The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 218

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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 218
Professor Ram offered no commentary on whether what he’d discovered was good news or bad. Yet both April and Pejin sensed, without words, that this was not bad news alone.
April and Pejin prepared to leave the room at once and make their way to the Study, where Professor Ram was waiting.
While she sat on the bed, Pejin finished preparing first and, apparently reluctant to summon a servant, began bringing April her clothes and dressing her himself. His hands moved with such methodical care that April, content to rely on him and be lazy, murmured.
“By the way, we need to send Bauman across the Gorge as soon as possible.”
“Right, Bauman is on the evacuation list too, isn’t he?”
“Yes. I told him to leave quickly, but he keeps putting it off. His heart’s weak. He should have gone with the others when they left.”
As she spoke, a sudden irritation seemed to flare up in her, and April grumbled with clear displeasure.
“A man so conscientious about everything else, yet he keeps delaying when it comes to his own health? I’ll tell him today that he must go.”
“I understand perfectly why he doesn’t want to leave.”
At Pejin’s murmur as he brushed her hair, April looked up to meet his eyes. Seeing the question in her gaze, he fought the urge to kiss her and spoke instead.
“You know how dearly Bauman holds you. Convincing him to evacuate and leave you behind—it won’t be easy.”
“You really think so?”
“If I’m being honest, I’m certain of it. Bauman is tender and flexible only with you and Eve, but he’s extraordinarily stubborn and unyielding otherwise. Whether in life or death, he means to stay in this house with you. I understand him completely.”
At Pejin’s words, April let out a sigh without meaning to. Until now, she’d assumed his delays were purely a matter of stamina—that he needed rest before undertaking such a long journey.
She’d vaguely supposed he’d gain the resolve to go after some rest. And with Eve alongside him, she’d never imagined he would refuse to evacuate.
Hearing Pejin’s words, worry began to gnaw at her—the fear that this was not a matter that mere waiting would resolve.
Setting aside her worry about Bauman for the moment, April made her way with Pejin to Professor Ram, who waited in her Study.
“Professor Ram.”
“Ah, how fortunate that you’ve both arrived, Head of House—and Your Highness as well.”
Professor Ram greeted them warmly. After exchanging greetings with April first, he extended his hand to Pejin in turn, who shook it before speaking to the Professor.
“Please, speak freely. I’ll listen from here.”
With those words, he pulled a chair aside and seated himself at some distance from the two of them. It was a deliberate gesture showing he would not intrude on the matter they had long been discussing together.
This allowed Professor Ram to relax more fully and broach the subject with April. He spoke with visibly excited features.
“Thank you for sending Kayani Lunos. He proved to be a remarkable mathematician.”
Upon hearing that the number of mathematicians was insufficient, April had immediately asked her cousin Kayani for his aid.
Kayani had received mathematical education from an excellent professor and boasted outstanding grades; she’d thought he might be of use. When Kayani, who had been about to depart for war, received a summons from the Head of House, he turned around without hesitation and headed straight to Professor Ram. April, struggling to hide her satisfaction, asked,
“He’s only a boy, after all. But it seems he’s been helpful?”
“Helpful doesn’t begin to describe it. Kayani is a remarkable talent who performs the most precise calculations at the fastest speed! He says he’s learned enough now and plans to become a teacher as soon as possible, going wherever instructors are needed…… but I don’t think he should. Of course, I’m not a mathematician myself, but if Kayani continues studying under me, I’m certain he will……”
As Professor Ram laid bare the ambition he’d been harboring for his student, he noticed April’s gaze turning suspicious and hastily stuffed his covetousness back down.
“I—I apologize. Whenever I discover talent, I lose all restraint……”
“I see a new side of you.”
“Is that so?”
“And…”
April murmured with a smile that came unbidden to her lips.
“It’s a great comfort to know that not only I plan for the future, even in circumstances like these.”
Understanding her meaning, Professor Ram smiled.
“I feel the same, Head of House.”
