- Confusion -

To find herself and not her false self.

She was who she was right? She was a childish and playful girl who everyone seemed to want to beat up. What other secrets could she had? After all, she was not the protagonist, but an extra.

He said that it won't be bad to die once in order to find her true self. Did he even know what death means? She had died once already, being burned into ashes and then was blown away by the wind.

The God of Guardian used his skill and then had the two irregulars separated. They were still in the Rice Pot, but their minds weren't. Their minds seemed to be in somewhere else.

Charlotte looked at the ground. There was something on the ground. On the ground, she saw lots of golden petals that seemed to glow and guided her towards a direction.

She had nowhere to go and she didn't want to stay in the place without light or anyone else. She chose to walk to on the path that the golden petals lead her.

She followed and followed, walked and walked until she stopped as she had nowhere else to go.

By the time that she stopped, she saw something. She saw a golden hourglass that didn't move at all, along with the chains surrounding it. She assumed that this must be her hourglass and the chains must be the thirteen chains that suppressed her ability.

There were only twelve chains there and when she was about to raise her hand to touch the nearest chain, there was a familiar voice behind her.

"If I were you, I won't be touching that thing."

Charlotte was startled as she turned her head around.

"Who is it?" She was alerted. "Who is talking to me just now?"

There was no answer, but there was someone coming. Someone.....or something.

There was a glowing golden ball. The ball moved on the air and then stopped right before her.

Charlotte knew that this might sound ridiculous, but still she asked, "Are you the one who talked with me just now?"

The ball did not answer.

Charlotte sighed and face palmed herself.

'Of course' she thought and looked back at the chain. 'There is no way a ball could talk.'

"I'm you." The same voice spoke again in all sudden. "You are me."

Charlotte turned her head around again and faced the ball again.

The ball could actually speak!

┌──────═━┈┈━═──────┐

Outside the Rice Pot

└──────═━┈┈━═──────┘

Estrella lied down on the floor.

"I'm bored, bored, bored" Estrella said. "This is too boring."

"Do you want to play cards?" Altaira asked Estrella.

"No" Estrella immediately denied without giving it the second thought. "I don't trust you. Not even the slightest. You always play dirty."

"You can't wrong the innocent" Altaira said as he pulled out the cards from his pocket. "Come on. Coincidentally, I'm also bored. Let's play together."

"You are bullying my sister again...." Estelle tilted her head a bit and smiled awkwardly.

In the White Chocolate Team, among all the members, the one who Altaira loved to bully the most was Estrella. Perhaps it was because she was a short-tempered girl who rarely think of something carefully and often fell into his schemes, or it was because that her childish side resembled Charlotte's childishness.

But Estelle was sure that Altaira won't be treating Estrella as a substitute. She was sure of it. Although Charlotte and Estrella did have some similarities, they still had difference and if Altaira was treating Estrella like a substitute, then they won't be there now.

"Why do you choose to hide earlier, brother?" Celeste asked Noah.

When the God of Guardian was awake, Noah pulled Celeste's hand and decided to hide. They didn't show up until the God of Guardian took Bam and Charlotte away and since the others were too distracted, they didn't notice it.

"....I don't have a good feeling about that God of Guardian" Noah answered.

Khun glanced at the Noah. He still can't get rid of his suspicions. Perhaps while waiting for Charlotte and Bam who had stayed inside the Rice Pot for who knows how long, he will be approaching this Noah and trying to gain one or two things.

"You are Noah right?" He asked with his friendly smile. "I'm Khun. Khun Aguero Agnes."

"Ah....yes....." Noah responded.

Of course he knew about who he was. But Khun didn't know about who he was.

"Charlotte said that you were her friend."

"Isn't that the reason why she went this far to save me?"

"Then how the two of you meet with each other?"

Noah knew that people like Khun were the meticulous one. His dark purple eyes also glanced at Altaira who was smiling at Estrella's defeat in playing cards. Even though he didn't look like he cared about them, but Noah was sure that he was eavesdropping with their conversation. Raisin was also the same and Celeste was listening to them with curiosity.

'.....this girl is really loved by everyone' he thought.

"Why are you curious about it?" He asked back.

"Charlotte is my friend" Khun answered. "It's natural for a friend to be curious of others' business right?"

Noah, "....."

'No matter how you look at it, this man clearly has something else on his mind' he thought and inwardly sighed.

"We happened to bump into each other several years ago" Noah answered. "Back then, I knew her as Nox."

Noah and Charlotte had prepared a lie just in case the others will ask about how they meet with each other. Noah had already predicted that there will be someone asking them about it.

