The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 119

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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 119
* * *
Jeff had spent the last seven years withdrawn and silent because of Pejin Dieusz’s position as the eldest son of the Dieusz Family.
So he never imagined he would share this conversation with Pejin Dieusz—the brother of that man he despised, Miller Dieusz—a story he had never told anyone, not even his wife.
Jeff studied Pejin Dieusz intently.
For a moment he recalled that pitiable child he’d seen at the funeral of the previous Grand Duke and his wife. That Pejin Dieusz, who had wept in his brother’s arms and lost consciousness from exhaustion, now stood caught between truth and lies held by his only guardian.
Jeff opened his mouth with difficulty.
“I don’t even understand why you’d want to know about Miller Dieusz, and there’s no reason I should trust you with that story.”
“Yes, I understand that. You have no reason to trust me at all.”
Pejin nodded as though the answer were obvious, then took a sip of the hard liquor Jeff had poured. It burned like fire itself, a potent drink that seared the throat.
Pejin continued.
“So I’ll speak first—of a story that no one must ever know.”
“A story that no one must know?”
Pejin nodded.
Jeff sensed the weight of what he was about to hear, locked the study door, and drew shut even the curtains that let in the bright light.
When Jeff returned to his seat, instead of urging Pejin forward, he drained the glass before him.
Pejin matched his pace and emptied his own glass, then both men filled their cups to overflowing.
After that, Pejin began.
“As you know, I attended the military academy in the Empire on my brother’s advice—sensible advice at the time. Both the Empire and the Grand Duchy have no schools dedicated solely to police training; all are for military officers. But at least the Empire’s academy had a separate police division where I could receive proper instruction.”
Jeff neither acknowledged this nor urged him to get to the point.
Pejin continued.
“The Emperor’s power in the Empire is absolute, but at the same time, the system of restraint is quite systematically constructed. A strong Parliament does this, the Chief Justice does this, and the Police Chief does this. I did whatever it took to become Police Chief. Truly, whatever it took.”
“…….”
“And one day, His Majesty the Emperor took notice of such efforts and elevated me.”
Pejin paused for a moment, then continued with the exact same expression as before.
“He showed me the Fog.”
Jeff’s grip on his walking stick tightened.
Pejin continued.
“That factory adjacent to the underground of the Lunos Residence—when they extracted fuel there, a gas that had been buried alongside it mixed with the smoke and soot generated by the Dieusz Grand Duchy’s winter heating, killing the citizens of the Grand Duchy.”
“……And your task was.”
“To transfer responsibility to April Lunos for the sake of the Empire’s honor.”
At Pejin’s answer, Jeff’s eyes trembled with rage.
Pejin met the red eyes inherited by April from the Lunos Family.
April’s eyes showed the same burst capillaries when she grew angry. He had thought he must not make her angry, but he had no sense of how much he would anger her in the days to come.
Jeff picked up his glass and hurled it toward Pejin’s face.
It was the most violent act of his life, and Pejin did not dodge. The ceramic, painted with a beautiful design, fell to the floor and shattered into pieces.
Even after such an act, Jeff’s anger only intensified, and he clawed at the wooden table with both hands.
Pejin lowered his head.
“I apologize.”
“I despise myself……much more than I despise you.”
“…….”
“That I could offer no help whatsoever…….”
After reproaching himself for so long, Jeff gradually composed his anger and asked.
“But why are you telling me this first, not April?”
“I just missed my chance. I didn’t expect April to tell me first.”
“You’re deceiving her.”
“April has always suspected me to some degree. So learning the truth came naturally. But she still had some trust in me, which is why she confided in me like this……however, one thing is certain.”
Pejin clenched his teeth before continuing.
“She’ll find out today. My brother will tell her.”
“…….”
“I still believe I must become Police Chief of the Empire. I’ve lived looking at nothing but that, and I can think of no other way to restrain this Empire. I…….”
“…….”
“So I’ll likely live as a spy from now on.”
Pejin closed his eyes slowly, then opened them again and continued.
“If April refuses to see me again after learning the truth, then the people of the Merrow Family should use me. They are to her like her own parents……. Now then.”
Pejin slowly lifted his head and met Jeff’s gaze.
“Now you must tell me. About my brother.”
Jeff closed his eyes tightly.
He swallowed his wail and released his anguish breath by breath, many times over.
After much consideration, he slowly opened his mouth.
“That problematic factory was able to be moved close to the Lunos Residence precisely because the Head of the Lunos Family had passed from this world.”
“Yes. I suspected as much.”
“But that discussion…….”
“……Did it exist even when the previous Head was still alive?”
As Pejin asked, catching what Jeff had left unsaid, Jeff nodded.
“There was continued conflict between Miller Dieusz and the Lunos Family—conflict that surely contributed to their decline. Your sister-in-law watched people dying one after another at the fuel extraction factory and hired her own investigators to find answers. The fact that the walls of the Lunos Grand Residence now have dye mixed in to protect the house from the Fog is likely because……she found those answers before she passed.”
After hearing his words, Pejin remained silent for a time before breaking into a slow smile and speaking in an utterly quiet voice.
“I understand. Thank you for telling me.”
“What will you do now?”
Jeff asked, and Pejin answered.
“Now that I know about my brother, I must take part in April’s revenge.”
“…….”
“You need not worry. Her hands will never be stained with anything.”
Jeff studied him, then slowly nodded. His intention was clear.
* * *
April arrived at the Grand Duke’s Residence just past ten in the evening.
It was hardly the hour for receiving guests, but April believed that the truth she had learned was a matter beyond any time of day.
“If there’s something I want to do, I’ll do it, no matter what you ask of me.”
She was recalling Pejin’s voice in that moment. And she relied on it.
With that thought, she walked toward Miller’s office but stopped midway down an ornate corridor.
At the Empire’s Academy of Sciences, April had seen something nearly identical to the Popuri Ceramic that Pejin had bought for her.
She’d thought it endearing that someone who knew nothing about ceramics would buy such a thing. So that was why she’d noticed it so much.
By chance, there was one so similar there as well.
Such coincidences exist in the world. Much of life is made of accident.
April covered her sight that way. She cut through her doubt. And she moved toward Miller.
Miller, standing before his office door, dismissed all those around him with a gesture as soon as April appeared.
Miller opened the door, and April stepped inside.
As April took a seat at the office table, Miller spoke.
“How much are you selling for? Just tell me that and leave.”
Then April withdrew the dye and showed it, speaking.
“I’ll sell forty bottles in this amount. A thousand gold coins per bottle is what I’m asking.”
“……A thousand?”
Miller continued, bewildered.
“Are you in your right mind?”
“Of course I am. If I weren’t, I’d have asked for more. Parliament can manage that kind of money from their budget.”
“Just forty bottles like that. You’re asking for that much money for that?”
April’s eyes shifted to the dye on the table.
The deep green dye was utterly familiar. It was the color that had guarded the Lunos Grand Residence for so long. Moreover, Irsa had once told her that on a ship, green meant starboard.
April spoke calmly.
“But it can also be donated.”
“You have some other motive.”
“Yes, I do.”
April nodded, and her gaze shifted back to Miller.
A warm blue.
There had been times when she felt Miller’s eyes that way. The very fact that such times had existed was strange, given that now the only feeling she held toward him was rage alone.
April had called the family aboard when necessary and hired sailors, but toward this lifelong enemy before her now, she found it difficult to steel herself.
Yet she forced herself to accept what she must do and opened her mouth.
“Close the Empire’s factories in the Dieusz Grand Duchy.”
At April’s words, Miller’s brow narrowed.

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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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