Created a Reverse Harem in a Doomed World (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 3

Seeing my face turn grim, the two people beside me flinched and froze.

“D-Did we do something wrong?”

“No. I just remembered something incredibly annoying, that’s all.”

It was truly in bad taste—having to capture a zombie and draw its blood just to escape from them.

Just as I was about to lose my mind, the surroundings grew chaotic again, and something began approaching from afar, its joints twitching unnaturally.

“Grrrrrrrrr….”

A once-pristine white wedding dress now stained with blood, beautiful golden hair in utter disarray. Her face, though still bearing splendid emerald eyes, was crisscrossed with visible veins and her eyes burned crimson from lost sanity.

Yet it was the original female lead, the beautiful Siena Evergreen, walking toward me.

“Ugh… Uuuuuurgh!”

Not as the radiant bride of a lovely wedding—but as a grotesque zombie.

“Aaaah!”

“U-Uwaaaah!”

Unfortunately, everyone around me—including myself—seemed to be ordinary people with no special ability to stop that zombie. After all, not a single person drew a sword or attempted to cast magic.

“Oh no! What do we do!”

Even Zero, my helper, stood helplessly stamping his feet in panic.

I sighed inwardly—what kind of helper fails to even give their assigned possessee a weapon?—and quietly readjusted my grip on my high heel. It was one piece from Madame Canary’s “Ex-Boyfriend’s Wedding” collection, lavishly adorned with black pearls and rubies.

‘Hmm, the sharpness is truly excellent.’

I’d been clutching this high heel while fleeing barefoot like a madwoman. Its pointed heel was impressively sharp—perfect as a weapon.

“Grrrrrrrrr!”

“Y-Your Highness, Crown Princess! Please come to your senses!”

Someone fleeing alongside me desperately pleaded with the original female lead. But if a zombie stopped just because you talked to it, would it even be a zombie?

While others wept and prayed to the gods, I quietly assumed a throwing stance with my high heel.

‘Generally speaking, isn’t a zombie’s weak point the head…?’

Go for a headshot. Aim right between the eyebrows.

One.

“Grrrr.”

Two.

“Grrrrrrr!”

Three.

“Uuuurgh!”

It was precisely at that moment—the original female lead, now a zombie, leapt straight toward me.

Thwack.

“Gkk… Kuhhgh….”

‘I did it!’

My shoe, famed for its deadly heel, lodged itself squarely in the princess’s forehead. Strangely, no blood flowed—perhaps because she was already dead.

“Hah!”

“H-Her Highness the Crown Princess…!”

I heard people who’d collapsed in shock scolding me, but I didn’t care.

“Kuhh… Ughh….”

The original female lead twitched once more, then collapsed face-down onto the floor. She lay utterly still—clearly dead.

‘Good. One thing’s confirmed now.’

These zombies die when you strike their heads.

This was the first time those utterly cumbersome high heels—so annoying since my possession into this novel—had actually been useful. A truly historic moment.

Just as I moved to confirm with my remaining high heel that the zombie had stopped moving completely, the nobles who’d fled so hastily earlier swarmed around me, hurling accusations.

“H-Her Highness the Crown Princess…!”

“Lady Keaton killed her…!”

I didn’t kill her. Biologically speaking, zombies are already heart-stopped corpses and can’t even be considered human—so strictly speaking, I’m no murderer.

But having just smashed a noble Crown Princess’s forehead with a high heel right before their eyes, I probably looked like a lunatic to these delicate-hearted nobles.

“You… you monstrous woman! This is all your doing, isn’t it?”

“…What did you say?”

It was such nonsense I lacked even the energy to refute it.

These people—who would’ve all been devoured by the zombie if I hadn’t attacked—had plenty to say.

‘And I’m the one who wants to catch the damn bastard who started this zombie outbreak!’

Fuming, I sharply challenged the tightly packed nobles.

“So you’re saying we should’ve just let Her Highness the Crown Princess—now a monster—tear us apart?”

“M-Monster?! How dare you!”

“Exactly! In a situation where nothing is yet confirmed, you’re already calling Her Highness a monster. Could it be that you still harbor resentment over losing His Highness the Crown Prince?”

‘You lot?’

Weren’t you the ones shouting “monster!” and screaming wildly while running away?

“Why bring that up all of a sudden?”

“This whole incident must be your fault, my lady! Who could’ve guessed you’d pretend to congratulate everyone while secretly sharpening your blade for revenge and plotting such reckless madness!”

“Ha.”

They still hadn’t grasped the situation—actually suggesting I’d killed the Crown Princess out of jealousy.

‘Yet the moment the zombie Crown Princess charged, you all fled in terror like cowards.’

Now that things seemed slightly safer, they had the audacity to blame me—it was laughable.

“Why won’t you answer, Lady Keaton? Is it because you’re the culprit?”

“No. It’s simply because I don’t feel your question is worth answering.”

Any defense I offered would likely be useless anyway. Everyone gathered here was already fixated on the image of the original ‘Elisabeth Keaton’ and intent on driving me into a corner.

