The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 41

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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 41
After some time had passed, Pejin spoke.
“I said it before, but if you try to harm my brother, I’ll stop you.”
“I know. That’s why I won’t tell you the details of my plan.”
April finished speaking that way, then lifted the corner of her mouth slightly as she continued.
“It’s strange—you’re the only person I’d tell such a thing to.”
“But just because Daeus is your enemy, there’s no guarantee you’ll become my ally, is there?”
“That’s why I’m going to become a Witch.”
“What?”
Pejin’s expression hardened, and he pressed for clarification. April answered him.
“I need to appear strong, but I don’t have anything to my name. So I thought… why not use it? It’s just a rumor that’s already out there.”
“The rumor that you’re the mastermind behind the fog?”
“Yes.”
April nodded.
“I’ll make people fear me.”
This was work she needed to perform.
Even if April refused that role, it was Pejin’s duty to force it upon her. And if that role could help her, it might ease the weight of guilt in his heart a little.
If that work could benefit her, perhaps the burden of conscience would lighten somewhat.
Pejin asked.
“Aren’t you afraid?”
“No. You said you won’t send me to the church. I trust you.”
……
“That’s why I’m not afraid.”
His heart sank.
Pejin would perform his duty as a police officer. His axiom—that judges deliver verdicts, not lawmen—would never waver.
With such certainty, April could give her all. She had a foundation to lean her back against firmly, and so she could direct her strength toward her desired goal.
It was unclear how Pejin’s convictions about extraditing criminals had become so clear, but in any case, April desperately needed such a foundation to rest against.
Pejin spoke next.
“I can help to some degree with the reconstruction of the Lunos Family. But as I’ve said, I won’t overlook any attack on my brother.”
“I understand the latter. I didn’t know about the former.”
April smiled, but inwardly, she needed to draw her boundaries regarding his kindness sharply and firmly.
Sometimes his kindness seemed to have no reason behind it.
As far as April knew, Pejin was not a kind person. And far less was he one who had fallen in love.
She remembered how Pejin had looked at Heidi, what affection he had harbored for her, and how he had treated her. So she could be certain of this: his favor held no warmth, and this kindness surely carried poison.
But April thought this was not the time to avoid drinking poison.
So long as it wasn’t enough to kill her outright, if there was gain in it, then to some degree……
After that, the two mingled with the crowd as others did.
Pejin’s worry about being too popular turned out to be as unlucky as it was true.
He wore an expression of wanting to be alone the whole time, yet danced endlessly with someone or other, and was led about by his brother making introductions.
Pejin, who would obviously return to The Empire, was not the ideal suitor in his parents’ generation’s eyes, but to the unmarried women who had come to this party, he was a man who stirred great curiosity.
And April too, unlike her sharp demeanor at the beginning, received dance requests from a few young men.
According to standards April had set for herself, she did not dance with young men from families less distinguished than the Hunter Family, and that intention spread in an instant.
She heard remarks from those nearby—that she was presumptuous, that she was gloomy—but she pretended not to notice.
At the words ‘Her parents were executed, yet she doesn’t seem sad,’ her emotions nearly turned upside down, but she suppressed that as well.
The emotions within her were like water in a broad, shallow dish, and without superhuman concentration to find equilibrium, her center of gravity would tilt toward one side at any moment.
April, who devoted most of her mental strength to sustaining her emotions, finally had room to think properly after the meal ended past midnight.
The truth was, it wasn’t something she’d thought of just now. From the beginning she’d known it, but had refused to accept it—now she was reconsidering that very fact. No matter how much she examined it, again and again, the truth she’d known from the start never grew any dimmer.
She had been deliberately turning a blind eye to the fact that if she were to find allies, there were certain people she had to check first.
The Munjung.
These people, who had once been members of the Lunos Family, had now scattered to other families and left the estate.
April had hated them for not standing with her parents, yet at the same time, if her parents had trusted anyone most, it would be them without question.
So she had no choice but to consider them, yet most of them had stolen what remained of the Lunos fortune. April had to find the Munjung that her parents would have trusted.
Fortunately, considerable documents remained in the bank, so April had been able to obtain much information together with the banker Birta.
But as she was pondering where to begin, she spotted a girl preparing for her Debutante, carrying a Basket as she moved about.
It was then that April understood Pejin’s question: ‘As long as you win something, isn’t that enough?’
It was clear he had proposed this game specifically to create a situation where she could truly win.
What the girl carried was a Basket containing Notes that divided the sides in the Marble Game, a tradition of Right Island.
When April gestured for the girl to come toward her, everyone in the banquet hall hesitated and turned their gaze to her.
The girl approached her as though bewitched, her face vacant. Then she held out the Basket to April.
April drew out one Note and unfolded it to show the child.
“It says yellow.”
The girl then untied a yellow Ribbon from among those bound around her arm and fastened it to April’s sleeve.
“Please wear this!”
“Thank you.”
When April checked on Daeus and his wife, Heidi wore a pink Ribbon, while Miller wore a yellow one. She had drawn the same Note as Miller from all the many Notes in the Basket.
* * *
“Sir!”
Pejin, who had grown tired from meeting so many people and slipped outside for a cigarette whenever he found a chance, clicked his tongue at the urgency in Logan’s voice.
“What?”
“It appears Miss Lunos intends to play the Green Ball!”
“Ah, I know.”
Pejin had shown no interest in April’s participation in the game he’d proposed, but he hesitated at Logan’s next words.
“She’s on the same team as His Highness Daeus.”
At that, Pejin turned to look at Logan.
Pol spoke from beside him, stubbing out his cigarette.
“Quite the sensation, the last party of the year. The memorial atmosphere is somewhat lacking, though……”
“Sponsorship is paid for with money anyway. Why would anyone be pleased with condolences from nobles whose faces they don’t even know?”
Pejin also spoke as he extinguished his cigarette.
The three men stepped back into the banquet hall, and Pejin noticed that people were regarding him with eyes full of anticipation.
With so many people participating in the game, he couldn’t believe the odds that had put him on the same team as his brother.
Pejin clicked his tongue and, when the girl cautiously extended the Basket to him as well, he politely bowed to decline. It wasn’t a game that particularly interested him in the first place.
He went straight to April, lifted her sleeve bearing the yellow Ribbon, and asked.
“Why did you have to draw the same thing as my brother, even after you drew?”
“Did I draw it on purpose?”
“Will you feel like you’ve won if you win this way?”
As Pejin spoke, he glanced sideways to check her face.
Fortunately, April was smiling and nodding.
“Yes, I will. Thank you. I needed this.”
“Good, then.”
Pejin found himself smiling along with her, seized by an odd sense of satisfaction.
In the brief time they spent together, he seemed to have come to know what April needed better than anyone else.

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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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