The Countess Lives Twice in the Apocalypse-Chapter 52: Fifty-one

Jeriel knows what kind of feelings the Duke harbors towards her big sister.

It was obvious.

The red cheeks, ears, nervous behavior around Jannah, wanting to look cool, following her around with his eyes— she could tell right away what he feels about her.

That fact alone leaves a bitter taste in her tongue, making her scowl at him.

"Are you okay? Did you get hurt?" Jannah asked once more, seeing that the Duke is still in a state of shock.

"I didn’t get hurt." Duke Eulicies shook his head, not moving his hand away from his face, but he also didn’t look at her, opting to turn his head away from.

"You heard him." Jeriel narrowed her eyes towards her sister, her gaze landing on the hand that’s gripping the waist of the Duke.

Seeing the close proximity of the two made her feel annoyed.

"He’s fine, let him go." Jeriel hissed, walking towards them to snatch her big sister’s wrist and pull her away from the man.

Jannah stumbled forward, not fighting her little sister’s sudden action.

She didn’t let go of the Duke’s waist until he stumbled forward, stepping away from the edge of the watch tower. Jeriel kept pulling her and finally lets go of the Duke when Jannah saw that he’s far enough.

"We’re not going to sneak up on you next time." Jeriel glanced at him with eyebrows furrowed, squinting her eyes into a glare, "Not anymore anyway."

"That’s reassuring.." Duke Eulicies looked away from them, putting his hand down to his side.

With the tension rising in the air, Jannah had to distract one of them.

"Why don’t you go and check your men by the town’s hall and blacksmith shop, Duke Zacharias?" Jannah turned her head to look at him, forcing a smile and giving him a chance to slip away before he could die.

"I don’t know if some of your men are still at the town’s hall, but if they aren’t, then check the bakery." Jannah continued, intertwining her fingers with Jeriel’s, hoping that it will at least help calm her little sister down.

Jannah shot a quick glance at the map, scoping out the location of the Duke’s men.

Kean, Diazo, and Loren are by the bakery, with Loren watching what’s happening in front of the blacksmith shop.

Alejandro, Arthur, and Dante are by the blacksmith with Jeremiah, Haile, and Dreidel. Jannah guessed that they’re still there because the ladies haven’t finished their businesses with the trashes yet.

She looked away as soon as she finished scoping out the location of the people, nodding her head towards the Duke.

She don’t have to tell him that they’re at the bakery because he might get suspicious of her and ask her, but if he asks her, Jeriel will blow up and will most likely throw fancy words at his way.

Of course, Jannah doesn’t have and want to deal with all that so she might as well stay quiet.

"I’ll take my leave." Duke Eulicies cleared his throat, nodding his head back towards her.

"Be careful in your way down." Jannah told him with a small smile, watching him nod his head for the second time before he walked past them, scurrying to get down the stairs.

The sisters watched the Duke of the east scramble away from the watch tower, his hurried footsteps leaving a trail of dust behind him.

Jannah looked away, clearing her throat to get her little sister’s attention.

Jeriel blinked owlishly, looking at her with a straight face, "What? Are you going to scold me for pulling you away from that man?"

The sass was clear as day, indicating that Jeriel didn’t like the unexpected turns of events.

"No." Jannah denied her little sister’s claims with a shake of her head, "I was just wondering why you did that. I know for a fact that you’re not the type of person to suddenly get that snarky to someone else without a reason."

"Wow." Came a sarcastic remark from the younger lady, "Guess his feelings wasn’t that obvious to be begin with then?"

The revelation of the reason made Jannah blink rapidly in confusion. She frowned, eyebrows creasing deeply as she pull her hand away from Jeriel, crossing her arms.

"I didn’t expect you to be this childish." Jannah huffed out and shook her head, "Him having feelings for me shouldn’t be a reason for you to give him a hard time."

Jeriel frowned as well, "Why? Do you like his attention?"

"Jeriel." Jannah called her name with a underlying warning tone, "I don’t care if people gives me attention, romantically or platonically. I wouldn’t give them the benefit of the doubt of me liking them."

