The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 60

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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 60
She turned the fact over in her mind and pulled her coat on.
There was a quiet that came only on days of heavy snow. Today was such a day.
April looked down at the snow piled beyond the window. Bauman had set about clearing it diligently since before dawn broke, but his solitary efforts had barely made a dent. He’d managed to clear only two or three meters in front of the porch—just enough to move back and forth.
Sebio, waking from sleep, had been following April about when he heard Hanna’s voice calling him and bolted down the stairs.
“Sebio! Come quick!”
April wondered what Hanna could possibly want with Sebio this early in the morning and went to find her, only to discover Bauman had brought out a sled he’d made in his spare moments.
Bauman turned to April and spoke.
“The children are asking to ride the sled, but… I thought I’d have Sebio keep watch in case they should get lost in all this snow.”
“A fine idea. Those two are wild as March hares.”
April remarked with dry humor and settled into the porch rocking chair.
Yet her words belied her actions—sitting outside on such a bitter cold day suggested she wanted to watch the children play.
Bauman had cleared the snow in front of the porch and fashioned quite a steep slope.
Watching them, April saw the children grow delighted as they carved snow caves for themselves and sledded down the hillside, playing without a moment’s rest. Beside them, Sebio bounded about in equal excitement.
April sat with a blanket Fred’s grandmother had knitted for her spread over her lap, gazing out at the children at play.
When she learned that Fred had begun his lessons, the boy’s grandmother had unleashed the educational zeal she’d long kept bottled up inside.
It was she who would violently shake Fred awake when he, drowsy with sleep, wanted to skip his lessons at the Lunos Residence, and she who had painstakingly knitted this careful blanket with yarn bought from the money she’d saved from Fred’s wages—all manifestations of that fierce devotion to learning.
Bauman set a warm cup of tea—April’s favorite—on the table beside her and spoke.
“It’s remarkable how much joy they find in such simple things, isn’t it?”
“Indeed it is.”
“I’ve also made a sled for adults to ride. Since the young master visits so often, it would be nice if you rode it together with him, wouldn’t it?”
“…We’ll see.”
When April answered rather more positively than expected, color bloomed in Bauman’s weathered face.
After watching the children for a time, April began writing a death notice to send to the Lunos Family.
She made no effort to hide her resentment. The Lunos Family had to gather here, if only out of fear.
As she was writing the letter, Sebio suddenly began barking in alarm.
“Sebio, what is it?”
Hanna and Fred reached out to soothe him, asking with concern.
Sebio continued barking, and Hanna tilted her head, asking aloud.
“Are strangers coming?”
At Hanna’s words, Bauman slowly picked up the tools he’d left standing on the porch.
April watched in the direction Sebio was barking. Nothing was visible yet.
But not long after, the residents of the Lunos Residence could see figures emerging through the snow.
April recognized at once that they were not the usual contingent of Police who kept camp in Lunos Territory.
They were hunters.
* * *
All of them wore furs and carried shotguns, approaching through the snow with heavy footfalls.
April could make out the leader of the hunters.
It was Shaefer Mayer.
In the Social Season, Shaefer was a wholly unremarkable figure.
A young man backed by a solid family, his parents’ influence, and his own looks—one who acted entirely on whim.
The only surprise was that he’d been just as willful when April was fourteen and Shaefer seventeen, and he remained so even now.
Bauman spoke.
“Would it not be better to withdraw inside? They hardly look like proper guests…”
“This is my territory. How would it look if I hid?”
April said quietly and rose from her chair. Then she gestured for the children to go inside.
Hanna puffed out her small frame as if to stand guard over April, but timid Fred pulled her back, and Bauman pushed them both forward. They had no choice but to withdraw into the house.
April saw Sebio take his place at her feet.
His tail was tucked so far it nearly touched his belly, his teeth bared at the hunters, a low growl rumbling in his chest.
