The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 57

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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 57
After they finished speaking, silence settled over the room. April checked her pocket watch and spoke.
“I promised to finish Hanna’s test before noon.”
“Oh, that’s right—you decided she’d learn to read this year?”
“I don’t understand. She’s studied so diligently all this time, yet when it comes to the actual test, she won’t even open a book.”
At April’s exasperated concern, Pejin rose first and said.
“She’s ambitious.”
“She’s frightened.”
“Is she frightened because she’s too ambitious?”
“Is that it?”
April’s expression had grown thoroughly frustrated.
Pejin stood up and said.
“Let’s go. Time for the test.”
“She’s already scared when I’m alone with her—what if you come too?”
“That’s ridiculous. She’s more afraid of you than she is of me.”
“Afraid of me? Why?”
April’s confusion made her ask again. Pejin laughed at her obtuseness.
“The way we fear the divine.”
“What?”
“You’re her savior.”
……
“Between an ordinary stranger and a savior, who’s abandonment would be more terrifying?”
At Pejin’s words, April stopped in her tracks.
Until now, April had thought of herself as Hanna’s employer, or perhaps her teacher of letters. She had never once considered that she had rescued her from somewhere.
Pejin walked ahead, knocked, and opened the door.
“Little one.”
“Hello, Officer.”
“You’ve always had a way with animals, haven’t you? Good reflexes too.”
“Yes.”
“These days I’m always asking the children I meet if they want to become police officers… but this time I’m sincere. We’re always searching for officers who can handle police dogs.”
“……Really?”
“Of course, you’re free to do whatever you wish, but for that you’ll need foundational education.”
Pejin pulled up two chairs—one on each side—checked his pocket watch, and spoke.
“Run back and forth between those two points. Five times. I want to assess your physical conditioning.”
“All right!”
Hanna, who loved to run, took her starting position by one chair. The moment Pejin shook his watch to signal the start, she began dashing back and forth between the two points.
April stood with her arms crossed and sighed at the strange test, unable to fathom why he was making her do this.
Only after Hanna had completed five rounds did April finally grasp the reason for the shuttle run.
After all that running, color had returned to Hanna’s face. The tension that had kept her pale the entire time finally melted away, and she even laughed—a bright, clear laugh.
Pejin checked his watch and said.
“Excellent. You’ve passed the Physical Fitness Test with flying colors.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Your results are outstanding for your age.”
“Wow!”
A child so tense moments before, now laughing so easily—it was remarkable.
April, incredulous, leaned close to Pejin and whispered.
“How did you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Hanna’s laughing.”
“Oh.”
Pejin shrugged indifferently.
“Children naturally laugh when they run.”
“……Is it really that simple?”
“Even for someone like this little one, that’s as complex as it gets.”
With the shuttle run, Pejin had completely dissolved Hanna’s nervousness.
April found it hard to believe. Even after sitting across from Hanna again for the actual test, her expression remained bemused. But then the memory of Hanna’s delighted face while running flashed through her mind, and she burst out laughing.
At the sound of April’s laughter, Hanna’s eyes went wide as she turned to face her.
“Did a funny thought occur to you, Miss?”
“Yes. When I was little… I remember always wanting to run.”
“Really? You, Miss?”
“I used to pester my grandmother every day, asking if I was allowed to run.”
At her words, Hanna’s expression grew even brighter.
“I love running too!”
“I know. I saw it when you were clearing out those rats from the Third Floor.”
April recalled Pejin’s words—that Hanna might find her more forbidding than him.
She met Hanna’s eyes and spoke.
“Hanna.”
“Yes!”
“Before you came to the Lunos Residence, I was alone. Not because of family, but because you’re the only person who has truly talked with me. That’s the only reason.”
April spoke slowly, deliberating each word to make sure the child understood completely.
“I don’t know what I mean to you, but my gratitude toward you is great. So I hope you’ll go to school. Unlike me, I want you to learn much about the world.”
……
“I want good things for you, Hanna.”
Hanna listened carefully to April’s words, and then broke into a bright smile.
Indeed, making her run had been worthwhile. Hanna’s laughing face was infinitely radiant.
“I’ll do my best. I’ll read hard, learn hard, and run hard!”
“And become a fine officer that way.”
Pejin interjected, and April rebuked him.
“She’ll be whatever she wants to be. Don’t meddle.”
“Not meddling—actively searching.”
Listening to the exchange between the two, Hanna tilted her head and asked.
“What does ‘searching’ mean?”
“It means finding.”
“It means choosing.”
Pejin explained “searching” as “finding,” while April answered “choosing.”
Hanna looked back and forth between them, then opened her book and said.
“Even grown-ups don’t really know, do they?”
At that remark, both adults burst out laughing.
Pejin folded his arms and settled back, speaking.
“Exactly right. Truth is, most adults understand the meanings of words only half-heartedly.”
“I thought all grown-ups knew everything.”
“Not at all. Only scholars truly understand.”
Emboldened by the revelation that adults understand things only vaguely, Hanna pressed forward with greater confidence.
She began reading the Scripture forcefully, making her own guesses at word meanings and adding her own interpretations to sentences—yet her reading was splendid nonetheless.
“Well done. It’s hard to believe you were ever afraid.”
April, having offered this praise, continued.
“Then let’s prepare for you to start school next autumn.”
“Wow!”
The moment Hanna heard this, her face grew even brighter as she exclaimed.
“I have to tell Fred!”
“Go ahead.”
Hanna sprang from her chair and bolted from the room.
When she opened the door, Fred was standing there anxiously, waiting.
“Fred, let’s go to school together next year!”
“Really? Wow!”
The two children bounded from their spots and raced down the stairs to tell Bauman the good news.
Bauman, who had been woken several times that day, heard this news still half-asleep and became so delighted he made celebratory pancakes for the children.
* * *
After finishing Hanna’s test, April felt completely drained.
As April slumped over the desk, Pejin rose and spoke.
“Only thirty minutes left until the new year, and you’re really going to sleep?”
“A new year comes every year anyway, so what does it matter?”
Saying this, April truly began to drift off.
Pejin didn’t wake her immediately. Instead, he sat across from her, waiting out the final thirty minutes of the year. Then, just as April had done, he lay his head down on the desk. Her face was directly across from his.
Pejin didn’t think he harbored any special regard for April, the Grand Duke’s daughter.
He simply wanted safety for himself, his brother, and his brother’s wife. And success as a police officer.
Pejin’s life was that simple.
But April’s life was more complicated than that.
The moment he let her into his life even slightly, his existence became tangled and complex in an instant.
Even now, he was conveying thoughts to April that he hadn’t even known he was thinking.
Only after speaking them aloud did he realize he’d been worrying about the Grand Duke’s grain supply.
Right Island had now developed an enormous industrial zone.
Right Island had never been particularly suited to agriculture—there were scarcely any temperate regions worthy of cultivation. Having demolished what little arable land existed to construct factories, the food imported from the Empire had become as vital as a lifeline.
When only five minutes remained until the new year, Pejin lifted April into his arms. She stirred slightly from her deep sleep and whimpered in her drowsiness.
Pejin spoke teasingly.
“What noblewoman sleeps like this?”
April was utterly exhausted from her conversation with Pejin and from administering Hanna’s test. She didn’t even respond to his teasing—instead, she burrowed her face deeper into his embrace, seeking to fall back into sleep.
Pejin walked carefully so as not to disturb her slumber, and gently laid April down on her bed.

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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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