The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 202

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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 202
Pejin sighed as he watched April, who had begun laughing aloud while reading the Wish Note.
“You’re laughing? You must have suffered terribly to ask for me to become a better person.”
“Still, don’t punish me.”
“What I wanted was to spend more time with you. Of course, I wanted to play with a better version of you.”
“Too bad. You’re getting me as I am.”
“My wish didn’t come true at all. The Meteor Shower has no effect.”
As Pejin spoke and extended his hand, April handed over her own Wish Note.
Pejin unfolded the note that young April Lunos had written and clicked his tongue.
“What does that make me?”
“A brat?”
“Hell, I’ve got nothing to say to that.”
[Please make Pejin Dieusz less sad.]
That was all it said.
April mumbled with a somewhat disappointed expression.
“You’re right. I should have made more precious memories when I was younger. At least yours is fun—mine was short and pointless. It didn’t even come true.”
At her words, Pejin spoke as if to correct her.
“It came true that very day.”
“It did?”
“Yes. That day itself, I became a little less sad. That was because of your wish. I only just realized it.”
Pejin said this and read the one-line note for a long time.
As he did, April placed her hand near his and pressed her lips against his cheek with a soft sound.
At that action, Pejin turned to look at her, and this time she kissed his lips once more before pulling back slightly and asking.
“How is it?”
“How is what?”
“Does it help you become less sad?”
As she tilted her head to one side with the question, April’s golden hair touched Pejin’s body.
Pejin thought April was incredibly beautiful, but he was so afraid that if he reached for her, she would vanish, that he desperately held himself in check.
Facing her eyes that shone like starlight, Pejin murmured almost to himself.
“I can’t even remember if I was sad. I was so surprised. Or rather, so happy.”
“Hmm, it seems effective.”
“Did you just fulfill your own wish with your own strength? That’s impressive.”
“I don’t rely on wishes like that anyway. But I’m glad you’re not sad.”
April spoke with a smile and patted Pejin’s head as if to praise him.
Pejin let out a soft laugh at that gesture, then folded the note again and tucked it into a book as he spoke.
“I’ll put it back away, and we can take it out again in about twenty years.”
“Let’s do that. I’ll still be laughing at you in twenty years.”
“Well, thank you for that.”
Pejin spoke sarcastically and placed the book back on the shelf.
He couldn’t quite imagine twenty years from now. In fact, even the nature of their relationship in the present was opaque to them both.
Without either of them saying it first, they lay down on the bed again and spent the time observing the constellations. Then, as it came time to rise, Pejin spoke.
“Let’s go. I’ve had your bedroom prepared.”
“You’re going to creep into my room again, aren’t you?”
“That’s why I’ve put a very plush sofa in your bedroom—one sized to fit me.”
Pejin spoke with unabashed confidence, and April sighed in exasperation.
When Pejin led her to the door of the bedroom where she would sleep and tried to excuse himself, she caught his hand as he was pulling away.
“Hey.”
“What?”
The small children who had made wishes watching the Meteor Shower had grown into the heads of their respective houses, yet their manner of speaking and responding had not changed so very much from when they were young.
April spoke.
“If you’re going to creep in anyway, just sleep in my room.”
“…Is that really alright?”
“In the eyes of others, we’re already a married couple anyway. It would be strange to use separate bedrooms here at the Grand Duke’s Residence, wouldn’t it?”
“So I can sleep in your bed?”
“Are you a dog? Why do you keep trying to climb onto the bed?”
“Well, don’t you know there’s not much difference between me and your household’s dog? Sebi is actually more mature than I am. So, is it yes or no? Just tell me that.”
“When I say to sleep in my bedroom, it means don’t sleep on the sofa.”
“So I can sleep in your bed then? You’re not thinking of sleeping on the sofa yourself, are you?”
“No.”
“Wow.”
For once, Pejin’s face became genuinely radiant. He drew April by the hand into the bedroom and spoke.
“The Meteor Shower has finally granted my wish.”
“What… that you’d become a better person?”
“Sorry, let’s just move on.”