“Are you scared, or are you threatening? Pick one,” April said, stroking Sebio’s head.
She touched his head gently.
When the hunters drew near, April’s gaze shifted from them to the hunting dogs they’d brought with them.
Black, with white spots on their tails. When April looked at Sebio, she saw his frame was smaller, but his structure was identical.
“…Are they your siblings?”
She found it strange that he’d appeared from nowhere, but she hadn’t known his former owner was someone she knew.
Still, from the way Sebio was displaying such open hostility, that previous owner couldn’t have been kind. Of course, what surprised April more was that Shaefer had ever owned such a dog in the first place.
Shaefer, who had drawn near, signaled his companions to halt, then walked toward April alone. His sauntering gait was distasteful to watch, but April made no show of her distaste.
Shaefer stopped in an uncomfortably close distance. At his threatening posture with his bulk, April let out a scoffing laugh and spoke.
“Did you deliberately choose a day when Pejin wasn’t here?”
At April’s words, Shaefer laughed heartily.
“After all, both Pejin and I are men with claims in the Empire. We’re on the same side—there’s no reason to be enemies. Though if there were bad blood between us, it’s only that the Police and Navy have never been on good terms to begin with.”
Shaefer said as much, then clasped his hands behind his back and spoke to April.
“Step aside. I have something to investigate.”
“That’s the Police’s job.”
April, blocking the entrance, answered without moving.
Shaefer scanned the stubborn April with his eyes, then reached out and tapped her chin with his hand as he spoke.
“What will you do if you keep being stubborn? It doesn’t look like you have a single servant to protect you here.”
Shaefer glanced back and forth between Bauman and the dog, then continued.
“Just an old man and a mongrel. And one I threw away at that.”
April turned her gaze toward Sebio.
The dog who had once been so starved that bone showed through his skin, his coat patchy with missing fur, now had fine white down growing in where the fur had fallen away. With black fur gone and white fur growing in its place, he was mottled and weathered—but by any human measure, he looked rather fine.
April gripped Sebio’s leash. Only then did Sebio, emboldened at last, straighten his tail and lunge at Shaefer.
April made a show of restraining him, saying.
“Easy.”
At the sight of this, Shaefer’s brow furrowed.
“What are you doing?”
“Saving you. He might bite.”
“You?”
“Have you ever acted like an adult?”
At April’s mocking words, Shaefer’s subordinates behind him drew the knives they carried for killing prey, making threatening motions with them.
There were some twenty armed men in front of her.
It would be a lie to say she felt no fear, but she also didn’t think she should panic excessively.
Though they acted like willful youths, they were not men with nothing left to lose—men so desperate they’d behead someone whose legal sentence was already complete.
Shaefer spoke.
“I have something to find. Move aside.”
“Breaking in without the owner’s invitation is a crime.”
“Don’t be clever.”
“…What’s clever about it?”
Rather than answer April’s narrowed, questioning gaze, Shaefer continued.
“I have a religious conviction—that killing a witch is no sin. If I kill you and the fog disappears, that’s good. If it doesn’t disappear, then I’ll pay the price for my sin.”
Shaefer drew a sharp dagger and brought it to April’s throat, kicking aside Sebio as he lunged for him.
As Sebio tried to lunge again, April said.
“Hanna, take Sebio upstairs.”
At her call, Hanna came running down the stairs. She grabbed Sebio’s reluctant frame with all her strength and dragged him back up the stairs with her.
Shaefer looked down at his foot. The thick leather bore the bite marks of the dog’s teeth.
“That mangy mutt.”
“The items are in the basement.”
April said this to Shaefer, who continued staring down the stairs where Sebio had disappeared.
When Shaefer met her gaze, April continued.
“My parents had everything moved down to the third basement level.”
“How am I supposed to trust your word?”
“Come with me. I’ll show you.”
April spoke and turned back toward the house.
Shaefer gestured to his men, then fell into step behind April.

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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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