The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 37

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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 37
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The moment April stepped down from the carriage, the Banquet Hall erupted with whispers about her arrival.
Those fond of spreading gossip rushed inside to report what they had witnessed outside.
“Do you know who just arrived? Who came with Pejin!”
“I was wondering who it could be—the commotion outside was so loud.”
“I thought I heard screams…….”
A gossipmongering attendee, seeing the curiosity of those around her, cleared her throat and announced:
“It’s House of Runos!”
Since everyone within earshot was listening intently, the name “Runos” spread throughout the entire Banquet Hall.
It reached the ears of the Grand Duke and his wife as well, who had begun the evening seated at a table with their nearest companions.
Seven years of confinement had ended, so there was no law that could restrict April Runos’s actions, whatever she chose to do. Moreover, she was accompanied by the police—there was simply no grounds for complaint.
They could not turn away a guest who had come to the party. She was a woman brought directly by Pejin, who held an invitation card. She required hospitality exceeding that of an ordinary guest.
To offer such hospitality, the Grand Duke and his wife would have needed to rise from their seats, but Miller quickly noticed that Heidi was in no state to do so.
Her face, which was always warm, had become tangled in complex emotions like sticky threads knotted together.
Miller wrapped his arm around his wife’s, his reason insisting they greet their guest while his feelings toward April were equally turbulent. The gesture meant simply: let us remain seated.
April Runos arrived at the Banquet Hall only after all the Sponsorship Party attendees had already learned of her presence.
A winter night when the Grand Duchy lay beneath snow.
Not even the common insects dared to stir, and the musicians’ performance had just concluded.
Only after Miller gestured for them to resume did the music start again—muted, subdued.
Fortunately, as the music began, the Banquet Hall was soon covered once more with the sound of lively conversation.
Pejin noticed that when his eyes met Heidi Deus’s, she turned her gaze away, making it clear that the couple would not come to greet them and would not escort them to a table.
At that coldness, Pejin found himself unexpectedly recalling his childhood.
He had always thought it was inevitable that his older brother would fall in love with Heidi.
There was a time when, yearning for their parents’ embrace, he wept before his brother as if the man had stolen their parents from him.
Heidi came with an amusing storybook and soothed them both.
How could one not love that braided-haired girl who smiled so brightly and gave her affection so freely?
“Thanks to you, Pejin finally fell asleep. I owe you.”
Pejin recalled his brother’s voice from that sleepy moment.
“You have your hands full looking after two boys. And one of them doesn’t even understand a word you’re saying yet.”
“What are you talking about? Pejin is a gentleman. He’s all grown up.”
At those words, he had mumbled in his sleep, ‘Heidi’s right,’ and the two of them laughed. It had been ages since his brother had laughed with such ease—he could barely remember when.
Pejin brought a chair by the window for April to sit in.
“I must say, I didn’t expect you to ignore me like that.”
As he spoke, he gestured to a servant to bring an empty table.
It wasn’t truly empty—a few guests were seated there—but the moment they saw Pejin’s gesture to the servant, they all stood and departed.
April thought his orders seemed to extend beyond just the servants.
Within moments, a table, an aperitif, and light refreshments were placed before them.
It was quite a large table, yet no one wished to sit there.
Once seated, April spoke to Pejin.
“Go dance.”
“Why should I dance while you rest?”
“Because plenty of people want you to.”
April gestured with her chin as she spoke.
And indeed, while April and Heidi commanded everyone’s attention, there were far too many young women desperate to know whom Pejin would ask to dance—only the fear of April’s wrath kept them from approaching him.
Pejin found it tiresome that once he started dancing, he would likely be swept up in dancing all night with partners who didn’t even truly interest him, but as April said, it would be odd not to dance at a party.
April continued.
“Besides, if you’re gone, I might dance with someone else.”
“Is there truly a man here brave enough to ask you to dance?”
“I’m not interested unless he’s that brave.”
At her words, Pejin let out a soft laugh. Watching his profile, April asked.
“What about you? Which woman do you want to dance with?”
“A brave one.”
“How will you know who’s brave?”
Then Pejin, resting his temple in his hand, answered coolly.
“The one who speaks to me first—she’ll be brave.”
At Pejin’s confident assumption that women would surely approach him first, April clicked her tongue.
Yet his words proved accurate. The moment Pejin cast his gaze about for a dance partner, noblewomen approached the table, and before he could even set down his champagne flute, he was pulled away to dance.
April watched the glass he had left behind on the table. Beside it lay a handkerchief—presumably his.
“Did he leave it in case I start crying?”
April murmured and turned her attention away from the handkerchief.
She happened to be watching Pejin dance with the noblewoman when the girl suddenly startled and squeezed her eyes shut. April could see Pejin whispering something to her.
He was probably telling her to stop looking at useless things and admire his own beautiful face instead.
And April expected the woman would laugh. If it were entirely wrong, she’d look stern, but since it was ambiguously correct, it suited her.
Just as April predicted, the woman dancing with Pejin forgot that April was watching and broke into a sweet laugh.
April drank her champagne in silence, moistening her throat.
While the stares of others were tiring, she rather enjoyed the fact that she was disrupting Heidi’s party.
Still, she needed to find a marriage prospect here, and the beginning was difficult. If she missed this opportunity, it would likely be hard to seize another.
Yet no one came to ask her to dance—only those curious about whether she was a witch lingered nearby.
Then Paul Soer approached her.
“If you find yourself alone, the Inspector ordered me to hurry over. Would you care to dance?”
“I don’t need pity.”
At her predictable response, Paul showed no embarrassment and stroked his chin, saying:
“I even shaved, as you instructed.”
Caught off guard by his unexpected remark, April laughed softly despite herself.
At her laugh, Paul’s expression brightened.
“Yes, just as the Inspector said it would be. His prediction was correct.”
“Pejin told you that?”
“Yes, he said to make you laugh.”
“I see.”
April nodded, understanding.
When the music changed, Paul and April made their way to the center of the Banquet Hall.
From the moment before asking her to dance, Paul Soer had braced himself for a blow. His dancing ability was not particularly good.
The same movements that looked graceful on others appeared awkward and flailing when he performed them. He had always been confident in physical exertion, but dancing cleanly shattered that confidence.
April, who had entered society at an unusually young age and had learned every aspect of it from the age of five or six, detected his clumsiness from the very first step.
Feeling her eyes widen and look up at him, Paul lifted his chin and stared at the ceiling, averting his gaze.
He had learned to dance so thoroughly that his body moved with the music as if entranced, yet here he was in this state—he lamented inwardly when he heard laughter from her chest.
So when he lowered his head to avoid her gaze, he found April with her eyes squeezed shut, laughing.
“……Please, don’t laugh.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m really trying…….”
Despite his earnest plea, this wretched young lady of House of Runos laughed with her whole face.
Paul sighed in resignation, then felt a gaze upon him and turned his head. Pejin was there.
When their eyes met, Pejin offered a deliberate smile, then turned away and moved his feet. He was heading toward the Deus couple. It was then that April struck Paul’s arm.
“Don’t get distracted—you can barely dance as it is.”
“Ah, my apologies.”
At her sharp tone, Paul quickly looked back at her and apologized.
Somehow, scolding Paul one-sidedly while dancing seemed to amuse her, and April laughed.
Strangely, his heart had grown uneasy. He had the odd feeling that he was intruding where he did not belong.

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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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