The Villainess and I, her Zombie

Cranberry was staring at Zombie for at least a whole minute, without blinking, in complete bewilderment. The sudden revelation actually did knock all thoughts right out of her head leaving her speechless.

Similarly, Mary the heroine seemed unable to fully grasp the situation and was looking between the red-haired girl and the blue undead as if she expected one of them to suddenly burst into laughter and declare that it was all a joke.

"Umm… what happened…? Did your corpse puppet said something that made you upset, my lady…?"

The only one still left in the dark,  the blond-haired prince Roan, asked awkwardly while rubbing the back of his neck.

That seemed to have worked as a wake-up call.

Cranberry gulped down her saliva and turned to him with an impatient expression.

"...it's not the time to be peacefully strolling around…"

She unexpectedly declared and grabbed both Mary and Roan by their clothes.

She then picked them up, and unceremoniously – and without any warning -  threw them on Blueberry's back.

"Skwee?! (Eh?! Mommy?!)

"What the...?!"

"Kyaah!"

Neither the humans nor the emperor griffin were happy about it, to say the least, and loudly expressed their surprise, but Cranberry couldn't care less for that.

At least when it came to humans.

"Blueberry, sorry for scaring you but will you help your mommy? I want you to take those two to Prides' mansion, you remember where it is, right?"

She gently patted the griffin's neck, looked into the violet eyes, and started rubbing the soft spot right behind Blueberry's beak.

" Skwee! (Yes, yes! You can count on me, mommy!) Skwee! (A-and I wasn't scared!) "

Blueberry hoofed with her front legs excitedly and spread her wings.

"Young lady Pride, could you please explain what is going on? are we in danger or…?"

The blond prince asked confused, but even without fully understanding what was going on, he at least got into a proper raiding position on griffin's back without making much fuss about it.

"STOP ORDERING MY GRIFFIN AROUND!"

…but the same couldn't be said about Blueberry's owner, Mary, who was flailing her arms and legs while screaming like an angry child that didn't want to share their toys.

"Skwee. (Master, shut up.) Skwee? (Can't you see that mommy and I are talking?)"

Blueberry barely glanced at the brown-haired girl on her back – her short screech sounded oddly similar to Cranberry's ice-cold tone that the red-haired girl used whenever she was angry.

"…!"

Hearing something like that from a monster that was supposed to be her faithful familiar was enough for the heroin to not only stop screaming but momentarily forget how to breathe.

"Don't throw them off this time and land in front of the gate, alright? Whatever will happen, don't land inside the walls."

Cranberry wasn't able to understand the griffin's screeches so she continued without much bother.

As for the Zombie, he only sent the heroin a mocking smile and shook his head as if he found the situation really funny.

"Skwee! (Yes!)"

After a final confirmation from Blueberry, Cranberry turned around, grabbed Zombie's shoulder, and jumped on his back with the grace of a professional raider.

"Zombie will be waiting for you at the gate, I have to talk with my father first."

The red-haired girl explained while wrapping her arms around the blue undead's neck.

"Lady Pride, could you please explain a bit more?"

"What did you do to my griffin…?"

Obviously, the two disinclined raiders had something to say about the situation, but once Blueberry began flapping her wings while rising higher and higher off the ground, both of them closed their mouth and grabbed onto any feathers and mane available.

"Graough? (Master, are you sure?) Graough... (Last time I carried you, you ended up throwing up...)"

Zombie warned Cranberry while grabbing her legs securely.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. It will be horrible. Now go."

She murmured pressing her forehead into his nape and closing her eyes.

In the next moment, before Blueberry even managed to get above the treetops, Zombie and Cranberry disappeared to the sound of a deafening explosion.

A large crevice in the forest soil appeared right where they were standing just a moment before.

"Whoa...!"

Roan gasped staring at the spot with widened eyes.

"Skwee! (Mommy! Daddy! Wait for me!)"

The prince had to quickly close his mouth because the emperor griffin screeched with urgency and her body started shining.

The speed that Blueberry would gain thanks to her skills was nothing to scoff at, and they all disappeared in a flash.

...

"...seriously, I can't believe this rotten brain... he knew all along that I got assigned a new role when I was unconscious but he just kept quiet...!"

Cranberry was muttering under her breath while returning from her father's office alone.

"...I swear, he is so cute and hot but so, so dumb...!"

She didn't even stop talking to herself while passing the maids and butlers, getting a lot of strange looks.

She got out of the mansion and walked towards the gate where Zombie and the others were already waiting.

Though it looked like the atmosphere was rather awkward...

Zombie was busy fawning over Blueberry and Blueberry was completely immersed in getting showered in love and affection.

That was the expected part.

But then there was Mary, constantly trying to approach Roan, while Roan was doing his best to keep his distance from her.

"Your highness, I don't understand why can't we talk normally!"

The brown-haired girl cried confused while the blond prince hid behind the griffin's back.

"Miss Hope, it was already highly inappropriate that we traveled on miss Blueberry together. I am engaged to young lady Pride, so to stop any rumors from even being conceived - please stay away."

Roan said while peeking at Mary from over the griffin's back.

Yes. The blond prince actually tried to hide behind Blueberry to get away from Mary.

"Wh-what inappropriate rumors?! I just want to talk!"

Mary blushed and tried to approach the prince but even the griffin seemed to be on the prince's side because she spread her wings blocking her master's way.

"Skwee. (Master, no means no. Leave this human alone.)"

Blueberry's screech sounded as if she was sighing.

"We can talk while keeping the appropriate distance! Ah! Lady Pride!"

Roan complained, but as soon as he saw the red-haired girl, he perked up like a puppy and hurriedly walked over to the approaching girl while making sure to always stay at least nine feet apart from Mary.

"Hey, Roan, I need an appraiser to confirm something. How long will it take to bring one here?"

Cranberry cut straight to the chase without addressing the comedy bit that the prince and the heroine have just performed.

"Appraisers are in high demand and therefore usually try to take their time even for urgent requests from my mother, so at least a week."