The Villainess and I, her Zombie

"Nnnnnnnnghh...!"

Claymore stretched like a cat, putting their hands forward and sticking up their pajama-clad butt up from the covers.

"Whew, it's actually nice to have a proper sleep once in a while."

They purred doing a little buttocks wiggle, bathing in the sunlight.

*knock* *knock*

As per Claymore's request, a servant arrived at their door with the sunrise.

"You may come in."

Claymore called with a slight smile, not bothering to change their position.

The tall long-haired beautiful woman in a butler's uniform entered the bedroom carrying a tray with food.

"Family head, I've brought you your breakfa..."

She begun saying but suddenly stopped when faced with sacred-looking behind illuminated from the back by the morning sun that ended up looked like a halo - and forgot what she was going to say.

"Oh, hello there, um..."

Claymore peeked from over the covers and furrowed their brows trying to remember the maid's name.

"...Kopia, what was the name of this new form of yours again...?"

They gave up and asked the frozen maid.

"Seriously, family head, it's great princess Apricot, and it's based on the character from the book you have favored a week ago."

The maid shook her head causing her long hair to glimmer in the morning light.

"Do you prefer me in a more familiar form? Like this?"

The maid asked and her body begun glowing white while melting and molding until it became a body of a tall but skinny ten years old boy while the oversized butler's clothes hung loosely from his shoulders

"Orange Tart, lord Claymore, at your service, my family is so grateful that you made sure that someone replaced me during my first kill party since I was bedridden due to a terrible infection that day."

The boy bowed and declared.

Then his body begun glowing again and this time it changed into that of an adult handsome man with a striking smile and the butler's clothes became slightly too tight.

"Or maybe you prefer me as the gullible coachman, Passionfruit?"

He asked with a sweet smile and winked.

"I prefer you in the form that you feel the most comfortable with right now, Kopia."

Claymore sighed and sat upright at their feet and rubbed their sleepy eyes.

"..."

The man flinched and his smile became softer and much more genuine.

"That's why I really like you, family head, you never tell me to become something stupid like my real self."

He bowed his head and his body begun glowing and changing for the third time.

They ended up in a small androgynous body with gentle facial features, blood-red hair going down to their knees, and piercing pale-blue eyes.

"Kopia Envy, the Envys' branch family spy who infiltrated the Wrath house at an early age and ended up being assigned as your personal bodyguard that miraculously fell madly in love with you at the first sight and pledged their life to you."

The uniform ended up being too big again but Kopia didn't seem to mind as they walked over to the bed and put the tray next to the drowsy Claymore.

"...what's with the introduction...?"

Claymore furrowed their brows and mumbled.

"Oh, it's because family head seems to be really forgetful today - to protect myself from a heartbreak once the inevitable 'who are you again?' question would come, I decided to strike first."

Kopia raised their head proudly and tapped their chest with an open palm.

"..."

Claymore looked at them and blinked.

"That's it, enough with the head talk. I'm a girl today."

Claymore declared and adjusted her way of sitting to be more ladylike.

"Oh? It has been a while, hasn't it?"

Kopia laughed while folding up the pants and sleeves of their shirt so that they could move freely.

"It certainly was. But I guess you can't remember about our visit to the Prides' mansion... Kopia, look away."

Claymore sighed getting out of the bed and changing out of the simple pajama into a set of cute underwear and a dress after confirming that her bodyguard isn't peeking at her.

"Alright, I'm done."

She nodded, happy with her looks, and called Kopia.

"...Prides' mansion? My lady, are you actually feeling unwell? Why would we ever go there?"

Kopia furrowed their brows with genuine worry and tilted their head in concern.

"Oh? No, no, you misunderstood me, Kopia, it's a change of topic. I meant it as a return to our conversation about traveling around incognito. You can't remember about the visit to the Prides' mansion I've planned because I haven't told you about it."

Claymore waved her hand dismissively and spun around letting the dress swirl around.

"O-oh...! It turns out it was me who wasn't keeping up with the conversation. Your dashing looks must have bewitched me..."

Kopia looked down blushing shyly.

"That said... My lady, pardon me for straying from the topic you wanted to discuss, but could I ask you a rather personal question?"

They fidgeted on the bed and asked.

"I'm not calling for you as my nighttime companion because in one of our conversations you let slip that your inborn form change skill is so powerful that somehow neither you nor anyone from your family is entirely sure how old are you exactly. You might be too young for that, and I have standards and family honor to uphold - but I appreciate your feelings."

Claymore shrugged her shoulders and answered the question, that wasn't even asked, in a flat voice.

"Apparently, I might not even be human~! One day Envy family spotted that there is one more person in the group of the children learning about the kingdom's internal affairs. It turned out that two of the children are completely identical, one of them was the branch family head's daughter, the other one was me. Forget about my age, I don't even know what my original gender is! As far as we know I might be a bastard of the Lust family and also have a Love-blessed body!"

Kopia didn't even flinch and instead happily added to Claymore's information, coincidentally forgetting about their real question.

"But the appraisal results always state that you are human."

Claymore pointed out.

"That's because I'm always getting apprised in the form of a human."

Kopia smiled and just their eyes glowed - when they blinked, the eyes changed, the whites turned black and the pupils became red horizontal slits.

Then they blinked again and their eyes turned back to 'normal'.

"...Kopia, you little scam, you just don't want me to talk about going outside! You're just like my parents! Hmph!"

Instead of getting scared or worried, Claymore puffed out her cheeks and stomped her foot.

"My lady, I wouldn't dare!"

Kopia bowed down so that they could hide their deeply blushing face.