Seven

"Six days from now, an outbreak will happen." Jannah calmly stated as she took a sip from her morning tea, "I have a suspicion that the infection started at Nimpa, on Baron Cohen's territory, bought by Lady Davis's attendants."

She looked at her little sister, discreetly trying to guess Jeriel's series of thoughts after telling her about the future event. Seeing that her little sister only nodded her head, she let herself continue.

"The rumors from the borders about an illness spreading is true. However, it wasn't just an illness, it will wipe half of the humanity overnight— it might be spreading as we speak, who knows." She said, shrugging her shoulders and taking another sip. She had just finished her breakfast with her little sister before she got dragged towards her office, Jeriel notified the servants to not enter the room until she said so.

Hence, the situation they are in. Jannah sitting comfortably in front of her little sister, who looked at her as if she had grown three heads.

"You know of this.. Because?" Jeriel raises an eyebrow at her.

"Because I went back in time. I was bitten and died four years after the outbreak happened." Jannah answered truthfully, her mind recalling the betrayal, her little sister's cries and begging, the princess waiting for her, and the heaviness on her chest knowing the fact that Jeriel only has herself after she died. Now that she's opening up about the past, she felt the same uneasiness she felt when she and her little sister walked towards the south. They had to thread carefully and stealthily due to the zombies being attracted to sounds.

Jannah immediately shut her eyes and shake her head to get rid of the memories, she's back in the past and have the chance to prepare for the worst, she need to protect herself and Jeriel properly this time.

"I've already emptied out the shops on the shopping district and had them sent to Philipia, on the north. We went south before so I'm planning to head north this time." Jannah said after a good minute of silence.

Jeriel frowned, her big sister looked like she already made up her mind and didn't want to back down on her plan. She doesn't know how to believe her, but she saw both fear and anxiousness on her sister's eyes. Jeriel knows that Jannah doesn't get scared easily, she only show fear if she's related to the matter— seeing that she was anxious, she knew that she might have been there. After all, she knows how much her big sister love and adore her.

"Alright." Jeriel caved in and let out a sigh, "So? What do I have to do?"

"You believe me?" Jannah asked, incredulous at how fast her little sister accepted the nonsense she was spouting.

"Not really." Jeriel confessed, "But you're my sister, the one who raised me, protected me, did everything in her power to give me what I need and want— you're my only family, I will always have your back. So, if you said you'll move to Philipia, then I'll obviously go with you. No further question asked."

"That means you will need to leave the order of the knights. You will have to give up your dream, Jeri." Jannah pursed her lips, "Is that okay with you?"

"Is the answer not obvious?" Jeriel scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Wherever you go, I follow."

Jannah's eyebrows furrowed, her heart swelling from how much her love for her sister overflowed by that statement alone.

"Besides, my sister is having a scare after waking up. It's my duty to soothe that anxiety, right? Like you always did with mine whenever I feel blue and under the weather." Jeriel smiled softly at her, tilting her head adorably towards her sister.

God, I love her. Jannah thought, heart full of fondness and adoration as she nodded her head.

"You can tell me more about it on our way to Philipia. For now, let me accompany you wherever you need to go. I'm sure you have your day packed with plans and I delayed you enough as is." Jeriel said, standing up from her seat and stretching her arms.

As soon as she said that, a knock on the door made the sisters snap their head to look at that direction.

"My lady, Lady Viola have arrived and was lead to the music room." Marco, the head butler, said. "She bought a lot of clothes according to what she was told."

"Alright, we're finished here. Tell her that we'll be there." Jannah called out.

The two waited for the butler's footsteps to vanish from earshot before Jeriel turned to Jannah, "Why did you ask a tailor to come?"

"To get her working on winter clothes for us and our people." Jannah stood up from her seat, walking towards the door and opened it, "Let's go. I have to order something for you and the workers before we leave for Philipia the day after tomorrow."

"Isn't that too late?" Jeriel asked, following after her big sister's steps towards the music room, "If whatever you said happens six days from now, wouldn't it be better to leave now?"

"You're right." Jannah smiled at her little sister's curiosity, "But we need to stock up on supplies. Philipia is just a small town, they don't have large market which is why emptying out the shops here is a priority before leaving."

"Oh, I see, I see." Jeriel nodded her head in understanding, "I take it that you haven't emptied out every shop yet, have you?"

"Right, I had to meet up with the Duke yesterday and give him a word of advice then I hired a man who's knowledgeable with seeds. Also, I had Jeremiah and Lucienta help me which made everything a lot faster." Jannah started counting on her fingers as she tell what happened yesterday to her sister.

"Seems like it was an eventful day." Jeriel commented, opening the door to the music room.

"It was!" Jannah agreed, stepping inside. Her uncharacteristically loud voice catching the attention of her servants and Lady Viola.

The servants smiled warmly upon seeing the lady of the house and her sister happily chatting while Lady Viola and her four workers that she bought with her looked shocked.

So, the word about the Countess and Lady Jeriel vying to kill each other for the inheritance wasn't true? Lady Viola thought, staring owlishly towards the siblings. She flinched slightly when Jannah stopped speaking towards Jeriel and turned to her, the soft expression on her face gone, replaced with a neutral one.

"Did you bring the winter clothes with you, Lady Viola?" Jannah asked, her gaze looking past the tailor and straight to the clothes behind her.

"Yes, Countess." The baroness lowered her head momentarily before gesturing to her left, "These are the latest trend among the ladies in the capital. I heard from your knight that you wanted me to bring the thickest coats in my shop. Unfortunately, they would also cost a fortune due to the cotton and wool, Countess."

"I don't really care." Jannah dismissively wave her off, "I want to commission you for the next five years if you manage to do what I want you to do."

"What do you need me for, Countess?"

As if on cue, the door creaked open and Marco walked through the door while carrying a tray. Above it, lays a thin metal what shines whenever the light hits its surface. He walked towards Jannah, lowering his head and holding out the tray to her.

"If you can stitch this piece to the fore arms of the coat, managed to make the coat wearable and comfortable with it on, then I'll think about it." Jannah said, picking up the metal and smiling dauntingly towards the tailor.

Viola blinked, eyes staring at the piece of metal and holding her hand out to the Countess. Once the metal touched her palm, she quickly examined it. It resembles silver in color, light reflective, hard, but light enough to easily swing it around— as if it doesn't weight anything.

"I'll see what I can do." Viola lowered her head again and turned to her workers, signalling for them to start packing.

"Hold on." Jannah was quick to stop them with a simple gesture of raising her hand, "I called you here to have something prepared for my workers. I don't really mind if they're expensive, I need those for them."

Jannah nodded her head towards the maids, "Go on. Pick whatever you want. Marco, call the other staff and have them pick whatever they want as well. Make sure to pick those clothes that you can move around freely, I purposely didn't ask Lady Viola to bring dresses because we'll be wearing pants once we get there. We'll ditch those in a blink of an eye."

After she finished speaking, almost everyone inside the room started speaking among themselves. Both excited and happy that their mistress will buy them something.

The mansion doesn't have much staff, she only has fifty people at most, including her little sister, due to privacy. She didn't want anyone planting spies in her household so she kept those who are tight lipped and became generous to those who swore loyalty to house of Rafelon.

This is why I will bring every single one of them to safety. I will never forget the way they sacrificed themselves to let me and my little sister escape three years ago. Jannah thought, filled with determination as she watched her servants enjoy themselves, unaware of the impending storm that's brewing half way to the capital.