The Mansion Awaits Spring
Chapter 15
“What?”
April stood up as well, looking toward where Hannah was pointing.
It was just as Hannah said. Fog was visibly rising from the direction of the sea. It was that same pitch-black fog she had heard about countless times during the police interrogations.
Once one reluctantly accepted the fact that the fog would come every year, one question remained.
April muttered as she stared at the fog.
“Why does this happen?”
At her monologue, Hannah asked with wide eyes.
“You don’t know either, my lady?”
“No.”
At that answer, Hannah muttered with a look of realization.
“Because it wasn’t you who did it….”
“Right. Because it wasn’t me.”
April had experienced that fog herself.
For three or four days at a time, a black fog so dense that one couldn’t see an inch ahead would blanket the Lunos mansion, day and night.
April, too, had been terrified, thinking it was some kind of curse.
On an exceptionally cold day, she had brought the chicks into her bedroom to sleep with her, only to find the chickens left outside were dead. It had been a horrific night.
After it continued for three consecutive years, she grew accustomed to it; whenever the fog began, she brought the chickens and chicks inside the house.
Once the fog passed, the house and the fields would all be turned pitch black.
“Let’s go inside for now.”
April spoke, leading Hannah toward the bedroom first.
She was using one of the few rooms with unbroken windows as her bedroom.
Just as she had done last year, April sealed the windows tightly with wet cloths and drew the curtains. After she placed the chicks and chickens one by one into the dressing room attached to the bedroom, Hannah quickly forgot her fear of the fog and began stroking a chick.
“Oh, how cute.”
After closing off all sides, April stepped out into the hallway.
Since it would be difficult to venture far from the bedroom for a while, she planned to gather some food.
As she ran down to the first floor, April flinched and stopped at the sound of someone pounding on the door. The presence of an uninvited guest arriving with the fog felt like an ill omen.
April mustered her courage, approached the door, and asked.
“Who is it?”
“Me.”
“Me?”
Even in her fear, she thought, What kind of person introduces themselves like that?
“I said, it’s me.”
The voice even sounded frustrated.
By the second time, she knew exactly whose voice it was, and she didn't want to open the door because he was so unpleasant. Still, since the fog was coming, she felt it would be pitiful to let him die in the street, so she opened the door.
Instead, as soon as she opened the door, she poured her anger out at the obnoxious face she had expected.
“Are you crazy? Who wanders around in this weather?”
Pezin Dieus, who had ridden his horse here in a single breath, spoke as he loosened the cravat at his neck.
“Of course I had to come. I have to check if you’re actually performing some kind of curse ritual or not.”
“There’s no such thing.”
“Exactly. I have to confirm that there isn't.”
April glared at him at his sarcastic remark, and several more officers arrived behind him.
April said.
“I heard there have been a lot of accidents. Do you have the police force to spare for this place? Isn't it a waste?”
“Good point. There was a lack of police force to deploy. That’s why the Emperor ‘additionally’ dispatched me here to determine the cause. So, we are the personnel sent solely for this purpose.”
“…….”
“I wish you were a witch and that was a curse. Then I’d achieve results, and the fog would be dealt with.”
“I wouldn't like that.”
“Why? You seemed like someone who hates waste.”
“I’d be dead.”
“That’s truly unfortunate, but it would be better for everyone if it were solved with just your life.”
April faltered at Pezin’s tone, which didn't sound unfortunate at all, but she soon clenched her fists and continued.
“I won't die. I have to restore my family’s honor.”
Pezin looked at her at those words. Then, he let out a short laugh as if what she said was absurd.
That mockery finally touched April’s raw nerve, which she had been suppressing, and she tried to slap Pezin’s cheek without a moment’s hesitation.
Pezin caught her arm before she could, and his gaze locked with April’s burning eyes.
Pezin studied her eyes.
That Grand Duke, Miller Dieus, was a gentle man, but he occasionally wore an expression that was unbearably cold.
And that expression was one his younger brother, Pezin, saw very often.
