“Wow, it’s so delicious!”

“Eat a lot, Daisy.”

As promised, Summer took Daisy and Mary out for a picnic.

Perhaps because it was around autumn, the weather was perfect for an outing.

Daisy kept saying how nice the weather was and how beautiful the scenery was.

Mary, on the other hand, was calm and quiet as usual. If anything, she was even quieter than usual.

Summer, concerned about Mary, offered her a sandwich.

“Mary. You eat too.”

“This is enough for me.”

Mary slightly raised the juice she was holding. Summer observed Mary’s demeanor before resuming her cheerful conversation with Daisy.

It was peaceful. Coming out like this, talking without thinking, laughing, and putting delicious snacks in her mouth, Summer also became excited and kept bursting into laughter.

“My goodness, Daisy. It’s so much fun.”

“Isn’t it? I’m quite the entertainer!”

“Miss.”

Summer tilted her head at Mary’s call.

“What is it, Mary?”

“Miss, why do you find this world so distressing?”

“…”

“Mary! Do you have to do this even on a day like this?”

While Summer kept her mouth shut, Daisy quickly nudged Mary’s side to stop her. Daisy seemed quite upset with Mary for ruining the mood.

But Mary’s tightly closed lips and straight gaze revealed her determination to get an answer no matter what.

“Well. Maybe it’s because it’s so different from the world I used to live in. Or maybe because of the bizarre appearances.”

Summer found it difficult to pinpoint the exact reason. But she remembered the beginning clearly.

“I think it was when Lady Lindsey, who was supposed to be my mother, spoke like a puppet, saying the same things over and over.”

“Miss. The reason we had bizarre appearances was because we were forsaken by God.”

“I know.”

Summer knew that feeling too. Whether there was a God in the original world or not, when a great misfortune struck like fate, Summer had to feel abandoned.

Some called such fate God, while others called it inevitability.

“To be precise, the God who created the world didn’t take care of us after creating us.”

“…Mary.”

“That’s right. Beings like us, who weren’t protected by God, had to live without souls.”

“It’s not just that I dislike this world.”

While it’s true that this world was terrible, she mostly missed her family and friends from the original world.

Above all, she missed the traces of life she had left behind there.

“Then please help us before you go back.”

“Me? Help you? How?”

“…Miss, you underestimate yourself too much.”

“That’s not true. I’m actually just a foreigner here. I have no abilities. If anything, Julian is the special one.”

Mary shook her head at Summer’s words.

“I can assure you that you are the most special. In this entire world.”

“Mary. I appreciate the compliment, but I don’t have anything like that.”

“You have more than enough ability to save us, Miss. And being special wasn’t a compliment.”

“You’re still so cold.”

Summer said jokingly, giving Mary a sidelong glance. Mary, seemingly used to Summer’s behavior, didn’t even blink.

“You don’t dislike me for that anymore, do you?”

“…That’s right.”

At first, Mary’s expressionless face was creepy and scary. There were times when Summer thought the bubbling Mary was horrifying and found her unpleasant.

But now, Mary’s presence was familiar. Even Mary’s blank expression, upon closer look, had a quality that made people feel comfortable.

That tired face that still said everything it needed to say was also part of Mary’s charm.

“You don’t need to go back, Miss.”

“…Mary. Watch your words.”

“Don’t you understand yet? Since you came to this world, I’ve become stronger than the witch.”

Mary raised her voice slightly, as if a bit frustrated.

“By witch, do you mean Fei?”

“Yes. Because I share memories with you, Miss.”

“What? Why are you only telling me this now!”

Summer stood up in shock. Juice spilled onto the carpet. Daisy quickly picked up the cup, but the ground was already wet.

While Daisy was busy trying to clean up the juice with the napkins she had brought, Mary and Summer faced each other without avoiding each other’s gaze.

“If I had told you earlier? You would have thought of me as even more horrifying, wouldn’t you?”

“…”

“Weren’t you curious? About why the witch came to be?”

“How do you know that? You don’t know the original work, ah.”

She said she shared memories, right? Summer exhaled sharply. She felt dumbfounded and angry.

Why didn’t everyone tell her the truth earlier? It doesn’t change anything to tell the truth now.

“Not everything, but I receive fragments of your memories. That’s how I came to know. That this world is nothing but letters.”

“I see. So do you know Fei’s identity? Unfortunately, I don’t know Fei’s identity.”

“It probably wasn’t written in the text you read, Miss.”

Mary was right. In the original work Summer had read, there was no mention of Fei. The word ‘witch’ couldn’t be found either.

How on earth did Fei come to be? She didn’t seem to be a foreigner who fell into the book like Summer.

