The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 209

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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 209
“Yes. That’s right.”
April nodded in agreement with Pejin’s opinion rather than feigning modesty, shrugging her shoulders.
April spoke, looking at the Cargo Wagon.
“But we’ll suffer much more ahead, and grow even larger.”
“Yes.”
“For that to happen, we have to win the war.”
No one on Right Island had spoken of winning the war. The gap in military strength was simply too great.
Pejin laughed.
“Win the war—I haven’t heard that before.”
“Haven’t I?”
April tilted her head in thought, then continued.
“But we have to win.”
“That’s right. We have to.”
Pejin nodded in agreement.
* * *
Basas, a merchant from Liuru, took custody of Daisy Hass’s body through the Empire Police. However, throughout the process, the officers were careful to let nothing slip, so there was little useful information to be gleaned.
Returning empty-handed, he relayed to Pejin the trivial conversations he’d overheard at a drinking gathering.
“Everyone just talked nonsense. And those Left Island people—why do they love that court game so much? That’s all I heard about.”
“It can’t be helped. The Empire people must have some affection for the game.”
“They went on at length about the seven bridges in the river where the game is played—how each one was constructed. Especially the third bridge—I heard that story five times. From five different people!”
“I see.”
Pejin smiled and nodded. Then he thanked him.
“Thank you.”
“That’s all you needed?”
“It’s enough.”
After thanking him, Pejin promptly entered the hastily established Right Island War Department. There, he spoke to Paul Soer, who was attending the meeting as the police representative.
“The third bridge, then.”
“They’re preparing a Preemptive Bombing. Just as Your Highness predicted.”
Then Shaper Meyer, who had come to represent the Navy, asked.
“Why does the third bridge specifically mean Preemptive Bombing? Does the seventh bridge mean war?”
Pejin shot back at him.
“You think they’d lay them out in order? Only a simpleton does that. I’m worried about the Navy’s operational security.”
“They could lay them out in order, you fool!”
“Did you just call the Grand Duke a fool?”
“Where the hell did this man crawl in from?”
“Hey, come on.”
“Wow, yeah! I’m terrified, absolutely terrified!”
As the two bickered, the other subordinates, rather than mediating, started quarreling among themselves.
With the police and Navy growling at each other again, the remaining officials and officers pressed their foreheads in exasperation.
Finally, the chairman—who was also a War Department minister—slammed the table.
“Quiet! Please, quiet down!”
At the elderly chairman’s rebuke, which surpassed even their grandparents in age, the young men fell awkwardly silent.
The chairman sighed and spoke.
“Where has the Head of the Lunos Family gone? I wish to see her so badly. Without her, this old man suffers alone.”
Pejin, who knew her whereabouts best, replied.
“She’s speaking with Professor Ram.”
“Ah, Professor Ram.”
The chairman paused, trying to recall who that was, when Shaper spoke from beside him.
“That one—you know, when Pejin got married and told April to use the fortune however she pleased, and she gave it all to some man. That man.”
At the explanation that could invite misunderstanding, everyone in the room turned to look at Shaper.
He himself meant no malice whatsoever.
Not understanding why people were staring at him, his subordinate spoke beside him.
“……The Head of House invested it for the advancement of science.”
“Well, it’s roughly the same thing, isn’t it?”
“We can’t side with you on this, either.”
“Why? What’s the problem?”
As Shaper continued not to understand, Pejin glared at him with displeasure.
Only then did Shaper dimly grasp that he’d phrased things in a way that invited misunderstanding, and he faltered—at which moment April arrived in the conference room.
She looked bewildered at the clearly dark atmosphere of the meeting.
“Why does everyone look like that?”
Then Pejin gestured toward Shaper with his chin and said.
“That bastard hasn’t changed a bit. Still trash.”
“I know. So?”
“Oh good, my ally’s here.”
Pejin made no attempt to hide his gladness and approached April, embracing her suddenly.
April tried to push him away, but noticing that Shaper had fallen quiet, she thought perhaps he’d been the one to start talking nonsense, and let it pass for now.
The meeting to properly address the Preemptive Bombing began in earnest.
