Midnight.

A thousand miles away. ​​

Graven was hovering in the air - above Beerdale Town, looking for the two missing women around the area, wondering where did the captors hide his wife and Rebecca?

Luke mentioned this town as one of his favorite places to visit. He did mention a lot of towns in the past during their conversations.

Since there is no fresh lead where Rebecca was taken, he has to start from scratch again, and this town was first on his list to visit.

Where to find the two missing women? A question that has no answer yet.

If Luke used a concealing technique to mask Laura's scent then he would have a hard time finding her even if she's just under his nose sleeping inside one of the houses and mansion below him.

If he has to investigate every house and check every person living in there to find his wife, that would be time-consuming!

He just hopes Luke didn't use concealing technique on his wife, masking her scent, so that he can find her easily.

But if he's in Luke's shoes, he would use concealing techniques so that Laura can no longer be found by others.

Sighing, he hovered to the west side of the Beerdale Town, located a thousand miles away from South Pond Town. He's been in this place since early evening and he already finished checking out the Southern and Northern part of the town and yet no result. He can't locate his wife's scent!

He still needs to finish searching her scent in the western and eastern part of the town before going back to South Pond Town.

Wasting no time, he proceeds to the west side of the town in his invincible form.

>>

The following day.

Laura woke up to a fine new day.

One hour later.

The servant brought her a tray of food for her breakfast, after she finished eating her meal she put the utensils back in the tray, then she went to the window and looked at the garden below.

She's wanting to go down to the garden this afternoon and inhale the fresh air, enjoy the cool breeze while admiring the lovely flowers.

She wished she can leave her room...

The servant opened the door and entered the room. "My Lady, I'm going to bring the dirty dishes to the kitchen," she said.

"Okay, by the way, what is your name?" Laura asked.

"My name is Adela, My Lady," the maid replied.

Laura smiled. "You had a pretty name..." she murmured.

"Thank you, My Lady!" Adela replied with a smile. "Anything else, My lady? I'll take my leave now."

"Hmm... can I leave my room this afternoon? I wish to go to the garden and enjoy the flowers? May I?" Laura asked.

Adela scratches her head. "I'm not sure... I will ask Lord Luke's permission first," she said.

"Okay, you do that..." Laura said.

Adela nods her head, picked up the tray, and exited the room.

Laura was left alone in the room looking through the window.

"Husband, where are you? Why does it take you so long to find me?" she muttered to herself, her eyes welled.

Tears fell from her eyes, she wiped them with her fingers and released a gloomy sigh.

She left the window and went to the closet, she took some clothes and entered the bathroom to take a bath.

Hours went by.

Lunchtime comes.

Adela returned with another set of food for lunch and placed it on the table. "My lady, I have good news for you!"

"What is it?" Laura asked.

"I went to Lord Luke and told him about your request and he said yes. He instructed me to set up a picnic blanket in the garden under the shade of the tree. I'll inform you after I set up the picnic table," Adela said.

"Thank you!" Laura responded with a bright smile.

"Enjoy your lunch, Lady, I'll take my leave now," Adela said and leave quietly.

Laura went to the table and enjoyed her meal looking forward to having a picnic in the garden this afternoon.

She finished her meal one hour later.

She went to the window and looked below. She saw Adela and other servants setting up the picnic table, she smiled broadly.

One hour later.

Adela arrived at Laura's room. "My Lady, the picnic table is now ready in the garden! I'll escort you outside," she said.

"Okay, let's go!" Laura said excitedly. It's the first time she was allowed to leave her room after she arrived at this place and she's been looking forward to spending time in the garden, and now it's finally happening!

The women left the room and went downstairs, they passed by the living room and exited the entrance of the house. They walked on the path leading to the garden, situated at the back of the house.

They finally reached the garden.

Laura sat on the blanket and watched the blooming flowers in front of her. The gentle wind blows her hair away from her face.

The servant left Laura alone in the garden.

Half an hour later.

Luke can be seen approaching the area. He lowered himself on the picnic blanket a few meters away from Laura.

She looked at him. "Why are you here?" she asked.

"Why? Can't I enjoy the garden too?" he said.

Laura took a deep breath and ignored his presence. She wanted to avoid him and returned to her room but she was not done with the garden yet, she still wants to enjoy few more hours outside her room. She loves the splendid view in front of her wanting to stay a little bit. But if Luke starts pestering her then she will leave the garden and go back to her room.

Together, they watched the colorful flowers in silence.

Luke cleared his throat. "This scene looks familiar to me, did you still remember it? The garden in the Bay Meadow looks like this, right?" he said, reminding her of their past.

Laura shrugged. She does remember her past with Luke, she remembered everything. And now... here they are again... just a few meters away from each other. But she was now Graven's wife, it's wrong to spend time with Luke like this. She shut her eyes for a moment.

No, there's nothing wrong with their situation right now, they're just watching the flowers together, they're not even holding each other's hands.

"I remember everything, Laura. I remember our passionate kisses, our lovemaking, everything that we shared together. I can still remember your smile and laughter, the way you call my name, still vivid in my mind. Can't we go back to yesterday?" Luke asked in a wretched voice.

Laura sighed. "I'm now your brother's wife! Stop thinking about our past. There's no more us anymore!" she reminded him.

"You are mine first! We have a relationship in the past no matter how short it was. Can you bring back your feelings for me? My brother can no longer locate you, I made sure of that..." he said.

Laura looked at him. "W-what did you do?"

"I used a concealing technique to hide your scent. My brother can no longer detect your scent even if the two of you were just a few meters away from each other," he explained.

Laura looked at him angrily. "Why? Why are you doing this to me and your brother!?" she asked in a dispirited voice.

"Because I am determined to have you as my wife. I will never accept 'no' from you! You are mine only!" Luke declared.

Laura breathed deeply. "I will never fall in love with you!" she told him vehemently.

Luke was not affected by her words. "You fall in love with me once, you will surely fall in love with me the second time around!" he insisted.

Laura bit her lip and looked at him with pleading eyes. "Luke, please... I begged you... return me to my husband before I start hating you!" she said.

"I'm sorry, Laura, that's no longer possible! I already succeeded in taking you away from my brother, there is no way I will bring you back to him. You might as well start forgetting him and learn to love me again!" Luke said in a hard voice.

Laura's eyes swarm with tears. Her heart was aching for her husband yet Luke can never understand that, all he can think about is his feelings only, he doesn't care about her feelings and that of his brother.

She looked at him angrily. "You are selfish, Luke!" she accused him.

Luke sighed. "I am, and I'm not trying to hide that. So you better get used to it!"

She began sobbing hard.

Luke groaned, he doesn't like seeing her cry, he felt heartbroken inside. "Laura, please stop crying..." he said. He wants to come to her side and comfort her but he knows that he will only make things worst for her because he was the reason why she's crying. He made her upset, so he better leave her alone for now so that she will stop crying.

Laura continues weeping.

Luke sighed and rose to his feet. "I'm sorry, I destroyed your good mood. I'll take my leave now," he said and left the garden.

After Luke was gone, Laura ceased crying.

She wiped the tears from her eyes with the hem of her blouse. She looked around her, she can no longer see Luke's presence around the garden. It's a good thing that he left her side because he made her cry.

She resumes enjoying the beautiful flowers, although she already stopped crying her heart still grieving inside wanting desperately to see her husband. She missed him so much!