Daytime... at the base of the mountain.

Inside the wooden hut, the old woman with white hair, stared at the supposed-to-be dead candle, rooting for the weak flickering light to survive its tribulations and come back to life stronger than ever before. ​​

Among the candles, her favorite candle suffered the most and she saw another candle beside it whose light was also weakening...

Could it be that another one would bite the dust, soon?

Ah... this is worrying... she wishes there is something she can do before the tribulations strike the candles again.

But she is not allowed to intervene, not yet, or rather, she's not strong enough yet...

But she's working on it... gathering more energy... gathering all the powers she could get to make herself more stronger and powerful.

One day, she will break free from her cocoon...

In the unforeseen future, she will be as free as a bird!

She's looking forward to that day to come.

>>

Luke call for Adela to come to his study room.

"Good morning, my lord!" Adela greeted her employer who's sporting a somber look on his face.

Luke nods his head in response to the servant's greetings. "Have a seat," he said.

Adela lowered herself on the chair facing the desk.

"I want you to go to the healer's house and bring her to my study room. Tell her to create a brew that would abort the fetus that was currently growing in Laura's tummy," he said in a serious tone.

Adela gasped in shock, she quickly covered her mouth with her hands. A horrified expression blanketed her entire face.

Luke's face darkened. "Why are you shocked? Answer me!"

"My lord, the baby is innocent! Please... reconsider your decision!" Adela protested and begged, fearing for the innocent life growing inside Lady Laura's tummy.

"I'm not going to raise a bastard in my house!" he yelled at her.

Adela closed her eyes for a moment, her body trembling in fear. She's just a mere servant in this house and right now, her employer looks angry, she can be fired from her job anytime if she goes against his wishes. Her job is to follow his every command.

"What are you waiting for?" he looked at the servant furiously and put the money on the table. "Take the money. Go now and bring the healer here, pay her to brew a herbal tea that would abort the fetus in one week! I want the baby gone from Laura's womb within this week and don't try to change my mind. This is my house and this is my rules! If you can't convince the healer to brew the tea then don't come back to my house ever again!"

"Yes, my lord!" Adela answered quickly, she grabbed the money, left the study room, shaking in fright. She walked hurriedly in the hallway, descending the flight of stairs, and landed on the floor absentmindedly. She exited the main door going to the rusted iron gate.

She finally exited the gate and walked on the path leading to the house of the healer just a fifteen minutes walk by foot from the mansion.

While she's walking on the road...

She was thinking of Lady Laura and her baby. Recalling vividly in her mind the happy expression on the lady's face after learning that she was pregnant with her first child. The lady was happy with her pregnancy and she can't bear the thought of bringing harm to the innocent life in her womb. She's a mother too! She can feel the lady's pain if she will lose her first child.

She faltered on her steps... she's in dilemma... she was torn between doing what is right and what is wrong. But if she informs the lady about Lord Luke's plan to abort the baby, and he will know about it, she will be fired from her job, or worse she will be killed on the spot and she is reluctant to do that because she is the breadwinner of her family.

She released a deep sigh... "I'm so sorry, Lady Laura. I'm so sorry baby..." she murmured aloud and resumed walking towards the wooden hut where the healer resides.

A few minutes later, she arrived at the wooden hut.

She saw the old woman outside her house, attending to her herbal plants that are growing abundantly in her garden.

"Grandma, good morning!" she conveyed her greetings.

The old woman raised her head and looked at the servant. "Adela, come inside!" she said and opened the wooden gate for the visitor to enter.

Adela entered the gate hastily.

"What brings you here? Something wrong with the lady?" the old woman asked.

Adela shook her head. "She's okay. But I'm here because the lord already knows about the lady's pregnancy and he was furious because the baby is not his, so he wants you to brew a herbal tea that would abort the baby inside the lady's womb. He wants it now! He told me that if I can't bring the tea, I no longer have to go back to the mansion and serve him. Please help me, Grandma! I need this job desperately! I am the breadwinner of my family! I need to keep working on the mansion to continue supporting my family in the village!" she begged and began sobbing hard in front of the healer.

