Translator: Nox

The Mansion Awaits Spring

Chapter 129

They would attack on September 7th, the day celebrating the Lhasa Empire’s victory in the war.

As April smiled at the plan, which combined both fury and joy, Bauman, who was bringing in fresh tea, asked with an equally delighted face,

“Has something good happened?”

Fezin answered on behalf of April, who was too busy smiling to respond.

“I was just telling her an amusing story.”

“Is that so? At any rate, it is wonderful to see our young lady smiling.”

With those words, Bauman set down the fresh tea and departed. Once he was gone, Fezin spoke.

“So, the date is set. I’ll take care of the rest of the arrangements to ensure there are no issues. We can iron out the details in a meeting later.”

“Send someone. Don’t come here yourself.”

“How could I send anyone else for something so dangerous? We have to do this together.”

Before April could kick him out now that their conversation was over, Fezin grabbed her arm. He then put on the lovely expression he had mastered through a lifetime of being cherished.

“It looks like Mr. Bauman is with Mrs. Eve. Let’s go check.”

“How do you know?”

“The sugar.”

Fezin gestured with his chin toward the porcelain bowl where the sugar cubes were kept.

“Mr. Bauman always stacks them flat—perhaps because he’s an architect and likes stability. Mrs. Eve always stacks them so they get narrower toward the top.”

“What a surprise. You actually have the observational skills of a police officer.”

“I’ve always been an elite.”

Fezin smugly took the lead, and April, curious about the relationship between Bauman and Mrs. Eve, followed behind him.

Just as Fezin had said, Bauman and Mrs. Eve were talking together. Their voices drifted out of the dining room.

Fezin pressed himself against the door, eavesdropping on the conversation as he spoke.

“Mr. Bauman is getting scolded.”

“Indeed.”

April, also intrigued, pressed her ear to the door and agreed.

Fezin commented,

“At that level, it’s practically love.”

“…In what way?”

“She has so much concern for him.”

Though initially skeptical, April soon agreed with Fezin’s words. Mrs. Eve’s voice was filled with affection.

Feeling it was wrong to eavesdrop any further, April pulled her ear away from the door. Realizing that Fezin, standing close by, was watching her, she met his gaze.

“Don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like you’re interested.”

“What else can I do when I am?”

As he replied, Fezin’s eyelashes fluttered slowly.

When her eyes fell upon them, Fezin closed his eyes.

“Why are you closing your eyes?”

“You told me not to look at you like that. But I can’t just make my feelings disappear.”

Even with his eyes closed, April did not walk away for a long while. To her, Fezin asked,

“You want me to be miserable, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“That’s perfect, then. I’m bound to be miserable anyway. Love always fails, and my life will have no meaning, now or ever.”

Even after murmuring those words, he did not open his eyes. In the meantime, April walked past him.

Only after she had gone did Fezin open his eyes. Before him, nothing remained but the summer of the Grand Duchy.

---

“They say Lunos Port isn’t charging any docking fees.”

Finn Tuss, a taciturn and utterly unsociable fisherman who was the very epitome of a Grand Duchy local, subtly tilted his ear toward the villagers’ conversation.

The scandal between Miller Dieus, Heidi Basanta, and April Lunos remained deeply engraved in the memories of the Grand Duchy’s people.

Among them, the memory of April Lunos, who had tried to obstruct the love of the current Grand Duke couple, was the strongest.

While she resented the world and screamed in confinement within her grand mansion, the fog had begun. After that, all sorts of rumors spread across the entire Grand Duchy.

A wicked woman, a witch, the source of the fog.

While the mouth of the person who could explain was gagged, the citizens’ anger was never suppressed, reaching an absolute peak.

Then, when April Lunos stepped back out into the world, water was poured over that fire for the first time.

Once they realized the object of their hatred actually existed in the flesh, their emotions began to subside, albeit very slowly. However, those who had poured curses upon April for a long time were particularly slow to cool down, and the villagers of this town were among them.

The people of this village, situated close to Lunos Port, had watched the flames wrapping around the Lunos Mansion for the past seven years. They had not doubted for a second that within those high palisades stood a vicious witch dancing upon the sparks.

On days with a full catch, they thanked God; on days they caught nothing, they cursed the Witch of the Fog. For someone like Finn, it was difficult to easily accept the possibility that April Lunos might not be a witch.

While Finn Tuss pretended to ignore them, meticulously cleaning and removing debris from his nets, the villagers’ conversation continued.

“These days, taxes are too high wherever you go. If we settle in a place that doesn’t charge taxes, we won’t starve to death.”

“But why aren’t they charging taxes?”

“How should I know what goes on in the minds of the wealthy?”

“Could they be plotting something again?”

Finn Tuss did not chime in, merely listening from a distance as the villagers chattered.

