The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 212

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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 212
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Well past the time when the ship from Rasa should have returned from its mission, it had not yet appeared.
Turmoil erupted in the War Ministry. Since they had cut out the uncooperative police entirely, few in the War Ministry had anticipated that the departing ship would fail to return.
They wanted to grasp the situation on Right Island, but even that proved difficult.
The problem was that someone with a lengthy career in the police force had ascended to the position of Grand Duke.
Pejin had stationed police at every large and small harbor through which information about Right Island might leak, ensuring nothing could escape from there.
Yet it was inconceivable that imperial intelligence could have flowed into the Dieusz Grand Duchy.
Those seated at the War Ministry conference could only feel frustration.
“There’s no way Right Island could possess a ship capable of matching one from Rasa. Why in the world hasn’t it returned!”
“Has intelligence been compromised? How could that be possible?”
Into this place of circular, endless debate, the Emperor appeared and took the head seat.
The conference room fell silent at once.
Emperor August Lilyhil studied the faces of those gathered at the War Ministry conference, examining each one carefully.
He was searching for someone to bear responsibility for the ship’s failure to return.
August Lilyhil opened his mouth.
“There is no way to determine the ship’s whereabouts?”
The Naval Ministry official spoke then.
“The Navy and police are currently cooperating to guard the coastline. Police patrol vessels are checking the waters off Right Island. Results should arrive soon.”
“We cannot simply wait for those results. By now, isn’t there sufficient time to understand why the ship has not returned?”
In the voice of August Lilyhil, struggling to suppress his anger, only silence filled the conference room, swallowing every other sound.
Fortunately at that moment, Police Chief Leslie Ragnar entered the conference room.
Standing near the door, he glanced briefly around the room before addressing the Emperor.
“Though I was excluded from this conference, I have learned the whereabouts of the Rasa Empire Cruiser. Would it be acceptable for me to attend and report?”
His tone was somewhat irritable.
Leslie Ragnar, ordinarily a man of few emotional extremes, seemed barely able to contain his frustration at having been excluded from the conference simply for having voiced an opposing opinion in this urgent situation.
The Emperor spoke.
“Come in and be seated.”
Leslie Ragnar then found his place and sat.
He did not delay, but spoke to the Emperor at once.
“Fragments of our Cruiser have been washing ashore continuously. It clearly sank in the coastal waters.”
“Sank?”
“Yes. Since the Landing Craft has not been found, it appears to have been captured.”
The Emperor, unable to contain his fury, struck the table.
“How could this be possible? Surely the Dieusz Grand Duchy doesn’t possess a ship capable of facing a Cruiser?”
In the moment that followed, Leslie Ragnar, having regained his usual composure, continued.
“Intelligence compromise is overwhelmingly likely. Pejin Dieusz is a completely different opponent from the previous Miller Dieusz. Pejin… that is, the Grand Duke, was always an information-sensitive police officer. He possessed every scrap of intelligence, whether needed or not. We doubted him from the start as a native of the Grand Duchy and kept him as distant as possible from the Intelligence Agency, but it was useless. The number of informants in Pejin Dieusz’s personal network is staggering.”
At this, one general objected to his words.
“What imperial citizen would betray their country by feeding information to someone from the Grand Duchy!”
“Intelligence is bought. Put another way, it is sold. It cannot be thoroughly prevented by loyalty or patriotism alone. Of course, the Grand Duke has likely built even deeper trust. Those informants have long been receiving proper compensation from him. It will be the same this time.”
“Then shouldn’t the police find these traitors!”
“We are already searching. But from the beginning, it should not have been done—sending imperial police to the Grand Duchy.”
The conference room fell silent again at Leslie Ragnar’s firm tone.
Ultimately, it had been the Emperor’s choice to send imperial police to the Grand Duchy.
In some sense, the Emperor truly did love Pejin.
