Chapter 133: When the Flowers Bloom in Spring-5
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 133: When the Flowers Bloom in Spring-5
Lee Mina’s only request was to stay at the mansion for two days.
In exchange for those two days of lodging, she promised to interpret the text In-ho had left behind.
While Emma cleaned the long-neglected mansion, Lee Mina wandered through every corner of the house, her fingers tracing the traces left by its former master.
She spent a particularly long time in the study. Emma, busy with her chores, would occasionally catch glimpses of her as she passed by—Mina would be stroking the desk In-ho once used, her gaze fixed on the scenery outside the window.
The first day passed quickly, and Emma provided Lee Mina with a guest room she had polished until it gleamed.
On the final day of the stay, Emma went grocery shopping for the first time in a long while.
When Emma, who had vanished abruptly after In-ho’s death, reappeared on the streets, the townspeople welcomed her warmly. They believed she had finally overcome her master’s passing and decided to step back out into the world.
Whether she was aware of their sentiments or not, Emma moved with brisk steps from shop to shop, buying ingredients for dinner.
With her arms full of groceries, Emma began to cook.
She prepared a variety of dishes, just as she once had for her master.
Hiding the burning anxiety in her heart—the desperate longing to know what her master had written—Emma served the foreign lady with the utmost care.
Though Lee Mina looked slender, her appetite was remarkable; she finished every single dish Emma had prepared.
And so, the final night at the mansion arrived.
In the study, the two women sat facing each other.
"Well then, I’ll begin reading," Lee Mina said, her expression languid.
Emma swallowed hard, her throat tightening.
"After summer passed..."
Mina began to read the manuscript in a calm, steady tone.
Emma had expected this to be the moment her master’s veiled masterpiece was finally revealed, but as the reading progressed, her expression shifted.
From surprise to doubt, from doubt to complexity, and from complexity to sorrow.
"......"
Having finished the manuscript, Lee Mina looked at Emma, who sat across from her.
The maid remained silent, her head bowed low.
Mina stood up, the fabric of her clothes rustling softly.
"Have a peaceful night," Mina said as she stepped out of the study.
She said it knowing full well that the mansion’s maid would likely not have a peaceful night at all.
Back in the guest room, Mina sat on the edge of the bed.
The lamplight cast her shadow against the wall like a mural, and soon, it began to move as if dancing.
"You ate your fill today, didn't you, Kkumuli?"
At Mina’s words, the shadow trembled. It seemed to be in a good mood.
"I’m sorry I always make you eat things that taste bad."
She reached out and stroked the shadow on the wall. The part she touched rose and fell in uneven ripples.
"It seems In-ho died of natural causes. I wondered if the maid might have been involved, but..."
Mina spoke while watching the shadow.
"This is my first time in a dimension like this, so it took me a little while to decide what to do."
The shadow on the wall wiggled and squirmed.
"Ah, the manuscript? That was just... a whim. It’ll take time to pinpoint which dimension In-ho went to anyway. I had nothing to do until then... so, yeah. Just a whim."
A very faint smile played on her lips.
"......"
She lowered her hand from the wall and brushed it against the bedsheets.
"In-ho is..."
Her voice was heavy with thought.
"In-ho is truly kind. To leave a text like that for the sake of a woman he’s never even met."
Feeling the texture of the duvet between her fingers, Mina pulled her legs up and buried her face in her knees.
"...Though sometimes, I wish that kindness was directed only at me."
Mina murmured, her eyes downcast.
*
The next morning, Mina packed her bags, and Emma stood at the main gate to see her off.
"Thank you for providing me with a place to stay."
"Not at all. It is I who should be thanking you. If it weren't for you, Miss Mina, I would never have known what my master wrote for the rest of my life."
Emma stepped outside the gate and locked it.
"Are you going somewhere?" Mina asked, seeing Emma close the door from the outside.
"I’m going to see my master. I intended to visit him the day I returned, but..."
"Have a safe trip," Mina said with a smile in her eyes. Emma bowed quietly, seeing her off.
"Ah!"
Mina, who had walked a short distance away, turned around.
Sensing that Mina had something more to say, Emma stopped her trek toward the graveyard and turned back.
"I don't know much, but... I think your master would want you to be happy, Emma."
Emma stared blankly at Lee Mina.
Biting her lower lip, Emma forced the corners of her mouth upward.
"Of course. My master cherished me, after all."
"I’m glad. That you know that."
Mina murmured to herself as she watched Emma walk away.
Mina entered a quiet alleyway. In the gloomy passage where the early morning sunlight had yet to reach, she extended one hand.
"Now then, shall we set off again?"
Following her arm, a black shadow wriggled and emerged.
The shadow grabbed hold of something in the air and strained as if prying open a gap by force.
—Creeeeeak
A tearing sound echoed in the air. As the shadow widened the opening, a gust of wind swirled in the empty space.
Finally, once the shadow had fully opened 'it,' a swirling blue portal appeared in the empty alley.
"This is the dimension In-ho crossed over to."
Mina, about to pass through the dimensional portal as usual, suddenly stopped.
"Huh? What’s this?"
She tilted her head, looking like someone staring at a machine that wouldn't work despite following the manual.
