Summer Must Die (16 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 5
Summer’s face hardened the moment she saw the person who entered through the door.
“Summer. Get up. The sun is already at its zenith.”
The uninvited guest who cut off Summer’s words was Lady Lindsey.
Lady Lindsey, repeating the same line every day, was no longer Summer’s affectionate mother but merely a doll performing a predetermined role.
Summer now remained completely silent, refusing to exchange even a word. At that, Countess Lindsey spoke all her scripted lines into the empty air with a perfectly practiced, beautiful smile before finally leaving the room.
“Hey… Did you just see your mom’s ghost or something? Or are you feeling unwell?”
Fay approached and tapped the floor firmly with her tail. Summer, startled, stared blankly at Fay.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Just now, that… thing was talking to thin air all by herself.”
“Fay… do you find that strange too?”
“Of course! What do you think I am, some kind of witch? Wait— are you crying again?”
“I thought I’d gone mad!”
Summer quickly wiped away her tears and spoke with intense emotion. This was the first time someone had told her this world was strange.
Fay stared at Summer with an utterly bewildered look, then darted under the desk.
“So what are you going to do about it! Answer me quickly!”
“I want to go back! No matter what it takes—even if it means death!”
“Fine.”
“Fay. Until I return to my original world, you absolutely mustn’t abandon me.”
Summer crawled forward and bowed deeply before Fay.
Fay curled her tail, thinking Summer looked both pathetic and a little pitiful.
“I’ll stay with you until you leave this place, so don’t worry.”
“Thank you.”
“It’s not for you. It’s for this world.”
“Still…”
Summer smiled faintly. Just Fay’s presence in this lonely world made her tearfully grateful.
When someone trapped in a pit of despair is offered even the smallest chance of escape, human survival instinct compels them to reach out—no matter what it is.
And Summer wasn’t in any state to resist that instinct and consider things calmly.
“I never said I liked you—that’s not why I’m here. Hurry up and go back already.”
“I will.”
Summer beamed. Perhaps because of her radiant golden hair and blue eyes, her smile shone as brilliantly as sunlight crashing against the sea, dazzling and warm.
Feeling oddly unsettled, Fay turned her back to Summer and lay down.
“Oh, right. Not today. Summer’s soul isn’t here.”
Fay spoke in an intentionally petulant tone, curling her body into a ball and gently swaying her tail.
“Summer’s soul isn’t here?”
Summer, shocked by Fay’s words, stared wide-eyed and repeated the question.
“It’d be complicated to explain everything. Simply put, the soul that should return and take your place as Summer… can’t be found.”
“…”
Fay, sounding annoyed, shut her eyes. To Fay, this was a bit of a blow to her pride.
She’d boasted loudly to her fellow witches that she’d resolve this within three months—but now even three months felt like an eternity.
The black-haired soul had been sent away, yet Summer’s soul—meant to fill the vacant body—was nowhere to be seen.
Souls normally existed like air; sensing their flow made them easy to locate, yet this one was utterly impossible to find.
Just as the black-haired soul had abruptly disrupted the natural flow to appear here, Summer’s soul had similarly shattered that flow and vanished without a trace.
“It’s not something you need to worry about. I’ll handle it myself. You just stay prepared.”
“I will.”
“You mustn’t die before I return.”
At Fay’s earnest reminder, Summer clenched both fists resolutely and nodded firmly.
After watching Summer for a moment, Fay left the mansion, saying she’d research the matter of the missing soul.
Summer didn’t stay idle either. Ignoring every scripted character around her, she explored every corner of the mansion.
The mansion was so flawlessly beautiful it sent chills down her spine.
Tiny, adorable larks always chirped melodiously, grass remained fresh and vibrant, and flowers bloomed extravagantly.
Not a speck of dust could be found anywhere, and not a single shabby spot existed, no matter how hard one looked.
Yet, perhaps because there were too many empty rooms—or maybe because the vast mansion held so few people—it carried an eerie, unsettling atmosphere.
After thoroughly inspecting the sprawling mansion, Summer returned to her room and collapsed onto the sofa.
“I need to get outside.”
Even if she were to die and come back to life, she refused to die in such a place. This unnervingly perfect world—dying here would make her death feel inhuman, as though stripped of all humanity.
Summer pushed herself up with her exhausted body.
A sudden, almost duty-like urgency surged within her—to escape this place as soon as possible. And if there was anywhere she truly wanted to go in this world, there was only one place.
She walked to her desk, opened a drawer, and pulled out a sheet of paper.
It was densely filled with notes she’d jotted down, recalling everything she remembered about the original novel.
