Translator: Nox

The Mansion Awaits Spring

Chapter 7

Fezin, who had been staring down at April, replied.

「Because I met my hyung. I met my sister-in-law, too.」

「Well, they are a married couple, after all.」

April said this and waited for Fezin’s reaction.

He moved his feet without much of a word.

「Let’s go inside.」

It was a duller reaction than she had expected. Perhaps even this was no longer a particular weakness of his.

April followed Fezin, walking as she spoke.

「You don’t have much of a reaction.」

「Why? Were you hoping the Grand Duchess would have an affair with a green boy like me?」

「Well, honestly, I don’t think Heidi would like a brat like you. She liked your hyung.」

「I was young back then. It would be a serious problem if she liked a child that small.」

「Ah, so you’re confident now?」

「Of course.」

「Are you crazy?」

When April asked with a straight face, unable to endure his brazenness, Fezin said nonchalantly.

「Objectively speaking, it’s true.」

「You’re not even joking?」

「Are we on joking terms?」

「We aren’t on terms to share such serious vanity, either. What part of you are you so confident in? Your family?」

「My face, obviously.」

「……」

「Everyone says it’s pretty. Other people’s eyes are usually accurate.」

Finally, April was speechless.

Of course, she felt such a personal dislike for him that she thought she would have cast him far away had they met in high society, but in her heart, she conceded that his face was indeed pretty.

His eyes were like a lake reflecting the world’s scenery in its true colors.

His long eyelashes became even more enchanting the closer one got to him, and even the color of his lips—which looked as if they had been carefully chosen to match his pale skin—was perfect.

If Miller was a man’s face successfully sculpted by a god with standard beauty in mind, Fezin’s was a face where beauty seemed to have been discovered by accident after creating millions of others.

It was absurd, yet looking at his face made her feel bewitched.

Even so, could a normal person say that so shamelessly with their own mouth?

As soon as April regained her senses from the fox’s tail-wagging, she immediately turned her head away. Then, she walked straight toward the mansion’s porch.

A rope was tied at waist height across the mansion door, signaling no entry for the investigation.

As Fezin reached out to lift the rope, April narrowed her eyes and slapped his arm away.

While Fezin looked back at her, a detective inside rushed out and untied the rope.

「Please come in.」

「It seems the weather is quite cold. You should go in and rest.」

April said that to the detective and stepped inside first.

Fezin let out a hollow laugh as he watched April’s retreating back, knowing her words were a polite way of saying, ‘Go out and die, you slow-witted fool.’

A police officer from the Grand Duchy who followed behind him said.

「She reminds me of the former…… Matriarch Lunos.」

「I was just thinking the same thing. I can tell exactly which family she belongs to.」

She was a woman of a family whose relatives and servants had stolen every single decorative bead and vase—anything worth money—leaving her with nothing but a wasteland and a derelict house.

Yet, the pride April held for that family was still immense.

The cold wind began to bite the moment they stepped off the carriage. Having lived in the Empire and forgotten the razor-sharp winds of the Grand Duchy for a while, Fezin frowned at the cold.

Despite his hope that it might be better once they were indoors, the inside of the mansion was no different from the outside, with the wind whistling through broken windows.

Fortunately, an officer lit a fire in the fireplace, allowing a bit of warmth to circulate through part of the mansion.

Even with the police following her, April felt the tension she had been holding relax slightly now that she was back home. Warming her hands by the fire’s glow, April looked toward Fezin and asked.

「I’m grateful you brought me home, but what are you here for? Bringing so many police officers with you.」

「To check the gas lines.」

The two were standing on the first floor of the grand mansion. The unmaintained marble floor was cracked in various places, and every time the officers stepped on a broken section, a loud crack echoed throughout the house.

Then, at the sound of something breaking, April, who had been standing with a displeased expression, ran toward the source of the noise.

The sound was coming from where they were using crowbars to tear open the iron door that had been blocked off when her house arrest began.

It had been sealed for so long that she couldn’t even remember what was left in the basement.

Paul clicked his tongue at the iron door, which was so heavy it took several officers to finally pry it open.

「I don’t know why they blocked it off like that; how was that young lady supposed to open it alone?」

As Paul said, it was an unnecessarily excessive blockade.

Having removed the iron door, everyone moved into the dark basement.

April stopped at the entrance, as she had never personally been into the basement. She peered into the cellar, which was now illuminated by the light held by the officers who had entered first.

There didn’t seem to be anything particularly important in the basement.

Most of it was tools left behind by servants, and there were empty liquor bottles scattered about, as if it had been used as a secret drinking spot.

A detective walked over, picked up an empty bottle, and said.

「Wow, they don’t even make this liquor anymore.」

They said the Grand Duchy had changed rapidly over the past seven years; it seemed that while many things were newly created, many had also vanished.

And the detective, perhaps a fan of that vanished liquor, couldn't put the bottle down for a while.

Meanwhile, to check the gas lines, the officers descended another flight of stairs from the basement to a level further below.

As everyone had known, the pipes were severed and blocked.

「All the pipes are blocked.」

When that report drifted up from below, the eyes of everyone in the basement turned toward April.

Without pipes for the gas to travel through, how on earth could the countless lamps in this grand mansion have been lit every day?

In the first place, when the police checked with the gas company, the company had trailed off, saying that regarding the gas supplied to light those many lamps, their records showed no supply to the Lunos family, 「at least, as far as we’ve confirmed so far……」

The reason they hadn't said a definitive ‘No’ wasn't because they were truly uncertain, but out of a hope that they might be able to collect a massive amount of unpaid fees from the Lunos family later.

This gas company, established by a noble family from the Left Island, had installed an unnecessarily large number of gas lamps on the streets of the Right Island, extracting enormous fees back to the Left Island every month.

The police, well aware of that notoriety, were certain that if a fight broke out with the gas company, there was no way April Runos, who had been locked away for seven years, could win.

After confirming the severed pipes, just as the officers were all coming back up, the body of one sergeant—the one in the poorest health among the Grand Duchy police—slumped over.

「Uh……」

Then, he collapsed straight onto the floor and lost consciousness.

While everyone stood dazed by the sudden turn of events, Fezin rushed over and checked the fallen sergeant’s breathing.

Confirming his breath was shallow, he immediately hoisted the sergeant onto his back and ran up the stairs.

April stood frozen at the sudden situation occurring in her home, where she had spent a relatively peaceful seven years.

She only snapped out of it after the officers running out of the basement hurled curses at her.

Once all the police had left, April lingered for a moment before picking up the oil lamp they had left on the floor.

Then, she walked toward the place where the sergeant had just collapsed.

In the basement, there was nothing but the pipes that had been cut and completely blocked. Since the supply had been cut off from far outside the estate to begin with, there was no way for gas to flow in.

But then, why?

Only after seeing the pipes with her own eyes for the first time in seven years did April admit that the lighting of the gas lamps could only be suspicious.