Chapter 1

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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: The Day They Died
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Blink.

I barely managed to lift my heavy eyelids. My mind was hazy, as if I could fall asleep at any moment.

A high-pitched ringing echoed in my ears, and my vision was so blurry I couldn't see a thing.

‘What just happened?’

I slowly tried to retrace my steps.

Right, we were on our way to the academy entrance ceremony for our youngest brother, who was much younger than the rest of us.

My family, all so busy with their own work that we rarely saw each other, had gathered in the carriage for a change. Worried we might be late, we decided to take a shortcut.

Yes, that was it. My second oldest brother, Isaac, ever the prankster, was joking that my pet cat, Lev, seemed to have put on some weight recently.

‘Suddenly, the carriage began to shake violently. Isaac grabbed my arm and…’

threw me out of the carriage with all his might.

As my memory returned to that point, my blurry vision slowly sharpened. My entire body screamed in protest from having rolled on the hard ground.

Just as I was about to get up.

Thump, thump.

I heard the sound of someone's footsteps.

I immediately went limp and held my breath. A primal instinct told me I couldn't let them know I was alive.

"...Are they all dead?"

My heart sank at those words. But the strangers, after a brief look around, seemed to agree.

"Impaled through the chest."

"Looks like the rest were turned to pulp inside the carriage."

"Let's head back."

With that, their presence slowly faded into the distance.

I lay there for a long time, afraid they might return and realize I was still alive.

Only after a long while did I finally push myself up.

I tried to stand, but fell twice. I must have twisted my ankle in the fall, making it difficult to walk properly.

I managed a few limping steps forward. The fog began to clear, revealing the scene before me.

"..."

I was speechless.

The carriage was so wrecked it was nearly unrecognizable. The tree it had smashed into head-on had also snapped, its trunk slumped forward.

Even more horrifying was the pool of blood on the ground.

A hand stuck out from between the shattered fragments of the carriage.

Judging by the hard calluses on the palm, it was undoubtedly my second brother, Isaac.

He was pinned beneath the wreckage, just as he had been when he threw me out.

There was no sign of my eldest brother, who must have been sitting on the inside. As for Yulia, who had been across from me...

I found her not far away.

It seemed she'd been thrown forward when the carriage broke apart. She might have survived, like me, but she wasn't so lucky.

A tree branch had pierced straight through her chest.

Only then did it fully sink in. I was the only one left alive.

I stood in silence for a long time, surrounded by death.

Despair washed over me. An animalistic cry escaped through my clenched teeth.

"Yulia... Brother Ed, Brother Isaac...!"

I managed to call out their names, but the only reply was the chilling sound of the wind rustling through the branches.

"Please, answer me."

I collapsed to the ground, curling into a ball. My fingertips burned from clawing at the dirt.

But that didn't matter in the slightest.

"Please..."

My voice trailed off, weak and broken.

The life I thought would last forever had shattered in an instant. I covered my face with my hands.

It felt like a horrible nightmare. How could this be real? It was like some kind of sick joke.

But the searing pain that rose from the depths of my chest to choke my throat proved this was reality.

"..."

It was in that moment.

Staring at the bodies, the blood not yet dry, I realized what I could do.

My hesitation was brief, my decision instantaneous. I roughly wiped the tears from my cheeks with my sleeve, then slowly closed and opened my eyes.

And I called upon my old partner.

"Lev."

-Yaaawn~. What, are we there alread— Hmm?

The mangled corpse of the cat pinned under the carriage shot up.

-What the—! My fur, which I took such care to groom, is a complete mess!

He didn't seem to mind that his hind legs were practically pulp. Lev shook himself off, scattering dust, before he finally noticed that there had been an accident.

-My, my. Humans die so easily.

He nudged Isaac's body with a paw bent at an unnatural angle.

"Lev. I need your help."

-My young contractor. What is it you desire of me?

My voice was dry and brittle as I continued.

"I'm going to bring them all back... as zombies."

***

Clap, clap, clap, clap!

"And with that, we conclude the entrance ceremony for the Bellond National Academy!"