Seeing Professor Ram pushing for Kayani to continue his studies, April no longer saw herself as unusual for imagining a future where Hannah and Fred realized their dreams. Professor Ram seemed to feel the same.
It was merely instinct. The will to survive. Ultimately, a primitive ambition to endure.
After their exchange of pleasantries, April asked,
“So? What’s this important discovery you mentioned?”
Professor Ram answered,
“First, we’ve made progress in amplifying the Dye’s function through the Lunos method, but we need more time due to safety concerns.”
“I see.”
“Second, didn’t you ask me to find the safest possible way to use the Factory as a massive explosive, just in case?”
“Yes.”
“Well, there is no such way.”
At the Professor’s words that no method existed, Pejin—listening from a distance, a man who had reluctantly become obsessed with firepower—twisted his expression. Yet because both April and Professor Ram wore calm faces, he discerned that this story would not unfold badly. Professor Ram continued,
“The problem lies in the fact that this Lunos Fiefdom Factory has vast deposits of both Crude Oil and Gas. Once the Drill Hole opens, the raw materials naturally rise under pressure. In other words, once an explosion occurs, the Crude Oil and Gas will continuously amplify its scale, resulting inevitably in an explosion of catastrophic proportions—one that would affect the entire Right Island. But here’s the thing: didn’t you say that those villains from Rasa are attacking the Southern Factory?”
“Yes.”
“The Southern Factory is quite different. Our investigation conducted the same way revealed that the Southern Factory has far fewer resource deposits. Unlike the Lunos Factory, it requires external pressure to draw up the Crude Oil. In short, even if it explodes, we can limit the scale. The location being coastal would also minimize damage to the island. And since Gas won’t rush upward, the Fog that does develop will be much smaller in scale—only enough to cover the Right Island. I believe Rasa is already aware of this much.”
April nodded in understanding.
A faint fog covering only the Right Island. Pejin’s life clearly lay within that calculated aim. April asked him,
“Then, how has the Southern Factory been raising pressure to draw up Crude Oil until now?”
“Precisely! That’s the crucial question!”
Professor Ram applauded as if praising a student for an excellent question and continued,
“The people of Rasa have been drawing water from the nearby Lake and injecting it.”
“Then…… that water would be mixed with the Gas that causes the Fog.”
“Correct. Since this gas is separated from the Crude Oil but can dissolve in water, it contaminated the Lake in Lunos Fiefdom and even destroyed wells at a Brewery some distance away.”
“Is there a way to draw up that water containing the dissolved gas?”
Professor Ram regarded April with satisfaction as she grasped his plan so swiftly. She truly was a cousin to that exceptional mathematician, Kayani Lunos. He found himself thinking what a fine talent she would become if brought to his school, yet April seemed a somewhat frightening person to approach with such a proposal.
Professor Ram continued,
“Yes, through the same Pipes used to inject the water, we’ve completed research on how to draw that water back out. When a massive explosion and fire occur, the immense volume of water containing the dissolved Gas will evaporate from the heat. And then—”
“A severe Fog will develop.”
“Yes. An enormous quantity of Fog—something Rasa hasn’t anticipated at all.”
Professor Ram, who had long devoted himself to studying Fog, seemed to harbor a strange warmth toward it, mixed with ambivalence. He swiftly erased that warmth and continued,
“The wind always blows from right to left across the island, so the Fog from the Gas generated in Lunos Fiefdom covered the Capital City to the left. The Fog arising from the southern coast will be incomparably denser and far more extensive than what was created before. The Rasa army will be unable to advance further, and that massive Fog will eventually be driven by April winds to inevitably blanket the Left Island.”
The authority to decide on this entire plan rested with the Grand Duke. Therefore, Professor Ram glanced at Pejin, but he instead rose and moved toward April. Then he leaned close to her ear, speaking so only she could hear.
“I’ll be in a safe place. Safer than anyone.”
His tone was casual, almost glib.

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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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