Chapter 1

Deep in the woods of Argania, one lovely cottage is to be seen by some lucky travelers wandering the mysterious forest that they almost thought it consists of magical beings. But the truth is, one humble family lives here away from the people of the land.

Flowers and vines almost succumb the property making it very mesmerising through naked eye. Each day, the cottage will be filled with blueberry pie scent inviting some of the gentle animals that is with them in the woods. It seems like the owners of this property likes baking stuff like this. 

''Mother, it is done! Luna and I practiced baking for you to try,'' as the little girl said this, the so called mother immediately checked upon her daughter's pastry and she was delighted by just the smell of it.

"You two really take after your mother's cooking. How nice is that?'' the woman said as she took a piece of the pie and savour it with her mouth. A smile appeared on her beautiful face as she caressed both of her daughter's hair and praised them about their work.

After they were satisfied on their mother's opinion about their pie, they shouted outside to call their father Levi who's busy nurturing their flower garden. ''Father, father! Come join us. We made some blueberry pie for all of you!'' as Levi heard of it, he happily walked inside the cottage and was greeted by his lovely family having fun in the kitchen. 

''It really smells good in here. Looks like my stomach will be full again.'' Levi jokingly said to his daughters and carried them on both of his arms then took some slice on the blueberry pie they made. This scene is almost picturesque to others if they see this family having fun together with the simplest thing they have. While the family is having fun, a creak of door interrupted their bonding and an old woman is to be seen entering their humble home. 

''Lady Molly you're back. Come, eat with us. Our little daughters baked these blueberry pies for us,'' Lucia said as the lady closed the door behind her. Even though many years have gone by ever since they've known Molly, it hasn't aged even a bit. It looks like she goes younger every year that passes them. Her appearance just looks like a young lady who's living a simple life.

Of course, Levi always is curious about the case of the Lady and frequently asked about what kind is she in the past. But to no avail, the lady doesn't want them to know what power she has. So as a grateful gentleman, Levi decided to not ask anymore and leave her be. 

''I bought some edible mushroom i gathered earlier on the southern parts of the woods. I thought about Luna and Yve's favourite meal when I saw one'' Lady Molly said as he looked at the young twins gently. Even though they doesn't share the same blood with the lady, they grew attached to her as she accepted them without any hesitation inside her cottage.

The twins celebrated by hugging Molly tightly as they say sweet things to her which she likes. She never knew that she had this side of her, being gentle and loving towards children until she met this two and nurse them when they were babies. 

After eating with the family, Lady Molly decided to bid her goodbye as she goes inside her private room upstairs as she have many things to do. Lucia instructed the two twins to go outside to play but not to go far to the cottage as it is very dangerous. The sisters happily ran outside giggling loudly. 

''Hey Luna, come look at this little butterfly on father's roses"

"That doesn't look like a butterfly to me Yve. Look at its wings! So ugly," Luna spitefully said to her sister. 

"It is indeed a butterfly. I saw this from Molly's book inside her room. Also, there are so many weird things in there." Yve said proudly that makes Luna shocked on her statement. "You snuck on Lady Molly's chamber? She strictly told us not to go in there Yve. You are so in trouble if she founds out," Luna said it with worry on her tone.

She clearly remembers how the lady said it with a fierce tone so she got scared that time and had no intentions but to obey her. Meanwhile, her twin sister being stubborn and fearless as she is completely disregard the lady's orders. She somehow admire her twin sister Yve on this traits that she has. 

As the twin sister mumbles about the characteristics of the butterfly and Yve sneaking on Molly's chamber, something caught Luna's eyes from afar. ''Yve look there's something shiny in there," she interrupted her twin sister's talking and made her look at the direction she is pointing. "Eh, I don't want to go that far if I were you. Mother will be angry," Yve said in a bored tone and continue on examining the butterfly in her father's flowers.

Meanwhile, Luna is still curiously looking on the shiny object from afar and can't help but to take steps further away from where she was standing from. It feels like she loses control of her body as she keeps on walking towards the object that caught her curiousity.

Before she could pass their wooden fence, the object quicky disappeared before her naked eye and she immediately came back to her senses. But what caught her guard off was the rapid arrow that is coming in her way.

As she saw this, she was completely frozen from fear and not doing anything to dodge the arrow that will pierce her head any seconds from now. Luckily, someone tackled her on the ground saving her life. 

''Levi! take the twins inside! Someone is here!" Lady Molly fiercely said and took Luna behind her along with Yve completely scared from what's happening. Levi heard the loud orders from the lady and hurriedly took the twin sisters inside the cottage. The only person who was left outside was lady Molly not fearing anything or anyone who had charged this arrow to the child. 

"Show yourself. How can you do such thing to an innocent child?" she firmly said and it echoes deep within the woods that makes it look like she's only talking to the wind. But after a few seconds of observing that surroundings, Molly saw a silhouette of a man from afar. She smirked when she saw the figure of it and can't help but to put her right hands on her hips making her look arrogant.

"You came here alone? Are you not afraid what can we do to you?" the lady said as she continue on looking to the figure. 

"I w-was only ordered b-by someone! They s-said there was some witches in this side of the woods and t-their bodies are very useful!" a raspy voice answered with a hint of fear on the way he spoke. Lady Molly can't help but to be astonished on the old man's statement. The news about the twin sisters might have already reached the capital so this old man in front of her dared to check if it's really real.

"Since you've seen the witch you are talking about, are you ready to die? We doesn't allow anyone to come out of this forest alive," Molly said as if its normal for her to say that. But the truth, she can't let this man live anymore because he had witness with his own two eyes the Albino sisters and he can spread out this piece of information anywhere once he got out of the woods. If that happens, it will only invite more trouble unto them. 

