"Veronica! You're alive!" the men exclaimed in unison.

"You're not dead!" Terros shouted in shock. ​​

Veronica's brows furrowed in confusion. What the hell are they talking about? Why do they keep mentioning that she's dead?

Graven looked at the old man. "Old man, who's that dead body you see on the shallow grave?" Graven asked.

"I dunno..." Terros stammered. He looked again at Veronica and noticed a big change. "Wow, your third eye is gone and you have a pair of normal eyes now! Amazing! How did it happen?" he asked in amazement.

Veronica smiled brightly and looked at the deity. "Elva operated on my eyes, that is why I have to stay here for many days to recuperate. And looked at my brand new eyes, they healed magically. I looked normal now, aren't I? I'm so happy!" she said in elation. Happiness radiated on her face.

"I'm so happy for you, Veronica! I thought you died because I saw your decomposing body buried in a shallow grave! So I come here to avenge your death!" Terros said.

Veronica's confusion grows. "Huh? Me? Dead already? Who says?" she asked in astonishment.

Terros released a deep sigh. "It's a long story. I met an old woman residing in the forest. She told me a fabricated lie! Don't worry, I'll explain everything to you so that you won't get confused," he said.

Elva frowned. "Terros, what did you say? An old woman living in the forest told you all these stupid lies?" she asked.

Terros looked at Elva. "Yeah... she even showed me a decomposing body of Veronica buried in a shallow grave. She told me that you are killing young maidens, to feed their heart and blood to the carnivorous plants and flowers that you are growing in your hidden cave," he narrated.

Elva's face was gone from shock to anger in split seconds. Then she looked at the visitors. "Everything she told you are all lies! She's spouting nonsense!" she said vehemently. "I don't have to defend myself from lies, Veronica can prove my innocence," she said.

Veronica looked at the men. "Guys, believe me when I say that Elva didn't do those things! She is not a murderer! Whoever says those words to you are just lying with ulterior motives!" she said indignantly to defend her friend.

Terros looked at Elva suspiciously. "And where Veronica's new eyes come from?" he asked.

Elva began her explanation.

"There was this 18 years old girl that died of illness in a village nearby. So, I waited for the day they buried her body in the cemetery and uncovered her from her grave, and took out her eyes from the socket. I covered back the coffin with the soil, went home, and transplanted the eyes on Veronica. Then the next day I went back to the house of the impoverished couple with five children and went inside their house undetected. I put the pouch of gold nuggets in their bedroom with a note of thank you and told them that the gold is real, they can use it to improve their lives. That's all I did. Now tell me where did I go wrong? What crime have I committed?" she asked.

The men were surprised, except for Veronica who already knows about the tale.

"B-but you steal the girl's eyes without permission from her parents. That's still a big mistake!" Terros scolded the deity.

Elva laughed. "Old man, I think it's not the parents that I'm going to ask permission when I removed that girl's eyes, I think it's the maggots and other living organisms that will feast on the girl's eyes when it starts to decompose. Let's face it, when a human's body perished, then buried, and starts to decompose, they are now the property of the maggots. At least the girl's eyes were put to good use than becoming food for the maggots. Right?" she said casually.

The men looked at each other in amazement.

Then a voice of a woman came out of nowhere. "You poison the girl so that you can harvest her eyes!"

Elva groaned in dismay. "It's you again!" she said, her face was livid in anger. "Stop slandering me, cousin!"

The old woman's laughter vibrated in the air for a few seconds then faded.

Graven and Terros looked at each other, they recognized that voice, it's the old woman's voice!

Elva looked at the visitors. "Sorry, that's just my cousin who loves torturing me and others with her lies and make-believe stories. I'll deal with her!" she said. She looked at Veronica. "Dear, bring the visitors to my house and continue your discussion there. I'm just going to give my cousin a lesson!" she said and vanished from their sight.

The men looked at each other in shock.

"Old man, we make a fool of our self!" Graven chuckled.

Terros grinned. "Yeah, that old hag is good when it comes to manipulation! We got duped!" he admitted in shame, scratching his head. "I hope the goddess will punish her and turn that old hag into a frog!" he said with a grimace.

"Guys, come with me to Elva's house, I'll serve you the most delicious fruit juice ever!" Veronica grinned, amused by the whole thing.

"And what about the goddess?" Terros asked.

