The Villainess and I, her Zombie

It sounded like the maid calmed down a bit – or maybe not, but either way the words she spoke certainly fit exactly in what Zombie wanted Cranberry to realize.

"But... but she's my mother...!"

Cranberry gasped in a trembling voice.

"Do you really think that bloodline matters that much? The cruelest and most hateful people that I know and talked about are in fact very close relatives of mine. Don't make the mistake of thinking that blood is everything."

The maid warned her sounding utterly pitiful and sad..

"They are insecure and pour all their hatred on the most innocent ones... and... well... I am no different than them..."

She added sounding as if she hid her face in her hands.

"No, you're not! You are a good person!"

Cranberry sounded as if she was furiously shaking her head desperately denying the woman in a stubborn voice.

"You only say that because you can relate to me because of what I've said. Young lady, that's a very naive thought process. If you knew the real me, you would never say that. You would despise me like everyone else."

The maid laughed her off.

"No, I would not! You are different than everyone else in this house - at least in my opinion! You and Zombie are both important to me!"

|Oh-ho! That's an unexpected turn of events!|

Patience scoffed, sounding as if she raised her brows.

"If your family is bad and my mother is bad then maybe we should both just find someone better! Today Zombie and I read in one of the books that friends are the family that we are choosing ourselves! And I want you to become my friend!"

"!!!"

Hearing those words Zombie was completely unable to hold himself back and he stealthily snuck through the shed's door and peeked at the two girls – one a seven-year-old red-haired noble lady and the other one, a young adult maid.

Cranberry was standing in front of the maid, offering her a handshake while the maid was starring at the offered hand with a blank expression.

"You don't even know my na..."

"Fig! Your name is Fig! You never introduced yourself but I overheard one of the butlers call you that!"

The maid shook her head and smirked but Cranberry called out and made her eyes go round.

"I'm sorry that I didn't ask you myself, but I thought that you don't want to because you don't like me."

The red-haired girl added with an apologetic expression.

"...what makes you think that I do like you?"

The maid tried to play it off but even a child like Cranberry could see through that deceit.

"Even if you don't like me, I still want to be your friend! If I try really hard I know that you would start liking me! You are not like my mother or the rest of your family at all!"

Cranberry exclaimed in a fiery speech, leaving the woman speechless.

The maid blinked a few times in utter confusion as if she never expected such behavior from the daughter of the Pride family – which was the same for the blue undead watching them from behind the shed, by the way – and stared dumbfounded between the young girl's hand and sincere face.

"I..."

The maid gulped down her saliva, looking as if she was about to reach for the handshake...

"...I'm sorry! Young lady, you really don't want to become friends with someone like me! Forgive me!"

"...!

But then she suddenly cried out and ran away, leaving the stunned girl alone and confused.

|This went amazing. You can go to our abandoned young lady now.|

Patience breathed out in satisfaction and sounded as if she was pushing Zombie to get out from behind his cover.

|Yeah, I figured out that much myself.|

Zombie scoffed back, still a bit angry at the sealed overseer for holding him back, and he walked out from his spot.

"Ah...! Zombie! Ehem... that took you long enough. What do you want to..."

*pat*

Cranberry flinched at the sight of him and tried to play it cool but the blue undead approached her and simply put his hand on her head with a warm expression.

"It's okay – you heard her, it's not like she doesn't want to be your friend, she just has her own problems. I'm sure that everything will be okay once she works things out... so... it's alright."

"!!!!"

He spoke in a reassuring voice and nodded at the stunned girl.

"...Zombie..."

The red-haired girl whispered and her lips and chin started shaking uncontrollably.

"I am here."

The blue boy nodded.

"Zombie...!"

Cranberry cried out, busting out in tears, and hugged her undead familiar, burrowing her face into his collarbone.

|In the first playthrough Cranberry never allowed me to see her tears before... not like this...|

The boy thought to himself with a soft smile while hugging the girl back and soothing her by gently patting her blood-red hair.

|Yeah... as long as she won't start hiding her feelings and bottling it all up, the same fate should not meet her again.|

Patience nodded, sounding a bit too melancholy for someone who deleted the files of the Cranberry from the first playthrough.

|That said... I don't want to be that woman, but we should make one thing clear. Zombie, this Cranberry isn't y...|

|She isn't my Cranberry – Yeah, I know.|

Zombie breathed out and pulled away from the young red-haired girl who managed to calm down a bit and was now wiping off her tears with an embarrassed expression.

|You know...?|

Patience sounded incredibly confused.

|I'm not a fool, you know? I didn't receive the rotten brain skill in this playthrough.|

The boy scoffed at her.

|How could a person be the same if they didn't experience the same things? My Cranberry was a hateful mess... but she was the one I loved, and she is gone... And the best thing I can do is to help this Cranberry become whoever she wants- or at least someone who will not think about her abusive mother in the moment of her death.|

Zombie responded to her while smiling reassuringly at the girl in front of him.

|But... what if that happy Cranberry will not want to be together with her undead familiar because she will fall for someone else...?|

The sealed overseer asked cautiously.

|Then I will act like a good familiar and step into the shadow to allow her to finally become happy.|

The blue boy declared with no hesitation whatsoever...

|After all, I will still have both you and Kopia, right?|

|Sh-shut up! Stupid!|

He added jokingly making Patience scoff at him sounding as if she was blushing from embarrassment - but incredibly happy at the same time.