Chapter 4

“See you later~!”

As Andrea cheerfully shouted his farewell, all his siblings replied with warm smiles.

“Yeah. Have a good day.”

“Bye, Rev!”

– You tiny human! Don’t touch this great being!

“Rev says have a great day too!”

Without changing my expression in the slightest, I completely twisted Rev’s words. Thank goodness I’m the only one who can hear this sassy cat talk!

Andrea giggled and climbed into the carriage, holding the butler’s hand.

It was clearly his first day at the academy—he was practically glowing with excitement.

Once Andrea was gone, breakfast fell into a quiet lull. After Edmund dismissed the servants, the zombies—who had likely spent a long, sleepless night—were the first to speak.

“All right, I’ll start.”

Isaac tapped his glass with a spoon—cling cling—drawing everyone’s attention.

“By now, you’ve probably noticed we can’t sleep and our bodies fall apart easily. And judging by breakfast, I’m guessing you’ve also realized we can’t really feel hot or cold, right?”

Edmund and Yullia both nodded. They added that even while eating soup with steam rising off it, all they could sense was the slimy texture on their tongues.

Yullia chimed in:

“I can’t taste anything sweet, salty, or sour—but I can kind of still feel spicy things.”

Edmund shared what he’d discovered too.

“Seems like our sense of smell is completely numb as well.”

And this was all just within 24 hours of becoming zombies. Daily life had already started to show its inconveniences.

Chewing food that barely registers, with only a faint spicy burn to speak of—it wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience.

“Isaac. Did you submit your leave request?”

“Sent it this morning. It should be sitting neatly on the commander’s desk by now.”

“Yullia, what about you?”

“I sent mine too. If I tried to make potions with these hands, I’d definitely blow something up.”

Alchemy requires precision, sometimes down to a 1ml difference. With her dulled undead senses, Yullia could no longer even match an average person—let alone an alchemist.

“Any chance your requests get denied?”

“The imperial office usually doesn’t reject leave requests, from what I’ve heard. So we should be good~.”

Isaac added with a bright grin,

“They wouldn’t suddenly decide to change that custom today… right?”

Just as I was thinking, That sounds like a flag if I’ve ever heard one, Edmund’s gaze landed on me.

At just eighteen, Edmund had taken over the dukedom, and now—eleven years later—he handled all family matters without hesitation.

“Emily. What are you planning to do?”

“…I’m thinking of going in today to talk in person. I think it’s better to explain face-to-face.”

“Your body’s still functioning, so you can go to work. But if anything happens to one of us, we’ll need your help. Ideally, I’d prefer you stayed home.”

I agreed with him, and nodded without protest. Seeing that, Edmund moved on for now.

“We’re not going to stay cooped up in here for seven years. That’s not realistic.”

A household as influential as a ducal house couldn’t just vanish into thin air—others would stir up trouble whether we liked it or not. This wasn’t a mud pit we could just opt out of.

“This is just a stalling tactic. Until we get used to these bodies, we need to avoid drawing attention.”

“For now, I agree~. If I tried swinging a sword in this body, my whole arm might fly off.”

“And we can’t risk blowing up the potion lab.”

Isaac and Yullia nodded obediently.

“Considering all the possibilities, the best course is for Emily to actively train in necromancy. Meanwhile, we’ll just live cautiously and avoid attention.”

“…But is that okay? What if she gets caught while practicing?”

“If higher-level necromancy means the body is more accurately restored, then this is a necessary step.”

Edmund spoke firmly.

“It’s dangerous, yes… but books on necromancy aren’t only stored in the imperial archive. I’ll find something suitable. Emily, you can start training with that.”

“Okay. Got it!”

I clenched my fist with determination and gave a resolute reply. Knowing everyone’s lives were literally in my hands, I couldn’t help but feel the weight on my shoulders.

Edmund also laid out several behavioral guidelines—things like minimizing appearances at social gatherings and limiting personal meetings.

The instructions were clear and efficient, and everyone accepted them calmly.

“All right~. Then I guess that settles how we’ll move forward?”

“It’s a plan we came up with overnight, but…”

Yullia grumbled, but didn’t actually oppose Edmund’s strategy.

After all, he had proven himself over the past decade as the leader of House Walker.

Just following Edmund’s lead was enough to fill us with the hope that maybe—just maybe—we could survive the next seven years.

Knock knock.

The head butler knocked on the door.

“Pardon the interruption, Your Grace. There’s something I must urgently report.”

“Come in.”

With Edmund’s permission, the butler respectfully greeted the rest of us before stepping up to his side.

“What is it?”

“Well, it’s just that…”

The butler glanced briefly in Isaac’s direction before quickly correcting himself.

“The leave request submitted by the second young master… has been denied.”

“…?!”

The atmosphere around the table froze, like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over it.

The butler couldn’t have known, but he had just delivered news that threw Edmund’s entire plan off course from the very beginning.

