The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 132

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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 132
* * *
Hannah and Fred adapted quickly to school.
Hannah’s missing hand hadn’t hindered her in the slightest from making friends, and Fred too had begun to fit in with a select few people he could grow close to.
When the weekend came and they ventured out to the Bustling Street, Fred chattered away excitedly.
“I’m so grateful that Kayani taught me Basic Arithmetic beforehand. Looking back now, I’m sorry for running away like that back then…….”
Just as Fred said, the mathematical foundation that Kayani had explained patiently during his stay at the Lunos Residence proved invaluable in keeping up with lessons. Even compared to classmates who’d been able to read far longer than Hannah and Fred, the two of them weren’t falling behind.
Every day was a succession of joy.
Up until last year, neither child had imagined they’d ever attend school. Both of them were newly reminded of their inexpressible gratitude to April.
When they rushed out with pocket money April had specially given them to fill their stomachs—since the school meals alone weren’t quite enough—Hannah’s footsteps suddenly stopped.
A familiar face appeared in the distance. Her father. Rab Coski.
Hannah quickly pulled Fred’s arm to turn away, but she was already caught by the hair by Rab Coski, who had come looking for his daughter.
“So you really are going to school? How presumptuous.”
Still inebriated, Rab Coski dragged Hannah along without concern as he spoke.
“If you’ve earned money, you should bring it home, not spend it on yourself, you wretched girl.”
“Let go!”
“The teacher told me you’ve learned to read. The factory said they’d pay higher wages. How fortunate, that they’d rehire you even after you’ve caused them such loss.”
At her father’s words about sending her back to the factory, Hannah’s mind went blank.
“I won’t go to the factory! I’m never going back there again!”
“That witch won’t let a single coin from the wages she earns working under her reach me! That vile witch is using foul tricks!”
“She’s not someone you should speak of that way!”
At those words, Rab Coski stopped.
“You? Did you just talk back to me? Ah, it’s all that Lunos woman’s fault. I should help the Priest as soon as possible and have her caught for burning—we shouldn’t let that witch roam free, or things like this will happen.”
Hannah’s face went white as she cried out.
“Fred! The police! Get the police, quickly!”
Fred, who had been struggling to pull Hannah away from Rab Coski, spotted two officers standing blankly at the place Hannah indicated.
Fred ran toward them and shouted.
“I’m Fred, and I work for the Lunos Family! My friend is in danger!”
“You work for the Lunos Family?”
The officers, who had been standing by as though unwilling to intervene, immediately rushed over and restrained Rab Coski the moment they heard the name Lunos. Then they began beating him with their batons.
Hannah, barely freed, was breathing heavily as she turned to look at her screaming father.
It was clear that Pejin’s influence extended to every police officer in the Grand Duchy.
Fred gripped Hannah’s arm tightly.
“Hannah, are you all right?”
Hannah trembled but managed to retie her disheveled hair as she spoke.
“I need to kill him sooner than planned.”
“What?”
“He’s a threat to Miss April. I have to kill him. I’ve already put her in danger once. I can’t let it happen again.”
Hannah clenched her teeth.
Fred couldn’t even find the words to comfort her, troubled as he was by her resolve.
* * *
Pejin used the establishment of the Dieusz Grand Duchy Police Maritime Division to maintain order at sea as his reason to root himself at the Harbor. Whether it was merely an excuse or not, he was genuinely busy, and April had no opportunity to see him.
On the day of departure.
April woke from a nightmare barely an hour after falling asleep, just past midnight. She had dreamed the ship was sinking.
Unable to sleep any longer, she made her way to the Harbor.
She was determined not to tremble until the moment the ship departed.
Should the ship sink, she had already set aside compensation for the sailors’ families.
They themselves knew the sea far better than April ever could. They knew how dangerous it was, how many waves and reefs awaited them ahead.
They would be sufficiently prepared.
