Translator: Nox

The Mansion Awaits Spring

Chapter 14

April frowned.

“What are you doing? Get out.”

“Don’t you need someone to run errands? It’s been my dream to work in a mansion like this.”

Working in a grand estate was considered a professional occupation.

Hannah recalled the servants of famous families who used to act so high and mighty at the market.

As April made her displeasure clear, Hannah pressed on.

“I’m great at haggling, and I know how to pick out the best fish!”

“I still don’t need a child.”

“I told you, the law changed!”

“It’ll change back soon. It’s a flawed law.”

“I don’t want to go home!”

Finally, Hannah burst out with a shout.

Stunned by the girl’s powerful voice, April, who had been heading up the stairs, turned around.

“What a strange child.”

“I’m a spirited child!”

She had heard April was a witch, but that didn’t matter to Hannah Koski.

This witch didn’t look nearly as bad as the father who would get dead drunk and hurl liquor bottles at his daughter’s head. Nor was she as bad as the factory manager who would slash her meager pay in half—pay that wasn’t even enough for a full meal—claiming she had dozed off or taken too many bathroom breaks.

April wore a dissatisfied expression, but despite how she looked, she eventually jerked her head as a signal to follow.

Hannah’s face brightened instantly, and she scrambled up the stairs after April.

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Since the house arrest began, every part of the mansion except the first and second floors had been sealed off. The path to the third floor was no different.

Fortunately, during the recent investigation, the officers had managed to force open the doors that had been firmly barred on the third floor. After struggling to open them, they had fled in terror once their colleagues began collapsing, leaving the area unchecked.

April spoke.

“I haven’t stepped foot in here for seven years. There will be plenty of rats. When I slept on the second floor, I heard them gnawing at the walls every single night.”

“I’m good at catching rats. I’m really fast.”

“I suppose so.”

Given that the surname ‘Koski’ carried the meaning of speed, her confidence wasn’t surprising.

Once the two reached the third floor and April peered inside the doorway, her face turned slightly pale. She turned to Hannah.

“I don’t think being fast is the main issue here.”

At those words, Hannah peeked inside herself and asked brightly, “Can I catch them all?”

“You actually want to catch those?”

“Yes!”

The girl wasn’t just spirited; she was utterly fearless.

Hannah ran back down the stairs and returned with a metal poker from the fireplace.

“Can I use this to catch them?”

“If you can manage it, go ahead.”

At April’s answer, Hannah’s eyes sparkled, and she began hunting rats with gusto.

April couldn’t even bring herself to look toward the third floor, so Hannah called out.

“My Lady, please stay on the second floor!”

“Right. I won’t be of much help anyway.”

April didn’t exactly run, but she retreated to the second floor with considerable haste. It was a scene she never wanted to witness again.

Before long, Hannah had caught every single rat on the third floor and cleared them away somewhere. Only after finishing the cleanup did Hannah call April back up.

Hannah, who had been joyfully running around catching rats, suddenly stuck close behind April’s back now that the third floor was quiet.

“It’s scary….”

“What is?”

“There’s nothing here.”

“Would you prefer the rats?”

“Of course!”

Is that so?

April couldn’t wrap her head around that logic immediately, but she chalked it up to individual differences and kept walking.

The abandoned third floor was covered in cobwebs, and more than anything, it bore the scars of looting; all sorts of furniture had been hacked to pieces with axes. Furthermore, there wasn’t a single piece of furniture that hadn’t been gnawed on by rats.

Amidst this chaotic atmosphere, the portraits of the Lunos family members hanging on the walls seemed to be the only things no thief had been interested in.

Hannah gripped the hem of April’s skirt tightly and whispered.

“I feel like they’re watching us.”

Hearing that, April reflexively squeezed Hannah’s left hand. Now that the girl mentioned it, it did feel a bit like they were staring.

As they walked down the hallway, Hannah came to a stop.

“There’s a painting of you too, My Lady.”

“Yes.”

April looked where Hannah was pointing. It was a portrait of herself sitting between her parents.

While there were many portraits of her alone, that was the only one where she was with her parents.

I should have had more painted.

To parents, a portrait of their daughter would have been precious, but for the April who was left behind, she needed images of them together.

With that thought, she headed toward the stairs leading from the third floor to the rooftop.

When she pulled open the velvet-trimmed door with all her might, a staircase flooded with sunlight appeared. April stepped onto the stairs and climbed upward.

Hannah, following behind, gasped in admiration.

“Whoa….”

The lush green estate surrounding the Lunos Mansion stretched out below them.

The mansion was situated on a hill and possessed an immense floor height. Standing on the roof, her vision encompassed everything from the trees surrounding the estate all the way to the distant sea.

Her chest felt clear and open.

Standing there, April surveyed the buildings she now had to manage.

She saw the main gate of the estate, surrounded by forest.

It was a gate built by an ancestor of the Lunos family, who had provided full financial support to a historically renowned Architect to design whatever he wished.

There were pillars on both sides, connected at the top, with a massive gate beneath.

Both pillars were equipped with facilities where three or four people could comfortably live. The personnel stationed there had once protected the Lunos family.

Looking down from above, the state of the estate was even more dire. It looked as though it had been abandoned for a hundred years.

As she looked around the changed world, thinking of all the places that needed care, she noticed the landscape toward the Provincial Capital had completely transformed since the last time she was up here.

“By the way, that’s strange.”

At April’s remark, Hannah asked, “What is?”

“There are more trees.”

Whenever the temperature dropped as sharply as it did now, the people of the Grand Duchy used to chop down every tree in sight to take home as firewood.

Consequently, laws were passed forbidding the cutting of trees below or above a certain size, but they couldn’t stop the citizens who decided that breaking the law was better than freezing to death.

However, even at a glance, the number of trees throughout the Provincial Capital had increased. Perhaps because of that, the scenery looked even better than before.

Hannah spoke up.

“It’s because everyone started using coal. The Empire is exporting it really cheaply.”

“I see.”

As factories increased, so did the trees.

April tried to accept the changes that had occurred during the gap in her lost time.

As she looked around, her eyes landed on a space she had never seen before. She asked Hannah.

“What is that place over there?”

“It’s an Amusement Park. I haven’t been inside, so I don’t know what’s in there, but….”

“I see.”

There had been an amusement park seven years ago as well.

However, it had been a place with a large slide centered around a carousel at most; from this distance, its scale had clearly expanded significantly.

April asked, “Do you want to go?”

“Yes….”

“I’ll pay you for catching the rats. You should go visit.”

“R-really?”

Hannah’s eyes widened, but she quickly furrowed her brows again and asked.

“What about you, My Lady?”

“I don’t have time for that. I don’t have the peace of mind, and I don’t want to go anywhere crowded.”

April spoke decisively and turned her back to the Amusement Park.

“First, we need to clean.”

“Yes!”

Fearing she might be kicked out, Hannah went clattering down the stairs, then came clattering back up after finding cleaning supplies.

The two began cleaning the rooftop.

It was a space where the previous Head of the Family and his wife used to invite guests to drink tea late into the night.

The tables and chairs had been left exactly where they were; though they were too messy to host guests, they were clean enough for April and Hannah to sit and rest for a moment.

“This is great!”

Hannah exclaimed as she sat in a chair. April agreed with the child. It was a peace she hadn’t felt in a long time.

While they were resting like that for a while, Hannah, who had been chattering away about the things she liked, suddenly bolted upright. Then, her face turned deathly pale in an instant as she pointed somewhere.

“The fog is coming.”