The Countess Lives Twice in the Apocalypse-Chapter 19: Eighteen

"The illness started at the south from what I remembered." Jannah had sat herself down on her previous seat before Lady Cynthia barged inside the room. The princess had calmed down a few seconds ago and told her that she’s ready to listen.

"The infection can spread through bites." She said, a solemn yet disbelief look in her eyes as she let out a scoff, "Get bitten then boom, you’re infected. Can you believe that, Your Highness? Because.. I didn’t as well at first."

"What do you mean..?"

"This is my second chance in life, Your Highness." Jannah ended up telling her the truth, "The infection will turn the Kingdom upsidedown in a blink of an eye and we can’t do anything about it. Once you’re bitten, you’ll still end up dying."

"Echinacea can stop a person from turning, but it won’t save them. A few hours after taking that flower inside you, you’ll still die. I don’t know how to fix that nor solve that problem, but once you’re bitten, turned or not? You’re still dead." Jannah stared at the table with no emotion in her eyes, now that she’s experiencing the start of the apocalypse, she doesn’t know how to feel.

She prepared for this, right? She didn’t do those shopping spree and employing spree for nothing, right? So, why is she feeling so numb and empty?

"The zombies at this time doesn’t turn until the next day, for a whole twenty-four hours." Jannah told the princess before she stood up, "Do what you want with them, but don’t let them bite other people."

"Where are you going?" Huenazia asked, standing up from her seat as well when Jannah walked towards the door.

"To where my people are, Your Highness." Jannah answered truthfully once again, "I hope you’ll be able to solve the problem at the castle. May the Gods and Goddesses bless the young and brightest star of the kingdom."

She opened the door and walked out, closing it behind her. She was quick with her feet as she run out of the castle, her breathing turning heavy and ragged as she did her best to be as fast as possible.

It’s already dark and she didn’t notice because of the commotion inside the castle.

Her breath hitched when she saw the carriage in the distance. Her eyes lit up, her heart hammering inside her chest at the thought of reuniting with her little sister at the north gate.

However, her excitement died down when she saw the second and third princes standing by the carriage.

Her face turned cold as she approach them. She could tell that Dreidel was holding back what he wants to say so she quickened her pace.

"Prince Harry and Prince Hanzo." Jannah greeted them which made them turn to look at her, "What seem to be the problem, Your Highnesses? Did my people do something to cause trouble?"

"I heard that you solved the problem inside His Majesty’s chamber pretty quickly." Prince Hanzo didn’t answer her questions and went straight to the point, "Have you spoke with the princess?"

"We just finished." Jannah said, staring directly into his eyes with the same ferocity.

"Now, now, let’s calm down, shall we? We’re not here to suspect you, Countess. I heard from the royal knights of order inside the castle that you ordered them to chain the servants. Is there any reason for that?" Prince Harry smiled at her, the same forced and angelic smile that her sister sometimes show to the nobles.

"I told Princess Huenazia everything I know." Jannah smiled back at him, "If you want to know, go straight to the crown princess, Your Highness."

"Dreidel, prepare the carriage." Jannah told her knight, "Now, I’ll take my leave. So, if you may excuse me—"

She tried to walk past them, but Hanzo held out an arm to stop her.

"Are you sure you told the princess everything you know, Countess?" Prince Harry asked, turning his head to look at her.

"I did." Jannah gritted out, "So, please excuse me since I’ve done everything I could."

She pushes the third prince’s arm out of the way and shoved him aside, she opened the carriage door and stomped her way inside. She slammed the door closed, startling the princes outside.

The two of them waited until they heard the carriage roll away from the gates. The horses neighs loudly in the distance, cutting through the silence of the night.

Harry kept a smile, totally not bothered at how rude the Countess was to him and his brother. Instead, he proceeded to walk inside the castle.

"Lock the gates." Hanzo said to the knights standing in their posts, "Don’t let anyone enter nor exit."

"Yes, Prince Hanzo."

