The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 137

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 137
After leaving the accident investigation office, Pejin returned the key to its case, and Bauman fit a birch wood piece he’d prepared earlier into the broken section.
The skill with which he erased the seams completely and matched the color of the aged birch with just a few brushstrokes impressed not only Leon, who’d never seen such work, but April and Pejin as well.
Bauman checked Leon’s wounds and, saying he’d treat them, led him away to the Lunos Residence.
Afterward, Pejin and April returned to the basement, obsessively confirming that no other traces of intrusion remained.
The two returned to the residence and rested in April’s bedroom.
Since their schedule that had begun at dawn only ended as the sun set, both April and even the hardy Pejin collapsed onto the sofa, exhausted.
April, lying in bed, called out to Pejin, who seemed about to fall asleep where he was.
“Don’t fall asleep. We need to leave once the sun sets.”
“Come on, give me a break today. I’ve been awake for forty hours straight because of the schedule.”
Pejin spoke with genuine weariness, so April didn’t press further. Instead, she turned her back toward him so his face wouldn’t be visible and said as she lay down.
“You said you’d swim against the current, remember?”
“I did.”
“Was that just something you said to convince that employee?”
“No, I meant it. I’ve had that resolve for a while now.”
“Last time you said you didn’t know which side you’d take if there was war.”
“That was a lie.”
Pejin murmured in a drowsy voice.
“I thought… even if you were afraid of something, I’d hope you’d treat me well. I know it’s wrong, but it seemed like the only option I had. But then……”
“But then?”
“But then you didn’t treat me well.”
He murmured and laughed at himself with irony.
Then it grew so quiet that when April turned to look, Pejin had already fallen asleep mid-sentence.
Well, he’d been awake all night, and in the factory, he’d kept his nerves on edge the entire time. Even though the factory employees were all off, someone could appear without warning. So Pejin had been keenly attentive to every sound outside the space where they were.
“I told you not to fall asleep……”
April chided, but Pejin didn’t wake.
As a child, Pejin Dieuss had been the little boy who’d wake at the sound of footsteps in the hallway, giving the nannies and the Grand Duke’s servants no end of trouble. Fortunately, as he’d grown older, that had eased considerably. Now he lay asleep as though dead.
April, gazing at his face, suddenly rose and rushed to him. When she shook him awake, he grimaced and opened his eyes.
“What?”
And as his eyes opened, he noticed April’s ashen face and quickly sat up.
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
Only then did April exhale with a trembling breath and speak.
“How can a person lie so completely still like that?”
“I was sleeping? Wow, I didn’t even realize.”
Pejin glanced away as if feigning ignorance, and wrapped one arm around April’s trembling shoulders, pulling her close.
They’d spoken of the price of life and such things, but April was no longer ready to accept anyone’s death.
April couldn’t pull away from Pejin’s arms, which were comforting her shock. Her heart felt as though it might stop.
Pejin, suddenly awkward, took hold of her arm and drew her toward the bed, saying.
“People don’t die that easily. And I’m far too young for that.”
“……You don’t know. There might be fog lingering in that factory.”
“The factory isn’t running today, so what could linger? Don’t worry about impossible things and sleep. And don’t push yourself so hard you get hurt.”
He said this and laid April on the bed, then returned to the sofa and lay down, saying.
“Don’t wake me this time. I’ll leave on my own.”
“……What if you can’t leave? You were sleeping so deeply.”
“My entire fortune……. is already yours to use. Well.”
Pejin gazed at the ceiling, his legs dangling far off the edge of the sofa, thinking. Then he turned to look at April.
“Is there anything of mine you’d like to have?”
“No.”
“A ring?”
Pejin held up his hand to show it and asked. April, exasperated, replied.
“That’s a heirloom. It’s what the previous Grand Duke always wore.”
“How did you remember that? Of course, your father did adore you greatly, but……”
“He mentioned it to me.”
And when April fell silent, Pejin prompted her.
“Why did you stop talking? Naturally you ought to tell me what he said, shouldn’t you?”
“He said he’d give it to you. That he was sorry he couldn’t have you marry me, since you like me.”