‘I understand being overwhelmed—it’s your first zombie encounter.’

But zombies are new to me in real combat too, you know?

Where did these rumors even start—that I created the zombies? What would I even gain by turning the Crown Princess into one?

‘The Crown Prince? That worthless jerk isn’t even my type. Would I really turn the palace into a zombie-infested field just to have him?’

Am I desperate to be executed? Even though I chose to stay here, I’d never take such reckless risks.

I never had the power to create zombies in the first place. Just because I’m from a duke’s family doesn’t mean I can do anything—that’s a grave misconception.

If ducal families were omnipotent, I’d have returned home long ago!

“Yes, yes. Think whatever you like. I’m escaping—I just want to survive this chaos.”

I approached the zombie—formerly the Crown Princess—sprawled on the floor and pulled the high heel embedded in her forehead.

Bracing my thighs with all the force needed to flee.

“Eep!”

“To think Lady Keaton could be so barbaric…!”

“We’re truly disappointed in you, Lady Keaton.”

Seriously. When have any of you ever seen me as a sweet, lovely young lady? Never. So why pretend you’re disappointed when you never expected anything of me?

“Oh, and if you want to escape the palace, it’d be wise to carry blood from the Crown Princess and others who’ve turned into monsters. Someone bold must have placed a barrier around the palace—I don’t know who.”

Still, since we’re all human, I tossed them one last piece of advice for survival.

“What does that mean…? Wait right there, Lady Keaton!”

These people were wrong. So I decided to flee alone. Running barefoot, clutching just one high heel, felt truly pitiful.

Come to think of it, those very people who’d been so smug earlier would later vanish one by one as scapegoats.

Clicking my tongue in annoyance, I ran and ran through the palace’s labyrinthine corridors, gripping the high heel stained with the Crown Princess zombie’s pitch-black blood, hoping desperately to find an exit from this endless maze.

‘It should work, just as Zero said.’

Fortunately, Zero had been right. This time, I didn’t pass by that door engraved with a massive sunken inscription again.

Not long after sprinting with the blood-smeared high heel in hand, I spotted an exit leading outside.

‘So there really was a barrier placed around the palace.’

Who could’ve done such a thing?

“No idea. But either way… I’m alive!”

I pushed with all my might against the tall, pointed iron palace gate—and warm sunlight touched my skin. I never realized how wonderful this could feel.

Without hesitation, I ran toward the area outside the palace where the nobles’ carriages, gathered for the wedding, were parked.

The coachman jumped in alarm at the sight of me—barefoot, my dress in tatters, bursting out of the palace.

“Oh, miss! What on earth happened?”

His disrespectful gaze made it clear—he was already assuming I’d caused another scandal, judging from his expression alone.

“No time for explanations. Take me home immediately.”

“Huh? Ah, right away!”

I growled threateningly, ready to seize the reins myself if he didn’t move. Terrified, the coachman squeaked and obeyed.

The rhythmic clatter of hooves soothed my nerves. The palace, still seemingly intact, gradually receded into the distance.

‘Could it be the barrier? It’s strangely quiet.’

From the outside, the palace appeared utterly serene—as if nothing had happened at all.

For a moment, I wondered if the zombie encounter had been a dream—but the black zombie blood staining my high heel confirmed this was reality.

“I’ll need to summon a mage as soon as I reach the mansion.”

And though I disliked the idea, I’d probably have to send a request for support to the Mage Tower regarding the palace.

Not out of any noble intention to protect the royal family or the nobles who’d been blessing the leads’ wedding there.

‘Because unexpectedly, I now have to remain in this world.’

I had a feeling Zero would say I needed to resolve this chaos somehow if I ever wanted to return home.

They say speak of the tiger and it appears.

True enough, Zero—with a grim expression—appeared beside me in the carriage to deliver bad news.

「Sorry, but you probably can’t go home until this situation is resolved.」

“What did you say?”

「Orders came down from above.」

Ding.

An ominous alert chimed.

[The previous quest assigned to ‘Elisabeth Keaton,’ 〈Surviving as a Villainess〉, has been canceled.] [A new quest has been assigned!] [Quest: Survive the Doomed World (Subtitle: Crush the Zombies and Return Home!)] [Accept?] [YES / YES]

Damn it. It was a forced quest with no option to refuse.

“Hey, you…!”

“Miss, we’ve arrived!”

Just as I was about to unleash a torrent of curses, the carriage entered the ducal estate.

Zero, pinched by my two fingers at the scruff of his neck, wheezed out,

「Y-You’d better get moving now… If the last quest was Easy Mode, this one’s Hard Mode.」

If we dawdle, we’re both finished.

His chilling words sent a shiver down my spine, cooling the blood that had rushed to my head.

‘Annoying as it is… he’s right.’

I had to face reality with cold clarity.

But I refused to be manipulated again by this tiny hamster and the system administrator like before. Doing so might just lead to the same outcome.

So I made my decision: This time, I wouldn’t follow that idiotic villainess script.