The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 55

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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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Episode 55
April, unsure how to handle Hanna, who had stubbornly clamped her mouth shut like a protester, opened the door at the sound of Baumann’s voice calling from outside.
Baumann spoke.
“Young Master Pejin has walked all the way up that treacherous slope on a night like this.”
“At this hour?”
“Yes, indeed. Something must have happened.”
“Hmm.”
April wondered if Pejin’s spirits had sunk since meeting Heidi. Though she couldn’t easily recall the reason she’d come here afterwards.
April spoke.
“We promised, didn’t we? To have you reading by year’s end.”
“Yes…….”
“Practice your reading a bit more. I’m going to see our guest.”
Confirming that Hanna had nodded, April descended the stairs slowly and made her way to where Pejin waited.
He was still standing outside the entryway. April, who had slipped the coat Baumann offered over her nightgown, stepped onto the porch.
“What are you doing?”
At her question, Pejin, who had been gazing out at the snowing fields, turned to look at her.
April found herself thinking that Pejin’s blue eyes suited this season perfectly.
His gaze was like a lake that wouldn’t freeze even in the depths of winter. Legend always clung to nature that existed in towering heights or fathomless depths, or in vast expanses—and his eyes seemed to harbor a legend of their own.
Pejin opened his mouth.
“They say snow is coming.”
“Right, and after that it’ll get properly cold. Lucky for us, really. We’ve got hired help now. Baumann was quite worried about it.”
“You want me to clear the snow?”
“Of course.”
“How did you manage before?”
At Pejin’s question, April let out a small laugh.
“You’re the first person to ask me that.”
“People probably don’t ask because they’re afraid it’s rude.”
“What about you?”
“I don’t particularly care what others think.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“That was it—I know but don’t care.”
Pejin’s muttered reply—”That’s worse”—was spoken with a grim expression.
April fastened her coat as she spoke.
“Come inside quickly. It’s cold.”
“I’ll just leave. I don’t feel like clearing snow.”
“Don’t talk nonsense. Come in.”
As she spoke, April seized his sleeve and pulled.
April was oddly afraid that Pejin, having appeared so suddenly on this night, might suddenly vanish just as quickly.
So without waiting for the parlor to be prepared, she brought him to her own bedroom and sat him on the carpet before the fireplace.
Pejin removed his coat and spoke in astonishment.
“You have quite a talent for entertaining guests.”
“You show up without warning and then complain?”
As April’s reproach landed, Pejin settled into a seat.
He then absently removed his gloves, and as the warmth of the fireplace thawed the blood crusted on his palms, it began to melt and run down his hands.
In the moment April froze, Pejin hastily pulled out a handkerchief and wrapped his hand lest blood droplets fall on the carpet.
“I cut myself on grass on the way here.”
“On grass?”
“Want me to have it cleared? The Special Investigation Headquarters has plenty of idle hands.”
“That’s not what public authority is for. Besides, I have enough money. It’s just that no one wants to work here.”
April continued with a displeased expression.
“They spread rumors on their own and then……. Do they think I’m going to devour them?”
“You’ll be holding a funeral. Things should be in order before then.”
“Should I try clearing it myself?”
“That would take ten years.”
When Pejin replied with skepticism, April shot him a sidelong glance.
Pejin gazed steadily at her glance without noticing he was being watched, until April pointed at his eyes with her finger and called him out on it.
“You have a habit of staring like that.”
“I wasn’t doing anything.”
“You always stare at people’s faces like that.”
“You’re supposed to look at someone’s face when you talk to them. Where else would I look?”
“You stare too much. Haven’t people told you that before?”
“Plenty of times.”
“And you never fixed it?”
“I don’t listen to what others say.”
At Pejin’s shamelessness, April scoffed in disbelief.
Pejin found her bewildered expression amusing and let his own features relax slightly.
April spoke.
“Wait here. I’ll get the medicine.”
“Call Baumann.”
“Baumann is seventy-five this year. I feel bad enough having woken him at this hour—why would I make him climb the stairs multiple times?”
As Pejin spoke, he caught hold of April’s hand as she rose.
“Don’t go.”
April narrowed her eyes and turned to look at him. Pejin continued.
“I don’t need medicine.”
“Yes, you do.”
“Right now, for some reason, I don’t want to be alone.”
Pejin looked up at her with a strangely urgent expression on his face.
The hair he usually kept neat with pomade had come loose and fallen across his forehead.
At that face, April’s own heart hardened unexpectedly, and she tried to pull her hand away—but the force wasn’t strong enough for it to slip from his grip, and because he was persistent, his hand continued to hold hers.
For a moment it seemed like the awkwardness between them from that incident when lust had clouded his judgment might resurface, yet here he was, arriving at this place as though nothing had happened. Even bearing a wound for it.
April spoke.
“It’s not even a proper wound, just a grass cut, so it needs proper disinfection.”
“You’re relentless, truly. I’m saying I don’t want to be alone right now.”
“Don’t act like a child. You’re not a child. Think of how many citizens depend on you for their safety.”
“Fine, fine. I can wait.”
Pejin finally released her hand.
April shook her head as though despairing, then moved to fetch the medicine box and warm water.
She retrieved the medicine box from the shelf in her bedroom and brought down a teapot warmer with a candle beneath it, and Pejin scratched his neck as he spoke.
“If it’s something in your bedroom, you should’ve just told me to fetch it.”
“Be quiet.”
“All right.”
Pejin unusually fell silent without complaint, his expression embarrassed.
After bringing a teapot filled with warm water, April pulled his hand toward her, washed it clean with the warm water, and applied medicine to the wound.
April asked.
“Is it because of the Grand Duchess?”
At her question, Pejin said nothing, so April lifted her head and looked at him as she pressed further.
“Does seeing her still make you sad?”
“Why are you asking that?”
“Just curious.”
“If I’m sad, then what—you’ll solve it for me?”
April looked back down at his hand as she spoke.
“How could I solve it? You figure it out yourself. Go seduce someone or something.”
At her words, Pejin let out a bitter laugh.
April murmured.
“Then I’d feel better too, come to think of it.”
“So if I go see another woman, you’d feel better?”
Pejin realized he was being petulant. The way April’s hands froze confirmed it.
Suddenly he felt curious—what kind of person was April, really?
He wanted to know.
How she reacted at different moments, when she laughed, when she cried.
For someone with such striking features, she rarely let her emotions show through her expressions.
It wasn’t just because of seven years of confinement. It was the nature of the Lunos Family.
Pejin continued speaking.
“Answer me. Is that it?”
“Yes.”
“Yes?”
“I think I’d feel better. If you did that for me.”
“You have no feelings for me?”
And so his pettiness descended into such pettiness.

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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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