The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 148

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 148
* * *
Even as the world descended into chaos beneath the fog, the Lunos Grand Residence remained serene beyond measure.
Eve and Bauman had spent days absorbed in wedding preparations.
Since the two of them alone knew the ceremony’s true purpose, Eve’s laments had not ceased throughout the planning.
“A wedding between the Dieusian and Lunos families ought to be magnificent, yet it will all be destroyed in the end. These beautiful things will vanish entirely.”
Bauman had marshaled every craftsman connection he’d cultivated during his years as an architect to procure the elegant chairs, tables, and shelves—only to watch them shatter. Eve found it unbearable.
Bauman consoled her, speaking softly.
“When our young lady truly marries, that ceremony will be far more beautiful, Eve.”
“Do you think so?”
“Without question. I stake my reputation on it.”
As Eve spent those efficient hours blending work and romance, she gazed out the window and spoke.
“The fog is worse than any year I can recall.”
“Indeed. Who knows what lies ahead.”
Eve was sighing at the sight beyond the glass when Bauman’s words trailed off—and in that same instant, a dull thud rang out below. She spun around.
Bauman lay slumped on the floor, clutching his chest.
“Bauman? Bauman?”
Eve’s face went ashen. She immediately stretched him out and bolted from the room to find help.
She discovered April fastening a window and rushed to her.
“Bauman has collapsed! He suddenly grabbed his chest and—”
April froze where she stood.
But she quickly forced herself to focus and spoke.
“Keep talking to him so he doesn’t lose consciousness!”
“Where are you going?”
“I have to do something!”
April answered and sprinted up to the rooftop.
The fog had begun earlier than expected, making its onset all the more sudden. There was no physician at the residence now, so she hung a yellow cloth on the rooftop.
It was meant to signal to Pejin, who was coming, that help was needed.
Yet the fog was so thick that the chance of Pejin seeing it was slim. So April left the house to fetch a physician herself.
The fog obscured everything.
April moved slowly through the haze, then stopped in her tracks.
She could discern no direction whatsoever. She couldn’t even tell which way she’d come or where she was headed.
Then Eve’s voice sounded behind her.
“April! Come back this instant! April Lunos!”
At that furious tone, April’s senses snapped back.
Eve had noticed her absence and was calling out in a voice sharp enough to cut glass.
April ran toward the sound. When she barely made it back to the residence, Eve seized her in a fierce embrace. Then, striking her arms repeatedly, she cried out.
“Have you lost your mind, rushing into this fog? If not for Bauman, I wouldn’t have even known you’d gone!”
“I’m sorry.”
“You still think you’re alone! Consider those who worry for you—if you’d had an accident fetching a doctor, what good would Bauman’s survival be? It would be no better than death!”
April had no words.
She simply held her mouth shut and endured Eve’s reproach.
Bauman had collapsed, and April had recklessly run into danger. Eve was barely containing her fear.
After scolding her for some time, Eve finally broke and pulled April into an embrace, tears streaming down her face.
“How long have you been so accustomed to being alone?”
April found it strange how comforting Eve’s thin frame could be.
She buried her face in Eve’s shoulder and answered.
“That’s not it. I did ask for help first. But just in case… I won’t do it again.”
She continued quietly.
“If you hadn’t found me, I would have been lost.”
Eve held April tighter at those words.
Just then, a car pulled up before the fog-shrouded residence. Pejin emerged from it alongside a physician carrying a medical bag.
Eve hurried to seize the physician and rushed him to Bauman.
Pejin spoke to April.
“I thought a doctor would naturally be needed today—”
Before he could finish, April pulled him into an embrace.
Pejin stood rigid, asking her.
“What’s wrong? What happened?”
“Bauman collapsed.”
“What?”
“Bauman—”
April called his name once more, then clenched her teeth. It was to keep from crying.
Pejin wordlessly held her in return.
The fog grew thicker by the moment.
As Pejin was wondering how to comfort April, frightened with worry for Bauman, she looked up at him and asked.
“Has the fog ever started this quickly before?”
