The Villainess and I, her Zombie

Chapter 111: Interrupted investigation

"You... aren't going to get away with this...!"

A man tied up to the chair growled horribly while staring at Cranberry with eyes filled with murderous intent.

It should be the same beautiful man that they already saw amongst the group of the Envy people, but now, thanks to the help of the concocted Death's ichor, he was forced to turn back into his real self.

Instead of complete beauty, it was a rather sad look.

The man was short and terribly skinny, he had dark bags under his eyes, sunken cheeks and buckled teeth, and a large wart right beneath his chin that made him look almost like a chicken.

He didn't seem old but there was barely any hair on his head already.

While still wearing the fancy clothes he had on in his handsome muscular form, he looked like a scarecrow that had been dressed up for some failed prank.

"Graough. (Oh, he shrunk.)"

Zombie grunted casually with a shrug.

But he was the only one with such a calm reaction.

The blond prince Roan looked like he just saw a ghost telling him that he had lost all his money.

Uresha was hugging Shanks whose eyes were bulging out, but whether it was from shock or being squeezed too hard was uncertain.

"I-it was true! The stories were true! People of Envy kidnap the elves and steal their beauty because they're actually ugly!"

Rotte straight up fall on his butt and pointed at the changed man with a trembling hand.

"...!"

The changed man flinched and tried to at least turn away to hide his face but his constraints were too well made.

"Don't look at me!"

He shouted furiously like a mad dog.

In response, Cranberry scooped another portion of the liquid and splashed it on him without hesitation.

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!"

The man squealed in pain and tears started streaming from his eyes.

"Your name?"

Cranberry asked calmly as if she wasn't the culprit of the man's suffering.

"...fuck you... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

A curse earned the captive another portion of the death's ichor to the face, making the already poor sight even less bearable to watch.

"Your name?"

Cranberry repeated with a smile.

"...!"

The man trembled with his eyes glued to the blue hand that the girl was scooping the concoction with.

"L-Lime Envy..."

The man confessed with a scowl.

"Lime Envy, thirty-tw... thirty-five years old, son of Lemon and Orange from the branch family, the owners of the territory to the north of this one?"

The red-haired girl asked, showing that her knowledge about the members of every main family wasn't just bragging.

"How do you kn... AAAAAAHHHHH!"

"Speak only when answering me, Lime. You aren't the one asking questions here."

Cranberry glared down at the man and smiled coldly after she splashed him with more even ichor.

"First, to make things clear before we get to the important stuff, say... do you all really steal the beauty from the elves...?"

Cranberry asked innocently while already preparing another portion of the ichor.

"...!"

Lime twitched and desperately tried to free himself.

"Well...?"

Cranberry smiled in a friendly way which only sent chills down Lime's back.

"W-we do... We always had been doing it, all the way from the days of the first lady Envy. There's something wrong with our bloodline, but at least we all have a skill that lets us steal someone's look..."

Lime quickly explained and closed his eyes bracing for more suffering.

"Ha. That's messed up. All of you guys have an inborn skill like that? Crazy. And to think that Pride's are just fireproof."

Cranberry whistled and nodded her head with a smile.

It looked like she actually didn't care for the answer at all and that made Lime feel like a failure for caving in and telling the truth.

"Now... why did your group attacked us? Were you sent after me? It clearly wasn't after Roan, you didn't even know he was in the carriage."

Cranberry started circling around the barrel, even so, she never let go of the blue hand that was dipped into the concoction, ready to deliver another dose in the captive's face.

"W-we actually did that just for... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Unfortunately for Lime, Cranberry only looked like she didn't care or wasn't paying attention.

As soon as she noticed something sounded off about the man's answer she sprayed him with death's ichor without a hint of hesitation.

"The elf! We were only after the elf! We even get into the inn just so we could get to her!"

Lime cried while convulsing and trembling from the agony.

"WHAT?!"

Rotte shouted and lunged at the tied-up man and slammed him to the floor.

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU LOT WANT FROM MY SISTER?!"

He roared while shaking Lime's collar.

"Ghhhy...! Ghhhyyhh!"

Lime was clearly suffocating but Rotte was too angry to notice.

"Haa... idiot."

Cranberry shook her head and grabbed the warrior by the scruff of his neck and effortlessly picked him up like an oversized kitten, just to throw him at the other two Dandelions who were about to join him in questioning the captive - which resulted in all three getting slammed into the wall.

"Haa... Calm down. I'm not done with him."

Cranberry breathed out in disappointment and waved at Zombie to put the fallen tied-up man back up.

"Sorry for the inconvenience. Where were we...?"

The red-haired girl apologized and asked.

"Ah, right."

But before anyone else could utter another word, she splashed the captive with more ichor.

"AAAAAAHHHHHH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Which caused the highest pitched scream yet out of Lime's throat.

"So you're saying that you were after Lairs? Why?"

She asked comfortably.

"Th-the woman who is taking the beauty from the elves mother has a daughter on her own, and that girl is almost ten years old... she cannot hide her looks anymore... That's what the family head has told us..."

It seemed that Lime lost all the willpower to fight back or deceive Cranberry, and was just trembling and spilling everything he knew.

"Lairs mother?! She's alive?! B-but her whole family was...!"

"Shush. You'll tell me later."

Shank's blurted out but was hushed by Cranberry.

"Say, there's something that bothers me... there are all those rumors about the Envy abducting the elves, but the elves always deny it... why?"

"I-it's because... because...!"

Lime was about to share the secret when suddenly his eyes rolled up, flashing with whites and he went completely limp.

/Low-level player defeated

/...

/Error

/Administrator's interference caused the system to be unable to grant master the experience points

"Administrator's interference...? Fuck! What is this administrator?!"

Cranberry's face twisted in anger and she swung the blue hand like a bat and turned the Lime's head into a splatter on the opposite wall.