Our Summer Isn't Over Yet - Chapter 49

It felt like a stone was lodged in her throat, blocking it. Substitute, that short word brought back the years she had tried to forget. The countless abuses she had endured to become ‘Seydemia’. Even the scars that had already healed seemed to reopen, causing pain.

“Four years, is it?”

Mia’s grip on the hem of her dress tightened. Despite meeting Mia’s cold gaze, Jose nonchalantly gestured with his chin.

“You seem to have been doing well, I’m almost annoyed.”

At his words, a gasp escaped Mia’s lips. It was a very small sound, but it seemed to have registered clearly in Jose’s ears.

“That’s right, you could make a sound.”

Mia braced her feet to avoid faltering. If she was out of sight for too long, the people Morgan had assigned would appear. She just had to endure until then.

She didn’t know how long it would take, but Mia tried to repeat it to herself. Unfazed by Mia’s lack of reaction, Jose continued.

“I was stupid. I really thought you couldn’t speak.”

And that was enough to drive Mia back to the past.

“If I had known you could speak so perfectly, your body.”

“……”

“I would have poked it a little more.”

Jose used his finger to draw a long line down his arm. It was a familiar gesture to Mia. He always gave such a warning when he was about to scar her body.

With every blink, memories of that time flooded back.

The time she had to take medicine to damage her throat to make her the same as ‘Seydemia’, who had lost her voice in an accident, and Jose, who confidently said that he would use fear, not drugs, to make her unable to speak.

It all came rushing back to her.

“The sight of you bleeding was quite beautiful.”

The fear Jose spoke of was violence. The fear of being stabbed, cut, and whipped with sharp objects.

“I regret not seeing the blood flowing on your white skin.”

In Murad, it was considered virtuous to hide as much skin as possible.

This was the same even when a married couple consummated their marriage. Mia had been taught not to show her bare skin to anyone, so no one could see her body. Above all, in preparation for any eventuality, when she was married off to a foreign country, a national agreement would be signed to respect Murad’s customs, so there was no need to worry.

This was why Jose was able to scar Mia’s body as much as he wanted.

That was why the King and Queen of Murad did not stop Jose from assaulting Mia’s body.

“The sight of your white clothes stained red is still vivid.”

Jose grinned, unable to contain his smile. After making such an expression for a moment, Jose erased the expression from his face and slowly scanned Mia up and down.

Mia’s clothes, which revealed nothing, were captured in Jose’s gaze.

“Seeing you now, I’m satisfied that there still seems to be traces of what I left behind.”

Looking at him laughing again with his mouth wide open, she was reminded of the days when she couldn’t even breathe easily.

Jose, who said he would make her unable to speak with fear, really kept his word. If she couldn’t bear the pain and let out a groan, she would be subjected to abuse that would crush her whole body, so it was natural for Mia to keep her mouth shut.

The moments when she was treated just enough to not die, and the same scars were made in the same place before the flesh had completely healed, came back to her one by one.

“I’m angry that you deceived me but more than that, I like that I can hear your voice.”

Seeing Mia’s face turn white, Jose raised the corners of his mouth and smiled.

“If you had kept taking the poison, I wouldn’t even be able to hear your voice now.”

Without taking her eyes off Jose, Mia clenched her fingers tightly. Then she thought.

The person in front of her could no longer abuse her as he had when she was young. Jose would soon be arrested and disappear as dew on the execution ground. It was a shame if he died in one go without pain, but it was a satisfactory exchange since it was more painful for him to be alive.

Her rapidly beating heart found its pace.

Mia, who had regained her reason, smiled with trembling lips. Her voice was cracked, but it was okay.

“I’m surprised you’re even more stupid than I thought…”

Hearing Mia’s proper voice, Jose stopped talking and stared at her with a grin. After savoring Mia’s voice several times, he replied, “Ah.”

“What, that this is a trap?”

The cheerful answer rather embarrassed Mia.

The efforts she had made to calm down until just now were instantly reduced to nothing.

“Well, you might think it’s stupid. Were our father and mother a little stupid?”

A scathing criticism followed.

About the actions of her parents, who sent Mia to Hippolyte without any safety measures because of their son’s obsession.

“Heh, they must have been completely insane.”

Even Mia thought it was a definitely crazy choice.

