Our Summer Is Not Over - vanish into fiction

It was only as she was taking off the last prepared outfit that Mia finally came to her senses. Naturally, she stopped Dylan’s hands as he began to help her, and spoke up.

“I can take off my own clothes. And I don’t need help putting this one on either. It’s something I can manage by myself.”

Unlike before, he stepped back without protest. Left alone behind the partition, Mia slowly undressed.

In the process, she felt a sharp pain near her thigh. Looking down, she saw a pin stuck in the fabric. Elise must have made a mistake. She nonchalantly pulled it out, and a thin trickle of blood welled up where it had been.

When she looked up, she saw the same woman, still with life in her eyes. Even the vivid blood running down the inside of her thigh.

A thin line of blood trickled down along an old scar.

The hazy, floating feeling she’d had began to slowly fade away.

* * *

Since the final fitting was to be completed and delivered within the residence, Mia was waiting for Elise in the drawing room.

Dylan sat before her, even though he had finished all his business. She wondered why, but didn’t care to find out.

She was entirely preoccupied with the foolish face she’d seen in the mirror behind the partition. She just hoped Dylan wouldn’t say anything more to her.

But contrary to her wishes, it seemed he had no such intention.

“Mia.”

As soon as he set aside the papers he had been checking, Dylan called out to her.

To pointedly ignore him, Mia grabbed any random newspaper in front of her. Though she held the paper before her eyes, she couldn’t read a word.

As she continued to ignore him, he called her name again.

“Mia Blair.”

Her name, spoken in that low, calm voice, sounded especially ticklish to her ears. At the trembling she felt in her fingertips, Mia furrowed her brow.

Dylan had seen and understood everything, yet he showed no signs of tiring as he continued to call her. Truly, she didn’t want to hear it, nor could she understand why.

“Mia Rihardt.”

“Can’t you stop saying that ridiculous name?”

She snapped back, again, unlike herself.

“What is it now that you don’t like?”

“It’s you calling me that. Would you like it if I called you Dylan Blair?”

Dylan said nothing, only gazing at her.

Thinking his silence meant he understood how she felt, Mia steadied her breath and asked him again.

“Stop with the strange talk. Why do you keep calling me?”

After a moment of silence, as if he had just now remembered what he was supposed to say, Dylan cleared his throat and spoke.

“The trial date for the Murad Royal Family has been set.”

The mood instantly grew heavy, erasing all the frivolous talk from moments before. Guessing that they were about to have a serious conversation, Mia slowly set the newspaper down.

Then, doing her best to sound unaffected, she replied,

“That’s sooner than I thought.”

“We’ve already arrested most of the surviving royals, so there’s no reason to delay. The trial will be held in Murad, and barring any major surprises, the death penalty will be carried out.”

The war between the two countries had begun with the Murad Royal Family’s pursuit of supremacy.

Countless lives—dozens, hundreds, maybe even millions—had been lost to their greed. So it was only natural that the people of both nations wished for the complete downfall of the current Murad Royal Family, and the Hipoli Royal Family had no reason to oppose it.

But things might be different for the Murad nobles.

On the surface, only the crimes of the Murad royals were exposed, but the nobles had also profited from the chaos behind the scenes.

“The Murad nobles are likely to resist fiercely. Will that be alright?”

“Well, you’re still alive as a princess of Murad, and the late king’s younger brother is also alive, so they won’t be able to stop or oppose the trial.”

What Mia worried about was what would happen after she left this place.

A year was enough time for many things to be put in order, and the environment to improve, but if ‘Cydemia’, hailed as a hero and saintess of both nations, disappeared after a divorce, chaos could ensue.

It might sound cold, but that was not Mia’s concern.

She had done all she could. Whatever happened next was for the King of Hipoli and Dylan to resolve, not her.

“In that case, I’m glad.”

She nodded briefly, trying to end the conversation, but Dylan’s next words made her turn her eyes back to him.