After Graven left, Terros went back to the bamboo house to talk to Veronica. He found her at the kitchen table staring at the black liquid inside the crystal bottle.

He lowered himself on the chair. "Good news! You magical powder is effective!" he said. ​​

Veronica raised her head and looked at him. "Really-? What happened?"

"Graven come here to tell me that he finally found his missing wife that was abducted by his twin brother!" he stated.

"I'm happy for him!" she said, then a frown appeared on her forehead. "But why he looked so distraught earlier when I saw him?" she asked.

"That's because... he saw his wife and his brother having sex in the room when he found her," Terros said with a gloomy sigh.

"Ouch!" Veronica said with a grimace. "Poor Graven! Betrayed by his beloved wife...but think about it...he also betrays his wife by having sex with that mysterious being who abducted him for one week! I think they're even," she casually said.

"That's not counted! Graven won't betray his wife if he only had a choice..." Terros defended his friend.

"And I think Laura won't also betray her husband if she has a choice! She's abducted and powerless, what can you expect from her?" Veronica found herself defending the woman she never meets.

"But she's moaning while she and Luke were having sex! That means she also likes what Luke was doing to her!" Terros insisted.

Veronica shrugged. "Well... there should be another explanation for that and only Laura knows. I prefer not to meddle in the couple's affair. I would rather devote my time and attention to studying this mysterious black liquid that seems to have a mind of its own," she said, shifting her attention to the crystal bottle.

She poured a small amount of black liquid into the crystal bowl and drop a green leaf on it. A few seconds later, the leaf was devoured by the black liquid and vanished from the surface.

"Interesting!" she murmured. She picked up the stick and poked on the black liquid...suddenly the liquid travels faster coating the stick, she managed to drop the stick into the floor before the black liquid can latch on her fingers. "Dang! That was close!" she blurted.

"Be careful in handling the black liquid, we don't know what will happen to us if it gets inside our body," Terros warned her.

"Hmm...I wonder if Graven's intestine and that of his men are still okay inside their bodies? Considering that the black liquid devours anything that it comes in contact with," she said. She watched the stick and the black liquid disintegrating into thin air and vanished from her sight.

Terros sighed. "I already tried everything to uncover its mystery but I failed to do so. All my tricks, my power, and my herbs failed. I'm utterly lost on what to do to help Graven and his men," he said sadly.

Veronica patted her friend's shoulder. "Don't be sad. It's not the end yet. I will try my best to uncover the black liquid's mystery," she said.

"Thanks for your help, Veronica," Terros said in a grateful voice.

"Don't mention it," she said. She rose to her feet. "I'll go to my room and bring some of my herbs here," she said and walked towards her room.

A few minutes later.

She returned to the table and brought about ten bottles filled with different kinds of herbs and roots of the medicinal tree. She placed them on the table.

One by one, she dropped some samples of the herbs and roots on the bowl on top of the black liquid. The nine herbs and roots were quickly devoured by the black liquid... only one bottle left!

She looked at Terros. "Do you know what's inside in this bottle?" she asked him.

Terros shook his head. "I have no idea!" he answered.

"This is the roots of a thousand-year-old Oakenblossom Tree that can only be found in the Windless Mountain. I cut them into small pieces and dried them under the sun," she explained.

"Okay, drop some in the bowl!" Terros said eager to know if the thousand-year-old tree can make a difference to the black liquid.

Veronica drops several pieces of the roots into the crystal bowl.

She and Terros stared at the bowl and to their surprise, the black liquid did not move and the roots stayed on the surface unaffected.

"Wow! What did I just witness!?" Terros exclaimed.

Veronica smiled. "Interesting! The black liquid didn't devour the roots. Why is that?"

"And looked at the black liquid it's not moving!" Terros said. He picked up another stick and poked at the black liquid, it didn't move. "Oh, it freezes... it seemed the thousand- year old tree has some unique properties that can freeze the black liquid. This is interesting!" he exclaimed excitedly. "We finally got a breakthrough!" he said happily.

