“You seem curious about why I tried to die. I can tell from how you keep lingering at the doorway.”

“Ah, I wanted to ask if we could have tea together. If you prefer, you can rest alone.”

“Come in. This is Your Holiness’s room anyway.”

Summer replied cynically, casting her gaze out the window. It must have been a school day, as young disciples were filing into the building in a line.

The Pope sat down calmly across from Summer with impeccable posture.

Soon, a priest entered, placed a simple soup, bread, and tea on the table, then left.

“Would you like some? There’s nothing better than tea to calm one’s mind.”

Summer wordlessly picked up the teacup and drank. It seemed to taste good.

“What is Your Holiness curious about?”

“How did you choose that place?”

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it? I wanted the last place I’d see to be pretty. Somewhere wide open, if possible. I’ve lived in… such cramped spaces all this time.”

Summer gripped the teacup tightly with both hands. To Summer, this world was a place she suddenly arrived at in some European village when she opened her eyes, and she had to die to return.

The fear and horror of still being trapped in a novel lingered like an afterimage, but at the same time, there was a feeling of traveling to a world where the text she had read was realized.

Especially when attempting to return, that sense of leisure grew even stronger.

So she indulged a little. Wanting to close her eyes while seeing something beautiful in a beautiful place.

“Can’t you see beautiful places today, tomorrow, and the day after?”

“No. I have a place to return to. It may not be as grand and beautiful as this place, but it’s… home, where layers of my lived experiences have accumulated.”

“Oh my.”

The Pope pulled out a handkerchief from his sleeve. Only when the Pope’s handkerchief touched her cheek did Summer realize she was crying.

Why were tears suddenly flowing now? Summer quickly wiped away her tears.

“I miss it.”

“Home is always a place we miss. The temple is a place open to those who have nowhere to miss.”

“…Pardon?”

Summer looked at the Pope with wide, round eyes. The Pope gazed at the rippling tea with eyes that seemed to be searching the past.

“If you have a home you miss, you don’t need to seek out the temple when times are hard. You can just go home and rest. So this temple must be the only place for those with nowhere to miss to lean on.”

“You really… sound like a Pope.”

“Haha. I’ll take that as a compliment.”

The Pope poured more tea into the cups. Both Summer and the Pope remained silent, simply drinking their tea quietly.

The sound of people outside the window wasn’t too bad.

The white curtains swaying in the gentle breeze, and the Pope sitting across from her, quietly savoring his tea.

As Summer, now calm, picked up her teacup with a faint smile:

“You saw God, didn’t you?”

At the Pope’s question, Summer roughly set down her teacup. No one should have seen.

Was this an intentional approach? To probe about God?

“What do you mean?”

Summer’s tone was tinged with faint wariness. The Pope’s atmosphere, which had seemed so holy, had somehow turned as cold as a well-honed blade.

“You saw that damned God, didn’t you? That day in the prayer room.”

“…How did you know?”

“I think I might be able to help. What do you say?”

Summer abruptly stood up from her chair and glared at the Pope.

Suspicious. From the Pope, who holds the highest position serving God, saying ‘damned God’.

“Do you know something?”

“Let’s say I do.”

“…”

“If I try something, could you possibly live?”

“Well… if there’s another way to return.”

At Summer’s words, the Pope slowly stood up. The white priest’s robe falling smoothly downward shimmered hazily in the light.

“Follow me.”

After walking for a while following the Pope, a door without any decorations came into view. When the Pope opened the door, a cool breeze rushed in.

“This is…”

“A prayer room that only I use.”

The prayer room was so empty that if one spoke, their voice would echo. The only thing there was a fountain standing prominently in the center of the room.

Summer cautiously approached the fountain. In front of the fountain was a soft carpet for prayer.

“Thank y- huh?”

Thud. The Pope’s delicate fingertips pushed Summer’s shoulder. At the same time, Summer lost her balance and stumbled.

With a feeling of her body floating, Summer’s vision filled with the brightly smiling Pope.

“Go and see.”

With his words, Summer, who had fallen into the fountain, instinctively tried to stand up.

The water level had seemed low from the outside, but now she couldn’t touch the bottom even when fully upright.

The icy cold water that chilled to the bone rippled with a blue light.

