Chapter 70
“Why? Why would the Grand Duchy police arrest Miss April?”
When Paul, who had grown quite fond of April, asked with an unconscious frown, Logan answered,
“That arrest must be the Imperial order.”
“What?”
“They seem to be creating a legal way for the police to hold Miss April.”
At Logan’s words, Paul hesitated before turning to Fejin and saying,
“Isn’t this kidnapping?”
“It’s arrest. How is it kidnapping when the police take someone?”
“But!”
“Leave it. There’s nothing we can do.”
Fejin spoke and cleared away the report, having nothing more to see.
Paul unconsciously tried to read Fejin’s emotions.
Logan glanced at Paul, then approached to block his view of Fejin and clasped his hands behind his back.
“The Commissioner is right. It’s natural since there was an Imperial order.”
“How is this natural! Who knows what will happen to Miss April!”
“Why do you think this task was given to the Grand Duchy police instead of Investigation Headquarters in the first place?”
“What…?”
When Paul was left speechless, Logan nodded as if he’d expected this and continued.
“His Majesty the Emperor is testing. Testing how far the Commissioner can pretend not to know about what happens in the Grand Duchy.”
“…”
“Whether Miss April might be someone who influences the Commissioner.”
Such concerns had first overwhelmed Paul Soar himself.
He briefly looked at Fejin visible over Logan’s shoulder.
Fejin said nothing more, showing neither anger nor depression.
Paul knew that Fejin had no choice but to create this emotionless demeanor. Fejin had chosen to completely block out all emotions.
Paul said to Fejin,
“Miss April will get hurt, Commissioner.”
At this, Fejin gestured for Trevor to leave.
Knowing this was conversation he shouldn’t hear, Trevor Hill bowed and left with the Second Division officers.
Fejin looked at Paul and asked,
“Why did we come here in the first place?”
“…To maintain order disturbed by the mist.”
“No, honestly.”
“Honestly…”
“We came to protect the Empire.”
At Fejin’s words, Paul fell silent, startled.
Fejin continued,
“The mist had no effect on the Empire. It happened in the Grand Duchy, and if someone needs to be blamed, it’s to make people blame April Lunos, who always keeps gas lamps lit in that mansion on the hill.”
Paul clenched his fists at Fejin’s words.
Silence followed, and just when the conversation seemed over, Paul spoke again.
“Yes, I understand. I understand, but.”
“If you understand, you can go.”
“I guess I’ve been looking away because I didn’t want to admit I was such a petty person.”
“…”
“Thank you for making me realize.”
With those words, Paul left Investigation Headquarters.
Logan looked at Fejin, who remained silent.
“Then… I’ll take my leave too.”
After Logan bid farewell and left, Fejin remained seated for a long while.
Even after being left alone for some time, reality crept into his mind.
Though he had understood the situation before anyone else, the feeling of that situation came to him later than anyone.
Fejin curled up and covered his face with both hands.
“Don’t appear in my dreams. They’re nightmares.”
His hands began to shake.
❖ ❖ ❖
Fejin had been right.
Beautiful things appeared in dreams. And dreams with Fejin were nightmares.
Even after hearing Jeff Merrow’s words, April couldn’t hate Fejin Deus. She couldn’t feel that way.
If it wasn’t love, and it wasn’t hate, shouldn’t it be no feeling at all?
She couldn’t understand what was constricting her breath like this.
Fejin was standing on a cliff. Then suddenly she was standing on the cliff. It was a confusing dream.
And one of them was falling off the cliff. Sometimes it was Fejin Deus, sometimes it was herself.
The truly nightmarish part was when Fejin fell off the cliff.
That fact was horrifically painful. When the scene changed to her falling, she screamed in terror yet felt relief.
If someone had to die, better it be me.
She found herself thinking this.
She woke from this suffocating dream when Baumann knocked on her door to wake her.
The knocking sounded ominous.
April couldn’t tell if this tension weighing down her entire body was from the nightmare or from Baumann’s knock.
April put on a robe and opened the door.
“What’s wrong?”
“The police… the police are here.”
“Police?”
April furrowed her brow in confusion.
It wasn’t unusual for police to come and go from this mansion. She couldn’t understand why Baumann was so shocked.
Then she remembered there were two types of police on the Right Island now.
One was the Imperial police led by Fejin, and the other was…
The Grand Duchy police who had investigated the Lunos family.
April rushed outside without time to collect herself.
As Baumann had said, police officers in uniforms bearing the Grand Duchy police emblem were standing there.
She faced clearly remembered faces.
All the police who had investigated the Lunos family were here.
“How dare you come here…”
April clenched her fists and trembled.
The police who spotted her informed a middle-aged man holding a stack of documents that April had appeared.
The man ran up to her with a welcoming expression.
“Hello, Miss Lunos.”
“Who are you?”
“Ah, I am Jona Tavisi of Tavisi Company. A gas supplier.”
After handing over his business card and introducing himself, Jona Tavisi continued.
“I apologize for asking after already beginning the investigation, but… may we search the Lunos mansion?”
April unconsciously narrowed her eyes and asked,
“For what reason?”
“Of course, you would know best, Miss Lunos. The fact that there are unpaid gas usage fees.”
April was momentarily speechless at this sudden statement.
Meanwhile, Jona Tavisi pulled out a bill from the stack of documents he was holding.
“His Grace the Grand Duke understood my small company’s difficulties and permitted the investigation.”
“I believe the Imperial police already thoroughly investigated that matter.”
“Yes, that’s correct. But how much attention would Imperial police pay to matters in the Grand Duchy? So for my sake, the Grand Duchy police agreed to reinvestigate.”
“Reinvestigate?”
An incredulous laugh escaped her, inappropriate for the situation.
Jona Tavisi continued speaking to April.
“If the investigation proves gas has been used until now, the Lunos family will need to pay the amount written here.”
After checking the bill, April barely managed to speak.
“When the gas lines are disconnected, what could change with a reinvestigation?”
“But it’s also true that the Lunos house drew and used gas, lighting gas lamps. And I apologize for saying this, but… Miss April, you might have used some method we don’t know about? Like sorcery…”
While Jona Tavisi was speaking, April checked the bill in a dazed state.
The amount on the bill was astronomical, exceeding what remained after April sold her ships.
The amount was nonsensical even if April had used gas as this businessman claimed. It was nothing short of usury.
The amount was almost exactly equal to what April had in the bank. The bank employee must have been in on it too.
This gas supplier knew exactly how much wealth she possessed.
