The Countess Lives Twice in the Apocalypse-Chapter 73: Seventy-two

Jannah’s mind was still fuzzy when she began to come out of her dark consciousness.

"— down! I don’t care! She wouldn’t like it if you tried to do anything to those bastards!"

"Most of them doesn’t care whatever Jannah is, but those men needs to go, Riel!"

"We can’t decide things ourselves!"

The sound of shouting and yelling rang in her ears, a harsh sound that was at odds with the silence that she had previously been immersed in.

Jannah began to wake, vaguely aware of a feeling of something heavy on her, the weight of it pinning her down.

She struggled to open her eyes, her body still heavy with exhaustion and her mind slowly beginning to return to herself. She fought against the heavy weight, her body slowly starting to respond to her commands.

However, the heavy weight that had been pinning her down seemed to vibrate slightly, its rhythm steady, which confused her.

It seemed almost like whatever was pinning her down is.. Moving, as if it was alive.

The Countess’s eyelids slowly opened, revealing her hazy bloody red eyes, her head heavy, he remind black, and her body feeling sluggish.

The world around her was fuzzy at first, her eyes struggling to focus. Slowly, however, her vision began to clear, the weight on her body seeming to move as her awareness returned.

She could feel the vibrations against her body, the heavy weight shifting and vibrating with firmness and steadiness, and with her mind slightly clear, her awareness came rushing back.

She raised her head, her vision came into focus as she began to make out the shapes of the people around her.

"Calm down, you two."

"The Countess will be upset if she knew that you two ended up arguing with each other, please take a breather."

"The maid is right— calm down, Jeriel."

"I’m not taking your side, Marques."

The familiar voices of her little sister, maid, and friends reached her ears.

Ignoring the people arguing inside the room her gaze shifted to the source of the heaviness on top of her, only to realize that the heavy weight was the familiar one of her leopards, curled up on top of her.

With each breath, the leopard’s body heavy and solid on top of her, the leopard’s chest would rise and fall against her, its fur soft and warm.

Instead of panicking like normal people would do, Jannah’s weary body began to relax, her eyes squinting into a narrow gaze as she observed the mother leopard.

She was sprawled sleepily over Jannah, her heavy body pinning her to the soft bed. Sighing weakly, Jannah reached out slowly, her hand running through the leopard’s soft fur.

The feel of the leopard’s fur against her hand was familiar and comforting, her mind continuing to clear as she listened on the argument between Jeriel and Merlot.

"Why didn’t you tell me that she has powers? I would have prepared the people for it."

"It’s not a power."

"Then what?! How can you explain what she did? She literally created a wall around the town!"

"And? Shouldn’t you just be glad that she’s not an enemy?"

"That’s not the point, Jeriel!"

"It is! My sister will tell you about her abilities herself if she wants to! It’s not my place or right to tell you everything about her!"

"She’s right, Marques Ebonics."

"Duke Zacharias—"

"We can’t force Countess Rafelon to tell us anything about her ability. If she wanted to hurt us or anyone then she would have done so already."

Duke Eulicies’s voice was firm and sharp, leaving no room for rebuttal. It seems like the argument has been going on for a while now because both Jeriel and Duke Eulicies sounded so done with the Marques.

Due to that, they still don’t know that Jannah was already awake and stroking the mother leopard’s fur.

"Okay, I won’t force the three of you to say what she is, but how can you explain that to the crown princess and the third prince?" Merlot’s voice was full of nervousness and was shaking, "Jannah is our friend, but to them, she’s just another noble from the kingdom."

Jannah’s mind was blank, no thoughts racing through her brain as she continued to calm herself by petting the leopard’s soft fur.

Although, Merlot do have a point, but the question is, why is the princess and her brother in Philipia? As far as she can remember, she told the princess how to the infection and even gave her advice of killing those who have turned.

She didn’t tell Princess Huenazia to go to the town once the zombies infiltrated the capital.

Jannah just woke up. Yet, she already felt like going back to sleep and ignore the problems for now.

