Chapter : 05
The crown prince said, biting his lip.
“That can’t be… All the prophets must be dead….”
“How can you kill all those prophets?”
“…Well, in the first place, innocent people shouldn’t have been killed.”
He muttered sadly at the end.
“The empire is receiving its karma.”
‘Even karma… … . It’s just this kind of novel.’
Since this novel is a zombie romance, it was natural that zombies would appear.
No. Maybe it’s karma?’
The crown prince was a sage ruler, a ray of light in an empire that had been shambling and scheming for a century. Unlike previous emperors, who had been preoccupied with gambling and other pastimes, the current crown prince cared only for the well-being of his people.
He, who treasured gold, silver, and women like stones, spent every spare moment subduing monsters and preparing for barbarian invasions of the empire. And that wasn’t all. He lowered taxes despite opposition from nobles and the emperor, and during famines, he opened granaries to ensure the empire’s people didn’t starve.
Whether it’s martial arts, administration, or diplomacy, I’ve heard stories of people working tirelessly, without sleep, to rectify the rotten empire from above.
So, while the imperialist nobles disliked him, the young, rising nobles actively supported the crown prince and cheered on his every move. My father was one of those nobles.
By the way, the man in front of me, upon realizing I wasn’t a warlock, seemed to think this was the empire’s karma and a revelation from God.
His blue eyes were filled with sadness. After a long pause, he spoke in a deeply subdued voice.
“…What should I do now? If I commit suicide, will God forgive the empire? No, if only he would forgive the people.”
He held the sword I had placed beside him to his neck, looking as if he was about to cut his own throat.
‘Why is this person’s action so good!’
Embarrassed, I quickly grabbed his hand and said.
“You have to wait!”
“…What? The people are becoming undead, and I’m the only one who escaped from that situation. It’s right for me to follow them.”
His grip on my hand tightened, and red blood began to flow from his neck, just as it had from mine.
My strength was woefully inadequate to stop him.
‘If this continues, people will die!’
I don’t want the crown prince to commit suicide.
No, I don’t want someone to commit suicide in my house!
I shouted, clutching his hand tightly with both of my hands.
“You never know! Perhaps God will look upon the empire and send a saint!”
“…That can’t be. God has abandoned us.”
“Oh, I saw it in my dream! A saint appeared!”
visor-
I heard the sword fly and hit the ground. I gasped and looked at the crown prince. He looked at me as if he were the last remaining leaf.
“Is that… true?”
“That’s what I said.”
The crown prince roughly washed his face with his long, cold hands. He covered his face with both hands and muttered softly.
“I really want to believe those words. …I want to believe them.”
And then, thud, he fell down next to me.
‘What? He’s not dead, is he?’
I put my finger in front of his nose. Fortunately, his breathing was regular.
“What’s going on?!”
The sound of the sword hitting the floor must have been quite loud, and the boy knight in the next room flung open the door.
He came up to me in a hurry and asked.
“What happened? I thought the Commander of the Knights gave you a knockout potion, so you wouldn’t wake up for a while. Have you woken up yet?”
“No. I was trying to make Your Majesty comfortable, and I accidentally dropped my sword.”
“okay.”
I came out of the room, stretching.
‘Ugh, that bastard.’
A young worker with no sense of humor and a vicious bastard entered my fortress.
* * *
“Ouch, my throat hurts.”
I woke up with my neck still hanging. I had wrapped a handkerchief around my neck, where I’d cut it yesterday.
“Oh my, there’s a lot of blood.”
I looked in the mirror and saw a handkerchief soaked in congealed blood. I quickly replaced it with another and tied it tightly around my neck.
And I left the house to diligently do my work from the morning.
First, I stopped by the barn to see the newborn calves. Fortunately, since it was spring, there was no need to dress the calves separately. Cows are sensitive to the cold, so they need special clothing in winter.
“They’re all cute.”
Both the pig and the calf were adorably suckling from their mother’s milk. I quietly approached the mother cow, carrying a bucket.
“Excuse me.”
Straight straight-
The milk flowed out in a gurgling stream. Since milk only flows for two months after giving birth, I had to store a lot of it during that time.
I hummed.
“Should I make some yogurt today?”
I milked my calves diligently, standing beside them, suckling eagerly. The two mother cows, perhaps accustomed to me, remained quiet while I milked them.
After milking two cows, there was enough milk to fill two buckets.
‘What should I do? I can’t carry all this by myself.’
As I was groaning and worrying, I saw a boy knight greeting me from afar.
‘That’s right! I should use that.’
I smiled and greeted him.
“Sir!”
“Did you sleep well?”
“Yes! You too, sir?”
Then the boy laughed and scratched his head.
“Thanks for taking care of me so well, I slept well. I can’t remember the last time I slept this well.”