“Not that I know of. And never spread across such a wide area.”
“Then—”
“Listen.”
Pejin glanced toward Left Island as he spoke quietly.
“After the fog on Right Island vanished last year, there were observations of fog masses that hadn’t fully dispersed—lingering like storm clouds above the sea.”
“What are you saying?”
“Winter winds always blow toward Left Island, and now Left Island is blanketed in smog.”
At Pejin’s words, April paused, then asked.
“If that fog grows worse, could it affect Left Island?”
“Possibly, though the chance is small. But given that the capital of Left Island is already buried in tremendous smog—”
The two of them turned absently back to the window.
Nothing was visible beyond an arm’s length.
* * *
Fortunately, Bauman regained consciousness before long.
The physician, from the outset, had judged it a heart condition given the cold season and Bauman’s age, and his treatment brought swift improvement.
Still shrouded in fog, Bauman opened his eyes in bed to find April, Pejin, and Eve—six eyes peering down at him with wide, round gazes—and he burst into laughter. And of course, that laughter only infuriated Eve.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing… I just… I’m grateful you’re all watching over me like this, that’s all.”
“Flattery. I know you well enough.”
Tears glistened in Eve’s narrowed eyes as she regarded him.
April tugged at Pejin’s arm and spoke.
“We’ll leave you now. Please rest fully. Completely.”
“Impossible. It’s our young lady’s wedding!”
“No. If you want to participate, recover completely first. Both of you.”
April refused firmly and left Bauman’s room.
In the hallway, she released a shaky breath.
“That was close.”
Pejin asked her.
“So you really did run out into the fog?”
“Who told you that?”
“Eve mentioned it.”
“Only she would know.”
“April.”
Pejin gently clasped her shoulders in his hands and met her eyes.
“I was coming. I said I would come.”
She said nothing.
“Why did you run out there? The police have ordered everyone off the streets. What did you think you’d accomplish that no one else could? You’ve seen carriage accident sites yourself. How many people have died from visibility issues? You ran into that?”
“I couldn’t lose a capable architect.”
“Were you exaggerating when you said you were the only possibility? Or was it love?”
She was silent.
“Truly, you are the only possibility I see for Right Island. This isn’t because I love you, and certainly not just because we’re friends. It’s genuinely because you are the only way to achieve my goal.”
April offered no response, only listened. Pejin continued.
“Don’t die. Don’t die, April Lunos. You must live, and you must prosper above all else. Turn your attention to nothing but your own success. Don’t weaken. Don’t look back at anything. Only look forward and succeed.”
April met his gaze for a long moment, then nodded.
“I understand. I won’t get hurt. But…”
“But what? There’s no ‘but’ to not getting hurt.”
“There is. Instead, you don’t get hurt either.”
April continued as if extracting a promise.
“You’re one to talk about caution—you came through that fog.”
“I’m a police officer. I’ve been through fog plenty of times.”
“Still.”
“Fine, all right.”
April spoke calmly, reflecting on her own actions. “I was shortsighted. Just because I can endure it doesn’t mean I can see through fog better than anyone else.”
At her sincere self-correction, Pejin unexpectedly laughed—perhaps from relief.
April reproved him.
“You didn’t answer.”
“Answer to what?”
“That you won’t get hurt.”
Pejin scowled instead.
“How would I get hurt? I’ll live fine. I’ll probably go down in history as that useless fellow who somehow survived.”
“Don’t let them remember you that way.”
“Who knows. Maybe they’ll curse my name instead.”
At his cheekiness, April rolled her eyes at him. Then, with a sigh mixing exasperation and relief, she spoke.
“Pejin.”
“The fog’s gotten worse.”
At Pejin’s words, as if reading her thought, April nodded. He shifted his gaze back out the window.
“It’s unfolding as expected. Everything is going according to plan.”
“I suppose so.”
“Do you know what I felt today?”
“What?”
“That no matter how much humanity advances, all our progress is meaningless before natural disaster.”
April followed his gaze out the window.
Still, nothing was visible.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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