“Fei, tell me. You’re the most amazing among the witches.”

Summer, who had escaped from Russell’s embrace, staggered as she grabbed and shook both of Fei’s arms.

“…It’s not that there’s no way. You could enter a body right after the soul has departed. It would take some time, though.”

“What about the possibility of my soul attaching to this body before that?”

“…Ninety-nine out of a hundred.”

“Haha, so there’s no way, right?”

“…”

Summer sneered as she threw off Fei’s arms. Fei lowered her head with a devastated heart.

Summer was right. If she couldn’t return today, Summer would also fall under this world’s dominion.

If that happened, even if she found another body to return to later, the chances of her soul shattering or fragmenting like Selena’s were too high.

“Black hair, this world isn’t all that bad. If you really hate it, you can come to the Black Forest where I live.”

Fei raised her head abruptly and spoke passionately. But Summer just shook her head.

“…Fei. Can I ask you one thing?”

“Anything! Ask me anything!”

Fei nodded so vigorously her neck might have snapped.

“If I fully settle in this world, can I die?”

“What?”

Fei’s movements froze.

The Bertrand family carriage was approaching from afar, but no one turned their gaze towards it.

“When the world loses interest in me, can I die then?”

Summer’s voice was chillingly calm.

Fei could feel it. Summer’s soul was collapsing.

“…No. No matter what, only you yourself and they can kill you.”

“They?”

“For example, that man next to you.”

Summer’s empty eyes slowly turned towards Russell. Summer’s strangely shining eyes were not in their right mind.

“Russell…”

“No.”

“…”

It was a curt rejection.

“I agreed to your death because you said it was about returning. I will absolutely not allow you to truly die.”

“…I understand.”

Summer turned her gaze away, speaking in a voice devoid of energy as if resigned. The carriage had already stopped right in front of Russell.

“Let’s get in for now, Summer. And why don’t you stay at my mansion for a while?”

“…”

Russell held out his hand. Summer just stared blankly at his hand.

Anxious, Russell finally revealed part of his true feelings.

“I’m worried. Please allow me to stay by your side.”

That seemed to move Summer, as she took Russell’s hand and slowly got into the carriage.

Even for the simple act of boarding the carriage, Summer staggered three or four times. Each time, Russell and Fei flinched simultaneously.

The carriage departed, and the ruined temple gradually faded into the distance.

Until then, Summer, who had maintained silence and kept her gaze lowered, spoke up.

“I’m sorry. For hurting you. That wasn’t… my intention at all.”

“I know.”

“I just did it because it was too hard.”

“I know that too. After experiencing it, it seems like something one shouldn’t do.”

“…”

“It might be better to not give any affection at all. I had forgotten. That it hurts this much.”

“I’m sorry.”

Summer apologized in a small voice, almost whispering. Instead of responding with words, Russell silently opened the window.

A cool breeze blew in.

Summer stuck her head out the window and looked up at the sky. The sky was clear without a single cloud, and the sunlight was warm.

Summer squinted slightly at the dazzling sensation and shielded her eyes with one hand. It was too intense.

“Russell.”

“Summer.”

“I wonder if my name is really Summer Lindsey. Is that right?”

“…”

“Am I Summer because I stole Summer’s name? I don’t know.”

“Summer.”

“I feel like a stranger, not belonging anywhere, neither alive nor dead.”

Summer spoke, resting her head on the window frame. Russell couldn’t take his eyes off her.

Her demeanor was clearly calm. The sunlight was brightly illuminating her. Yet why did he feel like Summer was crying?

“Summer. Call me Duke Bertrand.”

“Duke Bertrand.”

“Now call me Russell.”

“…Russell.”

Summer slightly furrowed her brow. She seemed to be pondering what Russell’s intention was in making her do this.

“This time, call me Louis.”

“…But that’s not your name, Russell.”

Summer questioned. Russell opened his mouth with his usual emotionless expression.

“My mother wished to name me Louis. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen. Still, she would occasionally call me Louis.”

“…”

How much time must he have spent to be able to calmly bring up memories of his departed mother like this? Summer examined Russell’s face closely.

No matter how she looked, it seemed impossible to discern his emotions first.

“Just because I’m called Louis doesn’t mean I’m not myself.”

“But…”

“Even when I’m an emotionless puppet in front of my cold father, a spoiled son in front of my gentle mother, Duke Bertrand, or the Imperial Chancellor, not once have I ever not been myself.”

“Russell. But I’m a person from that world, and I died there. I don’t even know how or why I died.”

