TAVBZ 7

Chapter 7

Knock knock.

The next morning, Lilia lightly knocked on the door and called to me.

“Your Highness, are you awake? I brought that — what should we do with it?”

“…Leave it at the door.”

The sun had only just begun to rise; she was awfully diligent.

“…Yes. Understood.”

I listened to Lilia’s footsteps as they receded, sounding strangely subdued, and waited until I heard her door close before I carefully opened my own.

A red liquid swished inside the glass bottle.

Zombies react strongly to blood. Not as violently as other zombies, but even I showed a clear reaction to the scent of fresh blood.

When that happened my heart would race, my body’s abilities would improve markedly, and above all my instincts sharpened; I wanted to bite someone.

Sniff sniff.

Worried that the smell might leak out of the bottle or cling to it, I sniffed the bottle all around. It seemed Lilia had wiped the outside clean; there was no noticeable smell coming from it. It was safe until it was broken.

Dadadada.

“Your Highness, His Highness is leaving now. We should get this to him.”

Right after I finished the safety check, Lilia burst in, panting.

She looked at me with the bottle in her hand and hurried into the room, grabbing my hand and pulling me along.

“His Highness has already gone outside. The gate will open soon. Hurry.”

A metallic scent of blood hung around Lilia as if her wound hadn’t been fully staunched. That was exactly why I hadn’t wanted to be near her!

“You should give it, Young Lady.”

I wrested my hand free and handed the bottle to her.

“Tell him to use it before it coagulates.”

The road made for people to move to the fortress wasn’t steep, but if you strayed from the path there were sheer cliffs of rock. Zombies that fell down under those cliffs couldn’t climb back up unless they found another way. If we lured the zombies scattered across the mountain to that place with blood, we could return to the fortress without much trouble.

“That’s— You should give it to His Highness.”

After handing her the bottle I hurried to put distance between us, but Lilia followed as if she couldn’t let me go.

“You’re not going to go greet His Highness? You’ll regret it, I’m sure.”

“…No.”

“I think sincerity always gets through. Don’t worry and just give it to him.”

Lilia seized my shoulder. She was wearing gloves, but they did nothing to block the smell of blood. As she kept trailing after me I hurried, took the bottle back from her, and started running.

I tried with all my might to suppress the instinct; I barely heard what Lilia said. All I could think was I had to get away from her. I had no idea what Lilia Sweety was imagining.

“Penelope?”

“It’ll help distract the zombies. He must use it before it hardens.”

I darted out of the building and quickly handed the bottle to the crown prince.

He peered at the bottle and frowned. Then he quickly checked me over.

“This isn’t my blood; it’s Miss Sweedy’s blood.”

“…What?”

The duke who had been standing next to Idorian to open the gate scowled at me.

“You told him you gave it?”

“Yes, she gave it.”

“Did you order this?”

The duke grabbed my arm forcefully. He looked me up and down as if determined to catch me in a lie.

That was why I’d told Lilia to hand it over—so it wouldn’t get back to me… But now I’d only stirred up the men’s tempers.

“I asked her to.”

“You asked? That’s insane.”

“Surely ‘asked’ is the wrong word — it was closer to a bargain or coercion. But it was the best method.”

The duke let out an incredulous laugh. Idorian sighed, ran a hand through his hair, released his grip on me, and said,

“Penelope Lloyd. I told you not to treat Lilia Sweedy carelessly, didn’t I? You agreed, didn’t you?”

When I silently nodded, Idorian clenched his teeth as if truly angry. The muscles along his jaw jumped — a habit that surfaced when he was furious, as remembered by Penelope.

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

Idorian looked down at me with contempt, judged there was no more time, and ended the conversation.

“Please stop doing pointless things, Penelope.”

His voice was cold and devoid of affection; then he turned his back and walked away.

Idorian quickly moved off and the gate closed again.

“This is your last chance, Penelope.”

“…….”

“Go and apologize properly to Lilia Sweedy.”

The duke dragged me roughly back into the fortress as if annoyed beyond measure. Once inside we encountered Lilia waiting in the hall.

“Sweedy, are you all right?”

The duke looked at Lilia, noticed she was wearing gloves, and reached out cautiously.

So he could make that face too, huh.

His expression twisted as if he had been injured himself. Even on the day he’d hurt his arm he hadn’t looked like that.

Heresdon Dwayne seemed to suffer more at the sight of Lilia’s small wound than from his own injury.

He was usually cold and blunt. With me he had behaved as though facing his parents’ enemy — rough and snarling. But his concern for Lilia was plain. If she were in danger, both the duke and the crown prince would try any means to save her; they would never act like they didn’t know her or abandon her.

“Let me just look at the wound.”

Lilia recoiled as if embarrassed, but the duke finally removed her glove and checked the bandaged hand. His large hands handled her pale hand as if it were something precious and fragile.

Lilia looked at me as though she had much to say; her brows furrowed. I, however, fled from the thick blood smell as quickly as I could.

Only after I shut my door tight inside my room did I escape the heavy scent.

“Sigh. I got scolded again.”

I had asked Lilia to keep it secret because I feared this exact outcome…

Why did she make me give it to him?

“Why do I always get scolded?”

A sense of injustice rose up.

“Please stop doing pointless things, Penelope.”

Anyway, it had been for Idorian Fidentre. Lilia Sweedy had been the sacrifice in the process.

But it was for everyone.

“You couldn’t risk everyone to save just one of us.”

Idorian had said this, and like him, I had acted for the greater good.

If drawing a little blood could save everyone, then it was an unavoidable choice.

But that necessity seemed not to apply to Lilia Sweedy.

…Or perhaps it applied only to me.

“In the end, it was discrimination.”

I recalled Idorian’s cold, contemptuous gaze. Even if time rewound, he would make the same choice. He would throw me away again.

I could see it in his eyes.

“Ugh…”

I was about to allow resentment toward Lilia to grow because things had gone wrong, but the thought faded easily without effort.

Bang.

The duke burst into my room unannounced.

“Penelope, did I not tell you to apologize to Lilia Sweedy?”

“Duke!” Lilia grabbed the duke’s arm in a fluster, but he seemed determined to extract an apology for Lilia and did not move an inch.

“If you wanted to help the crown prince, you should have given your blood. Why — were you unwilling to be hurt? There’s selfish, and then there’s this.”

I had been hiding in my room to avoid the smell, but it was no use; the heavy scent overwhelmed me again.

The sweet smell made me want to bite. I wanted to sink my teeth into Lilia.