The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 17

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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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Episode 17
In the silence that followed, Pejin asked.
“Why are you upset?”
“When I poured wine on Heidi, you threw an acorn at me.”
“I suppose I did.”
April continued, looking up at him.
“I ran to catch you and fell, but you just kept running off into the distance.”
“You fell?”
“That was the first time I’d ever run, the first time I’d ever fallen.”
“Why are you bringing that up all of a sudden?”
April didn’t answer immediately, and silence stretched between them once more.
She remembered her elbow, torn as she fell onto the grass, caked with dirt and blood.
She had no idea why that memory surfaced now.
Finally, Pejin spoke again.
“Are you apologizing for that too?”
“No.”
April’s mouth curved up slightly.
“If you’re upset about being hit just now, well—you hurt me then too, so we’re even. Call it even.”
“Who would hurt our little girl.”
April stepped back suddenly.
The memory of lying across her mother’s lap, crying without restraint, surfaced unbidden.
Her father was beside her, tending to the wound on her elbow, and as her mother’s hand stroked her hair, sleep had come pouring down.
It was her first real injury since childhood, and after so many years of playing at adulthood in high society, her parents had soothed her like a small child again—a memory she’d thought long buried.
The thought of how good that had felt made her keep backing away.
Pejin sensed something was wrong and seized her arm.
“April.”
“Leave.”
She’d tried so hard to forget, and yet it all came flooding back.
As that moment of happiness rose up, this place felt like hell.
April spoke again to Pejin, who was watching her.
“Get out…….”
Pejin’s brow furrowed as he studied her face.
“You forgot I’m watching you? I’m not leaving you alone.”
“If I were a witch, I’d have killed your brother first. Then the Grand Duchess, and if I had the strength, I’d have killed you too.”
“Be quiet. People outside will hear.”
“If I had that power! My parents wouldn’t have——”
She’d been about to shout something about the one who’d executed her parents, but Pejin clamped his hand over her mouth.
She swore beneath his palm, and he waited until her struggling subsided and exhaustion overtook her.
After a long moment, when April’s movements grew still, Pejin spoke.
“Now that you understand, be quiet.”
When April nodded wearily, Pejin removed his hand from her mouth and asked quietly.
“Have you forgotten why you’ve lived these seven years? You can’t threaten the Grand Duke and Duchess, not even as a joke.”
…….
Only then did April understand why Pejin had silenced her.
There were guards outside, and her words about wanting to kill the Grand Duke wouldn’t be taken as mere anger—they’d be seen as intent. His hand over her mouth had been purely to protect her.
She understood that in her head, but her heart couldn’t let go of the fury, and she gasped in trembling breaths as though she’d been crying with clenched fists for an age.
Seeing her like that, Pejin bent forward.
“Hit me more.”
“What?”
“You look like your brother anyway. I can take a few more blows—it doesn’t even hurt that much.”
As he spoke, his face drew nearer, his eyes coming to rest at a proximity she’d never known before.
Had she been a woman, the world would have called it a beautiful face. The clean, open line of his eye was carved vividly into her vision at this distance.
Truly, an afterimage remained, etched like a brand.
The thought came first: How am I supposed to hit him now?
April found her own reaction absurd and squeezed her eyes shut, banishing the thought.
“No.”
At her refusal, Pejin’s eyes narrowed and he asked at once.
“Why?”
“Because you’re not your brother.”
Pejin straightened up as if disappointed, murmuring.
“Neither the person you love nor the person you hate is me, is it?”
“That’s not true. I do hate you.”
“Why? For throwing that acorn?”
“That’s not the only thing.”
“Then what else?”
“Plenty. You tormented me so much, saying I was bothering the Grand Duchess.”
“So what exactly did I do?”
“Wait, let me think—I don’t remember much from when I was young.”
The harder she’d tried to suppress those memories, the less clearly they came back. Her childhood seemed to have been erased wholesale.
Yet Pejin would remember everything perfectly, she was sure, and he wore that shameless face, as if he’d never breathe a word of his own failings.
As April struggled to retrieve her memories, there came a knock on the door from outside. It was Paul.
“Commander, a dog—one has come into the Estate to escape the mist.”
“And?”
“Logan is making a fuss because it’s too cute to kill, so we’re having trouble putting it down. On top of that, an elderly man has also come to take shelter.”
…….
After hearing Paul’s rather useless report, Pejin turned back to April and asked.
“You didn’t call them, did you?”
“How would I call them?”
“Then who comes seeking shelter in a witch’s house?”
“I wouldn’t have known.”
Bickering back and forth, the two of them went outside.
Logan wasn’t causing outright chaos, as Paul had suggested, but he was certainly making a commotion.
“Don’t touch it! Don’t come any closer!”
Logan held the dog in one arm, flailing his other hand frantically.
Pejin regarded the scene with displeasure and spoke to Paul.
“You said it was too cute to kill.”
“Yes.”
“The dog’s the size of Logan.”
“That assessment of its cuteness wasn’t mine, sir.”
Paul agreed with Pejin’s remark about the dog’s size.
Of course, the dog wasn’t literally Logan’s size, but it was certainly large for one to call cute.
Paul addressed Logan.
“It’s a hunting dog. Hunting dogs are violent—if you don’t kill it, it could attack people.”
Most of the households in the Grand Duke’s Territory raised their hunting dogs to bite without distinguishing between people and prey.
Right now its tail was curled tight to its belly in fear, so it was docile in Logan’s hands, but there was no telling when it might lunge to bite someone’s throat.
Even knowing all this, Logan spoke firmly.
“Then you’d have to kill me first.”
“This is your chance, Commander. Why not dispose of Logan while you’re at it?”
Paul quipped coldly.
Pejin nodded once, accepting the joke.
Watching Logan’s eyes and mouth fly open in shock, Pejin and Paul shared a brief laugh before Pejin spoke again.
“Tell the owner of this place to handle the dog. What about the old man?”
“Over there, sir.”
Paul pointed toward the rear entrance of the Estate, and he turned to April, who had been watching the hunting dog.
“Shall we go, Miss?”
“Yes.”
April was about to go check on the uninvited guest, when she spoke to Logan.
“Be careful not to let it attack the chicks or the child.”
“Yes! I’ll keep a careful watch!”
Logan was relieved that the lady of the house had decided not to have it killed.
When April stepped out toward the door, she found an elderly man with snow-white hair standing on the Porch, shrouded in dark mist.
Up close, though his hair was white, he appeared healthy and certainly capable of walking back to his own home.
The old man, who had been coughing intermittently in the mist, removed his hat and held it respectfully in both hands as April appeared in the doorway.
“Good evening, miss. My name is Baumann.”
“I’m April Lunos. What brings you here?”
“I… if it wouldn’t be too much trouble… could you use my life, however little, to clear even a small portion of this mist? Even the smallest amount would suffice.”

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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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