The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 156

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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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Episode 156
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April tried to chase after Pejin as he left, but lost him and stood rooted in place for a long moment.
In the meantime, the police had moved the Empire’s guests—including those buried beneath the glass greenhouse—to level ground.
When Kayani returned after confirming that everyone from the Dieusz Grand Duchy had evacuated, April was standing with the guest list in hand, methodically checking the faces of the Empire’s people one by one while waiting for the doctor to arrive.
Kayani, alarmed, rushed to April and seized her arm.
“This is too dangerous! You must leave the Fiefdom!”
“I’ll get the people from Left Island out first, and then I’ll leave.”
Kayani hesitated, having been about to take her to safety.
April brushed the blood and dust from her dress, steadied her wavering frame, and spoke.
“I want as many of the Left Island people as possible to survive and remember what Rasa did. That’s why I invited them here. You don’t understand danger until you’ve lived through it.”
……
“After that, I’ll drive every last one of them out of my Fiefdom.”
The anger in April’s voice quelled Kayani’s confusion.
He nodded and rolled up his sleeves.
“Then I’ll help as well.”
Among the Empire’s guests without protective gear, those with weak constitutions had already stopped moving, and several young men had barely managed to stand before coughing up blood onto the ground.
April handed the guest list to Paul, who was surveying the scene.
“Three guests are unaccounted for.”
“Yes, my police will conduct a search from here on.”
“And……”
April stopped herself, closed her eyes, then looked up at the sky before speaking.
“Tell me the moment the Lake is secured.”
“It will be my first report to you.”
Paul knew that April wanted to ask about Pejin’s safety. But she had changed her question, and he did not press further. No one could know anything of Pejin’s safety.
After Paul left to conduct the search, April joined in administering emergency treatment to the Empire’s people, desperate to push thoughts of Pejin from her mind.
One of those who had barely regained consciousness asked her.
“Miss Lunos, what…… what’s happened?”
“I’m not certain. Something exploded in the Lake, but I have no idea what it was.”
April draped a blanket dyed with dye over the young man as she continued.
“What I do know is that only those wearing clothes dyed with this dye—which blocks the fog—came through unharmed.”
“So the explosion and the fog are…… connected?”
“I couldn’t say.”
April gazed at the debris scattered by the blast as she spoke.
“What I can tell you is that it was man-made.”
“What is that, Head of House?”
“I don’t know. Events unfolding in my own Fiefdom, and I understand nothing of them.”
Muttering so, April slowly walked in the direction connecting the Lake toward the forest.
Paul, who had been searching for the three missing Empire guests, spotted her moving toward danger and called out.
“Miss April! You can’t! Come back!”
Not hearing Paul’s warning, April approached a metal sheet that had flown all the way here and discovered a person pinned beneath it.
It was Noah Disher—one of Rasa’s guests, who had arrived nearly last with Pejin.
“Here! There’s an injured person here!”
At April’s call, police came rushing from the distance.
Noah Disher looked up at April and spoke.
“My legs…… how are they?”
“They’re hidden under the metal sheet—I can’t see them.”
“I see.”
Noah Disher exhaled a shaking breath, and as the police ran closer, April continued speaking.
“Stay conscious. You need to return to the Empire.”
“Why was something like this buried underground?”
“I keep hearing that question, and I have no answer for it. I haven’t even toured my own Fiefdom in seven years.”
“Head of House.”
“Yes?”
“Is this…… the Imperial Family Crest?”
Noah Disher asked about the crest he had touched repeatedly with the only fingers he could move until the moment April found him.
April brought a lantern close to examine it, then answered heavily.
“Yes.”
“How could the Imperial Family Crest possibly be pressing down on me…… “?
Noah Disher trailed off, consciousness wavering.
The police who arrived shortly after lifted and secured the metal sheet with props, administered opioid painkillers, and extracted Noah Disher.
With both his leg bones shattered, Noah finally felt the pain and began to scream.
For a moment, fog seemed to form dimly toward Capital City, but it soon dissipated. Fortunately, a strong wind was blowing. The dust settled, and as the gas cleared, the sound of coughing ceased.
As the endless winter night of the northern lands stretched on, April returned to the Lunos Residence, thinking she needed to look after the mansion.
The moment she arrived, she heard police shouting from the basement of the residence.
“Get him out! Call a doctor!”
“He’s not breathing!”
Someone’s breathing had stopped.
April stood frozen in place.
No one had called out a name—so why was she so afraid?
She watched as a figure was carried out on a stretcher from the basement; she could not tell if they were alive or dead. Her gaze followed of its own accord.
A mask covered their face. A green blanket dyed with Lunos dye—which April had donated to the Empire Police—was draped over their body.
April marveled at how she could always recognize Pejin. Even masked, even in unfamiliar clothes, she could identify him.
But not today. The man beneath that blanket felt like Pejin, but it couldn’t be.
It was impossible, so this feeling was a mistake.
That man was not Pejin.
April told herself this repeatedly.
Yet a hand fell from beneath the stretcher.
The wedding ring she had placed on his finger gleamed.
“M-Miss April!”
Paul, managing the chaos around him, saw the ring and rushed toward April, who nearly collapsed, steadying her.
April stood on the portico of the Lunos Grand Residence, watching as the police administered Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and loaded Pejin into the car. She then realized she had to follow and climbed in with them. Any of the police helped the new bride into the car as naturally as they would have done anything else. They regarded them as husband and wife. Every marriage carried such promises.
As the car moved, Logan persisted in administering Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, and the doctor too worked to revive him, but Pejin’s breath did not return.
Upon arrival at the Hospital, Pejin was brought into surgery with Logan still at his side.
Paul stepped in front of April as she tried to follow.
“You can’t.”
“But Pejin…… ”
“You cannot go in, Miss April.”
Paul spoke again, his voice trembling, blocking her path.
He grasped her arm, which looked ready to give out at any moment, and steadied her as he spoke firmly.
“You yourself must receive treatment.”
“I’m fine.”
“Most of the guests have developed cardiopulmonary complications. You cannot possibly be unharmed.”
Paul spoke thus and half-forced April to sit before a doctor.
There she received an examination in a daze. Fortunately, there was no serious damage, though the doctor recommended immediate rest.
Some time passed before Pejin was wheeled back out.
Shortly after, an exhausted Logan emerged and calmly explained to April.
“His condition is critical—surgery cannot be performed here. We must operate in the Empire. You need to leave for the Empire immediately.”
“Then I should also…… ”
“Head of House.”
At Logan’s address, April’s trembling stopped for a moment and she turned to look at him.
He continued.
“The likelihood that the Police Chief will survive is very low.”
……
“You likely anticipated this yourself. This is all to…… return the Fiefdom to you.”
……
“So please, go back to the Fiefdom.”
“…… Did Pejin ask for this? To keep me from following him?”
At April’s question, Logan, who had been holding his mouth closed heavily for a moment, nodded.
“Yes. The Police Chief made such a request.”
……
“Go back and reclaim the Fiefdom. I beg you to repay his sacrifice, Head of House.”
April’s entire body trembled.
She clenched her teeth until they ached, her fists tight as stone.
Repay his sacrifice.
Repay…… his sacrifice.
April repeated the words in her mind.
Reason had abandoned her.
Emotion could not be controlled.
Yet April nodded.
To repay his sacrifice.

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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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