The General's Wife Wants to Leave-Chapter 58: Fleeing with a screeching sound

Joanna had never imagined that one day she would be faced with an indescribable reality that was laid bare before her eyes.

It made her think about if today was her last day to breathe and the ones that would take her life were right in front of her, facing her without blinking even once.

She knew that at the moment she had to stay still although she wanted to run as fast as she could, escaping from the fate that might be destined for her.

Carefully drifting her wavering eyes from one of the creatures in front of her to her attendants, it was Fabio who caught her sight first. He was also in a frozen state, but she somehow could read the hint that was painted on his now pale face for her to stay still, refraining from making any reckless move.

One of his hands was grabbing the hilt of his sword while the other one was used to cover Lucy’s mouth so no scream was spilled because of the horror before her eyes although the scream seemed to be already on the tip of her tongue. Additionally, Joanna could see Lucy’s body was trembling from the fear and her eyes went wide as she and the General’s men were also facing the same creature right before them.

To be precise, one creature seemed to be ready to devour her, while the other one was eyeing her attendants.

Shifting her eyes back to the creature in front of her, which was now gnashing its teeth at her with its saliva drooling down, Joanna thought that the end of her life was approaching in a few breaths. But she had not informed Lucy or Mrs. Powel what to do with the herb to cure the little boy if she happened to die.

Suddenly, Joanna wanted to laugh as loud as possible when her mind, which wandered around as if commemorating every memory in her life before she died, arrived at one point that she would really die as the man’s wife, just like how he reminded her at that time.

If today was really her last life, she was sure that good luck was completely on the man’s side. And what he had said to her would be true that her large tombstone would be engraved as Joanna von Rodega. What a hilarious reality it was then.

But what if the creature that looked hungry swallowed her whole body with nothing left behind. Would there be a grave for her? If there were a grave, what would be placed in the casket to be buried in the deep ground? Joanna thought that she had turned crazy as her mind had wandered around aimlessly to the point it had lost.

But, no! It was not time to think about death. She still wanted to spend longer time with her family, especially when she had the chance to return to Terra, which Joanna in the dream was not able to do.

Based on what she saw in the dream, Joanna never returned to Terra after she married the General. She had never seen her family since then. So, since she had this privilege, she did not want to throw it away and end up like Joanna in the dream, having a short time to indulge with her father and brother.

As for Liam, she wanted to at least help him heal so that he would grow up old, not like her son in the dream.

But how could she escape from death, which seemed to come closer as the hungry creature began to walk slowly toward her?

Joanna took a step backward with every step that was taken by the creature before her and she shuddered when she noticed that the creature was readying itself to jump at her.

Was it time to run? Joanna felt her body numb and her legs limp but she gripped her skirt as if ready to lift it to run away from what fate laid out for her.

"Run!" It was then she heard Fabio shout and watched him run at a light speed in her direction, blocking the creature from pouncing at her.

Just like birds that rested behind the lush leaves fleeing with a screeching sound at the deafening loud shout that shattered the previously quiet woods, Joanna turned around and lifted the front of her heavy dress, running as fast as she could toward wherever her legs and empty head led her.

If she previously thought that wearing a thick dress was a good choice for her herb hunting session as it could protect her from the cold, the thought was nowhere to be found in her head now.

As she ran, she heard a grunting sound made by a person behind her, a shriek of pain that she could clearly describe even though she did not turn her head to confirm that she was right.

At this very moment, her eyes felt burned as she was sorry for the General’s men who had insisted on becoming her guardian and she was also sorry for her rude behavior toward them.

With the increase of the beating of her heart, she hoped that there was nothing bad happening to them despite the sound of a dreadful commotion that was getting faint as she got further away from them.

She hoped the creatures were not following her. It was her wish that she raised not primarily for her safety, but to ensure that the General’s men were fine as they were able to tackle those creatures, the black giant wolves, which appeared out of nowhere, as she had never encountered one during her visit to the forest so far.

If they had even a little luck, she hoped to be able to see them again, to send her sincere gratitude to them.

Joanna kept running with all her might without glancing back even once, deeper and deeper into what seemed like an endless abyss of trees, shrubs, and bushes. The taut bun of her hair loosened, causing her wavy black hair to flow down freely behind her back, dancing with the wind like a pair of black wings.

When Joanna felt that she had run quite far away as she was no longer able to breathe easily, she considered stopping from running and finding a secluded area to hide.

She did not know the result of the dreadful commotion that was now far behind her. Whether she would be able to see the General’s men and Lucy again was still a mystery.

Therefore, in the meantime, although it was clear that nothing followed her behind, she would hide until everything was certainly safe.

Ceasing from running away, Joanna walked at a quick pace with her short, raging breath despite knowing that there was nothing chasing her. She did not want to let her guard down, making everyone’s efforts to make her escape from those creatures useless.

Her shoulders moved up and down in sync with the rapid heave of her chest as she caught the air through her mouth since breathing through her nose was now hard to do.

Turning her head to look around, she sought a place that she could use to hide until her attendants came to get her. It was her decision to make after realizing that she could not get back to her initial spot by herself as she really had no idea where she was now. She did not even remember the way back to where it started.

She might be able to find her way back there if she tried, but her current condition did not allow her to do so as breathing was a struggle for her and her body looked like it was going to collapse soon. However, if she had regained her energy and felt that she had waited for her attendants long enough, she would try to find her way back there. Joanna considered. Hence, she would take a rest until her energy was recharged.

With her raging breath that sounded vividly, filled in the hymn of her surroundings, Joanna took a route to the left where she noticed lusher and more packed large trees. She then chose one of the large trees that looked old and hid behind it.

She breathed heavily through her mouth as she had difficulty absorbing oxygen into her lungs through her nose. While doing that, she prevented herself from making noticeable noise.

On the second torturing occasion after hiking the mountain, she blamed herself for not exercising a lot so that the capacity of her lungs was narrow. She wondered if she had no good match with mountain areas as she found them beyond the capacity of her strength.

As she could not bear the exhaustion that was more obvious when she was in a more relaxed state, Joanna slumped on the humid ground of wild grass with her back leaning against the big mossy tree trunk.

A gasp left her lips when she felt there was something falling on her head, not long after she rested on the grassy ground. Startled, Joanna lowered her head immediately, removing everything on her head by waving her hand in a swift movement, hastily, as she did not dare to be in contact too long with whatever it was that rested on her head.

And she took a breath of relief when she saw it was only a leaf that was now laid on the ground. Joanna patted her frantic heart with her trembling hand. She could not imagine what she would have done if the thing that fell on her head was another moving creature.

Setting aside the fear of the probability of snakes or any creatures crawling on her body, Joanna closed her eyes while steadying her breath. If she felt there were moving creatures, she would make another escape. So, she chose to relax for a moment.

Eventually, a realization surfaced in her horrid mind when she was relaxed that she was really alone now, only accompanied by a sepulchral silence that overhung her dim surroundings.

Opening her eyes, she perceived nothing stirred or shone or sang but the rapid beating of her heart.

At such a realization, Joanna found her body shuddering because of both exhaustion and anxiety. It made her reconsider her preference to enjoy the natural tranquillity of the forest. She would think more than thrice if she was offered to roam around a foreign forest like where she was at the moment.

When she felt that she had hidden for quite a long time but was not sure for how long, shuffling noises from the opposite direction of where she was suddenly caught by her senses of hearing.

Moving her head to the side as if trying to ensure that she heard something that broke the eerie silence that engulfed her before, Joanna turned alert as she positively confirmed that she heard something.

The sound of footsteps on the crispy grass, followed by the sound of the snapped branches, took over the single sound of her fraught heart.