Please Take A Step Out Of The Portrait

Chapter 1

Vivian Ataraxia Summers.

She was born in early summer, and after lasting for 20 years, she finally died today.

There was a period of time during her childhood that she had forgotten. She couldn’t remember what had happened then, and how unjust it was.

The feelings of wanting to cry and being scared were still clear in her memories, despite not knowing what made her so upset.

So, was the fact that her first memory was of her sister coming to pick her up a foreseeable tragedy?

That was her thought as she was on the verge of death.

It was painful to breathe. She opened her eyes one day after her consciousness sank into slumber, not expecting her body to recover.

And her sister hovered over her feet every time she opened her eyes. Vivian would rather that her sister not come.

Her older sister often came to listen to the doctor’s report, before walking away indifferently. Like she had finished the day’s work that she needed to do without even checking if her younger sister was awake.

‘The Young Lady seems to be waking up soon. Would you like to stay for a while?’

‘Ahh, next time.’

It was the same today.

The room’s interior was warm.

The pleasant sound of wood crackling as it burned in the fire reached her through her hazy consciousness, her motionless body that was buried in the bed was very warm. The head that continued to burn hotly with a fever, and the wet towel placed on it was lukewarm.

Even so, it still felt cold. Her entire body trembled.

“…I’m sorry.”

From the voice of the doctor that had taken care of her since she was little, she seems to be slowly preparing to pass away.

“Tonight will be crucial.”

Vivian’s family, the Summers, was a prestigious family of mages that had accompanied the Millennium Empire since its founding. Their affluence came from the granary they owned, and they ruled the Southern part of the Empire with the powerful magic that protected their wealth.

However, in the present generation, the disgrace of the family, Vivian, must have been the Summer’s misfortune. In other words, it was also the misfortune of her older sister that will inherit the family.

Vivian was born as an illegitimate child of the Summers, and with a chronic disease.

Her body couldn’t withstand magic.

Everyone gossiped about the Summer’s ludicrous illegitimate child; a half-baked mage that was unable to wield magic and the unprecedented disgrace that clung to her older sister.

To Vivian, Sasha was no different from a hero, and so she wanted to gain recognition from her older sister. She didn’t want to be a burden, she wanted to be more than an obligation to her older sister.

‘You are my responsibility. I am your protector. Then, shouldn’t you listen to my words?’

It failed, though.

‘If I wasn’t a mage, would Sister have come to pick me up?’

“No.”

‘Right…?’

‘If you weren’t a mage, the family would definitely have killed you.’

She didn’t know why the painful words that were embedded within her heart poured out when she was on the verge of her death.

For a long time, she didn’t want to acknowledge the fact that to her older sister, she was nothing, let alone a Summers.

So, she would anticipate the words of, “You’re not my responsibility,” but end up getting hurt.

It was for that very same reason that she hated birthdays.

Her birthday falls in early summer, which was the season her family was at its busiest, so she would usually spend it alone. It was her plan to do so that year. It wasn’t that miserable to celebrate her birthday by herself, as it has always been like that.

But her sister remembered her birthday.

Every time, when she received a card with the words:

Happy birthday to you. Enclosed with the card is a little sincerity of mine.

— From, Sasha Laurel Summers

Her sister would always be the first to congratulate her with the card that her aide had sent.

She would obviously think of blowing out the cake’s candles with her sister.

She looked forward to it.

What her sister had done wrong was making her look anticipate it. If she hadn’t inquired after her, she would have spent that day as usual without expecting anything from anyone.

Her sister left the mansion, as if she had forgotten about her birthday.

Vivian remembered that she looked out of the window all day, wondering if she would return in the evening. But her sister was nowhere to be seen, and if it was not for her sister, her father wouldn’t have allowed her to sit with him in the first place…

She had dinner alone at the large table of the spacious dining hall.

As she chewed and swallowed the meat that made her feel sick, the heart that was busy worrying over her sister, the heart that she had tried so hard to protect, was broken by the large cake placed before her.

The sight of the cake that obviously took effort to make suffocated Vivian. After being dazed for quite a while, she finally moved her mouth to ask the butler.

‘…Can’t we not do this?’

‘I apologize.’

‘If you tell my sister that I had eaten well…’

‘I apologize.’

That evening, she only returned to her room after swallowing down a slice of the cake, in order to report to her sister that she had eaten.

And Vivian spent that whole night throwing up everything that she ate, feeling sad.

The reason her sister didn’t show up wasn’t because she was busy and forgot about her, but because there wasn’t any need to appear.

There were so many memories that were filled with grievances that she couldn’t count with her hands, but why didn’t Vivian give up?

Her older sister was always cruel, she would occasionally show kindness. Vivian couldn’t forget her sincerity, hence she kept getting involved with her.

But now, this too has finally ended.

