The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 115

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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 115
With a Smokeless Cigarette wedged in her mouth, Shaper’s upper lip protruded absurdly, making her look like a squirrel with its cheeks stuffed full of grain. Speaking in that ridiculous posture, she continued without missing a beat.
“Pejin knows it himself. That he was raised as an Imperial citizen because Miller needed him to be.”
“…He knows?”
“Of course. The man’s sharp enough. But what does it matter? For nobles of our standing, marriages are arranged for us and our lives are lived as dictated. That’s just how it is.”
April felt her head throbbing just from the smell of the Smokeless Cigarette in Shaper’s hand, so she handed it back to her.
The smell only made her already-muddled thoughts worse.
After finishing the conversation, April rose immediately and went looking for Pejin to speak with him, but he had already left the Lunos Residence.
True to his word, he was no guest—he came and went without announcement.
April watched the direction he’d departed for some time.
Once Shaper’s group left as well, the Lunos Residence fell quiet for a stretch of days.
Over the following days, April discussed the ore with Kayani. After sufficient deliberation, when Kayani departed for Merouwa, the residence grew noisy again.
“I’ll be back soon, all right?”
“No, you can’t.”
Hannah and Fred so thoroughly disliked Kayani’s departure that he was pinned in the lobby, looking rather helpless.
Kayani said softly,
“You two can come visit Merouwa if you like. Once you enter school, if anything’s difficult about your studies, come find me and ask. I’ll explain it all to you in detail.”
“Just don’t go, sir.”
“Math is actually fun……”
“Yes! It’s fun!”
The two children murmured these things, hoping Kayani wouldn’t leave for Merouwa at all.
The adults who knew how thoroughly the children had detested their mathematics study broke into laughter.
Among them all, Bauman seemed the most sorry to see Kayani go. He had spent the past few days in such good companionship with Kayani that the parting felt genuinely lonely.
April gave Kayani, who had barely made it out of the lobby, a gentle push toward the door. “Go. Before someone starts crying.”
“Yes, sister.”
Kayani smiled and bowed his head respectfully. Before climbing into the carriage, he asked April a question.
“Oh, that’s right. Sister, mother was asking whether you plan not to use the grand hall this year? I wondered what you thought about it?”
“The grand hall?”
“Yes. She thought it might be time to hold more social gatherings soon. She truly regards you as a daughter now.”
At his words, April murmured,
“There are advantages and disadvantages to that.”
“I confess, from my perspective, this is rather a significant disadvantage.”
Thinking of her as a daughter meant she was beginning to show considerable interest in April’s marriage prospects.
The mention of holding gatherings was proof of that.
April would scarcely be invited to parties as a guest, so she had to create opportunities for herself by hosting her own receptions.
After boarding the carriage, Kayani said,
“Well, even if not a full reception, she’ll be calling soon enough. Steel yourself for the nagging.”
“Understood. Thank you for the warning.”
April waved him on quickly, wanting to send him off before someone came running out to throw themselves in front of the carriage in protest.
Once Kayani’s carriage had departed, April returned to the residence.
Bauman, who had been watching her dear friend and teacher leave with a melancholy gaze, spoke to her.
“Now that I think of it, we haven’t seen Pejin around lately either, have we?”
“No, we haven’t.”
April answered with such utter indifference that it seemed almost casual.
Pejin, of course, had vanished from sight, along with the Empire Police in recent days. He’d disappeared precisely when she had the most questions for him.
Bauman’s face showed concern, but April had a vague suspicion as to why he was absent.
Since she’d decided not to report the dye, he was likely under investigation by the Empire Police. The higher-ups wouldn’t let him rest easy.
Once the matter of the dye had been concluded and she’d delegated the extraction to Kayani in Merouwa, April felt it was time to visit the Sailor’s House.
By now, she thought, the investigator Kritz ought to have discovered something.
Yet Kritz had barricaded herself in that room and brought her nothing—no information at all.
April hadn’t wanted to rush her, but the delay had stretched far too long. Especially since Kritz had gone to investigate the smuggling matter and yet returned with no answers—that troubled her most.