“I’ve changed my mind. Get out.”
“Wait, now that I think about it, the wish was wrong to begin with. Asking the Meteor Shower to make a good person better must have confused it.”
Pejin quickly shifted tactics and pulled her through the bedroom, straight into the adjoining bathroom.
At his presumptuous pace, April frowned and asked.
“What are you doing?”
“Since we’re sleeping in the same bed, we should bathe together too.”
“…What on earth does that have to do with anything?”
“We should use the bathroom efficiently.”
“Why do you keep using the word ‘efficiently’ in situations that favor you?”
“Well, actually, efficiency does suffer in this case. It would take longer than washing separately.”
Pejin spoke honestly then, and before she could protest, he entered the bathroom with her and closed the door.
It made no sense whatsoever, but April didn’t bother to press the issue further—Pejin had made it so she couldn’t think to argue anyway.
* * *
Miller had lain in a sickbed for more than four days before he was finally able to get to his feet.
When he opened his eyes, fortunately Heidi was beside him, though four days of anguish had taken a visible toll, leaving her noticeably gaunt.
Miller no longer felt the desire to leave the Dieusz Grand Duchy. At least here, he could live as nobility of the Dieusz Family.
But now, if he went to Rasa, he was uncertain whether that status would be guaranteed.
Of course, his treatment might not be exactly the same as other citizens of the Grand Duchy.
He knew much about the Grand Duchy, so the Emperor would likely try to manipulate Miller skillfully to extract what he wanted from him.
Heidi was aware of this fact as well, so when she left the hospital, her expression was not entirely hopeless.
The couple boarded the carriage Pejin had sent. It was heading toward the Harbor.
When they emerged outside, stones began flying at the carriage in succession.
“You’re going to burn the food meant for the Grand Duchy’s people just to save yourself?”
“Selfish bastard!”
Stones flew without ceasing, and the carriage shook continuously.
Eventually, the frightened horse refused to go further midway, the carriage came to a halt, and the driver began to calm the animal. The carriage, stopped for that brief moment, was engulfed and shaken by the angry citizens.
“M-Miller.”
As Heidi trembled in fear, Miller took her hand and spoke.
“It’s alright. The police are guarding us. They’re just letting it go to a certain point.”
Though Miller said this to comfort her, the memory of Pejin’s face when he had tried to kill him resurfaced, and Miller could no longer muster real confidence.
For now, resentment had given way to disappointment. In his memory, only how much he had loved Pejin lingered.
Fortunately, the carriage began moving again, and shortly after, it arrived at the Harbor.
Stepping down from the carriage, he saw a ship bearing the Dieusz Family’s crest waiting.
He had thought his life was ruined by April and hadn’t wanted to see her again, but fortunately, only Pejin had come to see them off at the Harbor.
Pejin said goodbye to the nieces and nephews he had been protecting at the Grand Duke’s Residence, loaded them onto the ship one by one, and then returned to the carriage.
Pejin spoke to Heidi.
“Board the ship first.”
“Pejin…”
As Heidi called to him, trying to ask for something, Pejin gestured dismissively with his chin, telling her to board quickly.
After she eventually gave up and left, Pejin faced Miller.
He seemed to have something to say.
“Brother.”
“…Yes.”
“Living as a Second-Class Citizen in Rasa might actually be safer than dying in a war here. It wasn’t the life you wanted, I know.”
Pejin’s voice mingled with the sound of the sea breeze.
“It seems many people share my thinking. Even now, with warships being sent to bring back the citizens of the Grand Duchy who are held in Rasa, I see citizens of this land boarding ships to escape to Rasa.”
When Pejin spoke in an unexpectedly gentle tone, Miller’s brow furrowed.
But his words were not wrong either.
Yet in Miller’s mind, this situation kept feeling like a hell that April Lunos had created.
It felt as though she wanted him to experience exactly what she herself had endured.
A situation in which one cannot move freely from one place.
For him, heading toward Rasa in fear that his relationship with his family would be severed, April was projected onto every aspect of his circumstances.

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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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