When it was said that it would be hard for her to turn past twenty, that age felt very far away, but time flew so quickly that she was surprised that she had already reached the age of twenty.

There wasn’t a place that was comfortable usually, but occasionally she could bleed profusely and faint when problems occurred. But those occurrences were temporary, and she would get up soon after.

That was the case during the late summer of her twentieth year. Both the inability to breathe properly and the terrible sensation of magic clashing assaulted her. As she fell to the floor, the calm thought of whether she would be able to wake up these days flitted through her mind.

But now, it seems like she was really about to die. Vivian lost consciousness and woke up repeatedly. Autumn had already passed, and winter was just around the corner.

And this is how she will die, forgotten by everyone. No one will remember her. That was her only comfort.

Her older sister, whom she had admired greatly, would only be free after her death, and the Summers would fly freely without the fetters of disgrace under her sister’s rule.

Her hand stroked her hair awkwardly, which made her laugh without a reason.

‘You’d only stroke me once when I’m about to die.’

As she barely lifted the eyelids that were heavy and hard to open, the image of her older sister that she hadn’t seen in a very long time looked blurred.

Vivian couldn’t see her sister’s expression.

“…Sis–ter.”

No.

Truthfully, Vivian was upset that her sister would feel relieved at her death. She was so upset that her sister would finally be freed when she died. Instead of being an existence that would free the fetters around her sister, she wanted to remain in her sister’s heart.

‘Well, I’m so pathetic.’

The whole room was red like the evening glow. That’s odd, didn’t the sun set a long time ago? Has the day changed?

Her brain wasn’t working. She tried to keep her eyes open and forcefully connect her disconnected thoughts. Because of the magic power, her vision flickered and became blurry, before returning back to normal.

“Look out of the window.”

Barely managing to turn her head at her sister’s whisper, Vivian stared blankly at the outside world. Although it was so beautiful that she wouldn’t take her eyes off it, she kept losing consciousness in between.

From above her flickering vision, her sister’s hand descended.

And she fell back into the darkness.

Her sister’s indifferent hand seemed to say that that’s enough.

“Vivi…”

Her sister’s whisper passed through her distant consciousness.

“―――――――.”

At twenty, at the beginning of winter, she died.

And…

“Vivian Summers.”

200 years in the distant future, her eyes opened at the Summers Mansion, in a world where magic has declined.

The problem was that it was no longer the Summers’ mansion, but the Deer’s mansion.

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“Huk!”

When Vivian opened her eyes, she found herself on a soft bed. Even after blinking multiple times, the fact that it felt unfamiliar did not change. A pleasant breeze blew in through the opened window.

“…I thought that I died.”

Was it an illusion?

As she stretched out her hand, it blocked the sunlight, and light reflected off her pale skin, revealing her veins clearly.

Still, it looked more like a human hand than a corpse’s. It was originally much paler than now, and it looked like a dry branch. The family ring on her index finger was also not loose.

As she slowly sat up, the blanket dropped down with a loud sound. It was a completely unfamiliar room. With a glance, it was evident that the room was made of the highest quality wood, and was lavish and glamorous, but it wasn’t her room.

“But why does it feel so familiar?”

No. The problem didn’t lie there.

‘I’m not dead, I guess I just lost consciousness.’

‘Did Sister succeed in saving me? It’s amazing how light my body feels.’

“It’s been a while since I’ve been in such good condition.”

Then, the door swung open.

The man entering moved naturally, as if he was entering his room. With a look of tiredness on his face, he stiffened when he made eye contact with Vivian, who was still on the bed.

‘Who is he?’

‘I’ve never seen him before.’

‘I wouldn’t have forgotten it if I had met someone that had an appearance like that.’

The man and woman stayed like that for quite a while without taking their eyes off each other.

The man with golden hair that even the sun would pale against opened his mouth, trying to form a sentence. From the looks of things, he seemed to be as bewildered as she was.

“Excuse me, may I ask where am I?”

But as she was about to continue speaking, he slammed the door shut with a loud bang. She flinched at the loud noise. He burst into dumbfounded laughter.

Although the room was spacious and there was quite a distance between the door and the bed, he strode with his long legs and reached right in front of her in a few steps.

Vivian didn’t realize that he was so tall when he stood by the door, but she had to crane her neck upwards for a moment to meet his eyes when he was in front of her.

His face was filled with various emotions.

The man suddenly lowered his posture. As she blinked at the suddenly lowered field of vision, he slowly spoke as if he had experienced a miracle.

“Vivian–”

‘He knows my name. Is he someone that Sister assigned to me?’

“Do you know me?”

“Summers.”

He nodded slowly in affirmation.

“Yes, I’m Vivian Summers.”

The man’s face was dyed with joy, and she only tilted my head as she couldn’t understand.

It was her first meeting with Edmund Deer.

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