It resembled the conflicted affection one feels toward a beast raised since childhood with careful feeding, yet one that still could not be broken of biting the hand that fed it—and it amounted ultimately to a hunger for dominance.
That is why he had sent Pejin to the Grand Duchy, precisely because he would not obey.
He wanted to punish him for biting that hand. He hoped that in that occupied land, Pejin would regret it until death.
At the Police Chief’s words, which pointed out the Emperor’s own actions, August Lilyhil’s gaze turned glacially cold.
The Emperor opened his mouth again.
“Pejin Dieusz was not a creature that could be kept here. He would have gathered power in the Empire to attempt my assassination.”
“Even so, you should have kept him where he was visible!”
“My choice was correct!”
The Emperor finally shouted.
Leslie Ragnar bore an expression of much left unsaid. He carefully selected his words before speaking again.
“Has this matter not made it clear? Regarding the Grand Duchy, the Empire currently lacks perfect understanding.”
“Yet our military superiority remains unchanged.”
“Your Majesty, I will not say the war should be stopped. But it should be delayed. Until we grasp the transformed state of the Grand Duchy.”
Before the Emperor could grow more angry at Leslie Ragnar’s words, other officials and generals reproached him.
“Do not speak recklessly!”
“The Police Chief’s remarks now appear merely to protect the Grand Duke, who is a former police officer!”
Leslie Ragnar exhaled heavily as the conference room turned against him.
From the perspective of the police, who understood Pejin Dieusz and April Lunos better than anyone, this war was extracting far too high a price.
At that moment, the Emperor asked Leslie Ragnar.
“I heard there was a medical opinion that if Fog rose again over the Grand Duchy, Pejin Dieusz would lose his life.”
“That is true, but… no, Your Majesty, you cannot.”
Leslie Ragnar objected, anticipating what would come next from the Emperor.
“If you are considering an attack on the Factory in the Southern Coast…”
“If the war begins there, Fog will blanket the Grand Duchy and the Grand Duke will be the first to lose his life. If your concern is that Grand Duke’s knowledge of our army, then eliminate him first, easily, and be done with it, no?”
“We do not know in what direction that Fog will form, nor what effect it will have on us!”
The objection from Leslie Ragnar sparked chaos in the conference room once more.
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The brief news report in the papers contained only that one enemy Cruiser had sunk. Since it was a hastily filed report brought from Lunos Harbor directly to the Capital City newspaper office upon learning of victory, obtaining more detail required simply waiting.
April covered her face with her two hands, which trembled with cold. Beyond the fact of victory, she understood nothing of what had occurred there.
How many had died, how many been wounded, and what had we lost among them.
As April read the victory news without joy, awaiting only the next report, Hannah brought tea to her bedroom late that night and spoke to April cheerfully.
“We won, Head of House! Aren’t you pleased?”
“I suppose we did. We won.”
Why was she so uneasy?
Strangely, she could not feel at ease until she saw Pejin’s face.
To hide her fear from Hannah, April forced a smile and nodded earnestly. Then, facing Hannah, she spoke.
“We will win again in the days to come.”
“That’s right.”
“Come now, let us each do our work. You must study.”
“Yes, yes…”
“Quickly now.”
Having scolded her thus, April rose to her feet.
Hannah, who had grown up well-fed and at ease in the Lunos Family Estate, was facing her police examination this coming summer. Fred too had returned to the Lunos Grand Residence for his studies but was so devoted to his education that he was scarcely seen.
April earnestly hoped these children would safely accomplish their planned futures.
And for now, she was praying for the safety of the islanders at Lunos Harbor.
She drank her tea and lay down to sleep, but sleep would not come. The blizzard she had so longed for was only now beginning. Though the sound of the window rattling was familiar, sleep eluded her entirely.
As April lay awake, she rose at once to a knock on her bedroom door—a soft knock, one not meant to wake her had she been asleep, so gentle she would not have heard it in sleep.
April rushed to the door and opened it. Pejin stood before her.

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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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