The Countess Lives Twice in the Apocalypse-Chapter 32: Thirty-one

[Please enter your name: _______ ]

"What the hell?" Jannah glared at the thing in front of her, does it actually think that her situation right now is a game?

"Pardon?" Duke Eulicies blinked and looked at her, "Did you say something, my lady?"

"I said nothing." Jannah’s glare was sharp and icy, just looking at her made the man tense up, afraid that he might have done something to spoil her mood.

Since this thing called itself ’system’ then I might as well call it that, no? Jannah’s eyes squinted further with her face scrunching in annoyance.

Getting separated from her little sister and people have made her mood get more sour as minutes pass by, but she is doing her best to not snap at the man beside her.

She could see him fretting over nothing after hearing her response and that made her feel odd, she is not used to nor like people worrying over her.

So she stayed quiet, focusing her eyesight ahead of her and forced herself to look past the system.

Duke Eulicies, on the other hand, have keep his lips shut as he looked back at his men.

All of them exchange a knowing look, having a conversation using their eyes for short moment before they shook their heads and shrugged their shoulders.

A gesture to tell him that they also don’t know what to do.

The Duke pursed his lips, his shoulders hunching forward as he turned away from them, glancing at Jannah every once in a while.

Jannah doesn’t know how to enter her name into the thing— or system, so she could only glare at it. Her annoyance has reached the sky at this point and could only wish to arrive in Rye as soon as possible.

Two hours.. three hours.. Four hours— five hours have passed since they left Kentucky. Time passed by before they knew it.

The absence of the moon light as the moon hide behind the clouds have made the environment feel far more mysterious for everyone.

There are several shadows dancing among the trees from the corner of her eyes and several shapes appeared more clearly, sparking her imagination.

Her heart raced a little faster.

What if those shadows are not just her imagination? What if one of those shadows is not actually a shadow, but a zombie? What if they are just waiting for them to let their guard down so they can pounce?

A simple shadow have spiked numerous thoughts in her head.

The forest is often quieter at night with only the rustling of leaves, the loud chirping of crickets, and the occasional hoot of an owl breaking the silence, but the darkness along with eeriness and foreboding atmosphere have forced them to keep their guards up.

Despite the stillness of the forest on either side of them, they made no sign of lowering their weapons.

Jannah had long abandoned and ignored the system thing in front of her face, forcing her to see through it so she can focus on her journey to Rye.

The moon have peak through the clouds every now and then, rising from the left to go the other side of the sky.

Another hour have passed in a complete silence and it was enough to drive the knights crazy.

Usually, they would have been talking among themselves and would entertain each other, but the Countess’s warning before they left the town kept popping in their mind.

They don’t want to risk their safety just because they were bored.

Jannah stopped looking through the road and looked at the system, still seeing the same text from five hours ago.

[Please enter your name: ______ ]

She let out a sigh, her chest heaving as she exhaled, feeling bitter because of the absurdity of the situation.

She does not want to raise her hand in the air and touch the system. The man beside her will surely ask her what she is doing and she does not want him to poke his nose in her business.

Do I really have to raise my hand to trace my name on it? The idea of looking like a fool had left a bitter taste in her tongue as she eye the blank spaces beside the colons.

Can’t I just think of my name? Like.. I’m the one and only Countess of house Rafelon, Jannah Kazhi Rafelon?

[Ting!]

[Ding!]

[Ding!]

All of a sudden, all at once, several sounds resonated in her head.

"Shit—" Jannah hissed, the sound in her head echoed so loud that she had to cover her ears, close her eyes tightly and stopped walking.

[Ding!]

[Ting!]

[Ding!]

The sound continued to reverberate, creating a dull yet throbbing ache in the back of her head shooting through her skull and spreading in her temples.

"Ghh..!" Jannah held her head, feeling her heart pound faster inside of her chest.

Suddenly, she felt like she couldn’t breathe. Her breath caught in her throat as she grasped the shirt where her heart is supposed to be.

She is feeling the same experience that she went through when she went with Jeriel to Count Nige’s mansion a few nights ago.

Her hands got clammy and started to shake, the ache in her head is now growing painful as the seconds pass by.

Her knees wobbled under her weight, unable to keep her ability to balance herself— her eyesight started to have black spots and she tried to blink them away.

However, what made her heart drop to her stomach is the familiar metallic taste in her mouth.

[Ding!]

[Ding!]

[Ding!]

[Congratulations, Jannah Kizha Rafelon!]

Amidst the throbbing pain in her head and the blurry eyesight, she still managed to look at the text that appeared before her eyes.

[ You have been chosen as one of the players! Due to the delay in the system, the rewards for the previous missions are now being transferred directly. Please, be patient and wait for the rewards to fully transfer to the player’s mail box.]

Mail box? Missions? I didn’t have any missions. Jannah wondered, her eyes slowly losing their focus.

[Ding!]

[Ding!]

[Ding!]

[Ding!]

[Ding!]

[Reward for the mission (Retrieval of Echinacea) sent to Player Jannah’s mail box!]

Retrieval of Echinacea..? She forced herself to think back to the process of buying the plant from Viscount Coleen, remembering how his servants tried to poison her, and the unknown commotion in his garden.

That crazy doctor wanted me to drink whatever is in that tea. Jannah grimaced at the memory of Viscount Coleen exchanging a look with his maids.

[Reward for the mission (Accompany a party member) sent to Player Jannah’s mail box!]

Accompany? She could not help, but jog through the memory lane to remember who she accompanied recently.

Due to her trying to think too much, the pain worsened which made her grip her hair to redirect the pain inside her skull.

"Hurts— crap!" She let out a strained groan, her face scrunching in pain.

However, even if she was in pain, she still forced herself to remember. The only person she could think of at the moment is her little sister— she accompanied her to the Count’s mansion because she was feeling nervous.

Was it Jeriel? She reached a conclusion that the system might have been referring to is her little sister.

[Reward for the mission (Restrain the Ruler) sent to Player Jannah’s mail box!]

She could not believe that the situation at the castle is a mission for the system, too. What happened back there was not something she should be getting rewards from.

What even is she receiving from the thing in front of her?

[Reward for the mission (Keep the infected inside the castle walls) sent to Player Jannah’s mail box!]

[Reward for the mission (Guarding the people) sent to Player Jannah’s mail box!]

The missions did not make sense to her. Just how missions did she finish before she activated the system? They just keep flooding and blocking her vision, she can’t even see what is happening around her.

All she could feel and make out of surroundings are the knights hovering.

She could see their mouths moving and their expressions shifting from another to another, but she really can’t hear anything that comes out of their mouth.

The sounds from the system is the only thing she could hear and the system in front of her is the only thing she could actually focus on.

However, in the middle of chaos, she could feel something warm dripping from her nose down to her upper lip. She raised her hand to wipe it off, but she realized that she could not.

That was the exact moment she needed to make herself snap out of her trance, finding out that she is being carried by someone.

A pair of strong and muscular arms are behind her back and knees, the chest that is pressed against her arm is heaving and the person is breathing heavily.

She wanted to see who is the one carrying her, but another pop up from the system catched her attention.

[Side mission (The Leopard’s cubs) unlocked!]

What..? I’m feeling like crap right now and this thing is telling me that there’s another mission? Jannah wants to curse whoever’s giving her the missions because how could they?

As if to mock Jannah’s condition further, a growl lechoed in the air.