Chapter 68
My chest ached. The image of the lady devouring zombies made me feel uneasy, a constricting feeling in my chest. I still didn’t understand why I saw myself in her. I wasn’t a zombie, and I didn’t eat zombies.
But in that moment, when her inhumanity was so clearly visible despite her human appearance, I had projected my own self onto her and started to hate her.
That’s why I felt so much pity for her, yet wanted to avoid her. It was the same this time. I tugged on the young master’s arm.
“Let’s get out of here, quickly. The phoenix must be beyond this dungeon.”
“Right. Our objective is just collecting research materials.”
“What? We’re not capturing the phoenix?”
“Why would I bring a phoenix back? A few feathers are enough. I just need to know how it attracts zombies and what its healing properties are.”
“Aw, that’s a shame. I thought we would have an exciting battle with the phoenix.”
“Estella, I say this all the time, but please calm down.”
We walked faster, chatting casually. Just then, a figure jumped out from a dark corner of the dungeon. A zombie? It lunged towards the young master!
I instinctively swung my vacuum cleaner.
Wham! With a thud and a groan, the figure collapsed. It writhed on the ground, reaching towards the young master.
“Young Master! I’ll protect you!”
“What’s happening?”
It was the old man who had been making those strange noises. He opened his eyes and reached out to the young master.
“Lehman, Lehman Zepetto, my friend. I knew you would come.”
Lehman Zepetto…? That was the previous Count’s name.
Before I could intervene, the young master grabbed the old man by the collar and lifted him up, his expression unusually fierce.
“Who are you? How do you know my father?”
“Lehman! Lehman, I knew you would come back for me. You didn’t abandon me, did you?”
The old man seemed to be mistaking the young master for Count Lehman. A flicker of confusion crossed the young master’s face.
“He seems to be mistaking you for the previous Count.”
“He’s clearly not in his right mind.”
“Should I explain? Just in case.”
The old man was still being held by the collar. I stepped forward, pointed my vacuum cleaner at his neck, and said,
“This is Lupin Zepetto, the current Count Zepetto. If you disrespectfully mention Lehman’s name again, you’ll regret it.”
A strong attitude was best when dealing with strange people! The young master, disagreeing with my strategy, pushed me aside.
“Hey, why?!”
“It’s best if you stay quiet.”
“Why?!”
I grabbed his hand as he pushed me away. Our eyes met, and a wave of shyness washed over me, so I quickly let go of his hand.
Whenever I looked at him, I remembered our kiss in Dragon’s Waist. He might have done it impulsively, caught up in the moment, but I hadn’t. Was he not thinking about it at all? I wanted to grab him by the collar, just like he was doing to the old man, and ask him,
Do I look different to you now?
But I was too shy to ask. And a subtle sense of unease held me back. What if he had just kissed me as a casual gesture of affection? I was just a doll to him, and kissing a doll was something even children did.
“Estella, Estella!”
As if reading my mind, he called my name.
“Estella, let go! You’re going to make the old man faint.”
I realized I was shaking the old man. I quickly let go and apologized. He shook his head, complaining of dizziness.
“Oh dear, I’m dying…”
He looked almost normal now?
“Lehman, how could you do this to me! Lehman!”
He continued to mistake the young master for the previous Count. I looked at the young master. Did they really look that much alike? The previous Count had died when I was young, so my memories were hazy. And the young master was also young back then, so he didn’t resemble the Count much. He actually looked more like the Countess, my mistress. She was a beautiful woman, and she had died even earlier than the Count.
Or rather, after the Countess’s death, the Count wandered around and eventually died. He must have been heartbroken. I remembered the entire mansion being shrouded in grief.
“A beautiful, sorrowful face. Mmm, mmm.”
I muttered, observing the young master. He looked at me quizzically, then turned to the old man and snapped,
“Lehman Zepetto was my father. I am Lupin Zepetto, the master of the Zepetto family. Who are you?”
“Lupin? Lupin? Lupin is still young. He can’t be here. Lehman! Don’t try to fool me. Those blue eyes! You can’t fool me.”
