The Mansion Awaits Spring
Chapter 61
Shafer spoke to April as she headed down the narrow stairs toward the second basement level.
“What makes you so confident, dragging twenty men down there? Do you have no fear at all?”
“I know you. I know that you’re surprisingly—and quite strictly—a stickler for the rules.”
“What do you know about me?”
Ignoring Shafer’s shout, she continued down the stairs. Suddenly, he grabbed her arm and yanked her around to face him.
The sudden pull caused her to lose her footing, and she nearly tumbled down the flight, but Shafer’s iron grip kept her from falling.
Even so, the brief moment of having no ground beneath her made April’s heart drop with a surge of mortal terror.
Shafer pulled her body close to his and growled.
“When someone speaks to you, you ought to answer.”
“It didn’t sound much like speech to me.”
Before April could even finish her sentence, Shafer heard a dull thud from behind.
He turned to see one of the subordinates who had been following them collapsing, clutching at his throat.
Before Shafer could process the situation, April spoke.
“You were right.”
“What?”
“I actually am a witch.”
As Shafer stared at her, captivated by her words, his subordinates began to drop one by one behind his back.
Shafer also felt something tightening around his lungs, though he still had enough physical strength to remain standing for now.
He scrambled up and down the stairs frantically, trying to drag his men back up. April watched him with her arms crossed.
“Why don’t you go down further and find proof that I’m a witch? I’d actually prefer that. I’d love for someone to finally find the truth.”
As he moved back and forth on the stairs, Shafer felt his vision begin to blur.
April looked down at Shafer as he stumbled and sank to the ground. She reached down and pulled the dagger from his waist.
“I don’t think the private judgment you came here to pass on me is necessarily wrong. Considering the things my parents did.”
She raised the dagger as if to slit Shafer’s throat, then simply let go.
The dagger hit the hard floor with a loud clang.
April continued.
“So, the reason I’m not killing you right now isn’t because I’m afraid of feeling guilty. It’s because there’s nothing in it for me. I don’t think my life would get any better just because a piece of trash like you died.”
With that, she turned away.
Shafer watched April’s receding figure. He didn’t feel even slightly grateful that she had spared him.
April walked toward the temporary tents where the police were stationed.
“Is anyone there?”
As she called out, a voice responded from near the transport carriage parked beside the tent.
“Over here!”
Peering into the iron bars of the prisoner transport carriage, she saw three investigators from the 3rd Division and only two police officers.
The five of them had apparently been locked in the carriage by Shafer’s party of twenty.
April asked the police.
“Where is the key?”
“It’s on the ground over there.”
The officer reached through the bars and pointed to a key that had been tossed into the snow.
After finding the key and unlocking the door, April told the officers.
“Shafer collapsed after going down to the second basement. He’ll die if you leave him there, so let’s move him to the transport carriage.”
“All twenty of them?”
“Yes.”
“Moving twenty men won’t be easy… I’m sorry. We failed to do our jobs properly.”
The officers apologized to April, moved the transport carriage to the front of the mansion, put on their masks, and headed for the second basement.
Among the investigators was a man named Kritz, whom she had met before.
He stopped April as she tried to help the police and pointed to a chair on the porch.
“We need to check your condition as well, Lady April. You might look fine on the outside, but your body could be suffering.”
“There’s nothing wrong with my body. And you’re not a doctor, are you, Mr. Kritz?”
“That’s true, but…”
“You just want to know why I’m perfectly fine inside the fog.”
“…That is correct,” Kritz admitted readily.
He continued with a serious expression.
“It goes without saying, but if we understand why you are fine in the fog, we will also understand why the fog is harmful.”
“I am certainly willing to help. However.”
April studied Kritz with a sharp gaze before continuing.
“I believe this is a personal question as a scientist, not as a police officer.”
“That… is true.”
“If so, I want a promise that you will not cooperate with the police.”
“…”
Kritz swallowed hard.
Having observed April Runos at the behest of the Police Headquarters, he knew a little about what kind of person she was. He knew she wasn’t the type to give without getting something in return.
Kritz spoke.
“I will think it over.”
“Fine. If I don’t have an answer within two weeks, I’ll assume you’ve declined. And I’ll need proof that you aren’t taking the police’s side.”
“Yes, what kind of proof do you want?”
At Kritz’s question, April took a deep breath and fell silent for a moment.
Kritz would later think that the flickering look in her eyes must have been due to some emotional turmoil, especially after hearing what she said next.
“I think Pezin’s behavior is strange.”
“In what way?”
“The fact that he’s excessively kind is strange, but…”
“That’s because he has feelings for—”
“The strangest thing is that he isn’t doing anything.”
“…”
“It’s true that Pezin became a different person as he grew up, but the boy I remember was someone who would go mad with frustration if he didn’t finish the task given to him immediately.”
April looked toward the basement door and continued.
“If it’s the Pezin Dieus I know, he would have dug up that entire basement by now to find out why the gas lamps turn on by themselves. He would have torn down the walls.”
“…”
“I want to know why he isn’t doing anything.”
She turned her head toward the frozen Kritz.
“There’s only one answer: he already knows why the gas lamps light up on their own.”
They were wary of each other. They were the most suspicious of each other.
Yet Kritz thought it was also true that Runos and Dieus held affection for one another.
That was likely why April’s eyes were wavering.
Kritz said firmly.
“I am a mere investigator, so I do not know the Superintendent’s exact intentions.”
“I see.”
“So I will look into it. As much as I possibly can.”
At Kritz’s words, April nodded.
* * *
It was only after the transport carriage reached the Capital Police Agency that Shafer Meyer regained consciousness.
His gang must have been taken somewhere else, as he was alone in the carriage.
“Open this right now!”
When Shafer shouted, he heard footsteps in the distance.
They weren’t running.
Shafer could tell just by the sound of the footsteps that it was Pezin.
There were only two people in the police force who wouldn’t run at the sound of Shafer’s shouting. One was his father, and the other was Pezin.
If it were his father, he would have been yelling from far off, so these leisurely footsteps could only belong to Pezin.
Shafer let out a smirk.
“It’s not good to make enemies of the military, Pezin. Especially for a mere policeman.”
“Is that so?”
Pezin, having approached the carriage at a relaxed pace, stood before the bars.
Shafer gripped the bars threateningly.
“I told you to open up.”
“Calm down. I’ll open it.”
Pezin pulled out a key and unlocked the iron door.
As soon as Shafer stepped out of the transport carriage, he lunged at Pezin and grabbed him by the collar.
Shafer, who only remembered the young Pezin who was so picky he never put on weight, was startled by the unexpected sensation in his hands. It felt like trying to push over a wall.
Pezin didn’t budge an inch against Shafer’s strength as he was shoved back.
