The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 141

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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 141
Then came the sound of an engine as a vehicle belonging to the Empire Police pulled up to the dock.
April turned to watch the officers stepping out of the car. Once all the police from the Empire had disembarked, the area grew quite bustling.
Soon after, Pejin approached the breakwater where she stood.
April gathered her windswept hair with her hand and spoke.
“You certainly brought a lot of people.”
“The timing was perfect. We needed an opportunity for those from the Dieusz Grand Duchy to come together.”
“Well, that’s fortunate then.”
“Is the food going to be enough?”
“It couldn’t be. A Coming-of-Age Ceremony in the Dieusz Grand Duchy can’t have a shortage of food.”
At April’s response, Pejin, standing with his hands clasped behind his back, smiled and looked around the surroundings.
“By the way, Eve and Bauman really outdid themselves. It’s remarkable how quickly they prepared all this.”
“Those two work together perfectly. They like the same things and dislike the same things.”
“Eve doesn’t dislike me.”
April didn’t humor Pejin’s self-deprecating jest and answered instead.
“She dislikes anything that isn’t beautiful. The ugly—she truly can’t stand it. Both of them.”
“They’re both artists, after all.”
“Exactly my point.”
“You’re smiling.”
April, who had been delighted thinking of the two gradually deepening their feelings for each other, lifted her head. Pejin, watching her face, continued.
“You don’t smile quite so brightly when you’re with me lately.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. Somehow it feels good to see.”
Pejin spoke and smiled slightly. Then, deliberately hardening his expression, he asked.
“So?”
“So?”
“Have you decided how to handle the wedding?”
“Before that, I have something I want to ask.”
“What is it?”
When Pejin asked, April answered calmly.
“If you and I were to marry, would the Emperor simply allow it?”
“Of course he wouldn’t.”
“Then what do you intend to do?”
“His Majesty doesn’t dislike you; he’s exercising restraint against the House of Lunos.”
“I see.”
“So if you marry me and become an Imperial citizen, the Emperor will open both arms and welcome this marriage.”
“Are you asking me to deceive the Emperor by claiming I’ll become an Imperial subject?”
“Yes, exactly.”
April regarded him warily at his proposal, eyes narrowing.
Pejin laughed at that gaze.
“You still don’t trust me?”
“If I trusted you so easily, that would be strange.”
“Besides, the wedding will fall apart before we even exchange vows, so the marriage itself will hold no real meaning. Even accounting for appearances, it’s an unwritten rule that a husband who doesn’t return for three years or more is considered dead. We’ll have a proper marriage after that.”
After considering his words a moment more, April answered.
“I understand well enough. I’ll decide before the Coming-of-Age Ceremony ends.”
“That’s something I can wait for.”
Pejin agreed readily and led her away from the breakwater.
As they turned to leave, they spotted Shaper descending from a carriage with an enraged expression.
The moment he saw April and Pejin, he came running toward them, snorting with anger.
“What’s wrong with him?”
April murmured the question, but Pejin answered without bothering to lower his voice.
“I don’t know, but the way he’s running is hilarious.”
Hearing this, Shaper flared up and shouted.
“Why are you picking a fight the second you see me, you bastard!”
With that, he grabbed Pejin by the collar, but Pejin simply scoffed with exasperation and let him be.
Seeing the two glare at each other as if ready to devour one another, April gestured for them to separate and asked.
“Why are you making such a scene?”
Shaper had difficulty calming his volatile temperament and withdrew, snorting. Then, disheveling his own hair roughly, he spoke.
“A marriage proposal has come in from the Empire.”
“And?”
“If I marry, it says I absolutely have to enlist in the Imperial Army! I’m a soldier of the Dieusz Grand Duchy! If I go to the Empire, I’ll have to quit being a soldier—what kind of nonsense is that!”
As Shaper’s voice grew louder and he eventually began shouting, Pejin frowned and covered April’s ears with his hand.
After Shaper quieted down on his own, Pejin removed his hand and spoke.
“So what?”
“Help me break off the engagement…….”
As Shaper was saying this, he belatedly noticed the bustle of activity around the harbor and looked about uncertainly.
“……What are you all doing here today?”
When Shaper asked April, she answered.
“The Coming-of-Age Ceremony. So we’ll talk about your situation later.”
“I never know what you people are up to.”
Shaper grumbled, but he also recognized the importance of the Dieusz Grand Duchy’s Coming-of-Age Ceremony and accordingly set his own urgent matter aside for now.
* * *
The Coming-of-Age Ceremony proceeded in a far busier state than April had planned.
