The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 78

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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 78
April opened her mouth.
“Meeting you here feels strange somehow.”
“How can the same person be strange?”
“I don’t know. When the place changes, sometimes the same person feels different.”
The Pejin April had seen on Left Island felt considerably more threatening. It was the way his people were everywhere—far more numerous than when he’d been on Right Island.
Only after coming to Left Island did it truly sink in that he was a police officer of the Empire.
But setting aside such thoughts, April murmured to herself.
“Yet why does it feel so good to see you?”
……
“Strange……”
Pejin opened his mouth but couldn’t manage a word, finally lowering his gaze to his own chest.
April, leaning her cheek against him with her eyes closed, was exhausted. It was only natural—she’d been dragged to a place she’d never been before in her life.
After resting against Pejin’s chest for a time, April lifted her head and spoke.
“Is it too late to catch the festival?”
At her words, Pejin, who had been quiet the entire time she’d leaned against him, spoke.
“You’re not interested in festivals or anything like that—you just want to get back to Right Island, don’t you?”
“……Yeah.”
April, caught red-handed, paused before nodding.
The weather wasn’t bad, and Pejin’s house was so clean compared to the Grand Duchy Police Headquarters Prison she’d have to return to on Right Island that it was almost laughable.
Yet April couldn’t hide her desire to return to the Grand Duchy.
Pejin clicked his tongue and continued.
“Let’s go.”
“Now?”
“Yeah.”
At Pejin’s words, April’s expression noticeably brightened.
She hurried through preparations and climbed into the carriage heading for the Harbor, and Pejin spoke.
“I can’t go with you. I have to stay until the Foundation Festival ends.”
“You can’t go with me?”
“Instead, I’ve called that sailor. The one you shared a cabin with on the way here.”
“Ah, that was Irsa?”
“Yeah.”
April’s expression held a note of disappointment, but she understood that even traveling alone was a secret matter, and she couldn’t dictate his schedule.
Besides, she had some desire to meet with Irsa again and talk, so she found comfort in the prospect of returning with her.
When they arrived at the Harbor, the short winter sun was just disappearing below the horizon.
After sunset, the Imperial Capital during the festival season was crowded with people everywhere.
April shared the Mask Pejin had given her and stepped down from the carriage. Fortunately, not just the two of them but most nobles were wearing masks and enjoying the festival together.
April found her gaze stolen for a moment by the Fireworks being launched from the Harbor.
“Wow……”
As the Fireworks traced across the dark sky, white smoke filled the air. April thought of the Right Island people who now grew frightened at the mere sight of Fog.
She asked Pejin.
“It was Dye, wasn’t it?”
At her words, Pejin faltered and turned to look at April.
April met his Mask-obscured face. Reading his silence as confirmation, she nodded.
“I thought as much.”
“How did you figure it out?”
“You gave me the clue from the start. That the Dress purchased in the Empire was necessary for an experiment.”
“But that wouldn’t directly lead to Dye as the answer. It could have been cloth, or something different you ate in those two days.”
“Right?”
April nodded and continued.
“So I floated the possibility. I had no real conviction about it.”
“……I’m a police officer, and I fell for an entrapment investigation?”
At Pejin’s bewildered tone, April laughed and answered.
“Actually, I’d thought about the Dye in Dresses before. It seemed like my parents, when they were alive, kept trying to explain something about it to me.”
“Mm.”
“But I can’t remember. I kept trying to forget……”
……
“Now that my Banishment is over, and using that Dye will keep people from dying anymore, I might finally clear up the misunderstanding that I’m a witch.”
“That part’s true, but——”
Pejin let out an exasperated sigh and continued.
“Just thinking about it gives me a headache. Remembering what you can’t remember.”
“But when I talk about our childhood with you, I start to remember things bit by bit.”
“Then hold on.”
Pejin spoke and turned to leave, as if heading somewhere, then came back and took April’s hand.
