The Mansion Awaits Spring
Chapter 91
Miller also filled his own glass and drained it first.
After setting the glass down, he asked Fezin, “Is that woman really a witch?”
“Where in the world are there witches?”
“If she isn’t, then none of this makes sense. I’ve never seen you act like this.”
“What am I doing?”
“You’ve always put yourself first. Your whole life. But now…”
“I still put myself first. Just like I always have.”
Fezin cut Miller off and continued.
“I don’t do things that put me at a disadvantage.”
“You’re doing it right now. Didn’t the Emperor of the Empire order the Grand Duchy Police to bring April in? But you went and brought her here yourself.”
“That was His Majesty testing me. I apologized and settled everything.”
“Fezin, you shouldn’t be causing even that much trouble. You’ve caught the Emperor’s eye. You’re supposed to protect the Grand Duchy.”
“Don’t expect too much from me.”
“Fezin.”
“Hyung, do you know how much I love you?”
Miller belatedly realized that Fezin had already emptied two glasses in the short time he hadn’t been looking.
His attention shifted to the fact that Fezin was drinking at an excessive pace. Miller looked at his hand gripping the glass and replied.
“I know.”
“I doubt it. I would give my life for you, hyung. I always will.”
“…I said I know.”
Miller couldn’t let Fezin drink alone, so he emptied his own glass. However, he couldn’t possibly keep up with the speed at which Fezin was drinking.
Strangely, the emptier the glass became, the clearer Fezin’s eyes grew.
Miller thought anew about how beautiful Fezin’s eyes had become now that he was a young man. They were the same blue as his own, yet the feeling they gave off was completely different. Those infinitely cold eyes resembled winter.
He had taken Fezin’s love for granted his entire life. Just as Fezin had left this island because he feared Miller would be uncomfortable if they loved the same woman, Fezin was capable of changing major life decisions for Miller’s sake.
Yet, every decision he had made since returning from the Empire made Miller uneasy. The greatest source of that anxiety was the interest he showed in April Runos.
Fezin leaned toward Miller and continued.
“But for that to happen, you have to be the hyung I know. The person who raised me like his own child, who is kind, smiles often, and has a sense of law and order.”
“…”
“You can’t break the law, hyung. I’m a policeman. Protecting love and social justice are two different things.”
“…That sounds like a threat.”
Fezin let out a short laugh at Miller’s words.
“It shouldn’t sound like a threat. People who haven’t committed crimes don’t think twice when they see the police.”
“I suppose.”
“That’s right.”
Fezin replied and emptied his glass again.
After saying that, Miller soon broke into a thin smile.
“Actually, I only asked to test you, just in case.”
“What do you mean?”
“I actually know why you’re being so kind to April… Hey, wait.”
Miller finally grabbed and held down Fezin’s hand as he tried to pour another drink.
“Stop drinking. You’re going way too fast.”
“You brought the alcohol so we could drink, and now you’re interfering with the pace?”
Fezin continued.
“I have to go soon. I have a lot to do.”
“I know you’re busy.”
Miller spoke slowly.
“I heard you found out why April is fine inside the fog?”
Fezin’s hand, which had been trying to pull away, stopped at Miller’s words.
Miller observed Fezin’s expression as he went on.
“Someone came from the Empire and told me. That you’ll be looking for ‘it’ from now on.”
“They told you that?”
“Of course.”
“Exactly who told you?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
“Hyung.”
“Yeah?”
“How much do you know?”
Fezin’s expression grew increasingly rigid.
Meanwhile, Miller snatched Fezin’s glass and pushed it aside.
“It’s nothing much. That’s all—just that you found the answer. Won’t April tell you about the dye?”
“She seems to have no memory of it.”
“That can’t be… Is she planning to start a business with it or something?”
“It would be profitable.”
“This isn’t a matter of profitability. It could save people who are dying for no reason.”
“Why should April be the one to do that?”
“I have to make her. That’s my job.”
Fezin gave a mocking laugh and leaned back in his chair.
“You don’t believe me, do you? That I like April.”
“What are you talking about? I even set this up because I was worried and wanted to talk.”