"Then why are you telling me to not be hard on him?" Jeriel shot back, whining to her big sister.

"Because no one deserves it." Jannah said with a matter-of-fact tone as she lets out a sigh, "I already know that he likes me, okay? I’m not doing anything to give him false hope. What happened earlier is an accident, we shouldn’t have sneak up on him like that—"

"You know he likes you?!" Jeriel gasped out, seemingly not hearing the rest of what Jannah said.

"Is that the only thing that you heard?" Rubbing her temples, Jannah lets out a sigh, tired and over with her little sister’s load of bull.

"Yes— No, I mean, uhh.. Yeah, no, but— you know what? Yes, I think it’s the only thing I heard from you." Jeriel gave up on coming up with lies and decided to tell Jannah the truth which made Jannah sigh again.

"You can’t blame me! For the twenty years you’ve been alive, you haven’t had any romance!" Jeriel exclaimed, her eyebrows furrowed, "It’s unexpected of you to catch up on the hints."

"I know, because Duke Zacharias confessed to me before." Jannah dropped the bomb with a raised of an eyebrow, "I rejected him because we were in the middle of building the base that time. He told me that he was willing to wait."

"Oh my god— seriously?!" Jeriel let out a exasperated gasp, "So? Did you two live happily ever after before you got sent back in time?— don’t get the wrong idea, okay? I’m asking because I want to know if he was good to you! It’s not because I want him for you."

Jeriel defended herself from the upcoming accusations by laying her reasons on the table, not wanting to be mistaken of eager to know more about her big sister’s love life.

Jannah laughed under her breath which made Jeriel frown, "It’s funny. You were the one pushing him to confess to me because you knew about his feelings and rooted for him."

As Jannah said that, she recalled the times when Duke Eulicies would walk up to her to give her flowers— the ones that were hard to find because three years in the outbreak, the environment started to decline.

After three years in the outbreak, the environment is a barren and desolate wasteland.

The once-thriving capital, villages, and towns are now deserted with only the ruins remaining as a reminder of their former glory. The buildings are crumbling and decay is spreading rapidly, leaving everything looking bleak and hopeless.

The air is thick with the stench of rotting flesh and the only sound to be heard is the shuffling of the remaining undead, searching for their next victim.

There are few signs of life left and those that remain are fighting for survival— including Jannah and her people.

Despite the luxurious life they all had before the outbreak, the survivors managed to find ways to defend themselves and fought their way to escape the capital, towns, and villages.

Most survivors have decided to stay in the forests around the kingdom of Starlian since the trees provided them enough security and safety.

Jannah and her people built a base in the southern part of the kingdom, but that backfired when she got betrayed by the man she called a friend.

"Me? Help him? Wow." Jeriel’s sarcasm had snap Jannah out of her recollection, making her blink owlishly, forgetting where she was for a moment.

"I don’t want anyone to take you away from me. Especially not right now." Jeriel stated, a solemn look crossing her blue irises as she stared at her feet, "I was startled by the display of his feelings, I didn’t notice it until earlier. It caught me off guard."

Jannah smiled softly upon hearing her little sister’s confession.

"I don’t mind if you’ll get married and have children, but it’s too risky right now." Jeriel reasoned out with a quiet huff, "I can’t accept him just yet unless I know he can take care of you." 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

"You do know that I’m stronger than anyone else right now due to the system, right?" Jannah mused, couldn’t stop herself from teasing her little sister.

Almost immediately, a scowl emerged in Jeriel’s face which made Jannah hold in a laugh, "Doesn’t matter! If that man can’t take care of you just because you’re stronger than him then he has no rights to expect something!"

Jannah chuckled as she shake off the ridiculousness of their topic, "I’m sure that he’s not expecting anything—"

She abruptly stopped talking when the familiar sound of the system echoed in her mind.

[Ding!]

[The mission (Rescue my people) is complete!]

[The side mission (Rescue the captured) is complete!]