Chapter 1 - Chapter 1

Translator: Nox

September in the Dieus Grand Duchy, on the Empire's Right Island, was a season when the greetings fishermen gave their families grew shorter. Sometimes they grew so short that the men would simply slip away alone into the dead of night without a word.

The gruff fishermen found their families' worries burdensome. To hear those anxieties was to feel their own suppressed fears rise to the surface. And if fear took hold, how could they ever face the lethal embrace of the sea?

Conversely, the time when greetings grew long again was around April, the month April Runos—now serving her seventh year of house arrest—was born. Thus, April was the season of greetings, but for April herself, living alone in the Runos Mansion, there had been no one to exchange greetings with for seven long years.

In January, three months before her fifteenth birthday, the trial took place.

The trouble began when Grand Duke Miller Dieus, April's fiancé, fell in love with another woman.

Concluding that the Grand Duke had defiled their daughter's honor, April's parents were caught attempting to poison him and his lover.

The people of the Right Island were descendants of seafarers; to them, an engagement was a sacred vow to be lifelong companions. To kill the one who betrayed their daughter was, in the eyes of those parents, simply what had to be done.

And in September of the year she turned fifteen.

The sentences for the three members of the Runos family were carried out.

The Head of the Family and his wife were executed. April, who had not yet reached sixteen—the age of adulthood in the Grand Duchy at the time—was sentenced to seven years of house arrest.

She had no other siblings, and her remaining relatives fled in every direction, unwilling to be swept away by the wake of a sinking house.

Who could have imagined that the most influential family in the Grand Duchy, second only to the ducal house, would vanish in an instant?

Yet, April's parents, even with their execution dates set, remained as composed as if this were an inevitable fate.

They had fought like wild animals when the guilty verdict was handed down to April, screaming that the child knew nothing, but they grew serene the moment the sentence of house arrest was pronounced.

And for one brief moment, as they were led to the execution grounds and allowed a final word to their daughter, the two spoke in turn.

「It was bound to happen anyway.」

「We love you.」

April, wailing in a grief that felt like a blade to the heart, could not return an answer to either of her parents' words.

That silence had remained lodged in her chest for seven years.

Many in the Grand Duchy, including the judges, were certain that April—whose only known talent was causing scenes in high society—would never survive seven years on her own.

But like the fishermen of September, her parents had finished their greetings and departed, and seven years later, April was still alive. She was even doing reasonably well.

"...It's quiet."

Waking at sunrise as she did every morning, April muttered to herself while brushing her sleep-matted hair.

She had expected people from the Grand Duke's estate to appear the moment her house arrest ended, noisily hammering away at the stakes driven into the mansion's perimeter.

She had even considered the possibility that they might find another excuse to finally execute her.

Yet, even though October had now begun, no orders had arrived from Miller Dieus, the Head of the Dieus family.

It seemed he had forgotten he had even issued the punishment.

To be able to completely erase the person who had wronged him from his mind—unintentionally, he was exacting the ultimate revenge.

Even though her sentence was served, April's life remained the same as it had been for the past seven years.

As the sun began to set, she moved through the house with a candlestick as usual, lighting the gas lamps on the first and second floors one by one.

The mansion was densely fitted with gas lamps for the sake of Madame Runos, who had detested the dark.

However, the way those lamps lit up was peculiar.

Though the gas lines of the Runos Mansion had long been blocked, the lamps had lit perfectly throughout the seven years.

They were even blindingly bright, as if far too much gas were being pumped into them.

April walked down the hallway, her long dress trailing behind her, and lit every single lamp. This was the most important part of her daily routine.

After bringing light to the house.

April looked out through a window that was broken and could no longer close, staring at the stakes driven tightly into the ground outside.

It had been a month since her confinement ended.

She couldn't wait any longer.

The last seven years had been bitter enough; she couldn't allow that punishment to continue dominating her life.

Today, her resolve hardened.

April went down to the first floor and picked up an axe she had diligently sharpened. She stepped out to where the stakes were and, choosing one, began to hack at it.

Though she knew no one would welcome her, she intended to go out.

Because there was someone she had to meet.

Miller Dieus.

My fiancé.

The turncoat who fell in love with another woman.

He had executed the Runos couple for the crime of targeting his and his lover's lives, and he had pinned the same charges on April.

There was no evidence that April was involved, but emotion had taken precedence.

Even though he was a man educated enough to know he shouldn't punish her based on suspicion alone without physical evidence, he had sentenced her to house arrest.

He must have thought that if he left her in society, she might truly kill the woman he loved one day.

Her parents had failed to kill the Grand Duke, so it wasn't surprising they were sentenced to death.

Their only regret was the fact that they had failed to kill him for the sake of their daughter's honor.

But she, who had known nothing of the plot, was different.

Yet, just as they couldn't prove she knew, she couldn't prove she didn't.

For many reasons, April had to see Miller. And if, by some chance, she could continue living after meeting him, there was only one thing she desired.

Honor.

The honor of the Runos family, which her parents had risked death to protect.

She was in no position to be picky about the means to achieve it.

If the world already viewed her as a villain, then living up to that expectation didn't seem like such a bad idea.

After chopping for a long while, April finally managed to bring down one stake, creating a gap wide enough for her to squeeze through.

Her arms were so weak she couldn't even lift the axe anymore. She let the blade drop to the ground and stared into the pitch-black darkness of the night.

Catching her breath, she took her candlestick and stepped outside.

The moment she stepped past the stakes, a sudden cold wind whipped around her.

April hurriedly shielded the candle flame with her hand and looked out over the estate, where weeds grew thick and rampant from years of neglect.

"There's going to be a lot of work to do."

How much had the world changed during those seven years?

Even in high society, the only world she had known before her arrest, trends would have shifted every season.

Above all, April Runos was a villain who had tried to kill the current Grand Duchess, the wise and beautiful Heidi Dieus.

The belief held by the people of the Grand Duchy would not change easily.

April had known seven years ago that her social life was over.

If she stepped onto the streets, people would throw stones. Nevertheless, she had to rebuild this house.

Fix one thing, and two others would backflow. She would have to constantly repair and retreat.

While April was debating what to do first with her sudden freedom, she spotted a faint light approaching.

April, whose eyesight wasn't particularly sharp, squinted to see, but she still couldn't make it out. Then the lights grew brighter and more numerous.

Pushing through the tall, unchecked grass, a group of Police was approaching.

At the sight, a surge of indignation rose within her.

"If they'd just come a little sooner, I wouldn't have had to waste my strength."

Muttering her complaint, she started walking toward the officers.

She felt a sudden urge not to seem awkward or fumbling in front of the first people she had seen in seven years.

My house arrest ended last month, and they're only just coming to tell me now.

April decided she had to give them a piece of her mind for being so late. But as she was organizing the words in her head, she came to a halt.

They were armed Police.

This was not at all the attire of people coming to announce that a house arrest had been lifted.