“It was really delicious. It was my first time seeing an opera, and I think it’s amazing!”
“I’m glad you liked it.”
“It wasn’t just good; it was incredibly good! I had no idea opera could be this fun.”
“Didn’t Count Lindsey ever show you a performance? He’s said to dote on his daughter.”
Summer rolled her eyes.
“I never asked to see one because I thought opera would be boring.”
“Is that so?”
“I think nothing is as interesting as a love story.”
“Isn’t the ending usually tragic?”
“That’s what makes it interesting. All love stories are fun because they end in separation.”
Whether her carefully thought-out excuse resonated or not, Ian didn’t ask any further.
The opera they saw after dining at a restaurant reserved for nobles, as Ian had planned, was truly magnificent.
Summer had never had the chance to see a proper performance, overwhelmed by the things she had to do in the world. She hadn’t even wanted to.
It was hard to see the relaxed faces of people who had leisure.
“I’ll have dinner at home.”
“I think this is my first time visiting the Duke’s mansion!”
“I don’t think that’s true.”
Feeling good, Summer nodded and gazed out the window. The dimming sunset was quite beautiful.
When was the last time she had watched the sunset so leisurely? It seemed like it was when she was a child.
Holding her mother’s hand after work, biting into a blue popsicle on a hot summer day, walking along a narrow sidewalk. At that time, she had felt how beautiful the setting sun was.
“……a memory.”
Summer suddenly pulled back in surprise.
Although she still couldn’t remember the faces of the people, she recalled the atmosphere and feelings from that time.
So she hadn’t completely forgotten. A sense of relief enveloped her.
“Memory?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Summer. Sometimes you seem like someone from another world.”
“……huh?”
Summer asked back with a bewildered expression. Ian, who had made such a profound statement, casually gazed out the window.
“Is that why you keep disliking this world? That’s what I think.”
“…….”
“It was a silly thought. Let’s get off; I think we’ve arrived.”
The carriage door opened, and Ian, who got off first, extended his hand.
Summer stared at Ian’s hand blankly. The calloused hand told the story of the hardships he had endured on the battlefield.
“Summer?”
“Oh. Thank you.”
Regaining her senses, Summer lightly took Ian’s hand and got off the carriage. Ian’s mansion was so enormous that it left her speechless.
“Wow…….”
“Do you like it?”
“It’s amazing.”
Following the path through the vast garden, they reached a gigantic fountain in the center.
The sight of clear water soaring into the air and then falling in droplets was quite lovely.
Summer felt like a traveler as she admired Ian’s garden. Ian didn’t rush her, quietly following behind and only answering her questions.
“How do you manage it all?”
“You just need to hire a lot of caretakers.”
“That’s simple. But many people don’t keep that up. Wow, there’s a fountain here too.”
“Do you like water?”
“Um, yes. It’s clear and refreshing. Especially in the hot summer, water is essential for life.”
Summer bent down and touched the water with her fingertips. The cool sensation made her sleeves slightly wet as they flowed down.
But it felt good. When would she have another chance to freely explore such an open garden?
God might not allow this memory, but Summer intended to cherish it forever.
When she returned to the original world, it would be a memory she could take out and look back on from time to time.
“The sun has set.”
“Shall we go have dinner?”
“Yeah. After we finish eating, I’ll show you around the mansion.”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
“There's nothing special.”
Nothing special, indeed.
If Count Lindsey’s mansion had a glamorous and charming feel, the Duke of Lancaster’s mansion exuded a grand and vintage atmosphere.
The food was all excellent.
“I’ve thought this for a while, but it seems like the best chef works in this mansion.”
“Is it that delicious?”
“It’s amazing. Just being able to eat without worrying about money is such a great happiness.”
As Summer was about to put the remaining steak in her mouth, she suddenly clamped her lips shut.
If this were all fiction, if it were a dream, could she really say she had eaten it? She wasn’t a little match girl.
“…….”
Fiction. The word struck her heart painfully for the first time.
She hoped it wasn’t all a lie. Even when she returned to the original world, she wanted to keep this experience as something more than just a midsummer night’s dream.
“Summer. Don’t think about it.”
Ian placed a plate of fruit in front of Summer.
“Just now, I felt like I was the little match girl.”
“The little match girl?”
“Every time she lit a match, she could forget reality and dream. But when the matches all went out, reality felt even colder and harsher.”
“…….”
“So the girl burned all her matches. And when the dream completely ended, she followed her grandmother. She died.”
“…….”
“Was the little match girl happy? That she could have a warm dinner with her family, even if just in a dream?”
“I don’t know.”
