The Mansion Awaits Spring
Chapter 122
After hearing of his brother’s sins from Jeff in the study of the Morrow estate, Fezin headed straight for the Grand Duke’s Residence, where April had gone.
When he arrived, Miller and April were arguing in the office.
Fezin cleared the area around the office, stationed police officers to ensure no one could harm April, and then headed to the church.
He didn’t know why his steps had led him to the church. His subconscious had simply guided him there.
He remembered how devout April was. So, he had instinctively thought she would come to the church. And his prediction of April’s actions was exactly correct.
April entered the church, so exhausted that she didn’t even notice the police officers stationed around her.
He handed April the gun and stepped out of the building.
To ensure she could focus on her prayers, Fezin first ordered the church to be temporarily closed.
The priests initially protested the sudden closure, but they fell silent when they realized Fezin and the rest of the police officers were armed.
Fortunately, while he was busy coordinating things for her prayers, his mind remained blessedly blank.
He smoked a cigarette in the church courtyard, waiting for April’s prayers to end. Only then did he begin to recall April’s voice.
“It’s cold.”
Fezin muttered.
To him, April Lunos had always been like a blazing fire, so he had assumed she would be just as hot with anger the moment she discovered his betrayal.
But the moment April realized that Fezin Dieus was made of lies from beginning to end, she grew as cold as winter in the Grand Duchy.
Perhaps because he hadn’t spent much time in the Grand Duchy, that coldness terrified him. It felt as though his very blood were freezing.
Even now, during the warmest season in the Grand Duchy, Fezin felt a chill as if he had caught a fever, and his face contorted.
Paul, his face full of worry, approached him.
“What will you do now, sir?”
“What else? I’ll just wrap things up here and head back to the Empire.”
“What about Lady April…?”
“April will keep her mouth shut. At least until the food supply is secured. We just need to leave her be.”
“Of course, Lady April must not be harmed. You don’t need to make excuses to me, sir.”
Paul clicked his tongue and continued.
“Every officer already knows you wouldn’t dare lay a finger on Lady April anyway.”
“……”
Fezin looked at Paul as he answered, letting out a dry chuckle.
It was amusing that it was so obvious to everyone else.
At dawn, he watched April from a distance as she stepped out of the church. She looked strangely radiant.
It was bizarre that a woman navigating such a miserable youth could look so bright.
In this chaotic world, it felt as though light would follow wherever she walked.
Fezin felt as if he were trapped in the shadows. As if he could never, ever approach the place where the light was.
After wandering in front of the church for a while, unable to decide on his next destination, Fezin finally headed to the Grand Duke’s Residence only after receiving word that April had safely arrived at the Lunos estate.
Miller, who had been in an extreme state of anxiety after realizing April knew everything, rushed desperately toward Fezin the moment he saw his face.
Miller was torn between feeling relieved to see Fezin and feeling terrified of him. He spoke tentatively, testing the waters.
“Fezin, April found out.”
“Yeah, I heard.”
“You heard?”
“Even if I hadn’t, I knew you would tell April about me. That’s why I came.”
Fezin looked down at Miller and continued in a flat voice.
“I am going to become the Police Commissioner of the Empire.”
“……I know. Why bring that up now?”
“And I won’t kill April Lunos either. Because I love her.”
Confused by Fezin’s declaration that he would claim two conflicting things, Miller asked with a bewildered face.
“What…… what are you talking about?”
“Exactly what you heard. So, don’t get in my way. April will keep quiet, so you should also pretend you never heard that she knows.”
“Are you worried I’ll tell the Empire?”
“Yes. I am. Because I can’t even begin to predict how far you will go to ruin the Grand Duchy.”
At Fezin’s sarcastic remark, Miller’s face stiffened.
“I am not ruining the Grand Duchy. Watch your mouth.”
“I heard your argument with the late Lunos Heads wasn’t just about your engagement.”
At Fezin’s words, Miller flinched and stepped back.
“……How do you know that?”
“So, it really is true. The Empire has been involved since back then.”
Fezin asked in a hollow voice.
“Just what did you do for the sake of your love?”
“……”
“You dragged the Empire into this? For that?”
“I wasn’t the one who dragged them in first.”
Miller spoke firmly, grabbing Fezin’s arm as if trying to soothe him.
“The Emperor made the proposal first. When I was suffering because I couldn’t marry Heidi. He said there was a massive fuel reserve buried near the Lunos estate, and asked to build a factory to extract it. They shared the profits generously.”
“The Lunos family refused.”
“They did. But what could I do? The Emperor wanted it, so how could the Grand Duchy refuse? I had no choice.”
“You must have thought it worked out well for you. Since you could marry the person you wanted.”
“I didn’t think it worked out well, I just……”
“The Empire helped. To bring down the Lunos family. Right, there’s no way that prestigious family could have fallen solely by the power of the Grand Ducal family.”
“Fezin.”
“You did all this, all of this, just for love……”
Miller was left speechless by the look of utter contempt Fezin directed at him. While he was trying to think of how to appease him, Fezin continued.
“But do you know something? The fuel reserves in the Grand Duchy are so vast that they could have built the factory anywhere, not necessarily on the Lunos estate. It didn’t have to be there.”
“……What?”
“The Empire wanted to eliminate the Lunos family. Because they were the only thread connecting this Grand Duchy to the outside world.”
“……”
“But you cut that thread. Just to borrow the Empire’s strength for your precious love. Even as the Fog is killing the people of the Grand Duchy, you turned a blind eye so they could strip this land bare.”
Miller stared at Fezin with eyes filled with a storm of emotions. Finally, Miller opened his mouth.
“How could I have stopped it anyway, when everything was going exactly as the Emperor wanted? At least we’ve developed this much for now. And above all, you…… are a citizen of the Empire.”
Fezin was momentarily struck speechless by Miller’s words.
Miller pressed on.
“Fezin, don’t be confused. You are going to the Empire, and you will live happily there. So…… don’t worry too much about things here. I’ll take care of it.”
Fezin finally burst into laughter at Miller’s attempt to distance him from the situation.
He recalled how April would often laugh when she was angry. He thought he finally understood why she did. The only way to release this uncontrollable rage was to laugh.
Because she couldn’t cry.
Because the proud April Lunos could never bring herself to cry in front of her enemy. That was why she must have laughed.
Until now, Fezin had managed to adapt to his life in the Empire well enough.
Because that was the life handed to him.
Because it was the life requested of him by his sole guardian and the most precious person to him in the world.
And now, Fezin Dieus had come to deny his entire existence.
There was truly nothing in his life that had ever been right.
Miller watched Fezin laugh with a bewildered expression. Then, as if to gauge his mood, he cautiously grabbed Fezin’s arm.
“Fezin?”
“Brother.”
Fezin stared into Miller’s eyes for a long moment, then pulled him into a tight embrace.
“Miller.”
Miller stiffened as his younger brother called him by his name.
Fezin called his name once more.
“Miller Dieus.”
“……”
“One day, I am going to kill you. With my own hands.”
At his words, Miller’s body tensed.
When Miller tried to pull away, Fezin held him even tighter, whispering in his ear.
“If you utter even a single word about April, just one word, I will kill not just you, but your entire family.”
“……”
“Go ahead and speak. If you’re curious to see if I can actually do it.”
With those words, Fezin slowly let him go.
A smile still lingered on his face, but his eyes were filled with an unfathomable depth of sorrow.
Fezin muttered as he looked at Miller.
“Whether toward you, or toward April……”
“……”
“Once again, my love has failed.”
With that, he turned and left the Grand Duke’s Residence.
