TAVBZ 5

Chapter 5

“Penelope, this way.”

He opened a door and jerked his chin toward it as if telling me to go in. Inside were several low beds and a small desk. The floorboards were bare, with nothing laid over them, and the walls were faded and chipped. The mirror hanging there looked just as worn-out as the one in my own room.

On the bed near the wall lay Idorian’s blue sword and a black cloak embroidered with silver thread. It seemed this was his room.

He pulled a bandage from a drawer and came toward me.

“Sit.”

When Idorian knelt on the floor as if to wrap the bandage himself, I quickly shook my head. My body wasn’t as quick as my thoughts, though—he was already sitting.

“Please give it to me. I’ll do it myself.”

“…You even know how to?”

He tilted his head slightly, surprised.

“It’s just wrapping it around, isn’t it?”

I didn’t want to entrust my body to him. His sharp eyes might notice something strange about me—something that would make him suspicious.

“It’s not just wrapping it around. That’s why I said I’d do it. Sit.”

“Then teach me. I’ll do it.”

He looked up at me, still standing there stubbornly, and frowned.

“You want me to teach you by wrapping it on my own leg?”

Clearly, he couldn’t see the point in making things harder, and eventually I gave up trying to persuade him and sat down in front of him.

He looked at me for a moment longer, then took hold of my foot.

My heart began to race as I nervously glanced down—what if there was some strange mark on my ankle?

But contrary to my worries, Idorian said nothing. After about a minute, he released my foot.

“Now you’ve seen it. Next time you can do it yourself.”

He stood, brushed off his hands, and handed me the remaining bandage before heading toward the door as if the matter were over.

Tap, tap, tap.

Before he could leave, a rhythmic tapping came from the window. Idorian turned and opened it.

A bird flew in, circled once above his head, and landed neatly on his hand—as if used to the gesture.

He removed a small tube from around its neck, gave the bird some water and feed, and began reading the message that had arrived.

“…Damn.”

After quickly scanning the letter, he walked out of the room without another word, completely forgetting I was there.

He didn’t explain what the letter said, but recalling the early events of the novel, I immediately knew who had sent it.

A genius—the kind who might be able to end this entire crisis. The man I needed most.

I couldn’t remember his name—only that it was short—and that he was a genius who had brought both brief hope and tragedy.

He had been a commoner from a small kingdom, and Idorian Fidentre’s old classmate from the university. He’d come all the way to the Empire to see Idorian again.

He’d arrived at Leman Port near the capital by ship, stayed a few days to sightsee, and planned to take the train to the imperial city. But then the zombie outbreak began, cutting off all routes to the capital.

Trapped on a stalled train in the middle of the tracks, he received Idorian’s letter—and the message I’d just seen must have been his reply.

He said he would come to the fortress himself. After all, that was his original goal, and the distance wasn’t far. But that was the naive decision of someone who had never encountered a zombie before.

In such times, the most important thing was to find shelter, stay hidden, and secure food. Lacking that knowledge, the genius set out recklessly, only to be bitten halfway up the mountain.

The only reason he’d made it that far was his remarkable observation skills.

He realized zombies responded to sound and smell. So he covered himself with the corpses the main characters had cut down and hid in trees at night.

But in the end, he died because he bled. The scent of human blood couldn’t be concealed, and the zombies tore him apart.

‘Wait… why did he start bleeding again?’

“Hmm…”

If I could somehow save him, maybe this chaos could be settled faster. But if I interfered and drew suspicion, that would be a problem of its own.

“Still here?”

Idorian returned, folding a hastily scribbled note in half.

He glanced at me sitting on his bed, then turned to the bird drinking water. He gently stroked it and slipped the new letter back into the small tube.

“…Something you wanted to say?”

He awkwardly spoke up as he sat in a nearby chair, apparently waiting for the bird to finish eating. I just pointed toward the bird, silently asking for an explanation.

Maybe that had been his polite way of telling me to leave.

“A friend from university. He says he’s on his way here to see me.”

Idorian began speaking without reproach.

“You’re going to meet him?”

“…Yes.”

His golden eyes flickered slightly, as if realizing he’d said too much.

“…I’ll leave tomorrow morning.”

He lowered his gaze again and stroked the small bird. The creature closed its eyes peacefully, clearly used to his touch.

In the novel, Idorian also released the messenger bird again to confirm his friend’s location before following it—and meeting him soon after.

But his friend turned into a zombie, and Idorian barely survived the encounter, returning to the fortress three days later with serious injuries.

…And I couldn’t exactly say, “I’ll go with you.”

Knock, knock.

As I was wondering what to do, someone tapped lightly on the half-open door.

“Lady Penelope.”

It was Lillia. She gave Idorian a polite nod, and I stepped out of the room. She was holding a cup.

“I found some tea that helps with digestion, so I brought it for you.”

Another thing I’d have to pretend to drink. I reached to take it, but Lillia shook her head.

“I’d like to talk with you, if that’s all right. May I bring it to your room?”

Had Lillia Swidi ever initiated a conversation with Penelope before? I searched my memories—no, she hadn’t.

“…All right.”

Her tone was unusually serious, and I couldn’t help overthinking it.

At the far end of the corridor.

Lillia followed me inside, setting the cup on the small bedside table.

‘What could she possibly want to say?’

I put down the potatoes I’d been holding and sat on the bed, looking at her.

“I’m truly sorry.”

Lillia didn’t even sit. She stood awkwardly before me, bowing deeply.

“I don’t know everything that you went through because of me, Lady Penelope. I can only imagine—from the safety of this place.”

So that was what had been making her so nervous earlier.

“But even imagining it… it hurts.”

She bit her lip, fighting back tears as she met my eyes.

“If you hadn’t sent me up first, I would have been the one left behind. And if I had, I never would’ve acted as wisely as you did.”

Lillia Swidi.

With her soft pink hair, pale skin, round eyes, and lips that curved gently upward, she was a delicate beauty. But appearances weren’t everything.

Though she was the heroine of a romance novel surrounded by men who helped her, she wasn’t someone who survived the apocalypse only through others’ kindness.

“I’m so sorry for leaving you alone among those monsters.”

Right now, she was still a sheltered noble lady—fragile and untrained—but in time, she would become one of the fortress’s strongest fighters.

“But next time, I’ll never let that happen again. Just as you helped me first, I’ll protect you too.”

The woman who would one day train under both the Grand Duke and the Crown Prince, gaining skills to rival the imperial knights, made me that promise.