The Mansion Awaits Spring
Chapter 26
At the news that they were going to the amusement park, Hannah was so excited she spent the day before running all over the mansion.
Bauman calmed the child down and, as he had promised, decided to start teaching her about architecture.
Bauman greeted April and spoke.
“I will teach her well while we repair the house together. Hannah is such a bright child; after three or four years of training, she’ll be doing the work of a full-grown adult.”
“Take your time with the lessons. Repairing this mansion only needs to be finished within my lifetime.”
When April said that, Bauman actually felt a sense of urgency.
To April, who had only lived about twenty years, a lifetime might feel like a vast stretch of time, but Bauman was at an age where he wouldn’t be surprised if death suddenly came knocking at his door.
In Bauman’s eyes, the youthful April didn’t seem to notice the old man’s concern at all; she simply tilted her head at his stiffened expression.
Bauman straightened his back as much as he could, not wanting to cause worry for the young lady who had taken him in.
“I understand. If I cannot finish it, Hannah will. I will make sure of it….”
Only then did April realize that Bauman was worried about his age.
Her eyes widened slightly at the thought that she hadn’t considered his feelings, but she quickly suppressed her embarrassment and spoke.
“I shall trust you with it, then.”
“Yes, my lady. Then I shall go take a look around outside.”
“Very well.”
After Bauman finished his conversation with April and left, Hannah—who had finished feeding the chickens and grooming the chicks until they were spotless—came inside humming, carrying a basket of eggs.
Though April had never asked her to, Hannah took it for granted that caring for the chickens was her responsibility.
Hannah held up the basket and asked, “What should we make with these?”
“I’ll take care of that, so you go outside and find Mr. Bauman.”
“Right now? But I have so much to do….”
“Don’t try to do work I never assigned you.”
April took the basket from Hannah and set it down on a low pedestal where a vase would normally sit.
Then, she held out a note with a sturdy cover made of purple silk—which, though old, still retained the beauty it had when it was first made—and a pencil.
“Use this to write down everything you learn. So you don’t forget.”
Hannah looked back and forth between the notebook and April. Then, with a face that looked ready to cry, she spoke.
“But I don’t know how to read or write….”
April paused at those words.
Today, things seemed to be frequently stepping outside the boundaries of her world.
Regaining her composure quickly once more, she said, “It’s alright. Draw pictures at first. In the evenings, I’ll teach you how to write.”
“Re-really?”
Hannah’s eyes went wide, and her expression brightened as she hopped up and down. She pointed toward the window and asked, “What about Fred?”
“Fred?”
“Yes!”
April turned toward where Hannah was pointing. She walked over quickly and opened the window, and a pair of small hands that had been dangling there lost their grip.
Almost simultaneously, there was a loud thud from the ground outside, followed by the groans of a boy about Hannah’s age lying on the floor.
“…So that’s Fred.”
He was a boy she had never seen before.
At the sound of the thud, it was Bauman who reached the boy before April.
He had been a kind and gentle man throughout, but he was not so toward intruders.
Bauman grabbed Fred by the scruff of the neck as the boy played up his pain on the ground and dragged him toward April.
“My lady, this brat!”
“Yes, I’ve just realized. It seems he’s an acquaintance of Hannah’s.”
“With Hannah?”
Bauman, who had looked angry enough to break a leg before chasing him out, looked toward Hannah in confusion.
Hannah, seeing the usually kind Bauman wearing such a fierce expression, realized the situation was serious and spoke fearfully.
“He’s a friend from the factory… When I went to pay back the debt a few days ago… I think he followed me because he was worried. I’m sorry….”
As Hannah offered an apology on his behalf, Fred, who had been kicking wildly at Bauman’s legs, spoke to April.
“Let Hannah go, you witch! You’re trying to eat Hannah….”
As he spoke, Fred was suddenly shoved hard and fell backward onto his bottom.
Fred looked at Hannah, who had pushed him, with a shocked face—so shocked he didn’t even feel the impact on the spot where a bruise was already forming from his first fall.
Hannah shouted.
“I told you she wasn’t like that! Why won’t you listen to me!”
“Y-you’re being tricked! The boss said so, that witch is killing people!”
“No! Why do you believe the words of such a bad man! I’m a good person and I told you she isn’t!”
Hannah’s sudden outburst of shouting came as a fresh shock to April, even more so than when Bauman had looked fierce earlier.
That was because, in the eyes of an adult, Hannah had seemed like a child whose emotions were completely detached.
Even when her own hand had been severed, she hadn’t shown sadness. It should have been impossible for a child to show no emotion after such an accident.
Yet Hannah had done exactly that. April had completely agreed with Bauman’s words that such behavior was a cause for concern.
Seeing Hannah shouting and getting angry, April was surprised at first. Then, seeing Hannah look back at her in fear—worried that she shouldn’t have gotten angry or that she might be kicked out—April walked over to the child.
Then, she pulled the girl into a tight embrace.
“Well done.”
“Well… done?”
“Yes, you’re doing well. Get angrier. You can get much angrier. You have every right to be mad.”
“…….”
Hannah’s eyes went wide at the sensation of April’s hand patting her back. Then, she slowly gripped April’s collar with both hands.
Hannah mumbled.
“There are too many bad people in the world.”
“Yes, you’re right.”
“There are so many I want to kill them all!”
“We’ll look into that gradually. To see if it’s possible. You shouldn’t get hurt while trying to kill them.”
“I’m so angry….”
Hannah’s eyes brimmed with tears of rage, but she didn’t cry. It was because she didn’t think this was something to cry about. Just as April said, this was something to be angry about, not something to sit and cry over.
Wrapped in April’s arms, Hannah poured out every curse she had for the world.
Her father, who spent every cent she earned at the factory on alcohol since she could barely walk; and the factory owner, who slapped a debt on her without caring what happened to her after her hand was injured.
A trashy world. A cruel world. An unfair, filthy, and messed-up world!
Fred could only watch with a dazed expression as Hannah spewed her fury, while Bauman quietly reached out to cover the boy’s ears.
However, he, too, appeared secretly relieved that Hannah was finally expressing her anger.
After that outburst of rage, everyone, including Hannah, was exhausted.
Fred was half out of his mind. He had come to rescue her with good intentions in his own way, but he never imagined he would cause Hannah to explode like that.
When Hannah began to suffer from a fever after screaming and shouting, April laid her down in bed. After a while, Bauman knocked and asked for permission to enter, speaking politely.
“The boy says he has something to tell you. Shall I let him in? Or shall I just send him away?”
“Let him in.”
At April’s word, Bauman opened the door a bit wider and gestured to Fred.
Fred, his face pale with fright, entered and spoke.
“I’m sorry.”
“You think little of me, don’t you?”
At those words, Fred froze and his eyes began to well up.
April waved her hand and said, “Ah, I’m not just talking about you… Whether I’m a witch or not, if I were truly terrifying, would you all keep showing up here one by one and making yourselves at home?”
At April’s remark, Bauman let out a sheepish laugh. Then he spoke formally.
“I truly came here prepared for the worst, my lady…. But I understand what you mean.”
Bauman even gave a respectful nod.
As April said, the Lunos mansion needed to regain its dignity.
Even lower-level officials, famous for their meager salaries, were rarely evicted by landlords even if they couldn’t pay rent. This was because most lower officials had connections to some noble family, which was how they got their jobs in the first place.
Nobles were beings so ominous that people preferred not to get involved with them at all.
Until the trial began, the Lunos family had been second only to the Grand Ducal family. The fact that people were wandering in and out of such a mansion as they pleased was surely because they held it in contempt.