Her body still feels heavy, not because of the leopard, but because of something else.

Jannah felt weak, her limbs moving with an effort as she forced herself to give her leopard the pet she deserves.

The fatigue and exertion that still coursed through her body made it difficult for her to move any part of her body except for her hands.

She tried to shake the heaviness from her limbs, but the weight of exhaustion still pulled at her, making even the simplest movements a challenge, but again, it won’t stop her from petting the leopard.

Priorities. Jannah thought, an amused glint crossing her eyes for a moment as she continued to ignore, but listen to the argument.

However, even if she tried to be discreet to avoid confronting the current problem at hand, it seems like her little sister already knows that she’s conscious.

Go back to sleep. Jeriel’s voice rang in the back of her mind, causing for her fingers go twitch and her shoulders to flinch.

Don’t mind us. Keep on resting. Jeriel was stern as she hiss out the order so Jannah stopped petting the leopard and slowly closed her eyes.

"Let’s go to another room and discuss about this." Jeriel spoke up, cutting Merlot off before he could speak, "I don’t want to bother my sister, I feel like we’ll wake her up by all this yelling."

"Wouldn’t it be better to wake her up now?" Merlot asked.

"Hell no." Jeriel grumbled out with a scoff, "If you try to wake her up then you’ll stop her from replenishing her energy."

"Dear, I agree with Jeriel." Clara back Jeriel up, "I don’t want to risk Jannah’s safety. What if sleeping helps her to gain strength again? It would be our fault if we disturb her."

There was a short pause in the air. Silence filled the room and no one dared to speak, it was as if they were contemplating on what to do.

Then, Jannah felt a pair of eyes on her, that turned into two pair of eyes, three, four, five— she could feel their gaze on her sleeping form. Goosebumps appeared in her arms, afraid of being caught.

Jannah had to keep herself still on the bed, not wanting to rouse their suspicions for now.

Thankfully, the sound of the door opening had caused for the people to look away from her sleeping form, they turned their eyes to look at the person who opened the door.

"Is she still asleep?"

Jannah recognized the owner of the voice almost immediately.

"Yes, Your Highness." Jeriel answered on behalf of the people inside the room, "I’m afraid that she might continue to do so until this evening. If not, probably until tomorrow morning."

What? Jannah stammered out, disbelief and slight amusement dripping from her voice through the communication link.

From what she could hear, Jeriel basically told them that she wouldn’t wake up until later or tomorrow morning, which means, she will have to pretend.

However, as much as she didn’t want to pretend to be asleep, she also didn’t want to face her responsibility just yet.

So, what choice does she have?

"I see.."

Jannah can’t see the Princess Huenazia’s face, but from the tone of her voice alone, she could tell that the Princess is not pleased with what she heard.

"With that said, please step outside." Jeriel said, politely and urgently.

"Right, we don’t want to disturb the Countess." Duke Eulicies stated.

"Please allow me to lead the way to the office. I’ll ask Miss Lucienta and Sir Marco to bring all of you something to eat." Kirie spoke, earning a hum of confirmation and agreement from the people inside the room.

"Sounds great." Jeriel was one of the people to agree, "Anyways! Out now, please!"

Jannah could hear a couple of footsteps inside the room, quietly tiptoeing out of the door. The sound of their footsteps shuffling around the room was the last thing she heard before a soft click reached her ears.

The sound indicates that they have made it out of the room.

Don’t do anything reckless and stay in bed. Jeriel said, her voice borderline reprimanding her and reminding her.

Thank you. Jannah was truly grateful, not only did her little sister stir the people away, she also distracted them from her.

Just stay in bed. I’ll come back to check in on you after an hour, okay? Let the leopard accompany you for now. The youngest Rafelon stated, sounding almost distracted because she was quick to cut off the communication link between them.

Jannah’s eyes fluttered open, the ceiling of the queen size bed greeting her sight.

Guess I have no choice, but to go back to sleep. She mused in her thoughts, blinking slowly before drifting back to dreamland.