The Mansion Awaits Spring - Chapter 69

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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 69
* * *
The road from the Merow Residence, where many nobles lived, to the Winter Market was well-maintained, and there was even a railway line, but the journey to the Lunos Residence—much closer as the crow flies—consumed far more time.
By the time they arrived, the night had grown late.
April felt some guilt toward Pejin for having monopolized his entire day off, yet at the same time she found herself wanting to hold him back from returning to the Capital City.
It wasn’t that seeing him made her feel hopelessly thrilled, or as though she could do anything for him.
There was a flutter there, certainly, but nothing remarkable. If anything, Pejin seemed to feel more. Of course, the matter of physical desire was a separate animal altogether.
When she was with him, she found it strange—there were moments she could grow irritated with him, yet she wanted to stay in his company regardless. The things he said made her laugh, and despite his infuriating nature, she wanted to see him.
“Have you grown attached?”
Before April could step down from the carriage, Pejin shook his head at her words.
“No.”
“Then?”
“My aesthetic displeasure at the sight of you is colliding with the certainty that you’d serve well enough in bed.”
“…… Wow. How did you know?”
“Many women feel the same way.”
At Pejin’s composed reply, April let out an incredulous laugh despite herself.
Pejin extended a hand to escort her from the carriage, but she didn’t want to take it.
If she took it, she’d have to get down, and if she did that, she’d have to let him go.
Because of Dieusz, her family had fallen into ruin, her parents had passed—and yet the desire to be with him refused to fade.
April mocked herself.
How pathetic could she be.
Had seven years of solitude rotted her reason?
Since April wouldn’t take the hand he offered, Pejin leaned into the carriage and asked, “Tired of walking?”
In April’s estimation, this was the sole virtue he possessed apart from his appearance.
Whenever April didn’t want to leave the carriage, for whatever reason, Pejin would conjure an apt excuse and pose his question.
Thus she could avoid saying the things she didn’t wish to say. It was a technique honed through years of conversation with countless women, April suspected.
At April’s nod, Pejin seized her legs and dragged her out, then swept her into his arms in a single motion.
April clung to his neck in surprise and alarm.
“What are you doing?”
“Keeping people from the corridors.”
Pejin issued the command to a servant, who immediately rushed to her chambers and requested that no one pass through the halls.
Hanna, who had been about to dash toward April at the sight of Pejin’s carriage, pouted—but when he pressed a sweet into her hand, she bounded off to her room in delight.
April sighed, though it was true she had grown weary from wandering through the vast Winter Market, so she rested her head against Pejin’s shoulder in relative docility.
Pejin set her down in the bedroom and examined his hands—the hands that had held her.
He felt as though the shape of her body lingered in his palms: where they had cradled her shoulders and thighs.
Pejin turned his head toward April, who was watching him with an odd intensity, then reached out and removed her fur coat. April flinched and stepped back.
“I’m back on duty soon. I have to leave.”
Pejin explained that he would only remove the coat and nothing more, and April nodded with reluctant acceptance.
He draped her coat over a chair and returned to her.
At the sight of the dress April wore, Pejin offered a rebuke.
“Stop buying other people’s cast-offs and get something of your own. I’ve memorized every piece you own by now.”
“I’ll handle my wardrobe myself.”
“No interest in it?”
“You seem to have more.”
“I do have more. I’ve never denied it.”
As Pejin spoke, he let his gaze travel over her dress.
The green silk had aged; its luster had faded, its original hue growing dull.
Pejin asked, “Why do you wear this one so often?”
“It was a beautiful dress, originally.”
“It’s still beautiful. Just worn.”
His gaze lingered on her chest, and she watched him swallow reflexively.
April narrowed her eyes and spoke. “Leave. And get yourself a lover while you’re at it. This won’t do, not really.”
“Houses like ours can’t afford romantic entanglements. You know that, so why say it?”
“That’s true, but……”
Pejin grasped her waist with one hand and pulled her toward him before she could finish her thought, drawing her into his embrace. She spoke again.
“When you’re this close, I have to look up at you.”
“So what. Just look up then.”
“Who do you take after, to be so cold? Your parents were never like this.”
“They died too young for me to inherit anything from them.”
At his casual response, April pursed her lips and struck his arm sharply.
Pejin examined her face, studying it feature by feature, then continued, “I can’t keep looking at you.”
“Why not?”
“You’re too beautiful.”
“So what?”
“You’ll haunt my dreams.”
“Dreams?”
“If you appear, they’re nightmares.”
This time she didn’t stop at a single blow.
Pejin feigned hurt, and the tension that had hung thick between them dissolved.
April pushed against his back and spoke. “Go. And don’t come back.”
“You say that, but it’s not up to you.”
Pejin left the bedroom, rubbing the place where she’d struck him, his expression darkening with dissatisfaction.
After she’d chased him out that way, April found herself watching the carriage that bore him away.
She watched it recede into the distance for a long time.
* * *
Pejin returned directly to headquarters.
A few officers had already arrived at the station.
Trevor Hill, a Division 2 officer who had been tracking Devin Mayer, reported to Pejin.
“It appears certain that Chief Mayer received an Imperial Order of some kind.”
Paul, who was listening nearby, spoke up with confusion. “With the Chief Inspector present, what sort of Imperial Order would reach the Dieusz Police Department?”
“I’m not certain of the specifics, but……”
Trevor trailed off, and Pejin pressed a finger to his temple as he spoke.
“What’s clear is that we mustn’t interfere with Chief Mayer’s actions.”
“That would seem to be the case, yes.”
Pejin clicked his tongue and reviewed the investigation report submitted by Division 2.
He turned the pages one by one, a complete record of every person who had visited Devin Mayer’s residence—and then he stopped at one page.
It was evidence of a visit from Jonah Tavishy of the Tavishy Company, one of the entrepreneurs supplying gas to the Capital City.
“Why are you stopping?” Paul asked from beside him.
Pejin pointed to Jonah Tavishy’s name.
Over the past seven years, Pejin had investigated the Tavishy Company, which supplied gas to the Lunos Territory, regarding April’s use of Gas Lamps.
He had confirmed—and documented—that the Tavishy Company had never supplied gas to the Lunos Territory.
Yet here, that same Jonah Tavishy’s name had surfaced at Devin Mayer’s residence.
Logan, who had been making casual conversation with the Division 2 officers, spoke up at the mention of Jonah Tavishy’s name.
“They’re billing her for gas, then?”
“Why would Chief Mayer be handling that himself?” Trevor asked, looking toward Logan, who merely shrugged in uncertainty.
“I don’t know, but in any case, this wouldn’t be outside the scope of the Imperial Order, would it? Creating a pretext to implicate April.”
“Arrest him,” Pejin concluded.
Every officer in the room turned to face him.
Pejin said nothing further, merely tapping ash from his cigarette.
Logan, quick to grasp the situation, muttered aloud, “The Dieusz Police Department is fabricating grounds to arrest April.”

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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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