The Mansion Awaits Spring — Chapter 1

HAAAH... NOW I CAN FINALLY BREATHE.

IF IT IS ALREADY THIS COLD, HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO GET THROUGH THIS WINTER?

WITH THE GAS BILL GOING UP AND ALL.

IS THE GAS BILL REALLY WHAT MATTERS RIGHT NOW, MY FRIEND?

IF IT GETS ANY COLDER, THAT DAMNED FOG WILL START KILLING PEOPLE AGAIN...

WOULDN'T THAT BE SOLVED IF THEY JUST CAUGHT THAT DAMN WITCH?

SHE'S THE ONE MAKING THE FOG AND EVERYTHING, ISN'T SHE!

A WITCH? WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

DO YOU NOT READ THE NEWSPAPERS?

SEE THAT PLACE OVER THERE? THE MANOR WHERE "THAT WOMAN" LIVES ALONE.

I ALWAYS WONDERED HOW SHE COULD AFFORD TO KEEP ALL THOSE GAS LAMPS LIT EVERY DAY,

BUT THEY SAY THE GAS TO THAT HOUSE WAS CUT OFF AGES AGO.

WHAT? HOW CAN SHE LIGHT GAS LAMPS WITH NO GAS?

HAH, THAT'S WHY I'M SAYING SHE'S A WITCH!

WHAT ELSE COULD EXPLAIN IT?

FOR A NOBLE LADY WHO LIVES ALONE WITHOUT A SINGLE SERVANT,

HOW COULD SHE GET GAS INTO THAT HUGE HOUSE AND KEEP THE LIGHTS ON?

OBVIOUSLY, THERE HAS TO BE SOMETHING UNNATURAL GOING ON.

I HEARD AT CHURCH THAT THE WOMAN,

EVER SINCE SHE WAS CAUGHT TRYING TO MURDER THE GRAND DUCAL COUPLE,

SHE WENT COMPLETELY MAD.

WHAT ELSE WOULD A MADWOMAN SHUT UP IN HER HOUSE DO?

SHE MUST BE LEARNING BLACK MAGIC AND PLOTTING REVENGE.

THEN, AFTER BECOMING A WITCH,

SHE LIGHTS THOSE GAS LAMPS WITH STRANGE MAGIC

AND CASTS A FOG CURSE OVER THIS TOWN EVERY WINTER!

WOW... SO THAT'S WHY THE HEAD OF HOUSE LUNOS IS CALLED THE WITCH OF THE MIST?

YEAH, THAT'S WHAT I'M SAY...

ING?!

WH-WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?

OH, JUST POLICE ON PATROL.

OPEN. FLAMES. ARE. PROHIBITED. AND YET YOU LIT A FIRE HERE.

Please put it out.

OH, MY. SORRY ABOUT THAT...

...IT SEEMS CERTAIN THAT WITHIN THE GRAND DUCHY,

THE PREVAILING BELIEF IS THAT THE HEAD OF HOUSE LUNOS IS A WITCH.

SUPERINTENDENT DIEUS.

WHAT?

YES. IN THE ABANDONED HARBOR DISTRICT AND EVEN THE VILLAGES NEAR THE ESTATE...

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

...SIR?

APRIL AVA LUNOS...

DO YOU REALLY THINK SHE'S THE WITCH OF THE MIST?

TO THE EAST OF THE RASA EMPIRE,

THERE IS AN ISLAND SHAPED LIKE A WAXING HALF MOON CALLED “RIGHT ISLAND.”

TO THE PEOPLE OF RIGHT ISLAND, DESCENDANTS OF RUGGED SEAFARERS,

HONOR MATTERS ABOVE ALL ELSE.

THAT IS WHY, AGAINST ANYONE WHO STAINED THEIR HONOR,

TAKING REVENGE BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY

WAS LIKE A MISSION CARVED INTO THE SOULS OF THE RIGHT ISLAND'S PEOPLE.

AND

BEFORE I TURNED 15,

APRIL, THE WEDDING IS OFF.

LET US BREAK OFF OUR ENGAGEMENT.

MY FIANCÉ TRAMPLED ON MY HONOR.

MILLER DIEUS, THE RULER OF RIGHT ISLAND,

FELL IN LOVE WITH HIS NANNY'S DAUGHTER AND UNILATERALLY BROKE OFF OUR BETROTHAL.

