The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 74

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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 74
The car came to a stop at the Academy not long after. Before April could register the smell of books she’d imagined, a delicate floral fragrance reached her first.
“You may step out now.”
She descended with the police escort, and when she removed the blindfold from her eyes, she saw a pierced ceramic vessel in the shape of a small bowl—the kind for holding potpourri, which Pejin had bought along with a dress when he returned from the Empire.
The sight of it brought Pejin to mind.
From what the police had said earlier, it seemed that what she was doing here was genuinely an investigation for Right Island.
April was exhausted, and her entire body ached as a result, so she simply wanted to believe their words in her innocence.
If she thought of it that way, Pejin feigning ignorance of her arrest wasn’t entirely unforgivable.
Of course, whether she forgave him or not had nothing to do with him. Yet it made a difference to her.
Still, she couldn’t understand why this had been done through abduction rather than an invitation. Moreover, during the entire journey here, the police had repeatedly and alternately emphasized that she must keep her visit to this place absolutely secret.
Just as April was wondering what this secrecy was for, a scholar from the Academy approached her with a gentle smile.
“I trust you’ve heard the explanation? I can only apologize for having to bring you here in this manner.”
“If this were the reason, couldn’t you have simply asked the Grand Duke Dieusz?”
“Ah, well…….”
“Why did you need to resort to abduction? I don’t understand it.”
At the mention of abduction, the scholar replied with an apologetic expression.
“We were trying to minimize unnecessary commotion, and……. We truly apologize.”
She sensed that the phrase “unnecessary commotion” contained more than it said. It wasn’t only about the disturbance occurring on Right Island. It would be for the sake of conducting free experiments here, in the Empire itself.
Shortly after, a physician entered, and like all other Empire subjects, spoke to her with courtesy.
“We’ll be taking a blood draw.”
“What if I refuse?”
“I would still ask that you reconsider.”
After saying so, the physician began the blood draw.
As April watched her arm, she spoke to the physician.
“You Empire people all speak so softly.”
“Do we?”
“As if talking to a young animal.”
She continued speaking with a weary expression.
“You’re not listening to my answers.”
Her suspicion solidified into certainty at those words.
She felt the physician hesitate, but soon he returned to the gentle expression befitting his manner of speech and continued the blood draw. And he spoke to her no further.
Between the blood draw and her exhaustion, she lost consciousness partway through. It was possible she’d simply fallen asleep, having spent the night awake with anxiety.
Since she’d been abducted in the dead of night, she briefly hoped that when she closed her eyes and opened them again, she would find herself back on Right Island. But nothing had changed significantly.
* * *
When she opened her eyes, it was night again, and unfamiliar pajamas had been dressed onto her body.
She had slept and awoken in a small room.
When she tried the door, it was locked, as expected.
April found herself turning toward the window.
Irsa’s words about there being a way out through the window came to mind, oddly ill-suited to her present situation.
April moved toward the window without thinking. When she opened it, she found a roof immediately in front of her.
“…….”
She climbed onto the window sill.
Below the roof, a building that appeared to be five stories tall stood in place. She knew that falling would mean death, yet she wanted to leave regardless.
She wanted to understand the situation. Why she was here, how much longer she would need to stay. She couldn’t simply wait indefinitely in a place where no one would explain anything, even when asked.
“I must be delirious from the heat.”
She muttered a self-deprecating remark, yet oddly, this moment felt almost exhilarating.
Seeing herself engaging in something so reckless, she began to wonder if pirate blood truly ran through her veins.
After all, pirates delighted in venturing into storm-tossed seas and fighting with death in their hearts.
She arrived at the roof after a perilous crossing, barely making it. She slowly walked down the slanted roof, searching for a safe descent.
Behind the building, April found a balcony stacked with cargo, and she descended onto it without difficulty.
“……This is easier than I thought?”
April murmured and carefully entered the building.
She descended the stairs of the sleeping Academy. The building formed a rectangle surrounding a central courtyard. It seemed they had never anticipated her climbing over the roof to escape.
There was no security to speak of within the Academy. She discovered a closed door and was about to leave, but as if possessed, she entered a nearby building whose door stood open.
It was the building where she’d undergone the blood draw.
April recalled how the scholars had repeatedly entered and exited one room in the building.
She slowly opened a door and stepped inside.
Within was a vast sealed space where Fog had been created and contained.
“You mustn’t enter……. Oh my, you’ve already come in.”
The scholar who turned around let out a sigh.
Yet shortly after, he spoke in a brightened voice as if things had turned out well.
“I’m not sure how you escaped the room, but it’s better that you’ve been discovered. Yes, I’ll speak honestly.”
“About what?”
“We’ve recreated here the exact conditions from Right Island. So we could conduct experiments.”
Scholars wearing masks looked at her with eyes full of inquiry.
April narrowed her eyes.
“The exact same conditions?”
“Yes, April.”
“So that means you understand how the Fog formed……. You know the cause.”
At her words, the scholars faltered.
One scholar hastened to speak.
“It’s not identical. It’s merely a hypothesis…….”
April believed none of what the scholar said. It was absurd to believe even one word from someone who had kidnapped her in the first place.
The scholar continued.
“What truly astounds us is that you, April, remain unharmed even within this Fog. How on earth is this possible?”
“I have no idea. Frustratingly so.”
This was the question that intrigued April most.
It wasn’t that she was completely unaffected by the Fog, but she was certainly less affected than others.
April broke into a cold sweat across her entire body, yet she turned her back on the scholars. Then she righted a fallen chair and sat down in its place.
There was no one here who would listen even if she cried out for release. So she had no intention of begging.
She would not plead over something like this.
If she died here, then she died.
She sat upright and glared at the scholars.
When oppressed, those from lands rich in mountains speak of being crushed by mountains, and those from lands of rough waters speak of being crushed by great waves.
April Lunos was from Right Island, where there were mountains aplenty and waves aplenty.
She felt as if a mountain had pressed down once and a wave once more, yet she closed off her thoughts.
If she did not even entertain the thought of hardship, she would not lie down and die like this.
Just as she thought this, the door opened.
“The experiment is in progress! You mustn’t open the door!”
Regardless, the door opened, and several masked police officers entered.
April recalled how she had recognized Pejin on a day when the Fog had been particularly thick.
Why was that? What did she see that made her recognize that masked man as Pejin?
No matter how much she thought about it, she could not understand. Why she could recognize him instantly, no matter where or how they met.
Was it his gait that distinguished him, the scent of his cologne, or perhaps every subtle movement?
She spoke to the man who entered the Fog and embraced her.
“Pejin.”
“…….”
“Why are you here?”
April asked despite knowing the answer—an Empire Police officer would surely be aware of what was happening in the Empire.
It was her way of saying she was glad to see him.

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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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