The Countess Lives Twice in the Apocalypse-Chapter 49: Forty-eight

Jannah spent the rest of the morning by the watchtower, beside Jeriel, shooting arrows on the zombies down below.

The cubs are playing by their feet, mewling and purring, wrestling with one another.

Jannah glanced at the baby leopards, watching the previously injured cub wrestle with his sibling.

She knows their genders now because Jeriel had checked their genders earlier by flipping them on their back in her arms, spreading their hind legs open.

It was a funny sight for Jannah because the cubs looked like they were embarrassed getting their genitals checked.

"I’m so glad that the walls of this town is sturdy." Jeriel’s comment about the town made Jannah look at her, "If these walls are tough as a nail then the walls we’ll make in the next village will be tougher, right?"

Jannah smiled at her, "Of course."

Their conversation didn’t last long because Lucienta called them.

"My lady, Lady Jeriel? The food is ready!" The head maid called out to the sisters, making them break eye contact and look down to the once bloody steet.

True to Kirie’s words, she cleaned the blood stains from walls, ground, with the help of Duke Eulicies getting rid of the severed limbs and body.

He made sure that they won’t come back to life again by digging his own dagger through their skulls.

The Countess does not have any idea where he put the dead bodies, but she trusts him enough to not question him. She knows that he will make sure that the bodies won’t be found unless someone is interested with them.

Jannah lets out a sigh and picked up two baby leopards while Jeriel picked up the third one. The two of them descended the flight of wooden stairs to go to the bakery beside the blacksmith shop.

They walked across the street, basking on the clean sight of it.

"It’s almost unbelievable that Kirie managed to clean this place." Jeriel praised the maid’s handiwork as the sisters walked through the street.

"Tell me about it." Jannah agreed with her little sister’s statement.

"Meoraw!" The cubs in their arms seemingly agreed, mewing cheerfully and whisking their tails behind them.

Jeriel smiled at the sound they made, looking at them with a gaze full of fondness.

"Do you have a name for them?"

"Unfortunately, no." Jannah sighed out, glancing at the map to check the situation of her people and the Duke’s people inside the town’s hall, "I’ll worry about their names once we reach Philipia."

They didn’t exchange another word after that, their mind focused on getting to the bakery, their stomachs growling and demanding for food.

Once they reached the bakery and walked inside, Aran waved them over with a large smile on his face.

"My lady!" He greeted them quite enthusiastically, "I hope you don’t mind, but I have asked Marco to bring the kids and women their food in the mail house."

"I don’t mind at all." Jannah smiled at him, crouching down beside the counter and placed the leopard cubs down on the floor gently, "I’ll eat while I talk to the ladies in the mail house so prepare my meal."

Aran’s eyebrows furrowed, "Pardon?"

The Countess immediately knew that the head chef was taken aback by what he heard from her. A lady eating while she’s talking? Walking? That’s very undignify! It’s not how a lady should act!

The sisters exchange a glance for a second, before Jannah let out a sigh.

"It’s the start of the outbreak, Aran." Jannah stated with a shrug of her shoulders and stood up, "Eating my meal while I’m walking or conversing with someone will be normal."

"It’s how knights take a turn in eating." Jeriel backed her sister up with her statement, "It’s what we do in the knights of order, you know? Multitasking is what they call it."

"That’s so unladylike." The head chef shook his head, but prepared two bowls for his masters, "But then again, you two are knights so I have no say in this matter."

"It’s not that you don’t have a say in it." Jannah chuckled out as she leaned over to the counter, watching Aran pour the soup on to the bowl, "I just need to have that important discussion with the ladies, and it can’t wait."

Aran placed the bowl on the counter which was filled to the brim, "It’s alright, my lady. You don’t have to explain."

Jannah raised an eyebrow at him, taking the bowl off the counter and reached for the spoons, "You do know that status doesn’t matter now, right?"

"No." Aran rolled his eyes at her as he placed Jeriel’s bowl on the counter which she took almost immediately, "Outbreak or not, you’ll always be the master of the house Rafelon. Whether you like or not, my lady."