What will I lose this time?
Is there even anything left to lose?
She had those thoughts, but she couldn't help it. Other than restoring her family’s honor, she had no reason to endure living right now.
Therefore, if that honor was insulted, she had no choice but to react immediately.
For some reason, Pezin even leaned down to study April’s gaze.
After watching her like that for a while, Pezin spoke.
“Why are you so angry?”
“Because you mocked me.”
“I’m sorry for that.”
When Pezin apologized readily upon hearing the reason, April’s expression worsened even further. Pezin spoke in a provocative tone.
“Why the face when I'm apologizing?”
“Why are you apologizing?”
“Because you’re angry.”
“Are you apologizing without even knowing why?”
“I know the reason. You said it was because I mocked you.”
At Pezin’s words, April couldn't hide her bewilderment. It felt like they weren't communicating, yet they were.
Then again, thinking back to Pezin when they were young, he had grown up exactly as he was.
In April’s memory, the young Pezin was so beautiful that even people who caught a fleeting glimpse of him as they passed by would marvel.
His jawline had become that of a man, but his almond-shaped eyes that curved upward with surprisingly large pupils still accounted for half of his beauty.
Along with that, the reason adults had exceptionally adored that rude troublemaker—whom anyone could recognize as such—was also due to his habit of letting apologies slip easily from his lips.
Pezin knew that if he stared intently and apologized, he could be forgiven for whatever wrong he had done.
So, with a face that wasn't sorry at all, he would throw out an apology and pull the situation over to his side.
April had utterly loathed that side of Pezin throughout their childhood as well.
She thought it would be better if he were consistently arrogant, like other high-born men. She didn't like that shrewdness of his, using everything he had to his advantage.
April continued.
“You didn't just mock me; you mocked my words about restoring my honor.”
“It sounded like nonsense for a moment. I must have misheard.”
Normally, he would have been hit once more for saying that, but she was left speechless by Pezin’s confident expression that seemed to say, ‘I just said I was sorry, so it’s fine, right?’
Confirming that April had lost the will to deal with him and had crossed her arms, Pezin spoke to the officers.
“Block the windows as much as possible. Nothing would be more troublesome for me than you bastards dying, so endure it no matter what.”
“Yes, Superintendent-nim.”
The officers replied and moved in perfect order.
Pezin asked April, who was standing there with a face mixed with shame and anger.
“What’s the deal with her?”
April looked back at his question.
Hannah was standing there, terrified, gripping the stair railing.
“Someone who’s going to work here.”
“She’s missing a hand.”
“That’s why she’s working here.”
Even without adding the words, Because she can’t find a job and I can’t find a person, Pezin had a look of understanding.
A short while later, the officers blocked the windows as best they could and installed the manual ventilators they had brought on every floor.
As they moved around the Lunos mansion for the series of tasks, the officers were feeling overwhelmed by the scale of this massive estate.
“This really is a terrifyingly large mansion.”
It was just as he said.
The mansion, which had been neglected and had lost the majesty of its long history, boasted a scale that was almost eerie.
In particular, the Grand Banquet Hall, where all sorts of merchants used to come and go to enjoy parties of various cultures, was so exceptionally vast that they had to give up on blocking the fog there and simply lock the massive velvet-decorated doors.
The more they roamed the mansion, some of the officers—especially Logan, who liked to observe his surroundings—couldn't hide their curiosity.
“Can such a massive family… fall in an instant?”
At his question, Paul glanced up at the ceiling.
He was thinking something similar.
The incredibly high ceilings, the countless windows.
Even if thieves had swept everything away, it remained a mystery why the owners of a space with such an absolute, overwhelming sense of immense history would choose such an easy death.
“Can we say for sure there was no political retaliation?”
At Logan’s overly honest remark, Paul gave him a light pat on the back.
Logan exaggeratedly pretended to be knocked aside.
It might have been a predetermined downfall.
Even without thinking that far, any officer suppressed by the majesty of this mansion felt a certain degree of dissonance.
