The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 127

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 127
* * *
When April called Pejin to the Grand Residence, he arrived after wrestling with the reason for her summons, only to find Shaper Meyer already there—a discovery that made him click his tongue.
Shaper had stepped out onto the porch for a moment’s rest, a smokeless cigarette between his lips, when Pejin asked him a question.
“What are you doing here?”
“April called me. You?”
“April called me too.”
At Pejin’s words, Shaper clicked his tongue with the expression of someone thoroughly displeased.
“So no matter how much we try to avoid each other, we still end up meeting.”
“It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other.”
“Still, you’re here anyway. Even when things are impossible between us, affection just keeps coming back, doesn’t it?”
“I have no intention of making pleasant conversation with you.”
“Oh, neither do I—absolutely not!”
Whether Shaper was being petulant or not, Pejin realized he’d arrived far too early, so he pulled out a cigarette of his own.
Then he nodded toward the smokeless cigarette Shaper held.
“People from the Grand Duchy smoke those a lot.”
“In the Grand Duchy, when it comes to cigarettes, it’s this.”
“I’ve never tried one. I didn’t become an adult here.”
Pejin murmured this, then continued.
“There’s so much in the Grand Duchy that feels foreign to me.”
Shaper glanced at him and held out the smokeless cigarette.
“Want one?”
“No.”
Pejin refused and held out his own cigarette instead, which Shaper also declined. They were merely curious—neither had any desire to exchange anything with the other.
Shaper removed the cigarette from between his gum and upper lip, speaking as he did.
“It’s about Eleonore.”
“April’s great-aunt?”
“Why has she been nagging me so much lately?”
“If she bothers to nag you, she must take some interest in you.”
“That’s what I thought, but apparently now whenever she sees me, it’s ‘Sit up straight,’ ‘Button your coat,’ just constant nagging.”
Pejin had been letting Shaper’s words go in one ear and out the other until this particular comment made him frown.
“…To you? That can’t be right.”
Pejin had always seen a particular light in Eleonore’s eyes whenever she looked at Shaper—a look that said, “How does garbage manage to walk around?” The expression of someone irritated enough to want to sweep it up immediately and dump it in the trash, yet too indifferent to bother bending down to pick it up.
Shaper spoke with sudden seriousness.
“She wants to make me a Bride-Price Groom for the Lunos family…”
“Are you insane? Have you lost your mind? Why would Eleonore introduce garbage like you to April?”
“Don’t call me garbage, you bastard.”
“At least I’m pretty garbage. You’re just… garbage.”
“Don’t resort to personal attacks, you wretch.”
So insulted, Shaper continued speaking.
“There aren’t many families worthy of the Lunos name. But among them, my mother is a princess of the Empire, so the bloodline is guaranteed, at least.”
“…”
“Since Eleonore herself is of the Empire, she’s close with my mother. She’s been coming to our house recently to take tea with her, and apparently she spends the whole time pointing out my faults from head to toe. And my mother just sits there agreeing with everything she says. I only realized how much my mother dislikes me because of this…”
The more Shaper lamented, the more Pejin’s expression twisted.
He understood that it wasn’t himself—but he couldn’t accept the idea of Shaper stepping into that position.
Shaper remained on the porch while Pejin climbed the stairs toward the Rooftop Garden where April waited. When word came that Pejin had arrived, April—who sat with a fresh cup of tea that Bauman had brought—looked up to greet him.
Pejin seated himself across from her and spoke.
“It’s been ages since I’ve been here.”
“It was closed off for a while.”
“It’s become rather charming in an instant.”
“Bauman is so talented at these things.”
“Speaking of which, let me ask you about Bauman.”
Pejin poured the tea and glanced once toward the door where Bauman had exited before continuing.
“Does he have someone he’s seeing?”
“…Why would you ask that?”
“Eve has been talking about him quite frequently lately.”
“Has she?”
Unexpectedly, April’s expression—which had been coldly distant toward Pejin—brightened.