Summer spoke with a voice full of emptiness and smiled sadly.

Russell reached out and gently held Summer’s hand. He could feel the other’s body temperature beneath the skin.

“Then who is this person I’ve met?”

Blue eyes stared intently at Summer. Summer saw herself reflected in his eyes.

A tired and ragged soul, wearing an ill-fitting shell.

“A body that is Summer Lindsey, and a soul that is a terrible being who has lost its way.”

Russell found Summer’s answer painful. It hurt so much that it felt as if someone was tearing at his chest with sharp fragments.

Only the things precious to him could harm him.

Summer, who was precious to Russell, had found the world terrible and was now finding herself terrible.

“Please… I wish this would all be a dream when I close my eyes and open them again.”

Summer says she wishes everything that happened in this world was a dream. Russell quietly lowered his gaze.

Russell struggled not to forget her, wishing that the time he spent with Summer wasn’t a dream.

But she said she wished all of this was a dream.

I see. Stinging soil was sprinkled over his buried feelings. If his very existence was a nightmare to someone precious. What on earth should he do and how?

Summer’s depression was gradually spreading to Russell’s feet.

“Huff, huff… Witch!”

Damian came running urgently. His arms were full of ancient books.

Fei, who had been quietly staring at the place Summer had left, turned to Damian.

“Witch? You shouldn’t call me that, boy.”

Damian flinched at Fei’s gentle voice. It was a voice he had heard somewhere before.

Since she was the former Pope, he might have crossed paths with her once or twice.

“Summer?”

“She came back, and left.”

“I was looking for cases where even the physical body was sucked into another world,”

“It’s meaningless.”

“…What?”

The hand about to show the ancient books in his arms stopped. Damian had a dumbfounded expression, unable to understand the current situation.

Fei kindly took the ancient books from his arms and threw them into the mud.

“The black-haired one from the original world is dead.”

“…!”

“As far as I know, there are only two strangers, Selena and the black-haired one. Seeing that both died in their original world…”

“…You mean to say that some of those who died in that world accidentally flowed into this world?”

Damian finished Fei’s sentence. If so, then returning was never possible to begin with.

All this time, Selena, and Summer, have been dreaming of returning to a place they could never go back to.

When they abandoned their homeland themselves, and tried to return to their homeland again, their homeland had long since disappeared.

“It’s a guess. The best option would be for the strangers to live here contentedly, but how could the strangers love this world?”

“…”

“When they couldn’t even love their own world.”

Even to Fei, Selena and Summer had too many points in common.

“What on earth is God plotting?”

Damian’s face crumpled suddenly.

God had always had a gloomy side. He never allowed the world he created to be happy and peaceful.

As if he created it to torment us. The world was persistent and cruel.

At least to Damian, the world, and the God who created it, were such beings.

“The Pope is quite blasphemous.”

“I’m not even the Pope anymore. What’s the point of all this when Selena is dead?”

Damian let out a fierce laugh and tore off his priest’s robe.

He had been staying in this detestable temple solely to plead for Selena.

All for his pitiful savior.

Fei’s gaze fell on the priest’s robe on the floor.

“…Right. You should abandon before being abandoned.”

“…”

“I was foolish. I realized too late that to God, I was just a tool to maintain the world.”

Fei, who knew God’s cruelty better than anyone, reached out and gently patted Damian.

“…”

“You’ve been through a lot, child.”

Damian hung his head low. And soon he burst into sorrowful tears.

“How much I prayed… I begged that as long as she was safe, everything would be fine… I prayed like that.”

“I did too. I prayed and prayed with endless faith to a God who never answered. To protect my daughter.”

“Were you… betrayed too?”

Damian’s bloodshot eyes, filled with resentment, reminded one of an angel abandoned by God.

Fei quietly embraced Damian. The hand patting his back seemed quite familiar.

“No. I was the one who let go.”

“When?”

Damian slowly closed and opened his eyes. He recalled the cabin he lived in when he was young.

The sound of people’s shouts, the burning cabin, and his mother crying out for him to leave quickly from within.

Damian closed his eyes again. What had he come all this way for? It felt futile.

“If that child had grown up now, she would be about the same age as the black-haired one.”

“It’s an old story.”

“Yes. But to me, it still feels like yesterday. The sound of a child crying out for her mother, letting go of my hand amidst the crowd.”

“…”

In the middle of the ruined temple, Fei silently comforted Damian for a long time. Saying that this time too shall pass.