Summer Must Die (16 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 24

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

“Oh, I just wanted to ask if you’d care to share a cup of tea. If you’d prefer to rest alone, that’s perfectly fine.”

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

Summer replied with a scoff, casting her gaze out the window. It must have been a day with classes—the young priests were filing into the building in orderly rows.

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

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

“Would you like some? Nothing soothes the mind quite like tea.”

Without a word, Summer picked up her teacup and drank. It tasted rather good.

“What is it you’re curious about regarding me, Your Holiness?”

“How did you choose that place?”

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it? I wanted the last sight I saw to be lovely—preferably somewhere open. After all, I’ve spent my entire life… in places far too cramped.”

Summer gripped her teacup tightly with both hands. To her, this world had appeared abruptly—as if she’d closed her eyes and opened them again to find herself in some European village, where death was the only way home.

Though the lingering fear and horror of still being trapped inside a novel chased her like an afterimage, there was also a simultaneous sensation of traveling through a world made real from the very text she’d once read.

Especially whenever she attempted to return home, that sense of calm grew even stronger.

So she allowed herself a small indulgence—she wanted to close her eyes somewhere beautiful, gazing upon something lovely.

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