Under the faint moonlight, those vampire-like, dark red eyes looked over.
“Whoa, when did you get here! What an unexpected yet familiar face!”
The sudden, bizarre shout startled the girl, making her reflexively swallow whatever she had in her mouth.
Gulp.
Mostly unmelted candy clogged her esophagus. The swallowing process was quite painful, and the girl grabbed her own neck, struggling.
“Ugh~”
“Something stuck in your throat?” Miss Draco strode over, wrapped her arms around Erika from behind, then tightly encircled her abdomen, forcefully lifting her up and putting her down.
After repeating this several times, finally, a large candy popped out of her throat and rolled onto the floor.
“Whew, saved. I almost saw my great-grandma.”
“Right! Speaking of which, why are you here? This is the Draco Family villa! You didn’t come all this way just to see me, did you?”
Silver hair, gem-like eyes—it was unmistakably Miona Draco’s appearance. But her behavior was clearly a liveliness and cheerfulness that Miona could never have.
The girl before her must be the younger sister, Vivian.
“Before that, Miss, what were you doing in the cemetery tonight?”
“I was just checking to see if everyone was sleeping peacefully! On every full moon night, some corpses just can’t rest and climb out of their graves!”
“I see. You’re saying the corpses get up and wander around on their own?”
“That’s right! So you have to dig them up often to see if they’re truly resting well. The moving ones usually have blood on their mouths and dirt on their hands and feet.”
“What a good habit.”
“A good habit?”
Vivian tilted her head, seeming not to fully understand, but Erika didn’t want to dwell on such a creepy topic.
“It’s a good habit, like holding your breath when you kiss! Anyway, I’m really glad to see you.”
“What an interesting way to put it! By the way, Erika, I never expected you to come to our mansion! Did you come to see me? Or my sister?”
“For now… let’s say both.”
She vaguely explained the day’s events to Vivian.
“Imitated my sister’s voice? And knocked on the door?”
“Yeah, yeah. It was really scary. What was that all about?”
“That’s a type of spiritual monster called a ‘Hatred.’ They usually don’t come inside the mansion. Monster activity has increased a lot this past month.”
“Hmm… So what would have happened if I had opened the door or responded?”
“Normally, it might cling to you and give you a stiff neck? But I’m not too sure about ‘Hatred’ powerful enough to break through the mansion’s protective boundary.”
It seemed she didn’t know much either. Well, whatever.
Vivian continued, swinging her shovel and digging up soil one scoop at a time.
“Recently, the number of times the dead awaken has suddenly increased. Because of the monsters wandering nearby, I’ve been pretty busy every night.”
“You patrol the cemetery every night?”
“Lately, yes!”
Vivian proudly recounted her daily patrols in the cemetery, fighting against the mindless, monstrous undead.
Listening to her, Erika couldn’t help but be surprised.
“Aren’t you scared, patrolling this cemetery alone every night?”
“I’m a member of the Draco Family. How could I be scared of a place like this? Of course, my sister is terrified. She’s still sleeping right now—because she’s scared.”
Vivian let out a soft giggle.
“So Miss Miona is afraid of ghosts too. I didn’t know that.”
“Giggle, it’s a secret! My sister is actually really scared of ghosts and scary things!”
‘Potentially useful knowledge acquired.’
But something felt off. As the Great Lady and current Head of House of the Draco Family, skilled in controlling the undead, she was actually… Pfft haha!
On the other hand, Vivian, who seemed innocent and lively, actually had a much higher compatibility. Surprisingly, she was a brave girl.
Crunch, crunch.
Vivian’s shovel hit something—it seemed to be the corner of a coffin. The silver-haired girl used the tip of her shovel as a lever and pried open the coffin lid.
Creak, creak.
“Ugh, aah.”
Open and ready to eat. As the lid opened slightly, a low growl came from the gap. A twisted, zombie-like creature with a bloody mouth was making beastly sounds.
Looking at the terrifying scene, as if taken straight from a horror movie, Erika couldn’t help but frown. But Vivian showed no fear and stood her ground confidently.
“See! I knew it would get up again!”
“Sleep!”
With that, she raised her shovel and brought it down with all her might onto the zombie’s skull.
“There, now go back to sleep!”
Thud.
“Gah!”
With that blow, the zombie let out a short, sharp cry before losing consciousness… Well, it was a corpse to begin with, so that phrasing wasn’t wrong.
‘Young zombies are great. They fall asleep the moment they hit the ground.’
Vivian began covering the pit with soil again, and Erika helped fill it in beside her.
“Whew, you see? This is how the dead come back to life. And it’s not even Halloween yet.”
The girl wiped the sweat from her forehead with her sleeve and turned to ask Vivian, “When did this situation start? Do you know the cause?”
What came to mind were the words of the teaching staff—the undead near the city were abnormally restless, and they warned to be careful in the suburbs when going out. Perhaps this was related to the cemetery’s anomalies and the supernatural incident with the “Hatred” she had just experienced.
Vivian hummed, “I don’t know!”
Alright then.
“However, I did see a suspicious person.”
“Suspicious?”
“Yesterday, maybe? Someone was actually digging in our family cemetery! But I chased him away! I pierced the guy’s arm with a Bone Spear. He should be pretty badly injured now.”
Vivian again recounted with pride her heroic story of defeating an illegal grave robber. But the girl couldn’t deny that Vivian was indeed an excellent Necromancer.
A sudden question arose in her heart: “Who in the world would dig up the Draco Family cemetery?”
“Probably illegal grave robbers! After all, the success rate for communing with Draco Family members’ corpses is very high!”
The Draco Family was a lineage skilled in necromancy and black magic. Because of this, their bodies possessed special aptitudes in these two areas, even after death.
“Any Necromancer would want to use Draco Family corpses to make undead servants because these corpses are top-tier! They require less magic to commune with and are quite obedient!”
Top-tier corpses, huh…
Perhaps the Draco Family and those Necromancers were all necrophiliacs. That’s scary, no, not scary!
“So recently, I’ve been guarding the cemetery like this every night. I can’t even sleep well.”
Vivian Draco was like a weasel guarding a watermelon field, watching for those who might pop up at any moment.
“Until the sun rises.”
Vivian Draco’s words dissipated into a white mist in the air. On this spring morning, you could actually see the exhaled breath condensing into frost.
Yet, what made the girl feel a bone-chilling sadness colder than that chill was the image of Vivian standing here alone every day, like a scarecrow, quietly watching over the cemetery.
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.