ON RIGHT ISLAND, WHERE HONOR IS CHERISHED AS DEARLY AS LIFE,

TAKING REVENGE ON A BETRAYER WAS A MATTER OF COURSE,

SO MY PARENTS, FOR THE SAKE OF THEIR DAUGHTER AND OUR FAMILY'S HONOR,

PLANNED THEIR REVENGE BY PUTTING POISON IN HIS CUP, BUT...

UNFORTUNATELY, THEIR REVENGE FAILED.

UNABLE TO STOMACH THE PRICE OF TRAMPLING ON MY HONOR, GRAND DUKE MILLER DIEUS

SUBJECTED THE RIGHT ISLAND'S TRADITIONAL REVENGE TO THE LAWS OF ITS RULER, THE RASA EMPIRE.

RIGHT ISLAND'S PROUD TRADITION BECAME THE BARBARIC CUSTOM OF AN UNCIVILIZED VASSAL STATE,

AND MY PARENTS AND I BECAME ATTEMPTED MURDERERS.

A MAN WHO COULD NOT EVEN BEAR THE PRICE OF HIS OWN BETRAYAL.

BECAUSE OF HIS COWARDICE,

LUNOS FELL.

APRIL LUNOS.

TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THAT YOU ARE 15,

I SENTENCE YOU TO SEVEN YEARS OF HOUSE ARREST.

THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE THAT I TOOK PART IN THE CRIME, BUT NO PROOF THAT I DID NOT,

AND WHEN THE VERDICT WAS HANDED DOWN TO ME FOR THAT REASON...

NEXT IS THE VERDICT FOR THE HEAD OF HOUSE LUNOS AND HIS WIFE.

DEATH.

AH, NO...

NO, NO. THIS CANNOT BE...!

MOTHER. FATHER.

WHY DID YOU DEFEND ME SO FIERCELY, INSISTING I ALONE WAS INNOCENT?

YOU SMILED AS IF YOU WERE SIMPLY RELIEVED THAT YOUR DAUGHTER, AT LEAST, HAD SURVIVED.

THAT IMPOSSIBLY PEACEFUL SMILE...

No!!

AH

IT FELT AS THOUGH MY HEART WOULD BE TORN APART.

IN SEPTEMBER, WHEN WINTER BEGINS TO SEEP INTO RIGHT ISLAND,

HOUSE LUNOS FELL ALONG WITH MY PARENTS' EXECUTION.

ONLY I REMAINED, TRAPPED IN THE MANOR FOR SEVEN YEARS, FORCED TO BROOD OVER THIS TRAGEDY ALONE.

AT LAST, SEVEN HELLISH YEARS...

NO, SEVEN YEARS AND ONE MONTH HAVE PASSED.

I THOUGHT THAT ON THE DAY MY SEVEN YEARS WERE UP,

SOMEONE WOULD COME TELL ME MY HOUSE ARREST WAS OVER, BUT...

EVEN NOW, A FULL MONTH LATER,

NO ONE HAS COME FOR ME.

HAS THE HOUSE OF DIEUS FORGOTTEN ME?

...IF YOU WILL NOT COME TO ME,

I WILL COME TO YOU MYSELF, MILLER DIEUS.

AND

WHAT I TRAMPLED ON

AND WHAT MY PARENTS TRIED TO PROTECT.

HONOR.

I WILL RECLAIM MY HONOR.

AH, I AM OUTSIDE THE MANOR.

AS EXPECTED, THE GARDEN IS A COMPLETE MESS.

REMOVING THE WEEDS AND THE REMAINING STAKES

IS GOING TO TAKE QUITE A BIT OF TIME...

...THE POLICE?

MY HOUSE ARREST ENDED A MONTH AGO. WHY ARE THEY ONLY SHOWING UP NOW? I wore myself out for nothing.

I SHOULD GO GIVE THEM A PIECE OF MY...

DO NOT MOVE, APRIL LUNOS.

TAKE EVEN ONE STEP FROM THERE, AND WE WILL FIRE.

HAH!

THAT IS RATHER VIOLENT FOR A NOTICE THAT MY HOUSE ARREST HAS BEEN LIFTED.

DID YOUR COWARDLY ELDER BROTHER ASK YOU TO KILL ME?

PEJIN DIEUS.

OF COURSE NOT.

I AM HERE UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE IMPERIAL POLICE.

...THE EMPIRE?

NOT THE GRAND DUCHY?

FOR THE INCIDENTS THAT HAVE OCCURRED OVER THE PAST THREE YEARS,

AS A SUSPECT IN THE "GRAND DUCHY FOG SERIAL MURDER CASE,"

APRIL AVA LUNOS, YOU ARE UNDER ARREST.