Our Summer Isn't Over Yet - Chapter 55

The two stood still for a while, their eyes locked. Dylan was the first to move. He gestured towards the bed with his chin and said, “Lie down a bit longer. A servant will bring something for a compress.”

Only then did Mia feel the throbbing all over her body. There wasn’t a spot that didn’t ache, from her neck and back to her wrists. Even the inside of her mouth and her cheeks were sore.

“Ah!”

Feeling the pain, Mia unconsciously raised her hand to rub her cheek. At that moment, Dylan’s hand swiftly came forward.

He didn’t grab Mia’s hand. He simply blocked its path, just short of touching her cheek.

Then, he warned coolly, “Don’t touch it.”

Mia stopped her hand just before it touched his. Feeling overwhelmed by the faint heat emanating from him, she turned her head and asked, “How long has it been?”

“A day.” He clicked his tongue once and answered in a low voice.

It seemed she hadn’t lost consciousness for as long as she’d thought. Considering what she’d gone through, and what she’d gained. It was quite satisfactory.

“I woke up faster than I expected.”

Mia tried to smile, but the corners of her mouth stung, so she quickly erased the expression.

Seeing Mia stop her smile, he sighed briefly and got up. Then, he took what the servant had prepared for a cold compress and sat down beside Mia. After carefully wrapping it in a towel, he gently placed it on her face.

“It’s because you didn’t see how much shorter a person’s lifespan became in that short time.”

The moment the cold towel touched her face, Mia recoiled, and Dylan’s eyes narrowed sharply.

“Is it too cold?”

“It startled me. I’ll do it. Give it to me.”

“You’d better just accept it quietly.”

Mia considered refusing, but then nodded.

Her whole body felt heavy, so it seemed okay to let Dylan do this much. It wasn’t like she was giving him a piece of her heart, or forgiving him.

Keeping her gaze on his golden, silk-like hair shimmering in the sunlight, Mia opened her mouth slightly and asked, “When did you leave Rhodia?”

“Immediately after hearing.”

“Did you meet His Majesty the King?”

“Not yet.”

The conversation broke off, bit by bit.

Dylan focused his gaze on the cheek being compressed, and Mia, not wanting to arouse his suspicion, was carefully choosing her questions.

When Mia stopped talking, no words were exchanged between them. Mia rubbed her sweaty palms on the blanket several times.

She felt frustrated, wondering how long she had to keep this up.

She felt that way even more because there were many things she needed to get up and check.

How long had it been? Dylan’s hand slowly moved away. Not missing the opportunity, Mia quickly asked and tried to get up.

“Is that enough?”

Instantly, Dylan recited a few things in a chilling voice.

“Neck, wrists, shoulder, back, side.”

At the list of incomprehensible words, Mia frowned, stopping her movements.

Dylan didn’t say more, but carefully scanned Mia’s body with his fingers. She flinched slightly at the light touch. Feeling an unfamiliar throbbing, Mia examined her own body.

She couldn’t see everything because she was wearing a long negligee, but when she saw the bruises on her wrist, she understood what Dylan meant.

It seemed he was planning to compress all the bruises from her altercation with Hosea in the same way as before.

Dylan untied Mia’s ribbon. His actions seemed slow.

Before she knew it, the negligee was slipping off her shoulders.

“I’ll do it myself.”

Before Mia could finish her sentence, Dylan took off the negligee. The dress, which was easy to put on and take off, was quickly removed by his hands.

Left in only her underwear, Mia hunched her shoulders and glared at Dylan.

Not caring about her gaze, he laid her down again. Then, he placed compresses on her neck and side. When she flinched at the cold, he frowned and said, “From tomorrow, we can use warm compresses, so please bear with it a little longer.”

The thought of having to do this with him again tomorrow made Mia feel dizzy for a moment.

But she quickly calmed down. Dylan had returned to the capital after a long time, and he had a lot of work to do. He wouldn’t be able to spare time for this.

