The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 136

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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 136
The three of them soon came to a halt outside the office of the Accident Management Department that April had scouted ahead.
“I’m not able to access everywhere.”
Leon said, beginning to check whether he could open the door.
Leon first unlocked the Security Office door with a key he carried, then attempted to open the Key Box inside.
But when it wouldn’t open easily, Pejin asked April.
“Should I break it?”
At his words, Leon answered instead, his expression growing serious.
“That would leave too obvious a trace of intrusion. It would cause problems for me as well.”
After hearing their exchange, April thought for a moment before speaking.
“I’ll bring Bauman. Let’s break it for now.”
“Ah, right. We do have a real craftsman here.”
Pejin nodded in agreement, smashed one side of the Key Box with his fist, and pulled out the key.
Leon accepted the key and asked April.
“Is this Bauman able to repair it?”
“Yes, he can fix anything made of wood. I’ll go bring him.”
Pejin wouldn’t leave April alone with only the factory worker. So she had to go herself.
Before she left, Leon asked.
“What exactly are you looking for, April?”
“Ah…….”
April, who had been about to leave immediately, stopped and turned back to Leon.
“I want to know about every accident—large and small—that has happened in this factory.”
“I see.”
Once is a warning, but twice is something else entirely.
April continued.
“If there’s ever been an accident, the executives of this factory will carry a fear of it. So next time, they’ll try to stage that accident.”
“A strategy of exploiting fear. Yes, I understand.”
After that conversation, April headed toward Bauman through the Residence Basement, while Leon and Pejin made their way to the office of the Accident Management Department.
Towering drawers extended to the ceiling, filled with an enormous quantity of Documents.
Pejin spoke to Leon.
“Do we have to read all of that?”
“It’s fine. I was scouted by the Empire for Intelligence.”
Leon answered, but the aftereffects of his wounds and the Painkillers made it difficult for him to even stand any longer.
Pejin clicked his tongue and pushed Leon into a chair.
“Yeah, real reassuring.”
“……Who did I get hurt because of?”
“Either way, you’re no help.”
Having chided him that way, Pejin shoved Leon toward the chair and began pulling out Documents to examine.
Leon, who had been resting for some time and trying to summon his strength, watched Pejin. The back of his neck was white and slender as he bent to read the Documents.
“It’s a pointless thing to mention, but looking at you up close, you really are handsome.”
“You just got stabbed by my blade. Don’t forget it enchanted by a beautiful face.”
Leon was taken aback by Pejin’s casual reply, but the Painkillers were strong, and thinking that his face was indeed one to say such a thing, he pressed on.
“You said you’d leave the land and swim to the opposite side. Does that mean you’re planning to die as a man of the Grand Duchy?”
“Don’t talk to me. I’m busy.”
“It’s because of April, isn’t it?”
When Leon finally asked that, Pejin’s eyes, which had been trailing along the lines of the Document, stopped. Leon continued.
“It’s famous among the factory workers too. That the captain might have lost his judgment because his heart was stolen by April.”
“How did such a thing become so famous.”
Grumbling thus, Pejin continued.
“It’s not because of April.”
“Isn’t it?”
“Quite the opposite. When I fell in love, I wanted to succeed all the more. That’s why I wanted to take April to the Empire. To go there and live, turning my eyes from danger, even if we wouldn’t be greatly respected.”
“And then?”
“I answered your question, didn’t I? It’s not because of April. That settles it.”
“Then why did you change your mind?”
……
“I’m asking because I need to settle my own mind too.”
Because of the drugs, Leon wasn’t particularly intimidated even by Pejin’s glare fixed upon him.
It was he who had given Pejin the medicine, so Pejin answered as though he had no choice.
“Setting aside that April doesn’t want it……”
“You can’t set that aside, but fine. If we assume that.”
“I realized. That I hate myself.”
