The Villainess and I, her Zombie

"...I don't remember those clothes, but they all fit me..."

Cranberry changed out of the pajamas and was checking out the outfit she chose in the mirror.

"Well, at least we know that my mother is gone."

She smirked pointing at the open closet - not a single piece of clothing in there was red.

"Graough! (Yes!) Graough? (Still, I wonder what happened though?) Graough... (There's no trace of the battle with the werewolves...)"

Zombie nodded to his master and turned to the window, checking the world outside.

Cranberry walked towards him and leaned forward, putting her hands on the windowsill and touching shoulders with the blue undead.

"Not really, look, the shed you destroyed is different than before. It must have been rebuilt."

She pointed out, at the building in the back, now much larger than the previous one.

"Graough... (How odd...)"

Zombie frowned and tilted his head, trying to wrap his head around what was happening.

"Anyway, we should check around the room first. If we don't find a clue about what is going on here, we should start exploring the rest of the mansion."

Cranberry decided and patted Zombie's shoulder.

After a few minutes of investigating, dejected Zombie approached Cranberry sitting by the desk.

"Graough... (Master...) Graough...! (There's nothing out of the ordinary...!)"

He groaned in complaint.

"Graough, graough! (Although... The birthday cards I gave you are all gone, and there is a difference in the size of the clothes!)"

He growled.

"None of the birthday cards are there?"

Cranberry asked without turning around, busy reading through some book that she found.

"Graough, grough! Groaugh! (All of them are gone! One per birthday every year since we're together, even the one I gave you for your fourteenth birthday along with the portrait of you that your mother stole and gave away to that whole Durian!)"

Zombie confirmed, nodding his head vigorously.

"Haa..."

Cranberry sighed and tapped the page of the book in front of her.

"So it seems that the traces of our connection got completely erased, huh..."

She shook her head and tapped the page again.

"Graough? (What do you mean?)"

Zombie realized that she wanted him to look at the book so he leaned over and peeked at it.

As he did so, his ponytail slid over his shoulder and brushed against Cranberry's face, causing it to become slightly pink.

"Graough...? (Dear diary, today my dearest prince will arrive! Oh, my heart is aflutter...?)"

Zombie read out loud, raising his brows and blinking in confusion.

"Graough. (I didn't expect that someone would release a book in the form of a diary.)"

He said tilting his head, making a mixed expression.

"Haa... It's not a novel. It's a real diary."

Cranberry breathed out and closed the diary, only to open it again on the first page.

"Graough?! (This... This diary belongs to Cranberry Pride?!)"

Zombie read the title and almost choked on his own words.

"Graough! (Master, but you never even owned a diary!)"

He growled turning his head and looking at the red-haired girl in bewilderment.

"And that's not even my handwriting either."

Cranberry crossed her arms and leaned back on the chair.

"But... if it's true, it does clear out a lot of things..."

Her expression turned sour.

"Apparently, around three and a half years have passed since the werewolves attacked the mansion."

She started explaining before Zombie could even ask her about it.

"But things get really weird."

Cranberry tapped the diary again.

"It says here that a pack of feral werewolves attacked us and killed my mother."

"Graough?! (Feral?! Weren't they from the Gluttony family?!)"

Zombie growled taken aback.

"Haa... Exactly. It also says that one of the werewolves used a skill to steal the avatar of pride title from my mother, and that after I managed to kill it thanks to a lucky accident, something went wrong and I gained the title of the usurper of pride instead of the avatar of pride one."

Cranberry sighed heavily and massaged her forehead.

"This thing paints me as some empty-headed little girl who got everything handed to her on a silver platter!"

She gritted her teeth.

"Everything written here is stubbornly erasing all my hard work and painting me as a lazy spoiled princess..."

She picked the diary with her thumb and index finger as if it was something filthy and threw it in the trashcan by the desk.

"Graough! (Master! You shouldn't throw it away like that!) Graough! (Even if it's stupid it might have some clues about what happened!)"

Zombie leaned over in an attempt to fish the book out from the trash.

"...!"

Zombie didn't saw this but his action caused Cranberry to momentarily lose her cool.

"You... you don't need to bother reading it, I've already read through it and memorized it all...!"

She said grabbing Zombie's hand and pulling him over.

"Ghaough...? (Um... master...?)"

He groaned once again muffled by Cranberry's chest.

