The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 40

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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 40
Pejin stared into empty space for a moment before asking.
“So long as we win something, that’s enough?”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s go in then.”
April nodded at Pejin’s words.
Pejin rose to his feet and at the same moment grasped April’s arm, pulling her up with him.
Pejin drew in a long breath—psychological compensation for having held it since April leaned against him.
April brushed the dirt from her clothes and looked up at Pejin. Then she smiled and spoke.
“It’s just because I’m cold.”
……
“Let’s go in.”
April led the way as she spoke, but Pejin remained standing for a moment, watching. She didn’t press him. Soon he followed.
* * *
Miller sat in a chair, gazing steadily at Heidi.
She had composed herself as though she’d never been angry at all, and was now conversing with the party guests.
At fourteen, April Lunos had possessed no control over her emotions. Looking back now, it was unsurprising—she’d been a perfect portrait of adolescence, and being raised as a Pampered Child by the Lunos parents meant her arrogance was simply the natural fruit of her upbringing.
But how flawless Heidi Basanta had been by comparison.
She was kind to everyone, and there was an inborn gentleness that shone from her naturally.
Living with her temperament had sometimes felt suffocating, but that was no different from what any couple experienced.
He still loved his wife more than anyone else in the world—so much so that he could scarcely imagine betrayal ever touching such ardent affection.
And yet he couldn’t deny that within that passionate, burning love existed a very small dark spot.
As one might name a star, if he were to name that spot, it would be April Lunos—better that than to call it by its true name, Adultery.
Heidi had never quite released the possibility that the spot might swallow the star.
It was absurd.
How could a point consume a plane? The reason she couldn’t erase so slim a possibility was that she believed April Lunos simmered at a low heat ceaselessly.
To Heidi Deus—or rather, to Heidi of the pirate house Basanta—April Lunos was such a thing.
A fire that burned for seven years straight, unquenched even by water and earth poured upon it.
Always roiling at that low temperature, a flame that nothing could extinguish.
It was an overestimate. It was curious how hatred bloated one’s judgment.
Miller, who had been observing his wife all along, spoke to her.
“Feeling any better?”
Heidi laughed and shook her head.
“Not at all.”
“But you drove her out—that girl you can’t stand to look at.”
“Drove her out?”
At Miller’s words, Heidi’s laughter deepened.
She continued.
“Miller, April doesn’t disappear that easily.”
She gestured to a servant to refill Miller’s glass, then kissed his forehead and spoke.
“You should prepare yourself too.”
Miller gazed up at the soft creature who had kissed him. He noticed the silence and turned his eyes toward the door, then his head.
The Red Dress that had fled was returning to the ballroom.
Only on seeing her a second time could Miller discern the countless layers of chrysanthemum-like petals surrounding April—a dahlia of a gown, perhaps.
Though Miller knew only how to judge women’s evening wear as “suits” or “doesn’t suit,” it was clearly apparent that this was a new, unfamiliar kind of dress brought from the Empire.
As she walked, the hem shifted through endless shades of red, black, and deep crimson, drawing every eye.
As expected, when April returned to the party, Heidi smiled without a word, and Miller clutched his forehead. Then he spoke to Heidi.
“Isn’t that strange?”
“What?”
“How easily Pejin lets Lunos push him around.”
“What’s strange about a boy and girl his age doing that?”
“No, it’s strange. You know as well as I do how cunning that boy was.”
……
“There’s definitely something. Some task Pejin was given, something he hasn’t told us about.”
At Miller’s words, Heidi turned to look at April again. Then she noticed another man scrutinizing April with the same analytical intensity she herself possessed—a kind of interest entirely different from how the other guests looked at her like a natural disaster.
He was a businessman who supplied gas to the Grand Duchy, the president of Tabish Company, named after his own family: Jona Tabish.
When Miller had Jona Tabish brought forward, he was, predictably, delighted and poured out what he’d been wanting to say.
“It’s been seven years now. Seven years of lighting Gas Lamps in the Lunos Mansion. Of course, I don’t know the method—some witch’s doing, I suppose. But it’s absurd not to receive a single coin for providing so much gas to light such a grand estate.”
Jona Tabish continued.
“Moreover, I’ve heard that Miss Lunos received considerable payment from canceling a ship under construction. If she has no money, that’s one thing, but if she does, she ought to pay what’s owed, shouldn’t she?”
“And what do you intend to do about it?”
“First, I’d like to negotiate, and if Miss Lunos refuses, I’m considering bringing a suit. However……”
This time Jona Tabish glanced not at April but at Pejin as he continued.
“The police investigation concluded that the gas line was already severed, so we may be unable to collect the gas charges.”
“I’ll have someone from my end re-examine the police records.”
At Miller’s offer of support, Jona Tabish’s face brightened even more.
After Jona Tabish finished speaking and departed to prepare a collection notice for the Lunos household, Pejin and April entered and approached them.
And he offered a proposal to enliven the party.
* * *
Pejin soon returned to the table where April sat. He surveyed the attendees and asked her.
“Found any husband material yet?”
“Not sure yet, but I’m thinking of finding someone from a decent family—better than the Hunter Family, that is.”
“Better than the Hunter Family or including it?”
“Hmm… including. The Hunter Family is included.”
Pejin looked at the young men of the Hunter Family and clicked his tongue.
“That’s generous. The family status is nothing to speak of.”
“Still, that one with the curly black hair from the Hunter Family catches my eye.”
At April’s words, Pejin paused to think before asking.
“Curly hair is your taste? Our brother doesn’t have curly hair.”
“Yeah, that’s why I got tired of him.”
“Well, that happens.”
The Deus brothers had nearly straight hair. It was a Deus family trait.
Pejin asked.
“What won’t do?”
“Um, blue eyes are out too. And the worst part is……”
“What’s that?”
“Deus.”
She said this looking at Pejin.
Pejin laughed softly and muttered.
“Ah, you said that so I’d hear it.”
“What good would it do for you to hear it? You’re not husband material anyway.”
“You’re talking to me about it right now.”
“Yeah, because you’re supposed to look someone in the eye when you talk to them.”
“So why am I not husband material?”
Bantering with April in their usual childish way, Pejin let slip a remark born of stubborn pride, and April’s breath caught.
Looking at her eyes, startled, he felt he ought to take back what he’d said. But the words wouldn’t come.
Out of stubbornness.
And because he truly wanted to know why.
So instead he just narrowed his eyes and watched as April opened her mouth.
“I didn’t come here just to find a husband.”
“Then what are you here for?”
“To find people hostile to Deus.”
……
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
April’s soft-seeming lips moved again.
“That’s why Deus won’t do.”
Strangely, in that instant, Pejin felt his breath catch short.

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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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