“I hope you slept well…….”
“yes?”
I pointed to the bucket and smiled brightly.
“Please move this to the warehouse!”
Although young, he must have become a knight for a reason. The knight easily lifted the bucket and carried it to the warehouse.
He said, shaking his hands.
“Please write often in the future.”
“I’m planning to use it often starting today!”
Then he said with a slightly tired look on his face.
“Oh, already?”
“Of course! Now, put this here. Shall we go harvest the wheat?”
‘Hehe, you’re mine now.’
I pushed the boy knight’s back and headed towards the Lulu Lala wheat field.
* * *
Noon, when the sun is directly overhead.
A young laborer, sweating profusely, diligently harvested wheat. I held a watering can and watched him with satisfaction.
‘You’re young, but you’re really good at what you do.’
Even though I immediately assigned him to work, he bent over and diligently harvested wheat. I wanted to give him a big bonus for never having straightened his back once.
“It’s lunch time!”
I heard Leila calling from afar.
“Shall we go eat now?”
“Is that okay?”
“sure.”
“thank you!”
The boy nodded to me and then started running home without me even being able to stop him. He must have been incredibly hungry.
I also started walking home slowly.
And the sight of the house upon entering was a spectacle; no one was able to eat even though there was food in front of them.
Because of just one person.
The Crown Prince, as if he’d been dragged to the table, sat awkwardly on his chair. It seemed the same for Leila, the Count and his wife, and the young knight, who all remained silent until I arrived.
‘Oh my, these introverts.’
“Aren’t you going to eat lunch?”
Leila smiled awkwardly as I spoke, pulling up a chair.
“Well, I have to eat.”
“If Your Majesty would eat first…….”
I looked at the crown prince and said.
“That is so, Your Majesty.”
He turned his head and spoke firmly.
“I can’t feed my people while they starve.”
I had no intention of making someone who refused to eat eat. I lightly ignored the crown prince and clapped my hands at the table.
“Then everyone except Your Majesty, please eat.”
I spooned the tomato stew in front of me, but then the count and his wife started a fight and stopped me.
“Vanessa, Your Majesty, you still have to eat it…!”
“You said you weren’t going to eat it.”
“still……!”
“He said he doesn’t eat it, tsk.”
The crown prince had the makings of a virtuous ruler, but he was quite a nuisance in the fortress. How dare you refuse to eat in my fortress?
I said, secretly glaring at the crown prince.
“If Your Majesty lives, the empire has a future.”
“What’s the point of ascending the throne when all the people are dying?”
‘The saint is coming!’
I kept reminding myself to be patient, but hunger was limiting my patience. I glared at him and said.
“No, what did you hear from what I said yesterday?!”
The crown prince’s eyes shook slightly.
The eyes were so blue and beautiful, they looked just like a lake. And because they trembled so slightly, it looked like a fish trap had caught a lot of fish, causing ripples on the lake’s surface.
‘Right. Now that I think about it, I should eat some rice and go get some fish from the trap.’
“Then you really…….”
“Yes, yes. That’s right. Are you done with this, Your Majesty?”
The crown prince quietly suppressed his surprised expression. Perhaps because he was a politician, his expression disappeared quickly. He picked up his cutlery and spoke.
“…I will eat it with gratitude.”
“Pfft!”
I almost spit out the stew I was eating. I didn’t know that a noble prince like him would be so polite to us.
‘It might be less clogged than I thought.’
I looked at the crown prince with a strange look as he began to eat the stew cautiously.
Fortunately, as soon as he started eating, everyone picked up their spoons and began eating. Unlike the usual bustle, it was a very quiet mealtime.
The boy knight was busy shoving food into his mouth, wondering if it had been a while since he’d had a proper meal. I looked at my worker with satisfaction and asked him.
“what’s your name?”
“My name is Eric Maynard. Please call me Eric!”
“Yes, Eric. My name is Vanessa. There are cherry tomatoes here, too. Eat lots.”
‘I have a lot of work to do in the afternoon.’
Eric, who didn’t know about my dark intentions, smiled happily and said.
“Thank you, Vanessa!”
At that moment, the crown prince, who had been quietly eating his stew, suddenly opened his mouth to me.
“Killian.”
“yes?”
It was so out of the blue that I just blinked and he spoke again.
“From now on, call me Killian.”
‘What is this… … .’
I blinked at the sight of the crown prince himself asking to be called by his name. Few in the empire could pronounce his name.
“…Your Majesty.”
When the count tried to stop him, the crown prince shook his head firmly.
“The empire is ruined. There’s no emperor anymore, no crown prince. So the name Killian will suffice.”
Then, the table suddenly became quiet. The count and his wife, finally realizing the empire’s downfall, began sniffling.
‘How did you create such a lively atmosphere… … .’
End Of Chapter : 05
