The Mansion Awaits Spring
Chapter 20
Luckily, she was able to find a young boy nearby.
Approaching him, she saw he wasn’t breathing.
She grabbed the rope. After a moment’s hesitation, she gave it a single tug.
She remained still until a man appeared through the fog, having followed the guide of the rope.
Even with the mask on, she could tell it was Fezin. She couldn’t say exactly how she knew.
He was tall, but tall men were particularly common among the police officers. There were likely several other physical traits that identified him, but they weren’t clearly visible in the thick fog.
Yet, she knew. It was a strange thing.
「Move.」
Fezin spoke to April and knelt down.
He had immediately realized she only pulled the rope once to summon an officer quickly. Rather than getting angry, he prioritized checking the child’s condition.
Positioning two fingers on the child’s chest, he began to perform compressions at a steady rhythm.
After checking for breath, he performed rescue breathing and resumed the steady compressions. As soon as the child let out a cry and exhaled, Fezin pulled off his own mask and placed it on the boy, then handed him to an officer who had just arrived, ordering him to run to the bus.
He stood up. Fezin started to leave but then turned back, grabbed the arm of the standing April, and led her away from the lake.
The mask had clearly played a vital role.
As they climbed the stairs to leave the lakeside, Fezin stumbled in the heavy fog. April tried to support him, and they both nearly tumbled over.
Fortunately, Fezin managed to grab the railing with one hand and April’s body with the other as she started to fall, preventing an accident.
He had grabbed the railing, but it would be more accurate to say he had pulled the woman into an embrace.
As April was pulled unexpectedly into Fezin’s arms, their hearts were brought close for a fleeting moment.
Flesh and bone surely lay between them, yet she felt a strange sensation as if their hearts were intertwined. At least, that was the peculiar feeling April experienced.
Fezin spoke as he released her.
「Where is your mask?」
「I gave it away. You did the same.」
「It’s my duty to save people. It’s not yours.」
「I gave it away because I knew I’d be fine.」
「Stop pretending to be a saint.」
At Fezin’s words, April looked up at him. Perhaps due to the ill effects of the fog, he wore a look of distress.
April replied as she began to walk.
「I just don’t want people to misunderstand and think someone died because of me.」
She answered sharply on purpose. For some reason, Fezin’s pained expression seemed to soften slightly at her response. Perhaps he really had just hated the idea of her acting like a martyr.
The two soon reached the upper ground.
April realized that Fezin must be exceptionally healthy. All three people who had been rescued from the lake had lost consciousness.
Inside the bus heading straight for the hospital, April pondered why she alone was unaffected by the fog.
She was far too rational to truly believe she was the one creating the mist.
Since April operated under the clear premise that she was not a witch, she was confident that reaching an answer wouldn’t be difficult.
The basement.
She felt she had to go there first.
The Provincial Capital Hospital was already crowded with people.
Inside, fans were being used to block the fog as much as possible, but the patients’ conditions continued to worsen in the abysmal air quality.
After sending April back to the Lunos estate, Fezin had his condition briefly checked at the hospital.
Fezin spoke with a weary expression.
「I’m fine. The police are short-handed right now, so why am I sitting here?」
Pascal, the butler who had rushed over after hearing that the young master had been in the fog by the lake, replied.
「You’re sitting here because you’re not fine, aren’t you?」
Pascal, who was always kind and accepting of whatever Fezin said, was now being firm.
Soon, Huss, the Dieus family doctor who had checked his condition, spoke up.
「He is alright.」
「See?」
When Fezin looked at Pascal triumphantly, the butler replied.
「It’s not a matter of ‘See?’; it’s a matter of relief, young master.」
Uninterested in their bickering, Huss stood up.
「Then I shall go back to checking on the patients.」
The Grand Ducal family had sent all their doctors to the hospital, and following their lead, other prominent families had done the same.
Once he had left, Pascal turned back to Fezin. He spoke in a soft but worried voice.
「What are you hiding?」
「Hiding?」
「Yes, you are hiding something. Ever since you returned to the Grand Duchy, there has been something…」
At Pascal’s words, Fezin raised his head to look at him.
The butler felt a certain coldness in the young master’s gaze, signaling he didn’t want to be questioned further, but Pascal did not stop.
「To me… well, there must be many things you feel no need to tell me. But to His Grace the Grand Duke…」
「I am a police officer of the Empire.」
「…」
「And the head of that police force is a position even His Majesty the Emperor keeps a wary eye on. I will reach that position. No matter what.」
By any means necessary.
The butler finally fell silent and nodded.
At the very least, it seemed certain that Fezin had arrived in the Grand Duchy harboring a ‘secret he could not tell anyone.’ That realization alone was a discovery.
Returning to the estate, April wanted to go down to the basement immediately, but she couldn’t easily act suspiciously with the police present.
The newly arrived officers were from a completely different precinct than Fezin’s, and April realized just how gentlemanly the officers who had come with Fezin previously had been toward her.
「Can’t we just try burning her to find out?」
「Don’t they say witches don’t burn?」
「I’m sure she’d use some kind of trick, even if we don’t know what.」
April tried to ignore the voices of the officers talking loudly enough for her to hear.
The methods for identifying a witch were always primitive and rooted in malice.
While she acknowledged the Church’s past malice, that malice had spawned offspring, much like any living organism.
One officer, as a prank, waved a piece of burning firewood in front of April. After staring at the snickering officer, April stood up.
She pulled a piece of burning wood from the fireplace, just as the officer had done. Then, she swung it in front of the laughing man.
Startled by the approaching heat, the officer scrambled back. Embers jumped onto his uniform, burning holes here and there.
「Wh-What do you think you’re doing!?」
「What would you do if I’m not a witch?」
April asked deliberately.
「If I am feeling the same heat and fear that you are feeling right now, what would you do?」
「Well, that’s…」
「Or is it just fun for you to see me fear heat and pain? If so, that is quite pathetic. As a human being.」
April spoke and tossed the wood back into the fireplace.
With her arms crossed, she spoke to the superior of the officer who had been playing the prank.
「Is it not a disgrace to this man’s family, a disgrace to the police, and furthermore, a disgrace to the Grand Duchy for such a pathetic person to serve as an officer?」
「That… well, I will take disciplinary action.」
「Please do.」
As she spoke, April turned her attention back toward the fireplace.
As more time passed in that silence, Hannah, who had been busy comforting the chick for the last three days, noticed the windows rattling.
「Oh? The wind is blowing, My Lady!」
At the mention of the wind, April walked to the window.
Just as Hannah said, the wind was blowing, and she could see the fog moving.
The fog, which the citizens of the Grand Duchy could not clear no matter what they tried, began to thin in less than an hour once the wind picked up. After three or four hours, visibility was fully restored.
April walked out of the estate and looked up at the piercingly blue sky, seen for the first time in three days.