Grandma released a deep sigh. She's not liking what she's going to do. She doesn't need to do deep math. People will suffer including her compared to a baby who's still a fetus. "It's against my morality to kill an innocent baby. My principle in life is to save lives not kill innocent people especially an innocent baby, but since destiny wants to dirty my hands to save lives, then I'll brew the tea," she finally said.

"Thank you so much, Grandma!" Adela said as huge relief washed over her. She placed the money in the healer's hands. "Here's the payment for the brew!" she said.

Grandma breathed deeply and returned the money to the servant. "I can't accept the money! Just give it to the beggars in the market. I'll go to my room to concoct the tea, it will take me one hour, so...wait here outside. You can sit on the wooden bench under the shade of the maple tree." She pointed to the tree and walked towards the door, she disappeared inside her house.

Adela walked towards the wooden bench and sits down. She's feeling wretched inside. Just the mere thought of serving the lady with the tea that can make her lose her precious baby is making her feeling guilty already.

It's the most difficult situation she was in. Torn between doing the right thing just to save herself and her job and ended up doing the wrong thing that is against her morality.

Her eyes welled with tears. She was overwhelmed with conflicting emotions creating havoc in her heart and mind.

One hour later.

The healer emerged from the door of the house holding a bottle in her right hand. "I'm done brewing the tea. I'll go with you to the mansion," she said.

"Thank you, Grandma!" Adela replied.

The women left the wooden hut and walked side by side in silence. Their minds were both preoccupied.

Twenty minutes later.

The women arrived at the mansion, Adela brought the healer inside the lord's study room.

"My lord, the healer is here and she already brought the brewed tea that you requested," Adela said sadly.

Luke glanced at the old woman holding a bottle in her right hand. "Give me the bottle!" he ordered.

The healer gave the bottle to the lord.

Luke holds the bottle and scrutinized its color brown content. "Is this safe for Laura?" he asked. I only want the fetus gone, but make sure it's not harmful to Laura's body! Or else... if something bad happened to my beloved woman, I won't spare your life!" he spoke in a menacing voice, giving her a threatening glare.

Grandma released a deep sigh. "My Lord, I can assure you with my life that the tea is generally safe for the mother but harmful for the fetus that is already more than a month old," she assured him. She knew all along that the man she was facing right now is not human and he can kill her anytime he wishes.

"How many times Laura had to drink the tea?" he asked curiously.

"A total of seven days, and after that, she will experience bleeding for three days, flushing out the fetus from her body. I will make her drink another herbal medicine to speed up her recovery," the healer explained.

Luke smiled a bit. "Good! Go now and make Laura drink the tea!" he said, dismissing them both.

The women exited the room and went down to the kitchen to prepare the tea.

A few minutes later, they were standing outside Laura's room, looking at each other guiltily.

Adela was holding the tray with trembling hands, a cup of poison tea is on the tray.

Both women don't want to enter the room to bring death to the innocent baby.

Minutes went by.

"Should we enter or not? If we don't do it right now... the consequences are grave," Grandma said.

Adela released a deep sigh. She looked at the guy guarding the door. "Open the door!' she ordered.

The guy did as he was told.

The women entered the door.

They saw Laura sitting on the bed knitting baby clothing. She looked at them happily and set the garment aside. "Grandma, thanks for the visit!" she said. She looked at the cup in the tray. "What is that?" she asked curiously.

"I told you before that I will make you a healthy herbal tea to ensure that the baby is growing healthy inside your womb, here it is..." Grandma replied with a fat lie avoiding the lady's gaze.

Laura smiled. "Ah, okay... I'll drink it!" she said excitedly. She looked at Adela. "Give me the cup!" she ordered.

Adela bit her lower lip and walked towards the bed.

Grandma breathed deeply and stared at the floor.

Laura eagerly picked up the cup and brought it to her lips...