The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 166

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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 166
The moment Pejin opened his eyes, he gasped as if every bone in his body had shattered.
Fortunately, the painkiller the doctor had given him spread through his system in an instant.
Pejin, barely catching his breath, noticed Paul turning away with tears in his eyes at the sight of him, and he clicked his tongue before looking toward Rian, the only one standing with any composure, silently asking for an explanation.
Rian, whose urge to joke overcame his emotional turmoil, spoke seriously instead.
“Five years have passed already. April has remarried.”
Pejin, recognizing the nonsense even in his state, flicked his finger dismissively.
Rian laughed, his eyes brimming with tears.
“You want me to shut up?”
“Yes.”
“Ah, I thought you’d believe me.”
Pejin, finding no strength even to smile, closed his barely-open eyes again.
But then the doctors woke him once more.
They could not allow him to sleep, lest he lose consciousness and never wake again—such was their concern.
Even as the doctors tried every method to keep him awake, Pejin had resolved to sleep regardless, but their persistent attention irritated him enough to open his eyes again.
He kept hearing April’s voice at the edge of his consciousness.
Her angry voice asking what would happen if he came to harm…….
No—I went into danger so you could succeed. What kind of thing is that to say?
April’s voice couldn’t have been real. By now, she would surely be busy reorganizing the factory.
The problems before her were something she would handle well on her own, yet he found himself worried nonetheless.
What concerned Pejin most about April was that she did not regard her own body as her own, but as belonging to her house.
She believed her body could be used freely for the sake of the Lunos Family. That was what troubled him.
And Miller Dieusz…….
Pejin was certain he had told his subordinates to prevent Miller Dieusz from harming April.
Of course, it would not work as well as if he acted directly, but he had discussed it with April beforehand and made plans accordingly.
To begin with, harming the head of a house as prominent as the Lunos Family required an enormous cost.
Even the previous heads of the Lunos Family were not executed so easily.
Those who aided in it must have been given many things in return. Far more than he himself knew…….
Pejin tried to sit up quickly, but cursed and fell back to the bed.
The doctor cried out in alarm.
“Do you have any idea how many surgeries you’ve had? The site of the first operation still hasn’t healed! Stop moving!”
With his voice barely functioning, being told not to move only made Pejin sigh and click his tongue.
In the meantime, word that Pejin had regained consciousness was rushed to the Imperial Capital by one of the Empire Police officers.
At the news of his awakening, all the police officers in the hospital let out a breath of relief, releasing the tension they had been holding all this time.
Pejin, kept awake all along by the doctors, fell asleep again as the painkiller began to work through his system.
Rian and Paul, who had spent an anxious night waiting for him to wake again, only became certain of his full consciousness after he opened his eyes following a period of deep sleep.
The doctor confirmed his consciousness had fully returned and left the hospital room. Once only the police officers remained, Pejin made a gesture of reaching for a pen, and Rian handed him the pen he always carried.
Taking the pen, Pejin wrote “Miller” on the paper, and Rian asked.
“Are you really worried your brother will harm the Lunos girl?”
At his words, Pejin frowned and wrote again on the paper.
Wife.
Paul offered his own commentary from beside him.
“No, you only got halfway through declaring a marital union.”
“Soer’s right.”
When Rian also agreed, Pejin’s entire expression showed his exasperation.
Wedding ceremony equals marital union.
“So if you both entered the ceremony together, that makes it a marital union?”
“I disagree.”
“I disagree too. You can’t skip procedures—not for something as important as marriage.”
The two took turns teasing him as he lay there, writing letters with painful slowness.
After a bout of teasing, Paul released a long, heavy sigh as if purging something he’d been holding inside, and asked Pejin.
“You’ll need some time to recover your strength before you can board a ship. Should I go inform the Lunos Family before then?”
Pejin clicked his tongue once and wrote.
You don’t hate doing this?
I’m not dead.
The two seemed to take his meaning as a joke and laughed a little.
Then Rian spoke.
“You’ve got some nerve saying that to the person who came all this way to wake you up.”