"Even if it wasn't written by me it's something written by someone posing as me. Knowing you, you would definitely misunderstand it as me being the author!"

Cranberry didn't regain her cool at all.

"Ghaough... (I... am already confused...)"

Zombie admitted.

"Don't read it. It's all bullshit."

Cranberry pulled his head out and looked him in the eyes.

"Whenever it mentioned you, it was in this mean way, as if you were some nasty  stinking corpse puppet."

"Graough?! (Wait, what?!) Graough?! (Who, me?!)"

Zombie got caught up in Cranberry's peace.

And although in the diary, Zombie was described just as meanly as Cranberry told him, it wasn't the real reason she didn't want him to read it.

What she wanted to hide were the lengthy descriptions of her so-called 'beloved prince'.

"Yeah, exactly. You don't want to read through all of that rubbish."

Cranberry nodded with a serious expression.

"Graough! (Then I definitely won't read it!)"

Zombie scoffed.

"Graough... (But still...) Graough...? (What should we do now?) Graough? (Has it really been that long as that mean book has suggested?)"

Zombie stopped his attempts to reach into the trashcan and looked at his master.

"Haa... good thing you're a rotten brain."

Cranberry breathed out with relief and patted Zombie's cheek.

"Anyway. There's only one way to check that out."

She let go of Zombie's face, allowing him to straighten his back, and pointed at the door with her chin.

"I'm really interested whether the not dumb parts of the diary are true or not."

She added.

"Graough? (Like which ones for example?)"

Zombie asked tilting his head.

"Like the one about a so-called lull. A period of time that started right after our little squabble with the werewolves, when everyone got disconnected from the system."

Cranberry explained while putting on the shiny black loafers.

"Graough?! (Something like that happened?!)"

Zombie gasped in shock.

"Graough? (How long it lasted?)"

Cranberry started staring at him with disbelief.

"...haa... The diary said that it still continues, but as we've already seen, the system is operating smoothly."

She sighed shaking her head lightly.

"Graough! (Ooh! You mean with the charm skill's level going up?) Graough...! (It must have been my love for you that reawakened the sys...!)"

Before Zombie could finish his sentence Cranberry reached up and blocked his mouth with both hands.

"I-I know what the side effects the rotten brain title are, but could you be at least a little bit mindful of what leaves your mouth?"

Cranberry, red as a ripe cranberry, asked embarrassed, looking up at her undead servant who was innocently looking back at her in confusion.

"...seriously... don't give me hope..."

She rested her forehead on his chest and complained in a small voice.

*rustle*

Coincidentally, some noises coming from the outside caught the blue undead's attention so he was looking away and missed Cranberry's words.

"...haa..."

The red-haired girl sighed and stepped away from Zombie.

"You know, I..."

The determination in her eyes showed that she was going to say something important.

*KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK*

"Young lady!"

But right before she could say whatever was on her mind, a loud knocking interrupted her and an unfamiliar man in a butler's uniform busted into the room as if he was invited.

"Young lady! Your fiancé has arrived!"

He said in a voice trembling with excitement.

"My what now...?"

Cranberry crossed her arms and glared at the butler.

"Yo-your fiancé... miss? Are you perhaps still asleep? I sometimes wonder what's wrong with your head..."

The butler sighed.

"Graough... (Master, I remember that you have forbidden me to kill the family servants but...) Graough? (Can we make an exception this time?) Graough? (Please?)"

Zombie asked, already taking a stance for a kick.

"Ah, you hear that? Even Zombie agrees with me!"

The butler used the blue undead's groans to support his argument as if this was the most natural thing to do.

"Miss, just come down quickly, it's rude to keep the prince Roan waiting."

He added running out of the room and closed the door behind him.

"Haa..."

Cranberry let out the air that she was holding back and started massaging her forehead with both hands.

"Graough...? (Master, what is going on...?)"

Zombie tugged on her shirt and asked.

"This dumb diary was actually correct..."

Cranberry sounded as if she was holding back an ungodly amount of anger.

"This piece of shit book was actually correct...!"

She gritted her teeth and clenched her fists so hard that her knuckles turned white.

"Graough... (Master...)"

Zombie tilted his head totally unaffected by the threatening aura surrounding the red-haired girl.

"My baseball bat should be under the bed. Bring it with you and follow me. I'm sure that I'll be needing it in a moment."

Cranberry commanded and walked out of the room without looking back.