Chapter 7

Knock, knock.

The next morning, Lilia lightly knocked on my door and called for me.

“Lady, are you awake? I brought that. What should I do with it?”

“…Leave it in front of the door.”

The sun had only just begun to rise, and she was certainly diligent.

“…Yes. I understand.”

I quietly listened to Lilia’s footsteps growing distant. Her voice sounded strangely dejected. After making sure I heard her door close, I carefully opened mine.

Red blood sloshed inside the glass bottle.

Zombies were extremely sensitive to blood. I didn’t react as severely as other zombies did, but I definitely reacted to the smell of freshly spilled blood.

When that happened, my heart started beating rapidly again, my physical abilities improved tremendously, and above all, my instincts became stronger, making me want to bite people.

Sniff, sniff.

Worried that the smell of blood might have leaked out or gotten onto the bottle, I sniffed around it from every angle. But it seemed Lilia had thoroughly wiped away any blood on the outside of the bottle, and there wasn’t really any smell coming from the bottle itself.

It was safe until it broke.

Tap-tap-tap-tap.

“Lady, His Highness is leaving now. I think you should give it to him quickly.”

Just as I finished checking its safety, Lilia came running urgently and flung open the door.

Lilia looked at me holding the bottle, then came into the room and grabbed my hand.

“His Highness has already gone outside. They’re going to open the gates soon. We have to hurry.”

The faint, metallic smell of blood was pouring from Lilia. It seemed her bleeding still hadn’t completely stopped.

This was exactly why I had tried to avoid meeting her!

“You should give it to him.”

I quickly pulled my hand away from Lilia and handed the bottle to her.

“Tell him to use it before it coagulates, or it’ll be useless.”

The road made for people to travel to the fortress wasn’t particularly steep, but if you strayed a little from the road, there were places like cliffs made entirely of rock.

Zombies that fell to the bottom, where everything was made of stone, couldn’t climb back up unless they found another path. So if I could use the blood to lure the zombies spread throughout the mountain there, we could return to the fortress without much trouble.

“What do you mean by that…? Lady, you should give it to him yourself.”

After handing her the bottle, I hurriedly tried to get away from Lilia, but she followed me as though she couldn’t let me do that.

“You’re not seriously planning to leave without even greeting His Highness, are you? You’ll definitely regret it.”

“…No.”

“I believe sincerity always gets through. So don’t worry and just give it to him.”

Lilia placed a hand on my shoulder. She was wearing gloves, but they couldn’t block the smell of blood.

With Lilia looking as though she was going to keep following me, I hurriedly took the bottle from her and started running.

I was using all my strength to suppress my instincts, so I couldn’t properly hear what Lilia was saying to me.

All I could think about was that I had to get away from Lilia, so I ran as fast as I could.

Without even dreaming of knowing what misunderstanding Lilia Swidy had.

“Penelope?”

“It’ll help scatter the zombies. You have to use it before it coagulates.”

After quickly leaving the building, I hurriedly handed the bottle to the Crown Prince and spoke.

He looked into the bottle I had handed him, then suddenly furrowed his brow.

Then he hurriedly examined me.

“It’s not my blood. It’s Lady Swidy’s.”

“…What?”

The Grand Duke, who had been standing beside Idorian to open the castle gates, looked at me with his face twisted as much as it could be.

“She gave it to me.”

“Did you make her do it?”

The Grand Duke forcefully grabbed my arm.

He scrutinized my face as though he was determined to catch me in a lie.

This was exactly what I had been afraid of, which was why I had told Lilia to give it to him instead….

I had only ended up getting on the male leads’ nerves for no reason.

“I asked her to.”

“Hah? Asked her? You really are insane.”

Certainly, rather than a request, calling it a deal—or even a threat—might have been more accurate.

But that method had been the best one.

The Grand Duke let out a hollow laugh as though he couldn’t believe it, while Idorian sighed deeply and ran a hand through his hair. Then he removed the Grand Duke’s hand from me and said,

“Penelope Lloyd. When I told you not to treat Lilia Swidy carelessly, didn’t you answer that you understood?”

