The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 63

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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 63
The Emperor had phrased it gently, yet both he and his researchers understood that abduction was by far the easiest method.
The logistics were simple enough. Pejin was already performing surveillance of April, so there would be nothing suspicious about him making an arrest at any moment.
Once he had taken her into custody, he could send her directly to the Empire without any complications.
The Emperor, about to issue the order to Pejin, picked up his pen and fell into deliberation.
The memory of Pejin engaging in Sea Swimming surfaced again.
He had believed he was raising him as a true citizen of the Empire, yet here the boy was, plunging into the sea in the depths of winter.
As they say, one cannot hide where one comes from.
After a long moment of consideration, the Emperor changed the recipient of his command.
The Emperor saw great purpose for Pejin in the complete absorption of the Grand Duke’s Domain into the Empire. It was not mere utilization he had in mind.
The Emperor had lost his heart on first sight the day that boy crossed into the Empire. He had deliberately assembled troops and arrayed them before the youth to frighten and brainwash him, yet that tiny creature had simply widened his eyes.
In that strange land, that strange air, amid the chaos where friend and foe could not be distinguished, young Pejin had calmly begun to take in his surroundings.
Pejin was intelligent, and he quickly grasped the Emperor’s intent.
When the Emperor opened his arms to the formally bowing boy, the child ran to him as though he had just found family he had loved all his life and embraced him. It was an act of submission.
The Emperor’s chest ached at the fact that he would have to test the boy’s loyalty.
Yet there was nothing to be done. No matter how much one cherishes a knife, one cannot sleep with it clasped to one’s breast.
The Emperor made Devin Meyer the recipient of the letter.
It happened that there was trouble between April Lunos and Shaper Meyer, and her father, Devin Meyer, was thoroughly infuriated by it.
If he were told, he would promptly kidnap April and deliver her to the Empire himself.
It would be good news rather than an order.
Pejin would immediately realize that Devin was spiriting away the very subject he had been investigating. The Emperor was curious about what would come next.
* * *
The news spread like wildfire among those who once bore the name Lunos. Word that April would personally deliver an Invitation to each house was spreading rapidly.
Since refusing one would likely lead to a cascade of refusals, it seemed she had decided from the outset to meet with each household directly and hand over the Invitation herself.
The coastal areas of Right Island, where the nobility gathered, were abuzz with activity.
Right Island’s north, where the Grand Duke’s Domain was located, enjoyed a warmer climate. Along the main street of Right Island centered on the Grand Duke’s Domain, most of the notable nobility had their townhouses.
Ellenoa Merrow, a member of the Merrow Family and an Empire native, waited for April Lunos to visit her home, standing quietly by the window and gazing out.
At that moment, her son Kayani Merrow entered the study and spoke carefully.
“Mother, April has just arrived in the Domain.”
“How many times has she visited the Merrow household?”
“Well, this would be the fifth time.”
Ellenoa nodded at Kayani’s quick count.
She turned to Kayani with her characteristically cool expression and spoke.
“Why did you agree to such a thing as Sea Swimming? If you were born an Empire citizen, you shouldn’t let yourself be swayed by such moods.”
“Mother, am I not an Empire citizen even though I was not born in the Empire?”
When Kayani asked this, Ellenoa set down her teacup and replied.
“Are you denying my blood now?”
“No, that isn’t it. I’m not denying you—I’m trying to affirm my father’s existence as well.”
“What good has the Lunos Family ever done for you? Your father abandoned his family name with his own hands, and unable to bear that pressure, he forgot how to speak. Look at the other members of that Family. Did they ever accomplish anything by helping one another?”
“No.”
“Did even a single person ever try to free that child sooner during her years of confinement, or visit the residence despite risking the Grand Duke’s displeasure the moment her confinement was lifted?”
“…No, there was not.”
As Ellenoa’s sharp voice cut through the air, Kayani’s own grew quieter.
Ever since her husband had developed Selective Mutism, Ellenoa Merrow had despised the Lunos Family.
Kayani understood his mother’s feelings perfectly.
Yet his own heart was different.
His love for both parents was the same, but the main house of the Merrow Family lay in the Empire, making him a great-grandchild of that branch. Had they lived on the same Right Island, they would have been intimately close, but because they lived so far apart, they felt entirely like strangers.
The Lunos Family, by contrast, was near in geography and near in kinship as well.
And more than anything else, Kayani loved the Lunos Grand Residence.
If one were to ask where the most central place on Right Island was, most people would think of the capital around the Grand Duke’s Residence.
But for Kayani, it was different.
The nobility of Right Island, resembling the Crescent Moon in shape, lived mostly along the coast facing Left Island—the region with the most pleasant climate.
Beyond that land, a massive and treacherous mountain range ran like a spine along the rounded back of the Crescent Moon.
The virtually only way to cross that mountain range was through the Gorge in the east of the Lunos Domain.
Thus the Lunos Family, positioned at that crucial juncture, held a strategic location. Kayani had always envied such a geographic fact.
With the current state of relations with Left Island having no problems, and few exchanges with other nations, this position no longer stood out as prominently.
Yet the majesty of the Lunos Grand Residence, situated on the final hill leading toward the Gorge, remained.
It was then that April Lunos arrived at the Merrow residence.
Though the Merrow Family was of considerable standing, its head had left almost no inheritance to his ward Ellenoa.
Yet thanks to the Lunos Family’s great wealth, there was no difficulty in living a comfortable life even without any further income.
Ellenoa, understanding this to some degree, spoke to Kayani.
“If you’re so delighted, go and greet her. I’ll…I should speak to your father.”
“Yes, Mother.”
Kayani bowed respectfully and left the study to welcome April, while Ellenoa climbed the stairs to the second floor with an expression of displeasure.
When Ellenoa had come to the Grand Duke’s Domain from the Empire, she had not come empty-handed. She had filled this vast library that extended to the second floor with the books she herself had brought.
Ellenoa walked up the internal staircase within the library and called to her husband, Jeff Merrow, who sat under a blanket on the far side, gazing blankly outside.
“Jeff.”
Over the past seven years, his hair had turned completely white, and in all that time, he had not opened his mouth even once.
When they married, she had loved that gentle heart of his, but she had never imagined it would come to this—eating away at her from the inside.
Ellenoa spoke.
“Your cousin has come. It’s April.”
At the name April, Jeff slowly turned to look at her.
Eyes the same crimson as April’s slowly focused their gaze.
For the first time in seven years, Jeff’s always-wandering gaze became clear and fixed.
Ellenoa surged toward him with a strange mingling of hope and the sorrow that followed, but could not bring herself to embrace a husband who had grown worn and weathered like something covered in dust. Instead, she sank down before him.
“Come to your senses! That girl emerged from confinement and is out here fulfilling her duties, doing what she must—and you, a man so much older, why are you still like this? You should be a husband, you should be a father! Don’t you care about your family?”
At his wife’s pleading voice, shot through with anger, Jeff’s gaze shifted toward her.
After seven years of not moving, Jeff, after a long moment, gently touched the back of her hand with his thumb.
Ellenoa, who had been burying her face against his knees and weeping, looked up in surprise at his gesture.
“Jeff?”

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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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