“Hey! That’s Count Holst’s daughter!”
“Wow, so that’s what she looks like.”
As I wandered through the garden towards a secluded area, I spotted a familiar figure. Summer watched Count Holst’s daughter with curious eyes.
It was somewhat enjoyable to confirm the faces of names I had seen in novels from time to time.
Then, as the party continued into the night, I would sneak away with Julian to find a suitable place to hide and chat together.
Julian was much better than described in the book.
She had an open personality, but she was unwavering. With her thoughtful nature, she never crossed the line that would make me feel burdened.
Summer quietly gazed into Julian’s sparkling pink eyes under the night sky.
It was a bit disappointing. Once I returned to the real world, I wouldn’t be able to see Julian again.
“Hmm? Summer, do I have something on my face?”
“Yes. A lot.”
“That’s strange; I haven’t eaten anything today!”
“It’s your beauty, your beauty. You shine even under the night sky.”
At Summer’s words, Julian smiled brightly. From behind us, cheerful music began to drift out from the mansion.
“Summer is the most precious person to me.”
“...Thank you.”
Summer couldn’t bring herself to say that she felt the same. She had to leave soon.
If Summer’s predictions were correct, her soul would appear at the royal banquet a week later. At that time, Summer would leave.
“Summer! Look over there!”
“This party is quite large, so there are many nobles attending.”
This party showed no signs of ending. In the distance, carriages were lining up again at the main gate. It wasn’t even a second round of a company dinner. Just looking at it drained Summer’s energy.
The host of this party was Marquis Sepher, who was very closely associated with Ian Langerster.
So when I first entered the party venue and spotted him, it felt like seeing a celebrity.
Julian tugged on Summer’s tired arm.
“Shall we go see who’s here?”
“Sure.”
Now that I was in this world from the novel, and the way back to the real world had become clear, Summer felt more relaxed than ever.
She could enjoy this world from the novel, even if just a little.
As we re-entered the party hall, Ian Langerster’s close aides were gathered in large numbers.
“So that’s what he looks like.”
Summer murmured. It was fascinating. This wasn’t a live-action adaptation; these were the characters as imagined by the author, so in a way, it was a perfect representation.
“...Huh?”
Summer’s eyes widened as she spotted someone. The man standing at the center of the most nobles was someone she knew well.
With blue hair and lavender-tinted eyes. His face resembled an orchid, ethereal yet somehow cold and distant. He appeared thoughtful and cultured, yet there was a sharp and chilling aura about him.
“Russell Bertrand.”
He was the third most important character after Julian and Ian in the story. As if sensing her gaze, Duke Russell Bertrand slowly turned his head.
“Summer! What are you thinking about?”
“Ah.”
At Julian’s voice, Summer snapped back to reality and tore her gaze away from Russell.
It felt like their eyes had briefly met, but he wouldn’t think anything special of someone like her, who was just a minor character.
“Julian. Do you see those people?”
Summer covered her face with her fan and pointed out individuals one by one with her hand.
“Yes.”
“They’re people who can help you. Make sure to remember them.”
Duke Russell Bertrand, Marquis Sepher. There were also other potential allies who could assist Julian.
“Summer?”
“And over there, do you see the people gathered around Count Holst?”
“Yes, I see them.”
“If you get the chance, get rid of them. They’ll self-destruct eventually, but they’re still villains.”
Summer whispered into Julian’s ear. It was somewhat impulsive. Now, she was worried about the hardships Julian would face in the future.
She just wanted Julian to be happy like this. So she shared information with her, hoping she wouldn’t have to walk a too difficult path.
“Summer. Why are you suddenly telling me this?”
“Because it will be helpful. You don’t have to believe it. Just keep it in mind.”
“No, that’s not what I meant. I trust you, Summer. It’s just that your face right now looks like...”
“What about my face?”
“It looks like someone who’s about to leave, and that makes me a bit sad.”
At Julian’s straightforward and honest words, Summer felt a lump in her throat. Because it was true.
“The desserts here are delicious.”
So Summer quickly changed the subject and forced a smile.
