Isn’t the wannabe Villain too cute?

[Luna, 's Pov:]

When I was six years old, I came to Gram for the first time in my life, and also, it was the first time I left the castle which made me suffocate the most.

As I remember, it was the tenth birthday of the second prince Mikhail, for which the three of the neighboring continents were invited to the central Empire to celebrate the big event.

I wasn't enthusiastic about it since I wasn't sure what I was getting dragged in. I mean, what could you expect from a six years old child? I was already happy to see the greenery and new kind of people as our carriage moved for days and nights toward the Golden City.

(A/N: - Gram is also called the City of Gold because its palace is made up of nothing but gold.)

But on the route toward the capital, an unexpected occurrence stirred up the situation and also my life from then.

A horde of nomad monsters engaged in a gory battle in which Northern Emperor, Norsvolk had also to cross his blade in the end.

I was frightened when the defense started falling out as I got out of the carriage since anxiety was clouding my reasonability.

I still could vaguely remember the scene which was unfolding before I ran away in the jungle as a loud eruption also started flaring from the battle side for some reason.

As I remembered, none of the monsters were capable of causing such massive explosions, but somehow the battlefield became a sea of flames before I lost sight of where I was heading to.

I was too scared at that time. It was my first to see such brutality, after all. I was naive to believe that the world was a fairy tail where my prince would rescue me at times of trouble, and we would get a happy ending.

But nothing goes how one desires them to.

What happened afterward, I couldn't remember. Some animals were chasing me, and my uncontrollable tears and the fear I felt were only hazy in my memories since something more prominent of that day have deeply engraved in my remembrance.

The meeting with my grandma.

She came into my life as an unexpected support which helped me again to stand up and face the reality.

I didn't know where I was or what had happened to my father since I met grandma, nor I actually cared. The space where we both were, simply defied a general human's comprehensibility.

But since this was far greater than the palace where I lived, my chicken-sized mind chose to stay with grandma and listen to more stories she had in store.

I thanked that I was less calculating at that time. That's why I was able to accept the middle-aged woman quite easily.

Well, there was something that made me connect to her.

Our loneliness.

Even though she said to stay for some days with her in that unnatural space, I never imagined it would end almost a hundred years.

At first, I only ate, slept, heard stories, and repeated. But soon, I started playing with the mythical creatures inside the jungle. And without me realizing it, I was getting proficient with mana even though I didn't have officially awakened at that time.

I wasn't aware that I was growing up since my body was still the same, but from what Grandma told me when I left her, I actually trained my mana along with the creatures for more than ten years.

How absurd it sounds; I actually just cultivated mana and regulated it through each cell of my body in the span of one decade.

Once I started getting aware that something was wrong with the compatibility of my mind and body, I was thrown by my grandma into rigorous training.

For the next fifty years, Grandma did nothing but forge me into a warrior. I still can remember how days and nights passed when I was given tasks. Sometimes I fought unknown things for days in order to accomplish my goal, and sometimes I got beaten down until I fell on the verge of death.

Grandma was ruthless, and so she was making me too. And for some reason I didn't hate that.

I was aware that as time passed and I accepted the unnatural mana of the place, I was losing my humanity. But it seemed the incident which led me met my grandma left a great impact on my mind since I thought of the outside world as nothing but filled with brutality and blood. And that belief helped to never stop.

Without even a moment of boredom, hundred years went by, and I was completely ready to face the world which I had created my fear against.

But little did I expect that the outside world was still the same as I left it...

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"Someone is smiling quite a lot today."

In the same forest where Luna came to meet her Grandma, in the Northern Empire, sat two women under a humongous towering tree.

The older one was currently braiding Luna's long silver as she saw her granddaughter smiling wordlessly.

"I was just thinking, what would happen if I tell Austin my real age."

Luna was at least had that much faith in her love, that Austin wouldn't hate her if she told him what the difference between their actual age was.

"Don't be silly, girl. That guy is completely drowned in your love. I doubt if there's anything related to you that can make him hate you, now."

Luna smiled with her eyes unfocused as the image of Austin's smiling face came into her vision as she thought about what he might be doing now.

Another reason for her happiness was her acceptance from her grandma for Austin.

Luna took a whole night to tell her over-protective grandma how reliable and caring her man is and how much they love each other. Fortunately, her Grandma had already accepted Austin as her grandson-in-law before Luna's arrival.

"You think so?"

A blush made way on Luna's cheeks as she asked what she already knew. But to hear that Austin is crazy for her would never be enough for her.

"Of course he is; otherwise, who would have ignored such lovely temptation when you aren't around."

Luna's eyes went slightly wide as she turned toward her grandma, only to see her eyes shining with illumination, which made her realize what the heck actually was going on.

"Grandma, stop spying on him!"

The Sakura-haired woman smiled heartily to see such a reaction from Luna before she disconnected the channel.

Looking at Luna's troubled expression, which her grandma undoubtedly knew what was about, she spoke in a meek tone.

"You want to know?"

Luna averted her gaze when she realized that she had been found out. But in the end, the shy maiden in love couldn't endure, as she asked in a small whisper.

"Yes."

"Fufu...Don't make that face, Luna. He is pretty much ignoring his sister's temptation like a pro and also has rejected a proposal that genuinely has impressed me."

Despite being curious about the proposal thing, Luna decided to hear it directly from Austin, as she sat back with a full-bloom smile on her face.

"You really love Austin, don't you."

Luna didn't reply, just kept her face drowned in embarrassment with a shy smile not leaving her lips.

But suddenly, her grandma spoke something which made the atmosphere grow heavier, and her mind went blank at once.

"But Luna, I want to warn you something related to that boy. I fear that maybe you might have to leave him one day."

"!!!"

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A/N: - This chapter will continue from this point. The day Luna met her grandma would get a side story since it contains significant relevance to the main plot.

Until then✌️