He even pointed at the young master accusingly. We exchanged glances and shrugged. Even if the young master claimed to be Crown Prince Umbram, the stubborn old man would still insist on calling him Lehman Zepetto.
The young master stepped away from the old man with a sigh of disgust and brushed off his clothes. I always thought he looked like a fussy city boy whenever he did that. As I chuckled, he seemed to have come up with a plan.
“Fine. I’m Lehman Zepetto.”
He decided to play along. The old man jumped up and started shaking his body as if dancing.
“I knew you would come for me! Let’s go back to the capital! There’s no time for this! We have to catch the phoenix! The phoenix!”
A strange glint appeared in the young master’s eyes. He helped the old man up. I wasn’t sure what he was planning. Was he going to take this old man with us to find the phoenix?
He couldn’t even tell the difference between a father and son! Either his eyesight was terrible, or he was incredibly stubborn, or he was senile, or all of the above. He would just be a burden!
“Young Master, what are you planning to do? I don’t understand. That old man seems… strange. And stubborn.”
“Estella, listen carefully, and don’t misunderstand.”
He put his arm around my shoulder and led me closer to the old man, then whispered in my ear,
“Knock him out.”
“Okay.”
I immediately chopped the back of his neck with the side of my hand. I had seen the Captain of the Guard do that back in the earldom. Was that the right way to do it?
“Ouch! Lehman! What was that?!”
Seeing that he hadn’t fainted, I chopped his neck again. He opened his eyes wide, then slumped unconscious into the young master’s arms. He looked almost pitiful.
His hygiene was… questionable, so I quickly took him from the young master and slung him over my shoulder. I was a bit worried, but thankfully, he was breathing evenly. The young master seemed to have had the same concern.
“You didn’t kill him, did you?”
“No. I was worried too, but he’s breathing fine. That’s a relief. It’s my first time knocking someone unconscious.”
“…I’ll use magic next time.”
“No! I can do it faster and more efficiently next time.”
He didn’t seem to believe me. But I had succeeded, hadn’t I? I adjusted my hold on the old man and asked,
“What are you planning to do now? Abandon him? Or should I carry him somewhere? There don’t seem to be any villages nearby.”
“We need to interrogate him. We have to find out who he is, how he knows my father, and what he knows about the phoenix.”
The young master looked around and pointed towards what looked like a former prison cell.
“Let’s go there.”
I bounced excitedly.
“So we’re interrogating him! I’m so excited! I’ve only read about interrogations in newspapers!”
The cell, up close, was even more shabby and dirty than I had expected. The wooden cot looked like it was about to collapse, and the hole in the ground that must have been the toilet was strangely smooth and clean.
I placed the old man on a chair in the corner, like a doll. He was now snoring peacefully.
“Should I wake him up?”
I raised my hand, ready to chop his neck again. The young master grabbed my wrist and shook his head.
“Let’s search him first. We might find some clues about his identity.”
“Leave it to me! Excuse me!”
I rummaged through his pockets, emptying them like laundry bags. They were mostly filled with dust. This was a bit embarrassing, but I had to check his breast pocket as well.
As if sensing my embarrassment, the young master checked the breast pocket himself. And finally, we found something that looked promising. A gleaming gold badge with an ornate crest.
“Did we search him just to steal this?”
“Of course not. What do you take me for? Estella, look closely. Doesn’t that crest look familiar?”
It did and it didn’t. I tilted my head, staring at the badge. Something flickered at the edge of my memory.
‘Blegh.’
I suddenly remembered Miss Baba sticking out her tongue at the young master. Ignoring her beautiful face and focusing only on that gesture, I realized it.
The witch’s mark. The design on the badge was the same as the tattoo on Miss Baba’s tongue.
“Don’t tell me…!”
“Yes. Do you understand now?”
“He’s a witch? Not an old man, but a… Madam? I apologize for the disrespect!”
“…”
The young master was silent for a moment, then pointed at the rope I had brought.
“Let’s tie him up and wake him up. We need to hear his story.”
“Okay! I’ll tie him up!”
“Not ‘him,’ it’s a ‘her.’”