Oshan blinked, confused. "But Sir Sid, you said it was not bad. That ans it is good."
Sid rubbed his forehead, already anticipating the logical gymnastics required.
"No, Oshan, that is not what that ans. It ans it will not kill instantly. I am still not convinced I’ll survive the aftershock."
Evelise huffed softly, clearly unimpressed.
"You are being dramatic again. You complain too much for soone who eats for free."
Sid lifted his spoon halfway before stopping and pointing it at her.
"Excuse you, I almost died of two separate sources of smoke inhalation this morning because of you two. That is not eating for free; that is hazard pay."
Evelise did not look up, only replying,
"Then perhaps you should breathe slower. It is not our fault your lungs are weak."
Oshan nodded enthusiastically beside her.
"Lady Evelise is right, Sir Sid. You must train your breathing. Good warriors breathe with discipline."
Sid stared at them both, horrified.
"I am living with lunatics."
A small, genuine hint of amusent flickered across Evelise’s face before she hid it quickly as she reached for her cup.
Sid watched her carefully, the image of little Evelise’s burning gaze haunting him. He needed to understand the current cost of her obsession. He lowered his voice, making an effort to sound genuinely concerned.
"Hey... Evelise. You, uh... doing okay today? You were down there for hours."
Evelise paused her movents, her tone holding a sharp edge.
"I am working."
Sid leaned forward a little. "Yeah, I noticed the smoke. And the boom. And the way you ca up looking like you lost a fight with a fireplace."
Oshan imdiately shook her head.
"Lady Evelise never loses fights. She only gets... slightly burned."
Evelise gave her guard a small, withering glare.
"Oshan. Stop talking."
Sid bit back a laugh but pressed on. "So, what exactly were you doing down there? Mixing herbs? Burning herbs? Burning yourself? I need specifics before the cabin explodes."
Evelise set her spoon down, taking a slow, asured breath that echoed the control demanded by her mother years ago.
"I am creating a new mixture. Sothing powerful. Sothing I have never made before." Her voice softened just a fraction. "It could help soone."
Sid’s expression shifted, his gaze growing more serious as he studied her.
"Soone like... ?"
He asked quietly, connecting the dots to his sudden Instant Relief. Evelise finally t his eyes, her ruby gaze steady and defensive.
"Soone who needs it."
She replied, offering no clear answer. Oshan, however, raised her hand as if in a classroom.
"I think she ans you, Sir Sid. She always checks your wounds first, and you did consu her excellent food."
Evelise stiffened. "Oshan, enough."
Sid opened his mouth, then shut it, a complex emotion stirring— sowhere between panic over her recklessness and unexpected warmth over her concern.
"Right... well, thanks, I guess," he said. "Just don’t blow yourself up while trying to help . I’d feel strangely guilty about that."
Evelise picked up her spoon again. "If I blow myself up, it will not be because of you. It will be because Oshan added too much fire again."
Oshan gasped, truly offended. "My lady, I only added a little fire. Sir Sid said fire is good for cooking!"
Sid jabbed a finger at the air.
"No. No, I did not. I never said that. That is propaganda. Stop spreading lies in my house."
Evelise lifted an elegant eyebrow.
"This is not your house. You stole it."
Sid’s mouth dropped open.
"Okay, technically yes, but that still hurts."
Evelise finished the last bite on her plate and set her spoon down with a quiet clink. She wiped her mouth with the corner of her sleeve and stood up with a calm certainty that made Sid grimace even before she spoke.
"I should return to my synthesis now. The mixture is not stable yet, and I do not want it cooling too much."
Her tone was flat, but there was a faint spark in her eyes— excitent mixed with stubborn focus.
"If I stop now, I will lose the progress I made."
Sid groaned loudly and leaned back in his chair.
"Right. The basent alchemy continues. Try not to ignite any more structural beams on this stolen property.""
Oshan, anwhile, began the delicate task of clearing the table, gathering the bowls and plates with the unsettling gentleness of a bear handling china.
"Good luck, my Lady! Please be careful. I will clean everything here."
Oshan said, giving a small, formal nod toward the hatch.