“If there is a bombing, this is clearly retaliation for violating the Imperial Decree restricting the movement of Dieusz Grand Duchy citizens. So in fact, the target is obvious.”
At Paul’s words, the police officers of Empire Police origin nodded. And the target—April herself—spoke.
“They’ll attack me.”
At her answer, Pejin agreed and spoke.
“They will. And since you brought the citizens using the Lunos Family’s Private Property, this bombing will serve to gauge the scale of your Private Property.”
“I see.”
April nodded and looked around the conference room, then asked.
“So where do you think they’ll bomb?”
The War Department minister answered her question.
“Lunos Harbor, most likely.”
* * *
That very day.
April went straight to Lunos Harbor and ordered an Evacuation of all the residents living there.
Since the war was already upon them, most of the Right Island citizens had already begun preparing to flee.
The people of Lunos Harbor, trusting the fisherman Fin Tus as their unspoken leader and following his guidance, began gathering their belongings.
Following her, Pejin and Shaper arrived with assembled forces.
Three Navy scout ships disguised as civilian fishing vessels, loaded with Fishing Nets, immediately set out to sea and began surveillance under the light of the Lighthouse.
The police, based on the circumstances, predicted that the bombing would come two days after all third-party ships remaining at Lunos Harbor departed.
April too steeled herself, preparing for the bombing that would likely occur in her Fiefdom.
Then Fin Tus, who was preparing for evacuation, rushed toward her.
“My lord.”
“Yes, what is it?”
As April asked, Fin Tus spoke.
“Return to the Lunos Family Estate.”
“Return?”
“You must not remain here. You need to be in a safe place.”
“I was planning to return anyway. It’s just that since the harbor people will start evacuating soon, I wanted to move with them.”
April spoke firmly, and hearing her, Shaper sided with Fin Tus’s opinion.
“Tus is right. How can you stay here when the bombing could start any time? Go on, get out of here. Pejin! You convince her. She doesn’t listen to me, that one!”
When Shaper called, Pejin, who had been by the Lighthouse, clicked his tongue and walked over.
“Listen to my words, do you?”
“Better than yours, at least.”
“Fair point.”
Pejin unexpectedly agreed with Shaper’s remark and nodded. Then he went to April and spoke.
“You’re not needed here—Tus has already prepared the evacuation well. They’ll move on their own just fine. If you’re here, it’ll make people anxious.”
“……So I have to live?”
“Yes. You, at least, must survive. And if Right Island burns to ash, you need to find even the smallest ember within it and rekindle the flame.”
“Mm.”
April tried to listen to him rationally. But conflicting emotions crossed her face.
It had been like this since her parents first walked toward the execution ground.
She was the one who didn’t want to live—so why were the ones she loved the ones who had to leave?
As April suppressed her resentment to speak of returning to the Grand Residence, Fin Tus spoke.
“These people trust you greatly and believe you’ll do whatever it takes for them…… but they care for you deeply because of that.”
Fin Tus, true to his words, looked at the lord of the land where he lived with eyes full of affection.
“You reopened Trade to connect Right Island with the wider world, but you also gave away Dye without hesitation and brought back the detained people. We know all this. We’re grateful, and so we cherish you. We do it with love, my lord.”
Love was answer enough to the question April carried.
It was reason enough to forcefully pull her hand from death.
Then Shaper interjected.
“Exclude me, though. I don’t particularly care.”
At those words, April let out an involuntary laugh.
Then Pejin spoke, his expression turning serious.
“I thought you’d cry at my words, but you laugh at another man’s—that hurts.”
“It’s funny because he’s being thoughtless.”
“Even so.”
Though Pejin said that, he seemed relieved to be able to let her go with a smile on her face thanks to Shaper.
He brought April to the carriage, bent down to check her face, and spoke.
“Be careful on your way. And…….”
Pejin paused to think, then sighed and asked.
“How can I say I love you in a way that doesn’t make you look like you’re about to die soon?”
“No matter how you say it, I think I’ll look like that until before the bombing.”
“Then don’t?”
“No.”
April shook her head and looked up at him.
“I want to hear it.”
At her words, Pejin’s face lit up with joy. Then he brought his lips close to her ear and spoke.
“I love you.”

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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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