Veronica drops another leaf into the bowl. The black liquid didn't do anything to the leaf! She takes out all the roots from the bowl except the leaf. The moment all the roots of the Oakenblossom Tree were taken out of the crystal bowl, the black liquid move in lightning speed and devoured the leaf in split seconds.

"Wow! Marvelous!" Terros said. "This strange behavior of the black liquid is telling us about something!" he said.

"Sure it is! Let's run more experiment!" Veronica said.

"Alright!" Terros said excitedly.

They spent the next few hours discussing the many possibilities on how to decode the mysterious black liquid.

>>

Lunch time.

Graven went to visit his family in the mansion. He comes just in time when the family gathered in the dining room for a delicious lunch.

"Hello, Uncle Graven!" Nikka and Nicholas said in chorus.

"Hello, kids!" Graven said and went to their side and kissed them on their heads. He looked at Sarah..." Hello... sis!" he said.

"Hello...bro!" Sarah replied with a smile.

"Nice to see you again, bro!" Cooper said.

Graven nodded his head and smiled warmly at his brother. Cooper had changed a lot ever since his young family stayed in the mansion. He's turning into a responsible man. "I come to visit the family. How's everything here?" he asked.

Sir Nicholas smiled. "Amazing so far! Thanks to my grandchildren, they make my life colorful and meaningful every day!" he said.

Graven smiled at his family pretending to be happy but deep inside, his heart was still bleeding because of his wife's betrayal.

"Okay, let's begin eating our lunch!" Sir Nicholas said.

The family ate lunch in comfortable silence.

Three hours later.

After talking to his father, he retired to his house at the back of the mansion. From there he teleported back to Luke's place in his invisible form.

He reappeared at Luke's place. He hovered above the mansion.

He found Laura standing in the garden while waiting for the servants to finish putting the picnic blanket on the ground.

After the servants finished setting the picnic table, the servant left the garden while the other servant remained on Laura's side.

He stood next to a tree, looking at the women just a few meters away. He found something odd with his wife, she was wearing a maternity dress. Is she pregnant? He didn't notice it last night because he didn't linger for a long time. Or maybe he was carried away by his emotions last night that's why he didn't notice Laura's bulging tummy.

He edges closer, wanting to hear their conversation.

Adela looked at Laura. "My lady, I'll go to the kitchen to prepare fresh lemonade juice," she said.

Laura nods her head. "Okay..."

Adela left the garden.

Laura took a deep breath. She put her right hand on her tummy and caresses it while looking at the blooming flowers in front of her.

A debate was going inside Graven's head. After seeing Laura enjoying sex with his brother last night he thought that it's better to not show himself to her anymore. Originally, Laura is Luke's lover, he just enters the picture during the time that his brother was recuperating in the cave. He released a deep sigh.

Laura heard someone sighing nearby, she looked around the area, but she saw no one! She shifted her attention back to the blooming flowers.

Graven had finally decided to confront Laura. He went to her side about to reveal himself to her but out of the corner of his eyes, he saw his brother approaching the garden. He immediately left Laura's side and went back to stand beside the tree.

He doesn't dare get closer to the couple, there is a higher chance that Luke will notice his presence. If Laura is indeed pregnant, there's a big chance that the baby that his wife was carrying inside her tummy is his own.

He waited patiently behind the tree until Luke will go away and leave Laura alone. He doesn't want to face Luke, chances are they will fight each other to death and he doesn't want something like that to happen to them. He still loves his brother. As much as possible he doesn't want to fight and hurt him.

He continues watching them from afar.

One hour passed by.

Suddenly the sky starts to darken and thunderstorms and lighting appeared on the horizon.

Droplets of water fell from the sky, oh no! it's going to rain!

Graven looked at Laura and Luke...they were already up on their feet and leaving the garden!

He released a deep sigh. He loses a chance today! Maybe some other time he can have some alone moments with Laura. He needs to know who is the father of her child!

He will come back here tonight or tomorrow before he will continue finding Rebecca in the next town.

He disappeared from the place.