Veronica shrugged. "Elva's cousin needs to be punished for slandering her name. Let the deity deal with her psycho relative in the most appropriate way possible!" she said.

"Okay, I do hope the goddess will punish that old woman severely because I don't want to dirty my hands with that old hag's life, even if I love to squeeze her neck for playing tricks on us!" Terros said angrily.

Graven chuckled in amusement and patted the old man's shoulder. "Relax, she's not worth destroying your mood," he said.

The men followed Veronica inside the marble house eager to taste the fruit juice - to wash away their shame of being deceived by an old hag.

Meanwhile...

Back in the forest.

"Agatha! Show yourself or I will blow up your house into smithereens!" Elva shouted angrily at her cousin.

Agatha rushed out of the house, bowed her head, and kneel on the ground in front of her cousin. "My Princess, what can I do for you?" she asked.

Elva raised her brow and snorted. "Princess my ass! What have you done to the two men? Why did you trick them into conspiring with you to blow up my house? You slandered my name and create outrageous lies just to manipulate those men to attack me! How dare you!" she said her nostrils flaring in anger.

"I'm so sorry, cousin! I'm just bored here in the forest! You have imprisoned me here for many years, I can't even go out and visit the town! I'm so bored here! Set me free, now!" she demanded.

Elva looked at her cousin. "I'm being tolerant with you for a long time. I have forgiven you again and again for all the mistakes that you have done because you are my relative! But setting you free to do as you please will only result in many lives being destroyed by your evil schemes! Did you remember that you seduced the men in that small village to kill each other? You are so evil!"

Agatha laughed. "Those humans are pathetic, just showing my face and body to them, they went crazy and killed each other. It's not my fault! They're weak and easy to deceive!"

Elva was shaking her head. "Look at you! You destroyed people's lives and you still dare to pretend that you are innocent and it's not your mistake! You have not repented yet. I turned you into an old woman so that you will repent your sins! But you haven't repented yet! So, you will stay this way until you will change!"

Agatha sobbed hard, pretending that she's crying. "Cousin, please have mercy on me! Please, restore my original image and return all my power!" she begged.

"I won't! You have been abusing your power and you are a danger to humanity! You will never be able to leave this forest. Just be thankful that I gave you your own space, and you can roam freely around this area, but you can never enter my place! If I'm that cruel, I already turned you into a stone or a frog so that you can live your life in misery for eternity!" Elva said in a cold voice.

"You are just afraid to restore my image because I'm more beautiful than you!" Agatha shouted. "I will go back to our kingdom and tell the King and Queen that their high steemed daughter bullied me and abused her power!" Agatha ranted.

Elva laughed merrily. "You're funny! Do you think you can go back to our kingdom and fabricate lies against me? In your dreams! You escape our kingdom without permission and we both know that those who leave our kingdom without permission can never return. While me, I can return anytime I like!" she said.

Agatha was fuming in rage. "You're bad! You abused your power! I will find a way to return to our kingdom and report to your parents that you abused me!" she threatened her.

Elva guffawed. "Dream on!"

Agatha's eyes were blazing with hatred. "You are so kind to other people - yet so mean to your relative! What kind of person you are! You take care of Veronica like she is your sister and allowed her to live in your home but you always disliked me! That's how cruel you are to me!"

Elva's face reddened in anger. "Enough! Don't envy Veronica, if you're only as half as good as her, we will have no problem with each other! But you! I can't even let my guard down even for a few seconds because you will poison my food again just like you did centuries ago! I could never trust you again!" she said furiously, gritting her teeth in anger.

Agatha fell silent.

"If you slander my name again or manipulate other people to attack me! I will turn you into a frog in the next 100 years!" Elva warned her.

Agatha groaned and whimpered. "Why are you so f*cking hard on me? The men didn't even have a chance to hurt even a single hair on your skin. I didn't cause any real damage to you this time!" she protested.

"Repent on your sins, Agatha! Or else I might not be able to control my temper next time!" Elva warned her and disappeared from the place.

"Cousin, wait!" Agatha said.

Dammit! Elva had disappeared and probably back on her house at the top of the Windless Mountain to entertain her guest. She noticed one thing though, her cousin's belly was protruding! She looks like she's pregnant! What?

Her eyes widened in shock. Who impregnated her cousin?