“Fei was the closest to God and at the same time, the one most miserably abandoned by God.”

“Closest to God?”

Mary’s explanation was vague. Summer furrowed her brow and touched her forehead. To think Mary knew all this. If she had opened up and talked to Mary about the situation earlier, would things have been different?

“Fei was the very first representative of God, and the one with the most powerful holy power.”

“…Don’t tell me you’re talking about the Pope?”

“Yes. The power Fei uses is actually the remnants of holy power. Suddenly, God abandoned Fei and people drove her out. After Fei fled to the forest with her followers, after a long time, God suddenly gave a new oracle.”

“Why did God abandon Fei?”

“Well. What do you think, Miss?”

“The end.”

It had come to an end. Unfortunately, because Fei didn’t know this world was made of words, she must have felt suddenly abandoned by God and experienced a great sense of loss.

Summer covered her mouth with both hands. So that’s how it was.

Now the reason why Fei tried to protect the world, used bizarre powers, and could exist despite not being in the original work became clear.

“After God neglected this world for a long time, a new person with holy power was born. That’s the current Pope.”

“…What on earth is this world…”

“That’s why I told you not to trust the witch, Miss. They are beings who worship God and the world to their very core.”

But Summer felt uneasy somewhere. Fei, who had grabbed Summer’s nape last night, was clearly trying to protect her.

“…Mary.”

“You asked me before, Miss. How you looked to me.”

“…Yes. I remember.”

Mary reached out and gently grasped a bit of Summer’s golden hair.

“I’ve always thought your black hair was really pretty, Miss.”

Why? Mary’s expression was still blank. But Mary’s eyes looking at Summer were kind.

So kind that just making eye contact felt like it might make her burst into tears.

“You…”

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t tell you earlier. I was afraid of being hated.”

Mary smiled sadly. Mary wasn’t free from anxiety and fear either.

She was afraid. Anxious that Summer might suddenly leave, scared that Summer might hate her forever like this.

“If only you had recognized me, I wouldn’t have broken down like that back then…”

“I’m sorry.”

Mary apologized in a small voice to Summer’s complaint. Summer moved closer to Mary and rested her head on her shoulder.

Mary’s body temperature was warm. Like proof that she was alive.

“Mary. Why are you telling me this now?”

Summer asked in a muffled voice.

“Because there’s something I want to ask of you, Miss.”

“I’ll do anything except not going back. Anything I can do.”

“Please take out all those children. At least those working at the Count’s house.”

Summer lifted her head from Mary’s shoulder and straightened her upper body. Her blue eyes trembled slightly.

“Take out… what do you mean?”

“You took out me and Daisy, didn’t you, Miss?”

“…”

“You are the only being, apart from God, who can take out souls.”

Mary’s words struck Summer like an oracle, sending a tingling sensation throughout her body.

“Me? I have such an ability?”

“Have you forgotten? You can create, Miss. Even the problems the witch talks about, like the cracks in the world, you could actually solve them.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes. Please. Take out the other children too.”

Mary asked Summer again with an unchanged expression.

“But…”

“You can create a world, Miss. A world for those abandoned by the Creator.”

“…”

“Will you try?”

“Mary. It could have been a coincidence. And above all, I don’t know how.”

Summer hesitated. To be able to create like a god. She was a bit scared. Was this how Julian felt? As Mary said, being special might not be much of a compliment.

“It’s easy. If you do the same thing to the other children as you did to me and Daisy, they can have souls too.”

“What did I do to you?”

“You thought of us, didn’t you?”

“Thought of you?”

“Yes. You might think you imagined it, but you actually thought of us.”

Summer retreated slightly with her eyes wide open. Is that possible? In fact, she had done it twice, but she thought it was possible because Mary and Daisy were special.

She hadn’t thought about trying it again at all.

Preoccupied with thoughts of going back or not, she hadn’t been curious about this world.

Why was that? If Summer could give souls to the people of the Lindsey Count’s household just by imagining it?

Her heart beat loudly.

“Can I really do that? Can I take you out just by thinking about you?”

“Yes. You can turn us, who are stage props, into at least supporting characters. Sufficiently.”

The corners of Mary’s mouth curved into a smile. Summer took in Mary’s appearance with a slightly dazed feeling.

Mary was smiling broadly with her eyes crinkled. Sunlight broke and fell through the leaves.

Daisy, who had been wiping the juice with a napkin and watching the situation, also slightly raised the corners of her mouth along with Mary’s smile.

The grass swayed in the wind. When the wind stopped, the grass blades found their place again.

Summer’s closed mouth slowly opened.

“I’ll try. I want to try.”