Outside the castle on the hill.

A thousand miles away in Browncliffe Village.

Ella was currently preparing the meal for supper in the tiny kitchen. She grabbed the knife and began slicing the vegetable on the wooden chopping board, it's needed for the soup that she was going to cook for dinner. She will add bits of pieces of dried meat to make the dish more flavorful.

After washing the scallions, ginger, onions, and mushroom, she set them aside in the platter, she will boil them later in the cooking pot along with the carrots and potatoes. Her Aunt Margie loves eating her homemade soup.

After done preparing the ingredients for the soup, she set them aside.

She's cooking rice in the clay pot and after the rice is done, she will begin cooking the vegetable soup.

She stared at the fire absentmindedly.

Her mind was busy thinking about what had happened to her two sisters as they have no news of them anymore.

She'd been dying to go to the castle on the hill to investigate but unfortunately, Aunt Margie won't allow her. Every night she was praying for her sister's safe return but as the days pass by and no news of them, she realized that something bad happened to them.

Her heart was grieving for her sisters yet she can't do anything to help them. Her Aunt Margie was fearful that if she allows her to go to the castle on the hill and inquire about what happened to her sisters, she will suffer the same faith as them.

Her feet have been itching to go and find her sisters but she can't leave her Aunt alone on her own besides she doesn't have the heart to go on with her journey to the unknown without her Aunt's blessing.

Sighing...she rose to her feet and went to the pot and removed the lid to see if the rice is done.

The rice is already cooked, she removed the pot from the fire and set it aside while putting another clay pot above the fire to start cooking the soup. She put two tablespoons of cooking oil and after it got heated she began frying the spices and herbs.

A moment later she dropped several pieces of dried meat and covered the pot with the lid.

She went to the sink and took a mug, she put a half teaspoon of corn coffee and sugar in the mug and poured hot water to the brim. She put the mug in the saucer and went outside the house, walking towards her Aunts vegetable garden located in the backyard.

"Aunt, your coffee is ready!" she announced.

Margie looked at her niece and instructed her to put down the coffee on the wooden bench. "Just put the coffee down on the chair," she said and resumed pulling grasses sprouting all over the garden.

Ella obeyed her Aunt's order and put the coffee down on the wooden chair. She glanced at her Aunt. "Please, drink the coffee while it's still hot!" she said and went back to the house.

Aunt Margie continues pulling grasses in the ground while her coffee was waiting for her on the wooden bench.

The crows and raven were watching Margie above the branches of the tree and saw the opportunity with the unattended mug of coffee...

They flew one by one dropped the tiny seeds into the coffee.

After dropping all the tiny seeds into the mug, some of the ravens flew back towards the location where they come from to report to their master that the task assigned to them was done successfully while the rest of the crows waited what will happen next...

Aunt Margie finally rose to her feet and sauntered towards the wooden bench located beside the tree. She lowered herself into the chair and brought the mug into her mouth and took a sip of her favorite coffee.

At first, she thinks the coffee tasted different, hmm, a little bit too sweet for her liking. Maybe her niece put too much sugar on it. She finished sipping the coffee anyway, and put back the empty mug on the saucer and resumed pulling grasses from her vegetable garden before the darkness of the night will take over the surroundings and she can no longer see what she's doing.

The crows have witnessed the old woman drank all the contents of the mug and they were satisfied with the result. They too, flew back towards the direction where they come from to report the good news to their master.

When the darkness already descended around the area, Margie decided to stop her activity, she will just resume her task tomorrow morning, she still needs to finish five rows.

The good weather already returned to the village one month ago and the rain pours a few times every week. The people returned to planting crops and vegetables and the recent drought was already a part of the villagers' distant memory.

She sat on the wooden bench for a few minutes, thinking of Ivy and Kate, fresh tears sprang from her eyes. She can't help it but cry in agony remembering her two nieces, she is not stupid pretending that nothing bad happened to them. She knows deep inside her heart that the two girls encountered bad accidents that's why they failed to return to the village.

Ella, the youngest of the girls, has been urging her to allow her to go to the castle on the hill to check on her sisters but she prevented her from going to that place fearing she might also suffer the same fate as her sisters. She can't allow that to happen.

She only has Ella now, she can't lose her!

Her heart was beaten by her conscience every day, she feels bad with herself, she failed to protect the girls from harm!

She continues crying in silence outside the house.

"Aunt Margie! Dinner is ready!" Ella announced from the house.

"Alright, I'm coming!" she said and wiped the tears from her face using the hem of her skirt. She rose to her feet and sauntered towards the door, then all of a sudden she feels like her world is spinning around. She thought she was just tired of her garden activity. She managed to reach the door and entered the house without collapsing on the floor.