How could they think of sending someone who held all their secrets to an enemy country without attaching any surveillance?

Did they think they could completely control her because they had her parents’ remains and had taught her how to obey through long abuse? Of course, there was no need to find out the thoughts of those who were already gone, their long-time rivals.

Mia tried to erase Jose’s words from her head. But he added new words to the erased space. Just like when he scarred Mia’s body.

“Don’t tell me you think I’m similar to them?”

Seeing Mia’s closed mouth, he burst into laughter. After holding his stomach and hiccuping for a while, he stopped making noise and slowly straightened his body.

As if the frivolous laughter just now was an illusion, he showed a neat smile. It was a soft smile that someone might mistake for looking at a lover. If Dylan had made such an expression, it would have been welcome, but Jose’s expression only made Mia shudder.

“What should I do with our innocent Mia?”

He shrugged his shoulders once and continued with a kind explanation.

“I won’t kill you or kidnap you.”

The sound of leather shoes dragging on the floor was heard. Seeing the way, he looked like he was about to stride closer at any moment, Mia found it even harder to think.

Just a little bit, she just needed to endure a little bit more.

‘How long do I have to wait?’

She still couldn’t hear anyone calling for her.

As if mocking herself for being sure that she would be okay even if she saw Jose, Mia was gradually collapsing. Mia’s face, which had only been making well-organized expressions, began to sink gradually. Jose gave an evil smile at the undisguised expression.

“You’ll want to come with me. I’m saying you’ll choose me.”

It was a statement close to certainty.

She wanted to retort that such a thing would never happen, but all that escaped Mia’s parched lips was a faint groan. She was taking deep breaths through her nose and mouth, but her breathing was getting faster and faster. Before she knew it, her legs were trembling, and she felt like she would collapse to the ground if she relaxed even a little.

‘Get a grip.’

She tried to pull herself together and swallow the disgust, anger, and hatred that seemed about to burst out. But despite her efforts, Jose easily dropped her heart from a high place to the bottom.

“Mia. Why do you think your parents died?”

“What?”

Well, in order to use her as a substitute for Princess Seydemia, it would have been more convenient in many ways to get rid of her parents, who would be obstacles.

Jose said something she hadn’t even thought of, as if mocking Mia’s thoughts.

“No, should I ask it this way? Why do you think you came to Murad?”

“What, what are you trying to say?”

“Well, I didn’t let you think in that direction, so you probably couldn’t even make an assumption.”

Thump, her heart continues to plummet.

“Mia, you can’t even think in any other direction except for what you learned to become the princess’s substitute.”

Jose smoothly raised the corners of his lips as he looked at Mia, who still had traces of his education.

“Your expressions have become more diverse. Pretty.”

Her ears were ringing, and the sound of the wind was faint. But Jose’s voice sharply pierced Mia’s ears.

“Say it properly.”

The voice she spat out at Jose was trembling and fragmented.

Jose exclaimed that Mia’s face was worth seeing. The fear she had been trying to ignore enveloped Mia’s whole body.

“This suits you well after all. Wallowing in despair.”

“……”

“Mia, if you’re curious, come here. Things you might be curious about. I’ll tell you everything, whether it’s your parents’ remains or anything else.”

As if he were a virtuous saint, he spread his arms and seduced Mia.

He seemed sure that she would come to him.

Nothing else around her came into view. Only Jose in front of her filled Mia’s eyes.

‘Dylan.’

She wanted to see Dylan like crazy.

Even though she knew he had betrayed her, she felt like this fear would disappear if she was by his side. At least Dylan wouldn’t harm her.

‘Dylan.’

There was also a faint resentment. If he hadn’t betrayed her, she wouldn’t have had to find Jose or face the trauma of the past directly.

‘Ah.’

Now she shouldn’t call Dylan. At the same time as that thought, what she had been repeating in her mind stopped abruptly.

Mia’s green eyes darkened without a single ray of light. It seemed that Jose had smiled brightly, showing his teeth. Mia’s feet, which had been stuck to the floor, began to move hesitantly. Contrary to her will, her steps were heading towards him.

One step, two steps.

Jose’s face, which was getting closer and closer, was consumed with a sense of victory. In an instant, as if splashed with cold water, her steps stopped abruptly.

Mia, who was clenching her fists so hard that they were bleeding, muttered.

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