April poured her tea and spoke.
“Bauman keeps trying to tidy up his life, you see. I feel the same way, but Hannah and Fred depend on him so much that I wish he’d find a bit more will to live.”
“I hope Bauman lives for a long time too. Goes without saying for Eve.”
Pejin sipped his tea with an elegance that was impeccable, then continued.
“But Eve is the type who doesn’t express herself easily. I’ve heard that even her late husband didn’t realize she cared for him until after they were married—he thought she disliked him the whole time before.”
At these words, April paused and asked.
“…Does she… not dislike me?”
“You? She cherishes you more than her own grandchildren.”
“I always thought she hated me.”
“See? That’s probably how Bauman feels too. Someone needs to play matchmaker for them.”
After easing the mood with talk of Bauman and Eve, Pejin slowly broached the main subject.
“And I’ve heard something else.”
April looked at him with an expression that wondered since when he’d become such a collector of gossip, but gestured for him to continue.
Pejin spoke on.
“Apparently Eleonore is making an effort to turn Shaper into something like a human being.”
“Well, if nothing else, the bloodline is decent enough.”
He’d expected her to ask why she’d bother wasting effort on something so useless, but instead she seemed to accept it reasonably.
Pejin’s expression darkened.
“Even so—it’s Shaper Meyer. He even broke into this household.”
“I think he’s a witch.”
“See, how ridiculous that sounds?”
At his words, April shot him a look that said, ‘And whose fault is that?’ At that look, Pejin fell silent, and only then did April speak.
“I saw enough of what that bastard was like when we were children. But this time…”
April recalled Shaper as he’d been in the Twin Mountains and continued.
“I saw him differently.”
“In what way, exactly?”
“At least he was more honest than you.”
“…”
“Even knowing he was dangerous, Shaper tried to warn me. That takes courage—unlike you.”
Pejin tried to respond but found he had nothing to say, so he closed his mouth again.
He didn’t think there was any real possibility that Shaper would become anything worth using. Yet on the other hand, April didn’t strike him as the type to refuse a marriage arranged by her elders. For her, marriage was a matter of merger, not love.
He’d always entertained the possibility that April would marry someone, but as it became reality, fire kindled in his chest.
He hated it.
In moments like this, Pejin thought that what he felt for April couldn’t quite be called love.
It was merely obsession. Obsession over something he couldn’t possess.
Unable to face hearing more about her marriage, Pejin changed the subject.
“So, why did you call me? What did you want to say?”
“Oh, what I meant to tell you.”
April set down her teacup and sat up straight to face Pejin directly before speaking.
“The factory. The one adjoining the Lunos Residence.”
“Yes.”
“You said you were researching how to liquefy it, to take that gas. If you can do that, then it can be used as fuel too, can’t it?”
“That’s right.”
“It’s a considerable resource with great potential.”
“And?”
He understood perfectly well what she was getting at. What came next left Pejin burning with curiosity. To that curiosity, April answered.
“To utilize it, I want to take the factory.”
It was an obvious statement, yet somehow unexpected.
“This is my land, and it should have been mine in the first place, shouldn’t it?”
At April’s words, Pejin froze.
For a moment, he saw the adolescent April Lunos as he’d last glimpsed her before leaving the Empire—bold, self-assured, and wealthy.
Pejin burst out laughing.
He couldn’t help but acknowledge the fact of his own cowardice.
She was right.
He’d crossed to the Empire far too young, grown up crushed beneath a strength far too overwhelming. Because of this, Pejin had never even contemplated taking anything from the Empire.
And so April’s words awakened something in him—a boyish impulse he’d lost, or perhaps never truly possessed.
Miller Dieusz should have killed April Lunos for his own sake.
Since he hadn’t, April Lunos would begin to take what was his.
Those left unkilled always returned for revenge, as they always did. It would be no different for him.
Pejin didn’t dwell on it long and gave her his answer.
“Let’s do it.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————