The Countess Lives Twice in the Apocalypse-Chapter 99: Ninety-eight

"I hope the Countess will be alright.." Lucienta stated, scrubbing the dirty plates with a cloth lathered with soap before putting it aside so Aran could wash it.

"She has not been herself since she came back from the prison house." Aran said, agreeing with Lucienta’s wishes for the countess to get well.

It has been two days since Jannah had locked herself inside her bedroom and hasn’t let anyone come inside except for Jeriel, Duke Eulicies, Marco, Lucienta, Kirie, Princess Huenazia, and Clara.

However, she only lets them come in if she needs to eat something— which she has not done except for a couple spoonfuls of soup.

It’s already day three of their master locked inside the bedroom, the Ebonics couple, Duke Eulicies, Princess Huenazia, Marco, Polo, and Jeriel along with Lucienta oversee the construction of the expanded area for the training ground.

Those who have the skill, Elemental Wall, are under the provision of Arthur and were split into two groups.

One who will do the wall with Arthur and the other one are the ones who will create new houses— making sure that they would help on putting the roofings for the houses they built as well.

Those who have the skill to create the elemental wall would sleep during the day, eat something during the evening, before they would get sent out to the back gate to return to their work.

They are not like the Countess they serve, their skills are not the same as hers so creating a wall that are as thick, tall, sturdy, and tough as the Countess’s wall takes a toll on their body— if they have used all of their energy, they will call it a night and reenergize themselves by sleeping.

Jannah had told them that they can regain their energy through eating and sleeping, but since they have limited food, they have to settle for sleeping.

Most of them don’t sleep for that long because they don’t use the skills they received from the Countess, but those who actively use their skills would be sleeping longer than eight hours to replenish their energy.

"Lady Rafelon asked for bread for the Countess."

Lucienta and Aran momentarily paused on washing the dishes, and turned to Princess Huenazia who was looking around the bakery.

"Where can I get it?" The princess asked, her eyes looking back at the two.

"It’s okay, Your Highness, I can carry it for my lady—" Lucienta said, washing her hands in a hurry and drying them on her apron before rushing towards the oven.

"No, the two of you can go back to whatever you need to do. I was on my way to the mansion with Lady Rafelon when she asked me to stop by to get bread for Countess Rafelon." Princess Huenazia explained, waving off Lucienta’s concern with a dismissive wave.

"Did my lady ask for the bread?" Lucienta inquired, grabbing a clean paper bag and bringing out a fresh loaf of bread from the oven, slipping it inside the paper bag and rushing to give it to Princess Huenazia.

"Sounds like it." The princess answered, a small, thankful smile on her face when she accepted the paper bag, "Thank you. Have fun with your work."

"Likewise, Your Highness." Lucienta returned the gesture with a nod of her head.

Princess Huenazia exited the bakery, closing the wooden doors and turned right where the mansion could be found if she continued to walk straight ahead.

"Is it just me or the crowned princess seems friendlier and approachable now compared to how she was when she first got here?" Aran asked, finding the interaction between the head maid and the crowned princess a little strange.

"The answer is the latter." Lucienta hummed out, walking back to the sink to continue lathering the plates with soap, "And it’s all because of the Countess."

Aran let out a hum of his own, wordlessly agreeing with Lucienta’s answer.

All of them would be lying if they said that nothing bad changed ever since they arrived from the capital.

Everyone has changed.

It just depends if they have changed to be friendlier and approachable or to be stoic and reserved— usually, it’s the former, but most of them are the latter now.

With Lucienta and Aran doing their daily task of washing the dishes, Jeriel, on the other hand, was staring down at the mother leopard and her cubs who was surrounding and suffocating her big sister to death.

A displeased expression on her face.

The Countess in question, doesn’t mind the company of the vibrating and purring leopards who seem to be comforting her to the best of their ability.

Ever since she found out what happened at the basement of the prison house, Jannah has refused to look anyone in the eyes due to the anxiety of making everyone turn into small pieces like Aria’s mother.

The system told her that she had used her passive skill, Devil’s gaze, on the woman.

Though, she doesn’t know how she would feel threatened by Aria’s mother when she felt fear by what she saw in the woman’s memories— not by the woman herself.

It doesn’t make sense. Jannah thought to herself, burying her face further in Eira’s side, letting the fur tickle her cheeks and make her head shake due to the vibration of the purr, just cheering herself up.

Even though Jannah said that it doesn’t make sense, nothing makes sense to begin with.

The system, the skills, the zombies, the outbreak, the second chance in life, the missions, the leopards— nothing makes sense.

Jannah let out a tired sigh through her nose, turning her head to the left, her chest heaving up and down deeply as she hugged one of the baby leopards closer to her chest, staring back at her little sister who was frowning at her.

"You called for me here, but you won’t even talk to me. Just what do you want from me, sis?" Jeriel asked, letting out a sigh of her own as she plopped herself down on Jannah’s bed.

Your company. Jannah responded through the mental link, her bloody red eyes squinting lightly as she glanced at the map, catching the sight of Princess Huenazia and Kirie walking towards her bedroom.

Did you ask Princess Huenazia and Kirie to come here? Jannah inquired, looking away from the map to look at the door, the map told her that they were near and would knock any second now.

"Just the princess." Jeriel said, standing up from the bed and walking over to the door, "I told her to fetch bread from the bakery just in case you’re in the mood to eat."

But I’m not. Jannah replied, her eyebrows furrowed as she buried her face back on Eira’s side, making the mother leopard start licking her hair, grooming her like how she groom her cubs.

"But you will." Jeriel stated, her voice firm and stern, opening the door before Princess Huenazia could knock, "You haven’t eaten properly for a couple of days, at least have a bite of the bread the princess brought for you."

How upsetting. Jannah wanted to roll her eyes at how her little sister became adamant on making her eat, but how can she? She could still feel the hands of those—

Jannah shuddered, a chill ran down her spine as goosebumps rose on the back of her neck and her arms, shaking her head violently to get rid of the images and the flashbacks from her mind.

She could deal with the guilt of killing innocent lives of knights on the battlefield, but never deal with something as terrifying as that.

"Your little sister is right, Countess." Princess Huenazia commented, walking towards the side of the bed and placing the paper bag down on the bedside table, "Eat something without throwing it up, you won’t recover at this rate."

I wish I could. Jannah said in her mind as she tightened her embrace on the leopard cub.

The three women inside the room exchanged looks when the woman laying on the bed didn’t respond nor show any sign of movement.

They all simultaneously let out a sigh, shaking their heads to each other, not wanting to make the Countess bury herself in the small family of leopards like how she had been doing whenever someone tries to force something out of her.

"Well, I’ll be leaving this bread here, have a bite if you get an appetite." Princess Huenazia said, walking towards the door as she let her eyes linger on the curled up position of the Countess.

Thank you. Jannah expressed her gratitude through the mental link between her and the princess, making the princess flinch in surprise.

Please get well soon. Your people are worried about you. The crowned princess said, her voice soft and gentle, letting Jannah know what she has been witnessing for the past two days.

Jannah didn’t respond and the princess took this as a sign for her to take her leave, leaving Kirie and Jeriel alone inside the Countess’s room.

Kirie silently placed Jannah’s clothes for the day on the wooden table on the corner of the room before taking her leave as well, making Jeriel sigh and lock the door.

Then, she crawled in Jannah’s bed, slipping herself in her big sister’s arms and almost immediately, Jannah started crying.

Please get well soon.. Jeriel thought with a frown.