A few meters away, Zemeth and Ramza heard Ella's shout of panic.

They rushed inside the wooden house passing through the wall. What greeted their vision after they entered the room was a large amount of blood on the bed and the floor.

"What the hell is going on here!?" Ramza was shocked.

Zemeth went to Margie's side and grabbed her right hand, the old woman pulse was still beating, he put his index finger on her nose, she's still breathing but very weak!

"She's still alive but going to die soon," Zemeth said. He inspected her body, no wound whatsoever, the blood came out from her mouth. "Which means she must have ingested something, probably a poison!" he concluded.

Ramza took a small bottle from his sling bag and emptied the contents into Margie's mouth.

"Will it work?" asked Zemeth.

"I dunno, my grandfather is a well-known poison doctor in our valley. Let's see after a few minutes if the medicine will take effect on humans," Ramza said.

Zemeth waved his hand on the vomit, a few moments later the blood disappeared, no traces of blood can be found anywhere in the bed and on the floor.

He picked up Ella's body and settled her in the bed beside her aunt. He took the blanket and wrapped the garment around the women's body.

"Somebody from the castle on the hill sends someone to finish these two people?" Ramza asked, his brows knitted together.

"Maybe yes...or maybe not. From what I have observed, only the aunt ingested something, but the girl is okay. If the poison was meant to kill both the women they should have been vomiting blood at the same time," replied Zemeth.

"Hmm...maybe they only want the old woman to die? So that they can get the girl?" said Ramza.

Zemeth's eyes squinted. "Oh...they want the girl to be in the castle just like the two sisters!" he took a guess.

Ramza's eyes widened as he remembered Kate sadly. "What they want from the youngest?"

Zemeth shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno. I guessed...the girl can be of use to them. That's one mystery we don't know yet. I don't care what they want from Ella but we are here on a mission and I think we will just wait a bit what will happen next..."

Ramza looked at the two women sleeping on the bed. "And what about them? What about the sickly Aunt?"

Zemeth stared at Ella for a long time. "This girl has to go to the castle sooner or later. As for her aunt, let's leave everything to destiny, if she survives tonight then it's her destiny that is helping her," he said calmly.

Ramza was shaking his head. "Looks like someone from the castle wants the three sisters. I wonder if my Kate is still alive until now?" he muses gloomily as sadness begin to glimmer in his eyes.

Zemeth patted his friend's shoulder sympathetically. "Let's leave the room and continue chatting outside or else the girl wakes up and she will scream her hearts out after seeing two strangers in the room and we will awaken the entire village," he said not liking the chaotic scene unfolding in his mind.

Ramza nodded his head. "Alright....let's go!"

The two men exited the room.

The following day.

Ella woke up early and find herself lying in the bed together with her aunt. She rubbed her eyes...and slowly...everything that happened last night came back in her mind.

Oh no! The blood!?

Her eyes widened in horror after she remembered that she saw her aunt vomiting lots of blood in the bed and the floor, panicking, and with trembling hands, she immediately checked her aunt's breathing by putting her index finger in her Aunt Margie's nostrils for a few seconds, she can feel her warm breathing fanning the skin of her finger. She holds her aunt's wrist and checked her pulse, it's beating normally as well.

Her aunt's skin was also warm to touch not cold.

Thank God, her aunt's pulse is okay and her breathing is not labored anymore, she looks normal compared to yesterday!

Hmm, everything is functioning normally!

Her aunt is still alive! She was thankful and near to tears as huge relief washed over her.

After fretting over her aunt's condition, she looked for the blood in the floor 'coz she can't see any in the bed...and to her astonishment...there was no blood on the floor as well. Not even an ounce of blood can be seen both in the bed and on the floor.

"This is strange!"

"Where is the blood!?" she murmured.

Ella dropped on the floor, she widened her eyes and she felt silly afterward because blood is easy to spot and yet she can't find even a single drop anywhere near the floor. Where did the blood has gone too? D-did she only imagined it or it's all part of her dream? Because she dreamed of the castle...before seeing her aunt vomiting in blood.

If the blood is real! It won't go anywhere!

So, it means only one thing! The blood was just part of her dream! Period!

She shouldn't worry too much about it!

Aunt Margie's eyes slowly opened and her eyes landed on her niece sprawled on the floor. "C-child...what are you doing there on the floor?" she asked in confusion.

Ella raised her head and locked eyes with her aunt.

She stood up and hugged her aunt tightly. "OMG! Welcome back, Aunt! I thought something bad happened to you last night. I saw you vomiting blood then I remember now...I...passed out! I don't remember anything that happened after..."

Ella was speechless...if she passed out...she should be lying on the floor then why she wakes up in the bed beside her aunt? Is it possible that she regained consciousnesses at some point in time and then settled in the bed beside her aunt? But if it's the case, she should have remembered doing so! But why can't she remember a thing after she passed out! This is strange!

She looked at her aunt in the eyes. "W-where is the blood you vomited, Aunt?"

Margie's eyes flickered for a moment as awareness dawned on her. Yeah, she remembered so well what happened last night! She was in agony as pain squeezed her body parts inside and she had difficulty breathing then due to so much pain her body can't withstand it and she passed out and when she woke up again she saw her niece falling asleep watching over her and then she began coughing and vomiting blood and she thought that was the end of her!

Everything happened so fast! And she lost consciousnesses again as darkness starts taking over her senses.

"D-did I dreamed of the blood? Was it even real? The blood is there before I passed out. I didn't clean the blood overnight. B-but have you seen the blood, Aunt!?" Ella pressed on. The scene last night was terrifying and it's very hard to forget what she saw last night.

Margie has seen the blood too...but why it disappeared without a trace? If her niece didn't clean it then who else? And why she's feeling better now after vomiting lots of blood last night? Hmm...there are so many mysterious things happening around them in just one night that are hard to explain.

"C-child...I think the blood is part of your dream. I haven't seen any blood and I didn't vomit any. I just sleep here soundly last night," Margie lied convincingly.

A line appeared on Ella's forehead. "B-but...Aunt! I know what I saw!" she insisted.

"Alright, let's no longer debate about it. Why don't you check out the doors and the windows?"

"Why?"

"To see if somebody come here and took the blood. If you see the blood and it's real, we will see it this morning. But you are the only one who saw it. So, check the doors and windows, if they are closed then no one comes inside our house, therefore you are just dreaming about the blood since I never saw it!" Margie explained.

"Okay, I'll go and check!" said Ella. She exited the room and checked the rooms and windows, they were still locked.

She returned to the room and looked at her aunt in the eyes. "Everything is still locked," she said in a small voice feeling confused than ever.

Margie smiled. "See...it's all in your dream. Go now and prepare our breakfast!" she ordered.

Ella obeyed her aunt's command and went to the kitchen to prepare her aunt's favorite corn coffee.