"Kkumuli. Is this right?"
She looked back at the shadow. The shadow moved up and down as if to say it hadn't done anything wrong.
"Strange. Why...? Could it be an error caused by it being a natural death...?"
She continued to tilt her head in confusion, staring at the dimension connected to the alley.
*
"Master, I’m here. It’s been two months."
Arriving at In-ho’s grave, Emma cleared away the weeds that had grown around the headstone.
"......"
She stood still, staring at her master’s tombstone.
"By a stroke of luck, I met someone who could decode the script you wrote. So, I’ve deciphered the entire manuscript."
"You said it was a masterpiece. Why did you lie? Haha..."
Emma’s dry laughter drifted through the graveyard.
"...Master, you know, I’ve tried everything you told me to do."
Emma gripped the fabric of her skirt until it wrinkled.
"The inn in Rowan Village was just expensive. They had the nerve to charge twenty Daris for a room that wasn't even as good as my room back at the mansion."
"The Victory Tower was just pointlessly huge. The tourists around it were so disorderly that the streets were a mess. It was incredibly distracting."
"At Elenore Cathedral, the musty smell and the construction noise were so bad I’m sure anyone who came to pray would have run away. I suppose a cathedral being big isn't everything."
"And the food in El Fio was truly terrible. The wine, the steak... everything."
Tears began to stream down Emma’s cheeks.
"Master, I..."
"I like my small room in the mansion with you more than any famous inn in Rowan Village."
"The small stone tower we built in the mansion garden is much more wonderful than the Victory Tower."
"The comfort of your study suits me better than the holiness of Elenore Cathedral."
"And the dinners I had with you were more delicious than the food in any restaurant in the world."
Emma’s hands trembled violently.
She forced down the rising sobs, continuing through her hiccups.
"You are kind, Master. You are thoughtful. You are smart."
"But... but!!!"
"There is one thing you don't know."
Emma wore a sorrowful smile.
"Ever since I was taken in by a nameless gentleman, my season has always been spring."
Emma knelt. Her knees became soaked by the dew that had yet to evaporate.
Heedless of the dampness, she hugged the tombstone.
Embracing that cold, hard stone, she felt as if the sensation of her master once holding her was being revived.
"But... but!!"
"But... now it’s winter. A winter that will never end."
She wailed at the top of her lungs.
"A spring where flowers bloom will never come again. Because without you, Master, I will be in eternal winter."
She spat out the words as if a wound deep in her chest, torn by sharp claws, had suddenly burst open.
"Nothing I do is as good as doing it with you!"
"Nothing I eat is as good as the food I ate with you!"
"No place I go is as good as the scenery I saw with you!"
"No matter what I do, eat, hear, see, or where I go... my life has no value. Not a single bit."
Her desperate cry was a tangle of many emotions.
Emma pulled away and looked at the headstone. The gray slab of stone bearing In-ho’s name stood before her.
She reached out carefully and stroked the side of the tombstone. Gently, as if she were shaving her master’s rough stubble.
She braced her hands on her knees and stood up.
Clutching her trembling legs, she struggled with all her might not to collapse.
Emma bowed politely, offering In-ho a final greeting.
"Master. Since I am a good maid, I will try to do as you ordered."
"Even though it’s a cold winter, even though it’s so piercingly cold that I want to close my eyes and sleep right now... I will try to stay awake."
"Even though I won't see the flowers of spring... there must be flowers that bloom even in winter."
The sun, rising slowly, illuminated Emma’s face as she wept brilliantly and smiled sadly.
*
Ten years later.
On a bustling street, people’s gazes converged on a single spot.
A young girl was being held up in the air by someone; she appeared to be a pickpocket, a common nuisance of the streets.
"Let me go!! I said let me go!!"
"You brat! How dare you lay a hand on the Teacher’s wallet?"
The man who had hoisted the girl up scolded her in a stern voice.
"That’s enough."
Standing beside the man was a woman dressed in elegant outdoor attire. In her hand was a small wallet, which she seemed to have retrieved from the child.
"But, Teacher."
The man argued that children like this needed to be disciplined harshly, but the woman called 'Teacher' shook her head.
Reluctantly, the man set the child down.
The woman leaned down and placed her hand on the girl’s shoulder.
The girl, grimy and covered in soot, instinctively looked away from the elegant woman staring at her.
"Little one. Do you need help?" the woman asked.
At the question, the girl’s face crumpled for a moment before smoothing out. She seemed to be trying her best to hold back tears.
"My... my younger sibling is sick."
A single tear rolled down the girl’s cheek as she spoke.
"Is that so?"
The woman hesitated for a moment, then spoke again with kindness.
"If you don't mind, would you lead me to your sibling? I’ll help you get them seen by a doctor."
"......"
The girl stared at the woman for a long time.
Quite naturally, the child’s eyes were clouded with distrust.
Did I have that same look in my eyes?
The woman was lost in old memories for a brief moment.
"Okay. Follow me."
"Thank you. Little one, what is your name?" the woman asked as she followed behind the child.
"It’s Annie."
At the child’s words, the woman’s eyes widened for a moment before she broke into a smile.
"I see, Annie. Let’s go quickly to help your sibling."