Eight

"Lady Davis!" A maid screamed, eyes wide in horror and shock as the wife of Baron Cohen lunged at her, grabbing ahold of her arm and unceremoniously bite down on her hand.

"AHHHHHH!" Lady Davis shrieked, feeling her sister's teeth sink deeper into her skin.

Hearing the commotion, the servants outside of the door rushed inside, each carrying an equipment on their hands. The butler was quick to pull the chains that is around the Baroness's wrist, sending the Baroness flying back from the force.

"What's happening?! Why did my sister bit me?!" Lady Davis exclaimed, raising her bitten hand and staring at her blood that dripped from the wound.

"My lady!" The maid who previously screamed scrambled to get close to her master, she shakily pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed it hesitantly against the bloody bite marks, her face is pale and her heart is hammering inside her chest.

Baron Cohen's wife, Mary Cohen, have a terrifying look. Her face doesn't look healthy, her face has lost its healthy glow and now has been replaced by a greyish red color. Her lips are chapped, black, and red from the blood that she got from Lady Davis, with her eyes having a monstrous look. Her irises had turn white, signifying that she lost a significant amount of her eyesight, however, her head wouldn't stop whipping from left and right as the servants continues to make a noise.

"Grrr!" The baroness growled, drooling and reaching out for her sister, "Grrrrr!"

"What an undignified behavior." Lady Davis commented, pulling her hand away from her maid and snatched the handkerchief, pressing it against her wound herself, "I never imagined that you'll attack me like this, sister. I would have preferred it if you talked behind my back, but to upright bite me like this? In front of my servants, too? It seems that you have harbor the same behavior as dogs. It's unladylike."

Lady Davis glared at Lady Cohen's snarling, growling, and lunging form before she exited the bedroom. The servants in that house hold rushed to get out of her way, all of their eyes staring at her bloody hand.

"Ugh, go and fetch me a doctor!" Unable to stand the stares, she barked the order to her maid and locked herself inside the guest room.

That stupid sister of mine! She continued to cuss Lady Cohen in her mind as she stop the bleeding to the best of her ability, if he knew that his wife is like that, why did he send me inside of her bedroom to tell me to check on her? He told me that she wanted to talk to me and that she was eager to tell me an important news..

Somehow, a bad chill had shoot down her spine from her thought.

—

"Jannah!" Marques Merlot exclaimed as he burst through the door of the art room of his mansion, a large and happy grin on his face, "I'm so glad to see that you're well and healthy. Ever since you came back from the valley, you haven't contacted me nor my wife! So, imagine the shock I felt when you suddenly sent me a letter asking for a small territory on north."

"Sorry." Jannah half heartedly apologized, "I guess I was distracted from all the things I found out a while ago."

She smiled, her red eyes examining the physique of her friend. Merlot had gained muscles around his arms and chest, he looked burlier and stronger than she last saw him before she was sent to war.

Speaking of which, it wasn't even that long when the war against the neighboring kingdom ended. If she remembered correctly, since she's back in the past, the war should have ended three months ago. Yet, the infection started at the border of the kingdom— near the valley that is in between of Starlian Kingdom and Melanom Kingdom.

"Tell me about it." Merlot sighed out as he took a seat on the opposite seat of her, "I heard that an illness spread on the south. It wasn't confirmed yet, but the rumors says that Baron Cohen was suspicious so they're spreading nonsense."

"Rumors?" Jannah raised an eyebrow, "Those are not rumors."

"Psh, why would you believe such nonsense, my dear friend? I knew that something is going, but I didn't expect you to believe baseless rumors that easily." Merlot taunted playfully.

Jannah pursed her lips, she's not sure if the couple would believe her words and follow her to Philipia, but she could only hope. The sound of the door opening and closing caught her attention, Clara and Jeriel walked inside the room while carrying a tray with teacups, teapot, and snacks.

"We're sorry we delayed the meeting a little." Clara was the first one to speak, placing the tray on the table and taking a seat beside her husband, "Me and Jeriel got lost in our conversation in the kitchen, it was an interesting topic."

"No worries." Jannah waved her off, "We don't have much time on our hands so I can only have you guys follow me."

"Follow you?" Merlot's eyebrows shut up to his hairline, "What is my dear friend talking about? If this is about Philipia, then you don't have to worry about it. I already have it signed under your name, all I need is your signature to complete the process."

"That, and another thing." Jannah sighed, "I want to move to Philipia as soon as I finish stocking up on supplies. Lucienta and Marco is doing that as we speak. However, I don't want to leave you two behind, the manor in Philipia isn't that big compared to my mansion, but we can all live under the same roof for the next three years—"

"Live under the same roof?" Clara's startled tone had accidentally cut her off.

"Yes, because the rumors about an illness spreading in the south isn't just a rumor." The look on Jannah's face suddenly changed, "I can't prove it right now since it will infiltrate the capital in six days, but I saw it happen. I experienced it beforehand."

Merlot and Clara shared a glance, an unreadable expression on their faces as they both turn to look at Jeriel. The little sister of the Countess could only shrug her shoulders, smiling knowingly and tilting her head towards her big sister.

"You said that you saw it happen.. Were you there to witness the illness?" Clara asked cautiously.

"Worse than that." Jannah answered almost immediately with a nod of her head, "I killed those who are infected."

Clara gasped loudly, bringing a hand to her mouth. "K..Kill?!"

"It can't be avoided. There's no cure and the infection can't be stopped from spreading once you're bitten. Those monsters— well, I call them zombie and they eat human flesh. They feast upon people. It doesn't even matter if that person is a child, an old man, a teenager, or worse, an infant." Jannah stated, a solemn look on her face as she recall those people who got bitten and eaten alive.

"A baby?!" Clara's lips fell agape, "This illness we're talking about is spreading in the south and they cause people to eat another person?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"And there's no cure?!"

"Yes, Clara." Jannah could only affirm, looking at the side to avoid seeing the horrified look on Clara's face.

"Oh, my! Honey, we need to pack right now and go to Philipia with Jannah!" Clara shot up from her seat, her face pale as she didn't wait for Merlot to respond, rushing out of the room without anyone in tow.

The sisters and the marques watched as the servants closed the doors again, the silence palpable because of her revelation.

Merlot was the one who broke the silence by clearing his throat, "I take it that you woke up from a bad dream yesterday morning?"

"That's what I want to believe, but the terror and pain I felt was too vivid for it to be a dream, Merl." Jannah said with a sigh, "I died after I got bitten by one of those things in my previous life and it wouldn't happen if it weren't for Ju—"

"Previous life? Are you telling me that you went back in time before all of that happened?" Merlot had cut her off and expressed his disbelief.

"You can say that." Jannah agreed without much thought, "By the time the zombies infiltrated the capital's south gate, people was already bitten and screaming. Jeriel literally went home just to get me to safety because I was clueless about it and didn't want to believe the rumors. I was like you in the past, until I saw it with my own eyes."

Merlot and Jannah stared at each other, their eyes not breaking eye contact. The Marques's ocean blue eyes clashed against with her red ones, a silent yet sincere plea were given to the Countess.

Seeing the determined and serious look on her face, Merlot backed down, sighing deeply and looked away first, "Alright, Jan. I get it. If this outbreak you speak of doesn't happen for the next two weeks, we will come back here and give your mansion in the west to me, how does that sound?"

A smile creeped into her lips as Jeriel bring out a rolled paper and pushed the trays aside, spreading the paper into the table, "Yes, of course. If you're going with me, I would like you to go to Philipia before dawn and start working on the walls."

"What is this?" Merlot asked, leaning forward to get a better look on the content of the paper.

"A blueprint for Philipia."