The Mansion Awaits Spring
Chapter 63
The Emperor phrased it delicately, but both the researcher and the Emperor himself believed that kidnapping was the simplest method.
The execution wouldn’t be difficult. Pezin was currently acting the part of surveilling April, and it wouldn’t be strange regardless of when he chose to arrest her.
If she were sent straight to the Empire immediately after her arrest, there would be no issues.
The Emperor, about to relay the command to Pezin, held his pen and fell into contemplation.
The fact that the boy had gone for a sea swim came to mind once more.
He thought he had raised him as a perfect Imperial citizen, yet he had dived into the ocean in the dead of winter.
He mused that, in the end, one’s origins could never truly be hidden.
After reflecting for a long while, he changed the recipient of the order.
The Emperor placed great importance on Pezin’s role in fully absorbing the Grand Duchy into the Empire. It wasn’t that he merely intended to use him.
On the day the boy first entered the Empire, the Emperor had lost his heart to him at first sight. He had intentionally gathered troops to stand before him to intimidate and brainwash the child, but that blood-like scrap of a boy had instead stared back with wide, defiant eyes.
Amidst a foreign land, foreign air, and a haze where he couldn’t distinguish friend from foe, young Pezin Dieus had calmly assessed the situation.
Pezin was clever and quickly grasped the Emperor’s intentions.
When the Emperor opened his arms to Pezin, who was bowing formally, the boy ran into his embrace as if meeting a beloved family member he had loved his whole life. It was a gesture of submission.
It broke the Emperor’s heart that he had to test the boy’s loyalty.
However, there was no other way. No matter how much he cherished him, he could not sleep while clutching a blade to his chest.
The Emperor addressed the letter to Devin Meyer.
Coincidentally, Devin Meyer was fuming over a recent incident between April Runos and Shafer Meyer.
If told, he would surely kidnap April and deliver her to the Empire in a heartbeat.
Rather than a command, it would be welcomed as joyful news.
Pezin would immediately realize that Devin had smuggled his investigative subject to the Empire. The Emperor was curious to see how he would respond.
The news spread like wildfire among those who once bore the surname ‘Runos.’ It was the word that April was visiting homes in person to deliver the funeral invitations.
Since the likelihood of a chain reaction of refusals was high if even one person declined, she seemed to have decided to face them directly and hand over the notices from the start.
The coast of the Right Island, where the nobles were gathered, was in an uproar.
On the Right Island, the northern part where the Grand Duchy was located was relatively warm, and the alleys of the Right Island’s provincial capital, centered around the Grand Duchy, were lined with the townhouses of the most prominent nobles.
Eleanor Morrow, a member of the Morrow family and an Imperial, stood silently by the window and looked outside, waiting for April Runos to visit her home.
Just then, her son, Kayani Morrow, entered the study and spoke cautiously.
“Mother, April unnie has just entered the estate.”
“Which number did they say the Morrows are on the list?”
“Let’s see… we are fifth.”
Eleanor nodded at Kayani Morrow’s words as she mentally calculated the timing.
She turned to Kayani with her characteristically cold expression and spoke.
“Why did you join in on that sea swimming nonsense? If you were born an Imperial, you shouldn’t be so easily swayed by the atmosphere.”
“Mother, am I an Imperial even if I wasn’t born in the Empire?”
When Kayani asked this, Eleanor set down her teacup and replied.
“Are you denying my blood now?”
“No, it’s not that. I’m not denying you, Mother; I’m trying to affirm Father’s existence as well.”
“What good has the Runos family ever given you? Your father discarded the family name with his own hands and then lost the ability to speak because he couldn’t handle the pressure. Look at the other relatives of that family. Has any one of them achieved anything by helping each other?”
“No.”
“Or was there even one person who tried to get that young girl released a day sooner while she was confined alone? Or anyone who dared to visit the mansion as soon as her house arrest was lifted, even at the risk of being hated by the Grand Duke?”
“……There was no one.”
Kayani’s voice grew smaller and smaller against Eleanor’s sharp tone.
Ever since her husband developed aphasia, Eleanor Morrow had loathed the Runos family.
Kayani fully understood his mother’s feelings.
However, Kayani felt differently.
While he loved both his parents equally, the main family of the Morrow clan was in the Empire, and they were distant grand-uncles to him. They would have been extremely close if they lived on the same Right Island, but living in different places made them feel like total strangers.
On the other hand, the Runos family was close both geographically and in terms of their relationship with the head of the family.
And above all, Kayani liked the Runos Mansion.
If asked where the most central location on the Right Island was, most people would think of the provincial capital centered around the Grand Ducal Residence.
But for Kayani, it was different.
The nobles of the Right Island, which was shaped like a crescent moon, mostly lived on the coast facing the Left Island. It was the region with the most pleasant climate.
Elsewhere, a massive and rugged mountain range sat like a spine along the rounded back of the crescent moon.
The only way—or arguably the best way—to cross that mountain range was to pass through the canyon located to the east of the Runos estate.
Therefore, the Runos family, situated at that gateway, could be said to occupy a strategic point. Kayani had always admired that geographical fact.
This location didn’t stand out much now, as there were no issues in the relationship with the Left Island and few interactions with other nations.
However, the majesty of the Runos Mansion, perched on the last hill toward the canyon, remained.
Just then, April Runos arrived at the Morrow home.
Even though the Morrow family was said to be great, the head of the family had given almost no fortune to his niece, Eleanor.
However, thanks to the sheer greatness of the Runos family, there was no problem living a life of leisure even without any further income.
Reading his thoughts to some extent, Eleanor said to Kayani.
“If you’re that glad to see her, go and greet her yourself. I… should at least go talk to your father.”
“Yes, Mother.”
Kayani bowed politely and left the study to welcome April, while Eleanor climbed the stairs to the second floor with a dissatisfied expression.
When Eleanor came to the Grand Duchy from the Empire, she hadn’t come empty-handed. She had filled the massive study that reached up to the second floor with the books she had brought.
Eleanor walked up the stairs inside the study and called out to her husband, Jeff Morrow, who was sitting in the back, wrapped in a blanket, staring blankly outside.
“Jeff.”
Over the past seven years, his hair had turned snow-white, and he had not opened his mouth even once during that time.
She had liked that tender heart of his when they married, but she hadn’t known it would rot her soul like this.
Eleanor spoke.
“Your niece is here. April.”
At the name ‘April,’ Jeff slowly turned to look at her.
Red eyes, identical to April’s, slowly fixed their gaze.
It was the first time in seven years that Jeff’s gaze, which always seemed to be looking nowhere, had become clear.
Caught between a strange sense of anticipation and the resentment that followed, Eleanor rushed toward Jeff. However, she couldn’t bring herself to do anything to her husband, who had become as worn as if covered in dust, and instead sank down before him.
“Please, pull yourself together! That girl came out as soon as her house arrest was lifted, knowing her duties and doing what she must, so why is a man much older than her still like this? You need to act like a husband and act like a father! Don’t you feel pity for your family?”
Jeff’s gaze shifted toward his wife, who was pleading in an angry voice.
After seven years of not budging, Jeff, after a long moment, carefully stroked the back of her hand with his thumb.
Eleanor, who had been crying with her face buried in his lap, looked up, startled by his action.
“Jeff?”