"P-please have mercy Madam! I don't know what I was doing to be like this! I beg your pardon!" The old man knelt on his knees pitifully and started crying because of fear. But what he didn't expect is that, lady Molly doesn't feel any mercy with this kind of people.

She might look like a lady who can't slay anyone in just one snap but she can. "Too late. You are going to die in my hands now," in that final sentence, the ground began to break before the old man's eyes which caught him off guard.

A bone chilling scream was heard around the woods while the ground continue on swallowing the old man leaving no trace of him being alive. After that incident, the woods were back again to its peaceful state like nothing out of the ordinary has happened. 

Molly turned her back against the woods and entered the cottage again checking on the family. Luna was eating peacefully and the husband and wife cleaning the kitchen. She's not surprised by them not having any reaction as if nothing happened outside. Many years have passed since Molly put on a barrier around this cottage every time an extraordinary event is happening. It blocks the hearing and sightings of what's happening outside whenever she wanted. 

''What happened in there Lady Molly? you said someone was there but we didn't saw anything unusual," Lucia asked with obvious confusion in her voice. "It's nothing dear. The arrow must be from a soldier outside the woods practicing archery." she lied because she doesn't want Lucia to panic about the incident.

After further discussions, Lucia offered her a bowl of mushroom soup which she gratefully accepted and sat beside Luna who's still eating. Taking a few sip of the soup, she immediately felt relaxed by the savory taste of Lucia's cooking which never disappoint ever since they had lived together. Levi is indeed a lucky guy. 

"I really admire your skills in cooking Lucia. If ever i was granted a wish before I die, I would wish for this mushroom soup of yours. I could eat this for days!" lady Molly exclaimed jokingly to Lucia which made her even more relieved just by hearing it. "Stop flattering me lady Molly. I might get used to it," Lucia responded to her statement which filled the entire room with positive energy unlike earlier.

They continued eating but they didn't notice that Yve wasn't with them in the kitchen. Instead, she was right in front of an open window staring outside like she had seen a ghost. "Yve darling, what are you doing?" Levi sweetly said as he approached his daughter lowering his body beyond her level. Levi didn't get a respond right away because Yve continued on looking outside the window without uttering a single word. Not after Levi decided to pat his daughter's shoulders. 

"Hey, are you alright?" Levi said. 

"Y-yes father. It's just that I was carried away by the flowers in our garden." 

Levi was not satisfied by his daughter's answer but he decided not to dig in further about what might Yve was thinking. So, he called her to eat with the rest of the family and guided her through the kitchen. Levi thought that there was really something outside so he looked by the window where Yve were staring at earlier. But unfortunately, he didn't saw anything unusual so he untied the curtain's rope and let it cover the window.

After eating, Lucia taught the twin sisters how to wash the dishes properly before they go outside again. It is not that hard to teach the young girls the basics when it comes to household chores. She just wanted to make sure that this two young twins would learn properly by their own mother.

Yve, cleaning the dining table and Luna washing the dishes. Both of the have individual things to do when it comes to cleaning so it is only fair for them. After doing the things that were assigned to them, they walked upstairs to play on their room. 

The two of them has already reached the age of 10 and they should be going to school to learn things such as reading and basic counting or even grammars and languages. But, Lucia doesn't want to send them to any learning facilities in the capital because it scares her to show her daughters to other Arganians.

They aren't familiar with people who have Albinos so it frightens them. Like what the old saying says, things that people doesn't understand fear them. It is much better to let the twin sisters stay in this cottage and they will do all the teachings they need while they are growing up. 

"Hey Yve, have you ever wondered what is the capital is like?" Luna asked. 

"Not really. It never crossed my mind for now. Why? Are you starting to get bored in our cottage?" 

"No. I am just curious because ever since we got our senses to this world, we never get to go on other places that might be interesting."

"Stop thinking about it. It's beautiful in lady Molly's cottage plus we get to play whenever we want," Yve said to her twin sister. Luna just agreed to what she said and they continued on dressing up the dolls that were made for them by lady Molly.

The dolls that were made for them looked exactly like them so it is the reason why they loved dressing it up because they visualize themselves like these dolls. The two of them spent the whole day playing inside their room without getting bored from what they were doing. They only stopped playing when their mother called them for dinner. 

"The sun's already setting without us noticing," Luna said as she carefully put the dolls back from where she store it. 

"It's alright, the sun hurts our skin and I hate it," Yve said spitefully as she patted her dress clean from sitting on the floor for too long. After the two of them mumble about different stuffs at once, they decided to finally go down not wanting to anger their mom from waiting for them. 

The kitchen table is almost full of dishes which will instantly make someone drool if they've seen this kind of foods. The twin sisters immediately sat on their table with a feeling of excitement as they saw their second favourite food which is rabbits in almond gravy. Ever since they've tasted this dish made by their mother, it has become their second favourite food. Although they are deep inside the woods and ingredients and foods may look like it's hard to find, it is the opposite.

Levi learned how to hunt wild animals through the years he have been here in the woods. Their garden has a lots of use too. It is not used for nurturing flowers only but vegetables also and many more edible items that they can eat for survival. When it comes to essential things for the cottage, lady Molly is the one who's assigned for this one.

She is free to go anywhere in the parts of Argania may it be the capital or the trading point of the kingdom where merchants are scattered everywhere. She also knows how to forage and that is why she bought some edible mushroom earlier in the morning to be eaten. 

As Lucia served the final dish for their dinner, they started to dig in. All of them are already used to this kind of living so they are satisfied on what they currently have. A simple family, living the way they wanted.