“Why? The knight order usually approves leave unless there’s some exceptional reason.”

“That is…”

When the butler hesitated, Edmund urged him again.

“Speak. It’s fine, go ahead.”

“Yes, sir. Originally, it was to be approved as you said… but the rejection came under direct order from His Highness the Crown Prince.”

It was, without a doubt— the worst-case scenario.

* * *

“Oh, Emily. You’re a little later than usual today.”

My fellow scribe, Jamie, greeted me cheerfully.

“Good morning, Jamie. Something came up this morning, so I’m a bit late.”

“What happened?”

Well, my brothers died yesterday in a carriage accident, and I brought them back as zombies. Then my second brother, who works for the knight order, submitted a leave request so we wouldn’t get caught—but it got rejected, so all our plans fell apart!

…was definitely not something I could say.

So I gave an awkward smile and replied,

“Andrea threw a fit about going to the academy. Oh—by the way, where’s His Highness the Crown Prince?”

“He’s in a meeting. Should be done soon, I think.”

Just as Jamie finished speaking, the door flew open.

“His Highness the Crown Prince has arrived.”

“We greet His Highness the Crown Prince.”

We all bowed hastily. Prince Tristan waved his hand lightly in response, gesturing for us to carry on and not mind him.

He walked past the scribes and sat at his desk.

As expected of the crown prince of an empire, there was a mountain of paperwork piled before him.

It also meant the scribes had a ton of work to do, since those stacks had already been reviewed and sorted multiple times before reaching his desk.

I pretended to return to work while watching Tristan carefully. Sunlight streamed through the window behind him, casting a glow over his form.

His pitch-black hair, dark even in daylight like a midsummer night sky, and his glowing crimson eyes were trademarks of the crown prince. A capable knight as well, the muscles beneath his rolled-up sleeves were finely honed.

His face remained expressionless and cold, but that was nothing new. Even with that bloodless look, Tristan was a fairly reasonable superior.

Thankfully, since he’d been in a meeting, it didn’t seem like he’d noticed my lateness.

I gathered the documents that required his signature and quietly approached his desk.

“Leave them there.”

He spoke without even glancing up, his face still buried in paperwork.

“Your Highness. I have something I’d like to discuss.”

At my words, Tristan’s eyebrows twitched, and he finally lifted his head.

“What is it?”

“It’s just… I’d like to request some time off.”

Even if he was a lenient boss, asking for time off wasn’t easy. Tristan stayed silent for a moment, weighing my words.

“…Is the workload overwhelming?”

“Pardon? Oh, no. Nothing like that.”

“You’re not the type to ask for time off. I thought maybe something happened.”

Of course, working as a scribe for the crown prince wasn’t easy. Endless overtime, and we had to be intimately familiar with every piece of paperwork stacked before us.

Still, that wasn’t the problem. Sure, it would’ve been easier if I had a photographic memory like my eldest brother…

“Now that you mention it, Sir Isaac also submitted a leave request.”

He put down his pen entirely and clasped his hands together, studying my face as though trying to figure something out.

His eyes, glimmering like polished rubies, were completely unreadable.

“Is something going on in your family?”

“No. Of course not.”

I answered immediately.

“It’s just that things have felt a bit distant among the family lately, so we thought a vacation to our villa might help.”

That was our surface-level excuse. It would be far too unnatural for the entire Walker family to suddenly vanish from public life.

“I see.”

“Yes. If taking time off is difficult due to my duties, I do have unused vacation days I can use instead.”

I continued as naturally as possible, keeping a close eye on Tristan’s sharp instincts.

“Hm…”

Tristan leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms and tapping his forearm with a finger before speaking again.

“Sorry, but I don’t think that’ll work.”

“…Pardon?”

“Sir Isaac Walker, you see. There might be matters requiring the knight order’s deployment soon, so I ordered him to remain on standby.”

So that’s why Isaac’s leave was rejected. But even so, questions remained.

There wasn’t any real reason for the knight order to be on alert. The Kingdom of Tahil hadn’t made any military moves, and the Kingdom of Orthor hadn’t raised any territorial disputes either.

Perhaps sensing my confusion, Tristan continued.

“I can’t give you the official reason just yet, but it’s a precaution. And if Sir Isaac can’t leave, I doubt your family vacation can happen either.”

“I… I see.”

Now what?

I kept smiling while my mind raced. Should I ask for leave anyway, even without Isaac? Or should I just back off for now?

If Isaac has to be at the palace, maybe it’s better that I stay here too.
At least Yullia and Edmund will be inside the Walker estate, so if anything happens, they can probably handle it.

Right now, Isaac—surrounded by prying eyes at the palace—was in the most danger.

“Understood. I’ll save the vacation for another time, then…”

BANG!

“Your Highness!”

The door to the office suddenly burst open.

“You need to come right away! There’s a situation with Sir Isaac at the knight order—!”

My heart dropped. Instantly.