The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 73

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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 73
She didn’t seem accustomed to using formal speech with April.
April, taking into account that she wasn’t one of her crew, let it pass without concern.
“I’m just glad to see a sailor after so long.”
“Well, if Lunos were a person, it would be.”
“By the way, if you’re giving up your cabin like this, did you get paid?”
Irsa gestured with her chin toward the wooden barrels she’d lined up neatly. It seemed she’d received plenty of beer in exchange for keeping watch over her.
Irsa picked up another barrel of beer and spoke.
“If you’re going to ask me to help you escape, just don’t bother. It’s not happening.”
“I understand. I’ll ask for something else.”
“There’s nothing else to do, is there? You’re going to your death, aren’t you?”
“They won’t kill me. They can’t. If I die, the police who arrested me will come under suspicion.”
April spoke without any real conviction, but as the words left her mouth, they began to ring true to her own ears, and her anxiety eased somewhat.
Irsa, listening, nodded in agreement. Then she drained another barrel of beer and gestured toward April’s clothes.
“You’re wearing red when you go to Left Island?”
“What does Left Island have to do with red clothing?”
When April narrowed her eyes in confusion, Irsa thumped the floor with her palm in exasperation.
“How can a member of the Lunos Family not know that?”
“It has something to do with ships, doesn’t it?”
“Port side is red, starboard is green.”
“There’s such a thing? I had no idea.”
“Well… it happens.”
Upon further reflection, as though ignorance wasn’t such a big matter after all, Irsa shrugged her shoulders.
April gestured to Irsa with her chin and spoke.
“You’re left-handed.”
“My parents would have corrected it if they’d lived past when I was eight.”
As Irsa grumbled, April asked her a question.
“Is it inconvenient for a sailor to be left-handed?”
“More than that—the sailors of Right Island don’t like it. Traditionally, pirates row oars adjusted for right-handed helmsmen to change direction.”
April nodded.
Irsa had, surprisingly, quite a lot to talk about. Particularly when she spoke of the bandits of the Lunos Family, her face bore a look of self-recrimination despite the events having nothing to do with her.
“It was foolish beyond measure. Miss Lunos coming here and dying must be because that gang of brigands destroyed everything back then.”
“I’m not going to die.”
“After that, so many sailors went without food. Now that Lunos is finished, there’s no hope for sailors going forward either.”
“I said I’m not dying. You were listening well enough a moment ago.”
At April’s rebuke, Irsa broke into a grin. It seemed to be her idea of a joke.
Indeed, sailors believed in the god of death. To ease their fear of death even a little.
Therefore, such talk of death was, for a sailor, a relatively light jest.
Irsa spoke.
“Even if Miss Lunos does come back alive, would you hire that gang of brigands again?”
“I’ll have to do it out of necessity. How else would I put a ship to sea without sailors?”
Only then did April recall her parents’ words for the first time and let out a rueful laugh.
“The Lunos Family was always able to venture into open waters by neighboring with pirates. If they need each other, there’s no help for it.”
……
Irsa regarded April silently for a moment, then rolled up her sleeves and spoke.
“All right.”
“What is?”
“If you somehow don’t die this time, I’ll help you escape.”
“And in exchange, I’ll hire you later if circumstances allow?”
“Something like that.”
April nodded, and this time she sat a little closer to Irsa.
She began asking about things on the ship she’d had no interest in before.
Irsa was three years older than April and had been sailing since she was old enough to work, so her experience was considerable.
Though not smooth, the conversation made time seem to pass faster than it actually did.
On Irsa’s advice that a short nap would be good, April lay down on the bed and closed her eyes for a moment.
The ship circled aimlessly over the sea for a long time before finally reaching Left Island.
Irsa drew in a sharp breath through her nose and spoke.
“We’re here.”
“… It’s hot.”
April furrowed her brow. Compared to the winters of Right Island, where temperatures dropped well below negative twenty degrees Celsius, her clothing was far too heavy.
April removed her coat. The layered garment beneath was sufficient for this weather.
She felt the ship slow to a stop as it reached the harbor.
April looked toward the door, expecting someone to come collect her.
As she watched the door, April’s attention snapped to the sound of a lock being opened from outside.
Those who entered were Imperial Police. The Grand Duchy Police seemed to have no further involvement after handing her over to the ship.
“Excuse us, Miss Lunos.”
The Imperial Police officer, whose manner was considerably more courteous than that of the Grand Duchy Police, spoke thus before covering April’s eyes. Then, in a tone almost apologetic, he addressed her.
“We’ve received a report from the Investigation Headquarters operating on Right Island regarding you, Miss Lunos. It says you were standing perfectly fine even as Imperial Police officers collapsed in the fog.”
“And?”
“An Academic Academy in the Empire wishes to know how you managed to remain healthy in the fog of Right Island. His Majesty the Emperor takes the Right Island Fog Problem quite seriously. That’s why he’s dispatched Dieusz, whom he values so highly, as the director of the headquarters.”
“All that fool managed to figure out was that I was fine in the fog?”
“Miss Lunos.”
The carefulness in the officer’s voice vanished, and his tone became resolute.
“I know you and the Director have a long history together, but you cannot speak carelessly of him. This is not the Grand Duchy.”
At his words, April furrowed her brow and asked.
“Does a person change when the place changes?”
“The treatment changes.”
Because her eyes were covered, April could only read her counterpart’s emotions through his voice.
The officer’s tone was, in turn, measured.
“To reiterate, Director Dieusz is one of those whom His Majesty the Emperor values most. He has been raised almost no differently than the Crown Prince.”
“… I understand. Never mind that—the Academic Academy.”
“Yes. We apologize for bringing you in this manner, but please consider it to be for the future of Right Island.”
With that, the conversation ended, and the officers helped her to her feet.
April was soon in a car and moving somewhere.
It was then that she realized the heat she’d felt wasn’t only because of Left Island’s temperature. Cold sweat was drenching her lower back in an instant.
Of all times.
A cold and body ache were overtaking her on a day when she couldn’t afford to be sick.
April wanted to huddle in on herself with her arms, but pride wouldn’t allow it, so she remained sitting rigidly upright.

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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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