had been selected as a hidden party member?

“……Zero, isn’t this something the gods from that ‘upper level’ you mentioned decided?”

「Probably…… Only high-ranking gods can interfere with the system.」

‘Personally, I feel like this might be the work of that unknown culprit—the one who ruined the original story and caused the zombie outbreak…….’

I had asked Zero before if any other constellations had ever interfered with this world.

He said no, never.

So I had assumed that the one who caused errors in the status windows was the same person who spread the zombie virus using magic or sorcery.

‘I don’t know how they caused errors in the system…… but maybe there was some way to interfere?’

Maybe there was a high-ranking constellation behind it all. Or maybe even a human, if they had some hidden method.

“Zero, you said this before, didn’t you? When the zombie outbreak first happened.”

「Said what?」

“That once the ‘original story’ set by this world gets twisted, restoring it requires an equivalent amount of causality.”

It sounded complicated, but in simple terms, the world needed a new story dramatic enough to replace the original for things to keep running properly.

That was why Zero had even given me the grand title of Saintess.

I rolled my eyes slightly, then shared my thoughts with Zero.

“I have two guesses.”

While stuffing half-cooked fried eggs and well-done sausages into my mouth.

「What are they?」

“First, I think the high-ranking gods up there might be expecting a hero’s tale from the hidden party member.”

「Hmm……」

Aston Clitter, the Grand Duke of a forgotten empire.

It was strange how someone so perfectly suited to be a male lead wasn’t mentioned even once in Si.Flower.Road.

‘Was it because he was the second prince? Maybe they didn’t want him overlapping with Crown Prince Louis?’

Or maybe there had been some fatal flaw that made the imperial family exile him when he was young?

‘The existence of a hidden party member is unexpected, but……’

Objectively speaking, the Grand Duke of Whitewood was more than qualified to be a companion.

He had wandered from battlefield to battlefield, and as a northern grand duke, he had immense combat experience defending his territory from monsters and bandits.

On top of that, he was handsome, and from our conversations, his personality didn’t seem bad either.

‘He even had the kind of painful past and psychological scars you’d expect from a male lead.’

Those hollow, empty eyes that didn’t look human at all……

It wasn’t unreasonable for the system to recognize him as a hidden party member.

If someone like him overcame hardship and joined the Saintess to save a crumbling empire, it would surely make a beautiful heroic tale.

I didn’t have any complaints about that either. As long as he did his job well, I would’ve welcomed him—even if he were an orc instead of a grand duke.

That was just a guess, though.

“But…… what worries me is the second possibility.”

「……What is it?」

“That Kieran Woray, the original story’s final villain, might no longer exist in this world.”

「What?!」

Kieran Woray.

The villain and final boss of Si.Flower.Road.

Kieran’s family, House Woray, were the imperial guard dogs of the Caladia Empire.

For generations, they served the imperial family in absolute loyalty, carrying out dirty orders in the shadows—tasks the royals couldn’t handle themselves.

That was the very reason House Woray existed.

Long ago, Caladia, the empire’s first emperor, had made a contract with the founder of House Woray.

The contract stated that as long as the imperial bloodline continued, those born with Woray blood would protect it with their lives, and would handle tasks the imperial family couldn’t do openly.

In truth, it was an unfair contract that turned everyone with Woray blood into the empire’s dogs—but once made, it couldn’t be broken.

This was because Anais, Caladia’s friend and the empire’s first pope, had sworn a sacred oath using his divine power.

“If this oath is broken, all those with Woray blood will have their hearts burst instantly and die.”

Betrayal meant death.

The contract was overwhelmingly favorable to the imperial family, and absolutely cruel to House Woray. Why their founder accepted it was never passed down.

But the consequences were suffered by their descendants.

‘Stagnant water always rots…….’

If every emperor had been wise and kind like Caladia, House Woray might not have complained.

But as the empire stabilized and slowly began to rot from within, problems arose.

More and more royals were born who were less than human—cruel beings who abused their power.

House Woray had no choice but to obey imperial orders.

Some royals took advantage of that, cruelly using them and discarding them without hesitation.

When this happened again and again, generation after generation, House Woray began to question their loyalty.

‘Why do we have to suffer like this?’

‘Why are even we, the descendants, bound by such an unfair contract?’

‘This is wrong. It has to change.’

Unresolved resentment piled up, turning into rebellion, obsession, and murderous intent.

‘Ah…… that’s right. If the imperial family holding our necks were gone, wouldn’t everything be solved?’

By then, House Woray was known as masters of assassination, poison, and curses—despised by other noble families as the empire’s filthy dogs.

With nothing left to lose, House Woray made a decision.

‘We will overthrow the imperial family.’

And finally gain their freedom.

The original villain, Kieran Woray, carried this background as he threatened the male lead Crown Prince Louis and the female lead Siena.

But what villain ever truly defeats the protagonists?

With Siena’s help, Louis suppressed House Woray’s attempted rebellion.

Moved by Siena’s tearful plea that further bloodshed was meaningless, the crown prince spared the lives of House Woray’s members.

On one condition: that they would be imprisoned forever in their territory, Linstead, never able to leave.

‘In the end, House Woray could never break free from their contract with the imperial family—their lifelong wish.’

Kieran Woray’s final appearance in the original story was him screaming in despair, tears of blood streaming down his face.

Many readers found it satisfying, calling it deserved punishment worse than death……

‘But not me!’

Ever since Zero gave me the party recruitment quest, I had been tormented by worry.

‘No matter how I look at it, Kieran Woray feels like the last party member candidate—but how am I supposed to persuade that guy?!’

A man locked away in Linstead, dreaming only of revenge. Me? How? With what method?!

And yet, absurdly, Aston Clitter had been recruited as a hidden party member.

Of course that made me suspicious.

“He missed his chance to escape a curse worse than death. Do you really think Kieran Woray would still have a reason to live?”

At my question, Zero opened and closed his mouth like a goldfish, then collapsed onto the spot.

「That’s…… hard to deny.」

Humans live by believing tomorrow will be better than today.

But if tomorrow, and the day after, only promise greater misery—

If there’s nothing to look forward to at all—

Then some people choose to disappear from this world through death.

The original story ended with a happy ending: the wedding of Crown Prince Louis and Siena.

“And the original never describes what happens to Kieran after that.”

If I were Kieran, what would I have done?

No matter how I imagined it, only bleak futures came to mind.

「Haa…… I didn’t think that far.」

“Yeah.”

I replied while chewing roasted tomatoes and Brussels sprouts.

「Well, the party recruitment is done anyway. Maybe this is actually better?」

Zero, grooming himself like a real hamster, crept closer to my breakfast plate.

I blocked him with my fork and warned him.

“Hold it. This is my food. Don’t even think about it.”

「I’m hungry too!」

“You’re a trainee constellation who doesn’t even need to eat. You think I don’t know that?”

When I shot him a sharp look and moved the plate away, Zero teared up.

「Tch……! We’ve been through so much together, can’t you share a meal? You’re the only human who can even see me in this world! If I want to eat good food, I have no choice but to cling to you!」

“What kind of greedy hamster are you?”

「Give me some! Hurry!」

The way he politely held out both hands was so ridiculous that I laughed.

“Fine, fine. I’m kind, so I’ll give you some. Geez.”

I dipped a piece of salty bacon into egg yolk and handed it over. Zero stuffed it into his mouth enthusiastically.

「Hehe. Human food really is good.」

“Good job…….”

As I finished my breakfast, I sank into thought.

‘Kieran Woray. House Woray. The empire’s guard dogs…….’

If the Caladia imperial family were to fall, who would be happiest?

‘……Wait.’

Clang.