The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 66

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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 66
“They’re my aunt’s.”
“Did Mrs. Marrow lend you those shoes to torment me?”
“Yes, I think that was the idea.”
April answered without hesitation and withdrew her feet. Then, embarrassed by her own childish behavior and reply, she averted her gaze.
Pejin pretended not to notice and followed her as she led the way.
“You’re going overboard with the funeral preparations.”
“How did you know?”
“Every furniture shop was in an uproar. Said someone with deep pockets was going around.”
“I used an alias.”
“Right, I know. May Luseul.”
April had begun purchasing furniture through Mille Birta, who worked at a bank.
Afraid that sellers wouldn’t part with their wares if they knew a witch was buying, the two had fabricated May Luseul from the start—a phantom bourgeoisie from the Empire.
Miss Luseul, as Pejin said, was acquiring an extraordinary collection of pieces. The Lunos Family needed to appear respectable.
Pejin spoke.
“Spend money like that and you’ll go bankrupt before year’s end.”
“I won’t go bankrupt. I consulted with the banker. We’re keeping enough for the children’s schooling.”
“Bank employee, not banker.”
“What is there about me that you don’t know?”
“Nothing. I’m your assigned investigator. I know everything.”
He answered matter-of-factly and took a seat at the table April had arranged in the room where she was staying, to share a meal.
Pejin looked around the room and spoke.
“It’s decorated exactly like you.”
“Yes, like I was as a child.”
“It suits you now too.”
“Isn’t it too ostentatious?”
“You look ostentatious yourself.”
Pejin offered a casual reply as he removed his gloves.
April noticed the ring on his finger and thus found herself staring directly at his pale, firm hand.
It was a man’s hand where every finger conveyed strength. Yet it was smooth and beautiful.
A hand that resembled his face. That face with its tepid expression holding the teacup, and that hand—both still beautiful.
“How much longer will he stay beautiful, I wonder…”
April found herself murmuring these words without thinking as she studied his hand. Then, startled by the silence that followed, she lifted her gaze.
Pejin wore an astounded expression.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Keep thoughts like that to yourself.”
“What did I say?”
“How much longer will he stay beautiful, I wonder.”
“Who?”
“You—wondering how much longer I’ll stay beautiful.”
“I…?”
How could words buried so deeply inside escape like this, heedless of their owner’s will?
April felt heat flood up the back of her neck the moment she realized she had spoken her inner thoughts aloud while staring at Pejin’s hand.
She almost wished he would seize on the words and tease her for it. At least then she’d have a comeback ready.
But Pejin said nothing more. He simply gazed at her with the peculiar expression of someone who had just heard the strangest thing in the world.
When the heat had crept from the back of her neck to her cheeks, Pejin finally spoke again.
“For now, I intend to keep looking like this.”
“That wasn’t a question, so you don’t need to answer.”
“I know. I just wanted to answer even though it wasn’t a question.”
“Right, for now then. Though you might not turn ugly next year either.”
“That won’t happen.”
“How can you be sure?”
“When a handsome man grows old, he becomes a handsome grandfather. Theoretically speaking.”
“What theory are you talking about?”
Fortunately, Pejin continued spouting such nonsense, and April finally managed to escape her confusion.
To think she’d said such a thing.
Lucky it was Pejin Dieusz; had it been anyone else, they would have thought her utterly strange.
They let the matter of beauty drop and turned instead to discussing flowers for the funeral—which were beautiful, which weren’t used for funerals.
They spoke of flowers throughout the meal, and for a moment, it felt as though spring had arrived in the snow-laden Dieusz Grand Duchy, where it knew no other scenery.
While the two continued their meal and flower talk, a sound that no lady would ever be expected to make came from outside.
April quickly rose, and Elenoa, who had rushed to her room, spoke.
“Jeff must have regained the ability to speak, April!”
“He can speak?”
It was Pejin who repeated the question—he who had known for seven years that Jeff Marrow had lost the power of speech.
Elenoa nodded with moved expression, and April immediately headed for the study where her uncle was.
True to Elenoa’s word, Jeff was prepared to say something.
Upon seeing April’s face, Jeff had been ready to speak at once, but the moment he caught sight of Pejin entering behind her, his eyes widened.
“Y-you…”
Jeff pointed at Pejin.
“Dieusz…”
His trembling hand, as he pointed, quivered with rage.
It sounded as though he had torn the four letters ‘D-i-e-u-s-z’ from the depths of a terrible anguish buried within his heart.
Hatred blazed in that gaze. It was bewildering how such a vast anger had persisted in a man who seemed as withered as a tree in drought.
“I’ll step out.”
Pejin whispered something to April, who looked just as taken aback, then withdrew from the study with deliberate courtesy.
Only once the man from Dieusz had left did Jeff’s hand, trembling with fury, still.
And his eyes slowly turned toward April.
Jeff remembered vividly how much the Lunos couple—who had struggled long without a child after marriage—had cherished the daughter they finally obtained.
As an unmarried man at the time of April’s birth, Jeff recalled that April day when he first met his niece.
To the April he held by the hand as she sat beside him, he conveyed his emotion before he could say what he had intended.
“The sky was clear. On the day you were born.”
At his sudden words, April blinked without responding.
Jeff continued.
“It had rained all through April, but when you were born, the sky was the most brilliant blue. There was a brief shower, but the clouds passed so quickly that it cleared again almost at once.”
“Is that so?”
“How beautiful that day was. How radiant your parents’ faces were. And how happy I was…”
As April listened to his words, she smiled silently.
After confinement, she met a person who missed the Lunos couple—her parents—something others must have felt but dared not speak of for fear of falling from the Grand Duke’s favor.
Miller Dieusz was a gentle and kind man, yet he remained the master of the Dieusz Grand Duchy.
April recalled Jeff Marrow—or rather, Jeff Lunos—who was stern with his own sons but infinitely lenient with his niece.
She began, little by little, to remember how much love had surrounded her childhood. Though it had led to a tumultuous adolescence.
Fortunately, because of it, she had come to know what a life of being loved felt like.
Elenoa, who understood how much Jeff loved April, turned away and wept, then dried her tears with a handkerchief and spoke with a gentle reproach.
“You waited seven years just to say something like that? If that was all, you should have spoken sooner instead of worrying us so.”
Though affection threaded through Elenoa’s words, Jeff, beset by guilt, let his eyes dart about as he studied her. Only when he saw happiness bloom across her face did he smile.
Before speaking what he truly wished to say, Jeff needed to take a deep breath. It was a burden too heavy to release.
April noticed Jeff’s breathing grow rough and spoke.
“If it’s difficult, tell me another time. I’ll come back.”
“D-Dieusz…”
“Yes, Dieusz. You mean Miller, don’t you?”
From the moment she saw the fury spill out when he beheld Pejin, she had harbored some foreknowledge.
April knew Jeff had something to say about Miller Dieusz.
April gripped Jeff’s trembling hand firmly.
“Take your time. I’m listening.”
“That man… he and your father quarreled often. His desires were clear.”
“You mean marriage to the Grand Duchess?”
“Yes. That was where it all led. And there was only one way.”
“…”
“To secure that marriage, Miller Dieusz had to destroy the Lunos Family.”
The warmth in April’s eyes began to fade, slowly and inexorably.

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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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