The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 165

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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 165
Logan silently escorted April toward the harbor.
He carried a chair to the spot with the finest view and helped her there.
Once she was seated, Logan remained standing beside her, gazing out at the same vista before speaking.
“The ship that Irsa took.”
The words were meant to sharpen her focus, and April turned as expected.
Logan maintained the faint smile at the corner of his mouth as he continued.
“How far do you think she’s come by now?”
April turned her gaze seaward and replied, “If she’s alive, she’ll have reached land somewhere by now. How much longer it takes to find provisions—there’s no way to know.”
“She was carrying a substantial amount of gold coins, wasn’t she?”
“She was.”
“Aren’t you afraid?”
The sailors who had worked for the Lunos Family had ransacked the estate’s belongings and fled when the house fell. Logan found it curious that April had rehired them, and pressed on.
“As for me, betrayal at sea frightens me as much as rough waters do. What I’ve invested isn’t substantial, but it’s all I have, after all.”
April nodded in understanding and countered, “But you wouldn’t have wagered everything you own if you didn’t believe this wasn’t just gambling, would you?”
“No—I think it’s gambling with odds in our favor. If I send three ships, one will likely return. As gambling goes, those are excellent odds.”
That made sense to her.
April gazed up at the cloudless, brilliant blue sky.
“You’re more rational than me, that’s for sure. I’m betting on the odds that Pejin will survive.”
Logan laughed outright.
April had never thought Logan was a fearful man. Rather, she’d always taken him for a natural gambler.
He was bold and didn’t seem to fear losing his investments.
Logan spoke. “I believe the odds of that ship returning, and the odds of the Police Chief recovering his breath, are both higher than the mathematics suggest.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re someone who wins games.”
……
“I’m betting on the winning streak of April Lunos herself.”
Logan still gazed at the sea, that faint smile never leaving his face.
April looked up at him and, without realizing it, smiled in turn—then straightened in her seat.
Pejin’s words echoed in her mind. That voice of his, calling her the sole possibility of Right Island.
“I have nowhere to retreat, and so I cannot fail.”
Logan answered her, “You won’t.”
In the midst of impossibly low odds, they believed in the winning streak of one person. And so they didn’t even call it a miracle.
Crossing the strait, they reached Right Island.
To enter the Capital City was to risk the citizens blaming April for the fog and attacking her. So for safety, they chose to disembark at Lunos Harbor instead.
“The Dieusz Grand Duchy!”
At the sailors’ call, April—who had only just fallen asleep—opened her eyes. Her body felt heavy with exhaustion.
She barely managed to rise from the bunk and murmured to herself, “Let’s go.”
With those words, she tidied her hair neatly and pulled on her coat.
Was it the cold, or was the weight of her emotions pressing down harder now that she’d returned to her homeland?
She felt the melancholy seize her ankles and add heaviness to each step—a sensation she’d grown accustomed to—as she left the cabin.
When she opened the door, she noticed something unexpected: there was no crowd at the harbor waiting to kill her.
“……Quiet, isn’t it?”
April murmured as she disembarked.
As she arrived, the people living in Lunos Harbor came rushing toward her with worried greetings.
“Welcome back!”
“How is the Police Chief doing?”
“Oh dear, our Head of House looks so worn…….”
April found their warm reception strange, and instead made her way to the villa to thaw her body, frozen by the sea wind.
Logan too was trembling with cold and, as the villa’s keeper lit the hearth, he warmed himself hastily and spoke.
“After staying in the Empire, the January cold of the Dieusz Grand Duchy feels all the sharper.”
“That’s true.”
As they warmed themselves talking, Shaper Meyer—who had been organizing a guard unit at the harbor at April’s request—entered the villa.
Shaper glanced around at the harbor people fawning over April and griped, “One would think you’d emigrated to the Empire for good, the way everyone’s carrying on about you being back.”
April asked, “What do you mean?”
“It means the people were worried you wouldn’t return.”
Shaper’s answer caught both Logan and April off guard, and they both hesitated.
Logan spoke first. “The factory was determined to be your property, but—the citizens’ reaction to that has been favorable?”
“Of course it’s favorable. What are you talking about?”
Shaper’s expression grew serious as he continued. “You know how long it takes people in the Grand Duchy to change their minds. It took a full year just to accept that the fog wasn’t your doing. And now it’s a witch’s fault again. Do you think they’ll believe that easily?”
Shaper himself was the prime example of how slowly people from Right Island shift their thinking. At his words, Logan’s expression brightened first, though April still looked skeptical.
Seeing her doubt, Shaper went on. “The factory was originally the Lunos Family Fiefdom’s property. The Empire wouldn’t shut it down just because a few Grand Duchy citizens died. Everyone here knows it was you who decided to close it. They also know you gave up all the profits from it.”
“……I’ll find profit elsewhere.”
April answered bluntly, and Logan quickly added from beside her, “In other words, these people living in this land will understand even better that you’re seeking profit elsewhere for their sake, won’t they?”
“That’s it exactly.”
Shaper nodded at Logan’s words.
Even as April listened to the two of them talk, she struggled to believe it. Having faced the citizens’ threats before, she found it hard to trust their goodwill now.
She felt she’d only truly understand once she returned to the fiefdom.
* * *
Pejin’s third surgery lasted well over a full day.
His wife had requested life-sustaining treatment, and with the enormous sum she’d paid, the hospital deployed every method available to save Pejin’s life.
When Lian returned from the operating room, he found Pol still waiting outside, and said to him, “I’ll be here now. Go rest.”
“Will you kill him?”
Pol asked at once.
Lian realized then that Pol had stayed at Pejin’s side all day out of concern for the Emperor’s command, and he sighed before answering. “That was the order, initially.”
“Madam—April—doesn’t wish it. Whether he’s conscious or not, she just wants him to live. And I……I want the same. I just want him to survive. So please, don’t kill him. I’m begging you.”
Lian staggered and gripped the doorframe, then bowed his head in thought before speaking.
“Understood.”
“……Thank you.”
“But you’ll need to think up the excuse. My mind’s too worn out right now.”
A brief silence fell after that.
Then came the sound of the bell signaling the end of surgery.
The two men straightened their weary bodies to receive Pejin.
Pejin was transferred back to the hospital ward.
As Lian watched him being moved to the bed, he stopped short.
“Hmm?”
Pol turned at his reaction.
“His hand……it moved slightly.”
“Pardon?”
“Just now. It moved a little.”
At Lian’s words, Pol’s brows knit.
“Now?”
He quickly examined Pejin’s face and spoke urgently. “Police Chief, can you hear me? You’ve been promoted to Chief of Police, but I was afraid you might not understand the new title, so I couldn’t bring myself to say it. Police Chief, senior—congratulations on your promotion.”
“Why don’t you tell him about the Head of House Lunos?”
“Ah! Of course! Did you hear that, senior? April said she wanted to see you die. You heard her, didn’t you? It was loud enough even on the operating table……. Ah!”
Pol stumbled backward, startled.
Behind his eyelids, the movement of his eyes could be felt.
Lian quickly picked up where Pol left off. “You heard, right? If you don’t wake up, April Lunos the Head of House will be in danger. You’ve already taken all your precautions, so what are you doing lying there?”
The constant barrage of words seemed to be working.
Very slowly, Pejin’s eyes opened.
Pol cried out, “He—his eyes are open!”
“Doctor! Doctor! The patient is awake! The patient has regained consciousness!”
Lian rushed out to summon the physician, and Pol, overwhelmed and tears streaming down his face, could read the shape of Pejin’s lips.
‘April.’
That’s what they were forming.

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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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