Translator: Nox

The Mansion Awaits Spring

Chapter 18

The elderly gentleman was dressed in the finest clothes he could manage to show proper respect, and April had already guessed that he hadn’t come here simply by losing his way.

She gazed blankly at the old man, who had made a grim resolution based on a massive misunderstanding.

It was a strange feeling. Being singled out as the culprit for something she hadn’t done made her feel wronged enough to want to grab him by the collar, yet at the same time, she felt pity for an old man who had come to offer up his own life.

April pushed all those thoughts aside and spoke.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not a witch… actually, there’s no need for me to be sorry. I’m not a witch, and more importantly, that fog is not my fault.”

At her answer, Bauman’s eyes widened.

“I-Is that so?”

“Yes.”

“Then I have been incredibly rude! No, I am truly sorry.”

After apologizing repeatedly, Bauman turned to head back into the fog, only to stagger and collapse onto the floor. It seemed his health had deteriorated instantly from his journey through the mist.

April walked over to support the old man and said, “You can leave once the fog clears. There are plenty of empty rooms.”

“No, I couldn’t possibly… not after I misunderstood you so gravely and then became a burden….”

As he spoke, the old man began to cough again.

The hand he used to cover his mouth was stained with blackened blood. Fezin, who had followed her out, gestured for the officers to take over supporting the old man. He then approached April and spoke to her.

“You seem perfectly fine.”

All the officers were wearing masks that covered their entire faces as they stepped outside.

They were tools used during plagues, but they seemed to provide some level of protection even within the fog.

The two returned to the mansion, and Fezin looked exhausted, his head throbbing and a cough starting to tickle his throat even after that brief exposure.

He looked back at April.

She was pale, but that was simply her natural state, not an effect of the fog.

Tired of the continuous stream of uninvited guests, April returned to her chair and sat down, resting her forehead in her hand.

Meanwhile, Paul approached Fezin and spoke.

“The officers from the Grand Duchy are all saying the same thing—it’s much worse than last time.”

“Worse?”

“Yes, they say it’s the first time symptoms have appeared the moment they stepped outside.”

It wasn’t hard to guess that the death toll would be higher this time.

Fezin looked at the group gathered in the drawing room of the Lunos mansion—a child, a noblewoman, an old man of mysterious origin, a group of police officers, a dog, and a chick—and muttered to himself.

“I don’t even know what this combination is supposed to be.”

“I agree. It’s eerie.”

Paul concurred, rubbing his arms as if he felt a sudden chill.

Trapped in a mansion where guests kept arriving but no one could easily leave, all the officers were feeling a sense of dread.

Paul caught Fezin’s eye and tilted his head toward Hannah.

“That kid isn’t exactly normal, either.”

“What about the kid?”

“I’m telling you, the moment she pets them, whether it’s a chick or a hound, they both settle right down….”

It was just as Fezin said.

Hannah seemed to have an uncanny talent for handling animals.

Despite Logan’s fretful worrying that the hound might attack the chick, Hannah’s firm mediation between the two had worked.

Sitting between the hound and the chick, Hannah pointed a finger at each of them in turn.

“Got it? You can’t fight…. Why can’t you fight?”

Hannah asked herself the question and looked toward April, who replied:

“Tell them if they want to fight, they have to go outside.”

“The Lady says if you want to fight, go outside.”

Both sides seemed to accept Hannah’s mediation.

The hound flopped down with its chin on the floor, and the chick simply wandered around a short distance away, neither fearing the hound nor approaching it.

Bauman, who had been exhausted, terrified, and chilled to the bone, spoke warmly as he adjusted his hat.

“You’re a child of the Koski, aren’t you?”

“Huh? How do you know?”

“People of the Koski have always been good with animals.”

“What about you, Grandpa? Are you good with animals too?”

“Hmm, I am an Architect. I’m not very good with animals, but I know how to build magnificent houses.”

“Like the Lunos mansion?”

“Indeed! Though they don’t build such magnificent mansions anymore, so my work has disappeared….”

At those words, April looked toward Bauman.

“You’re an architect?”

“Yes, My Lady. That is correct.”

Bauman answered, hiding his exhaustion. April said:

“When I went out for the first time in seven years, I noticed the new buildings weren’t in the style of the Grand Duchy.”

“That is true. They are all buildings that have been copied exactly from the Empire’s style…. Of course, I can do copying work as well. In fact, I can do it better than anyone.”

“But you didn’t want to.”

“Yes, and so… work stopped coming my way.”

April nodded. Then, shifting her gaze to the door leading to the porch, she said:

“Do you see that door?”

“Yes, of course, My Lady.”

“Come over here.”

April stood up as she spoke. When she tried to move the chair herself, Fezin walked over.

He lifted the chair with one hand and placed it in front of the door without being asked.

Though he didn’t say it aloud, Fezin was quite interested in the conversation between April and Bauman.

April stepped up onto the chair and brushed her hand over the top of the door. Old dust coated her hand, but she didn’t seem to mind. In contrast, Fezin took a step back.

“There’s an ornament here. Petals of a silver osmanthus have been carved into it.”

“Ah….”

Bauman marveled at the sight, then noticed Fezin’s puzzled expression—as he had no idea what it meant—and explained in a kind voice.

“In the Grand Duchy, the silver osmanthus is the flower used to welcome guests.”

“Why hide it up there?”

“It was likely a gift from the architect to the Lunos family, who would be welcoming the guests who came to this mansion. He gifted them flowers that would never wither as long as the mansion stood.”

As he explained, Bauman signaled toward April with his eyes.

Realizing it was a sign to catch April as she stepped down from the chair, Fezin turned immediately and held out his hand.

April said, “My hands are dirty.”

“It’s fine, they’re still your hands.”

April flinched imperceptibly at Fezin’s casual remark, but she placed her hand on his almost immediately.

After April stepped down to the floor, Fezin, curious himself, stepped up onto the chair.

Where April had to stand on her tiptoes and reach with all her might, Fezin could look down upon it with ease.

“So this is what it looks like.”

It was a charming carving.

The silver osmanthus flowers were delicately carved into the wood, each one unique—some in full bloom, some in bud, in varying sizes.

It was a house imbued with the architect’s affection, even in places that weren’t easily seen.

Every officer there understood why April had shown them that carving.

Bauman spoke with a look of pure excitement.

“It was my dream to enter the Lunos mansion, and now that I am here, it truly is a magnificent home. What a great fortune it must have been to be able to build such a house as an architect….”

April gave a silent smile at the architect’s admiration for the mansion.

Just then, Paul checked the clock and stood up.

“Superintendent, it’s eight o’clock.”

“Let’s head out.”

As Fezin also stood, April asked, “You’re going out?”

“We have to rotate. We can’t leave them standing outside all night.”

“Even you have to go? Aren’t you high-ranking?”

“There’s a shortage of police power, so it can’t be helped.”

Fezin grumbled as he put on his mask like the other officers. But as he opened the door, Fezin narrowed his eyes at the sight of an officer running toward them alone.

The officer, who rushed into the mansion and tore off his mask, reported to Fezin with a face pale as death.

“There’s been an accident!”

At that report, the officers who were about to leave the mansion to rotate shifts froze in shock.