<Episode 12>

“Well, I won’t deny it. But don’t be too biased, Duke. It could still be a natural disaster.”

That was true enough.

But.

Jaeger’s gaze turned icy as he stared at Redria.

“Perhaps that woman is connected to this situation.”

She was always one to get involved in outlandish things.

The Crown Prince curled one corner of his lips.

“Hmm, but if she’s suspicious, wouldn’t that make us equally so?”

“But that woman seems unusually calm, as if she knows everything that’s happening. The weapons and the scrolls can’t simply be explained away as tools for hunting monsters.”

Lihad’s eyes shifted to Redria’s waist.

Jaeger had a point.

In truth, it wasn’t just the fact that she had weapons that was suspicious—it was why she had them in the first place. A zombie outbreak occurs, and she conveniently has weapons and a warp scroll, in an area where weapons are supposed to be prohibited.

The timing was indeed suspicious.

Jaeger took Lihad’s silence as agreement and continued.

“It would be better if we managed that woman’s belongings ourselves.”

“Enough. Looting isn’t the proper way to handle this.”

Lihad said calmly, still looking straight ahead.

Just then, Redria shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. Lihad gently draped his jacket over her shoulders. Jaeger, watching this, frowned and turned away.

“…You’ve grown quite attached to her, it seems.”

“If anything, Duke, you’ve been unusually hostile towards her. Considering the situation, isn’t she worth being a bit more favorable towards?”

“Are you sure she’s offering us kindness without any ulterior motives?”

“I certainly hope so.”

Lihad’s lemon-colored eyes gleamed ominously in the dark, like those of a bird of prey. Because if not, things would become difficult for all of them.

“……”

Jaeger clenched his teeth, glaring at the back of Lihad’s head with eyes as cold as mist.

“Do as you wish. But if you end up regretting being bewitched by that woman, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

With that icy remark, the wind began to blow, causing the leaves to rustle with an eerie sound.

* * *

“This should be the back entrance to the northern shelter on the map.”

I double-checked the map in my hands and confirmed our location.

The map showed a drawing of bushes in front of the northern shelter’s back entrance. When I looked up, there was a tangled mess of branches and bushes in front of us, as if they were embracing each other.

Jaeger approached me with a doubtful expression.

“Are you certain?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

I rolled up the map and tucked it into my belt pouch.

“We’ll know for sure once we get there.”

The Crown Prince took the lead, cutting through the bushes and branches with his spear. Jaeger followed, snapping off the smaller branches in his way.

As I followed them, the thick smell of mud and grass filled the air.

“It’s just as the lady said.”

The Crown Prince muttered as he came to a halt.

Jaeger also stopped behind him.

As I stepped past the two men, a silver mesh fence came into view.

With a satisfied smile, I shook the gate of the back entrance. It rattled slightly but was securely fastened with a padlock.

“We’ll need to break the lock.”

“It’s a special padlock made with holy power, so it won’t break. But we can find the key.”

“You can find it? But the key is only given to the families authorized to use the shelter.”

I pulled out a jerky pouch from my spatial belt pouch. Selecting the most appetizing piece of jerky, I held it up like the Statue of Liberty holding a torch.

“……”

“……”

I could feel the intense stares of the Crown Prince and Jaeger.

I heard the Crown Prince mutter something like, ‘Does she always carry jerky around…?’

My face flushed, but I pretended not to notice and stood there with confidence.

Whoosh!

At that moment, an Aporta—a bird trained by the temple—swiftly swooped down and snatched the jerky.

The silver key dangling from the bird’s thin leg glinted as it perched on a branch, busy nibbling on the jerky.

As the bird was distracted, I carefully approached and retrieved the key from its leg.

Everything was going smoothly, just as I had anticipated.

It’s only the male leads that tend to defy my expectations.

‘Things go smoothly as long as these guys stay out of it.’

I waved the key at the two men.

“See?”

“What kind of bird is that?”

The Crown Prince asked, gesturing toward the Aporta with his chin. I nonchalantly replied as I unlocked the padlock.

“That’s an Aporta, the key guardian for the shelter. It’s crazy about jerky.”

