“Did you hear my voice?”
“No.”
Russell chuckled softly, lowering his gaze slightly.
That was a lie too. Summer felt she was beginning to understand what kind of person Russell was.
“I have been chased by a monster before.”
“By the Duke?”
“It was quite painful. The fear of possibly dying.”
Russell? Summer, who had been momentarily startled, soon nodded in agreement. To deceive a god, one must be convincing.
“Oh, that was a lie. I almost fell for it. I was originally in another world. Now, I live here without a name.”
“Do you want to go back?”
“I want to go back.”
“Does that necessarily mean dying in this world?”
“Yes.”
Russell asked, and Summer answered.
With each response to Russell's questions, Summer felt overwhelmed, her eyes growing moist.
It felt as if something that had been pent up inside her was finally breaking free.
“Is there a time limit?”
“About a month.”
“That’s short. I wanted to see you a bit longer.”
“...Are you accepting this?”
“Only if it’s not really dying.”
Russell smiled elegantly once and then stood up. Summer quickly wiped her tears with the back of her hand and clasped her trembling hands together.
“Now, Miss. Since it seems you’ve stayed up all night, how about getting some morning sleep?”
Russell extended a hand to Summer as if he were truly a servant of the mansion, with a polite demeanor.
She almost grabbed it. Regaining her composure, Summer swatted Russell's hand away and stood up abruptly.
“Ah, wait! Didn’t we agree that you would pretend not to see me when I talk?”
“I’ve thought so for a while, but you’re quite perceptive.”
Russell smiled brightly and drew a sword that was hanging in the room, clearly prepared to prevent Summer's death.
Summer let out an exaggerated sigh.
I lost, I lost.
“I know.”
“You’re quite a desirable talent as an administrative minister.”
“Haha, I’ve spent years trying to become that damned minister!”
Ultimately, Summer burst into laughter at Russell's continuous jokes.
Russell’s nonchalant attitude, constantly throwing out jokes, helped lighten the heavy atmosphere for Summer.
Unlike the ambiguous beings like Fay and Mary, it was the first time the clearly described protagonist in the original story had listened to her.
* * *
“Miss, have you heard the news?”
“What news?”
Just as Daisy was about to respond with an excited face, Mary interrupted.
“They say Lady Ferotia Legacy has been imprisoned in the royal dungeon.”
“Lady Legacy?”
“Yes. For attempted murder of Julian Dudley.”
“She kept her promise.”
Summer let out a small laugh and looked out the window. It was a sunny afternoon.
If she exposed Ferotia's misdeeds now, for the sake of coherence, Ferotia would continue to commit sloppy and disastrous acts.
So, Summer deliberately attacked Ferotia, hoping she would be a pathetic main villain.
“I was a bit surprised. Didn’t you pity everyone here?”
“Me?”
Mary’s question was a bit unexpected, causing Summer to tilt her head.
Mary hesitated for a moment and handed Summer a gossip magazine typically seen in noble society.
While Summer read the magazine in a daze, Mary continued speaking.
“The Dudley family approached you first to establish a friendship. You acted as if you understood everything about Duke Bertrand and Duke Lancaster.”
Well, that’s true. I know everything.
From the perspective of an observer, knowing their past, present, and future, it was impossible not to feel affection.
So, if one were to argue, it was possible to show infinite compassion and affection to Julian Dudley, whom she had just met.
Summer lowered her gaze again to examine the gossip magazine.
“Legacy’s only daughter attempts to murder the count’s adopted daughter!”
“Attempted murder of a high-ranking noble, motive?”
“Use of the Duke of Lancaster’s summary execution rights, is this a political message?”
“Here or there, they sure know how to come up with a catchy title.”
Summer muttered disdainfully and flipped to the back.
It seemed the noble society was in an uproar. There was nothing but talk about Ferotia Legacy.
Ian had used his summary execution rights to imprison Ferotia Legacy in the royal dungeon.
Naturally, the Legacy family was furious, ready to go to war.
Their precious daughter was locked up in a place infamous for being worse than the Duke of Lancaster’s underground prison, so it was no wonder they were beside themselves.
“Miss, do you know something?”
“Mary, what exactly do you want to know?”
“Miss, you didn’t have many opportunities to get close to the Dudley family to the extent of drinking poison in their place and getting involved in the incident.”
“...”