"He’s right." Jeriel agreed, shoving a spoonful of soup inside her mouth, "It doesn’t really matter if status doesn’t matter now, you were a noble before this happened and the people following you has it imprinted in their mind."

"Don’t speak with your mouth full." Jannah narrowed her eyes towards Jeriel as she scolded her, "Anyways, let’s talk about this next time because I really need to talk to the ladies in the mail house."

"Feed the Duke’s knights as well, Aran!" Jannah reminded the head chef as she and Jeriel bolts out of the bakery, the leopard’s cubs hot on their trails.

The sisters walked down the town to go to the mail house. They arrived just in time because Marco walked out of the door, a cart with a large empty pot and several bowls are placed on it.

"My lady." Marco blinked at her, "Lady Jeriel."

"Marco." Jannah smiled at him before walking past him, "Thank you for taking care of them! I need to discuss something with the ladies. While I’m doing so, why don’t you feed the knights of the Duke as well?"

"Of course, my lady." Marco lowered his head which made Jannah smile.

The sisters were quick to slip past through the door, letting the cubs go inside before Jannah closed it and locked it.

"Meoraw." Jannah turned around, her eyes landing on the mother leopard laying in front of the basement’s door, watching her cubs approach her with slitted eyes.

"Is that the mother?" Jeriel raises an eyebrow, pushing a spoonful of brother soup inside her mouth.

"Yeah." Jannah confirmed and did the same as Jeriel, the flavor of the soup exploded in her tongue, the taste of different spices making her moan out of delight, "This taste good."

"Tell me about it." Jeriel agreed, sipping the broth straight from the bowl.

Their short conversation must have been a little loud because the woman that Jannah healed peaked her head through the doorway, her pink eyes looking at her with wonder.

Their gazes locked, making the woman jump from the unexpected eye contact.

"Call the other women up here. We have something to discuss with you." Jannah called out to the woman, sipping the warm broth straight from the bowl.

"Yes, my lady." The woman answered, her footsteps loud and clear as she walk down the stairs.

"What are we going to discuss with them?" Jeriel asked, putting the bowl down on the desk beside the front door and leaned her weight on it.

"If they want to come with us to Philipia or not." Jannah placed her bowl on top of Jeriel’s bowl, already finished with her meal, "We can’t force them to with us and be one of our people. They have their freedom."

"True.." Jeriel trailed off, looking down on the floorboards.

It didn’t take long for the women to crowd inside the room. The mother leopard and her cubs went down to the basement to guard the door so no children would be able to eavesdrop to their conversation. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

One of the women closed the basement door, leaning on it for.

"I won’t beat around the bush so I’ll go straight to the point." Jannah spoke up after the women settled themselves in their places, "I killed most men of this town, leaving only five men alive."

"Why?" One of the women asked, an unreadable expression on her face, "Why would keep them alive?"

Jannah shrugged her shoulders, "I don’t know? Maybe to offer them as a peace offering for you, ladies? I’ll leave their fate in your hands. You can do anything you want with them while my people keep the children occupied."

Their eyes went wide, a shocked yet hopeful look crossing their features, "But why..?"

"Because they’re not humans." Jannah shrugged her shoulders once more, a smirk creeping to her lips as she tilt her head at them, "I heard things that shouldn’t be uttered by a human, how could I let them be?"

"Is that why you killed him?" One of them stepped forward, a new found courage coursing through her veins, "To give us redemption?"

"Think what you want." Jannah avoided the question and turned her smirk into a smile, "My people will be leaving after sundown to go to Philipia. You have the whole afternoon to do whatever you want with those scumbags."

"After that, it’s up to you if you’ll come with us to the next town and become one of our people." Jeriel continued her big sister’s statement with a smile of her own.

"Although, being my one of my people doesn’t come for free." Jannah added on.

"What is it that you want?" A woman with a dark hair asked, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Loyalty."