“How does the lady know about such things?”

I paused mid-unlocking and turned to look at them.

Both men were frowning, giving me deeply suspicious looks.

Especially Jaeger.

“Why does the lady know something that I don’t?”

I shrugged.

“I have a friend who attended the theological academy and had a mentor who was a shelter manager. He told me, ‘Don’t tell anyone,’ so naturally, everyone knows. You know how it goes—when you’re told not to tell anyone, it inevitably spreads.”

Despite the ease with which the lie flowed, Jaeger’s fierce gaze didn’t soften.

Of course, it would be suspicious. Normally, only shelter managers and high-ranking priests would know such confidential information.

I only knew because the novel mentioned a scene where the priest managed the shelter’s key using an Aporta.

But what could he do? Trapped in a zombie zone, he had no choice but to accept whatever excuse I gave.

Ignoring Jaeger’s gaze, I unlocked the padlock and let it drop to the ground. As I pushed open the fence door, an old-fashioned cabin came into view.

Passing a pile of firewood by the incinerator, we reached the front door of the cabin.

I grasped the doorknob and opened the door.

Creak—.

A warm lavender scent filled the air, heavy and soothing.

I cautiously stepped over the threshold and entered the cabin.

Jaeger, clearly not wanting to see me, volunteered to stand guard and check for any zombies at the front of the shelter, while the Crown Prince followed me inside.

The shelter, bathed in the midday sunlight, exuded a serene, almost drowsy atmosphere.

Directly across from the door were two rectangular windows that softly diffused the light. In front of them was a table that could seat six, and to the right was a bunk bed snug against the wall.

A map of the sacred area was pinned to the wall opposite the bed, and next to it was a small kitchen.

There were three other doors: one led to a pantry stocked with food, another to a bathroom with the miraculous addition of a flushing toilet, and the last one to a mysterious, locked room.

That locked room remained an enigma throughout the original novel, so even I didn’t know what was inside.

I opened each door one by one, and finally, I approached the bookshelf beside the locked room to search for the key.

Just as I was about to open the drawer at the bottom of the bookshelf, I heard the Crown Prince chuckle softly.

“…Ha.”

It was the kind of laugh that escapes when something is so absurd you don’t know how else to react.

“What’s wrong?”

I quietly approached the Crown Prince, only to widen my eyes in surprise.

Was this how the dwarfs felt when they first saw Snow White?

Had a forest fairy snuck into the cabin for a nap?

Pale skin and rose-colored lips.

Dark hair that fell over his neck, framing his face, with long, thick eyelashes fanned out like a peacock’s tail.

A truly beautiful man lay there, sleeping peacefully.

The Crown Prince tilted his head, standing with a slight slouch that spoke volumes about his opinion of the man.

“What is he doing here?”

“You two seem to know each other.”

I remarked, feigning ignorance despite knowing their history from the original story.

The Crown Prince kept his gaze fixed on the man, his expression a mixture of irritation and disbelief.

“‘Know each other’… That’s an understatement. We’re rather intimately acquainted.”

“Hmm. I see. So, should we wait until he wakes up, or should we wake him now?”

“…”

The Crown Prince turned to look at me with a peculiar expression.

“What?”

“…Lady, you’re not seriously suggesting we take him with us, are you?”

“Yes, I am. We agreed to rescue survivors, didn’t we?”

“Listen, Lady, if you’re expecting any sense of cooperation from this guy, you might as well give up. He’s—”

“Hmm…”

Before the Crown Prince could finish his sentence, the man on the bed turned toward us.

Whoosh—

At that moment, a gust of wind blew through the half-open window, rustling the leaves outside and sending a beam of sunlight across the man’s face.

As the light hit his eyelids, he slowly opened his eyes.

Blinking drowsily, he looked like a cat waking from a nap.

The man looked at us, standing by the bed, without any sign of surprise, just blinking languidly.

“And who might you be?”

He asked in a clear, melodious voice.

“…Did you sleep well?”

This was Sien Blancaire.

One of the original male leads and the Empire’s only Tower Master.