So sharp for no reason. Mary was right.
From Julian Dudley’s perspective, Summer Lindsay’s kindness would feel sudden and excessive.
Perhaps Ian Lancaster’s constant reminders of his mother while clinging to Summer were due to his delusion that his past could be understood by her, as she acted as if she knew something.
Mary continued in a calm, indifferent tone.
“You knew how this world would turn out, didn’t you? Until now, you’ve been watching it unfold.”
“...I, I.”
“Then why did you suddenly intervene? I was curious about that. You, who could do anything, had been saying you wanted to die without doing anything until now.”
“Mary, if you hit me with just the facts, it hurts.”
“At first, I thought you had finally gone mad and were trying to drink poison to die in someone else’s place.”
“...”
Half of that was true.
As she tried to return to her original world, the protagonists kept appearing to stop her.
Then, shouldn’t she meet a natural death in accordance with the narrative? That was the plan she had devised under such assumptions.
“But this time, the Dudley family’s lady was involved. I saw you at home, not doing anything in particular, but how did you know that the Legacy lady was planning to get poison to use on the Dudley lady?”
“Haha...”
“Maybe you already knew from the beginning.”
“...”
“Miss, but you made one mistake.”
“What did I do?”
Summer glared at Mary defiantly, her eyes narrowed. In truth, it was an exaggerated reaction because she felt pricked.
Seeing Mary, who seemed to notice everything and poked at her painful spots, was both resentful and endearing, indicating that some time had passed and she had grown somewhat attached.
“Unlike you, I was quite interested in gossip. One must know how the world turns.”
“I used to read a lot of newspapers too.”
“What incident made the Legacy lady so intensely hate the Dudley lady that she wanted to kill her in front of everyone? Everyone is curious about that.”
“...”
Summer’s blue eyes were filled with shock.
In a hurry, Summer skimmed through the gossip magazine with her fingertips.
The reason Ferotia had decided to poison Julian.
The reason.
That reason was missing.
The original story had been utterly ruined. It had thrown coherence out the window.
In the original, Ferotia Legacy had fallen in love with Ian Lancaster at first sight and had pursued him multiple times, but he had rejected her every time.
In response, she had tormented that lady for months just for exchanging a few words with Ian Lancaster. Yet, she had never committed murder.
Had Julian been so close to Ian that he wanted to kill him?
“Mary, has there ever been a rumor about Julian and Ian being in a romantic relationship?”
“No. If anything, there were more rumors about you and him.”
“...Me? Why on earth?”
“Because the Duke himself came to the Lindsay estate to wait for you.”
“Right. He must want to kill me. Isn’t that right?”
Why hadn’t she realized it? She had been so immersed in the original content that she hadn’t considered the coherence of the world.
If one were to consider coherence, the lady who would attract the gossip’s interest regarding her relationship with Ian was none other than Summer herself.
Then she wasn’t an extra, was she?
But the world still wasn’t giving the maids of the Lindsay estate any attention? How on earth was it all turning out? Should she go back to the temple and meet that ambiguous pope again?
“Miss, is the role of the Legacy lady perhaps to torment the Dudley lady? So you’re trying to build a friendship with the Dudley family to protect yourself?”
“Hmm, it seems deceiving you is really difficult. That’s right, Mary.”
Summer nodded, laughing as if she had reached enlightenment.
“How pitiful, that lady. Assigned the role of tormenting someone. I was rather given the role of cleaning.”
“You... You know you’ve been assigned a role?”
“Yes. I was waiting for you.”
“...For me?”
Mary cast her gaze out the window.
A beautiful summer. It had been so long since she was trapped here that she couldn’t even remember when it had started; she had been waiting for Summer since then.
“Miss, do everything you want to do. Here.”
“What I want to do.”
Summer, who could return to her original world even if she died, was practically invincible in this world. She could do whatever she wanted and still meet a tragic ending without a care.
“The reason Ferotia Legacy tried to kill Julian. And,”
The circumstances under which Ferotia Legacy obtained the poison. She needed to know those two things.
So she could at least give Julian a heads-up in advance. If that didn’t work, she could ask Russell, who was clever. There was the ‘game of lies’ after all.
“Mary.”
“Yes, Miss.”
“Help me get ready to go out.”
“Where are you going?”
“To the dungeon.”
To meet Ferotia.