The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 75

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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 75
Pejin hated sailing in winter.
The strait wedged between Right Island and Left Island wasn’t rough, and the distance was manageable.
Yet he hated it. Crossing the sea meant running into towering waves.
Long ago, the people of Right Island used to row across that winter sea as if it were their daily lot—with barely ten oars to their names, and just a single right-handed oar fastened to the stern where the helmsman stood.
The helmsman was also the captain, and if he met a Rip Current, that helmsman-captain alone had to save his crew from the brink of death.
Why not simply sail when the waves were calm?
He thought that only fools chose difficult paths when easier ones existed in the world.
April Lunos was the same. With that pretty face, she could use her looks to seduce—surely there were enough foolish police officers in the Grand Duke’s jurisdiction who’d let her through?
Or she could use those charms on him.
He was one of those fools too, after all.
In any case, he couldn’t understand why he’d crossed that winter sea he despised.
It felt like the last thatched cottage of Right Island was being loaded onto a ship and sold off to the Empire.
He knew better than anyone that April Lunos didn’t possess the ability to manipulate Gas Lamps.
Yet whenever he saw her, that eerie fire haunting the Lunos Residence came to mind, and afterward she herself began to seem like a flame.
Pejin arrived at Left Island before April and had an audience with the Emperor.
The Emperor greeted him as he always did.
“I thought I wouldn’t see you until summer. What brings you—”
Then Pejin knelt.
His conviction that Pejin Daeus was his limb remained unchanged, yet that characteristic roughness of his was something the Emperor had observed long while raising him.
Never having imagined that Pejin would kneel like this, the Emperor stopped even mid-sentence.
Pejin lowered his head and spoke.
“I have failed.”
“Failed in what?”
“I don’t know. But you excluded me and issued orders to the Grand Duke’s police, so I must have done something wrong.”
The Emperor recalled what kind of boy Pejin Daeus had been.
When he arrived at the Rasa Empire, Pejin was smaller than his peers. Yet the boy charged at and tried to overcome not only classmates far larger than himself but seniors as well.
He was beaten countless times by the academy instructors for refusing to heed orders from above—a police force that wouldn’t obey its superiors was useless—before he finally reformed his nature. Though reformed was hardly the word; it was merely suppressed for a time.
That Pejin Daeus was difficult to handle was a fact known to everyone who knew him.
So few would have predicted that he would appear of his own accord and kneel first.
Though it was true to some extent that the Emperor had meant to shock him.
The Emperor opened his mouth.
“You didn’t need to involve yourself in this matter. I commanded the Grand Duke’s police only for that reason—not to censure you.”
Both men wanted to know precisely what the other was thinking.
Yet they both knew that a day when the other would lay bare his heart was never coming.
Looking at Pejin, the Emperor felt as if he were gazing into a mirror.
Dangerous cards should be discarded, yet the Emperor could not.
He had long since come to love Pejin Daeus, who resembled him far more than his own son.
Love ruins everything. The Emperor had to seal shut that affection.
As the Emperor deliberated, an urgent police officer’s voice came from outside the office—April Lunos had escaped and wandered about, only to discover a room where Fog had formed.
The Emperor’s brow tightened.
If April Lunos returned to Right Island and spoke recklessly, he didn’t know how the people of Right Island would react.
He wanted to avoid war at all costs. He desired a humanitarian occupation.
The people of Right Island had faded now, but originally weren’t they exceptionally skilled at fighting?
He would win any war easily, but even that brief conflict would bring staggering losses.
He looked at Pejin. This young beast kneeling before him would never gain the Emperor’s complete trust.
Yet he spoke.
“Settle this matter. Persuade Miss Lunos well so she doesn’t speak recklessly about the Empire.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Pejin accepted the order as if he had been waiting for it. The Emperor continued.
“And remain here throughout the Foundation Day Festival period. I wish to show you to many people.”
“Yes, I shall stay at Your Majesty’s side throughout the Foundation Day Festival.”
Pejin, about to leave at once, turned back to the Emperor and opened his mouth again.
“There is no future between April Lunos and me.”
“……That’s right.”
“To silence that woman’s tongue, I may sometimes appear to love her. But I don’t involve myself in such complicated matters that have no future. You know this.”
“I know. Yes, I know you.”
The Emperor nodded.
Pejin Daeus loved what was easy. Whether that extended to matters of the heart, he didn’t know.
He caressed Pejin’s hair with both hands and spoke.
“Don’t throw yourself into winter seas. You hate winter seas, don’t you?”
Pejin looked up at the Emperor and answered.
“No, I won’t do it again.”
* * *
He had no answer to April’s question of why he was there. He himself didn’t know the reason.
What puzzled him more was how she had recognized him in this Fog.
April had recognized him even wearing a Mask. It was no small feat of perception. He thought she ought to be scouted into the police.
April, who had been silent too long, gripped his arm and spoke.
“How are you here?”
“I heard. That you were here. Anyway, someone saw the police taking you away, and if you died in a place like this, it’d be a real mess.”
At Pejin’s words, April nodded, then in a daze grabbed his clothing and pulled him closer.
As Pejin bent forward without thinking, April spoke.
“The people here seem to know what causes the Fog.”
“……What?”
“If they knew, they could create an identical environment like this, right?”
At her words, Pejin looked at the Fog filling the room.
Pejin answered.
“I’ll look into it. I don’t know anything about what happens here either.”
“Don’t ask directly. They won’t tell you. Investigate secretly.”
“All right. I will.”
Pejin answered readily.
He found it irritating that April, who had been isolated in the Lunos Residence for seven years, had such sharp instincts.
Moreover, despite those keen instincts, she harbored not a shred of suspicion toward him.
Just as Pejin’s complicated thoughts were about to multiply, the warmth radiating from April’s body cut through them instantly. Pejin supported April’s waist with one arm—she looked as if she would collapse if he let go—and turned to look at the Scholar.
“How much longer?”
“We need to observe how long Miss April can withstand the Fog to gauge her reaction!”
“So it doesn’t end until something goes wrong.”
Pejin set her in a chair and checked his watch as he spoke.
April lifted her heavy head and looked up at him.
Pejin left her and stepped back, leaning against the wall at an angle as he waited for the experiment to end.
Not long after, April’s hand went to her face as blood began to drip.
Blood was flowing from her nose.
After the blood draw and the Fog, as blood began to flow again, April could no longer keep her eyes open.
Her body, drained of strength, slumped to the side. Even as consciousness slipped away, she heard Pejin rushing toward her.
She laughed softly, and grew honest.
“It’s nice to see you here.”
She murmured and lost consciousness.
When she came to, it was an unfamiliar space. It was certainly not where she had escaped from.

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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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