The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 101

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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 101
Miller had always been weak when it came to lies.
In that moment, seized by fear, he pulled Pejin into his arms.
“You know.”
……
“I’ve only ever wanted one thing. Just one. To be with someone I love. That’s all it is. Please. Pejin, have mercy on me. Stand by me. The way I have for you all this time, the way you have for me……”
As he pleaded with his younger brother, who had grown so much taller without his notice, Kayani inside the Banquet Hall looked outside and urged them along.
“Both of you, the Funeral Ceremony is about to begin. Will you take your seats?”
At that, Pejin pushed Miller away, straightened his clothes, and answered.
“Of course.”
He stepped into the ceremony hall first, and Miller lingered for a moment before hurrying after him.
As they made their way to their seats, the Priest was also moving forward to preside over the ceremony.
Once seated, Pejin kept his eyes fixed on April the entire time the Priest spoke, his gaze never once lowering.
“I’m so lonely. The house is so vast. The world is cold, and it despises me. I want to despise it too, but I have nothing in my hands to even manage that. I can’t weep, I can’t hate—what am I living for?”
April’s voice pierced his heart like a blade.
Pejin gritted his teeth against the pain, and only then did he grasp the truth.
April stabbing him through the heart was not a nightmare. It had only been a dream that eased his guilt.
The real nightmare was his present reality—having betrayed her and then given his heart to another.
This was hell, and this was the nightmare.
* * *
“May they find peace.”
“Thank you for coming.”
The Funeral Ceremony, held for the first time in seven years, proceeded in a surprisingly bright atmosphere.
April greeted the mourners, taking in their faces, and exchanged simple conversation about how they had been living.
Though it was absurd to call it an advantage, the fact that a funeral was the occasion that brought the Lunos Family together meant no one raised their voice or openly displayed their emotions.
No one angrily demanded that the main house contribute money, nor did anyone weep with apologies. That calm atmosphere put April’s mind at ease.
More than anything, under the guise of Condolence Money, Miller could have no say in whatever large sums were offered. Legally, April Lunos was raising funds for the Lunos Family.
April had been aware that Mille Birta, who had been organizing the Condolence Money, had been glancing her way. Yet she couldn’t leave her seat for even a moment, occupied as she was with greeting every mourner.
April absently sent a look toward Pejin asking for help, and he, though pulling an annoyed expression, moved toward Mille Birta. He took a note from her, and without opening it, discreetly transported it to April and then disappeared.
April received the note, unfolded it, and without thinking let out a soft laugh of disbelief.
[Clipper (Fast Ship) — 1 vessel — Alice Road]
Someone had offered a ship as Condolence Money.
She immediately left the Banquet Hall and sought out Alice Road, who was smoking tobacco she hadn’t been able to light during the long ceremony.
She was one of the three sisters of the Previous Head of Lunos Household, and she was someone people often said resembled April.
“Aunt.”
“What is it now?”
Alice asked sharply, her expression thoroughly exhausted.
April replied with an expression of disbelief.
“You gave a ship.”
“Yes, it wasn’t going to set sail anyway.”
“Still, how could you give a ship……”
“I inherited it as well, and I’ve never set it to sail. I don’t even know if the thing can float.”
“I’ll have it repaired.”
“Repairs will cost more. It’s cheaper to keep a ship moored.”
It appeared that because a sunken ship would result in catastrophic loss, she had never even tried to put it to sea.
Alice spoke as though disposing of something unnecessary, but for April it was different.
“It’s my first ship.”
“You should have owned many merchant vessels. What are you so pleased about with just one?”
“Because I have never owned even one merchant vessel. One makes me happy. Truly.”
“An opportunity comes once. The odds are very low. If I were you, I’d do something else with today’s Condolence Money. Why risk it on such a thing?”
Alice took another drag on her cigarette and continued.
“…If I were you, I certainly would. So it’s only right to give it to you, who might actually put the ship to sea.”
“Thank you, Aunt.”
“If you’re thinking of keeping in touch over this matter, forget it. Don’t you dare bother me from now on. Do you even know how difficult it is to cross that Mountain Range?”
Alice made a face of clear displeasure, but April, knowing her nature, found her manner oddly welcome after such a long time.
Her father had once described this younger sister as “lazy and foul-mouthed, but the most dependable of all siblings.”
Until now, she had only understood the parts about being lazy and foul-mouthed, but today she finally understood what he meant by the most dependable.
She could not have sent letters directly to Alice, who lived beyond the Mountain Range, and could only have had a courier deliver them. Yet despite that distance, she had made the journey here.
Alice was a woman of integrity.
Just as April was freshly grateful for that fact, Alice continued speaking.
“Your father came to my house once with you.”
“Yes, I remember. You said you didn’t want to see us again.”
“That was meant as you didn’t need to come, yet he insisted on showing you to me anyway. He made that long journey with such a small child just to show me. Said you resembled me. Brought a child here when we didn’t even know who you looked like, or who you might come to resemble.”
At her words, April smiled and nodded.
“That journey was the most delightful thing for me back then.”
At April’s words, Alice shook her head as though bewildered.
Since she only wanted to finish her cigarette, April withdrew.
After a brief rest following the ceremony, only the close family—including her mother’s two brothers and her father’s siblings—made their way to the Monastery.
In the underground vault of the Monastery where the Lunos Family’s Ossuary lay, the Previous Head of Lunos Household and his wife found their rest.
This Monastery had been built with donations from the Lunos Family, and its priests were largely comprised of members of the Lunos Family.
Before the Ossuary, following the Priest, April and the mourners completed the final rites.
April watched as the Burial Vault was lowered into a space hollowed in the basement floor, and saw the stone door close above it.
On the fine wood door, glazed and made by Bauman, April inscribed her parents’ names and the words that had been written on the Burial Vault.
After the door closed and all the family had left the basement, April remained there for some time.
Fred had been right. As the Burial Vault’s door closed, it felt as though a door within her heart was opening. Sorrow poured forth.
“I’m really sad now.”
April murmured, and bid them farewell in a tender voice.
“I’ll come often. Now that I know where you are, I can come whenever I wish.”
She pressed her hands together and spoke softly.
“I’m sorry that Dieus fell in love with a man. But I won’t apologize for anything else. I’ll live well. Angry, melancholy. Cursing and hating, and laughing now and then.”
With that farewell, she turned and climbed the stairs.
The Funeral Ceremony on Right Island required an enormous amount of alcohol.
People drank, and drank again, numbing their grief. By now, the mourners in the Banquet Hall would surely be drinking and sharing stories of the deceased.
Eager to hear those stories, her pace quickened as she left the Monastery.
For the past seven years, she felt her parents, who had filled her heart all that time, waving their hands behind her back.
She suppressed the urge to turn around and run back to them.
Now it was time to let them go.

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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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