"...When I woke up, the Valencia from January Seventeenth was gone. I went to the church and found him there, dead. He had become an Evil Spirit."
Colette was silent for a long time. "So the person in my dream was you?"
"Dream?"
"While you were reliving that day three years ago, I kept having that dream."
"Uncle Dies, Madam Soma...?" Annan asked tentatively.
A complicated look crossed Colette's face. "I mentioned them on purpose to test him... Your..."
It was a heartbreaking truth. The fatherly love she had received in her dream had all been false. Until the final moment of his life, her father had never even looked her way...
"No. Your father was the one who refused to see reason, and he was also the one who finally came to his senses." Annan tried to tell her about the remorse of the Valencia from January Seventeenth.
"You don't have to comfort me. I'm not a child anymore." Colette shook her head. "Thank you..."
Colette had been about Annan's age three years ago. Now she was a grown woman.
Colette had found the truth she wanted, but not the answer she had hoped for. She left.
Annan couldn't spare much attention for Colette. The Flower Capital Festival was tomorrow.
There would be a grand banquet tonight, and Annan invited Idelia to attend with him. "I don't have much experience with occasions like this. Could you come help me?"
"I can't stand up..."
"Old Ancestor can't stand up either, but no one dares look down on her."
Annan opened a Portal so Idelia could go back and choose a suitable gown.
"Do you want to come too?" Annan asked Olmedo.
"Not right now. Someone needs to keep an eye on the situation in the North."
Annan hadn't checked on