The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 30

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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 30
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The Amusement Park had clearly been a joyful memory.
The children had talked about the Amusement Park all day long, and they were already making plans to save their wages and return again.
Fred returned from his errand with a letter from the Bank, and presented a heavy Pot.
“My grandmother said to bring this to Miss April. Oh, and there’s only one Pot, so please return it right away.”
When April opened the Pot, she found Vegetable Soup that had been carefully simmered until the vegetables were completely soft.
April had never cared for Vegetable Soup, but after seven years without anything resembling proper food, just the smell of it lifted her spirits.
“She’s sent quite a lot.”
“She said Miss April eats nothing but eggs and potatoes every day, and it upset her terribly.”
“I don’t see why that would upset her. As long as my belly is full, it doesn’t matter what I eat.”
She said this, but her gaze never left the Vegetable Soup. Baumann immediately took the Pot from her, set it on the well-cleaned table, and pulled out a chair.
“Since it happens to be mealtime, wouldn’t you care to eat right away?”
“Very well.”
April sat in the chair and lifted a spoonful of the soup Baumann ladled for her. It was the clear Vegetable Soup distinctive to the Grand Duchy.
Noble houses like the Lunos Family added imported pepper, but such a thing was beyond the means of most people.
Instead, when entertaining special guests, some houses added honey—and Fred’s household was one of them. Since honey was the Grand Duchy’s flagship export and there were so many beekeepers as a result, honey could be procured, though with some difficulty.
The slightly sweet soup felt strange to April, but it was surprisingly pleasant.
It had been so long since she’d eaten soup that she might have found anything delicious; besides, she was grateful for the kindness of someone going to such trouble to find honey and prepare it for her circumstances.
April emptied her bowl in moments, and even filled it once more and cleaned that just as thoroughly.
Baumann cleared away the spotless bowl with satisfaction, then divided the remaining soup among the children. He himself declined, saying he didn’t care much for the sweet soup.
While the children ate their soup, Baumann hefted the remaining furniture and carried it outside.
April picked up a warm cup of tea and followed Baumann, settling into the chair that sat on the Porch.
Watching Baumann repair furniture seemed almost like magic to her eye, so she was not about to miss the chance to observe at leisure.
Baumann restored the broken furniture in moments. The table and chairs that had been caked with dust and gnawed by rats were no exception.
April was so curious about how he intended to fix the table whose corner had been gnawed away by rats to the size of a fist that she cupped her tea in both hands, stepped closer, and asked.
“You can fix even something like that?”
“Of course. But Miss April, the sawdust will fly, so it’s not advisable to stand so close. It might get into your teacup as well.”
“That much doesn’t bother me.”
Even as she said this, April raised her hand to shield the cup from above.
Baumann smiled warmly at April’s show of curiosity about the furniture repair.
“If you’re so curious, there’s nothing for it.”
With that, he retrieved a piece of birch wood that matched the table.
Carving the exact shape of the damaged section from fresh wood was nothing short of artistry.
He ground both edges into a wave pattern so that the newly carved corner and the table’s edge could fit together perfectly.
When the new birch and the old birch came together as if they had been the same piece all along, April felt a profound satisfaction—even though she had made none of it.
Hannah felt the same way. The child abandoned her meal and came to watch Baumann’s work carefully from beside him.
Fred, by contrast, showed no interest whatsoever in repair work.
Instead, he was fascinated by the homework assignments Baumann gave Hannah, even going so far as to draw a picture of a house for her before being scolded by Baumann for doing someone else’s work.
What was clear was that both children possessed great enthusiasm for learning.
April resolved that once the children turned fourteen, she would send them to school. If she tutored them for the three years until then, she might manage to send at least one to university.
What a substantial gain that would be.
Since nobles either pursued high administrative positions, commissions in the military or constabulary, or rarely any profession at all, the necessity of employing workers in every other trade was—for a storied house like the Lunos Family had once been—almost the foremost obligation a family could bear.
Neither child showed particular talent for academic study, but their manual dexterity was remarkably useful.
Was there any greater honor than watching an artist sponsored by one’s house blossom into brilliant talent?
April, entertaining such thoughts, shut her eyes tightly and shook her head.
Her dreams had grown too large.
In the circumstances that now surrounded her, hope was poison.
April resolved to regard everything pessimistically. She would not allow hope to destroy her.
More important than anything else was the fact that she needed an Heir—someone to continue the family’s restoration if she herself were to lose her life by some chance at the hand of the Grand Duke’s pressure.
For the first time since her earliest childhood, April resented her parents for not giving her siblings.
Though perhaps, had she had siblings, she would not now understand so clearly what she must do as Family Head.
From the moment April became engaged, her parents—the Lunos Family Head and his wife—had repeatedly told her of two paths by which to ensure the family’s continuation after her marriage.
They had explained these two ways to carry on the Lunos line.
The first was for April to bear two or more children as quickly as possible; the second was to bring in cousins who could inherit the Lunos Family.
Of course the first method was the simplest and most straightforward, but children did not arrive simply because one wished for them, so a contingency was necessary.
Now April too could not help but consider both paths.
The first was difficult.
Her engagement had been broken once, her former betrothed had been Miller Deus, and above all, her pride in the Lunos Family had not diminished from before its fall—meaning there were scarcely any families that could match her.
A successor through marriage seemed unlikely, and the second method—seeking out those cousins who had plundered every asset they could while the Lunos Family crumbled and April herself had been confined for seven years—was something she did not wish to do.
First and foremost, she would have to create an Heir to the Lunos Family through the first path.
As someone born to a house that had wielded power for ages and regarded the family’s continuation as an absolute destiny, this was a natural course of action.
To find a suitable husband, she would need to enter society; to enter society, she would need an invitation.
There was only one person who could provide that, given April’s circumstances.
April cradled her forehead in her hand, then picked up a pen filled with the deep crimson ink distinctive to the Lunos Family.
To Pejin Deus,

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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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