April protested against the back of Pejin’s head as he pulled her along.
“You’re dragging me away? Nothing bad happens when I’m alone for a moment.”
“No, I’m just bored.”
At Pejin’s casual remark, April laughed in disbelief.
Following him, she found herself suddenly entering a shop full of Paper.
Pejin spoke.
“They say scent lingers longer than memory.”
“Scent?”
“When I think of the Previous Head of Lunos Household, I’m struck by the smell of paper and ink.”
“Right, Father loved recording everything, didn’t he?”
“He recorded everything.”
It was Miller who had burned all those records.
Pejin did not mention his brother’s transgression, and April likewise did not bring it up to him. She thought it a conversation to be had only before the person responsible.
April examined Paper of various types and smelled them, but nothing specifically evoked the Previous Head of Lunos Household.
Wondering if the Paper she sought wasn’t here, she saw Pejin bring over a bundle he’d paid for and speak.
“This is the scent.”
What Pejin had brought wasn’t a single type of Paper, but a bundle of Papers gathered from various lands, bound together as one lot.
As April caught the scent of the bundle, she clapped one hand over her mouth.
“……It’s the smell from Father’s study.”
“You remember how many different kinds of Paper he kept? Whenever you entered the study, it was always a mingling of scents from Papers of all nations……”
Pejin paused at the sound of April’s breathing beneath her ornate Mask. Then, clicking his tongue, he threw banknotes at the merchant and ushered her outside.
Once the shop was empty, Pejin lifted the Mask April wore. Tears were dripping steadily from her eyes.
Pejin bent low, checking her face like that, and spoke.
“Are you a child? Why are you suddenly crying—you’ll startle people.”
“Suddenly……”
The scent had brought back a warm memory.
Papers from many lands that Father had collected.
That study came back to her, with its foreign patterns and gilt, its mingled scents of sea wind, leather, and spices.
Father had disliked anyone entering that place—he even dusted it himself—but he had never been that way with his daughter.
April had always been a welcome guest to her father. One who made him smile brightly.
Unable to speak further, Pejin pressed the bundle of Paper into her arms and made a motion of wiping her tears away with a Handkerchief like he was cleaning a child’s face.
At his teasing, April clutched the Paper and laughed.
Pejin handed her the Handkerchief, and after she had cried enough, he placed the Mask back on her face before leaving the shop.
After such thorough weeping, everything looked as vivid as the world after rain, and simultaneously distant. Shining things shone brighter, beautiful things looked more beautiful.
Even Pejin loading her onto a small fishing boat at the empty Harbor, his Mask removed, appeared that way.
As April boarded the boat and continued staring at his face, Pejin asked.
“Why are you looking like that? Suddenly realizing I’m handsome?”
“If you hadn’t said that, I really might have thought you were.”
“Whether you admit it or not, I know what I look like.”
Pejin said this brazenly, waved his hand, and tossed a Gold Coin to Irsa, who stood behind with a tired expression, in an easy arc.
Irsa, confirming that what she’d caught was a Gold Coin, broke into a wide smile.
“Wasn’t the fee already paid upfront?”
“That was a deposit. This is the real payment.”
“You’re paying this much just for that?”
One Gold Coin on Right Island was worth five sheep. Irsa, who had obtained money in one night’s transport between two islands that she couldn’t easily earn through boat work, quickly accepted the coin and pocketed it.
“Ah, you’re being so generous it makes me uncomfortable.”
Then April looked at Irsa with wide eyes and spoke.
“You don’t look uncomfortable at all.”
“I’m just saying things I wouldn’t normally say, you know?”
“I don’t hear them. With my status, I doubt I’d hear such things anyway.”
“What a pain.”
As Irsa made a shoving motion, April looked at her in surprise. But recognizing it as an expression of familiarity, she shoved her back.
Irsa made a staggering motion in return, then hauled up the anchor.
“Let’s go.”

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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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