The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 28

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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 28
The children complained when Bauman declined to join them, citing Paul’s shaving and saying he’d already visited the Amusement Park plenty of times to attend to his own matters—but the prospect of the outing itself quickly swept away such minor disappointments.
Since it was a holiday for the Police, Pejin had summoned private carriages.
Pejin himself, however, made use of the Grand Duke’s Family carriage, and April rode in it as well.
After the carriage departed, April asked a question.
“How long am I supposed to keep watching you?”
“Until we learn something—anything—about the fog.”
“There’s no end in sight.”
“I’m being careful not to let it show.”
“It irritates me that you know more about the people who work here than I do.”
“It’s not without its advantages for you either.”
Pejin continued, drawing out his cigarette case.
“Regardless of whether you have money or not, people will take great interest in your wealth. You’re the sole Heir of a famous family. And a young woman, no less.”
…….
“If word gets out that the only people here are the elderly and children, they’ll come running—every last one of them.”
He offered April a cigarette, and she gazed at him steadily before shifting her eyes to the Silver Cigarette Case.
April extended her hand, seized the case outright, and placed it beside herself.
Pejin clicked his tongue and spoke.
“Why?”
“I’ve never tried smoking before.”
“And?”
“Go ahead and try on your own. I’m an adult too.”
“Return the case to me later. It belongs to my father.”
“All right.”
Having answered thus, April turned her gaze toward the window. Then laughter bubbled up, and she covered her mouth with her hand. Seeing this, Pejin narrowed his eyes and asked.
“Why are you laughing?”
“Your expression is rather amusing.”
“You should pity me instead. What’s so funny?”
“That pitiful expression is funny. I’ve never seen it before.”
“A woman without a shred of sympathy, apparently.”
“Sympathy isn’t the feeling I have for you.”
“That much is true enough.”
As they spoke thus, the carriage arrived at the Amusement Park.
After people had enjoyed themselves during the day, the place was made available for use after closing hours. Since the Amusement Park itself was owned by the Grand Duke’s Family, it was no difficult matter for Pejin to rent it once the dates were arranged.
April entered the Amusement Park, which was open solely for the company that had just arrived, and found herself smiling without quite realizing it.
Because of the Grand Duchy’s weather—winter lasting half the year—most of the attractions were housed inside structures built like circus tents. The only outdoor fixture was a hot-air balloon.
April murmured to herself.
“They built something this enormous just for the sake of enjoyment.”
Unlike her expression of wonder, the children bolted toward the Roller Coaster the moment they arrived, insisting they ride it at once.
There were tracks twisted in strange ways, rather like mining-cart rails. April couldn’t make sense of it all and simply watched as the children rode the attraction they’d heard rumored about.
The Police officers and the children alike delighted in the nighttime Amusement Park. Only April, with her seven-year gap, remained rooted in place, merely listening to their laughter.
Though he worked as a Police officer, Pejin was still a young man of twenty-two, and he mingled with his peers to enjoy the Amusement Park before glancing back toward April.
He clicked his tongue once, then stepped toward her.
“If the very person who wanted to come isn’t having any fun, what will we do? Logan’s worried about you.”
At Pejin’s words, April turned to look at Logan.
Logan, who had been learning simple Magic Tricks from a circus performer that roamed the Amusement Park making guests laugh, caught her gaze and broke into a broad smile, waving his hand.
“I’ll come back as a wonderful magician, miss!”
“If that’s what you desire, do give it your best effort.”
At April’s reply, Logan laughed cheerfully.
Pejin sighed and spoke.
“Don’t encourage him. I have to watch the same scene every single day until he manages to pull off one magic trick successfully.”
“Indulge him a little. He’s cute.”
“Yes, we found him cute at first too. You’ll understand how we feel once you’ve heard a coin drop about two hundred times.”
For all their words, every Police officer who playfully teased Logan as they passed bore a smile on their lips. There remained, it seemed, a touch of genuine affection yet.
Pejin turned back and grasped April’s arm as she watched the children on the ride.
“Let’s ride the Carousel.”
“No thanks. I’d rather watch.”
“Come on.”
“I said I’m not going.”
April brushed his hand away.
Pejin stopped and turned to face her.
“Then you’ll just stand there with that irritating expression the whole time?”