Hanzo walked passed them and catched up to his brother. His blood red hair and red eyes that has the same color of a human’s blood seem to reflect the lights coming from the castle’s exterior torches.

"What are we going to do now?" Hanzo asked his brother.

They didn’t get to interrogate the Countess about what she knows. Not like they have the power to do so. The house of Rafelon has the same authority as the three Dukes of their kingdom because the Rafelons would have been the fourth Dukedom if they accepted the King’s generosity.

However, Count Jade Rafelon, Countess’ Jannah Rafelon’s father, refused each reward offered to him by the King. The current head of the house, Jannah Rafelon, refused the reward offered to her by the King when she returned from the battlefield as well.

All the previous Rafelon’s heirs and heiresses were perfect to be one of the main pillars of the Kingdom, but they refused. That doesn’t mean they don’t have the same authority as the Dukes though.

"If it wasn’t for her achievements in the battle.. Then we would have enough power to take her in as a suspect." Muttered the second prince.

"Suspect?" Hanzo stopped in his tracks, "Brother, we cannot hold the Countess as a suspect."

"Well, what do you want to do? Hm? One of the our people said that His Majesty started to attack his people out of nowhere on the same day the Countess visited the castle for the first time after her retirement as a knight. What more do you want?" Harry stopped walking as well and turned to her brother.

Hanzo opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when he saw the crowned princess running out of the castle.

"Get me a horse!" She yelled, almost immediately, the knights standing outside all scrambled to go to the horse shed.

Hanzo didn’t waste any time to approach his sister’s frantic form, looking like she had seen a ghost. As he approach, the knight with a horse trailing behind him also approached the princess with quick footsteps, dragging the horse.

Huenazia immediately stradled the horse and Hanzo quickly run in front of the animal, "Woah, woah! Where are you going? I heard what happened to father, we’re supposed to be at his bedroom to check up on him."

Huenazia looked at him as she suck a deep breath, "How about you and Harry do that? Keep an eye out on him and don’t let anyone go near his bedroom— not even you or any of our siblings, understood? Stay here and.. And make sure those who got attacked, stay inside the dungeon."

"What? What are you—"

"Hiyah!"

Hanzo was confused, especially now that his sister ignored him. He could only watch her go out the gate with a horse given to her with their royal knights.

Harry inhaled deeply, his orange irises watching his sister’s back disappear from his sight. He exhaled, scoffing under his breath before he approached his little brother, tapping him in shoulder.

"Let’s go. We were given an order by the next ruler of the Kingdom." Harry said bitterly.

"This doesn’t make sense.." Hanzo muttered, following behind his older brother. Truly, it doesn’t make sense to him.

—

"Sis!" Jeriel called out to her big sister, face brightening up when the carriage rolled towards the gate.

The carriage came into a stop and Dreidel was quick to get down to open the door for his master. Jeriel ran down the stairs and went to greet her sister, only for her to gasp and step back when Jannah stepped out of the carriage.

"What.. What.. What happened? Whose blood is— no, are you okay?!" Jeriel diverted the question immediately and grabbed her sister’s arms, shaking her lightly.

"There’s no time to explain, Jeriel." Jannah hissed, shrugging her little sister off and walked passed her to go inside the north gates’ left tower.

Each gates have two towers where the knights stood guard every day. They are there to signal the castle knights just in case something outside the inner walls of the Kingdom. Most of the nobles and people with higher rankings than commoners stays inside the wall. Yet, Jannah and her people are willing to go out of that same wall because she knew that it won’t be safe.

Kirie, Lilo, Aran, Haile, and Marietta all stood up when they saw her walk inside. They were about to greet her, but they stopped and gasped at the sight of the blood on their master, the hem of her dress is stained with blood.

"No time to explain!" Jannah hissed once again, her voice dripping with authority, "Kirie and Lilo, help me change out of my clothes. Aran and Haile, get those horses out of the gate! The moment I’m done changing, we’re out of here!"

"Yes, my lady!"