Our Summer Isn't Over Yet - Chapter 50

“Get a grip.” How did I even get here? I didn’t endure the past seventeen years cowering just to be swayed by this nonsense. Mia barely managed to pull back her scattering reason.

The long-standing fear had numbed her sense of touch.

So much so that she couldn’t feel it no matter how hard she bit her lip. Mia’s mouth gaped open. Blood flowed from her burst lip. Blood stained between her tongue and teeth. At the same time, a metallic taste dominated her entire mouth, and Mia lifted her head with fierce eyes.

“Yes, I can find it without help.”

It felt like blood was rushing to her eyes. She felt like she could go crazy resenting her mother for telling her not to cry. She should have told her not to laugh instead. It wouldn’t have been this hard if she had. Even in the midst of all this, she was consumed by a terrible sense of guilt.

Who was she to resent her parents? Biting her lip wasn’t enough to bring her back to her senses.

Mia bit her tongue hard. “Mia, you know you look ridiculous right now, right?” Hosea mocked her. “What makes you think you can find out?”

The two stared at each other, only three steps apart. His provocation, ridiculously, worked on Mia.

Her reason wavered, and she said something she wouldn’t normally say.

“Dylan promised to find it for me.” Hosea instantly closed the distance and grabbed Mia’s slender neck. Then he pushed her against the right wall.

With the wall behind her and Hosea blocking her in front, Mia had no way to escape.

“Who are you talking about?”

“Ugh!”

She scratched the back of his hand with her nails. But his grip didn’t loosen. Her vision spun and her face turned red. Only Hosea’s eyes, burning red, were clearly visible.

“Dylan Richard. Ha, is the reason you chose him perhaps because of the hostage you had until the very end?” “Ugh, ugh.”

“Was it Anila Davi?” Her heart dropped again. The face of someone she had tried so hard to forget came to mind. “That woman had a similar hair color to that Dylan guy, didn’t she? Ah, come to think of it, her eye color was similar too.”

The face of the woman with blonde hair like Dylan and lighter blue eyes than Dylan, who was beautiful even though she was emaciated.

Anila Davi was one of the hostages captured by the Murad army during the first war between Murad and Hippolyte.

The King and Queen of Murad used those hostages to manage Mia. It was possible because they were beings who could be killed at any time without repercussions. At the same time, they were also a good way to break Mia’s heart.

Anyone Mia gave her heart to was eventually killed.

Cruelly and brutally, just like her parents had been killed. The Hippolyte hostages feared Mia. They kept their distance and didn’t give their hearts to the poor child. Among the hostages, Anila was the only woman who gave Mia her heart and offered her her side. She knew her end was obvious, but she stayed by Mia’s side. “Mia, you have to throw up the poison. Your voice is so beautiful.”

“……”

“Mia, you have to move your tongue even a little to not forget how to speak.”

“……”

“Mia, you don’t have to force yourself to smile. I wish you had learned how to cry instead.” She was a strange woman who worried about her even when she was facing death.

Mia knew she shouldn’t give her heart, but she gave her heart to Anila.

She often liked being hugged warmly.

Even on the day Mia was discovered by Hosea when she was fourteen, Anila hugged Mia. On days when his abuse started and her whole body was bursting, she would cry instead. Those days continued. Mia, who was only ten years old when she first met Anila, was now fifteen. At the time, Anila was the only one of the hostages who had survived. Mia knew.

This was her new leash. If she wanted to keep Anila alive for a long time, she had to obey. It was desperate, but she couldn’t help it. She had endured for her parents, so it didn’t matter if she added one more weight to that. “I have a son too. He’s attending a military academy in Rhodia.”

“……”

“He was going to come home for the first time in a while, but his cousin who lived with him suddenly got sick and couldn’t come.”

“……” “I don’t know how lucky we were. That day, the Murad army invaded. If our son had come home. I don’t even want to imagine it.” Mia must have been around sixteen. Anila spoke about her family for the first time.

It was a day when Anila was particularly sick in the cold winter. Anila, who had a fever and was delirious, asked Mia in a hoarse voice. “Mia, if you ever meet our son.”

“……”

“No, I don’t want to burden you.” Anila shook her head with blurry eyes. Mia opened her mouth with a distorted face. In a very small and faint voice.

“…Tell, tell me.” “Mia?” “I’ll be sure to tell him.” She couldn’t bring herself to say it directly. Anila’s eyes, which she had first seen at the age of ten, had a faint vitality, but there was nothing left in her eyes at that time.

There was not a single ray of light in her blue eyes that contained Mia. Above all, Mia and Anila both knew.

That year was the last winter they would spend together. Her body had weakened as much as it could, but as a hostage, there was no way Anila could receive proper treatment. Anila hesitated for a moment before parting her lips. Her voice was filled with tears. “Tell him that his father always said he would give his son a wooden doll himself because he would like it, but his mother stopped him and she’s sorry. She’s so sorry that she almost put him in danger by burdening him to come to you.”

“……” “If I had known it would be the last time, I would have told him I loved him a lot, but I’m sorry I couldn’t. I love him so, so much. He’s the biggest treasure of his mom and dad. Always smile and be happy.”

“…Okay.” “I’ll tell your parents that their daughter grew up so, so beautifully when I meet them, Mia.” Watching Anila smile faintly, Mia promised that she would be by her side no matter when Anila’s end came. That promise was kept in a ridiculous and desperate way. “Tsk, we need to get rid of that.” That’s what Hosea said when he saw Anila, who was still alive. “If she has a disease, it could cause problems later.”

“……” “Mia, it would be a disaster if you got sick. Huh?”

The moment anger surged and she was about to open her mouth to Hosea, Anila grabbed Mia’s hand. Anila shook her head slightly and handed Mia a cold piece of metal.

It was a locket necklace that Anila had been carrying around for a long time. She knew it instinctively.

Anila was saying goodbye to her. Early the next morning, Anila was buried in the ground. Alive. Mia, held by Hosea, had to helplessly watch from afar as the frozen cold soil was sprinkled on Anila. She couldn’t even show her anger.

She felt bewildered and wronged by her situation.

“That woman is dying faster than her life expectancy because of you. You know that, right?” Only after Anila was completely buried did Hosea let Mia go.

Mia gaped her mouth, letting out a scream that didn’t come out. She ran madly and dug up the pile of dirt where Anila was buried. She didn’t stop even when the frozen soil dug into her fingernails. How much did she dig, muttering please, please in her heart? Anila’s face was visible.

She groped the cold face she had barely encountered. She couldn’t feel the breath she exhaled through her nose or the breath she exhaled through her mouth. Looking at her with shaking eyes, Mia suddenly realized. That Anila’s face was more peaceful than ever.

After burying Anila again, Mia returned to her room in a daze.

Suddenly, she remembered the locket necklace that Anila had given her last and took it out. She carefully opened it with her blood-caked hands, and at the same time as a smooth noise, the picture inside filled Mia’s eyes. It was her family photo.

Hosea had broken the locket necklace that had the family photo in it, so she only kept the picture inside.

Anila, who knew that fact, must have secretly put the picture in this locket and made it like this. Like a beast moaning, Mia clawed at her chest for a long time. Tears didn’t flow from her eyes, but if someone saw her, they would have said this. Mia Blair cried.

“Huff, huff.”

And now. As Hosea’s hand loosened a little, Mia gasped for breath like crazy. It felt like all the senses in her body had been awakened. Her face was flushed because she couldn’t breathe properly. With her eyes bloodshot, Mia dug her nails into the back of Hosea’s hand and said.

“How dare you talk about anyone.”

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