That’s why she hadn’t forbidden them from visiting the Harbor, only asked them to say goodbye when they left home—because she didn’t want them to depart into the sea through tears.
But as the departure day approached, the fear she had so painfully suppressed began to well up inside her.
April carried a lamp and walked alone and quietly to the Harbor.
The Sea was calm. April gazed at the ship in the cool breeze that seemed to be waiting for September to begin.
Then the sound of footsteps grew closer from the Harbor’s direction.
April turned to see Pejin walking toward where she stood.
April merely watched in silence, and Pejin spoke first.
“So it departs in five hours?”
“Yes. They want to leave quietly, without any farewell or ceremony. And it’s not even October yet.”
Like fishermen in October when the weather grows harsh, these trade sailors were scheduled to depart.
April finally vented her frustration.
“If they grieved and valued their lives, I’d have something more to give them. And now they won’t even say goodbye, leaving at dawn instead.”
“Why get angry over such a thing? Don’t you know the temperament of Grand Duchy sailors? This is nothing new.”
Pejin chided her, then handed her a bottle of Champagne.
“Throw it.”
“That’s for a Christening Ceremony. That ship is old.”
“The wish for safe passage is the same either way.”
At his words, April accepted the bottle of Champagne. She threw it toward the ship, and it shattered into pieces as it fell into the Sea.
When a Christening bottle doesn’t break, people worry about the ship’s fate. But seeing it shatter completely gave both of them a moment of relief.
Pejin exclaimed in admiration.
“You throw well. You’re truly a Grand Duchy person.”
“Naturally.”
April replied and continued.
“It does ease my mind a little.”
Then Pejin lit a Cigarette and spoke.
“You didn’t force them to go. They chose it themselves.”
Cigarette smoke rose into the night sky.
The two of them said nothing more, but neither did they move from that spot.
Soon sailors began to emerge toward where the ship was moored.
Among them, Irsa arrived at the ship first and asked with wide eyes.
“Why are you here, shipowner? Don’t nobles sleep at this hour?”
“To see you off.”
“That’s exactly why we’re moving at dawn—to avoid being seen off.”
Irsa grumbled as she climbed aboard and began directing the sailors here and there.
The sailors heading out to open water kept their mouths clamped shut. They didn’t want to anger the Sea with any words. Both April and Pejin knew that such silence would accompany them throughout the long voyage ahead.
Departure preparations were complete just after five in the morning.
In the faint light, the ship finished its preparations and began to move without a word of farewell to April, who had waited through the night.
She knew well that the world still called her a witch. April wanted to say the simple farewell “have a safe journey,” but she kept silent, fearing the sailors might think it an ill omen.
Then one sailor called out toward the Harbor.
“May the Lunos Family watch over the Sea!”
At those words, April froze. Then she began to run toward the end of the Breakwater, to the place closest to the ship.
Standing at that end, April cried out.
“Come back safely!”
She would not run.
She would not shout loudly where others could see.
She would not make a bad bargain.
April abandoned every lesson she had learned thus far and shouted toward the ship.
“Come back alive, even if you return with nothing!”
The sailors turned to look at April Lunos crying out like that.
“We will!”
A voice called back in answer. It was not Irsa’s voice.
The captain’s heart was already at sea, so she did not turn to look at the Harbor.
April stood in that place until the ship disappeared from view.
Pejin, at the far end of the Breakwater, was watching April cry out for them to come back alive.
He thought he knew most things about her, but this was somewhat unexpected.
She had run, shouted, and received an answer.
Even though she had entrusted her entire future to the departing ship, she wished only for them to return alive.
It was a cry that defied all expectation.
Come back safely.
Come back alive.
Her words to the Sea traveled all the way back to the Harbor at their backs.
The sailors had tried not to receive farewells from their families, but those families who could not simply let them go had secretly gathered near this Harbor.
They all heard it.
Pejin now was certain that the rumors about her would grow ever more lost.
April Lunos would become a beloved Lordship. Surely.

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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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