“The story begins at the imperial banquet, where the male lead rescues Julian. The novel’s beginning…”
This world was a novel—a rather grim romance fantasy at that.
Something hovered just beyond her grasp, almost within reach.
The novel’s beginning.
Currently, Summer was living at a point that, if forced to label, would be before the novel officially started.
In other words, this unfolding world was merely background setting, laying the foundation for the story to come.
Summer’s body had been created, yet her soul was absent—and that vacancy was now filled by this Summer.
When Summer tugged the bell-pull, Mary entered with a stoic expression.
At some point, Mary had stopped resembling the bright, cheerful character from Summer’s imagination and now wore the weary face of a jaded adult.
“You called?”
Oddly enough, that very change softened the unnaturalness Mary had once carried.
Perhaps it was simply because a way back had appeared, making Summer more forgiving.
With a slightly more relaxed expression, Summer asked Mary,
“How long until the imperial banquet?”
“Exactly one week.”
“…”
Not much time remained. It likely meant the settings for the female and male leads were already nearly complete.
Right before the novel began—this place was fiction. The god and creator of this world was the author.
Every existence within it depended entirely on the author’s will.
If that were truly the case…
A sudden hypothesis flashed through Summer’s mind.
“Mary. Help me prepare to go out.”
“Yes. Which dress would you like to wear?”
For a moment, Summer recalled the original novel’s description of the heroine, Julian Dudley.
Cotton-candy-like sky-blue hair and lovely pink eyes.
“Please pick out something sky-blue.”
While Mary went to fetch a dress, Summer gazed out at this perfectly crafted yet ambiguous world.
If the author was a god, then the god of this place was human—and humans were neither perfect nor omnipotent.
Therefore, there must surely be gaps in the setting, and it would have been impossible to meticulously depict every detail of aristocratic society.
Thinking this way, it made sense why Summer’s character had been constructed but never truly brought to life.
Setting was merely setting—but a character had to feel alive, to move and breathe. Thus,
“Then the day Summer’s soul is created…”
would be the moment the story officially began.
The exact moment the narrative needed a spoiled yet pure noble lady—raised in luxury—to vividly portray the grand imperial banquet.
“Miss. Let me help you get ready.”
Mary returned with a dress and accessories, pulling out the vanity chair as she spoke.
Summer sat before the mirror.
She saw brilliant golden hair, reminiscent of sunlight, and blue eyes that mirrored a melancholy lake.
“So this is what my face looks like.”
Mary tactfully pretended not to hear Summer’s mutter.
Watching herself in the mirror, Summer resembled a house cat suddenly realizing it wasn’t human.
“Let me help you change first.”
“Huh? Oh, right. Thank you.”
After Mary helped her into the dress, Summer stared blankly into the mirror again.
Only now did she properly take in Summer’s appearance—something she’d avoided out of fear until now.
If she had to describe it, it felt strange. Both her exotic features and her impossibly soft skin—clearly never touched by hardship—felt foreign.
Yet, however strange it felt, it was no longer frightening. Now that a path back to reality had appeared, she no longer needed to fear this world.
In fact, she even found enough ease to offer Mary a gentle smile.
If Summer’s assumption was correct, her soul would be created at the novel’s opening.
At that moment, Fay would place Summer’s soul into this body, and she herself could return to her original world.
“Miss. How would you like your hair adorned?”
“…”
“Miss?”
“Haha…”
Summer suddenly burst into a near-hysterical laugh, covering her face with both hands—struck by a realization she’d almost forgotten.
The day Summer’s soul was created in the original story… was the very day this Summer would breathe her last. The day she must die here to return to her original world.
If Summer’s theory was right, that day would be the debutante ball marking the novel’s official beginning.
The story’s introduction served to plant the foreshadowing that the heroine and hero had actually known each other long ago.
“Miss.”
“Damn it all.”
Summer snarled a vicious curse. She’d foolishly believed her fear had vanished just because she’d been granted a death date.
In her original world, Summer had fought desperately to survive every single moment.
For five years, she’d rotted away in a cramped room where lying down meant giving up—just to stay alive.
Though each day had felt suffocatingly agonizing, she’d clung to life by instinct, enduring one more day at a time.
Thus, death had always felt like a distant, abstract concept to her.
“Mary… do you happen to know a painless way to die?”
At Summer’s question, Mary’s hands—previously testing various hair ornaments—froze abruptly mid-air.
Summer couldn’t read any emotion in Mary’s blank expression.
When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem
This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Synopsis:
“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”
Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.
Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.
While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…
Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.
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Hahaha what a stubborn male lead, leave her alone.
They’re always like this, thay think it is always about the male lead.