I quietly nodded.

Idorian clenched his teeth hard, looking genuinely furious.

The muscles in his jaw stood out.

According to Penelope’s memories, that was a habit he displayed when he was truly angry.

“We’ll talk about this again when we return.”

Idorian looked down at me with a contemptuous gaze, then seemed to decide there was no more time and ended the conversation.

“Please, stop doing useless things, Penelope.”

With cold eyes that held not even a trace of affection, he turned his back on me again.

Idorian quickly walked away, and the castle gates closed once more.

“This is your last chance, Penelope.”

“……”

“Go to Lilia Swidy and apologize properly.”

And the Grand Duke, clearly thoroughly irritated, roughly dragged me back inside the castle.

The moment we entered, I came face-to-face with Lilia, who had been waiting for me in the hall.

“Swidy, are you all right?”

The Grand Duke quietly looked at Lilia. When he confirmed that she was wearing gloves, he cautiously reached out his hand.

‘So he can make that kind of face too.’

His face was horribly contorted, as though he himself had been injured.

No, even on the day he had injured his arm, he hadn’t made a face like that.

Heresden Dwayne seemed to be in more pain and distress over Lilia’s small wound than over his own wounds.

He was the Grand Duke who always acted cold and blunt.

Of course, toward me, it wasn’t so much that he acted bluntly as that he growled at me as though he had met the enemy who had killed his parents.

Either way, his affection for Lilia was obvious.

If Lilia ever fell into danger, both the Grand Duke and the Crown Prince would try to save her by any means necessary.

They would never pretend not to know her or leave her behind….

“Let me take a look at your wound for a moment.”

Lilia seemed flustered and pulled her hand behind her, but the Grand Duke finally removed her glove and checked the hand wrapped in bandages.

His large hands carefully unwound the bandage from Lilia’s snow-white hand, as though he were handling something extremely precious and fragile.

Lilia seemed to have a lot she wanted to say to me, and she frowned while looking at me.

Of course, I had done my best to flee from the smell of Lilia’s blood.

In the end, it was only after I entered my room and firmly closed the door that I could escape the strong smell of blood.

“Haa… I got scolded again.”

This was exactly why I had asked Lilia to keep it a secret….

Why had Lilia gone and told her to give it to me?

“Why do I get scolded all the time?”

Somehow, I felt wronged.

‘Please, stop doing useless things, Penelope.’

Anyway, it had been for Idorian Pidntre.

Of course, the one who had been sacrificed in the process was Lilia Swidy.

Still, it had been for everyone.

‘It was an unavoidable situation. We can’t all die just to save you alone.’

Just as Idorian had told me, just as he had done, I too had acted for everyone.

If shedding a little blood could save everyone, wasn’t this also an unavoidable situation?

But it seemed that this unavoidable situation didn’t apply to Lilia Swidy.

…Or perhaps it only applied to me.

‘In the end, it was discrimination.’

The cold eyes Idorian had looked down at me with, filled with contempt only moments ago, came back to mind.

Even if he could turn back time, he would make the same choice again.

He would abandon me again.

I could tell just by looking at those eyes.

“Haa….”

I started to resent Lilia for no reason because the situation had become twisted unlike my plan, so I hurriedly shook my head.

But even without trying, those thoughts would have ended quickly anyway.

Bang.

Because of the Grand Duke, who opened the door and entered without permission.

“Penelope, didn’t I tell you to apologize to Lilia Swidy?”

“Your Grace!”

Lilia seemed flustered and grabbed the Grand Duke’s arm, but he didn’t move even one step, as though he was determined to get an apology for Lilia no matter what.

“If you wanted to help the Crown Prince, you should have given him your own blood. What, were you afraid of getting hurt? There’s a limit to how selfish a person can be.”

I had hidden in my room to escape the smell of blood, but in the end, it had been completely pointless.

My body reacted once again to the strong scent of blood.

I wanted to bite him because of that sweet smell.

I wanted to bite Lilia.