Apocalypse Villainess? Nah, I'm Nice

Ben wasn’t there. Shawn had seen Paige Summers go find him in the banquet hall earlier, apparently to share in the joyous occasion.

But the problem was, even with Ben gone, he still couldn’t get in!

This door, this wall... they were solid. Unless he used brute force...

Shawn Monroe could only lean against the wall next to the door, pressing himself flat against it to avoid being seen by the security camera, all while trying to think of a plan.

Just then, the voice sounded again. This time, however, it was no longer a whimper.

The hoarse, grating voice asked, ”Who is it? Who... are you?”

Shawn Monroe paused. He didn’t reveal his identity, simply asking, ”Why were you crying?”

Unexpectedly, after he asked, the room fell silent. It was so quiet he almost thought no one was there, but then the voice finally spoke again.

”I’m regretting,” the voice said.

’Regret...’

A bitter smile appeared on Shawn Monroe’s face.

’Everyone has regrets, but it’s not like you can buy a cure for them!’

The voice asked again, ”Are you okay?”

Snapping out of his daze, Shawn Monroe found it strange. ”You know me?” ’This Zombie knows me... Wait!’ Shawn Monroe’s heart suddenly began to race. But he immediately denied the thought. ’No, it can’t be her. I’d recognize her voice. Even though they’re both talking Zombies... this isn’t her!’

He chaotically tried to reassure himself as the voice continued, ”I don’t know. I just feel awful. Would... would you be willing to listen to me talk?”

Before he could agree, the voice, which had been holding back for so long, began to speak, unable to wait any longer.

”I was once human. Once, I was in love with someone. Deeply, deeply in love. I thought... he loved me too... He was gorgeous, with a defiant spark always in his eyes. But when he looked at you, it was as if you were the only person in the world that mattered to him! Every time he looked at me like that, I thought, ’I’d do anything for him!’ And in fact, I did do a lot for him. I was nearly killed by our enemies and suffered countless humiliations, but I still went back to his side. I couldn’t bear to leave his gaze. He made me feel like there was finally someone in this world who valued me, who would treat me like a treasure.”

”But later, I discovered I was wrong.”

”His eyes may have been looking at me, but his heart was looking at another woman.”

”When he looked at her, there was always a trace of hatred. Back then, I didn’t understand. I thought he detested her. But later, I realized it was all just a deception—a way to fool others, and to fool himself!”

”The suffering of life is to desire what you cannot have.”

”He was too proud to accept the pain of not being able to have her, so he told himself he hated her. And I believed him. What he hated, I hated too. I kept hating her, until finally, I couldn’t lie to myself anymore. It turned out that to him, I was the one who was disposable.”

”So, I betrayed him.”

”As expected, he flew into a rage. He tried to strangle me, but he didn’t succeed. I’ll never forget the look on his face—that intense resentment... but it wasn’t the resentment of a lover betrayed. It was the hatred one feels when a possession dares to escape its owner’s control!”

”Tell me, aren’t I just pathetic?!”

The more the person inside spoke, the more agitated she became, and the more horrified Shawn Monroe grew as he listened. When her last words reached his ears, he blurted out, ”You... Nora Lowell?!”

”Nora Lowell?” The voice made a sound that was half-laugh, half-sob. ”Who’s that? Don’t interrupt me, I’m not finished!”

”Later, I ended up with another man, a truly terrifying man. I was afraid of him, but I had no choice but to obey him, because I wanted to use him to defeat that woman! I thought, ’I have to destroy her, no matter the cost, because she stole the man who should have been mine! She stole his heart!’”

”I never would have guessed that the man I’d always wanted, the man who never loved me back, would actually come back to me! He had a different face, and I didn’t see through his disguise. I fell into the same kind of fake love all over again!”

”As for the final result, I don’t need to say it. You already know!”

”I failed!”

”That’s right. From beginning to end, I never won. I lost, utterly and completely!”

”And then, I stopped being human!”

”Do you have any idea how painful that is? I can no longer enjoy normal food. The only thing that whets my appetite is the flesh and blood of my former kind. My mind is disgusted, I’m in agony, but my body lunges forward against my will! The smell of blood is the most alluring fragrance to me now, those—”

Shawn Monroe frantically cut her off. ”Enough! Don’t say any more! It was you. It really was you!”

The room fell silent once more.

Shawn Monroe’s breathing grew heavier.

His mind was in chaos as the dreams he had tried to forget came rushing back.

In them, he had abandoned the utterly devoted Paige Summers to fervently love the woman named Nora Lowell. Her radiant face always wore an elusive smile, and he had done so, so many things just to please her, just to make her gaze linger on him!

In the dream, he succeeded the City Lord of The Dead City.

In the dream, he and she conquered Norgate together.

In the dream, he and she finally got together.

They went through many hardships and, like any couple who had fought hard to be together, began to cherish one another.

The Nora Lowell of his dreams was glamorous and noble.

She stood at the pinnacle of this land, looking down on everything!

But when he woke from the dream, his heart felt cold. He couldn’t help but think, ’What about Paige Summers? What about the Paige Summers who loved him with all her heart?’

That was why he could never let it go!

But the real-life Paige Summers was right. It was all a dream, and only a dream.

In reality, Paige Summers didn’t love him.

And Nora Lowell... had become a Zombie!