……
“I didn’t know until now, but I’ve come to understand. I’ve been hating myself all along without realizing it. When I was in the Empire, I hated the blood of the Grand Duchy that ran through me and my childhood spent there. So I thought I only hated part of myself.”
……
“But it was my whole self.”
Pejin looked at Leon and continued.
“Just as April told me—when you make easy choices, you end up compromising even what you truly want. So now I don’t even know what I want. That’s why I’m trying not to do that anymore.”
……
“At least when I’m dying, I hope I haven’t been entirely awful.”
So that he wouldn’t remain in April Lunos’s memory only as something to be hated, Pejin thought.
He believed he could never turn her heart back toward him. In the end, she would deliberately erase him from her mind.
But still, he hoped that she would remember one scene about the man named Pejin Deus.
Just one scene that wasn’t entirely hateful……
* * *
Bauman, who had thought April was asleep, came down to the Residence Basement with her in considerable shock.
After hearing from April in detail about the type of wood, Bauman gathered the Birch that had made the Key Box and the Dye that would give it an aged appearance.
He was so astounded at the Factory connected to the Residence Basement that he couldn’t close his mouth.
Standing before the Key Box, Bauman exhaled a trembling breath. Then, with a solemn look, he spoke to April.
“If there’s ever anything I can help with, please tell me anytime, miss.”
“You’re already helping.”
April answered that way, then continued.
“From the very beginning, you’ve been my great fortune.”
At her words, Bauman suppressed his welling emotion and forced a smile.
He spoke to April in a spirited voice as if to give her courage.
“It’s truly a happiness to be able to use my skills for such an important matter, miss.”
“And you still have to build a bridge afterwards?”
“Of course. That’s what needs to be done.”
“And court Eve as well.”
“W-what?”
Bauman, rarely flustered, stammered as he repeated the question.
April teased him as she spoke.
“When you talk with Eve, you look so happy.”
“W-well……. She’s such a beauty, and isn’t she amusing? That woman.”
“From what I hear, you’re the one telling all sorts of silly stories to make her laugh.”
At April’s teasing, Bauman answered sheepishly.
“It’s been fifty years since I courted my wife. It’s been so long that it’s hard to do right.”
“I’ll create an opportunity for you to talk with Eve.”
“P-please, you don’t need to go that far!”
“Are you sure? Is it really all right if I don’t?”
As April asked mischievously, Bauman grew even more flustered and dodged her answer.
April laughed and stepped back to give him space to work.
When she then went to the Accident Management Department office, she found Pejin working through the Documents.
Leon, seated in a chair and resting in exhaustion, spotted her and asked.
“Is this Bauman repairing the Key Box?”
“Yes, I can leave that to him.”
Having answered that way, April tied her hair back with a band and spoke to Pejin.
“Oh, by the way—Bauman hates you now. I had to explain the source of the Fog in the Residence Basement.”
Even Pejin, who had been so fond of Bauman, merely nodded once upon hearing this.
It seemed like a certain resignation. So April, not wanting to look closely at his expression, quickly focused on the accident records.
Pejin read from the most recent in reverse order, while April started from the date the Factory was first built and read forward chronologically.
Countless people from the Empire had died from the Gas that had been buried along with Fuel.
Pejin muttered.
“There’s the reason that Fog absolutely cannot be their fault.”
The Capitalists of the Empire, and the Emperor himself, concealed the cause of the Fog while hiding even the fact that countless Empire citizens had died in this Factory.
The Empire began Exploration of Right Island’s Fuel shortly after April and Pejin were born. The department had been managing records of the Exploration and development process all along.
Remaining in the management office and reading through the Documents, the two of them copied all the accidents that had occurred there—deaths, Gas leaks, and machinery accidents—into the notebook they’d brought.
After reading through such an enormous volume of material, the two of them began erasing any trace of their entry into the office.
It was truly fortunate that there were investigators present during the intrusion.
April watched Pejin erase their traces, applying the exact Investigation methods of the authorities, and thought so.

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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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