Sid watched the two of them, rubbing his face with both hands. Then, sothing clicked. A cold flash of realization struck him so fast it knocked him upright.
"Wait. Hold on. Stop everything."
The mory hit him hard— Evelise on her first night after revival, taking one bite of the canned beans he gave her before dramatically puking it all out. Even the water. Shouting that it tasted like poison. Sid’s eyes went wide as he pointed straight at Oshan, horror dawning on his face.
"No... no way. Oshan... why can you eat?!"
Oshan froze mid step, clutching the bowls tightly against her chest.
"Uhm... because my cooking skills made the expired goods edible and delicious?"
"No, that is not— that does not answer anything," Sid insisted, pointing at Evelise’s retreating form. "Evelise couldn’t stomach any human food on her first days of being brought back! She nearly died of malnourishnt!"
Oshan’s eyes widened, her guard instincts kicking in.
"L-Lady Evelise almost died of malnourishnt!?"
Sid spun to her, incredulous. "And yet you just inhaled a bowl of scorched sewage and look perfectly fine!"
He blinked rapidly, pulling up his HUD Interface and focusing the view on Oshan. The symbol in front of her chest confird his suspicion. It was not a pitch black heart of the recently dead. The heart symbol above Oshan was now pulsating a soft, undeniable VIOLET— the color of evolving life and loyalty.
Sid staggered back a step. "What in the— Her heart is violet? How?! Evelise’s heart was black at the start and only turned violet later. But Oshan’s is already violet? That ans she’s getting humanity back— way faster than expected."
Evelise, already on the basent steps, stopped cold, listening. She instinctively touched her own stomach. He was right. She had eaten without the reflexive gagging or the agonizing cramps that accompanied the first consumption of human food.
Oshan’s already pale face went even whiter. "Wait, my heart is v-violet? First my skin turns this icy gray, and now my heart is... green?"
Evelise, who was just about to leave, spoke up, addressing Oshan.
"Oh, don’t take his jargon seriously, Oshan. He always throws his gaming terminology into everyday life," Evelise said with a roll of her eyes. "A ’violet heart’ just ans we, the revived zombie girls, are successfully fighting back and recovering our humanity. That’s why you can go out in the sun, cook, and actually eat the food now. At first, as he said, I couldn’t even manage water on my lips. But after spending so ti with this necrophiliac man, I beca just fine..."
"HEY! You could explain it without making sound any weirder!"
Sid protested. Oshan’s color returned, and she offered a dry, flat reply to Evelise.
"He is kind of right, though. The word ’necrophiliac’ does fit him rather well."
Evelise then rembered her imdiate, fierce belief in Sid after he revived her, and Oshan’s simple, powerful statent:
"If Lady Evelise, with all her knowledge and caution, can trust a man like this... then it ans he is exceptionally trustworthy.... Then I shall trust Sir Sid too."
"It was the trust," Evelise declared. "You achieved a rapid evolutionary stage. You skipped the difficulty. You trusted him right off the bat because I trusted him and you felt it too, Oshan. It suggests a shared taphysical link between those he revives. Since we are bound, Oshan. You’re my personal guard."
Sid blinked at her. "She trusted ... because you trusted ? Just like that?"
Evelise’s cheeks ward, the faintest shade of pink rising under her pale skin. She tried to hide it by turning slightly away, but her voice betrayed her.
"That is... the most logical explanation. I don’t an I suddenly trust n," Evelise said, flustered but trying to sound composed. "But you’re... slightly different from the usual kind. That makes the trust co a little easier."
Sid opened his mouth to tease her, he could not resist but the color on her cheeks deepened, and she blurted out,
"Do not look at like that!"
Before spinning on her heel and retreating toward the basent stairs. Oshan watched her go, then nodded solemnly.
"Lady Evelise may not realize it, but she relies on you more than she claims."
Sid let out a long, satisfied sigh. "I knew that. But at least now she can admit it, instead of denying it every ti. And... this ans I just skipped a whole ’heart stage’! See that? That’s efficiency! No forced physical and emotional labor! No cleaning, no extra chores!"
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