Summer stretched her arm over the fence.

Simultaneously, a tingling sensation ran up her arm, but it wasn’t important to Summer.

Sky-blue hair and beautiful pink eyes. She could tell instinctively. Julian Dudley. The protagonist of this world.

“I’m sorry, but could you please identify yourself?”

“I’m Summer Lindsey, daughter of Count Lindsey!”

Summer cried out with an eager heart. Then she pulled out a certificate from her bosom to prove her identity.

Julian Dudley was looking directly at Summer, and that fact alone moved Summer deeply. She’s the protagonist.

Unlike herself, who had struggled so hard just to get a job, Julian Dudley played the role of a kingmaker and boldly carved out her own life.

Now she was acknowledging Summer, who wasn’t even mentioned in the original work.

“Open the gate.”

“My lady!”

“I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you. Please come in.”

At Julian Dudley’s command, the sentries hesitantly opened the gate.

It worked.

Summer felt like screaming with joy.

“What brings you here without notice, Lady Lindsey?”

Julian Dudley linked arms with Summer and led her inside with a kind expression.

It was a silent request not to make an issue of the guards’ attitude.

Summer had expected to be turned away at the door, so she was satisfied just being able to enter. In fact, it was more than satisfaction; it was an overwhelming emotion.

The protagonist is special. It was an obvious fact. So she expected it. For Julian Dudley to be something special.

As Summer had anticipated, the protagonist had privileges. It was confirmed at this very moment.

“Actually, I’m a fan of Lady Dudley. I really wanted to meet you!”

“Fan? What kind of word is that?”

Julian tilted her head.

The lovely sky-blue hair and pink eyes made Summer feel as if some part of her heart was being cleansed just by looking at them.

“It means… I ardently like you.”

Summer’s eyes sparkled.

“I’m sorry, Lady Lindsey. I apologize, but I like men.”

“Ah! That’s not what I meant. This is just… It means I think Lady Dudley is cool, cute, pretty, everything. So it’s closer to purely wishing for your happiness.”

Face to face with the protagonist, she found herself rambling.

She needed to win her heart somehow, but she couldn’t think of the right words.

Summer closed her eyes tightly and shouted with a feeling of ‘oh well’.

“The reason I came here is because I want to be friends with Lady Dudley. This is really my pure fan… I mean, my fondness for you, completely unrelated to my family.”

“Fondness? For me?”

Julian opened her lovely pink eyes wide at Summer’s sudden confession.

In a trembling moment, Julian’s lips slowly parted.

“It’s a bit sudden.”

“I’m really sorry about that. I thought if not now, I might never be able to tell Lady Dudley that I want to be close friends, so I acted without thinking. I’m really sorry for barging in without sending a message in advance,”

“And I’m happy.”

“…Pardon?”

Summer opened her eyes wide in surprise. Seeing Summer like this, Julian smiled brightly and lightly hugged her.

“You’re the first person who’s seen me in such a good light, Summer.”

When the protagonist of a novel you enjoyed reading hugs you and calls your name, the typical reaction is,

“Waaah…”

Usually just overwhelming tears.

Summer thought she had been crying with joy all day as she pulled out the handkerchief the coachman had given her and blew her nose loudly.

Julian, who had quietly waited for Summer’s tears to stop, playfully linked arms with Summer and pulled her close.

“Summer. Shall we have tea together then?”

“I’d love to!”

She could drink even the bitterest tea.

“Do you have any particular tea you like?”

“No, I drink all kinds well.”

“Haha. Me too.”

Julian Dudley answered Summer casually. It was an answer befitting the cheerful protagonist.

They, that is, the protagonists, were as Summer had expected: the work itself and at the same time free beings.

As long as it didn’t greatly deviate from their set personalities or characters, they were not restricted in responding to the words of Summer, a foreign element.

With this, the number of beings capable of conversing with the foreign element Summer increased to three: Mary, Fei, and Julian.

Probably the male protagonist Ian Lancaster would be similar.

Julian, who had invited Summer to her room, set up a simple tea time for her.

The tea time was enjoyable. Julian was kind and gentle, just as Summer had read in the book.

Summer clumsily imitated Julian’s etiquette.

It was so uselessly complicated that later she gradually reverted to eating as she normally would.

In fact, if you read the original work, you’d know that Julian was terrible at etiquette too.

