After a few minutes of squabbling, the wizards reluctantly complied with my request, tears in their eyes.

“……You just want to connect with Lord Rus Kricherin?”

“Yes.”

As I spoke with confidence, the wizards couldn’t help but look at me with doubt, yet curious.

“Do you have any faith in Duke Keaton?”

“Lord Rus Kricherin usually doesn’t leave the tower.”

“He’s been in such a low mood lately.”

Originally illtempered, Rus Kricherin’s temperament worsened after experiencing the pain of unrequited love, and he stayed locked in his tower.

Even though he hated the tower more than any place in the world, he offered an absurd excuse of dedicating himself to research.

‘It was to avoid Sienna.’

The love story between Sienna Evergreen, who was to become the crown princess, and the crown prince could be heard anywhere in the empire.

Sensitive Rus couldn’t bear it and withdrew into the seclusion of his tower.

His father, the tower’s master, welcomed his son’s return, but Rus himself remained confined to his lab, hurling anyone who called to him with magic, so everyone avoided him.

So, these wizards would rather face hard labor as punishment than call Rus Kricherin.

“Just connect me, and I’ll take care of the rest, so make contact quickly.”

“Yes……”

Merion reluctantly pulled a white object that looked like a remote control from his robe pocket.

The smooth white rectangular object had a blue sapphire on its narrow side.

It was a communication magic tool developed inside the tower.

Merion pressed a button and selected the coordinates of Rus Kricherin’s room inside the tower.

“Answer me, Rus Kricherin.”

As he infused the magic tool with magical power and called the name of the person he wanted to connect with, the blue gem sparkled, emitting light like a beam projector.

Soon a clear image floated in the air, reflecting someone’s appearance.

A beautiful man with dark blue hair resembling the dusky evening sky and irritable silvergray eyes was captured in the image.

Despite his pale face, as if he had been up all night for several days, his beauty still shone through, with white skin, dark double eyelids, a prominent nose, and wellbalanced facial features.

[Dash] ……Who is this? Daring to contact me?

His voice was slightly hoarse from fatigue, but his lazy bass was pleasant enough to be a radio DJ.

His appearance resembled a weary graduate student, but his face and voice were enough to think he was shooting a decadent sexy photo concept.

‘Indeed, fitting for a submain character!’

I was inwardly admiring when Rus Kricherin sharply snapped at Merion, who had called him, in an irritable tone.

[Dash] What? Merion? It’s vague, but from memory, you’re definitely from the tower. What are you calling me for? I’m disgusted.

With a frown, Rus spoke sharply, causing Merion to freeze.

“That…… It’s not me, Lord Rus Kricherin.”

[Dash] Then what is it?

“The one who asked me to call you is someone else.”

A dejected Merion politely pointed to me with his tied hands.

Rus’s silvergray eyes glanced at the restrained Merion and other wizards, then narrowed.

[Dash] Ragtag bunch. You’ve disgraced the tower enough.

“……I apologize.”

[Dash] So what is it? Kidnap? Imprisonment? Threat? Who dares to do this to the tower’s wizards?

“I requested that they call you, Mr. Rus Kricherin.”

When I stepped forward on behalf of Merion, Rus in the image briefly looked surprised before becoming fierce.

[Dash] Elizabeth Keaton, the Duchess?

‘Wow…… The first time I’ve heard someone curse just by saying my name.’

It felt similar to when an Xreporter shouted, ‘Shut up, Xfool!’

“I am now Duke Keaton.”

[Dash] Why?

He didn’t even use honorifics. I knew he would have deep hostility towards me because of Sienna, but it was more than I had imagined.

‘Hold on, hold on.’

I answered Rus with a formal smile.
My words will surely shatter that person’s expression into a mess.

“He’s gone. Infected by a zombie.”

[Dash] What’s that?

“It’s a monster that’s human but not human. Perhaps it could be called a type of undead. It spreads through biting, like an infection, and when one becomes a zombie, their eyes turn red, and they transform into a beast, left with nothing but an instinct for prey, unable to think as a human.”

[Dash] Really?

The calm explanation lit up Rus’s eyes with interest.

I’m not sure whether it was a curiosity about this new monster called a zombie or a wonder about a new aspect of ‘Elizabeth Keaton,’ but the important point was coming up.

“Princess Siena was the first human to become a zombie.”

[Dash] ……!

Thump.

At my words, Rus jumped up from the laboratory chair.

The robe draped over his shoulder fell to the floor without him noticing.

[Dash] What… What do you mean, Duke Keaton?

“I mean exactly what I said, Rus Kritcherun. On her wedding day, Her Highness the Crown Princess turned into a zombie for some unknown reason.”

I explained every scene I had witnessed.