Apocalypse Villainess? Nah, I'm Nice

Maisie Joyce postponed the succession ceremony, but Claire Chapman still hadn’t returned.

Facing Keith Preston’s constant urging, she knew she couldn’t delay any longer.

She couldn’t say she felt no resentment.

However, she was also well aware of how important Paige Summers was to Claire Chapman. He might have been momentarily thoughtless, but in the end, she, Maisie Joyce, didn’t even rank in his heart.

She couldn’t help but sigh.

’I must have terrible luck.’

For all those years, she had desperately tried to please Leo Joyce, only to be detested and hated to such an extent by her own flesh-and-blood brother. And May, who had lived with her under the same roof and called her ”Second Sister” for so many years, had shown her barely any real affection.

Now, for better or worse, they were gone.

As for the others around her, there might be those who admired her abilities, but there wasn’t a single person who truly cared for her and held her dear.

’How could she expect anything from a fiancé in name only, a partner in a temporary alliance of convenience?’

After her moment of reflection, Maisie Joyce focused all her energy on Southreach.

After conferring with Keith Preston and the others, she decided to make the announcement tomorrow and hold the official ceremony the day after, to become the legitimate City Lord of Southreach as soon as possible!

The night before the ceremony, Leo Joyce and his men were already lying in wait inside an unassuming house in Southreach.

Ivan Warren looked at Leo Joyce, who was still sitting at the table, refusing to sleep. ”You should at least get some rest, sir!”

”The operation is tomorrow. You can’t afford to be exhausted.”

Leo Joyce didn’t move. After a long silence, he asked, ”Emil, tell me... is what I’m doing really the right thing?”

’Using the power of foreigners to take back the City Lord’s seat...’

’Is this step... truly the right one?’

Even though his trusted men had already smuggled Peter’s people into the city, Leo Joyce felt a persistent unease.

Especially now.

With the operation set for tomorrow, his anxiety was growing.

He’d never felt like this before.

So much so that he was starting to doubt himself.

Ivan Warren fell silent as well.

’At first, he hadn’t thought much of it. He assumed Peter and Sanford were helping simply because they wanted to reap greater benefits after the City Lord retook power.’

’But he had been the one to disguise them, using his superpower to give those Eldorians and Rovarians the unremarkable faces of Astorians. So naturally, he had noticed someone on Peter’s team who seemed very off.’

’The thought of that inorganic-looking skin and those unfocused eyes made him frown. But the most crucial detail was something he’d discovered by chance yesterday: the man... didn’t seem to have a heartbeat!’

’Was that... really a person?’

’Was he the special Superpower User they had mentioned?’

”Sir, do you remember me telling you there was something strange about one of Peter’s men?”

Leo Joyce immediately turned to him. ”You mean...”

Ivan Warren hesitated for a long moment before saying, ”I think... he looks a bit like a Zombie.”

Leo Joyce’s heart skipped a beat.

Not because of what Ivan Warren had discovered, but because Ivan Warren had discovered it at all.

’Peter had told him from the start that with their numbers alone, even if they all managed to sneak into the city, it would be difficult to challenge the might of the Southern Army.’

’Therefore, they needed a wild card.’

’And that person, the one called Haff, was that wild card.’

’He didn’t just look like one—he *was* a Zombie!’

’The difference between him and an ordinary Zombie was that Peter could command his actions.’

’Peter’s plan was to use Haff to create chaos within the city. The Southern Army would inevitably have to dispatch some of their forces to deal with the disturbance, giving them the perfect opportunity to kill Maisie Joyce and her faction!’

Leo Joyce was fully aware of the gravity of using a Zombie to fight humans.

’If anyone found out, even his most trusted men would likely have second thoughts about him, to say nothing of outsiders.’

’Humanity had fought for so many years with the goal of wiping out every last Zombie and Mutant Beast, just so they could live a peaceful life. He himself had once led countless soldiers on missions to purge Zombies; he knew firsthand the depths of humanity’s hatred for them.’

’If people knew that he, their City Lord, had actually brought a Zombie into the city, his own supporters would probably switch their allegiance to Maisie Joyce...’

That was why only he and Peter’s people knew about it.

It was easy enough to keep it from the others, but Ivan Warren was a different story.

Leo Joyce feigned nonchalance. ”Impossible. Even though their appearances were changed, they still had to go through all the tests upon entering the city. If he were really a Zombie, there’s no way he wouldn’t have been discovered.”