Chapter 4: Three
"Listen, Jannah, I really feel like Juan is bad news!" Duke Eulicies exclaimed, panting heavily as he hid himself and the Countess behind a boulder.
"What did he do?" Jannah turned to look at him, not wanting to reject the Duke's claims towards the Baron.
"He was the one who alerted those zombies and got those infected running in our base. He's a numbskull who obviously wants to get you killed." Eulicies gritted out, the memory of the Baron's smile after watching everyone run out in different directions etched in his mind.
She should have listened to the Duke that day. Juan ended up betraying her after two months, a week after the base was finished.
Duke Eulicies is one of the three pillars in the Starlian Kingdom.
He's loyal to the crown and has earned himself the title of the Royal Hunting Dog. He takes the dirty work of the King and crown princess, efficiently killing those who want to rebel against the crown.
He's a person that shouldn't be mess with.
Jannah met him on the road a year after the outbreak happened, by that time, the infected have mutated further and became stronger, relentlessly seeking fresh human meat, chasing any creature that makes a sound.
She saved the Duke before he could be spotted and get bitten. She doesn't know why he was leaning against a tree with his sword a few feet away from him.
There was a group of zombies which was getting closer to his spot, but it didn't take long for Jannah to eliminate all of them, taking the Duke by surprise.
The previous soulless look on his face vanished when his purple eyes landed on her bloodied form, getting replaced with hope and life. Turns out, she's the first survivor he had encountered after the outbreak.
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She remembered him as a person who resembles a wild animal due to his unpredictable behavior.
So, seeing the Duke in person like this before the outbreak could happen, was something she need to do, but still nerve wracking.
"Countess Rafelon." Eulicies acknowledged her presence and nodded his head, "My butler announced your arrival so suddenly that I didn't have enough time to prepare you some tea. Please pardon this hideous treatment and allow—"
"There's no need for tea. I came here to discuss something with you, not to have an idle chit chat, my lord." Jannah cuts him off, staring straight into his eyes.
Duke Eulicies and his butler blinked several times, startled by her behavior.
"A-ah.. Yes, yes, what is it that you want to discuss with me, my lady?" The Duke had to cough behind his fist to hide his surprise, seeing the head of the house Rafelon was truly something he didn't expect for the next three years.
The house Rafelon is known for its strong and powerful heirs. The achievement of each heir had achieved was outstanding and could have their house rise up in rank of nobility if they so wish to happen.
However, each head of the house didn't want to which happened for several generations, and the head of the house Rafelon in front of him had made a notable feat in the battlefield.
He knows that the woman in front of him has more skills and knowledge in regards of fighting.
She could have ask the King to have a castle in the north and she would get it, but for some reason, she didn't ask for anything, except for telling the King to let her little sister enter the knights of order.
For the Countess to seek me herself.. It must be about something important. The Duke thought, signalling his butler to leave the room to give them some privacy.
The Countess watched the butler walk out of the door, closing it behind him.
She waited for a good minute before she turned her head to him and opened her mouth to reveal the reason why she sought him out in his mansion.
"Exactly seven days from now, an outbreak will happen in the capital, near the gates." She started slowly, observing the way the Duke's eyebrows shot up to his hair line from hearing the words she just blurted out.
"The knights of order will arrive at the scene very late, and by then, there will be people who got bitten and infected." Jannah said, closing her eyes as she recall the chaos that she witnessed after her little sister dragged her out of there.
"I'm sure that you have heard of rumors of something strange happening in the south. Believe those rumors, the things they bought here, will be the end of the kingdom." She added on to her previous statements, looking at the Duke's baffled face.
"I'm merely saying these things because you are a significant individual, my lord." You saved my people from dying and attracted the horde's attentions to yourself, was what she wanted to add on, but she held back because she knows that the Duke wouldn't believe such baseless words.
The look on the Duke's face is clear as day. His purple eyes are looking at her from head to her knees, trying to scope out her true intention, but her neutral expression gave out nothing.
He pursed his lips, thinking hard about what the Countess revealed to him and of course Jannah noticed this.
"It's hard to believe the nonsense I'm spouting, right?" She smiled at the Duke and made him flinch in his seat.
She stared at him with the same way he stared at her and she immediately could see the doubt on his face, "You don't have to believe them if you don't want to, my lord."
She stood up from her seat and placed a hand on her chest, lowering her upper body to bow her head at him. The action is a symbol of showing one's respect to the other which is often used between knights.
She did this to pay her respect to the Duke, the heroic action of his from the past being permanently etched on her memory.
"If you manage to live through the chaos, please head north to Philipia, I'll be more than happy to take you under my protection."