The Countess Lives Twice in the Apocalypse-Chapter 50: Forty-nine

"Let go of me!"

"Don’t touch me!"

"No, let go!"

"I don’t want to go out there!"

"That woman will kill me! Let go of me!"

The five men struggled on their planks and ropes as they get dragged out of the mail house by Arthur, Alejandro, Jeremiah, Haile, and Dreidel.

Jannah watched them with a raised eyebrow, she could hear their protest on going outside because of her.

I must have traumatized them. She hummed to herself, unintentionally locking eyes with Arthur. She nodded her head at him and he did the same.

"Place them in front of the blacksmith shop." She called out to the five knights, "Duke Zacharias have prepared a pole where to tie them up, make it quick."

"Yes, my lady." Alejandro answered, dragging the man he’s holding to the direction of the blacksmith shop, with the others following behind him.

"What did you do to make them scream like little girls?"

Jannah chuckled at the question, turning her head to Jeriel’s direction to give her a mischievous smirk, "They saw the demonstration of my skills then decided to call me a witch and a monster."

"You’re not a witch though." Jeriel’s face scrunched up in confusion, "They probably turned crazy because of their wrong doings."

Jannah rolled her eyes at her little sister’s statement, not believing the words she said about her not being a witch. How else would she explain the system and the changes in her body?

The skills? The heightened senses? She literally healed someone with her skill and killed a group as well.

Jannah’s lips formed a straight line, looking away from her little sister to look at the struggling and crying men in front of the blacksmith shop.

"I’m starting to think that they’re right though." The Countess said with a saddened and impassive tone, "I can’t think of any rational and logical explanation for the things I’m experiencing right now."

"Still." Jeriel discouraged her thought from accumulating further, "That doesn’t make you a witch, or a monster."

Jannah couldn’t help, but let out a bitter laugh at her little sister’s words, "No matter what I say, you’ll keep telling me that I’m not one of those, right?"

Jeriel made a face, "Of course. Why would I think that you’re one of those names when you’re far from it?"

A quiet laugh bursts out of Jannah’s throat with a small, amused smile creeping into her lips, "You’re supposed to end me for the sake of our people, but here you are, lying to my face and yours."

"It’s not lying." Jeriel frowned at her and slapped her on the arm, "Don’t even think of yourself as a monster, okay? No matter what everyone says or think. If anything else matters, it’s what you think, but I guess you would think what they think, huh?"

"No." Jannah denied her little sister’s claims, "I think if it comes down to it, I’ll think of what you think of me."

Jeriel smiled at that, "I love you, do you know that? I’ll always follow you, no matter what anyone says, no matter what you can do, no matter what you say."

"I know." Jannah smiled back at her little sister, "I love you, too."

"Good." Jeriel sighed out, relieved and happy that she managed to push her big sister’s mind out of the gutter.

She could tell that Jannah has been thinking of several negative things regarding her newfound ability since since she told her about them. The look on her big sister’s eyes back at the watch tower was solemn and downcast, she could only guess that she’s starting to believe other people’s words.

It’s the reason why she hasn’t left her Jannah alone ever since she called for her.

Jeriel raised an arm and pats Jannah on the back, making her jump in her spot and look at her.

"I’m going to get the ladies." Jeriel smiled at her big sister and squezed Jannah’s hand, "Why don’t you go and keep those men in line? You know? Prepare them for what’s about to come?"

Jannah scoffed, "Why would I prepare them? They deserve to be taken aback by the women they abused."

Jeriel’s smile widened and soon laughed, "Alright. Whatever you say, you’re the boss."

"I’m not." Jannah smiled back at her, watching Jeriel wave her hand in the air before she jogs towards the mail house.

The Countess sighs, putting her hand on the hilt of her sword and approached the knights in front of the blacksmith shop. Her eyes landed on the crying men on the ground, their gazes locked with hers, fear and anxiousness crossing their eyes.

"They’ll be here any minute now." Jannah spoke up as she gets closer to them, "I’m not confident to say that they would love my gift for them, but I’m hoping."

"I’m sure they will like it." Dreidel reassured his master, standing behind the dark haired man who’s tied up.

"Trust me on this, my lady. If I say that they will love it, they will love it." Haile smiled at his master.

"I believe that this is only one of the gifts you’re planning to give them. Yet, I could already tell that they will love it more than you will ever know." Arthur decided to jump into the reassurance.

"You prepared the things they will use on to these trashes, right, my lady?" Jeremiah asked, and when he received a nod from Jannah, he smiled, "Then I’m sure they will appreciate it beyond words."

"Trust the words of these knights, my lady." Alejandro added on, unsure of what to say to her to assure her.

Jannah appreciates the thought, making her smile and chuckle under her breath, "Thank you. I really needed that. At least I can tell for now that they will be glad to see these scumbags tied up."

"We’re not scumbags." The man in front of Arthur hissed, glaring at Jannah, "We only did what we could do to survive."

The eyes of the knights landed on him, silence falling on them like a cold, heavy blanket.

"To survive." Jannah repeated what he said with a stiff nod of her head, "To survive what? Winter?"

The man beside she asked let out a scoff, "Winter? Oh, that’s only the surface of it. I’m sure you saw those things outside, some of them were part of our people once, but they said they were bitten by a kid from Kentucky. After two days, they started attacking us, so you really don’t know anything, missy— ack!"

He let out a pained a groan, his head lolled forward. Haile had smacked him upside the head because of the name he used to call Jannah.

"Watch your mouth." Haile warned him before he smacked the man on the head again.

"It’s alright." Jannah stopped Haile from smacking the man on the head for the third time, dismissing the name calling.

"Anyways, a kid had bit one of your people?" Jannah redirected the conversation to the previous topic.

"The kid from Kentucky bit my boy." The man on the farthest left said, a frown on his face, "My boy started attacking my wife, and before I knew it, he had gone out of our house to attack my brother."

"Is that why you agreed to lock up those ladies and children in the basement?" Jannah raised an eyebrow at him as she crossed her arms, "Because your wife and kid are dead?"

The expression on the man’s face changed, a sinister smile emerging in his lips, "In fact, I saved them the trouble of being infected by telling the Baron to keep them safe in the basement because we were concerned for their safety."

"They were ecstatic about it." The man on the farthest right chuckled darkly, "In exchange for their safety, they opened their legs for us— ack! Ngh!"

Jeremiah stopped the man from speaking further by kicking him in the back.

The knights couldn’t believe the words they just heard. How could a human be this ghastly and dangerous?

"They didn’t just opened their legs, did they?" Jannah narrowed her eyes at the tied up men, "You killed them, cooked them, and ate them, didn’t you?"

Jannah expected a maniacal laugh or something outrageous, but the expressions on their faces changed from a sneer to confusion.

"The women?" The one in the middle, the man in front of Arthur, asked with an incredulous tone in his voice, "Why would we waste the women on something like that?"

"What?" Alejandro sneered at them, the frown on his face worsened.

"You really don’t get it, do you?" The man on his left laughed bitterly, "Why would we kill our women when we have the kids?"

The Countess’s eyes widened in horror, her hands slipping from her arms and falling limp to her. She felt a wave of terror wash over her, a primal fear that sent chills down her spine.

The color drained from her face, leaving her pale and shaken, and all she could do is ask for more information.

"What did you do to the kids?"

"What else?" The man on the right returned the question back to her as he glared at her, "What else are we suppose to do? Teach them and play with the—"

The man on the farthest left chuckled, cutting his friend off, "Oh, we played with them, alright. There were tears of joy from the little girlies—"

Before the knights could do anything to stop him from spitting bulls, someone else had beaten them to it.

"You bastard!"