Did April really come?
“Yeah, she came. You laid here for a month with no hope of recovery, so she had to sign a consent form to discontinue life support. Somehow, this hospital decided the Lunos girl was your wife.”
Pejin’s expression crumpled. He let out a sigh.
Paul added from beside him.
“April brought the consent form all the way here herself. She said she’d save you no matter what.”
Of course she’d say to save him.
That was the April he knew.
Having watched her from close by, he knew better than anyone her unwillingness to lose another person.
He could not believe she had been made to sign such a form.
He feared he would be scolded severely by April, yet he still wanted to go see her and gauge her mood. And so he tried once more to rise in haste, only for Rian and Paul to urgently press him back down.
“You can’t move yet, I’m telling you!”
“Why have you suddenly become so impatient?”
“Should we not have given you the painkiller?”
“Yeah, cruel as it sounds, that might’ve been the better choice.”
The two grumbled as they held him down.
It was strange how people are—when he had hovered at death’s door, they seemed so heartbroken; but now that he was awake and giving them trouble, there was something endearing about watching him be stubborn.
* * *
The road from Lunos Port to the Fiefdom had been maintained almost perfectly even during the seven years April could not leave her residence. So many people still used this path that it remained well-kept.
Where it had fallen into disrepair, it was tidied up again once April’s period of seclusion ended.
At the point where the path entered the Fiefdom, people who had been waiting blocked the carriage of April’s party.
Seeing this, Logan stepped out of the carriage ahead first.
“What is the matter?”
Among the Empire Police officers, Logan was relatively lean and had a pretty face, so the gathered people from Right Island seemed inclined to look down on him.
April, who had seen him draw his gun without hesitation before, felt an unwanted pang of concern.
“We heard the Fiefdom Lord means to shut down the factory. Is that true?”
“Yes, it is. The factory is now the Fiefdom Lord’s property, so there should be no opposition to her decision to close it.”
April thought Logan was being remarkably clever with his words.
By adding that it was “now” hers, or by saying “there should be no opposition,” he conveyed the undertone that opposition might well exist.
The people, already extremely sensitive to the danger of the fog, seemed to read that undertone perfectly.
They quieted, turning to look toward the carriage where April rode.
Of course, Logan, having grown up in the Empire since childhood, thought they were glaring and reached for the side where his gun was; but April knew better, so she stepped out of the carriage.
Logan spoke urgently.
“It’s dangerous if you get out.”
“We have the guns, so it’s fine.”
At April’s words, Logan seemed satisfied, shrugged his shoulders, and stepped back.
April spoke.
“You’ve heard the factory will close, yet you still have more to say?”
“The Empire has forced this on us, haven’t they?”
Logan found it curious that the people asked so openly, as if there was nothing to hide.
Unlike Left Island, the people of Right Island did not regard their Fiefdom Lord as someone from another world entirely, nor did they speak in roundabout ways.
April replied.
“No. Everything I do from now on is my choice.”
“Aren’t you frustrated? They’re covering up even the cause of the fog!”
“Why does it matter? As long as the fog goes away.”
She spoke such a rebuke, folded her arms, and continued calmly.
“I’m a merchant—the more money circulates here, the more finds its way to my hands. Even a few days of the Grand Duchy being paralyzed is a great loss for me. A few days’ pause? I’ve been anxious for the entire winter. That’s why I’m closing the factory. Once the gas problem is resolved, I’ll operate it again, but I’ll think about that when the time comes…….”
As April spoke, a young woman her age suddenly rushed up and pulled her into a tight embrace, cutting her off mid-sentence.
“Our Fiefdom Lord really does speak so beautifully!”
At the woman’s words, the gathered people laughed boisterously.
April, looking thoroughly annoyed, peeled the people away and climbed back into the carriage, only then did Logan slowly withdraw his hand from his gun.
Since the fog had appeared, Logan—who had been running about for security—had never seen the people here laugh with such ease of mind.
The people of Right Island were inherently taciturn and given to little laughter, but still, it was undeniable that April had restored their smiles.

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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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