The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 97

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 97
April felt her heart stop at the gunshot, only finding composure again once Logan had begun his search.
Well, she’d heard her parents say before that the Harbor Tavern was a hotbed of crime.
The moment the police appeared without warning, the sailors began pleading with Logan desperately.
“I’m so sorry! I didn’t know what kind of liquor it was—I just thoughtlessly brought it aboard, but I’ll throw it into the sea right now. Right now!”
Hearing the sudden confession, Logan quickly grasped the situation and spoke with an expression of practiced gravity.
“Laws against prohibited alcohol—why do you think they exist? Not so someone profits. They’re banned because drinking it will kill you early, because it’s harmful to your body.”
“But it sells well in the Empire. The profit margin is quite—quite excellent.”
A drunken sailor with a flushed nose quietly held out his purse to Logan—a silent request to look the other way.
Logan glanced back at April, then reluctantly pushed the purse away, speaking with regret in his voice.
“Dump it all where I can see it. I’ll overlook this just this once.”
“Just—just this once?”
Since a bribe would have cost far less than dumping the entire shipment, the sailor hesitated until Logan spoke again.
“I’ll overlook it. No execution.”
“Ah! Yes! Execution! My goodness, such generosity! Thank you!”
Only then grasping the gravity of the situation, the sailor started cursing at the other sailors still trying to sober up and threw himself into hurrying them along.
“You brazen dogs, thank the officer right now!”
“Th-thank you, Officer!”
They staggered to their feet and began heaving boxes of liquor into the sea.
April wanted to see what kind of alcohol they were disposing of, but the boxes had been sealed tight to conceal the smuggled contents.
While April watched curiously, Logan returned to her side.
“By now they should be sober enough to listen to your story.”
“Would you have taken a bribe if I weren’t here?”
“What? Oh… I was thinking of making it vanish as if by magic.”
“That’s the same as accepting a bribe.”
“You’re right. My apologies. It looked so heavy I just for a moment—”
There was something irritating yet oddly endearing about Logan’s apologetic act.
April let it pass with a laugh and approached one of the sailors, still sweating despite the cold weather as he dumped the alcohol.
“Would anyone here know someone named Ilsa Joyce?”
“Ilsa? If you’re looking for Ilsa, that sailor over there would know when he comes to port.”
“I see. Thank you.”
April thanked him and made her way toward the sailor he’d indicated.
The sailor, who had nothing to do with the raid, was drinking cheap liquor and grumbling.
“They told me it was potatoes. I nearly took the fall alone.”
April looked down at the cheap drink in the sailor’s hand, then reached for a good bottle from the wall shelf and set it before him.
The sailor looked up at her and murmured.
“…My, I once had a dream like this.”
“What kind of dream?”
“A beautiful woman buying me a drink.”
“You have strange dreams.”
“But something like that could never happen in reality. Why are you giving me this? What’s the scheme?”
“I want to know about the sailors who worked at Lunos Residence.”
…
“Lunos Residence is holding a funeral. If no one comes, I’m finished. If many people come, I’ll probably raise a decent sum of money. With that money, I’ll buy a ship. There’s one that was halted during construction—I sold it. I need to buy it back.”
“So you’re saying you need sailors?”
“Yes.”
“Those sailors who ate and slept at Lunos Residence, then stole and ran away?”
“Yes. I need those people.”
“Miss April.”
The sailor rose to his feet as he spoke, and April tilted her head slightly in response.
“We don’t seem close enough for you to use my name.”
“I… I’m that thief who worked at Lunos Residence.”
…
“I’m sorry, Miss…”
The sailor dropped to his knees right there and bowed his head.
April studied the sailor’s face carefully.
Now that she looked, she thought she might recognize him. He seemed to be around Miller’s age—a sailor her parents had been particularly fond of, one they’d raised with thorough training to eventually captain one of their larger vessels.
April murmured.
“I think I remember now.”
“I thought… it was all over. When both of them passed, I’d lose my position anyway, and I got swept up in the talk that the Grand Duke’s family would seize everything. I was truly foolish. I’m terribly sorry.”
“…Who told you that? That the Grand Duke’s family would take everything?”
“Excuse me?”
“That talk about the Grand Duke’s family seizing everything—someone must have said it for rumors to spread like that.”
The sailor hesitated at April’s words, blinking before responding.
“Ah… I think sailors from the Empire were saying that. I’ll look into it for you.”
“Thank you.”
April bowed and closed her eyes for a moment.
Though she’d said she’d rehire him, she was no saint—the anger that wrung her organs and seized her with pain could not be transcended.
April bit back a scream that threatened to tear free from the ache running through her entire body and extended her hand to him.
“I’d be grateful if you’d come aboard my ship.”
The sailor stared blankly at her hand for a moment, then grasped it with both of his and spoke through tears.
“I’ll go now. I don’t need wages. I’ve already drunk away what wages I had coming.”
“Now?”
“Isn’t that why you’ve come? For an escort?”
The sailor pointed to the wound on April’s face.
April’s hand moved to the scar running across her cheek and jaw. She remembered Pejin’s eyes catching on that wound as she said she was leaving—the expression he’d worn when she spoke of her marriage.
The sailor continued.
“Call me Fisher.”
“Yes, Fisher. Thank you.”
“Yes, Miss.”
“And do you happen to know where Ilsa Joyce is?”
“Ilsa? Ah, yes. She’s in the Prison.”
“…What did you say?”
“She was arrested while smuggling that prohibited alcohol into the Empire.”
At Fisher’s words, April turned back to look at Logan.
Logan shrugged and spoke.
“I don’t know about every case the Empire’s police handle. In any case…”
“Could she be sentenced to death?”
“Yes. The Empire loves that alcohol, and more than one or two people have had seizures from drinking too much of it. Some have even died, so the Empire treats the smuggling of prohibited alcohol equivalent to murder and enforces strict penalties.”
“Under what circumstances is she sentenced to death?”
“That is…”
Logan hesitated before answering.
“…When there is no money. That’s when she receives a death sentence.”
“So you buy a remission of punishment with money.”
“Yes. The Empire is a place where that’s possible.”
April exhaled deeply.
Money aside, she understood why the prohibited alcohol was banned. She didn’t understand why people would drink something that might kill them, but it was clear the ban was meant to prevent exactly that kind of danger by forbidding the import entirely.
April fixed her gaze on Fisher, then unfastened the necklace at her throat and held it out to him.
“Bring Ilsa to me.”
“Do you… trust me?”
“No.”
April spoke with a slight smile.
“But my parents told me that restraint costs money, while the benefits that come from trust are great.”
…
“That’s why I’m willing to take the risk. I’m not trusting you—I’m trusting my parents.”
The sailor swallowed hard and seized April’s necklace.
“Understood. I’ll be back, Miss. And I’ll find the other sailors who worked at Lunos Residence too. For the former Master of the house.”
“I’ll wait here.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————