That was part of Julian’s charm, but somehow Summer felt like an orangutan eating a banana with bare hands in front of humans.

“Are you really going to accompany me throughout the social season?”

“Accompany? Summer, we’re friends, so we’re going together.”

“Julian, you’re truly a light to me.”

To Summer, Julian was the very embodiment of light itself.

The key for Summer to return to her original world was, in effect, held by none other than this Julian Dudley, the protagonist.

After all, if the protagonist was to do everything, they would probably possess special abilities or the ability to slightly break the setting.

Perhaps it might even be possible to slightly twist the setting and plausibility to send Summer back to her original world.

For instance, by creating a necessary role for Summer within the work, they might be able to advance the day when Summer’s soul would be created.

“Haha, Summer! That’s too much!”

“Not at all. Julian, Julian could be someone’s…”

Dream.

But if she honestly conveyed this, the current Julian might get angry or sad.

“It’s a bit embarrassing to ask myself, but what did you like about me, Summer? As you know, I’m a bit…”

Julian Dudley trailed off. Summer knew why Julian was saying this.

In the work, Julian Dudley didn’t adapt well to the nobles’ social circles.

It was because Julian Dudley was an adopted daughter.

Moreover, even Julian’s original background was unclear.

Julian Dudley didn’t have a single drop of Dudley family blood. No, she wasn’t even a noble to begin with.

When Summer read it, the male protagonist Ian Lancaster was as wounded as Julian, no, not less than Julian, or perhaps even more so.

She wasn’t particularly interested in the male protagonist so she had skimmed over his past, but she knew he had many wounds and that it was Julian Dudley who opened and healed those wounds.

The reason Julian could open those wounds was because of her un-noble-like way of thinking and her positive and principled personality.

And her healing ability too.

“Julian is a bit special to me. It’s funny for me, a noble, to say this, but really, these complicated and impractical etiquettes. They were created to somehow show that we’re different from commoners, weren’t they?”

Summer held the warm teacup in her hands and continued slowly and gently.

“Oh my! You’ve been thinking that way too, Summer? You’re the first lady I’ve met who has similar thoughts to mine!”

“That’s why I’ve always been interested in Julian. Even though you should have been intimidated by those gazes and whispers, you never backed down.”

She liked that about Julian.

Because it was the opposite of words like squalor or servility. Summer let out a small laugh as she recalled her days of studying for the civil service exam.

She would barely eat, stand in line in front of the academy before dawn in clothes that still smelled damp.

On days when she ran out of living expenses, she would suddenly lash out at her mother. She would turn her arrows towards her mother, unable to bear the self-loathing that would surge up from time to time.

What kind of face did her mother have then? The memory was blurred.

What was certain was that she found it unbearable to be in her squalid situation where she had to be servile.

“Summer?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. I just remembered a time when my heart was in a squalid state. But thanks to Julian, I was able to get much better.”

I really liked you, who always had confidence in everything, pushed forward boldly, and always had things progress smoothly, gaining recognition from the male protagonist and the surrounding characters.

“It makes me feel shy but happy when you say that.”

“I’m happy to be able to meet Julian too. Oh, are the preparations for the royal banquet going well?”

“Of course. How about you, Summer?”

“Well, I’m sure it’s going well.”

Summer answered indifferently as she added a spoonful of honey to her black tea.

It was obvious that Summer Lindsey was an extra created for the royal banquet. A gorgeous dress that fits her body perfectly would suddenly appear, and maids would frantically change her clothes.

There was nothing Summer could do in that process.

“You don’t seem very nervous, Summer.”

“Well, I’m not thinking about marriage.”

The social season was essentially a marriage market for political alliances.

“Really? Me neither! Meeting you today must really be my lucky day, Summer.”

“Julian, do you know Duke Ian Lancaster?”

“Of course. He’s a war hero, isn’t he? I heard he recently recaptured a country that had invaded the empire.”

Summer keenly observed Julian’s expression.

It was the attitude of someone talking about a famous person they weren’t particularly interested in. If anything, her expression was closer to slight dislike.

“What do you think of Ian Lancaster, Summer? It seems he’ll be the main character of this royal banquet.”

He will recall an unnamed childhood friend from Julian at this debut. And he will realize that Julian Dudley is that friend who saved his wretched soul long ago.

That’s how he’ll fall in love, and they’ll reach a happy ending.