It began to weigh on her heart to leave Julian behind in this harsh world. It was a big deal. Summer knew all too well what kind of trials Julian would face in the future.
Even if her ending was a happy one, it would be hard to just watch.
“Julian.”
“Yes?”
“Why does happiness have to be so hard to attain, only to be fleeting?”
“Not just happiness; survival itself is inherently difficult.”
“...”
Summer recalled a passage from the original work.
Having lost her parents at a young age, she lived happily with her aunt in the village, but lost her farmland to the lord’s tyranny and almost sold herself into slavery while resisting, ultimately losing her aunt as well.
It was then that she met Ian Langerster. Even in such a difficult situation, Julian used her healing powers to save him.
“But Summer, do you know?”
“...”
“Surviving is easier than you think. Living well is what’s hard.”
Julian had been adopted after being spotted wandering around the charity event hosted by the Dudley family, looking emaciated and wearing rags, reeking of filth.
However, after entering the Dudley family, she suffered greatly. To the point of contemplating death, something she had never thought about before.
Summer found it hard to understand. She thought it was a setting error.
How could Julian, who had barely survived by begging in a slum and cleaning the shop floor with her bare hands while customers vomited, cry out in anguish after being loved in a noble family? That seemed like a flaw in the author’s logic.
But at this moment, anyone who had seen Julian’s pink eyes would understand.
“Living is harder for some than just surviving, taking a step forward is more difficult than merely enduring.”
“...Summer.”
“I understand, Julian.”
Summer thought she wouldn’t be able to bear it if she didn’t say this.
* * *
Today’s party also came to an end.
Late at night, Summer smiled as she said goodbye to Julian and got into the carriage to return to the mansion. But inside, her heart was noisier than ever.
A place to leave.
A place she shouldn’t get attached to, and wouldn’t.
Such a strange and dazzling world.
As soon as she arrived at the mansion and entered her room, she felt the wind.
“Fay?”
“Yeah, it’s me.”
Fay, who had naturally entered through the window, took off her hood. Her long purple hair shimmered under the moonlight. It had been a week.
“Fay!”
Summer rushed to hug Fay. Fay, taken aback by the warm embrace, froze.
“Get off me.”
Feeling ticklish, Fay pushed Summer away more forcefully.
“Where have you been?”
Ignoring her attitude, Summer asked, and Fay jumped onto the desk with a sulky expression.
“This is a world where the protagonist exists. My sisters know more about that.”
“Sisters?”
“Yeah. They’re all witches like me. Actually, the proper term is sorceress, but you all call us witches.”
“...”
That was strange. Summer recalled a natural question she had never thought of before.
In the original work,
There were no witches or anything like that, right?
Summer narrowed her eyes. Fay’s chattering voice felt distant.
< I Will Become the Emperor >. That book had no witches or sorceresses. The only thing that existed was divine power.
That’s why the temple and the empire constantly kept each other in check, and the current temple was more like a political group that had almost lost its divine power.
Then suddenly, the strongest person with divine power in the empire appeared, and that was none other than the protagonist Julian Dudley in this story.
Summer’s dazed gaze turned to Fay.
“If what you’re saying is true, then the creator of this world made it for that one human woman. So I’ve been thinking a bit.”
Fay dangled her legs in the air. Then, as if she didn’t care about Summer’s expression, she blurted out her thoughts.
“How about visiting the Grand Temple?”
“Who are you?”
“What?”
There were no witches in the book I read. Who are you?
The sharp gazes of the two clashed in the air.
“There were no such things as magic or witches in this world.”
“If you record the entire world, that’s history, not a work of fiction, right?”
“Still, magic is an important setting...!”
“Maybe the gods abandoned us. We, who have been forsaken by the gods, probably don’t even appear in the work you read.”
Could it be? Really? It was the first fantasy I read, and I had to read it backward several times to familiarize myself with the unfamiliar names and places, yet it had never been mentioned even once.
A crack began to form in Summer’s blind faith.
Could she believe in beings that didn’t exist in the original work?