Bubbles gurgled from between Summer’s lips.

Summer’s eyes grew hazy, and soon her blue irises disappeared beneath her eyelids.

‘This is…’

When Summer opened her eyes again, what she saw wasn’t the world of the novel.

A 3-pyeong gosiwon room she had lived in for years. Scattered workbooks.

And a woman lying down, unable to fully stretch out.

It was Summer herself, in South Korea.

‘I can go back!’

Filled with joy, Summer tried to move forward but bumped into an invisible wall and fell on her backside.

But Summer’s eyes were already half-crazed. She repeatedly crashed her body against the wall, using all her strength to try to reach the woman – no, her original body.

But the wall was solid. Summer screamed and reached out her hand, but it was useless.

At the same time, she felt a sharp tug on the back of her neck and a sensation like waking from a dream.

“…”

“Did you see?”

“Cough! Huk, ugh…”

“You didn’t come out for two hours, so I had no choice but to pull you out myself.”

The one who had pulled Summer out was none other than the Pope.

The Pope’s pale purple hair was wet and clinging to his white priest’s robe. The Pope pushed back his clinging hair and embraced Summer with his wet body.

Summer’s body was trembling like an aspen tree. Her sobbing voice echoed in the prayer room, and her irregular heartbeat transmitted clearly beneath the priest’s robe.

“It’s alright. It’s alright now…”

“I have to go back. I, I must go back! Please, please help me…”

“…”

The Pope’s soothing stopped at Summer’s cry.

The Pope took in Summer’s blue eyes looking up at him. Those eyes, shining more piercingly than a blue lake, were brimming with tears. Her eyes were red from how much she had cried.

As Summer’s legs gave out and she was about to collapse, the Pope held her firmly and let out a faint sigh.

Was it wrong this time too?

A carriage stopped in front of the Lindsay estate.

“It’s the young lady!”

Daisy, who had been cleaning Summer’s room, saw out the window and quickly ran down.

The carriage door opened, and Summer, looking dazed, stumbled out. Daisy’s smile, which had been as bright as a fully bloomed flower, disappeared in an instant.

“Young lady…”

“I’m fine. You don’t need to worry.”

When Daisy called out to Summer with a face full of concern, Summer gave a faint smile as if to say she was alright.

“A guest came looking for you after you went out, young lady.”

“A guest?”

“Yes. I didn’t hear the details, but they said it was the Duke.”

Russell? Ian? What business could an extra have here? Summer’s face hardened coldly.

This is why she didn’t want to return to the mansion.

Summer walked past Daisy into the mansion with a stiff face. Daisy’s face, following behind, was full of worry.

Seeing that expression made Summer’s insides twist.

She knew. Daisy was genuinely worried that Summer might have bad thoughts again. She’s a good girl.

“Daisy. Don’t follow me, go about your business.”

“Ah, then I’ll finish cleaning your room, young lady!”

Daisy forced a bright smile and left first. As Daisy moved away, Summer gradually raised the corners of her mouth.

Ah. She had never been this happy since falling into this world. She could go back.

If the temple was the medium connecting the author and the novel, now Summer could peek into South Korea whenever she wanted by going to the temple.

She was so happy. But there was no one to talk to. At times like this, she missed Fei’s absence.

“…”

Summer slowly began walking towards the reception room.

As she climbed the stairs, Summer burst into a broad smile, then hurriedly covered her mouth with one hand and stiffened her face.

She was clearly happy, but her insides were twisting.

Because Summer’s happiness meant sadness for these people.

The happier she became, the more she saw a way back to her original world, the more the characters in the novel would be sad and try to stop Summer.

An unwelcome happiness.

Summer’s steps came to an abrupt halt in front of the reception room door.

“Open the door.”

“Yes.”

The attendant waiting at the door knocked twice and opened it.

“You don’t seem very busy. Negligent in your duties, aren’t you?”

Summer stared blankly at the uninvited guest with an expressionless face.

Is it okay for a main character in the novel to act so unpredictably? Now that the novel’s introduction was over, the story would start to pick up pace in earnest.

It was negligence both as a character in the novel and as a nobleman.

The uninvited guest slowly stood up.

“Summer Lindsey.”