Esmeralda returned to her place and found the girl sleeping on the floor without even bothering to lie down on the carpet.

A few minutes later, Kate opened her eyes and notice that granny had returned already.

Esmeralda was sitting on the chair looking at her, studying her face, and discovered her swollen eyes.

"You are crying again?" she asked.

Kate nods her head. "I missed my family so much, Granny. I wanna go home," she declared.

Esmeralda released a deep sigh. "I'm sorry, child. I can't help you with that matter," she said with finality in her voice. As much as possible she wants the girl to get used to the fact that she can no longer get out of the castle alive.

"I understand, Granny," Kate said softly.

They were silent for a moment.

"Where did you go, Granny? Did you chase those dark creatures who attacked us earlier?" asked Kate.

Esmeralda shook her head. "Not really. But I went to see the leader of those creatures and warned them no to attack us again or else I will go angry and..."

"And what—Granny? What are you going to do to them—?" Kate asked curiously.

"Don't bother to ask, child. You won't like my answer," Esmeralda said.

Kate sighed. She can't ask granny about her sister. Even if she goes outside she can't go down to the forest below because there are no stairs to go down, she would only fall and broke every bone of her body due to the impact of her body falling into the trees and rocks. Such a painful way to die.

It's going to be a nasty fall for sure!

She looked at the old woman. "Granny, aren't you feeling sad and lonely alone here on your own?" she asked.

Esmeralda shrugged.

"I had forgotten what is being lonely and alone here. At first, I was getting depressed, but eventually, my system already gets accustomed to the loneliness. So, I'm still here, growing old gracefully," Esmeralda answered.

"And what if you will die one day, Granny. What's gonna happen to me? Who's gonna protect me?"

Esmeralda laughed with the girl's no hold barred question. "Silly girl! I'm not going to die anytime soon. You will probably die first because you're human," she responded with merriment flashing in her eyes.

Kate pouted. "You're so mean, Granny!"

Esmeralda laughed. "Why mean? I'm just telling you the truth. Between the two of us, I will survive the longest because I have power and I know how to protect myself. In your case, you are just a mere mortal being. You are easy to scare! You easily lose your wits even with just a mere shadow hovering above!" she roared in laughter.

"I see, you're laughing at my expense, Granny. You are bullying me!" Kate accused her.

Esmeralda's laughter toned down a bit. "Stop the nonsense, girl. I'm not bullying you. I'm just telling you the truth. Why can't you stand the truth—?"

Kate wanted to cry again but she won't give the old woman the satisfaction of seeing her suffering in torment. She must stay strong from now on.

"Granny, can you teach me some basic tricks or magics? So that I can protect myself. Even if you're away, I can defend myself from the enemy and monsters here inside the castle?" Kate asked.

Esmeralda smiled broadly. "You're just a mere mortal being, you won't be able to have supernatural powers."

"B-but I want to learn no matter how hard and difficult it is!" Kate insisted.

Esmeralda scratches her head again. This girl has a habit of insisting on what she thinks is right. But then she can't blame Kate, she just wants to learn a few tricks to protect herself.

"Forget it, you don't need to learn any magic to protect yourself because I'm here to protect you," she said.

"Is that it?" Kate asked again in a disappointed tone.

"Yeah, that's how simple it is. Judging your personality, you always rush things, I bet you won't be even to learn a few magic even for one whole year of trying," Esmeralda responded.

"But Granny... please pity me! Please hear me out! Just give me a chance!" Kate still wants to pursue her desire to learn some magic that can be handy in the future. "You told me that I can no longer get out alive from this castle. I might as well learn how to do magic and obtain power so that I can protect myself..."

"And what else you want to do if you already had power?"

"I'll find my sister...then I will burn down this whole castle into the ground so that no one will ever suffer again in the hands of those monsters!" Kate said angrily.

"Bravo! Bravo girl! You impressed me! So brave! I was amazed by the ferocity displayed in your eyes!" Esmeralda was clapping her hands in glee.

Then she erupted in peals of laughter.

Kate was furious that the old woman was not taking her request seriously.

A few minutes later, Esmeralda stopped laughing and become silent.

After a minute or two, she stood up.

"I wanna go inside my room, child. I'm going to rest and don't disturb me, okay?" she ordered her.

"I won't disturb you even if there's an enemy outside?" Kate asked.

"Yes," Esmeralda replied and entered her room, and closed the door behind her.

Kate scratches her head. Sometimes, granny is hard to understand, maybe because their age gap is a thousand years old?

Anyways, inside the house is very much boring, because there's nothing to do. Since she doesn't need to cook dishes, and water the plans, obviously there's no water. She no longer needs to clean the house 'coz it's useless, there's no dust and no broom that she can use in sweeping the floor.

Whoaaa....she was wondering how the old woman managed to stay sane inside the castle for a thousand years with nothing to do?

That bothered her.

She exited the door and sat on the trunk of the tree. From there... she watched the surrounding areas. It's just wide sky...occasional birds...endless forest below her and what else?

Nothingness.

Outside. This place was just an ordinary castle on the hill. It never crosses her mind that inside the castle there are many powerful and scary creatures inhabiting it.

It looks like the inside of the castle was located in a parallel universe.

A castle teeming with dark and scary monsters... anyone can enter but impossible to leave.

And now, sadly it becomes her world.