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- Red Silhouette -

The girl who was born in Gardenia once had an uncle-- an uncle who loved her dearly, who valued her life more than his. He was an uncle who would start to act like the world is going to end if his little niece starts to cry.

For she who was born without knowing her parents, her uncle was her father figure. And though her uncle forbade her from calling him that, Charlotte was sure that he was touched. It was shown on his eyes; how he felt happiness to be considered as her father figure and how he felt guilty for taking the happiness that her real father should have felt.

At the end of her life, where she died miserably in the arms of her uncle, she smiled at him in relieve. It was a smile that her uncle couldn't comprehend.

"I did it," she whispered. "I have fulfilled my promise. Aren't you proud of me... uncle?"

Those were her final words. And the last thing she saw was her uncle's confused expression.

His crimson red eyes were shaken deeply. He didn't understand how things could end up like this. Promises? Proud? If he should feel proud by witnessing her killing herself, he would rather leave his own dignity and life at the mercy of his enemies. The thought that he was losing his own niece who he has been raising all these years like his own child stabbed him. It stabbed him right at his heart, his will to live, his dreams-- everything.

He felt like it was just yesterday when his child approached him to ask about the world. When she didn't understand how complicated humans' relationships and emotions, those were the time when she truly lived only for herself.

"Uncle! They said that the outside world is vast and wide! That you could find so many amazing things outside there!"

"And?" He remembered how unimpressed he was when she praised the false beauty of the "outside world".

"I want to see those amazing things! The crowd of people passing by the streets, all the delicacies they sold outside there, and even the night sky that is filled with lanterns! I want to see them all!"

The black- haired man looked at the child's eyes. Those eyes were filled with child-like curiosity. She spent her years living inside a wooden house within a forest. Aside from her uncle who raised her like his own child and her parents who disappeared without returning, she had never seen anyone.

"...no," he refused. And the child lost her smile.

"Why not?" She asked back.

He lifted her up and allowed her to sit on his lap, "It's because your body is weak. I don't want to risk seeing you ill again."

"Then if one day I manage to recover, will you take me outside the city?" She asked with hope.

The man pondered for awhile. Deep down his heart, he really didn't want this child to leave the forest. And in the same time, he didn't want to destroy her excitement.

He loved her a lot. She was his last kin. She was his will to live. If it wasn't for her existence, he would have taken his own life long ago. In the world where he couldn't blend in, her presence was the remedy for his loneliness. 

She was his remedy.

"... yes," he answered, after he thought about it carefully. Maybe she would forget it once she has grown older. "Once you are 18 years old, fulfill your ceremony, and regained your health, I'll let you roam around the world."

Her smile was the biggest weapon she could use against him. It was her trump card, without her knowing that.

'I hate the mundane world, but she loves it.'

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