She turned her steps toward the Sailor’s House.
* * *
The Sailor’s House was so raucous that you could hear its noise from twenty paces away.
April disliked the cacophony, yet found herself glad for it too. She’d slipped into the Sailor’s House a few times in her childhood. It was a different sort of clamor than what you found in the Harbor’s crime-riddled taverns, though no less rough around the edges.
When she opened the door and stepped inside, most of the sailors were so thoroughly drunk that for a moment, no one noticed her standing in the doorway.
One of the sailors, roughly her age, approached her.
“I haven’t been to Sea yet—did I die? Why is a mermaid here?”
At his words, April’s brow furrowed.
“I have perfectly good legs. What part of me looks like a mermaid?”
“Well, such a beautiful young lady appearing out of nowhere… if not a mermaid, who else could you be?”
As the sailor leaned forward, his vision blurred from drink and struggling to focus on her face, April raised her hand and struck his cheek hard.
The blow landed audibly enough that the drunken sailors inside the Sailor’s House froze for a moment.
April, seeing the sailor’s eyes go wide with shock, spoke coldly.
“You ought to remember the face of someone who provides you work.”
“L-Lunos… Head of House?”
The sailor’s drunkenness evaporated instantly. He went pale. Then he scrambled to speak.
“I-I didn’t mean to disrespect—”
Before he could finish, Irsa appeared without warning and struck the back of his head. But one blow wasn’t enough—she began punching him relentlessly, beating him without mercy.
Even April’s eyes widened at the ferocity of it. When Irsa finally stopped, she turned to face the sailors of the Sailor’s House and spoke.
“Listen well. This is our ship owner and the Head of the Lunos Family. You might survive my hands if you don’t listen to me, but if you don’t listen to the Head, you’ll die before that. Remember it.”
“Yes, Captain!”
The Sailor’s House fell silent after that. It seemed the men planned to keep their mouths shut until April left.
Irsa asked casually,
“What brings you here? Just drunks.”
“Where’s Kritz?”
“In her room. Ever since she came back from investigating the smuggling, she’s done nothing but drink. When the sailors are worried, you know it’s serious. She’s drinking herself to death.”
“I see. I’ll go check on her.”
April turned toward the room where Kritz was staying.
The Sailor’s House doors were thick enough that when shut, they blocked out a considerable portion of the drunken noise from outside.
April knocked and, receiving permission, entered. She surveyed Kritz’s room—utter chaos—as she spoke.
“I didn’t give you space here so you could live like the sailors.”
At April’s words, Kritz scrambled to pick up her glasses from the floor and get to her feet, only to topple backward onto the bed. Papers lay scattered all around her.
“You did conduct the investigation, then?”
April narrowed her eyes, spotting the materials surrounding Kritz and reaching for them, but Kritz grabbed her arm, stopping her cold. Kritz spoke with slurred pronunciation.
“I need certainty first.”
“Certainty?”
“I’ve learned the true cause of the Fog. But before I tell you, I need certainty that Miss April won’t do anything reckless once she hears it.”
“……”
“Until I’m certain of that, I cannot tell you. I’m truly sorry.”
“Why can’t you act recklessly?”
“Because then all of us here will die. Not just us—as a consequence, every person in the Grand Duchy will starve to death. If you pursue the cause of this matter… I can’t allow it. I cannot tell you. This research will be abandoned.”
As Kritz spoke, she tore the papers she held and dumped them into a locked drawer, which she then sealed.
For a moment April said nothing in response to Kritz’s actions. Then she opened her mouth.
“You said they’d starve to death.”
“Yes?”
“Just now. You said as a consequence, everyone in the Grand Duchy would starve to death. If the cause of this matter were pursued.”
Kritz’s face went ashen at her own slip of the tongue. She turned to face April.
She went rigid, watching anger bloom across April’s face in an instant.
April asked,
“Was it the Rasa Empire?”
“……”
“Was this Fog caused by the Empire?”

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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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