Flight and Confinement
Darjeeling ran ahead, holding his sword ready. He was followed by Mascarpone, Co-star 2, and the Grand Duke, who was carrying Yoo Jein. Yoo Jein flinched in surprise when the Grand Duke lifted her without permission, but she had no choice.
“This way! …Wait! Don’t come yet!”
Even from this distance, I could clearly see Darjeeling, who had reached the left staircase first, grit his teeth.
Mascarpone, who paused in shock, stumbled. Her indoor slippers came off her feet and trailed on her ankle.
The Grand Duke, with his free arm, caught her as she slid.
“Are you alright?!”
“Sir Darjeeling is ahead…!”
“Stay close behind me!”
The Grand Duke adjusted Yoo Jein, whom he held in one arm, and looked back.
Our eyes met as he checked if I was following.
And I realized.
The Crown Prince was not following.
I looked behind me.
I saw the Crown Prince slowly backing away, watching the swarming zombies.
What is he doing?!
“Hey!”
He didn’t look even when I called out.
“Hey! Are you crazy and trying to die?!”
Just as I was about to run back and drag him by the collar.
The Prince untied the magic rope he had wrapped around his wrist.
He tied one end of the rope to a protruding pillar on one wall and the other end to the window latch on the opposite wall. It was a practiced move, as if he’d done it many times.
After quickly setting the trap, he ran toward me.
“Why aren’t you running?”
This time, the Prince urged me.
“Because you weren’t coming… Agh!”
“I apologize for the rudeness.”
At the speed he was running, the Prince wrapped his arm around my waist and slung me over his shoulder like a sack of cargo.
I, suddenly soaring about 190 centimeters into the air, swallowed my scream.
“Ugh!”
“Bear with it.”
The Prince ran, whether I flailed my arms or not, and whether my neck violently shook up and down or not.
It was a speed unbelievable for someone carrying an adult woman of 169 centimeters on his shoulder.
All I could do, having been hoisted up, was try not to bite my tongue.
Over the Prince’s back, I could see the hallway we had just passed through.
The zombies that were running were tripping over the rope the Prince had set, and their necks were being sliced off with a shloop. Thunk. Thunk. Roll.
“Kieek…!”
The scene of the zombies’ jaws and necks separating and falling to the floor played out before my eyes like a VR game.
Zombies stumbled over the blood-spurting, rolling heads, collided with other zombies, and the thin rope, unable to bear the weight, shook violently as if about to snap…
“Krulk!”
The white rope, like a musical string, instantly turned bright red.
“Kyaak!”
The lips of a zombie charging toward us with its mouth open were sliced off by the bloody rope.
Even though the first wave of zombies were instantly decapitated and collapsed in place, more zombies kept running. A whole group of zombies got tangled in the rope and fell simultaneously, tearing the window latch that supported the rope off the wall.
With that, the trap was done.
“The trap has collapsed!”
“Ignore it and run!”
How can I run?! You’re carrying me!
It looks like the zombies are going to grab my hair any second now!
I’m going to be the first one caught if the distance closes! I closed my eyes and clung to the Prince’s back.
Tatadatac. Tatadatac.
“Kaaaargh!”
Please, please, please…
This is effing terrifying! Waaah!
The sounds of slicing, screaming, and footsteps came from the unseen front.
“Mascarpone!”
“I’m fine, Aagh!”
“Avoid it!”
“Are you alright?!”
“Yes! Sir Darjeeling…!”
“I’m fine too!”
When we went down the stairs like that, I honestly thought I was going to bite my tongue off!
“This way!”
As soon as we reached the bottom of the stairs, we had no choice but to hide in the first place we could find.
Swoosh!
As soon as the Prince and I entered, the Grand Duke shoved the curtain shut. The Prince, who had moved behind the thick blackout curtain, slipped me down.
Tatadatatac. The sightless zombies ran past us, missing us by a hair’s breadth.
Just as a sigh was about to burst out of me.
“Shh.”
The Prince pulled me into his arms and held me captive.
A large, rough palm cupped the back of my head. My face was buried in his shirt. The Prince, practically hiding me with his arms and body, was peering out through the gap in the curtain.
All I could see from this angle was the Prince’s Adam’s apple and his rising and falling chest.
Every time the Prince breathed, the muscle pressing against my nose gently inflated and deflated.
The scent of sweat, blood, and mixed soap.
The Prince’s natural body odor.
“Wait… too much.”
When I tried to pull away, he hugged me even harder. The Prince whispered.
“…Stay still.”
“…”
“There is no door here.”
Only then did I realize that the place we had just entered was separated from the outside only by a thick curtain, with no door.
Zombies are roaming the hallway, and there’s no door?
Are you kidding me?
Forget making it to the kitchen!
The situation has gotten worse than before!
I suppressed my unsteady breathing, burying my face in the hem of the Prince’s shirt.
The heat and breathing from the man’s arms, which were wrapped around my head and waist, were transmitted to me.
The Prince, focused only on the outside situation, only flinched once when my breath reached him, seemingly having forgotten the fact that I was locked in his embrace.
Or he was ready to give his arm to a zombie and protect me if anyone tried to enter.
I stayed that way for a moment.
I can’t breathe…
I wriggled my body, but he didn’t budge.
