NOVEL WEB Chapter 8
8: What happened at the Ball (1)
Jamie sat down at the table with a tired face.
What he was going through was extremely painful.
Sarah, his younger sister, was smiling all over the place.
“My daughter, what are you so happy about?”
Sears rubbed her cheek against her smiling daughters’.
The soft, chubby cheeks of the baby swayed up and down.
Jamie didn’t have any particular feelings towards his sister, but every time he saw Sears do that, he wanted to rub them.
Because the baby’s skin was that soft.
‘What am I thinking!’
He took a deep breath and raised his fork and knife.
“By the way, it is tomorrow.”
“Yes, it has already come.”
Sears smiled at the Count’s words.
What was tomorrow?
Jamie hadn’t heard anything about it, so he looked at the two with a curious expression.
“What about tomorrow?”
“Didn’t we tell you?”
“…”
“Oh, I forgot. I was too worried because of my son.”
With a serious face, Sears looked at her son.
No matter how disturbed she was, she would act sweet to her kids.
But Jamie just heard that she was worried.
She wanted to run into his room, but the Count stopped her from making a fuss.
Well, due to her personality, she would’ve come running if anything happened to her son. She wasn’t the sit still kind of person.
“I am sorry…”
With a low voice, Jamie apologized.
Seeing that, Sears shook her head.
“Your mother is fine as long as my son is fine. However, if you overdo it like that, then your mother will be really upset and cry.”
Sears might be the only mother in the world who would still talk that sweetly to her son.
“I will be careful.”
Family love was tiring and painful, but he knew that Sears was a wonderful mother.
So was Count Welton.
“Anyway, there is going to be a ball tomorrow. And our family is going there.”
“Ball?”
It wasn’t that Jamie didn’t know what it was, but he had never been there.
Count and Countess were the only ones who always attended.
He and his sister would stay in the mansion and be looked after by the nanny. In a way, the ball was Jamie’s little free time in the mansion.
But this time, it looked like everyone was going.
His free time… gone!
‘No… way.’
The 7-years-old had no say in it.
And the ball this time wasn’t an ordinary one.
It was like a large-scale party attended by all the nobles of Seldam Kingdom’s eastern part.
The two strongest people would be there, Count Welton and the ‘Crimson Magician’ Count Simon.
The ball would last for two days, which made Jamie sigh even more.
That night.
Jamie was ready to go out.
If he was going to the ball tomorrow, then he had to get some things done today.
“Black.”
Kik!
Black came up.
And then they flew out.
Kik! Kik!
As soon as Black was given the signal, Jamie’s legs were up, and the background changed instantly.
Jamie looked into the starry sky.
Since it was late, he had to be cautious, but it was still freedom.
With a rare smile, he looked at Black.
“Let’s go towards those two.”
Kik!
Black flapped its wings.
Those two were in a small house outside Haiss.
Jamie put Black on his shoulder and walked in.
“Master!”
“You are here.”
As the two of them were waiting, they greeted Jamie with a loud voice.
“Yes. What about what I asked you to do?”
Jamie immediately confirmed the order and looked at the two.
It was Raiza who answered.
“We apologize. We didn’t get any information about Zenith church yet. The religion was just recently given permission, so we couldn’t even figure out how many priests were in it.”
“Hmm.”
Well, it was going to be a new religion in Haiss.
Even if they were mid-level workers of Lival, getting information in one day would be tough.
“What else?”
“This one.”
Azad pointed to Pep, who was tied up.
His mouth was gagged and limbs tied. The man could do nothing but wriggle.
“This one is?”
“An executive of Lival’s. he is someone who knew that we were going to get assassinated by Hanni.”
It meant that he had contacts inside.
“Remove the gag.”
“This one doesn’t seem to know anything.”
“I’ll check that for myself.”
At the cold voice of Jamie, Azad released the gag.
“Cough cough! Please! Save me. I really don’t know anything! Sa-save me! And I’ll find out!”
Pep was speaking, gibbering with fear.
He was just spitting out the words he could to survive the situation.
“Yah.”
The adult man knelt in front of Jamie.
Pep felt shocked and then realized that the child in front of him wasn’t an ordinary being.
No, he figured it out.
Because he felt an ominous energy coming out of the child.
“I do not intend to kill you.”
“… really?”
“I just need you to run an errand for me.”
