The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 130

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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 130
* * *
April had taken to Fin Tus from the start. It was because he had called her “Lord,” which meant he recognized her as the owner of the Lunos Fiefdom.
April set the Dark Beer that the uninvited visitor had brought before her. The moment Bauman took it, he’d placed it somewhere cool, and the beer was refreshingly cold, carrying the coffee aroma of dark malt. It was excellent beer.
April let out a sound of admiration.
“It’s delicious.”
“Yes.”
He gave that brief reply, then bowed deeply from the waist.
“Lord, I apologize first on behalf of my townspeople’s rudeness.”
……
“I’m not asking for forgiveness. Simply, truly, I am sorry.”
April regarded Fin Tus steadily.
The one who had committed the wrong stood silent, while someone else apologized first.
He was not seeking forgiveness; he was apologizing for having overlooked those who had insulted her. This made April curious rather than anything else.
“Why do you apologize? I said you could use the Lunos Harbor freely, and the same goes for the empty house. There’s nothing you gain from an apology, is there?”
“Yes, so it’s not that I want something. It’s simply, truly……”
April sat down without responding and took another sip of the remaining beer. Even on a second taste, it was excellent beer.
Whether from the alcohol or from hearing the apology, she was seized by an urge to converse with someone.
April opened her mouth.
“I understand. I’ll take your sincerity to heart.”
“Yes, Lord.”
“But I’m no sage or saint, so I have no intention of letting slide those who’ve insulted me, nor do I have it in me to live altruistically.”
April continued in a cool voice.
“If I have need of something, I’ll use it; otherwise, I won’t. I’m grateful for the information about the fishing vessels. All the more so, since I’m gathering and training many repair workers for the voyage. They’ll be good practice.”
Even after speaking thus, April seemed to have more to say, and Fin Tus waited for her next words.
After a long silence, April spoke.
“Quite a few fishermen have come by, but this is the first time I’ve heard an apology like this.”
“……Is that so?”
“Usually they resort to threats.”
Only upon hearing April speak so casually did Fin Tus understand why there had been repeated body searches on the way into the mansion.
April drained more of the Dark Beer and asked.
“In any case, what would I need to do to keep receiving this?”
“My sister makes it in small batches. I’ll let her know you’re interested.”
“Tell her to come to the Lunos Harbor. The sailors will probably like it.”
With that, the conversation ended, and Fin Tus left the Lunos Residence.
As he was sighing, just as April had predicted, several fishermen were climbing the hill across the Lunos Fiefdom. The way they walked with fists clenched and snorting breaths didn’t look like people in a good mood.
Upon spotting the well-dressed Fin Tus, they looked him up and down to see if he was a fisherman. Then they asked him.
“Did you come to find that witch too?”
“Well, yes, but——”
“They said we couldn’t settle at the harbor, spouting words as if anyone would be welcomed, but that person squeezed us and then refused us! Playing games with people, and after we came all this way!”
“She didn’t refuse. And you keep calling her a witch—do you have proof of that?”
“Isn’t that what we came to find out!”
“You came to find out?”
Fin Tus let out a derisive snort. He’d thought April’s claim that she was no saint was false modesty.
He spoke.
“If I were the Lord of the Lunos Fiefdom and you came demanding things empty-handed, I’d have beaten you dead.”
“What, what did you say?”
“You think that family gives things out of kindness? The Lunos Family only invests when they’re certain of what they’ll gain—any sailor should know that.”
……
“Will the Lunos Family change because the Lord changed? Or would seafarers dare touch the Lunos Family?”
Fin Tus turned sharply and went to Bauman, who stood on the porch with his hands clasped behind his back, watching for new arrivals.
“Sir, if you have a fishing rod or something, lend me one. I’ll chase those fools out.”
“I’m a builder, so I don’t have fishing rods, but there’s equipment over there.”
Bauman spoke, gesturing with his chin at tools drying in the good sun.
“Get out, all of you, now!”
Fin Tus seized a saw and swung it about, chasing the fishermen away.
The seafarers and the Lunos Family were in a symbiotic relationship.
Having actually met April, he even erased the last lingering doubts—that she was the source of the fog, that she might be a witch.
All that remained in their place was regret and remorse.
Now that the day had broken the seal, Fin Tus began pouring out in a single day the words he’d held for a year.
“The Lunos Family’s interest is always in ships, so why would they rear fog to kill you all? What would they gain from it? You foolish lot—when you start to see that something’s wrong, you need to admit it! You keep distorting the truth instead of acknowledging the error!”
With commotion outside, April, who had been heading toward the Head of House’s office, looked out.
Fin Tus continued shouting.
“If the Lord here is not a witch! How do you justify making a scene like this for the sin of insulting her all this time! Will you offer your lives? Huh? Are you going to offer them!”
Because he rarely spoke much, his voice grew hoarse after just a few shouts.
April gazed down at Fin Tus from above.
She planned to remain a witch going forward. Pejin’s rise to an important position in the Empire was crucial to her.
Yet on the other hand, April needed to ascertain whether the people of the Grand Duchy, excluding herself, harbored any thought of resisting the Empire.
She wanted a Free Market Competition System.
To achieve that, she needed to be entirely economically independent from the Empire.
She couldn’t accomplish that dream by turning every person in the Grand Duchy into an enemy. Fortunately, very rarely, there were people like this who became her allies.
She found it remarkable.
* * *
The school entrance season arrived in the Grand Duchy, and the two children who had played freely at the Lunos Family Estate prepared to go to school.
Hannah’s eyes had come level with April’s, and Fred was slightly taller than she.
Both were increasingly proving Bauman’s prediction that they would grow very tall as their parents had.
Hannah and Fred dressed in their School Uniforms for their first day of school.
Fred spoke to Hannah with an earnest face.
“You have to play with me, right? I can’t just play with other friends……”
“I know. Don’t worry.”
Speaking thus, the two rushed to the Porch.
Bauman was loading baggage into a carriage, saying he had to go with them at least on the first day, and April was waiting for them.
She said she would leave the mansion to Kayani Merrow and stay at the Lunos Harbor until the day of departure. Since the school was far from the Lunos Residence and April wouldn’t be there, both children had decided to stay in the Dormitory.
Though it was only three months, for them it would be the longest time apart since they had met each other.
Fred, who had lived with his grandparents, fared much better, but Hannah was different. For the girl, the Lunos Residence had become her whole world, and at its center was always April Lunos.
When Hannah looked at April’s face, she felt tears welling up, so she hung her head and stared only at the ground.
April pretended not to notice Hannah’s state and spoke.
“Learn much. Stay healthy.”
She said only these two things and gestured to Bauman to take the children away.
Bauman said.
“Come on, let’s go.”
At that moment, Hannah rushed toward April.
Hannah didn’t realize she had grown to be nearly April’s height; she wrapped her arms around the woman’s waist like a much smaller child and buried her face in her embrace.
“I don’t want to go to school. I want to stay with you, Miss.”
April did not scold Hannah needlessly. She knew that despite these words, the girl would go to school anyway.
April closed her eyes quietly and spoke.
“I’m so glad you were here.”
If not for this child who had suddenly appeared on the estate, April thought, she might have struggled to endure her life.
Often, when melancholy swept over her, she would think of this child at home. And then her life became something she could not abandon.
At the time, it had been suffocating, but now that she had survived, she felt grateful for Hannah’s presence beside her then.
Hannah was someone who repaid trust, and so she knew the answer to what April had said.
“……I’ll see you soon! I’ll come back during the break!”
“Yes, I’ll see you then.”
April said goodbye and sent the children off.

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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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