The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 229

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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 229
April returned to her bedroom and stood by the window, watching the path where Pejin had disappeared for a long time.
The lengthening rays of evening sun were now casting their light across Lunos Hill.
On that road where the person she loved had departed to war, April could not tear her eyes away.
What she’d said about appreciating Hannah’s passionate nature was nothing but the honest truth. She too had moments when she longed to burn brightly. To express herself more, to love with greater complexity and intensity.
And the problem was that coldness didn’t mean an absence of feeling.
It wasn’t until a full day after Pejin left for the north that the fact of his departure descended from her mind into her heart.
It was unbearably slow. Whether she had been deliberately suppressing it and only now did the feeling rush up, she couldn’t say for certain.
April kept her legs braced to prevent herself from collapsing. Yet her entire body felt so drained that she could barely stand without gripping the window frame.
There was nothing to do but wait for time to pass. That endless, uncertain time was unbearable.
She tried to expunge from her mind the very question of whether he would return alive.
She had no strength left to prepare her heart for his death. Such preparation was impossible. She could only wait helplessly as sudden waves of anxiety crashed over her like storms, hoping they would pass quickly.
April, who had few hobbies to speak of, pondered what to do with herself, and without quite realizing it, found herself walking toward the room she had given to Pejin.
She decided that tonight, she would sleep in his room.
She entered Pejin’s room and lay down on the bed where he had barely slept, since he was always sleeping in April’s room.
Some people prefer rooms closer to the stairs, and others prefer rooms farther away.
Remembering her parents as they would assign guest rooms, she realized they had nearly always already grasped each guest’s preferences beforehand.
Pejin preferred rooms near the stairs. It meant he could step outside in just a few short steps. April suspected it was a matter of professional habit—his work often demanded emergency departures.
That’s why she had given him that room. Though in the end, he had wound up sleeping in April’s bedroom, which had the opposite orientation.
Still, Pejin didn’t merely sleep here; he had left most of his belongings in this room and spent considerable time in it.
As April lay sideways on the bed trying to force herself to sleep, she eventually opened her eyes and gazed absently around Pejin’s room. That was when she noticed a letter envelope placed atop one of his books.
She raised herself up and picked up the envelope, and her name was written on it.
[To April Lunos]
“What is this?”
April murmured in puzzlement and opened the envelope, only to find a playfully drawn map of Pejin’s room.
In the corner of the map was a treasure chest sketched in, and beside it, a note.
[The location of your birthday present]
It seemed he had prepared her birthday gift in advance, realizing he would likely not return before her birthday.
Before heading to the battlefield, Pejin had apparently thought of various ways to brighten her days.
April followed the map to the location of the gift without thinking about it.
Following the map, she found a basket filled with miscellaneous items.
“Is it in here?”
April tilted her head curiously and rummaged through the clutter, until she discovered a box beneath it all. When she opened that box, a jewelry box came into view.
“Ah, so this is the gift.”
She let out a small laugh. It was a white jewelry box adorned with pearls.
She intellectually knew that people from Right Island favored vivid colors, yet to eyes raised all this time in Rasa, white and pearls appeared beautiful—there was no helping it.
And because Pejin seemed to prefer it, April’s eye had gradually grown fond of it as well.
The jewelry box had a lock but no visible key. Growing late, April set the box aside and went to sleep. Perhaps because her anxiety eased somewhat as she puzzled over the key’s location, sleep came gently to her that night.
The next morning, when a servant woke her and she rose, April found her gaze drifting toward the jewelry box even as she ate. Finally, she called for Hannah and asked if she knew anything about a key, and the girl’s eyes sparkled with curiosity.
“I think the key must be hidden too! Let’s look for it together, Head of House.”
“It’s difficult enough just to receive a gift, isn’t it?”
“But it’s fun.”
“Fun for Police Officers, maybe.”
April teased her, but she admitted to herself that she had forgotten her pain for a while as they searched for the gift.
Hannah peered into the keyhole for some time, then made her way to the basket of miscellaneous items from the map April had given her. She tipped it over and began rummaging through the scattered contents.
April sat beside her and ran her hands through the clutter as well. Soon enough, she found the key inside.
“Ah, it really was here?”
“Hurry and open it, Head of House.”
Hannah seemed to find this treasure hunt Pejin had left behind tremendously entertaining.
When April opened the jewelry box, she found incomprehensible figures written inside.
Hannah practically bounced with excitement as she spoke.
“It’s a Cipher.”
“I never would have found it on my own, even though it’s my birthday gift.”
“Well, he hid it with you in mind too.”
Looking at Hannah’s answer, April realized this was a gift for Hannah as much as it was for herself.
April smiled ruefully as she and Hannah puzzled over the Cipher.
It proved more difficult than expected, taking nearly the entire day to solve. Hannah deciphered most of the Cipher, but only April could solve the final passage.
Since Pejin had left a Cipher symbolizing the Dowager, April realized the treasure must be located on the Third Floor, in the space the Dowager had used.
April and Hannah entered the Third Floor space together.
April had left most of the Dowager’s things as they were. Since the Dowager had enjoyed tending flowers as a pastime, there were many tools needed for that purpose.
Considering how long winter was on Right Island, cultivating flowers here was nothing short of an extravagant hobby.
To make flowers bloom, one needed an artificial environment that ran counter to the natural seasons provided by nature.
The Dowager’s chambers, which connected two rooms, had one side as a bedroom and the other as a storage area for flower-tending equipment. The balcony attached to this equipment room had been fitted with flowerbeds, engineered with every technique necessary to maintain temperature while allowing sufficient sunlight.
Bauman had repaired the Dowager’s quarters and restored them to their original function, and they were working as intended once more.
Stepping onto the balcony, April discovered an envelope stuck in the soil and withdrew a letter from inside.
[I planted seeds. They’ll bloom around your birthday.]
[Don’t forget about me. Think of me when you see the flowers.]
[What kind of flowers they are is a secret. Curious? Just wait a few more days.]
As April read the letter, Hannah, who had been carefully examining the walls hoping to find something more, suddenly called out to her urgently.
“Head of House, I think there’s something else here.”
“There is?”
April had thought she’d found all her birthday gifts, but when Hannah called her, she tucked the letter back into the envelope and turned toward her.
Hannah opened a closet door, and inside hung a blue dress.
April froze in place.
Hannah’s eyes widened as she spoke.
“You said you wanted to wear a blue dress at your wedding, Head of House.”
“……Yes.”
April immediately realized that Pejin had prepared a wedding dress in advance.
It was exactly the dress she had envisioned wearing to the wedding. The overall structure was right, even if some details had yet to be completed.
April continued reading Pejin’s letter in her hands.
[By now, our future Police Officer should have found all the gifts, yes? Take good care of her—that girl is the future of our Right Island Police.]
[When the war ends, let’s get married in the Greenhouse that Fred and Bauman built.]
[I plan to look absolutely stunning that day. Have something to look forward to.]
[Will you be smiling as you read this letter of mine?]
[I hope you’re smiling.]
[I love you, April Lunos.]
[-From Pejin Daeus, who prays for your happiness.]
He’d hoped she would be smiling. So she tried to smile, but tears came instead.
This time, Hannah was startled and rushed over, pulling April into a tight embrace and soothing her.
As April struggled to contain her tears so she could smile as Pejin had wished, Hannah furrowed her brow and spoke.
“You don’t have to hold it back. It’s just a physical response—there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Hearing Hannah repeat back April’s own words to her, this time April truly did laugh, and she laughed aloud.

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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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