The story was rather simple. The two of them met when Charlotte was climbing the tower as Nox and in a test, they happened to have a fight and then began to be friends with each other. Noah was then in danger and thus left a message for Charlotte to save him in the Hell Train.

As for how there were violet chrysanthemums helping and saving Charlotte all the time, it was because Noah passed a little bit of his power to Charlotte to help her. She would be repaying the debt by saving him. Simple right?

But to come up with this kind of simple story, they had to went through lots of arguments. And he still remember about it clearly.

"I see...." Khun responded.

If ability could be shared like that, then that would have made sense why Charlotte was saved by the violet chrysanthemum petals again and again. Noah also added that after Charlotte saved him, she returned the fragment of his power back to him.

It was just that simple but Khun still felt that he missed something.

'There is definitely something off' he thought. 'But what is it?'

≪ ◦ ❖ ◦ ≫

"I am you. You are me. We're the same."

Charlotte frowned when she heard that.

".....we are not the same."

"....right, we might not be the same, but we are the same in lots of aspects" the ball said as it circled around on the air. "Names, height, blood type, voice.....and those kind of things."

Charlotte frowned even deeper when she heard that. She turned around to look at the ball who easily moved pass the chains through the space and the gap between each of it.

The ball stopped on the air. If the ball had a human appearance, then he will probably be a young girl considering her voice. And if she had the human appearance, then she must be looking at her now.

"You are.....Charlotte?"

It sounded kind of weird and uncomfortable for her to call someone else who shared the same name with her. But the person who had a great similarity with her, other than the Charlotte who was Bam's real younger sister, she really had no other idea.

Charlotte has never seen Charlotte. But she heard from Noah that they had lots of similarities which made her suitable to replace Charlotte.

Charlotte didn't and never expected to meet Charlotte. Noah said that Charlotte died because of exhaustion and she will not return anymore. But right now, why did this ball sounded like Charlotte?

"....You have figured me out" the ball said. "You are smarter than what I thought."

"How are you still alive?" Charlotte asked the ball.

"Because I'm tougher than what you think" the ball answered. "Although right now I'm just a mere ball.....but I'm stronger than this."

".......So you are here to ask for your body back?"

Charlotte wasn't that selfless. She knew that she was selfish. As she asked that question to the ball, she silently prayed so that the ball would deny it. She was used with this life already, she didn't want to give it up.

"Even if I come back, will things be the same?" the ball asked her.

"What do you mean?" Charlotte looked at the direction where the ball was flying.

"Right now, my own brother cares for you a lot right?" the ball asked her.

Charlotte nodded her head, "Brother.......Bam is a nice person."

"It's a good ending for everyone then" the ball answered.

"Ha?"

"Charlotte, unlike you, I don't get along with my brother" the ball said to her. "I think you've known about it right? Until the end, all he cares is only Rachel. There is no me in his eyes.

Since he doesn't care about me, why should I come back? I will only ruin his happiness if I do so. And besides, you also don't wish for me to come back right?"

Charlotte couldn't argue with that. But she started to feel bad for this ball.

"Is there anything I couldn't do to make it up with you?" Charlotte asked her.

"There is" the ball answered. "Break all the thirteen chains."

"What?" Charlotte blinked in surprise.

"Do you know why I haven't died yet?" the ball asked. "It's because of these chains. As long as these chains exist, I could only stay inside you as a simple ball. But if you could break these chains, then I will cease and disappear. I could finally reincarnate and live a different life."

"....So what you want is a liberation, huh?" Charlotte asked the ball.

Charlotte still remembered her conversation with Khun back then in the Workshop. She still remembered that she said it to Khun that for some people, death will be a liberation for them. This Charlotte was one of those people.

Charlotte really admired Charlotte. In the same time, she also felt bad for her.

Charlotte must have suffered from loneliness when Bam was focused only to his light. It seemed like inside the dark place or their home back then, Bam gave all his attention to Rachel and accidentally neglected Charlotte. Charlotte was also kind and generous enough to give her body to her and what she wanted now was just liberation.

'Then.....since Bam never paid attention to Charlotte.....why does he care for me now? Is it because Rachel chose to betray him and since he was afraid of losing someone else, he choose to be nice to me? Then if Rachel is back....will he neglect me as well?'

The ball remained quiet for a few moments. Although she didn't have eyes, Charlotte could see the sad and the worried Charlotte pondering about something.

".....So?" The ball asked her and moved close to her. "Do you agree with my offer? Are you willing to help me?"

"I......"

Of course she wanted to help her. Charlotte had been through a lot.

But just as she was about to answer, there was a blinding light and the scenery changed within a blink of an eye as if they were flipping through the pages in a story.

By the time Charlotte opened her eyes, Charlotte realized that she was back in the grassland again.