The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 138

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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 138
* * *
Pejin slept on for quite a while after April left the room.
He stirred only when the rain stopped and sunlight poured through, long enough to draw the curtains, then collapsed back into sleep.
After sleeping solid through the day, his body had finally recovered completely.
When April returned to the Bedroom, Pejin spoke up.
“I’m dizzy.”
“You sleep that much, you’d naturally be dizzy.”
April answered with a light rebuke, but her expression turned more serious.
“You never showed up, so both Paul and Logan stopped by. To check on you.”
“They came and just… left?”
“Yeah, they asked me not to wake you. Said you were sleeping deeply for the first time in ages.”
“…I did sleep well.”
Pejin’s face flushed with unusual embarrassment, and he caught the plum April tossed to him—the size of her fist.
He took a large bite and spoke around the fruit.
“Am I in hibernation or something? Why am I so sleepy?”
“You’ve been drinking every night and passing out, and still not sleeping well on top of that.”
“Yeah, work’s been heavy. And he’s been irritating, so I’ve been on edge.”
He said this while pushing himself upright.
Dizzy from oversleeping, Pejin swayed and leaned against April for support.
April murmured in a low voice.
“They said you wake up from nightmares.”
“Yeah.”
“What kind of nightmares?”
“……”
“What nightmares are you having?”
“Various ones.”
“Why are you having nightmares?”
“At first, I think it was because I felt sorry for lying to you.”
As Pejin said this, he buried his face in her shoulder.
April asked him.
“And now?”
“Now it’s probably because I want too much from you.”
“……”
“I think I’m like him. So maybe I don’t want to be hated either.”
He murmured in a voice still heavy with sleep.
“Just let it be. If you let it be, it’ll fade… the wanting will fade too……”
In her space, Pejin seemed to slip into sleep far too easily. He suffered no nightmares. The birdsong that usually woke him sounded sweet, and even the remembered scent of butterscotch softened his slumber.
He truly slept like he was in winter hibernation, filling at her home every hour of rest he’d been lacking. It seemed he was trying to wake himself, but his body would not obey.
Pejin, who had been leaning against her, soon lifted his head. Then, with a childlike expression, he spoke.
“I don’t want to leave. I wish you’d ask me to stay.”
“I’ve already given you plenty of leeway.”
“So give me a little more. I’m leaving in December anyway. That’s only three months away.”
Despite the deep sleep, he didn’t look refreshed.
April looked up at him and sighed reluctantly.
“Kiss will be home soon. Before that, let’s check the Factory accident list.”
“Together?”
“You wanted me to tell you to stay, didn’t you?”
“Right, okay. Let’s read it.”
As he said this, his face was almost angelic—he smiled with pure sincerity. It was a smile she was seeing for the first time.
* * *
Leon Kiss was spending an anxious day.
The staff who returned to the Factory after the Victory Commemoration Day holiday had, thankfully, noticed nothing out of place.
Leon in particular kept watch on the Security Office where the Key Box had been broken and repaired, but the Guard felt no unease.
Well. It was quite a skill.
Bauman had created the texture of aged wood with merely a few brushstrokes. Before it dried yesterday, it had looked slightly different, but once dry it glowed with a finish indistinguishable from any other dusty wood. It was pure magic.
“Leon, your arm seems a bit stiff today—are you alright?”
Watching Leon’s arm move with difficulty, the Guard asked. Leon suppressed the chill running through him and made an excuse.
“Ah, that’s… I was slicing potatoes at home yesterday.”
“Oh no. You have to be careful with knives—a small blade isn’t any less sharp.”
“Exactly what I’m saying. Who knew a small knife could hurt so much!”
Remembering April Lunos mentioning potatoes, Leon offered this cover, and the Guard accepted it without suspicion. Cold sweat ran down his back.
“All right then, let’s get started again.”
The Factory Manager gathered the staff and, as always, conducted a lengthy morning briefing before lifting the massive lever beside the drilling shaft. The Factory rumbled back to life.
All the workers pulled on their Protective Clothing while repeating the usual gossip.
“They’re saying April Lunos survived because of that Dye…”
“The police from headquarters went down to the Basement and found the whole wall painted with it.”
“How much did the Heads of the Grand Duke’s House know about it?”
“Don’t ask me—that’s beyond me.”