With a faint sense of relief, she was trying to clear her mind when Dylan’s warm hand touched Mia’s thigh. Startled by the sudden contact, she looked up. Dylan’s expression was extremely serious. He gently pressed on Mia’s body, just enough to tickle.

“Your muscles are tense.”

He said it as if it were nothing, as if he knew what she was thinking.

Dylan’s hand, which had been on the outside of her thigh, gradually moved inward. It was a touch without any lust, but Mia felt a strange sensation in her stomach.

Maybe it wasn’t Dylan who was crazy, but herself.

After finishing the compresses on her entire body, Dylan neatly removed his hands and even tidied up Mia’s appearance.

“It’s good to do this several times a day, so let’s do it whenever we have time.”

“Dylan.”

“Aren’t you hungry?”

As her mind, which had been entirely focused on Dylan’s touch, returned to its place, Mia finally sensed something strange about him.

Dylan’s atmosphere was somehow flustered. His stiff tone was the same, but his words were unlike Dylan, who always spoke in neat sentences.

“You’ll have to eat soft foods for a while.”

“Dylan.”

“I told them to find medicine to apply inside your mouth, so you’ll be fine soon.”

“Are you even listening to me?”

“Then you can eat food as usual. What did you say?”

It seemed Dylan hadn’t heard a word Mia said. He seemed to be only focused on the wounds on her body. Mia was puzzled.

What was it about the wounds on her body that made him act like this?

“I think you need to come to your senses.”

Only after hearing her words did Dylan seem to regain his composure. Mia asked her questions one by one.

“What happened to the Fourth Prince? I’m sure he was transported to the royal palace right away.”

“Is that what’s important right now?”

“It is important. Isn’t it important to you?”

At her question, Dylan closed his mouth. A faint silence followed, and Mia sighed deeply. If he didn’t want to talk, she could just look for newspaper articles or go to the royal palace.

“If it’s hard for you to talk, I’ll go find out myself. You must be tired from coming all the way from Rhodia, so rest.”

Mia pushed Dylan’s shoulder with a little force. His body was pushed back more easily than she expected. With the distance between them, Mia calmly got out of bed. Then, she looked down at Dylan, who was still sitting.

After a moment, she nodded briefly to him and erased her gaze.

‘What should I do first?’

Perhaps because it hadn’t been long since she woke up, her thoughts, which usually moved quickly, were only turning slowly.

‘First, I need to see the articles published today.’

Having come to a difficult conclusion, Mia tried to move her feet. But before she could even move, Dylan grabbed Mia.

“Mia.”

Dylan slowly got up from his seat and stood in front of her. Then, he said very firmly.

“From now on, don’t worry about that and focus on recovering.”

“How can I not worry about it?”

“Your body comes first.”

To Mia, those words were quite absurd and ridiculous.

“Dylan, that matter comes first for me.”

Mia wracked her brain, recalling the actions and words she had said before she knew of Dylan’s betrayal, and created a sentence.

She was worried about how much she could poke at Dylan, how far she could go with her words, but she thought she had to act as normal as possible so that Dylan wouldn’t think she was strange.

“This incident was like an accident. Now that the Fourth Prince has been caught, there won’t be any more injuries.”

“Mia.”

“You’re not planning to stop me now, are you? We made a promise, you wouldn’t do that.”

She didn’t raise her lips, but she folded her eyes and smiled. Along with it were kind words full of trust. Mia could confidently say that the only thing that didn’t change even when facing Dylan was the fabricated kindness and gentleness.

An expression appeared on Dylan’s face, which was difficult to read. Complexity, anguish, and annoyance were evident, and Mia raised her throbbing lips and smiled, expressing her clear refusal.

“If you’re thinking of stopping me, Dylan, keep your meddling to yourself.”

It was also an act of re-establishing the lines that had been blurred between them.

“Because this is my job.”

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