The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 68

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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 68
Not long after, the carriage arrived at the Winter Market.
As April stepped down from the carriage, she hesitated at the sight of the dense crowd thronging the market.
“I’m worried things might get chaotic if I go in.”
“About half the people here are Empire tourists. It’s better than most other markets.”
“Is that so?”
April nodded at his words, taking some comfort, and surveyed the market again.
The Winter Market, lined with charming little shops, drew gasps of admiration from the very entrance. The scent of cinnamon from mulled wine warmed throughout the streets hung thick in the air.
Pejin asked her.
“What would you like to drink first?”
“Whiskey.”
“You must be from Right Island, no question.”
Pejin remarked, and bought her a glass of whiskey and a cup of warm wine for himself. Then he waited with the wine in hand while she drank the whiskey.
April asked him.
“Aren’t you going to drink it?”
“I had a feeling you’d ask for a sip, so I was waiting.”
At his words, April found herself smiling without quite meaning to.
She extended her hand and took the wine Pejin offered her, sipping it slowly.
The tart-sweet drink slid down her throat, leaving its fragrance in her mouth—a taste that captured the essence of winter itself.
“That’s delicious.”
As April spoke and handed back the glass, Pejin drained the remaining wine in one gulp. After returning the cup to the shop, he waited for her to finish her whiskey, then caught the scent of butter drifting through the market and went off purposefully.
He returned moments later with a freshly baked loaf of bread.
Pejin tore the bread lengthwise and offered it to her; April took it hesitantly.
Eating something on the street seemed odd to her, yet the rising steam and the butter’s aroma presented an irresistible temptation.
April placed the bread he’d given her in her mouth.
She laughed—the bread was so delicious it actually shifted her entire mood. The whiskey’s warmth and the freshly baked bread harmonized perfectly.
“Shall we go?”
Pejin started forward, and April followed in his wake.
Trees mantled in crystallized snow sparkled with blinding brightness, and she wouldn’t have been surprised to discover sprites hiding somewhere between the frozen branches.
As Pejin had said, there were plenty of foreigners, and no one looked shocked at the sight of April calling her a witch.
“There are so many foreigners that even the people from the Grand Duchy don’t seem startled to see me.”
At her remark, Pejin asked something he’d been curious about for some time.
“Have you ever thought about living abroad? In the Empire, perhaps?”
“How would I live abroad? The Lunos Residence is here.”
“You could sell the territory.”
At Pejin’s words, April stopped walking.
Her face bore an expression of genuine shock, as though she’d never heard such a thing in her life.
“Sell the territory?”
“Plenty of people do. There are already many nobles who’ve gone to the Empire.”
“I see. I didn’t know—I’ve been out of touch.”
April nodded and answered him.
The market had too much to see and too many things to taste, so as she held the rest of the bread in one hand, Pejin finished everything in his hands and ate through the drink she’d left as well.
April watched Pejin calmly consuming what she’d abandoned and murmured curiously.
“Weren’t you incredibly fussy and meticulous when you were younger?”
“I still am. That’s separate from eating well.”
“If I remember right, you were picky about food too. What on earth happened at the Military Academy? Did the ants get to you?”
“Ants are at least small. That place is full of big guys.”
“So you ate that much?”
“In lower years, we had to share a six-person dormitory. If one person messed up, all six got group punishment. Well, one day someone decided to sneak out to see his girlfriend, and the whole unit got the Academy’s worst penalty.”
“You were beaten?”
“We were starved. I’d have preferred a beating.”
“They starved children? That’s too much.”
April’s expression turned serious, and Pejin looked awkward.
“It was meant to be funny.”
“What’s funny about starving children?”
“The point is he pulled off an escape to see his girlfriend. They weren’t exactly little kids.”
“If they’re the age the school has to protect, they’re children.”
“Fair enough. You’re taking care of two people who ran away from the factory, after all.”
Only then did Pejin understand April’s concern, and he nodded.
She still lived by the laws of the era she remembered. Child labor in a factory was never reasonable in April Lunos’s eyes.
Pejin continued his story.
“Anyway, during meal times, the six of us couldn’t go to the dining hall and had to clean the gymnasium. And there we found this bread with mold on it….”
“You ate it?”
“Of course we did. And strangely, not a single one of us got sick. Maybe we even digested the mold. In any case, we ate it with such relish that after graduation, we still debated whether moldy bread was actually suited to our palates.”
Since April, who had never attended school, found the Military Academy stories amusing, Pejin shared with her the repertoire of episodes he and his friends liked to recount.
In the meantime, April bought various things at the Winter Market.
A wooden puppet that could be made to move with gears, colorful glittering glass crafts, and candlesticks of a design she’d never seen in the Grand Duchy.
April wrote down each item and its recipient’s name on paper. It seemed she planned to give gifts to everyone she knew.
Pejin asked her.
“Are all of these for you?”
“These are all mine. I’m the one buying them because I want to give gifts.”
April said this and finally began checking the bicycle-shaped planter that was meant for Pejin’s garden.
Pejin was satisfied enough, but April inspected it at length, checking for any cracks.
She believed that most of the gazes directed at her were born of fear and anger toward witches, so she didn’t turn to look even when she felt them.
That’s why Pejin spoke for her instead.
“The merchants are looking at you.”
“I know. Tell them I’ll leave soon.”
“No, it’s not that kind of look.”
At his words, April finally turned to look.
The Grand Duchy merchants were indeed watching her, wearing expressions as though they had something to say.
When their eyes met, the merchants finally approached one by one.
“Miss April, I know you won’t remember, but I once worked with your father, the head of the Lunos Family.”
“So did I. I’ve been too busy making a living to repay the debt I owe….”
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the Winter Market itself had been created by the Lunos Family’s trading voyages. Many of the merchants there had once received help from the Lunos Family.
April exchanged greetings with these merchants and had brief conversations with them before heading back to the carriage.
After loading April’s purchases into the baggage cart, Pejin and April returned to the carriage and sat down.
Soon the carriage departed for the Lunos Residence.
There were more decent people than she’d expected. Perhaps, she thought, there were more good people than bad.
For this reason, even after hearing Jeff’s story earlier, the heaviness in April’s heart lifted slightly.
April turned toward Pejin.
“Pejin.”
“What is it?”
“The profits from here right now—Miller takes those, doesn’t he?”
“Yes.”
Pejin answered matter-of-factly.
He said nothing more, but April dimly understood why Pejin had brought her here.
Originally, the Winter Market had stood in Lunos Territory, so its profits went to the Lunos Family. But once Lunos Territory became uninhabitable, the market relocated and became a venture of the Grand Duchy.
Miller had built merchant rows and even constructed a railway leading to the Winter Market to ensure that when April’s pension ended, the merchants wouldn’t abandon it.
He’d even expanded bridges to make river crossings easier for the masses. It was undoubtedly a place generating tremendous profits.
April turned her gaze out the window and spoke.
“I want to take it back.”
“You can’t. How would you manage it?”
Pejin’s rebuke was matter-of-fact—there was a coachman listening, after all.
April thought that Pejin hadn’t brought her here by accident.
He truly, genuinely wanted things to go well for her.

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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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