“Or did she cry because all of it was a dream that could never come true?”
“Isn’t it nearly impossible to perfectly distinguish between reality and fiction?”
“…….”
“If that girl was happy, even for a moment, through that dream, it can’t just be dismissed as a simple dream.”
“Is that so?”
“I’ve never thought about such things, so I wouldn’t know. Whether it’s real or fictional, if it has meaning to me, isn’t that enough? Eat more.”
Ian placed the pudding that had come out for dessert in front of Summer first. Summer thought for a moment, then scooped up some pudding with her spoon and swallowed it.
The sweetness made her feel a little better. Summer quickly finished her plate and let out a light sigh of satisfaction.
“If you’ve eaten, let’s go explore the mansion. I should send you home before it gets too late, or the count will glare at me.”
Since she was already full, Summer quickly followed Ian.
They walked along the training grounds and watched the knights train for a bit.
Once inside the mansion, they explored the study, which was more like a gigantic library.
“Where is this?”
“The gallery.”
The space was filled with beautiful sculptures and artworks on a red carpet.
The gallery was so vast that Summer felt like she was at an art exhibition, examining each painting and sculpture one by one.
“Do you like it?”
“Um. This one seems a bit…… unusual. What do you think it represents?”
The painting was so large that it occupied half the wall. And it was entirely painted in blue.
Ian’s gray eyes darkened as he looked at the painting.
“It’s a piece my mother bought.”
“…….”
“I once asked my mother that same question.”
“And what did she say?”
“She said it was water. The painter, who went mad after witnessing his mother drown in a lake, only painted in blue from then on. That’s what she told me.”
“…….”
“It depicts death.”
“That’s frightening.”
Summer looked back at the painting. The blue filled the enormous canvas.
Because it was so vast, it revealed a fear that something unbearable might overwhelm her at any moment.
In that moment, Summer felt overwhelmed by fear as she gazed at the artwork.
She wanted to run away, but the fear consumed her completely, leaving her unable to breathe.
It felt like she was suffocating in a lake filled to the brim with water, drifting alone in a distant place.
Mary had said the same thing. There might be a death without pain, but there’s no death without fear.
Summer turned her gaze away from the artwork. There, a portrait of a beautiful woman hung.
“What is this painting……?”
“It’s a portrait of my mother.”
“……She was beautiful.”
Ian’s eyes filled with longing as he looked at the painting.
“My mother often said she wanted to go back. Just like you.”
“Wanted to go back……”
Now she understood. Ian’s mother must have been someone who entered a book as well. That’s why she must have constantly tried to return to the original world.
That had left an indelible scar on Ian.
Did she have the right to leave, even if it meant hurting Ian?
Did Summer have the right to leave, even after experiencing a situation where Russell almost died? Summer squeezed her eyes shut, feeling as if she couldn’t breathe.
“Where did she want to go back to so badly?”
It hurt. Even though Ian’s murmuring wasn’t directed at her, Summer felt an unbearable pain.
His layered wounds. The pain. The resentment. And yet, Ian’s deep longing for her, who he loved until the end.
Each one pierced her heart like a heated blade.
“My mother started to seem like a completely different person one day. How terrible must this world have felt to her?”
“…….”
“To me, this world is terrible too. The previous duke was a cold man. He didn’t hesitate to use violence. When he died in an accident, and when the brothers killed each other, I thought it was a terrible world.”
“…….”
“But I fought to survive. I went to war, made achievements, and killed the brothers I used to eat with.”
“Duke.”
“I don’t regret it. Even if they called me a monster. That was my best. It wasn’t perfect, but it was.”
Ian’s low voice echoed through the gallery. His voice seemed to seep into her entire being.
His voice trembled softly in the quiet gallery, and Summer simply closed her eyes and swallowed dryly.
Her throat felt constricted, and it was painfully prickly.
Stop. She wanted to cover his mouth, but she also wanted to pat his back.
“I still can’t understand why my mother did that, even though someone like me is living.”
“……You don’t need to understand. Just think of it as having been separated for a very long time; wouldn’t that be a bit better?”
At Summer’s words, Ian slowly shifted his gaze to her.
“Summer. Do you know?”
“…….”
“Where my mother wanted to go back to so badly?”
Summer shook her head. Ian looked down and let out a hollow laugh.
“I hope wherever it is, it’s not the afterlife.”
“…….”
“Then I can think that my mother isn’t completely gone but is alive somewhere.”
Summer covered her mouth with both hands.
She was afraid she might cry in front of him. He was trying so hard to hold back his emotions; she didn’t want to make him even sadder.
In his sorrow, she felt like she might drown.