"I got to know Vani—cough, cough, sorry, I mean Miss Benanis—while traveling. I had gone to visit the Golden Dawn Opera Troupe's base in Randall River Valley after hearing of its reputation. While watching a performance at the local Wilde Opera House, that lady noticed something special about me. She wanted to lock me up and study me, but kind Miss Lathers stopped her.
"Some other things happened afterward. She made me stay in Randall River Valley and wouldn't let me leave. When spring came, she forced me to travel around and perform with the troupe. We had many, many stories together during that time, and before we knew it, we had grown close."
Shade stroked Little Mia and sighed as he told this insincere lie:
"One day, she suddenly said to me, 'Leave. Don't ever let me see you again. The farther you go, the better.' At the time, I was helping the young ladies in the troupe choose costumes for a performance, so I assumed she was testing me and didn't leave. Later, our relationship grew better and better, until I took the initiative to bid her farewell that autumn. She then cried and gave me a hug, inviting me on behalf of everyone in the troupe to come back often."
This was the script Vanessa had written for her own romantic story, casting herself as the protagonist under the premise that "what if the first person to meet Shade had been me rather than Galina?" It had to be admitted that she truly had a talent for screenwriting. Every rise and turn of the story had been thoughtfully constructed. Even the Sun's Great Witch, listening to it now, understood the situation from this brief account alone:
"So you and her—"
"The next time we met was early