The Villainess and I, her Zombie

"…how fucking long will it take him to return…? Fuck…"

The black-haired elven woman cursed, looking up and down the empty street nervously.

"Haa… I don't know but if you won't shut up and stop complaining I will reconsider my opinion about you and knock you out."

The red-haired girl glared at her and raised her baseball bat scepter threateningly, making the mage huddle up her shoulders defensively although it felt like the black-haired elf simply chose to complain in a hushed voice instead of actually shutting up.

"Lairs… I expected you to act a bit different because now you know about your curse and it is active, but seriously – I am using a detection skill to figure stuff out so you don't worry so could you really stop complaining like a spoiled baby?"

"…!"

Cranberry breathed out in annoyance and tucked her red hair behind her ear – revealing said ear to be glowing with the white light of a skill which made the elven woman flinch and lower her head, this time to hide a blush of shame.

"…I am… sorry… that really was fucking shitty behavior on my part…"

This time Lairs apologized sounding genuine and actually closed her mouth.

"Thank you. It always feels nice when my friends aren't trying to actively annoy me into bashing their skulls in – ha…?!"

Cranberry smirked and nodded at the black-haired elf before she suddenly flinched and gasped in disbelief.

"You wanted to bash my skull in…?!"

Lairs gasped and took a step back.

"Yeah, but only a little. That's not important now – my Zombie managed to find us a way in – in a few minutes two guards will come here and take us to the mansion for an audience with Mason."

The red-haired girl waved her hand dismissively and revealed, as the white light faded from her ear.

"Are you sure they will not forgive come here to escort us to prison – or a private Envy-owned dungeon or something?"

The black-haired elven mage crossed her arms and scoffed, keeping her distance from Cranberry, while keeping an eye on the girl's baseball bat scepter.

"Should we go and meet them by the main gate to make things easier faster?"

Lairs added after a moment of silence.

"No. A few minutes will not change anything in our current situation and it might get annoying if the guards start doubting us and we ended up killing them."

Cranberry shrugged her shoulders and leaned against the wall with a bored expression.

"Also the secret dungeon of the Envy family had been turned into a storage room since the kidnapped elves were freed – you don't have to worry, in this playthrough you will not end up in there."

The red-haired girl added lightheartedly picking the dropped conversation back up.

"And there you go again with weird words like in the carriage… you make it seem as if there are multiple versions of me."

Lairs furrowed her brows and glared at Cranberry with a pouty expression – because of how elves aged, the black-haired sage looked as if she was the younger one of the two.

"No, no – there is only one of you, don't worry – but when the current you didn't still didn't exist there was another version – a previous one."

Cranberry shook her head, more than happy to kill some boredom of waiting for the guards to show up with a random tutorial moment.

"…uh-huh… and let's say that I believe you – did the previous I also had to deal with the reactivated curse? What happened? Was she killed or did the world die together with her and that's why the current me is here?"

Lairs rolled her eyes and ended up playing along even though she didn't believe what the red-haired girl was saying.

"No. Her curse did not reactivate and her life sucked a little bit less than yours even if we would not take it into consideration. She was caught by the Envys and had her beauty stolen for a few days. She also was nowhere near as strong as you are now – of the Dandelions was as a matter of fact – and neither the curse nor the Cursed sister quest has never triggered because it was stopped by the system's over… by a higher power."

The red-haired girl revealed without any hesitation as she knew that Lairs wasn't taking her seriously anyway, and she only hesitated and changed the way she addressed Presence.

"Fuck, she got ugly and was weak and imprisoned…? That sucks – got lucky with that whole higher power but something tells me that I can't count on similar luck, huh… still – both you and Zombie are acting as if completing my quest and dispelling the curse is merely a matter of 'when' not 'if'… so why makes you say that this whole previous me had a better life overall?"

The black-haired elven woman frowned and quilted her eyes in suspicion, looking at the relaxed red-haired girl.

"She found herself a girlfriend."

Cranberry shrugged her shoulders lightly and smirked mockingly while looking to the side.

"Oh, fuck you, you little shit! That what was this whole setup was about?! To make fun of me being single? Who told you that I can't find myself a date anyway? Was it that blabbermouth Uresha? Fuck, she never could keep a secret… or was it Rotte?! No… he's in the same situation as I am and is a good younger brother, he wouldn't make fun of me like that…"

Lairs scoffed angrily and started mumbling in annoyance while her face was burning with an embarrassed blush.

"That girl exists now too, and honestly, this time around your chances with her are even better than then."

"Oh, fuck off. What is this, married-woman-teases-a-lonely-single day?! For fuck's sake…"

Cranberry giggled which resulted in Lairs getting way more miserable than the red-haired girl intended.

"Alright, alright – listen, putting the playthroughs and past incarnations aside, I wasn't joking about a girl who is interested in you – my Zombie told me about her – you two actually already met, but you couldn't stay there for long so he asked me to remind you, alright?"

Cranberry felt actually bad for going overboard and decided to make up for it.

"…eh…? Really…?"

Lairs gasped with an innocent expression full of hope but then she instantly frowned and pouted.

"Yeah, right, you are just fucking with me…"

She scoffed and turned around.

"Her name is Ti – does that ring a bell?"

Cranberry asked with a friendly voice.

"T? What the fuck, her name starts with a letter T? So what, you meant the minotaur girl Tangelo back in the fort…? As if – the two of us talked and she said she's only into guys!"

But in the end, the black-haired elf misunderstood her and ended up even grumpier.

"Haa… no. What I meant was…"

"Please excuse us, Misses, are you friends with lord Zombie…?"

The red-haired girl wanted to make things clear but right at that moment two guards from the Envy mansion approached the and the taller one asked politely.

"Yes, it's us – but you got one thing wrong – For me it's Mrs. Not Miss, Zombie is my husband. This one is a Miss, though."

Cranberry nodded but ended up correcting the way that the tall guard addressed her out of habit…

"Oh, fucking hell, I knew it! You fucker was messing with me all along!"

…and ended up solidifying Lairs' misunderstanding even more.

"…umm…"

The two guards looked at each other in confusion after witnessing the outburst, trying to figure out how to act.

"Haa… don't mind her, like I said, yes, we are with Zombie – what is it about?"

Cranberry breathed out and addressed the guards.

"Ah, I see! If that's the case, please, follow us – both lord Zombie and our beloved lord Mason are waiting for the two of you."

Both guards bowed to the two women and guided them to the mansion.