Latil noticed that Hyacinth’s scabbard was empty. It appeared that Hyacinth was the one who had thrown the sword.

Fortunately. Relieved, Latil started to shout in that direction.

“Your Majesty! Please check if that soul is also uninjured! Infection! Contagion!”

At Latil’s shout, the nobles who had gone to check on Aini quickly withdrew. The maids also supported Aini, whose legs had given way, almost dragging her back.

A few of the imperial guards who were on security duty approached the noblewoman who had initially run in.

“I’m okay. I’m not hurt. My forehead? It’s just a shard from when I broke the window.”

While the woman showed everyone that she was perfectly fine, people watched them from a distance.

At that moment, a scream came from an entirely unexpected direction.

“Aaaaaaah!”

Again, the people moved en masse in another direction, and Latil quickly looked over there.

‘The infection…’

The knights who had initially rushed in to capture Redler. Two of the knights who had been injured at that time had their eyes transformed like Redler’s, and each bit the doctor who had been treating them and the fellow knight who had been helping to stop the bleeding.

Screams exploded from all sides, but there was no actual rush to escape inside the hall.

To be exact, the conditions for escape were not met. At the door, the nobleman zombie who had been killed by Hyacinth’s thrown sword was lying down, and near the window, two knights who were now turning into zombies were fighting with their fellow knights.

Moreover, Redler, the first zombie, had come from outside. He had blood splattered all over his dress when he came in.

If the blood was his own, from becoming a zombie, it was somewhat fortunate, but if it was from devouring the servants outside, then no one knew what was out there now.

“Weapon.”

Latil, who had been watching the situation, murmured softly. Carlein, who seemed to be trying to protect Latil, looked back from standing half a step in front.

“We need a weapon.”

Upon seeing Latil’s lip movement, Carlein looked around to see if there was anything that could be used as a weapon.

But there was none. To begin with, very few people could bring a weapon when attending a party.

‘I’ll have to take this, at least.’

Latil put the blunt knife used for spreading butter into her sleeve and reassessed the situation.

Two knights becoming zombies, and the knights and doctors attacked by those knights, were tied up by most of the knights just in case.

Fortunately, the nobleman whose forehead had been pierced was lying down without causing any more trouble.

The noblewoman, as she said, was breathing heavily but showing no signs of infection, yet the guards who had approached her, possibly for precaution, did not leave her side.

As the situation settled, Hyacinth looked this way.

At a distance, Latil and Hyacinth’s eyes met. Latil slightly moved her lips to ask ‘Are you okay?’ in lip language.

But the moment she said ‘fine’, suddenly Hyacinth’s eyes widened. Sensing unease from him, Latil instinctively rolled to the side.

She tumbled a few times on the ground until she bumped into the stand that the musician had left behind. Blocking the falling violin and sheet music with her hand, she looked towards where she had been standing to see the Riddler, who had appeared first, was fighting with Carlein.

The knights had been holding onto the Riddler, but it seemed they lost him in the chaos that ensued amongst them.

Fortunately, Carlein, who wasn’t a mercenary king for nothing, managed to subdue the Riddler much more easily than the knights.

No, not just easily. After merely dodging a couple of attacks, he immediately immobilized the Riddler.

“Use this!”

When an old woman whose name she didn’t know brought out a sturdy iron chain from somewhere, Carlein used it to bind the Riddler tightly.

As Carlein, who had securely tied up the Riddler, approached Latil, she pointed towards the knights and said,

“Carlein. I’m fine, so go help the others.”

“I will stay by your side.”

“I think you going would be more helpful. I will look around. If possible, it’s better to evacuate the people.”

The knights who had tried to subdue the Riddler were now in a mess, with the two zombies having somehow turned into five.

They surrounded them to prevent it from spreading further and were defending, but it seemed as if the infection was still spreading among them.

Latil looked again in the direction of Hyacinth. He was also busily issuing orders from his line, but she couldn’t hear what he was saying.

It seemed that Carlein was reluctant to leave Latil, but after a moment of thought, he nodded obediently.

“I understand. If you fight ‘properly’, you’ll be stronger.”

“What? That’s not it. Anyway, go. Quickly.”

While Carlein went in that direction and became a several times stronger reinforcement, Latil ran to the window to check outside, to see if there were any other infected people brought by the Riddler.

And seeing no one, she tried to open the window, but…

‘This window isn’t made to open.’

There was no opening.

‘So that’s why the people are still here.’

If she broke this window and there were corpses like that outside, they would have to return here. If the window was broken, there would be more entrances for the zombies.

So, reluctantly, Latil went to the door. She thought Hyacinth might block her if she went in that direction, but it seemed better than breaking another window.

“Wait. Lady Sadi.”

But as expected, as soon as Latil tried to step outside the door, Hyacinth immediately blocked her.

“It’s better not to leave until the situation is settled.”

“I’m going to check outside. If there are no threats outside, we need to evacuate the people.”

“I’ve already issued that order and the guard knights have gone out.”

Even in the midst of this, nearby nobles smirked at Latil and Hyacinth.

Latil looked at the fallen nobleman’s corpse on the floor. This corpse didn’t yet give off as strong a sense of death as the Riddler, so apart from the unnaturally enlarged pupils, it didn’t look particularly different.

“So…”

Just as she was about to ask for a weapon…

At the sound of the inward cry that came from not too far, Latil abruptly lifted her head. This voice that called her a ‘monster’.

Prince Heum.

The moment she recognized him, Latil snatched the sword from the knight next to Hyacinth and rushed forward.

“Catch her!”

The knight who had his sword stolen cried out in surprise, but in the meantime, Latil had already kicked open the door and was swinging her sword in the direction of the voice.

As expected, Prince Heum, who had been watching the situation from that place, bulged his eyes and dodged to the side when Latil appeared.

Swinging at thin air, Latil quickly regained her balance and gripped her sword correctly. For some reason, Prince Heum was still looking at Latil with scared eyes.

Feigning bravado, Latil smiled at the prince.

“We meet again.”