The Villainess and I, her Zombie

Cranberry finished her breakfast while Zombie was observing her with a slight smile.

Lord Blackberry was also with them in the dining room feeling even more like an outsider than ever before.

Things could only get more awkward for him if his daughter requested her corpse puppet to feed her.

…or use him as something called a cooling chair where the corpse puppet would sit on a chair and she would sit on his lap…

Which happened more than once already, but not this time.

But that was probably due to the chill morning rather than the red-haired girl taking her father's feelings under consideration.

Anyway, lord Blackberry was also observing his daughter.

The little girl that he once knew was no more, instead, the person who sat in front of him was a powerful player character with a unique class of Master of the eternal servant and even a subclass of a berserker.

And she was quickly catching up to lord Blackberry's level even though the bespectacled man was using all of the free time he could muster to train himself.

"Haa…"

Lord Blackberry sighed and looked down.

He thought that to keep his face as a father he would have to put much more effort than ever before or his own daughter will overtake him before he notices.

*cling*

"…?"

Hearing a loud sound, lord Blackberry raised his head and saw that his daughter was putting down the cutlery onto her empty plate.

Her undead puppet stood up and pulled back the girl's chair.

"Father. We're going. Watch your health and don't overwork yourself."

Cranberry said with a soft smile.

"You too."

Lord Blackberry returned the simple farewell and saw the two to the door.

The Dandelions were already waiting for the master-servant pair outside in a simple carriage.

The thing was - they weren't the only ones ready to go.

Beside them stood the prince, Roan Greed, sporting a full plate armor and an enormous two-handed sword that had to be hung across his back to not get dragged along the ground.

"Lady Pride."

The prince removed the helmet, showing his golden locks, and bowed tactfully towards the approaching girl.

"...haa... hey, Roan, I would be grateful if you tried to be less obvious about the fact that the royal family has spies in my household. That would at least allow me to act surprised or welcoming instead of annoying, you know?"

Cranberry sighed and shook her head with disappointment.

"Eh? Huh? Wh-what are you talking about, my lady?"

The prince's face showed puzzlement that oozed innocence, but only Zombie would believe that staged shock.

"I have only told you that we should meet on this day. I didn't specify the time, I didn't specify the meeting spot, you didn't even ask for any details but here you are - not a moment too late nor too early. Quite lucky... Or I would have said that if it was anyone else other than you. Why? Well, Because you've already told us yourself that your LUC is 15. The chances of you coincidentally getting this lucky are almost zero."

Cranberry shrugged her shoulders and explained in a single breath.

"Graough! (Wait a minute! That's right!) Graough! (There's no way that this is a coincidence!)"

Zombie joined in, realizing that he had put too much faith in the blond prince, and got angry.

"...I… Don't know what you are talking about, my lady..."

Roan's eyes darted to the left as he was feinting being clueless.

Honestly, he could be more obvious only if he started twiddling his thumbs and whistling.

"My lady, I have no idea what are you talking about, I'm sure that it was my love for you that helped me get here on time!"

"Pfft...!"

Roan put his all into a heartful speech but it didn't rouse the reaction he had in mind unless what he had in mind was to make the three out of four Dandelions on the carriage start snickering while glancing at him in disbelief.

"...don't be like that, the young prince is trying to impress his fiancé...!"

The kindhearted Uresha nudged her companions, scolding them in a hushed voice but that caused them to start giggling even more obviously.

And that, in turn, caused even Cranberry to chuckle.

"Oh, by the way, my father is thinking about getting new staff, so if you have some recommendations, I'll be glad to forward them to him. Of course, we are looking for only the best."

She said teasingly.

"You can help out your fiancé, right?"

She tilted her head and smiled innocently.

"Of course! I'll contact my mother right away, we will find the best of the best for you!"

Roan, who was getting visibly embarrassing because of all the laughing, caught on to the first available topic-changing lifeline.

Even so, his reaction seemed to be a bit over the top, it made Zombie nod with satisfaction, the Dandelions were laughing their heads off, but, as for Cranberry, she frowned finding it somehow suspicious.

Talking with the blond prince was going on too smoothly…

"Anyway, Roan, I see that you are prepared for a rough time, that's the spirit."

The red-haired girl came over to the prince and gently tapped his chestplate.

The Dandelions all stopped laughing and peered over to check if she made a dent in it, but of course she didn't.

There was no reason to be that mean to the agreeable prince, right~?

"Hey, aren't you quite tall? Ha! And to think that you were shorter than me when we were little..."

Cranberry went ahead and even compared their heights using her hand - the difference was only half an inch or so, but Roan was indeed taller.

...and the prince's face became completely red, almost as blood-red as Cranberry's hair, as he was completely unprepared for such familiarity coming from the girl that literally threatened him once or twice before.

"Before we go... say, have you got apprised too the other day? If so, show me the results."

Cranberry suddenly requested, reaching her hand forward as if she expected that it was totally normal for everyone to carry a note from the appraiser everywhere they go.

"Of course, here."

...and apparently, it was the norm, since the prince pulled it out from the small leather pouch attached to his waist and put it on Cranberry's palm.

"I see... haa..."

The red-haired girl sighed and shook her head.