Countless emotions engulf me. Despair and bliss, joy and sorrow, rage and disgust, murderous intent, murderous intent, murderous intent… murderous intent. From this place, I look out at the crowd still watching me. I watch their faces and bide my time. I long for the moment their expressions twist and their heads burst apart. Yes, that moment must surely come.
“How is she today?”
“She’s glaring at us again today? Well, that’s all she can do. Even the Witch of the Rose can do nothing in the end.”
“Hmm, that’s right.”
I want to tear that sneering face apart. No, should I just tear it apart right now? Do I really need to keep waiting like this? Even as I think this, I can just move right now, can’t I? As countless thoughts cross my mind, what I reach is a decision.
“…Huh?”
“…”
With a vow to kill everything that had kept me bound in this prison for so long, and that I would surely find him, I moved.
The most intense agony was the pain of my body burning. The pain of the fire that never went out, continuously consuming me. I still remember those flames that tormented me until death, until the very brink of death. I don’t know what became of the one who burned me like that. I had never met him, and had no intention of doing so.
“I just hope he’s doing poorly. Right? How could he make the mistake of firing an incendiary shell at a civilian—could it be it wasn’t actually a mistake?”
To the one looking at me with hostility, I spoke of a certain soldier. A battle had broken out, and within that battle, those who resolved matters in extreme ways had used an incendiary shell. Yes, many died by that incendiary shell. The biggest problem was that one civilian was burning to death from it.
“Well, since the civilian didn’t die, maybe he wasn’t punished. No, maybe he didn’t even know a civilian was burning after being hit by the incendiary shell. It wasn’t something they would care about.”
“…Why are you telling me this?”
“What do you think?”
The reason I told this story to one who came all this way to kill me was simple. The ones who came to kill me and ended up captured like this were soldiers, and the thing that stood at the starting point of my life was also a soldier.
“Why are you all always entangled with me? I’m truly curious. Why must you insist on bringing me misfortune?”
“Don’t blame your misfortune on us!”
“…Is that so?”
I pierced his eyes with thorny vines. A scream. That face looking at me along with his shrieks. That mug.
“Do you want to see all of you confess everything you’ve done to me? I can do it. I can! But you didn’t. Because it’s all futile! No matter what kind of fit I throw, you’ll ignore me. You’ll ignore every action you took against me.”
I wrap the vines around his entire body. I make thorns sprout from the vines so that they pierce his flesh. I listen to that scream exactly as it is. Doing so resolves nothing. I was merely listening to another’s screams.
“It’s no fun, it’s meaningless. Nothing gets filled. Because doing this won’t bring back what’s precious to me. So. Answer properly.”
“…”
“Where is he?”
There is a precious person. Someone who remade my life—my life that had burned down to nothing but ashes—anew. There was such a person. He was just living ordinarily in the world. Just ordinarily… ordinarily?
“…What exactly was ‘ordinary’ in the end?”
He saved me as I was dying. He remade my burning flesh into a new body and saved me. He is my benefactor, my everything. To me, abandoned with nothing I could do, he found what I was capable of. Where is he now, he who is my everything?
“No, I know. I know where he is. I know who has him. But I can’t get to him.”
They called me a magical girl when they first saw my ability. At some point, seeing my ability, they began calling me a witch. I remained exactly where I was. I hadn’t changed. Only their reactions were changing rapidly. What should I do? Did he know the answer? If I asked him what I should do, he would answer with a smile. If he were still close to me even now. But. But… there is nothing by my side.
“It doesn’t make sense. He has to be there. But why isn’t he? Why are you taking him away!”
I still remember them. The government people. Those who kept me in check, saying I was dangerous. I know them—those who pointed their gun muzzles at me and tried somehow to kill me. And I saw their failure.
“…”
What returned was tragedy. I don’t die. Because he made me that way. Then what about him? What happened to him? He died. No, he didn’t die. He died, but he didn’t die. He’s still alive. But… I can’t see him. Because those bastards took him away.
“Let him go. Give him back.”
“That is impossible. How could we leave be the one who hid and raised a dangerous being like you? Your demand cannot be granted.”
“Then you must die.”
At some point, killing people was no longer a difficult task. I hadn’t learned it myself. They were the ones who taught me. He said it wasn’t good for me to learn such skills, but it’s far too late to think about that now.
“I’ll ask again. Where is he?”
No answer. They were all dead. I let out a short sigh as I looked at their corpses. This one and that one were all the same. Acting bold despite having no strength. Interfering with me for the sake of a desire they couldn’t fulfill anyway. None of it pleased me.
“…Morgana.”
I heard a voice calling me quietly. I looked toward where the sound came from. There was a familiar face. The face of someone I knew well.
“Yun Seorin.”
“It really is you. Yes, I thought it was strange when I saw the news. The news that you had suddenly gotten out of prison. I figured the time had finally come.”
“It’s hard to ask if you’ve been well. I’m busy right now. I have quite a lot of things to do.”
“Did you kill them all? The soldiers and government people who came for you?”
“Yeah, I killed them.”
“…Why?”
“They got in my way. Because they tried to kill me. I just did the same to them? That’s how it is, right?”
It wasn’t particularly strange. Even so, Yun Seorin looked shocked, as if she had witnessed something impossible.
“Ah, more than that, no matter how much I searched or asked, they wouldn’t give me an answer. Do you happen to know?”
“…What are you talking about?”
“Han Doyun, do you know where he is now? I know someone from the government has him, but no matter how much I ask, they won’t answer? I was asking just in case you knew.”
“Sorry, I don’t know where he is either. Ever since that day, I’ve tried to avoid getting involved with them as much as possible. Nothing good comes from getting tangled up with them.”
“Yeah, that’s right. That’s why it’s troubling. He’s definitely somewhere, but I can’t figure out where. Do I need to go deeper?”
That was the only way with my current methods. Until now, they had been the ones searching for me, but this time, I wondered if I should be the one to find them instead.
“It’s dangerous. You don’t know what might happen. What if you fail without achieving your goal?”
“It’s fine. I won’t die. Because I have the immortality he gave me.”
I won’t die, because of immortality. The immortality he gave me to save me. It protects my body. Of course, it only protects me; there’s nothing I can do no matter what they do to me. So I just have to act before they do something to me.
“If you meet them, deliver a message for me. Tell them I won’t stop until they return him to me. It doesn’t matter what they call me, but tell them to remember clearly what they’ve done to me.”
“…Morgana, you.”
“The day when the people who first smiled and called me the Magical Girl of the Rose to approach me amicably suddenly turned around and pointed guns at me, calling me the Witch of the Rose—I haven’t forgotten what happened that day. I can’t forget. If they had any shame, they wouldn’t be able to do anything more than that. Ah, or do they not?”
She bowed her head. It seemed she had no intention of saying anything more to me. I wasn’t much different. I looked at the wound on her forehead.
“…I’m glad you’re doing well. Then, though I don’t know if there will be another chance, let’s meet again.”
“…Sure.”
I probably won’t see her again. That’s how it will be. Because that was certain, I quietly left that place.
I walk down the street. Occasionally, someone would look at me in surprise. I consistently ignored all those gazes. Their gazes weren’t important to me anyway. The sky was always blue. A color that brought me no joy at all.
“…The Witch of the Black Rose has started running amok again… Interesting.”
Whenever I saw them making such announcements about me, I laughed. Because it was absurd. Would anything change just because they announced me like that? Probably not.
“They should just listen to my demands, but I don’t know why they don’t. I really don’t know.”