September in the Deus Grand Duchy, the right island of the Empire, was the season when fishermen's farewells to their families grew shorter. Sometimes, they'd even slip away alone in the dead of night.
The gruff fishermen found their families' concerns burdensome. Hearing those worries brought up the fear they'd been suppressing. How could they face the perilous sea if they were afraid?
Conversely, greetings would lengthen again around April, the birth month of April Lunos, who was serving the seventh year of her house arrest. While April was traditionally the season of greetings, for April, alone in the Lunos mansion, there had been no one to exchange greetings with for seven years.
In January, three months before her fifteenth birthday, there was a trial.
The problem began when Miller Deus, the Grand Duke and April's fiancé, fell in love with another woman.
April's parents were caught attempting to poison the Grand Duke and his lover, having concluded that he had tarnished their daughter's honor.
The people of the right island, descendants of seafarers, viewed engagement as a promise of lifelong companionship. For parents to kill those who betrayed their daughter was simply what was expected.
In September of her fifteenth year, the sentences for the three members of the Lunos family were carried out.
The heads of the family were executed, while April, not yet sixteen (the age of adulthood in the Grand Duchy), received a seven-year house arrest sentence.
She had no siblings, and the rest of her relatives fled in various directions, not wanting to be swept up in the waves created by the sinking family.
Who would have thought that the most influential family in the Grand Duchy, second only to the Grand Duke's, would disappear in an instant?
Yet April's parents, facing their execution date, seemed eerily calm, as if this had been their inevitable fate.
They frantically protested April's innocence when she was found guilty, but once her house arrest sentence was announced, they became surprisingly serene.
In their final moment, as they were led to their execution, they alternated in saying their last words to their daughter:
"This was bound to happen."
"We love you."
Wailing in heart-piercing sorrow, April couldn't respond to either of her parents' words.
That regret had stayed with her for seven years.
Many in the Grand Duchy, including the judge, were convinced that April, known only for causing trouble in high society, couldn't survive seven years alone.
However, like the September fishermen who had said their goodbyes, April's parents departed, and seven years later, April was still alive. She had even managed relatively well.
"...It's quiet," April muttered, combing her tangled hair as she woke up at sunrise, just like any other morning.
She had expected people from the Grand Duke's household to appear immediately after her house arrest ended, noisily removing the stakes embedded in the mansion walls.
She had even considered the possibility that they might find another reason to execute her eventually.
But now, past October, no orders had come from Miller Deus, the head of the Deus Grand Duke's family.
He seemed to have forgotten even the punishment he had imposed.
To be able to completely erase from his mind someone who had wronged him – he was unknowingly exacting the ultimate revenge.
Despite having served her sentence, April's life remained unchanged from the past seven years.
As the sun began to set, she started lighting the gas lamps on the first and second floors, carrying a candelabra as usual.
The mansion was fitted with numerous gas lamps, installed for Lady Lunos, who disliked darkness.
However, it was strange that these gas lamps still worked.
Despite the mansion's gas lines being blocked for years, the lamps had continued to light for seven years.
They even burned so brightly that one might wonder if too much gas was being supplied.
April walked the corridors in her long dress, lighting all the gas lamps. This was the most important part of her daily routine.
After illuminating the house, April gazed at the densely packed stakes outside the window that no longer closed due to disrepair.
A month after the end of her confinement, she could wait no longer.
The past seven years had been agonizing, and she couldn't allow that punishment to continue dominating her life.
Today, her resolve had hardened.
April went downstairs and picked up a carefully sharpened axe. She went to the stakes and began chopping at one of them.
She intended to go outside, even though no one would welcome her.
There was someone she needed to meet.
Miller Deus.
My fiancé.
The traitor who fell in love with another woman.
He had executed the Lunos couple for attempting to take his and his lover's lives, and had pinned the same charges on April.
There was no evidence of April's involvement, but emotions had prevailed.
Despite being educated enough to know that he shouldn't punish April based on suspicion alone without concrete evidence, he had sentenced her to house arrest.
He probably thought that if he left her in high society, she might one day actually kill the woman he had fallen in love with.
It wasn't surprising that her parents were sentenced to death for failing to assassinate the Grand Duke.
Their only regret was failing to kill the Grand Duke for the sake of their daughter's honor.
But April was different; she knew nothing about it.
However, just as she couldn't prove that she knew, she also couldn't prove that she didn't know.
For various reasons, April needed to meet Miller. And if she could continue living after meeting him, she had only one desire:
Honor.
The honor of the Lunos family that her parents had tried to protect at the cost of their lives.
For that, she wasn't in a position to be choosy about her methods.
If the world saw her as a villain, it might not be so bad to live up to those expectations.
After chopping for a long time, April finally managed to fell one stake, creating enough space for her to slip through.
With her arm strength depleted, unable to lift the axe anymore, April stared into the pitch-black night, the axe blade resting on the ground.
She caught her breath, then stepped outside with her candelabra.
As soon as she emerged from behind the stakes, a sudden cold wind gusted.
April quickly shielded the candle flame with her hand and looked at the overgrown estate that no one had maintained.
"There's a lot of work to be done."
How much had the world changed in the past seven years?
Even in high society, the only world she knew before her house arrest, fashions would have changed with each season.
Above all, April Lunos was the villain who had tried to kill the current Grand Duchess, the wise and beautiful Heidi Deus.
The beliefs held by the people of the Grand Duchy wouldn't change easily.
April knew seven years ago that her social life was over.
People would throw stones at her if she appeared on the streets. Nevertheless, she had to revive this family.
Fixing one thing would cause two others to regress. She would have to constantly fix and retreat.
As April pondered what to do first with her newfound freedom, she noticed a faint light approaching.
Squinting, she tried to make out what it was, but still couldn't discern it clearly. The light grew brighter and multiplied.
Cutting through the overgrown tall grass came a group of police officers.
April felt a surge of indignation at the sight.
"If you had come a little earlier, I wouldn't have had to exert myself unnecessarily."
Muttering this, she began walking towards the police.
She didn't want to respond awkwardly to the first people she was meeting after seven years.
Her house arrest ended last month, and they're only coming to inform her now?
April decided she needed to say something about how wrong this was. However, as she was organizing her thoughts, she suddenly stopped in her tracks.
The police were armed.
This was certainly not the attire of those coming to announce the end of house arrest.
