The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 72

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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 72
Bauman gripped the key with trembling hands.
“Yes, Miss. Leave it with me.”
Before the Lunos Residence had been sealed, he knew better than anyone that the servants who once worked there had stolen everything of value—and he was the one who’d repaired all the damage they’d inflicted on the house.
Yet she had entrusted him with the jewel box key without hesitation.
Bauman resolved to repay the trust she showed him.
He slipped the key deep into his inner pocket.
Just then, one of the Dieusz Grand Duchy Police emerged from the basement and removed his mask.
“There was a gas pipe connected down there!”
It was a lie.
Bauman, who had barely contained his anger at April’s composure, erupted.
“That’s absurd!”
While Bauman’s eyes flashed with indignation, April descended the stairs. She could see that a gas pipe had been connected in the meantime.
The pipe itself was old, salvaged from somewhere, but the solder sealing the joint gleamed silver-bright, not a speck of dust upon it.
Jona Tabisi spoke with a flush of satisfaction on his face.
“Look at this. The gas pipe is still here, isn’t it!”
April understood that even if she presented this solder as evidence now, no one would take her side. All she could do was hope the Imperial Police would have the will to investigate once more.
April turned to face Jona Tabisi and spoke.
“I trust the Imperial Police’s investigation. The Dieusz Grand Duchy Police always follow the money.”
“No, Miss Lunos. How can you say such things right in front of the Grand Duchy Police? Even if you don’t want to pay, surely….”
“I can’t pay. The receipt itself doesn’t make sense. If we have it rewritten with a banker present, then perhaps we can talk.”
At April’s firm words, Jona Tabisi laughed—a laugh born from his certainty that she had no other recourse.
“If you don’t pay me right now, the Dieusz Grand Duchy Police will arrest Miss Lunos.”
“That appears to be the case.”
April replied with a cold expression.
The Dieusz Grand Duchy Police, who had intended her arrest from the start, arrested April Lunos on the spot and departed the fiefdom once they had successfully accomplished their objective.
Jona Tabisi, satisfied at having succeeded in making the arrest, turned to Bauman—who glared at him with eyes wide with fury—and spoke.
“I’ll come back for the gas bill another time. You should know that dragging things out will only add interest.”
Before Jona Tabisi could even finish speaking, Bauman reached for the long pole that leaned against the wall and gripped it.
“Today I held back for our Miss’s sake, but the next time you set foot here, let’s see if your neck is still attached to your shoulders.”
“Th-that’s terrible talk…. L-let’s go, shall we!”
Intimidated by Bauman’s imposing frame, Jona Tabisi scrambled into the carriage he’d arrived in and hastily departed the residence.
Only after everyone had left did Bauman call to Hanna and Fred, who had been cowering in fear inside the room.
“What are you doing? Get your books out and study. Once the weather clears, you’ll be going back to school.”
“Grandfather, what about Miss….”
“She’ll be back soon.”
Bauman continued, his expression stern in a way he rarely allowed.
“While Miss is away, studying is all you two have to do. Come now, open your books.”
The children’s eyes glistened with tears, but faced with Bauman’s stern expression—so unlike his usual warmth—they suppressed their worry for April and began their studies.
After sending the children off to their lessons, Bauman exhaled a trembling breath.
He could only pray that the master of this great mansion would return safely.
“In all my years, I have never known a lord like her.”
Bauman clasped his hands together toward Heaven.
“Please protect our Miss….”
* * *
As the Dieusz Grand Duchy Police’s black carriage raced through the fiefdom, April kept her gaze fixed on the window.
She wanted to know exactly where they were taking her.
As she expected, the carriage delivered her to a jail she’d never seen before.
In the meantime, journalists from Right Island had written articles about her, taken photographs, and sketched caricatures.
Around two in the morning, after a night spent in a solitary cell that was all too familiar, she was suddenly led away by policemen who appeared out of nowhere.
A night where not a single light could be seen.
Even April, who had steeled herself to survive whatever came and return alive, could not bear the terror that pressed down on her in the darkness.
Though her eyes were covered, she realized at some point that she could smell the sea.
As April wondered whether to scream and whether anyone would hear her, she found herself thinking, unbidden, of a familiar face.
When Pejin’s image formed in the darkness, April immediately shook her head.
The Imperial Police could only follow the Empire’s orders—she had known that from the start.
It would be foolish to feel disappointed now that he had turned a blind eye to her arrest.
At some point, she was inside a ship cabin, and she heard the sound of the door being locked from outside.
As April exhaled a trembling breath and removed the blindfold the police had placed on her, she stopped short.
There was another woman in the cabin—a female sailor.
Her hair, wetted by seawater, appeared untended for some time and was rough as rope, and the woman wore it twisted in a manner befitting her appearance.
Her frame was as large as any of the Imperial Police officers April had seen. She was unmistakably one who carried the blood of the Right Island pirates.
April stood with her back against the door, on guard, but then realized she couldn’t remain like this the entire journey. She finally spoke to the sailor, who had been eating steadily all the while.
“Are you a prisoner too? The door’s locked, so we can’t get out.”
The sailor gestured with her thumb toward the window behind her and spoke.
“I can get out that way.”
“Through the window?”
“There’s always a way.”
What the sailor was eating was salted cod. Despite looking excessively salty, she consumed it without any accompanying food.
April had been thinking of this place as a crossroads of survival. She maintained a taut vigilance, but when she observed someone engaging in purely survival-driven behavior, her guardedness mysteriously eased.
The unusually taciturn sailor and April sat as far apart as the narrow cabin would allow, and April introduced herself.
“I’m April. April Lunos.”
She thought that if she were cast into the sea without knowing who she was, it would be better if as many people as possible knew she had been here.
Upon hearing April speak, the sailor replied through a mouthful of fish.
“Irsa Joyce.”
“You’ve spent a long time at sea, it seems.”
“Born on a ship. Raised on a ship.”
Irsa answered more readily than April expected, and April felt her wariness soften slightly. In this situation where she had nowhere to rely, having someone to talk to was considerable comfort.
Among the people of Right Island, those like Irsa who carried the pirate bloodline purely possessed enormous stature and strength.
She had an appetite to match her size; she consumed an entire wooden barrel full of salted cod and drained another barrel of the same size containing beer in one long pull.
April, watching Irsa—who seemed neither wholly pirate nor wholly ordinary sailor—found herself remembering the crew members of merchant vessels she’d seen in childhood. They had been just like Irsa.
Rough, large, and voracious.
The Lunos Family’s ship captain, who had passed away from illness around the time the Lunos Family was arrested, had once said that dealing with Right Island sailors was as complicated as the sea itself.
They lived half in a lawless realm.
April tilted her head slightly as she looked at Irsa and found herself laughing softly without meaning to. At that quiet laugh, Irsa leisurely raised her body.
“What’s so funny?”

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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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