"We will take a minute of silence for Lord Roberts's death," said Supreme Commander after Carmichael took his seat. We all stood up and closed our eyes in silence. It is really regretful that the old man died before he could enjoy the glory of being a Grand Lord; he should have stayed alive for at least a day to enjoy it. Still, he died for his world, for his race, and I hope, wherever his soul is, he knows that we will not let down our motherland and race that he had laid down his life to protect. "May the soul of Lord Roberts find peace," said Supreme Commander and sat down, and behind her sat down everybody else. "Today, we have killed five Grimms; they will take revenge for that, using what they have not used before," said Matron Mavis. "I am pretty sure, today we have made Grimm take any drastic action, as what that is, we will know soon," " I hope all of you remain extra cautious, but if you get a chance, don't waste even a second thinking and kill the Grimm, as this war and through it, only side will be victor, while other will be wholly massacred" added Matron in a soft voice as she looked at each and every one of us. The expressions of people couldn't help but turn serious, especially of the new Grand Lord; their first battles were very intense, in that they lost one of them. "Michael, as always, nothing could be said about your abilities in killing Grimms; they are unparalleled," she said and turned to Lady Vivian. "You girl did good, but don't take such risks till there is a guarantee that you could kill at least three of them," added warningly. "I will remember that matron." Replied Lady May. "Now, to the important topic," said Supreme Commander, taking the lead once more. For the next one and half hours, she outlined our strategy and briefed the new Grand Lords on the war; I could have left if I wanted to, but I stayed. However, most of my focus is on my core. "We will move by this strategy; the changes occur according to the moves that Grimm will make," said Supreme Commander and dismissed the meeting. Currently, only Lady Atkins is fighting; while the other others are patrolling our territory, we will move as the Grimms appear. One by one, we got out at the table, and I walked with Professor before reaching Marina's home. "She seemed to be in the lab," said Professor as we appeared in Marina's home and above took a step toward it when I stopped her. "What is it? I could tell there is something in the way you are behaving," she said, looking at me in question. I couldn't help but smile at that; Professor is one of the few people who know me the best; it is really hard to hide things from her, especially these things. "Something had happened to the teacher," I said, and her expression immediately became very serious. "I could sense her, and she seemed to be fine," said Professor and tried to investigate through soul, to which I quickly isolated Marina with mine. "She is fine," I said before she could ask me that, and I could see relief flooding her eyes. "But some changes have occurred in her, and I hope you wouldn't react badly seeing that," I said, but for some reason, she got angry; it was clear in her eyes. "You might be her lover Michael, but she is my sister; no change of hers could make me look at her any different way," she said to my shock and walked up toward the lab, leaving me stumped on my place. It took a second for me to get control over my emotions, and I appeared behind her when she was about to open the door to Marina's lab. Click! The door clicked open, and Professor stopped in her tracks as she saw Marina, who was without her cloak. Marina looked at her sister with hidden vulnerability, fearing what she might say. Both sisters stared for one long second before Professor moved and appeared in front of her sister before hugging her. A smile couldn't help but appear on my face seeing that, and I disappeared, leaving the two sisters alone. "How does she know?" I asked myself as I sat down in the living room. Marina and I had been very careful hiding our relationship, but she was still able to find out; maybe we were not as good as we thought we had been. She knows, then who else also knows; it is definitely not Elina; if she had known that, she would have definitely exploded at me. Maybe she is the only one, or maybe she is not; I don't really care that much. There is nothing to be ashamed of, and if it were not for Marina, I would have declared to the world already. I did not decide waste any more time on that and just closed my eyes; there are many things I need to do, but before that, I have to look at the newest addition to my core. I have looked at the dead-looking tree many times, but I still wasn't completely able to believe I was able to get this thing. I had already counted it among the most precious plant in my core, which I would not remove, no matter what. It will stay in my core till I die, and it will not let me die. As long as there is a single breath remaining in me, this tree will keep me alive. Till now, I have only used some life-force crystals, but I have to do some tests on leaves, bark, and roots; thankfully, unlike crystals, they can store for a longer time, but they need to be stored carefully, I had collected some samples and brought them out, and a moment later, I typed a message before a teleportation formation appeared in front of me, and I placed the box with the thing on it, sending it to the Grandmaster Salvador for research. It will save me a lot of time, and given his expertise, Grandmaster could analyze them at a far more detailed degree than I could. With that done, I begin to focus on real work, the curse; I am working on the solution and am making good progress. I am very confident that I will find a way to extract it before the time is up. I wish I could say the same with my inheritance; with speed, I am making progress in it; it will take years before I have the inheritance ready, and that is when I work on it with both of my clones. If a single clone keeps working on it, then it will take even more time. I will not let that happen; as soon as clone one finishes with the curse, I will send it back to inheritance. More than half an hour had passed when I opened my eyes and saw both sisters coming down the stairs with smiles on their faces. Marina looked happy; the worry that always seemed to be clouding her face had mostly disappeared, and I could thank Professor for that.