The Villainess and I, her Zombie

Roan raised his brow, really giving the brown-haired girl a lot of room and time to backtrack.

"Ah, um... y-yes, I suppose so..."

Mary nodded shyly, trying to make herself as small as possible as if she was so embarrassed that she wanted to disappear.

"A capture target and the heroine... haa..."

After observing them, Cranberry let out a small sigh and smiled lightly.

"What do you think about it, my lady?"

In the blink of an eye, Roan turned to her, more than eager to listen.

"A 'capture target' sounds like something that's possible to be conquered, or seduced... Maybe this global event is simply one big matchmaking party for the heroine?"

The red-haired girl smirked mockingly.

"After all, as everyone can clearly see, Mary has already begun capturing you, Roan."

She shrugged and shook her head as if there was nothing that she could do about it.

"Ah, how fickle of the system to pull away my fiancé from me just because of some event..."

Cranberry sighed theatrically and looked to the side.

When she knew that neither Roan nor Mary can see her, she winked to Zombie, hoping that he will shut up and not ruin her act, and keep his mouth shut about being a capture target himself.

Thankfully, this time the gears in the blue undead's head seemed to turn properly because he nodded without uttering a single word of confusion.

"M-my lady, why would I ever...?"

"What is your problem with me, lady Pride?!"

The prince wanted to assure Cranberry about his intentions but then Mary stepped forward angrily and asked rather rudely, for someone of the lower status, not to mention that she interrupted the prince...

"Ha? And what do you mean by that?"

Cranberry stopped and turned around, raising her brow and letting her anger surface.

"You... you keep making these hurtful remarks at me all the time! What, did I offended you in any way?! We've seen each other only once during the first kill party! What have I done to make you dislike me so much?!"

Mary blew up in Cranberry's face, completely ignoring the difference in power and status.

Prides, even in the middle of their downfall, were still far more important and influential than Hopes could ever hope to become.

Not to mention that with acting like that, Mary had been clearly underestimating Cranberry's strength while overestimating her own chances of survival if the red-haired girl decided to smack her with the baseball bat...

"..."

But surprisingly enough, Cranberry didn't shout back - and neither did she straight up killed Mary for that matter - but rather frowned and her face twisted in a sour expression.

"...haa..."

The red-haired girl breathed out and glared back at the heroine.

"I am really upset because of what has been changed."

Cranberry confessed and clenched her fist so hard that her knuckles turned white.

"It's not your fault that you don't remember certain things... haa... but it really upsets me that you don't."

She breathed out staring Mary down.

"And what does that supposed to mean?!"

Mary stomped her foot, ready to argue back.

"How come I have to tolerate...?! Kyaah!"

"Miss Hope, enough!"

She was about to continue but the blond prince grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"Yo-your highness...?"

The confused girl yelped.

"Miss Hope, it is highly inappropriate that you try to argue with my fiancé, especially considering that she is helping you and me find the way out of this forest! I'll only warn you this once, if you start shouting at young lady Pride again, I will be the one to assure that you'll get punished!"

Roan got angry instead.

He seemed actually honestly mad at Mary for raising her voice at Cranberry.

"Graough...? (Master, the weakling prince isn't so bad, maybe we can invite him for a training session once in a while...?)"

The blue undead leaned in and groaned into Cranberry's ear.

Even if the blond prince was only acting as a propped fiancé in front of another noble, Roan at least fully convinced Zombie of his good intentions.

"B-but, your highness...! I'm being treated unfairly by this...! This backstory character...!"

Mary managed to pull away from Roan and shouted while stomping her foot like an angry child.

Roan, Cranberry, Zombie, and even Blueberry, went completely silent and stared at the heroine throwing a tantrum.

It took Mary a few seconds to realize what she had said.

"Miss Hope, how come you know what lady Pride's role is? She hasn't said it yet."

Roan stepped back and straightened his back looking at Mary with suspicion.

"..."

Cranberry frowned and started observing the brown-haired girl carefully.

"More importantly, say, Mary..."

She spoke slowly, with an ice-cold voice.

"Zombie and I were helping the Dandelions with a quest. Roan was on his way to Prides' mansion. Why were you flying around those parts for...?"

Cranberry's question seemed to hang in the air threateningly.

"I... I was..."

And it turned out that it was the right question to back the heroine into the corner.

"I was following the system's global quest!"

Or it would be if not for the convenient, ready-to-use excuse.

"Ha? Do you mind telling us what kind of quest? I am indeed only a backstory character, but any information could prove to be useful for the capture target."

Cranberry smirked mockingly.

Also, she didn't specify which capture target exactly would benefit from the information.

Even while upset, the master of the eternal servant was playing her own game and acting accordingly.

Sadly, her eternal servant was completely lost, trying to understand her intentions.

Right at that moment, while using the short break from walking to pat and hug Blueberry, the blue undead realized that there was something off about what Cranberry had said.

The small part of Zombie's brain that was still trying to oppose the side-effects of the rotten brain title, was going into overdrive. 

"Graough...? (Wait, master, do you still think that you are a backstory character...?)"

Zombie tapped Cranberry's shoulder and groaned worried, tugging on her clothes.

"Zombie not no... Wait, what did you say?"

At first, she wanted to shoo him away but when the meaning of his words reached her she flinched and stared at him wide-eyed.

"What? No, she must be a backstory character!"

Mary jumped in the conversation, confirming to Zombie and Cranberry - and revealing to the confused prince - that she can properly understand the blue undead.

"Graough! (Ah! I get it!) Graough! (It must have been because you were unconscious!) Graough. (Master, you aren't a backstory character anymore, you have become the Villainess!)"