The children, who had been enduring the ceremony with barely concealed boredom, shot up from their seats the moment it ended. They turned to see their families greeting them with bright smiles.

One by one, they took their families' hands and left the hall, but a single boy remained seated.

The boy's name was Andrea Walker.

He was the youngest son of House Walker, born late in his parents' lives. He had been scanning his surroundings since the start of the ceremony, but he was heartbroken that there was no sign of his family.

‘They promised they would all come...’

Just this morning, they had promised that even though they were too busy to leave together, they would arrive before the ceremony ended.

Andrea kicked at the leg of his chair with the toe of his shoe.

He was upset, but he could understand. He knew, vaguely, just how busy his siblings, all more than ten years his senior, were.

"That child, could he be...?"

"I heard someone from House Walker was enrolling this year..."

"Then is he the one?"

He was used to the surrounding whispers. People pretended not to look, but they kept stealing glances at him.

This was because he looked as cute as a doll, with tears welling up in his large eyes and his lips pressed tightly together as if holding something back.

Just then, all eyes turned to the figures entering the hall.

Someone let out a stifled gasp.

As Andrea pouted and grumbled to himself, a shadow fell over him.

Only then did he slowly raise his head.

A familiar face was smiling brightly down at him.

"There's our youngest. Who told you to be so cute, huh?"

"Brother Isaac!"

"Yeah, we're here. Sorry we're late. Something came up on the way."

"The carriage broke down, so we had to stop by a nearby town and arrange for another one. That's why we're late."

Andrea shot up from his seat. He was about to throw his arms around Isaac in delight when he noticed something different.

"Huh? Brother, where are your glasses?"

"Decided not to wear them today, wanted to look sharp. Why, do I look strange?"

"Yeah. Your face is scary, so you should always wear your glasses."

"Hey, now. That's a mean thing to say to your big brother."

Isaac skillfully swept Andrea up into his arms. The movement was so light, as if he were handling a newborn.

"Don't carry me! I'm all grown up!"

"Eleven is still just a baby."

"Am not!"

But Andrea's vehement protests forced him to put the boy back down.

"Brother Ed, Sister Yulia. And Sister Emily."

The boy looked up at his other family members one by one and beamed.

"This is the best! I'm so happy!"

"Hey, what about me?"

"You just tease me all the time!"

At Andrea's grumbling, Isaac decided he'd had enough and was about to lift him up again.

"That's enough."

Edmond stopped him.

He gripped Isaac's wrist for a brief moment as a warning, then let go. That was enough for the sharp second son to understand the eldest's intent.

"Yes, yes~. I get it. You're too overprotective of the little one."

Isaac lightly raised both hands and took a step back, a sign of surrender.

"But Sister Yulia, are you sick?"

"She got a little carsick on the way. She'll be fine soon~."

Emily replied, subtly shielding Yulia with her body. Thanks to that, Andrea's view was filled with the black cat.

"Oh! Lev came too!"

"Yep. He came to celebrate with us!"

Emily smiled brightly and held up the cat in her arms. Andrea was particularly fond of Lev, and his face lit up at once.

"Wow! Thanks, Lev!"

Andrea roughly petted Lev's head, and the cat recoiled from his touch as if disgusted.

His tail, flicking back and forth, betrayed his mood.

"Congratulations on getting into the academy again."

Emily said with a wide smile, and Andrea smiled back.

"Yeah!"

Seeing the child's smile felt like it could wash away all the worries in the world.

***

Click.

As Edmond closed the door to Andrea's room and came out, Isaac asked in a low voice.

"Is he asleep?"

He nodded without a word.

"Good. Then we can finally talk."

Isaac's eyes glinted in the darkness. Without his glasses, the line of his eyes was incredibly fierce.

His usual smile was completely gone, and his face even held a hint of anger.

"Emily Walker. What in the world have you done?"

My brothers' gazes all fixed on me at once.

I had no idea where to begin. When I first discovered this power, when our parents found out, when I made the contract with Lev...

The past flashed through my mind, but there was a more effective explanation.

"To put it simply, their current state is... something like a zombie."