“How much do you know? About what I’m doing.”
Miller shrugged at Fezin’s question.
“A little.”
“I’m asking, how much?”
“You’re currently gathering officers at your headquarters who are neither Imperial Police nor Grand Duchy Police, aren’t you?”
At Miller’s words, Fezin let out a clear, loud laugh this time.
“Yeah, well, that’s no secret. I need them—my own people who will be loyal only to me.”
“Right. Just as you have your work, I have mine. To protect the Grand Duchy…”
For a split second, Fezin recalled the face of Jeff Morrow, April Runos’s uncle, who had been venting his rage at him. He remembered the fury in the man’s voice as he barely managed to spit out the name ‘Dieus’ as if coughing up blood.
That anger hadn’t simply stemmed from his brother being punished by the law. Jeff Morrow had the eyes of a man who had witnessed something far more base and wretched.
After that, the two of them drank incessantly. Because they both had things they wanted to say, they drank all the more to hide them.
As April entered April, she was frantically busy.
Jeff Morrow had visited in the meantime. He said that while he was recovering his memories of the Twin Mountains, he felt he would need to actually go there to remember something properly.
April promised to visit the Twin Mountains after the funeral.
Hannah ran up to April, who was washing and hanging all the tablecloths to be used for the funeral, and asked.
“Young lady! Will Fezin-nim really bring the flowers?”
“Yes, because he promised. He might look unreliable, but he’s surprisingly good at keeping his word.”
“You know, he said it’s lucky to have a police officer who’s good with animals.”
“He told me the same thing. It seems he wants to turn every person in the world into a police officer.”
“If I become a police officer, I’ll protect the Runos family.”
“That’s what a private soldier does. You won’t be protecting just one family; you’ll be defending the citizens of this entire island.”
“…Hmm.”
When Hannah pursed her lips at those words, April set the tablecloth aside for a moment and turned toward her.
“You look like you don’t like that idea.”
“Do the police have to protect bad people too?”
“Yes.”
“Even my father?”
Hannah hated her biological father even more than the factory owner who had employed her. Although April hadn’t heard the full details, considering what Bauman had said after visiting Hannah’s house, it was a miracle the girl had grown up to be this cheerful.
Still, there were parts of Hannah that April worried about.
Hannah harbored a massive amount of rage. This anger, larger than her own body, sought to burst out of her at every opportunity.
That was why April made an effort to let Hannah vent her anger bit by bit. If she didn’t, one day that rage might become a blade that tore someone apart.
“That’s a hard one for me to answer. It would be better to learn about the police from Fezin.”
“Fezin-nim said it’s okay to take revenge on my father as long as I don’t get caught!”
“…I thought wrong. Learn from Paul-ssi. That would be better.”
Wait, was that right? Paul was in league with Fezin, so he’d likely teach her the same thing.
April pressed her hand to her forehead. She certainly couldn’t have her learn what a policeman was from the Grand Duchy Police.
What could she possibly learn from those pieces of trash?
As April held her forehead, Hannah’s eyes went wide.
“Are you sick, young lady?”
“I have a headache, but it’s not because I’m ill.”
“You’ve had a fever constantly, but you can’t even rest because of the funeral…”
“I can’t rest because of the work I chose to do, so who can I blame?”
“Still, I prefer it when you aren’t hurting.”
“I know. I’ll try.”
Lately, Hannah had been acting quite spoiled toward April. It seemed she had finally become certain that she wouldn’t be kicked out of this mansion.
April felt strangely proud of the fact that she had given Hannah that certainty. Though the girl had a tendency to look only to her, that would be solved once she was sent to school…
As she was thinking this, she saw Fred running toward them frantically from a distance.
The boy’s face, though he was growing tall, was pale—perhaps because he ran around so much that he couldn’t put on weight.
“Y-Young lady! Look at this!”
April took the newspaper Fred handed her, and her brow furrowed.
[According to a spokesperson for the Grand Ducal family, it has been reported that April Runos knows a way to survive within the Fog of Death. The Grand Ducal family is currently making every effort to investigate this method and…]