Leon usually let that talk wash over him, but not today.
Anxiety gnawed at him constantly as he feared the trace of an intruder at the Factory might be discovered. Lunchtime finally arrived.
The system required workers to carry trays and receive portions from the line. Leon’s tray was always dismally empty because the serving staff deliberately stinted his portions.
“What would someone from the Dieusz Grand Duchy know about taste? Just feed him potatoes.”
“Right, right……”
Leon smiled despite the insult, his face accustomed to such contempt. He received only a single steamed potato and retreated to a corner of the Cafeteria, eating hurriedly before anyone could steal it. Suddenly, the two people he’d seen yesterday came to mind.
It was true that Pejin’s words had moved him, but ultimately, his decision to give way was shaped by that face.
He’d seen him from a distance a few times, but this was his first sight from so close—a face of such beauty that it was hard to believe someone born with it could know hardship in life.
It made sense that the Emperor and Empress cherished him so: the heart of a child coveting a masterwork from a master porcelain artisan.
And speaking with such a face gave his words considerable persuasive power.
As for April Lunos……
She was half as the rumors claimed and half different. Actually, more than half of it was truth.
She was colder than the rumors suggested, more beautiful, more composed. Those red eyes watching people burned like cold flame, unsettling the one being watched.
Such an intensely powerful presence.
Leon ate his potato at a measured pace, then filled out the rest of his shift and left the Factory.
Slipping away to the Lunos Residence wasn’t difficult. The Empire Police had been waiting outside the Factory and drove him there.
It seemed that resistance to the Empire was not Pejin’s alone. Some of his subordinates were moving with him as well.
When Leon arrived at the Lunos Residence, Bauman—whom he’d met the day before—greeted him warmly and led him to April’s Study.
“Leon, how’s your arm?”
“Ah, it’s fine. The medicine you gave me is very strong.”
“Be careful—you can become addicted that way.”
“Yes, I’ll be careful.”
As he said this, Bauman opened the Study door and his expression hardened like a man with two personalities, addressing Pejin.
“You’re far too close to Miss April.”
Then he pulled a Measuring Tape from his pocket and measured the distance between Pejin and April.
“Maintain a distance of more than three meters.”
“But Bauman, I’m leaving anyway……”
“Yes, in December, as you said. Which is precisely why you must distance yourself—young master.”
Bauman pushed Pejin far from April, warned him with a final glare, and left.
The moment Bauman shut the door, Pejin moved right back to the spot beside April and spoke.
“In just one day, you’ve come to hate me, haven’t you?”
“One day? I never liked you much to begin with.”
“You were wary of me, not hateful. Now you genuinely dislike me.”
“Because he cares about you.”
“He cares about you more than his own grandchildren—just like Eve does.”
Pejin grumbled while April turned to Leon and asked.
“Have you eaten?”
“Ah, I had a late lunch.”
“Still, there’s plenty of time before dinner. Try some of this with us. This is delicious too.”
April rose and placed a full plate of Dessert onto Leon’s dish that Bauman had set out for him.
Leon stared at the plate.
“…Here, I’m treated like the same person.”
“What do you mean?”
As April asked, Pejin poured tea into Leon’s cup and joked.
“In the Empire, you hear nothing but potato talk almost every day.”
“That’s right. You should just eat potatoes.”
“The Dieusz Grand Duchy does have plenty of potatoes, but we don’t eat only potatoes. We eat Cheese too.”
“Mostly potatoes, though.”
“What can you do when potatoes are all that grows?”
As the two exchanged words, April murmured, watching them both in turn.
“I’ve never heard the word ‘potato’ so many times in such a short span.”
Then Pejin looked at April and spoke.
“Potato, potato, potato.”
“And he keeps going. Are you a child?”
“Not really, but it’s cute.”
As April shoved the laughing, sleep-drunk Pejin, he tumbled away exaggeratedly and then handed Leon back the cup, now full of tea.
April found it strange that Pejin, descended from the Grand Duke’s House and lord of the Dieusz Grand Duchy, and Leon, who had struggled to make ends meet in the Empire as a native of the Grand Duchy, carried a shared memory from their lives in the Empire. Neither memory was a good one.
Both of them were stepping out from the Fog that the Empire had created to obscure their vision.

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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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