The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 45

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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 45
After April got out of the car, Pejin turned to head back, but she spoke up.
“Get down, you fool.”
Pejin interpreted her words as an order to escort her to the door, and his expression darkened. His body was in no state to move.
“I’ve brought you here. That should be enough.”
“That’s not it. Stay the night. You’ll die if you go back like this.”
“Ah, that’s what you mean.”
Pejin, who had been dreading the thought of returning to the Town House, suddenly looked like he’d found water in a desert. Still, he felt awkward accepting so readily, so he picked a quarrel instead.
“What about the bed sheets? Did you wash them?”
“I washed them. Because you said something about it.”
As soon as April spoke with a sidelong glance, Pejin stepped out of the car. He let out a sigh of relief and said:
“I genuinely couldn’t make it home. If you hadn’t asked, I would’ve collapsed on the way.”
“Yeah, looks like it.”
Bauman, who had been watching the two of them enter with a warm expression, soon began preparing a bath with the servants Pejin had brought along.
After both had finished bathing, April entered the guest room to check on Pejin, who lay sprawled on the bed.
The moment she stepped inside, Pejin let out pitiful groans and spoke.
“This is the first time I’ve caught a cold since leaving for the Empire.”
“A bad cold can be fatal.”
“Who asked you?”
“No, I was just wondering if you knew.”
“Worry about me instead of saying scary things.”
“You won’t die—why would I worry? You’re too sturdy.”
April said so, but she didn’t leave immediately. She lingered in place, then opened her mouth again.
“Still, be careful. Just in case.”
“What.”
“Don’t die.”
At her words, Pejin squinted at April with one eye.
As if the command not to die was unexpected, Pejin, his eyes narrowed, spoke.
“Understood. I won’t die.”
“Good.”
Having answered so, April pulled her sweater—worn over her pajamas—closed and placed a hand on Pejin’s forehead. The heat was so intense her hand grew warm.
Despite saying he was too sturdy to die, her heart lurched. She hadn’t realized the fever had risen this high. She’d thought he was being dramatic, but compared to the fever, he was actually quite patient.
Worry drove sleep from April’s mind, and she spent a long time pacing the bedroom. She couldn’t bring herself to leave his side.
* * *
The next morning, Pejin, who had managed to fall asleep only as dawn broke, awoke groggily to the sound of children laughing and chirping as they ran through the Mansion.
“Don’t run even though I told you—Miss April and the Inspector are still asleep!”
“But the Miss said we could run during the day!”
“Not today! Both of them were out at a party all night…….”
“A party means they were having fun, right? Why are they still sleeping after having fun?”
“Fred! Let’s wake him!”
“Okay!”
Bauman’s knees weren’t good enough to catch the two children as they ran.
Pejin resigned himself to his fate with a sigh, and, as expected, Hanna and Fred opened the door and entered.
Fortunately, they were old enough to know not to shake him awake without restraint.
The two children climbed onto the bed and approached him, and Hanna gently tapped Pejin’s arm with her wrist.
Pejin turned to face the children and spoke.
“You kids probably didn’t know, but I’m from the Archducal Family.”
“We know.”
Fred cowered behind Hanna out of fear, nodding that he also knew.
Hanna continued.
“But Miss April said you’re watching her to make sure she hasn’t done anything wrong—to see if she’s a bad person.”
“Yeah, she explained it accurately.”
“Miss April isn’t bad. She’s not a bad person. When there are so many bad people in the world, why are you wasting time here?”
Pejin listened quietly to the child’s words, then sighed and propped himself up on his elbows. He spoke to Hanna.
“April’s been teaching you your studies, hasn’t she?”
“……How did you know?”
“You’ve gotten smart.”
“How did you know I got smart?”
“I’m a police officer. Police are the kind of people who notice things like that.”
Pejin spoke, but his condition wouldn’t cooperate—he collapsed back onto the bed. His entire body felt heavy, as if the earth was pulling him down.
Pejin murmured.
“Even prioritizing education—she’s still living in the old days.”
Learning was the “possibility” that the people of Right Island had discovered—a way to live without resorting to piracy.
Therefore, they all considered it important to send their children, and indeed all the children of Right Island, to school.
One reason why the law against putting young children to work was among the oldest laws was rooted in this thinking.
However, for the dazzling development of the Archduchy, children younger than the age blocked by law needed to work in factories. Believing that school was more important than a factory was an antiquated notion.
Yet April, who had not witnessed that dazzling development, still prioritized teaching promising children within her household for the sake of the family’s reconstruction.
Contrary to Pejin’s expectations, Hanna immediately grasped his meaning and nodded.
“Miss April said I’m not old enough to work yet.”
“Right. That sounds like her.”
“She said if I can read letters, I can go to school.”
“For April, that’s obvious.”
Pejin chuckled to himself, gazing at empty air, and asked Hanna.
“You know what’s really strange?”
“What?”
“The very nobles of the Empire that the Archduchy tries so hard to emulate—they follow the thinking of the old Archduchy and give advanced education to their own family members.”
At his words, Fred, who had been quiet, spoke in a small voice.
“That really is strange.”
“Isn’t it.”
Pejin spoke, yawned, and gestured dismissively.
“Go on, leave me. I’m sick. And you’ve made me sicker by waking me up.”
“You shouldn’t watch Miss April.”
“Yeah, I got it.”
For now, he hurried the children out with those words.
Still, with a sick person in the house, things grew quieter, and he tried to sleep—but after dozing for a while, he felt a cool hand touch his forehead.
Pejin’s face contorted as he opened his eyes, and upon discovering the hand belonged to April, he clicked his tongue.
“Why are your hands so cold?”
“They’re always like this. My feet too. My parents used to worry about it.”
April spoke matter-of-factly as she settled on the edge of the bed and asked.
“Would you like to eat something?”
“What’s available?”
“Vegetable Soup made by Fred’s grandmother. She prepared it because we have someone sick in the house. There’s honey in it too.”
“Honey?”
“Yes.”
April continued.
“You were always sick when you were little. Remember? Your nurse used to make Vegetable Soup with honey and feed it to you.”
“Oh, that’s right.”
The taste from his childhood came alive on his tongue.
Pejin tried to get out of bed, but in that moment, his cold worsened so much that even his vision blurred.
He couldn’t rise after all, and he spoke to April.
“Don’t tell my subordinates I caught a cold. It’s embarrassing.”
“Sorry—next social gathering, I was planning to use this as a conversation starter with friends.”
At April’s joke, Pejin laughed despite his illness.
April laughed along with him, then had the soup brought in. She took a spoonful herself and held it out to him.
“Eat.”
Pejin couldn’t accept the situation of someone feeding him soup, so he turned his head away—but April set down the spoon and gripped his face firmly with both hands, turning him back to face her.
“I said eat.”
“This is driving me crazy.”
“You went swimming in the sea and caught a cold, skipped meals—a child would think twice before acting like this.”
“Just give it to me, give it. Ahh.”
Pejin relented and opened his mouth, and April brought another spoonful to his lips.
After tasting just one spoonful of the Vegetable Soup, he liked it, and he let out an appreciative sound before opening his mouth again.
Indeed, eating gave him strength. His vision gradually sharpened.
Pejin felt he could now hold the spoon and eat by himself, but he let April continue feeding him. Because this was something he’d never done in his life, and April herself seemed amused by the task.
“You’re definitely foolish.”
Her occasional jibes were becoming bearable, and as his vision cleared, the image of April began to come into focus…….
Pejin stopped his thoughts for a moment.
But against his attempt, the thought continued.
Like an illness, the thought consumed him.

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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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