Chapter 281: Silence before a storm (4)

The royal castle was shaking from all the hustle and bustle of the preparation for the grand ball.

Only a few hours remained before the start of the party and the servants were literally running back and forth to make sure that everything was done perfectly since no one wanted to believe face the wrath of the royal family because a detail there were responsible for weren't up to the highest standards.

"Haa... this is it, huh..."

Cranberry leaned against the window frame, looking outside at the guests who already begin to arrive.

"So many living... that's annoying. Can't I kill at least half of them? Three-quarters?"

The blue undead walked over to her and leaned down, resting his chin on her shoulder, and looked at her with a hopeful expression.

"Pffft...! Ha ha! No! Of course not!"

The red-haired girl laughed at the thought that the blue undead somehow mixed up which is a smaller quantity, and raised her hand to pat Zombie's head while shaking her own.

"Fine. Still..."

Suddenly Zombie's lighthearted expression turned dark and his eyes begin glowing red.

"It's annoying. I never saw how Caramel's life signature looks so I can't recognize her no matter how hard I try..."

He sighed glaring down at the people swarming below.

"It's not your fault. If I didn't keep you away from her on purpose when we were kids that problem wouldn't happen."

Cranberry denied him and gritted her teeth.

"That said - how is that possible that you knew who she was? You said that you met her once during the first kill party and the other time was when she arrived at the Pride's mansion as Mary's guardian but you never asked about her name, right?"

The blue undead asked curiously.

"Well... I could feel that there was something similar about you two... you kind of sound alike, and you even looked similar, the only real problem with spotting it was your skin and hair color."

Cranberry explained with a shrug.

"I had a feeling that you two might be related since you've mentioned having a sister."

She added.

"Tsk! Now that I know it might be the filth I knew back in my past life, being similar to her in any way makes me want to rip off my face and melt it with my venom."

The blue undead clicked his tongue and shuddered.

"Ha. What did she do to you to earn such hate? Because that sounds kind of excessive even for the standard of the living-hating undead."

Cranberry raised her brows and asked.

"I haven't told you before and I don't intend on telling you that now. I want to leave that past dead and buried, just as I intend to deal with that human waste."

Zombie scoffed and made a disgusted face.

"Then I suppose that you will be happy to learn that during my first meeting with her I made her kneel down and broke her nose by stomping on her head?"

The red-haired villainess smiled and asked playfully.

"Khahahaha! You did?! That's amazing!"

*peck*

Zombie let out a mocking laugh and then gently kissed the red-haired girl's cheek.

"I also threatened to kill her if she dares to take even a single step into the Prides mansion."

Cranberry added while a slight blush covered her whole face.

"Oh... well, that's a bit of a shame that you weren't able to follow up on that promise. But it's not surprising... even with all the negative traits that that human garbage represents, stupidity sadly isn't one of them."

With the new revelation, the blue undead became slightly more annoyed than he already was and even activated some of his skills, including superbia, which caused the room to be flooded by intense violet light.

"That bad, huh..."

Cranberry looked at her blue undead with wide eyes.

"Worse. Much, much worse."

Zombie scoffed and smirked with disgust.

"Hey, if it helps you, there's nothing stopping you from killing her as soon as you see her tonight."

Cranberry smiled and reassured him.

"Oh? Really? Just like that, you're giving me your blessing? You won't try to pry any further?"

Zombie smirked with amusement, looking at the serious face of the red-haired girl.

"Of course! I am not that kind of a nosy woman - I know when to back off!"

Cranberry scoffed and proudly raised her head.

"Pffft...! Sure, sure. Anyway, I'm happy that you say that. It makes things easier. But still, I want to check whether it really is the person I have in mind. It would be extremely awkward if it turned out to be just someone from my family that I forgot or something."

"...! Ha... true. I didn't think about that..."

Cranberry flinched and fell deep into thought, tapping her chin with her fist.

"Everything will be alright."

Zombie assured her and hugged her from behind, locking her in a pleasantly cool embrace.

"That said, shouldn't we start getting ready? I never participated in anything like a royal ball, no matter this life or the previous one. How long will the preparations take?"

The blue undead perked up and asked.

"Well... not that long I suppose."

Cranberry shrugged her shoulders looking at the splendid ballroom dress and an elegant tuxedo waiting for the two of them to be put on.

"What I'm worried about is that lady Gluttony couldn't be contacted even by the royal family... haa... I hope that everything will end up fine. I really don't want to kill Claymore - especially after learning that she actually remembers me properly..."

The red-haired girl sighed and started staring at the ceiling.

"Everything will end up fine, you'll see!"

Zombie smiled and touched Cranberry's face with his left hand.

"You'll see. Soon enough we will conquer this world and be put into history books just as you've always wanted."

He declared and smiled reassuringly.

"Haa... I wish that you're right about that..."

Cranberry closed her eyes and let the natural coldness of the blue hand calm her nerves.

Seeing that, Zombie's smile gt wider and he activated his life signature detection skill just in case and...

"Hmm...?"

He raised his brows looking towards the castle's gates.

"What is it?"

Cranberry opened her eyes and asked curiously.

"It's Mary. But she didn't bring Blueberry. Odd..."

Zombie explained, tilting his head.

"No way, no one is allowed to bring any monsters into the royal palace during today's ball, well, except me, no matter how well behaved they are. Sorry to say that but we won't be seeing Blueberry or Arion today. It's more odd that Mary even came here in the first place - from what I've heard the only member of the Hope family who was invited - Mary's adopted father - has rejected the invitation outright."

Cranberry furrowed her brows and shrugged her shoulders.

"...hey, let's go see them!"

Zombie perked up and grabbed Cranberry's hand before pulling her towards the door.

"Ha? Them? What them?"

The red-haired girl gasped in shock but let herself be lead anyway.