The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 19

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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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Chapter 19
The officer continued his report.
“Several noblemen were racing along the road that follows the Ridge. There was an accident, and some pedestrians tumbled down to the Lakeside as a result…….”
It was a night when senseless things were happening. It wouldn’t have been shocking even if people acting carelessly were wandering about.
But unlike the officers who treated this report as ‘something bound to happen eventually’, April’s expression darkened with anger rather than mere shock.
“Were all the pedestrians rescued?”
Something was wrong with her question, because all the officers turned to look at April. Even the Architect, who had been sitting in exhaustion, lifted his head.
Logan explained quickly.
“This fog is strange in that way—the lower the altitude, the thicker the density. Isn’t the Lake in the Capital situated below a hill? The fog itself is dangerous, but the Lakeside has virtually zero visibility.”
“There’s a possibility of accidents, then.”
April nodded, then fell silent in thought.
After thinking it through, April spoke to Pejin.
“Someone has to stay here and watch me anyway. If there’s no one to watch, take me down to the Lakeside. I’ll search for them myself.”
At her words, Pejin simply watched her.
April continued.
“I didn’t say it because I was afraid of being called a witch……but I’m fine outside the fog. For the past three years straight, I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to go out when there was fog. I was always outside, but it never bothered me. I think I’m simply fine in that fog.”
“So?”
“So?”
“Fine, say you’re fine with it. But why are you going to rescue them? You’re not even a police officer.”
After listening quietly to Pejin’s words, April asked him a question.
“Why are you worried?”
“What?”
“I’m helping with your job. Why are you worried?”
It struck April that Pejin was being gentler with her than usual, and once he was gentle like that, it felt like tenderness.
April had come to despise tender things. It was because she knew her standards for them had become dangerously low.
If she were to fall in love, she would give her heart without realizing her own depletion, just as her parents had done to themselves.
Since there were so few people to love, all her affection might pour toward one.
When the world is dark, if there is only one brilliant thing, it would be terrible.
Better to see nothing at all than to fear losing that brilliance.
So after speaking tersely, Pejin crossed his arms and looked down at her with exasperation.
“Me? Stop you?”
“You stopped me even though I’d clearly be helpful.”
“That was me speaking as a police officer to a citizen.”
“Isn’t this precisely the moment to ask a citizen as a police officer?”
At April’s words, Pejin fell silent for a moment, and irritated by his own hesitation, he frowned.
In the end, April joined the group heading to the accident site.
The weather was so thick with fog that horses could not move through it, but because time was of the essence, they had no choice but to use a slower means of transport.
They had brought a Steam Engine Bus, which was easy to control the speed of, and it was a means of transport that April had seen even during the days of her trial.
But it was slow, and using a steam engine meant constant expenditure of labor.
In the seven years since then, vehicles using steam engines had completely disappeared, and most had switched to gas-powered vehicles.
The officers from the Empire marveled at the fact that such an old relic still existed.
“This goes beyond classic, I’d say…….”
“Outdated.”
“To begin with, doesn’t ‘classic’ also mean ‘masterpiece’? As I understand it, that vehicle was never even a masterpiece.”
With the officers adding their comments, April and Pejin boarded the bus.
It was slightly faster than running, but that beat having an accident, and it protected the officers’ stamina while also managing to shield them somewhat from that terrible fog.
As they traveled, Pejin spoke.
“Since you’re receiving the help of a citizen anyway, you’ll get a Reward.”
“I want to go to the Amusement Park.”
“What?”
“I said I want to go to the Amusement Park.”
April repeated her request.
Pejin, looking at her, asked.
“Why specifically that?”
“Because Hanna wants to go. For her, I could give her money and she’d go and come back, but if I show up, people will be too busy running away.”
“We’ll take measures.”
Pejin understood and answered thus.
By then, the group had arrived at the accident site.
Only when April saw it with her own eyes did she truly understand what it meant for the fog to be denser in lower places.
She could see nothing. The fogged lake looked like an abyss without a bottom.
Logan wrapped a Rope firmly around April’s hand and spoke.
“When the officer pulls the Rope, pull back once too. If you don’t respond, the officer will immediately come down to find you. Pull once when you’re in danger as well.”
“Understood.”
“If you find someone injured, pull three times. If they’re dead, five times.”
“Right.”
When April answered like that, the officers hesitated.
Pejin spoke for them.
“Just repeat it back once so we know. Otherwise, we won’t know if you really understood.”
“One pull for a response and when I’m in danger, three for injured, five for dead. What’s hard about that?”
“It’s hard to confirm you actually heard it right.”
Pejin chided her with a tired face and jerked his chin for her to hurry. Then he himself headed toward the suspect in this accident, who was being treated beside a Carriage.
April descended the stairs, leaving those officers behind.
Stepping into the dense fog, she could see only about a step ahead.
As April continued walking, she felt her foot touch the Lakeside, then quickly pulled back.
Fortunately, thin ice prevented her foot from falling into the water, but that very fact made it more dangerous. If the thin ice broke and she fell in, it would be catastrophic.
As she felt her way through the fog, she heard a groan from somewhere. Soon, a Carriage came under her hand.
April asked.
“Is anyone here?”
“Here……here!”
A young man’s voice came. When April moved closer and crouched beside him, she heard a noble youth’s voice.
“Damn…….”
April helped the coughing young man to his feet.
“Hold on to this Rope and follow me up.”
“I can’t, that’s the problem!”
His ankle was broken, and he collapsed the moment she tried to lift him.
April pulled the Rope three times, then spoke.
“An officer will come to get you shortly.”
“Let’s go up right now. I can’t be here any longer.”
As the young man spoke, April heard a groan coming from beneath the Carriage.
She said.
“Hold the Rope tight. I’m going to check and come back.”
“Shouldn’t you rescue me first? I’m the heir to the Heshan Family!”
Ignoring the urgently shouting youth, April checked beneath the Carriage.
A middle-aged man lay pinned under the tilted Carriage.
“Can you hear me? Can you respond?”
Though she asked, the man could not respond—only making a sound like air escaping, as if he might break apart at any moment.
April pulled the Rope three times, then removed her Mask and placed it on the man’s face, speaking.
“I know it’s hard, but there’s no choice. Were there others with you? If you remember anything at all, tell me. That way I can find them.”
At April’s words, the man barely managed to breathe, his trembling fingers moving.
One line was drawn in the mud of the Lake’s floor. April understood it meant there had been one more person in their group, and she rose to her feet.
April handed the man the end of the Rope so the officers could find him, saying.
“If you hold on, the officers will come for you. Survive. Stay conscious.”
With that, April stepped deeper into the fog.

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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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