The Countess Lives Twice in the Apocalypse-Chapter 96: Ninety-five

In the small town of Philipia, deep in the north forest of Starlian Kingdom, the midnight hour was a time of peace.

The streets were quiet, the houses dark as the townsfolk slept, but the street torches glowed and flickered softly, their light casting shadows on the almost empty streets.

The only sound was the occasional call of knights for the other knights or the distant playful chuffs of the baby leopard somewhere in the town.

The air was still, the night air cool and peaceful, like it was as if the town itself was resting, the residents hidden away in their homes. The clock struck twelve and half of the town settled into the silence of the next hour.

However, even if townsfolk slept, some of them are up to do their own thing.

A little girl runs past through the back of houses, a bundle of potatoes and bread on her arms, as she makes her way to the spaces between the houses and buildings, her footsteps light and quiet.

She took a peek on the corner to look if anyone was around and walking in the street, she looked from left and right, going back and forth to double check the coast.

Seeing that no one was around, she immediately made a run for it, her grip on the potatoes and bread tightened slightly as she made her way to the other side of the street with a sense of urgency in every step.

Her heart raced inside of her chest, her breath getting caught in her throat once she was tucked in the comforting darkness of the alleyway.

She took a few silent, deep breaths, freezing in her tracks for a moment before she went back on her way, her eyes trained ahead as she rushed towards the building by the end of the street.

She skidded into a stop by the alleyway beside the building, her short legs trembling slightly as she stood on her toes to look through the window, checking if anyone was around or inside the building.

She let out a sigh of relief when she saw no one, her heart skipping a beat out of happiness.

Quietly, quickly, but quite clumsily, she slipped through the door and closed it as soon as she could to not let anyone get suspicious if they managed to catch the door open.

Once more, she made her way down the staircase leading to the basement where the cells were built and where her mother was locked up.

She carefully made her way down the stairs, peeking her head through the gap of the staircase and the floor to see if there was anyone around just like how she did on the street and on the window earlier.

Her eyes went wide in excitement when she saw no one once again and eagerly continued her way down.

"Mama!" The little girl squealed quietly, "I brought you food again!"

The woman inside the cell perks up, her pair of yellow eyes that the little girl inherited locking with the little girl’s gaze, she stood up abruptly when she realized that the little girl called was her and not the other prisoner beside her.

"Good job, Aria." The mother praised her child and grabbed the potatoes and bread, "No one saw you, right? No one knew you took something from the pantry?"

The little girl shook her head with enthusiasm, a large, bright grin on her face as she giggled.

"Eat to your heart’s content, mama!" The little girl said, grabbing the metal bars and leaned forward to watch her mother eat the food she brought for her closely.

"Thank you, my child." The mother smiled gratefully towards the little girl and she took a bite of the potatoes.

However, before she could, a particular movement caught her attention.

The mother turned her head beside the little girl and watched intently, the surroundings seemed to shake and vibrate in the air, making the mother’s jaw drop in fright.

Slowly, a person’s body start to form, starting from their feet up to their legs, up to their thighs, and hips—

As the person’s body slowly became visible, the mother’s eyes widened, her mind trying to process the unbelievable scene before her. She couldn’t believe her eyes, watching as the person’s body seemed to shimmer a bright glow of red and shift.

The large size of the person’s chest was a telltale sign that the person before is the same gender as her.

The woman before the mother had her features slowly coming into focus, her bright red bloody eyes and soft lips slowly becoming visible through the fading shroud of unknown energy.

The sight of the woman behind her little girl made her let out a terrified gasp, the potatoes and the bread in her hands falling to the ground as she took a step back.

"C-C-Countess.." The mother whispered, her voice shaking and raspy.

Hearing her mother’s words, the little girl’s yellow eyes went wide in shock and fear, her grip on the metal bars tightened significantly and her legs started trembling.

"I wasn’t expecting a child to be the thief." Jannah stated, her eyes narrowed towards the little girl in both concern and disappointment.

"I didn’t stea—" The little girl turned around and tried to deny Jannah’s words, but she stopped herself from speaking further when she heard a couple footsteps descending the staircase.

"I also didn’t expect this specific child to be the one to steal from us." Jeriel spoke up which made the concealment skill to deactivate.

The mother watched with her face paling as another person in front of her slowly came into view, the unknown power that had concealed her form slowly disappearing.

"Kid, did you know what your mother did to her friends? What she probably did to help those men do horrible things to your friends?" Jeriel asked with a frown, her form becoming clearer and clearer with each passing moment.

"M-my mama didn’t do anything b-bad!" The little girl exclaimed shakily, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

Arthur and Lucienta came down the stairs, their footsteps shuffling above the ground as they made their way towards the Countess.

"We have finished the preparation." Lucienta informed Jannah, casting a worried and anxious glance towards the little girl who looked like she thought she didn’t do anything wrong, "Is this the culprit, my lady?"

"Yes." Jannah answered shortly, the disappointment rolling off her tensed form.

"Are we going to cut off her hands?" Arthur inquired, turning his head to look at the mother inside the cell because she was the cause of the thievery that happened.

"You can’t do that!" The mother shrieked, slamming herself against the metal bars and gritted her teeth, "All of you are monsters! How can you do that to a child?! All of you don’t deserve to live! You should have experienced the things the women in that town had experienced—"

"Mama! No!" The little girl cried out, her tears starting to escape her eyes, "You can’t say that to them! They saved me and Eric!"

"I can say anything I want! Your father thinks so, too! It’s the reason why we had asked the men back in Rye to do those things because they deserve it!" The mother growled, her body exuding resentment and contempt.

Everyone before her had their eyes widening. She basically revealed that she was an accomplice of several criminals. However, one person was more shocked than Jannah and the rest.

"B-b-but you said you didn’t know a-anything.." The little girl said, a horrified expression on her face as she stepped back from the metal bars.

"Didn’t know anything? I know that the women in that town are all special! I’m the only one who’s not special! Your father doesn’t want me because he wants that dumb and scoundrel of a woman, Liria!" The mother exclaimed, her grip on the metal bars tightening.

The little girl continued to back away, her breathing heavy and uneven as she watched her mother turn into someone she doesn’t know.

"If only you and your brother weren’t born then your father would have looked at me the way he used to!" The woman started banging her head against the bars, the sound of flesh splitting quietly reverberating in the air.

Jannah immediately grabbed the little girl and turned her around, forcing the little girl’s face on her stomach as she nodded her towards Arthur.

Arthur got the signal and was quick to do what she wanted, he opened the cell, making Lucienta, Jeriel, and Jannah take a step back as the knight lunged forward, grabbed the woman’s neck and slammed her to the wall.

"Argh!" The woman let out a pained yelp and started to struggle, but her struggle ceased almost immediately before her hands fell to her side as she fell limp and turned completely still.

You must have slammed her head pretty hard. Jannah told Arthur through the link, making the knight whisk his head to look at her, his eyes wide in fright, afraid that he had done something wrong.

Don’t worry, I can heal her. The Countess assured him almost immediately when she saw the troubled expression on his face. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Jannah let out a sigh, her eyes shifting to the little girl who was shaking quite terribly against her body.

"Care to tell me why you stole food that could feed half of the people in this town?"