A festival, she brought me to a festival, I didn't even know that there was a holiday today. Apparently, today is the kingdom's anniversary.

Aaah, there are way too many people here. This is way too much for someone who spent the last four years interacting with others as little as possible.

It would be bad enough even if they were all minding their own business, but everyone has been silently staring at me for over a full minute now. And the people in whatever direction I look at will all step back and trip on each other, if I turned my head from side to side, I could make them do a wave...

"Uh, I'm just ruining the fun for everyone..."

"Nah, they are all just in awe of your beauty."

"They are not! They are obviously scared!"

I need to leave this place quickly...

"Wait! Can't you stay a bit longer? It's not good for you to be always indoors and not interact with people."

"But I have to! There are certain people that... I don't want to meet again. There's even a chance that one of them could be here."

"Ah, no. There's not 'a chance' of that?"

"What?"

"They are here, 100%."

"WHAT?! Why?! How would you know that?! I didn't even tell you who they are!"

"You are talking about your acquaintances from the orphanage, right? I told them to come here... Look, over there."

She's right! I thought that she was joking, but I can see Miss Liliam trying to make her way through the crowd. I need to escape!

"Hey! Don't run!"

Uh, there are too many people in the way, and I cannot even use them to hide because they are all so short! I crawl around for a bit to make them lose sight of me and then I hide in a bush.

...

"Luna, come out, please."

That's Miss Liliam's voice, it's been so long... Hearing it again makes me want to cry, but this situation is not good at all.

"How did you know I was here?"

"Everyone was staring at this bush."

Uh, I guess it's not so easy to hide when I'm in plain view of everyone.

Miss Liliam has two girls with her, and they look familiar. One of them has a strong gaze and the other has rabbit ears. Don't tell me...

"Janna? Lannete? You have grown up."

"Not as much as you have."

Why did they come here to look for me? They must still be angry with me. After they helped me so much, I betrayed their trust.

"Luna... I'm sorry. I'm very sorry!"

Miss Liliam is... apologizing?

"N-no, I'm the one who should-"

"I always knew how brilliant and troubled you were, but I had to take care of so many children. I wasn't able to take care of you properly."

"But I'm the one who never listened to you. Shouldn't you be angry with me?"

Janna then steps forward.

"Well, I'm angry with you. Why did you run away like that?! Don't you know how worried we all were?!"

"Worried? I hurt you with my magic! You should hate me!"

"That was clearly an accident, and it was just a couple of scratches, that's not a good enough reason for you to overreact like that!"

Did I overreact? I thought that some of them could have died, but I guess not... Maybe I shouldn't have been so quick to leave them forever.

Now Lannete wants to speak.

"Janna and I are going to leave this city soon, we have already found jobs elsewhere. That friend of yours called us just in time, I didn't want to leave without knowing what happened to you..."

"You mean Arana? She's not really-"

Is she my friend? She did go through the trouble of arranging this meeting.

Uh, so Miss Liliam doesn't regret raising me? Janna and Lannete do not hate me?

As the tears start to come out, I see Arana smirking at me.

"For such a big girl, you really are a crybaby."

"Luna! Can you hear me?! Why are you crying?!"

Someone is desperately calling out to me. I feel like I just woke up from a long slumber.

"Eh? Nera? Where am I? I'm not 13 anymore?"

"Thank goodness, you are talking again... You have been standing still crying for 15 minutes! I was so worried!"

"I already told you that she was fine. She was obviously just having a flashback."

That pink-haired girl dressed in blue is Ranna... I'm slowly remembering who all the people around me are.

As she says, I seem to have just had a flashback to my childhood. I even recalled many things I had forgotten. And I think I've had a revelation. Experiencing my memories in that way made me come to a very important realization.

"There was never an evil clown! That was just Janna wearing a disguise!!!"

"Eh?"

Everyone looks at me with a mix of confusion and concern.

"I knew it, there's something wrong with her."

Nera looks worried again, I guess I shouldn't say anything that might sound weird to someone who didn't get to see my flashback.

<Isn't there something more important that you should have realized?>

Right, I still have the ghost rose in my hand. That voice I hear, it must be Solitude, one of the void titans.

Wait... This rose looks exactly the same as the one I took from that woman, and that voice is the same as the one I used to hear.

Don't tell me...

"You... It was you! You are the one who made me lose control of my magic back then! And then you made me run away from the orphanage! I spent 4 years all alone because of you!"

<It was so beautiful, wasn't it? Back then you truly believed that nobody could love you, you were incapable of connecting with other people. Just a few more years, and you would have become incapable of empathizing with anyone, then I could have turned you into the great villain you were always meant to be... But it's not too late... I will make you mine once again.>

"D-don't be stupid! There's no way you could trick me again! Just look at how many friends I have now!"

<Friends? Is spending time with you all it takes for someone to be your friend? Shouldn't a friend be someone who understands you?>

"They understand me just fine!"

<So many people have heard of you, and yet, nobody knows you. Most people have never met you and believe that you are the horrible villain the rumors say. And those who are closer to you put you on a pedestal. They believe that you know everything about dark magic, that you are so strong that no enemy can beat you. They think that you are a saint that will never give in to temptation.

But I know you.

I know the real you.

I know how weak you really are.>

"I..."

It's right. I'm too weak to live up to everyone's expectations. What will they do when they find out?

"Luna! I don't know what that stinking rose is telling you, but you shouldn't listen to its nonsense."

I feel Arana's hand on my shoulder. When she stands so close, her hat blocks my view of her face, just like when I first met her.

"That's right! I'm not going to listen to you anymore, so stop wasting my time."

<Maybe you won't, but there are many that will.>

Eh? What is it saying now?

<Did you listen to the prince and the old man? Ten years ago my roses spread all over the Magnel kingdom. Ever since then, I turned many of its citizens into my followers, like you once were. The king and queen are now my puppets, the true ruler of the Magnel kingdom is none other than me.>

Why is it telling me this? Actually, what was the point of making me remember my childhood in the first place? Realizing that so much of my suffering was its fault is only going to make me see it as my enemy.

<Do you hate what I did to you? That's what I plan to do to everyone in that kingdom. And nobody will stop me this time.>

Nobody will stop it? Ah! I see... It wants me to go to the Magnel kingdom, to be the one to stop it. It must be planning to lure me into a trap.

But even if that's the case, I cannot stay back and do nothing while so many innocent people suffer. That must be what Solitude is counting on.

"Fine, if you are trying to pick a fight, I will give you one."

I close my fist and focus my mana on it, the ghost rose is crushed and gets completely obliterated.

Whatever trap that titan has prepared for me, I won't fall as easily as it thinks, I'm not a small child anymore.

"Everyone, get ready. We will go to the Magnel kingdom immediately."

Arana looks up and stares at me.

"You want to go to the Magnel kingdom. To do what, exactly?"

"To beat Solitude! Obviously!"

"Didn't that guy from the infernal caverns say that the void titans couldn't enter our world? Even if you go to the Magnel kingdom, it's not going to be there."

"Oh, that's right... Then let's destroy all of the ghost roses in there!"

Now it's the blind old man, Alber, who steps forward.

"According to my investigations, there are currently somewhere between 300,000 and 400,000 ghost roses in the Magnel kingdom. Around half of them are in secret gardens owned by various criminal groups. The other half are in possession of regular citizens that will naturally try to keep them hidden."

"Oh..."

This might be a bit more complicated than I thought...

forli

I don't know if I should refer to Solitude as 'it' or 'him'. 'It' seems more appropriate, but it makes a lot of sentences seem weird.