The Mansion Awaits Spring
Chapter 97
April felt her heart stop at the sound of the gunshot, only regaining her composure after Logan began his search.
Then again, she recalled her parents once saying that port taverns were hotbeds of crime.
As soon as the police appeared, the sailors began to throw themselves at Logan’s feet, begging.
“I’m sorry! I brought it in without knowing it was that kind of liquor… I’ll throw it into the sea right now. Immediately!”
Having extracted a confession out of thin air, Logan quickly assessed the situation and adopted a feigned expression of gravity.
“These liquors are banned by law. Do you think they’re banned just so someone else can profit? They’re banned because you’ll die early if you drink them. They’re bad for your health.”
“But the demand in the Empire is so high, what can we do? The profit margin is just… so good.”
A sailor, his nose flushed bright red from drink, slunk forward and nudged a pouch toward Logan. It was a silent plea for him to look the other way.
Logan glanced back at April, then pushed the pouch away with a look of regret.
“Dump it all out right in front of me. I’ll let you off just this once.”
“Pardon?”
Because the bribe was significantly cheaper than losing all that liquor, the sailor hesitated. Logan spoke again.
“I said I’m letting you off. Without a death sentence.”
“Oh, oh! Yes! The death penalty! Heavens, such generosity! Thank you!”
Only then did the sailor realize the gravity of the situation. He began hurling curses at the rest of the crew, who were struggling to sober up.
“Hey, you insolent bastards! Hurry up and say thank you!”
“Th-thank you, Officer!”
They stumbled to their feet and began hauling crates of liquor, hurling them into the sea.
April wanted to see exactly what kind of liquor they were discarding, but the crates were sealed tight for smuggling, keeping the contents hidden.
While April watched the liquor being tossed with fascination, Logan returned to her side.
“They should be sober enough now to listen to what you have to say, April-yang.”
“You were going to take that bribe if I wasn’t here, weren’t you?”
“Pardon? Oh, heavens… I was just going to make it disappear, like magic.”
“That means you were going to take it.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry. It looked so heavy for a moment….”
Logan’s act of mock crying was annoying, yet there was something undeniably charming about it.
April let it slide with a small laugh and approached a sailor who was sweating as he dumped the crates despite the chilly weather.
“Excuse me, would anyone here happen to know a person named Irsa Joyce?”
“Irsa? If it’s Irsa you’re looking for, that navigator over there will know when she’s coming back.”
“I see. Thank you.”
April thanked him and headed toward the navigator the sailor had pointed out.
The navigator, seemingly uninvolved in the smuggling, was nursing a drink and grumbling.
“Those bastards told me it was potatoes. I almost took the fall all by myself.”
April looked down at the cheap swill the navigator was drinking, then reached for a bottle of fine liquor from the wall shelf and set it down before him.
The navigator looked up at her and muttered.
“……Whoa. I’ve had dreams like this before.”
“What kind of dreams?”
“Dreams where a beauty like you buys me a drink.”
“You have strange dreams.”
“But things like this don’t happen in reality. Why are you giving me this? What’s your angle?”
“I want to find the sailors who used to work for the Lunos family.”
“…….”
“I’m holding a funeral at the Lunos estate. If no one shows up, I’m finished. But if many people come, quite a bit of money will likely be gathered. I intend to buy a ship with that money. There’s one that stopped mid-construction because I sold it. I need to buy it back.”
“So you’re saying you need sailors?”
“Yes.”
“Those same sailors who stole like petty thieves and ran away, even after the Lunos family fed and housed them?”
“Yes. I need those people.”
“April Agassi.”
As the navigator straightened his posture to speak, April tilted her head slightly.
“I don’t believe we’re close enough for you to use my name yet.”
“I… am one of those petty thieves who worked for the Lunos family.”
“…….”
“I am sorry, Agassi….”
The navigator dropped to his knees on the spot and bowed his head.
April stared intently at his face.
Now that she looked at him, he did seem familiar. She remembered him being around Miller’s age. He was a navigator her parents had been particularly fond of. They had taught him well, grooming him to take charge of a large vessel.
April murmured.
“I think I remember you. Now that I see you.”
“I thought… it was the end. I thought I’d lose my job once the two of them passed, and I let myself get swept up in the agitation that those Grand Duchy bastards would strip us of everything anyway…. I was truly a fool. I am so sorry.”
“……Who said that?”
“Pardon?”
“That the Grand Duchy people would take everything. Someone must have said it for such a rumor to spread, right?”
At April’s question, the navigator hesitated and blinked before replying.
“Uh… I believe it was the sailors from the Empire who said it…. I will find out for you.”
“Thank you.”
April closed her eyes for a moment.
She had said she would rehire them, but she was no saint. She could not remain indifferent to the pain that felt like her very organs were being wrung with rage.
Suppressing the scream that threatened to erupt from the agonizing stabs throughout her body, April reached out her hand for a shake.
“I would be grateful if you came to my ship.”
The navigator stared blankly at her hand before grasping it with both of his, sobbing.
“I’ll go right now. I don’t even need wages. I’ve already stolen and drunk away the wages I would have earned.”
“Right now?”
“Did you not come here because you needed an escort?”
The navigator pointed to the scar on April’s face.
April covered the scar that ran from her cheek to her jaw with her hand. She remembered how Fezin’s gaze had lingered on the scar when she said she was leaving. And the expression he made at the mention of ‘your marriage.’
The navigator continued.
“Please call me Fisher.”
“Yes, Fisher-ssi. I look forward to working with you.”
“Yes, Agassi.”
“And by any chance, do you know where Irsa Joyce is?”
“Irsa? Ah, yes. She’s in prison.”
“……What?”
“She was arrested while trying to bring that illicit liquor into the Empire.”
At Fisher’s words, April turned to look at Logan.
Logan merely shrugged.
“I don’t know everything that goes on with the Imperial Police. Anyway….”
“You said a death sentence could be handed down?”
“Yes. The people of the Empire love that liquor, but more than a few have had seizures after drinking a lot of it. There have even been deaths, so they’re treating the smuggling of illicit liquor as equivalent to murder and punishing it severely.”
“In what cases is the death penalty sentenced?”
“That is….”
Logan hesitated before answering.
“……When they have no money, the death penalty is sentenced.”
“So you can buy a pardon with money.”
“Yes. The Empire is a place where that is possible.”
April let out a low sigh.
Setting the money aside, she understood why the illicit liquor was banned. She couldn’t understand why people would risk death just to drink it, but it seemed the ban was put in place to prevent such risks entirely.
April watched the navigator for a moment, then unfastened the necklace from her neck and held it out.
“Bring Irsa back.”
“Do you… do you trust me?”
“No.”
April continued with a mocking smile.
“But my parents used to say: keeping watch on people costs money, but the profit from trust is great.”
“…….”
“So I’m going to take the risk. I’m not trusting you; I’m trusting my parents.”
The navigator swallowed hard and clutched April’s necklace.
“I understand. I’ll be back, Agassi. And I’ll find the other sailors who worked for the Lunos family. For the sake of the late Head of the Family.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