“I’m actually rather enjoying myself. Don’t mind how I play. And besides—”
“Besides what?”
“What irritating expression are you talking about?”
As April looked up at him and asked, Pejin swallowed involuntarily without meaning to.
Rather than lowering himself for her sake, he merely rolled his eyes to one side as he spoke.
“I can’t figure out what you’re thinking, and that bothers me.”
“Is it that you can’t stand the sight of me?”
“When did I say that?”
“I just thought—you brothers have the same taste, after all.”
April laughed as though it were nothing, but Pejin’s brow furrowed with inexplicable displeasure.
It was a remark that required no deliberation to comprehend.
Both brothers had met April Lunos first, and then grown to love Heidi Basanta, whom they encountered later.
April spoke.
“I’m not displeased with myself. You’re the one wearing that irritating expression now. Don’t.”
“What’s irritating about it?”
“You’re pitying me.”
…….
“It bothers me. Especially when you do it.”
April’s voice flowed like raindrops tracing a perfect sculpture.
Though they might have flowed freely, they found a perfect place of their own accord and flowed there with deliberate grace. Pejin sometimes disliked that voice, and sometimes he liked it well enough.
Gazing steadily into April’s eyes, Pejin spoke with an expression wiped clean.
“I don’t pity you. Don’t I have people more deserving of my pity? Should I go about pitying you instead?”
“But your expression says otherwise.”
“Who are you to claim you understand all my expressions? Do you know me that well?”
“No, I suppose I don’t.”
At those words, April nodded in agreement.
Pejin found himself oddly relieved at that gesture and continued.
“When you were a child, if something displeased you even slightly, you always sought revenge. Even though I’m of the Grand Duke’s Family, you looked down on me for being the Second Son—what do you think you did to the others?”
“I told you not to pity me. Do you think I want to hear blame?”
“Yet there were still so many men who liked you.”
…….
“How could there be so many men with their wits about them—or rather, without them.”
Pejin spoke as though spitting out the words.
Caught off guard by the turn the conversation had taken, April paused and asked.
“Why bring that up?”
“No matter how much I think about it, I can’t understand those fools. What do they see in you?”
“My face?”
At April’s answer, Pejin found his words suddenly blocked, unable to continue.
From April’s perspective, it was a jest.
Lest she wonder whether her family’s ruin was due to her own lack of charm, Pejin had spoken of the men who had liked her.
April had never seen such men as Pejin had described—those “fools without their wits”—but she understood that he was putting in effort contrary to his nature.
So his being so thoroughly shocked by a joke meant to lighten the mood struck her as curious.
Was such a remark really so preposterous?
Would only a man as strikingly beautiful as him be able to make such a joke with any confidence?
To hide her embarrassment, April’s eye corners lifted sharply, and she spoke with an argumentative tone.
“I was imitating you. I was curious where such confidence comes from, so I tried it.”
Even after she spoke thus, Pejin said nothing, so April finally struck his arm lightly.
“Is it all right when you do it, but shocking when I do?”
It was only at that tap that Pejin, as though released from a spell, responded.
“Ah, I shouldn’t say such things anymore. Hearing it from someone else’s lips like that—it’s quite a shock.”
“I’m glad to have been of service.”
After April spoke with that dry wit, she glanced absently toward the Carousel.
Having argued and talked with Pejin, the tension in her shoulders eased somewhat. The desire came to ride at least one attraction before heading home, so she walked in that direction.
Pejin was perceptive enough not to interfere with a decision hardly made, so he walked beside her without comment and helped her mount one of the wooden horses.
Pejin himself straddled a nearby horse.
“We’ll be departing!”
An Amusement Park attendant rang the bell with those words as a signal, and the Carousel began to move.
On the turning Carousel with its ornate decorations affording a view of the entire Amusement Park, April glanced toward Pejin and parted her lips to speak.
“I was worried you’d be shocked too much.”
“By what?”
“There’s so much I’m seeing for the first time.”
April murmured thus, imagining her voice would be half-carried away by the wind, and turned her gaze back to the world beyond the Carousel.
“It was worth riding, though.”
Though it seemed like nothing, it was somehow thrilling.
April reassured herself that it must be because the attraction itself was enjoyable.
That the joy of this moment was entirely due to the novelty of riding an attraction for the first time. Not because Pejin was beside her.

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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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