His hand was intertwined with my hair.
I raised my arm and tapped the forearm that was constricting me. Only then did the Prince lower his head toward me.
I whispered into his approaching lips.
Let go now.
I’m suffocating!
“…Ah.”
“…”
“My apologies.”
Only then, slowly, did the Prince lower his arms.
The moment I was released from his embrace, I looked out through the gap in the curtain. Immediately, my eyes met a zombie’s, and I recoiled in shock.
“…!”
If I hadn’t remembered they were sightless, I would have screamed.
Ignoring the Prince, who seemed to want to push me back to a safe place behind him, I looked outside.
The zombies who had followed us down from the second floor and the first-floor zombies, who had all been drawn out by the commotion, were roaming the hallway, making ‘Kieeeek…’ and ‘Krulk…’ noises.
Trying to get to the kitchen by avoiding them would be… hmm.
It might be possible for someone skinny enough to pass between raindrops.
In short.
We are screwed.
I turned around and saw my companions sprawled out. The Inconvenient Man was lying flat on the floor, and Yoo Jein and Co-star 2 were huddled next to Mascarpone, who was leaning against the wall.
Everyone was breathing heavily, their chests heaving like freshly caught fish, but because they were covering their mouths with their hands to prevent their breathing sounds from escaping, they couldn’t seem to calm down.
“Huff. Huff. Huff.”
Even in this situation, Mascarpone scoffed at the Inconvenient Man, who was squirming on his back to hide behind the others.
“Honestly, he really is…”
“Mascarpone…”
Co-star 2, whose hand was on Mascarpone’s leg, shook her head.
“If you make a noise… we’ll all die.”
She was right.
The only thing separating the hallway and this narrow space we were in was the curtain.
Did the Grand Duke and Darjeeling go to check inside?
A narrow, long corridor stretched out into the darkness where the two men had disappeared, lit by only a dim light. It was dark, looking as if something could jump out at any moment, yet it felt luxurious.
Silver writing was etched on the black wall.
[Brocol.
The Emperor of the Empire, who receives the grace of the Twelve Gods.
The King of the territory where the sun never sets.
(…)
To commemorate the infinite glory of the Imperial Family.]
Seeing the readable text, I felt relieved even in this situation.
Wow, I can read the letters here?
I’m not illiterate!
That’s a relief!
Judging by the inscription on the wall, this place seemed to be a Gallery where the Imperial family’s treasures were displayed.
[Building Structure Review]
2nd Floor: Staircase / Central Staircase / Secret Room
1st Floor: *Gallery* / Kitchen / Dining Room
Ultimately, to get to the kitchen, we’d have to travel half the distance we already covered, again.
Just then, the Grand Duke and Darjeeling, who had gone to check inside, emerged from the darkness.
They looked puzzled seeing us all huddled by the entrance.
The Grand Duke asked.
“Why are you all gathered here?”
Co-star 2, startled by the Grand Duke’s clear voice, waved her hands like a worried sea otter.
“Your Highness, your voice is too loud…!”
“This is fine.”
“But…!”
“It really is fine. The only person who would hear a voice this loud and chase after us would be that foreign princess who claimed to have received a divine revelation to marry me.”
There was a person like that?
“If you move further inside, you will be much less scared. And you can breathe more comfortably.”
He was right.
But people weren’t moving. They seemed too exhausted to budge, and perhaps lacked the courage to step into the darker interior.
The Grand Duke sighed at the motionless group and approached the Prince. Still watching the outside, the Prince asked.
“How is it?”
“Empty.”
“I see.”
Mascarpone, sensing ominous news, frowned and asked.
“Excuse me, Your Highnesses. What is empty…?”
Instead of the Grand Duke, who smiled awkwardly, the Prince answered calmly.
“There are no doors in the interior that Kypros (The Grand Duke) just checked. The only entrance and exit to this Gallery is…”
“Krulk!”
“…”
The Prince didn’t finish his sentence, but everyone understood the rest.
The only entrance and exit to this Gallery is…
Right where I am guarding.
Are we trapped?
Zombies roaming outside. A gallery with no exit.
How about we go out, handle the corpses, and clear a path?
Darjeeling mouthed. The Prince, who somehow understood, shook his head.
Too many.
Right. Zombies had poured down from the sky. There would be far more zombies roaming around than the original staff and guests on this island.
The Prince, the Grand Duke, and Darjeeling all seemed to find that strange.
Surely the total number of people who should be on this island is thirty…
How…
Hmm.
I turned away from the three people exchanging silent dialogue.
My eyes met Mascarpone’s exhausted gaze. Her usually tidy hair was disheveled, her soles were black, and her dress hem was wrinkled. She had been so aggressive earlier, but now she was too tired to even speak.
I crouched in front of Mascarpone, who couldn’t even manage to fix the slipper dangling from her ankle. I gently patted her outstretched leg and called her name.
“Miss Mascarpone.”
I had been curious about something since earlier. Now seemed like the time to ask.
[Imperial Villa, 1st Floor Gallery]
- Yoo Sara, Yoo Jein, Crown Prince, Grand Duke, Darjeeling, Mascarpone, Co-star 2, Inconvenient Man (Survivors)
This is getting interesting and crown prince what are you doing ? ☺️