As the Winter Market, which originally belonged to the Lunos family, fell into the hands of the Grand Duke and the Empire, many fishermen and merchants had their livelihoods stripped away.

Looking at the villagers, they seemed curious about Lunos Port, yet too hesitant to visit out of fear of retaliation and lingering resentment.

Finn Tuss, who was exceptionally quiet, had never uttered any insults toward the new Lord of the Lunos family, so he harbored less of that fear.

That night, after finishing his net maintenance, he uncharacteristically refrained from drinking. This was to keep a clear mind ahead of his important visit the next day.

The following day, he took a day off from fishing.

Idling a fishing boat on such a fine day was a great financial loss, but it could not be helped. He decided to leave his boat docked for the day.

The port was a chaotic mix of the Empire’s massive merchant vessels and the relatively small fishing boats of the Grand Duchy.

Among them, quite a few boats had been abandoned and left unrepaired after sustaining damage.

When the Lunos family held the Winter Market, such abandoned boats were practically nonexistent. This was because if a boat was left neglected for a certain period, it would transfer to their ownership; they would then repair it and sell it off cheaply to dispose of it.

They were cold-hearted merchants, and because of that, they had drawn no small amount of resentment from the fishermen. Yet, looking back now, in the days before a proper police system was established, they had essentially performed the role of the coast guard.

Leaving his fishing boat behind, Finn Tuss returned home and pulled out the neatest clothes he owned.

For the first time in a very long while, he did not drink even after stepping off his boat, keeping a clear head as he prepared a cask of dark beer.

The people of the Grand Duchy took great pride in the taste of their dark beer, so much so that they claimed if it traveled too far from its place of origin, it ceased to be beer and became mere black water.

Therefore, he quickened his pace. He had to transport it as quickly as possible to show them its true flavor.

Loading the dark beer onto the carriage he usually filled with fish, Finn Tuss urged his horse forward toward the Lunos Territory.

As he climbed the hill where the grand Lunos Mansion stood, the Imperial Police blocked his path. Upon hearing that he was here to meet the Lord, an officer accompanied him.

After undergoing a body search, they arrived at the mansion. The police officer watched from behind, and this time, the butler came out, looking at him suspiciously as he conducted yet another body search.

After having it confirmed twice that he carried no weapons, just as he was beginning to tremble with anxiety that he might be turned away without meeting the Lord, he was guided to the reception room.

August.

In weather that felt swelteringly hot to the people of the Grand Duchy, Finn Tuss was wiping away his sweat with a handkerchief when the Lord of the Lunos family finally appeared in the reception room.

He had seen her photograph in the newspapers, but the printing quality was too poor to make her out, and though he had seen her in paintings, they were so stylized that she remained unrecognizable.

The new Lord of the Lunos Territory, who entered the reception room, possessed a face like a porcelain doll and eyes like jewels. She looked at this guest, whose business was unclear, as if he were an unwelcome intruder.

Like all the heads of the Lunos family before her, she was not the least bit friendly. She also seemed to possess no tolerance.

However, one could not judge solely by appearances. She had already shown the tolerance of not charging taxes at her port.

Finn Tuss chose to believe in that fact.

“I am Finn Tuss, a fisherman, my Lady.”

And to April Lunos, who was scrutinizing him with sharp eyes without offering a reply, he continued,

“I have come to speak with you.”

“If this is about Lunos Port, you may use it for whatever purpose you wish. It matters not if it is a fishing boat or a merchant vessel, so feel free to use it if you desire. There are also many abandoned houses, so if there is a home you wish to live in, you may repair it and move in.”

April spoke coldly, but her words were exactly what the villagers had rumored.

With a blunt but respectful expression, Finn Tuss said,

“There are many damaged and abandoned boats at the port in the Winter Market.”

“…That is no longer under our family’s jurisdiction. Why are you telling me this?”

“I am mentioning it because repairing and selling such boats was originally one of the Lunos family’s sources of income.”

“But we cannot simply dispose of boats in another’s port as we please, can we? Unless someone brings them to my port, that is.”

At the mention of a source of income, she had clearly shown interest in the topic, made it known, and had already suggested a method of moving the boats to Lunos Port.

She was the very image of the Lunos family Lord he had imagined.

Finn Tuss spoke.

“I will explain further. However, my Lady…”

“Yes.”

“The beer is getting warm.”

At his words, she made an utterly displeased face, making him wonder if he had spoken out of turn, but then April said,

“That is… a grave issue for a person of the Grand Duchy.”

Her dry humor eased Finn Tuss’s tension slightly.

Having sailed his fishing boat in the Winter Market surrounded by citizens of the Empire, the phrase ‘a person of the Grand Duchy’ brought him an unspeakable sense of relief.