The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 76

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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 76
She pushed herself upright and narrowed her eyes at the excessively ornate bedroom.
“…Am I dead?”
It was a question worth taking seriously.
She got up and tried the door, but it was locked. This time, every window was fitted with sturdy bolts.
Just as a chill crept over April, the door opened and Pejin stepped inside.
He startled visibly, as if he’d expected her to still be asleep.
“Up early, are we.”
“Where is this?”
“My house. I’m originally from here, after all.”
“No, you’re from the Grand Duchy.”
“That’s only what you think.”
Pejin stepped inside as he spoke and tossed her a key.
“The lock key. I secured the place after hearing you’d escaped from the Academy.”
“I see.”
Pejin himself seemed not to believe his own words and repeated them.
“Impressive. You escaped? From the fifth floor?”
“It seemed worth trying.”
“You’d be dead if you’d fallen.”
“Sitting still didn’t seem much better.”
“What, you think we’re common thugs? Do you really believe there isn’t a way to make a noblewoman of your standing disappear quietly?”
The Pejin Dieusz she’d met on Left Island had been welcome, yet at the same time, she understood now why he felt like a stranger.
More so than the Pejin Dieusz of the Dieusz Family she’d seen on Right Island, this Pejin Dieusz—the Empire’s police officer standing before her now—felt like something utterly irreconcilable.
April pushed herself upright and faced him directly.
“We?”
“Don’t nitpick my words.”
“Not here.”
April drew a circle again around him and his back, then drew another circle between herself and Pejin with her index finger as she spoke.
“Here is us.”
“It depends on what I think.”
At his words, April let out a scoffing laugh and asked.
“So? What do you think?”
Pejin, who had recently been convinced of his own maturity, suddenly felt twenty-two as almost shockingly young.
Conversely, April—mockingly childish in her derision—seemed like an adult for the first time.
Pejin fell silent, as if considering his answer, but eventually let his gaze drift to the clock without responding to her question.
“Let’s eat.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“There’s no poison in it.”
“I just don’t want to eat anything.”
When April refused, Pejin’s irritation showed plainly as he cupped her forehead with his hand.
“You won’t recover if you don’t eat. Does crossing a sea make you sick? And you’re supposed to be from the Grand Duchy?”
“I haven’t slept.”
“Sleep a bit more and then wake.”
April, exhausted enough to comply, headed straight back to the bed as if that had been what she was waiting for.
After Pejin left, she took the medicine a servant brought and slept again. By the time she woke, the sun was halfway down the sky, and the air was relatively warm.
When April got out of bed, she found her condition had recovered reasonably well, the medicine having done its work.
A White Dress hung in the room that looked like everyday wear, and there was a note from Pejin.
[Needed for an experiment]
Though she couldn’t fathom why the dress was necessary, April changed into it and left the room.
The moment she opened the door, she stared at the long corridor stretching before her with an expression of disbelief.
On Right Island, where winter persisted eternally, corridors like this—with no walls on either side—didn’t exist.
If one built something connected this length, it would be constructed as a long house with thick walls.
Walking through the corridor, she could move about without fastening her outer garment.
The above-freezing weather, a mere few degrees up from normal, felt like a warm breeze to someone accustomed to constant temperatures around minus twenty on Right Island.
Bustling sounds drifted in from beyond the far-off corridor exit, and April turned her gaze outward.
The reality of being in an entirely different land struck her.
Though bare now, the profusion of flowers and fruit trees suggested an environment where such things could flourish. April felt a twinge of envy at that fact.
As she stood observing the fruit trees after leaving the corridor, an iron gate swung open and a carriage came thundering in.
Pejin stepped out of the carriage that stopped near her.
Most garments worn in the Grand Duchy bore the influence of the Empire. Military dress was no exception, so despite minor differences, the fundamental structure was identical.
He wore a white military uniform with silver buttons, apparently having come from the imperial court. Compared to the extreme cold of Right Island, it seemed to prioritize appearance over practicality.
“Why are you dressed up like that?” April asked.
Pejin answered her.
“Founding Day is coming soon, so they keep piling on work.”
“Is that so.”
The Rasa Empire, being a nation, had a Founding Day celebration.
It was reasonable enough, yet from someone arriving from the Grand Duchy, it felt like an unfamiliar custom.
Pejin glanced at April, who wore a plain, unadorned White Dress instead of the Grand Duchy’s distinctively ornate gowns—something light and easy to move in.
April looked down at her dress as she spoke.
“It’s warm here, so the clothes are lighter.”
“Comfortable?”
“For the body, yes. But why white? It’s not like nightclothes.”
In the Grand Duchy, where snow fell heavily, white was not preferred, and April seemed bothered by that aspect.
Pejin grumbled.
“I buy you a dress and you complain.”
“It was a question.”
“You don’t like it. It’s written all over your face.”
“Then I’m sorry.”
April, feeling as though she’d slighted the giver’s goodwill, apologized at once. Pejin turned his head slightly and chuckled.
“Ah, I didn’t use to laugh so easily.”
Pejin murmured to himself, then extended his hand.
“Let’s go.”
“To the Academy?”
“Yes, and afterward we’ll catch some of the festival tonight before heading back to the Lunos Residence.”
“All right.”
Since she was technically under arrest, she’d assumed the destination wasn’t the Lunos Residence but rather a cell back on Right Island, in the Grand Duchy.
Yet saying she was heading back to a cell seemed absurd, so April let his words pass without comment.
* * *
The Academy in daylight was beautiful, a stark contrast to the bad first impression she’d formed yesterday.
April stepped inside, marveling at how different it felt from her memory.
The scent of flowers hung in the air both on the first day and now.
April saw the Potpourri Ceramics displayed throughout the Academy and found herself thinking once again of the gift Pejin had brought.
She couldn’t say why that ceramic kept overlapping in her mind, but April tried not to dwell on it.
She was convinced she must understand how the scholars here had created this Fog.
Until now, April had believed the Fog was nothing more than a natural phenomenon created by nature itself.
A disaster for humans, perhaps, but for nature merely something fated—flowing along an order carved deep into the passage of time.
Yet upon discovering that the scholars here could artificially produce what she’d believed to be a natural phenomenon, a small seed of doubt took root in April’s mind.
If they could create it, that meant they understood its cause—so why had they never shared that knowledge with Right Island?
They said they would investigate her to discover how to counter this Fog.
That was certainly something to be grateful for.
But then why had they needed to abduct her instead of extending a formal invitation to do this grateful thing?
What was it they wanted to hide?
With her mind churning with these thoughts, April entered the laboratory where scholars had artificially generated Fog just as they had yesterday.
As always, she possessed the conviction that nothing would happen to her in the Fog.
In fact, she’d even questioned whether she truly possessed the Witch’s Power at all. That was why the Church frightened her all the more.
What if the Church discovered some unknown force within her that she herself was unaware of?
“…Huh?”
Yet April collapsed where she stood before she’d even walked two steps into the Fog.
She felt her breath catch suddenly in her throat.
“Miss April?”
She heard the scholar calling her name, but had no strength to answer.
Only now did April understand the hearts of those who had collapsed in the Fog. That overwhelming terror.
The voice calling her name grew steadily more distant.

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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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