“……What are you talking about?”
“The previous Grand Duke misunderstood—he thought you wore a dress and sat with us in that game of house because you liked me.”
At that, even as April had said not to fall asleep, Pejin, who’d been sprawling repeatedly, suddenly jerked upright.
“What nonsense is that? I cooperated because I was afraid I didn’t suit you.”
“Then should I tell your father I do it because I’m afraid of tormenting you?”
“That’s naturally not it. To begin with, it’s not your fault—it’s just that father had a strange misunderstanding.”
“I think so too.”
Pejin examined the heirloom on his hand again.
“So this… you’re saying I received it because father was sorry he couldn’t have me marry you?”
“Yes.”
“Ah, that’s shocking……”
Pejin spoke and fell back onto the sofa again.
“Anyway, if I sleep and don’t leave at dawn, I’ll give you this.”
“So you’re wagering a heirloom?”
“That’s how certain I am. Right now I’m too exhausted to move.”
“Your stamina is weak.”
“Yes, quite fragile indeed.”
Whether April was teasing or not, Pejin sought sleep again. His long eyelashes moved slowly as his eyes closed.
Since he’d wagered the heirloom, he’d naturally keep his promise.
April thought this and sought sleep herself. The moment she closed her eyes, she fell into deep sleep, so exhausted she was.
* * *
April slept nearly ten hours that way. When she woke, it was dark. The sun should have been rising soon, but rain had come, making it darker than the sun’s position would suggest.
When she lit the lamp, the sofa was empty—Pejin had kept his promise.
Because she’d eaten nothing yesterday, her head spun the moment she opened her eyes, so she took one of the candies from the glass jar Pejin had given her and put it in her mouth. It was a large, round butter scotch candy.
“……It’s delicious.”
April, her cheek puffed to the size of the candy, murmured and turned around, then gasped and shut her eyes tight. But realizing at once that what she’d seen was Pejin, she opened them again.
The sofa, unreasonably small for his height, must have been uncomfortable, because he was lying on the carpet laid before the fireplace.
“You fell asleep after wagering your heirloom?”
April murmured in utter disbelief and sat down on the carpet.
He lay on his side, sleeping peacefully with an angelic face. The peacefulness of that expression exasperated her all the more.
Yet at the same time, she realized Pejin was sleeping far too much.
April, who had known the young Pejin, thought that perhaps a naturally sensitive temperament was a misfortune.
Noise, uncomfortable sleep, unfamiliar spaces—Pejin had struggled with all of it.
No matter how composed he’d become as an adult, someone who’d been so sensitive couldn’t have become someone who slept anywhere without concern. To fall asleep mid-conversation and to sleep on bare floors meant his nerves had dulled—something that shouldn’t have happened to him.
April suspected that Pejin hadn’t had proper rest recently. But since more than ten hours had already passed and she couldn’t let him sleep indefinitely, she shook him and woke him.
“Pejin, give me the ring and go.”
Of course she had no intention of taking the heirloom, but even when she spoke this way to rouse him, Pejin struggled to get up. Yet his deep sleep had broken, and he whimpered like a child, lying flat and staring at the ceiling.
“Five more minutes.”
“We’ve already slept ten hours.”
“I can sleep more. Bears sleep all winter.”
“You’re not a bear.”
“Then what, a squirrel.”
“Just calling yourself something cute doesn’t make you any more like it.”
At April’s point, Pejin laughed, apparently fully awake now.
He slowly opened his eyes and looked up at April, murmuring.
“Butter scotch candy……”
“Yes, I was hungry. Want some?”
“No, just smells good.”
Pejin said this and turned his body toward April’s hand, which rested on the floor, leaning his head against it and murmuring.
“I’ll give you the ring, so let me sleep a little longer.”
“How am I supposed to take a heirloom?”
“I really can’t get up.”
……
“Your room is really quiet.”
Pejin murmured this and fell asleep again.
April, unable to bear waking Pejin, who slept as if sick, carefully withdrew her hand. Even as she brought a pillow and placed it under his head, he never woke.

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