“I-I will do anything! Anything! If it is to find a boss, I will find him! Just tell me…”
“Don’t shout.”
At that, Pep’s voice cut off.
Jamie grinned as he put his hand on the man’s head.
His eyes were purple.
“There is only one thing you need to do.”
“… yes.”
“Go to Count right now and report what your organization was doing.”
Pep’s eyes widened, and then he died.
He turned into a puppet and answered.
“Yes.”
And then he got up and left the house.
Azad and Raiza gulped as they saw that.
With his mind being manipulated, Pep would become a whistleblower.
Whistleblowers were traitors, and traitors were never forgiven.
It wasn’t a betrayal he was committing on his own accord, so how could they not feel bad?
“No need to be pitiful.”
He continued.
“Because the Count won’t let him live.”
The two knew just how scary the Count was.
“Leave the city for a while and hide.”
“Yes.”
“Won’t you ask the reason?”
“Master’s orders are absolute. We will follow.”
“Okay.”
Yesterday Black was concerned, but now the answer was out.
“And I think we can understand the reason too.”
Raiza said that.
If Pep went and told the Count, then Lival would be completely overthrown.
The two of them were abandoned by the organization, but the Count won’t care about it.
He would kill everyone that was linked with Lival.
“Right. I will be absent for a few days. Until then, stay low.”
“Yes.”
Jamie called Black and left the house.
Azad called.
“M-Master!”
“What?”
How could a mere servant call his master as he was leaving?
There was one thing Azad wanted to confirm.
“That…”
“Spit it out.”
“Us, what are we?”
They knew about being corpses.
Obviously, they knew they were in their own bodies.
It was confusing at first, but then they accepted the truth.
There was no way things could go back to the time when they were alive.
Above all, it was satisfying to have stronger power than before.
But, still, they wanted to know.
Shouldn’t they at least know what kind of Undead they were?
“What are you curious about?”
“… Our strength has increased by a lot since the time we were alive. Did we turn into a high-level Undead?”
Jamie laughed at the question.
“Usually, people ask if they really became Undead, but you are unique.”
“So sorry.”
The servant accepted his situation too quickly, and this was the first time Jamie saw that.
Usually, they deny it.
Nevertheless, the contract was absolute, Undead turn desperate and then lose their senses.
For Jamie, that side of Undead controlling was easy.
But yes, that monster will have limits.
On the other hand, what about these ones?
‘Raiza doesn’t look much different from Azad.’
Both of them were determined to know.
‘This, maybe I picked up jewels.’
People who overcame the reality of becoming Undead in just one day.
With a smile, Jamie answered.
“Unfortunately, you are zombies.”
“… zombies?”
“You hold the appearance. When you become a zombie, you gain overwhelming physical strength. That’s it.”
“…”
“…”
At the word ‘zombie’, the two were disappointed.
Have they lost it?
If it was someone else who was turned into zombies, they wouldn’t be disappointed.
Jamie thought it was funny, but he really liked how they acted.
“But I don’t know.”
“Yes?”
“What is that…”
“Depending on what you do, you may become a higher level Undead.”
At that, Azad’s eyes twinkled.
Though not expressive, Raiza seemed to smile as well.
Kik!
Black sounded like it was weird.
Even so, the two were strange.
But Jamie knew.
The stronger one’s ego, the more possibilities one has.
‘Not as much as these ones, but there were guys like this too.’
Although those ones might not be alive now.
“Then, I am leaving.”
“Please be safe!”
The two bowed to Jamie.
Late dawn.
Count Welton was shocked.
An executive from Lival turned into a whistleblower.
Jamie fell into sleep as he heard the noise coming from the outside as a lullaby.
“I am sorry. I’ll try not to be too late.”
“My darling, don’t worry about us and come to us after getting the work done.”
“My sweetie.”
Early in the morning, the Count and his wife were passionately light kissing each other.
Jamie frowned at that sight.
He didn’t like the love they showed, but this one was even harder to bear.
The problem was, the suffering wasn’t over.
“Son, come here.”
“Yes, father.”
Jamie walked over to Count Welton with a bright face.
The Count held with one hand.
“You are the head of the family when your father isn’t there.”
“Yes.”
“Of course, I will be leaving, but until then, you need to take good care of your mom and little sister. Got it?”
“Don’t worry!”
When Jamie answered with confidence, the Count and Sears burst into smiles.
Actually, Jamie wanted to die.