The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 70

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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 70
“Why? Why did the Dieusz Grand Duchy Police arrest April?”
Paul, who had grown fond of April, furrowed his brow without thinking and asked. Logan answered.
“That arrest must have been an Imperial Edict.”
“What?”
“They seem to be creating a method to hold April legally, with the police doing the detaining.”
At Logan’s words, Paul hesitated, then turned to Pejin and spoke.
“Isn’t this kidnapping?”
“It’s an arrest. How is it kidnapping when the police take her away?”
“But—”
“Leave it. There’s nothing we can do.”
Pejin spoke and set aside the report that no longer held anything of interest.
Paul found himself trying to read Pejin’s emotions.
Logan caught sight of Paul and stepped forward, positioning himself between them, his hands clasped behind his back.
“The Chief Inspector is right. With an Imperial Edict, it’s only natural.”
“How is it natural! What if something happens to April?”
“Why would you entrust this matter to the Dieusz Grand Duchy Police rather than the investigative headquarters in the first place?”
“What…?”
Paul’s words caught in his throat and he couldn’t answer. Logan nodded as if he’d expected this and continued.
“His Imperial Majesty is testing you—to see how much you can ignore of what happens in the Grand Duchy.”
“……”
“And whether April is a figure who might influence your judgment.”
Paul Soehr himself was the first to be seized by such a concern.
He stared at Pejin for a moment over Logan’s shoulder.
He no longer spoke, neither in anger nor in melancholy.
Paul understood that Pejin had had no choice but to construct this emotionless demeanor—he had chosen to shut out every feeling entirely.
Paul spoke to such a Pejin.
“April will be hurt, Chief Inspector.”
Then Pejin gestured to Trevor to leave.
Knowing this was a conversation he should not hear, Trevor Hill bowed and departed with the Division 2 officers.
Pejin looked at Paul and asked.
“Why did we come here in the first place?”
“…To maintain order that the Fog was destroying.”
“No. Be honest.”
“To be honest…”
“We came to protect the Empire.”
At Pejin’s words, Paul hesitated and closed his mouth.
Pejin continued.
“The Fog has had no effect on the Empire whatsoever. This is something that happened in the Grand Duchy, and if anyone is to blame, it’s so they can blame April Lunos, who lives in that grand mansion on the hill and always keeps the Gas Lamp burning.”
At Pejin’s words, Paul clenched his fists.
Silence flowed after that, and when the conversation seemed to have ended, Paul opened his mouth again.
“Yes, I understand. I understand, but…”
“If you understand, then go.”
“I suppose I was turning a blind eye because I didn’t want to admit that I’m such a contemptible man.”
“……”
“Thank you for the enlightenment.”
Paul offered that bow and left the investigative headquarters.
Logan turned to Pejin, who said nothing.
“Then…I’ll take my leave as well.”
After he offered that farewell and Logan too departed, Pejin remained sitting for a long while.
Only after a long time alone did reality begin to claw its way into his mind.
He had understood the situation before anyone else, yet his capacity to feel it came slower than anyone’s.
Pejin hunched his body and covered his face with both hands.
“Don’t come to me in dreams. You’re a nightmare.”
His hands began to tremble.
* * *
Pejin’s words proved true.
The beautiful one came to her in dreams. And the dreams in which Pejin appeared were nightmares.
Even after hearing what Jeff Morrow had to say, April could not hate Pejin Dieusz. She felt no such thing.
Should it be neither love nor hate, then nothing at all?
She could not understand what compressed her breath so.
Pejin was standing on a cliff. Then at some moment, she was the one standing on a cliff. It was a confused dream.
And one of them was falling over the cliff’s edge. It was Pejin Dieusz, then it was her, then it switched again.
The truly terrible part of the nightmare came when Pejin fell over the cliff.
That fact was devastatingly painful. When the scene shifted to her falling instead, she screamed in terror—yet felt relief.
If it were me who died, that would be fine.
Her mind went there.
She awoke from that stifling dream when Bauman knocked at her door and woke her.
The sound of the knocking was ominous.
April could not tell whether this tension bearing down on her whole body came from the nightmare or from Bauman’s knock.
April put on her robe and opened the door.
“What’s the matter?”
“The police…the police have come.”
“The police?”
April narrowed her brow in confusion.
The police had been coming and going from this mansion for days now. She could not understand why Bauman would be so alarmed.
Then she remembered that there were now two classes of police on Right Island.
One was the Empire Police led by Pejin, and the other was…
The Grand Duchy Police who had investigated the Lunos Family.
April rushed outside without time to collect herself.
As Bauman had said, officers in uniforms bearing the Dieusz Grand Duchy Police insignia stood before her.
She came face to face with a visage that remained vivid in her memory.
Every one of the officers who had investigated the Lunos Family was here.
“What is this place…?”
April clenched her fists, her whole body trembling.
The officers who had spotted her alerted a middle-aged man standing contentedly with a sheaf of documents in his hands that April had emerged.
At that, the man rushed toward her with a pleased expression.
“Good day to you, Miss Lunos.”
“And who are you?”
“Ah, I am Jonah Tavishi of Tavishi Company. I’m a gas merchant.”
Jonah Tavishi handed her his business card and introduced himself, then continued.
“I apologize for having begun the investigation before asking…but would it be alright if I searched the Lunos mansion a bit?”
April unconsciously narrowed her brow and asked.
“What is this about?”
“Of course, Miss Lunos would know best—the matter of gas payment that has gone unpaid until now.”
At this sudden remark, April’s words caught in her throat.
In the meantime, Jonah Tavishi drew out an invoice from the sheaf of documents he was holding and presented it to her.
“Your Highness the Grand Duke has also understood the difficulties of my small company and kindly permitted the investigation.”
“As far as I know, the Empire Police have already conducted a thorough investigation of that matter.”
“Yes, that’s true. But how much interest would the Empire Police take in matters occurring in the Grand Duchy? So His Highness has graciously ordered the Dieusz Grand Duchy Police to conduct a re-investigation on my behalf.”
“A re-investigation?”
At this absurdity, a laugh escaped her lips unbidden.
To such an April, Jonah Tavishi continued.
“If the investigation proves that you have indeed used gas until now, the Lunos Family will pay the amount written here.”
April examined the invoice, then barely managed to speak.
“But the gas line has been severed. What would a re-investigation change?”
“And yet the Lunos Family did draw gas and kept the Gas Lamps burning—that much is fact. And I apologize for saying this…but it’s possible that Miss April employed some method unknown to us, isn’t it? Such as sorcery……”
As Jonah Tavishi spoke, April examined the invoice in a dizzy state.
The amount written on the invoice far exceeded the money that remained after she had disposed of her vessel.
The sum was so exorbitant that even if, as this businessman claimed, she had used the gas, it made no sense. It was no different from loan sharking.
That amount was nearly equal to the money she kept in the bank. Clearly, even the banker was in on it.
This gas merchant knew exactly the extent of her wealth.

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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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