Even though the participants were from the Dieusz Grand Duchy, there was no need to broadcast that the Empire Police were conducting a Coming-of-Age Ceremony in the Dieusz tradition. April had meant to keep the ceremony as minimal as possible, but because the doors were open, there were many onlookers and participants alike.
At the harbor sat various large and small derelict ships under repair, moored at their docks.
A fisherman named Fin Tus, who had sought April out not long ago, had spread word among the fishing community based on her advice—that damaged ships should be transported to Lunos Harbor. This had brought an abundance of vessels.
Fin Tus, who had settled at Lunos Harbor with his family, approached April just as she had changed into traditional Dieusz ceremonial dress for the Coming-of-Age Ceremony.
“Everything has unfolded just as you said it would, my lady.”
“Yes, and we’ve all benefited because of it.”
As April offered her thanks, Fin Tus shook his head solemnly.
“I’m the one who should be thanking you. So many fishermen have gained from your generosity. When damaged ships are left abandoned, they damage intact vessels when the waves strike.”
“It’s the best outcome when everyone can help one another.”
April continued to exchange gratitude with Fin Tus and spoke with him about harbor conditions while waiting for her turn.
The gate that Bauman had built on the breakwater for the ceremony was a work of art that one couldn’t believe had been created in such a short time.
April let Leon Kiss, the officers, and several harbor residents who had asked if they could participate in the ceremony go through first, and only then did she approach the gate.
Beneath the gate, the eldest woman among the harbor residents offered her honey on a teaspoon, which April accepted and ate.
“This spoonful carries the knowledge of adulthood.”
She took a second spoonful and fed it to April, continuing.
“This spoonful brings the heart of an adult.”
The woman offered the final spoonful.
“And in this last spoonful lies the courage of our Right Island people who venture out to sea.”
Without swallowing the third spoonful of honey, April held it in her mouth and passed through the gate.
She boarded one of the ships moored at the breakwater. Three partially repaired vessels carried those who had participated in today’s ceremony. As each ship departed, those aboard swallowed the honey they had been holding in their mouths.
And so all three ships sailed out to sea.
Logan stood up and called out from the breakwater to Poll, who was watching alongside the other Empire Police officers from the Dieusz Grand Duchy.
“I’m finally an adult in the Dieusz Grand Duchy too!”
“Just because you had a coming-of-age ceremony doesn’t make you an adult, you brat.”
At Poll’s words, the officers burst into raucous laughter.
Logan protested that he shouldn’t be mocked for being young now that he was an adult, and the other officers teased the eldest participant in today’s ceremony—a twenty-five-year-old—trading jabs back and forth between the breakwater and the ships.
Knowing it would get this loud, Pejin, who had boarded a separate ship with Logan, spoke to April beside him.
“See? Wasn’t it smart to cram all those noisy ones onto that ship?”
“Yes, that was actually quite good advice.”
April agreed and wrapped both hands around a small wooden vessel she held.
Everyone who participated in the Coming-of-Age Ceremony had made a simple boat by hand. Most, including her, had chosen the easiest method—weaving a raft.
April sent her own raft, inscribed with her name—April “Ava” Lunos—out to sea.
“Ava” meant a broad, expansive space. It was often used to express the sea.
The individual vessels of all those who had just come of age, each bearing their carved names in wood, drifted slowly away.
Soon the boats were swallowed by the waves, then rose again at some moment. Those watching fell silent.
The taste of honey lingered in their mouths.
The courage of the Right Island people.
At that moment, not a single doubt existed in the hearts of all those gathered there about the fact that they were people of the Right Island.
April could understand what the Coming-of-Age Ceremony meant to the Empire Police officers from the Dieusz Grand Duchy. Perhaps anyone would have understood.
It was a massive despair for these young people from the Dieusz Grand Duchy who had grown up in the Empire. At the same time, it was a rebellion.
For those raised with unstinting support to be obedient to the Empire, it was an eruption beyond imagination.
And so April could make her decision about Pejin.
She turned to look at him.
“Do you want to? Have the wedding?”
“Yes. I’ve been carrying a ring box, ready for whenever you give your consent.”
Pejin calmly withdrew the ring box from his inside pocket, and April’s brow narrowed.
“Even if we really did marry, we’d only be doing it for strategic necessity—so why would we need a ring?”
“What are you talking about? That’s exactly why we need the ring. Without it, who would believe this is a real wedding?”
Perhaps he had a point.
When she thought about it, Pejin’s argument had merit.
Before answering, April took a deep breath. The salt air of the sea mingled with her breathing.
“Let’s do it.”
…….
“Let’s do it. Marriage. Or rather, the wedding.”

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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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