The Mansion Awaits Spring
Chapter 32
April arrived at the 1st Division with Kritz and was guided inside by a police officer from the Special Investigation Headquarters.
While waiting in the parlor attached to Pejin’s office, she didn’t encounter a single soul.
She stood up and moved toward the tea set.
However, the teapot was empty. It wasn’t just empty; it was a teapot that had clearly never been used since the day it was purchased.
April peered into the teapot with a puzzled expression.
Then, hearing the sound of someone opening the door, she turned around.
Paul entered, taking off his hat.
“What brings you here, Miss April?”
“I have a favor to ask of Pejin.”
“Of the Superintendent?”
“Yes.”
“Then perhaps it would be better to head to his residence? Today is his day off, so he’s at home…”
Logan suddenly poked his head in, cutting Paul off.
“He’s likely engaged in a tremendous battle right now.”
“A tremendous battle… A hangover, then?”
At April’s sharp observation, Logan chuckled, while Paul sighed in embarrassment as if feeling a sense of collective responsibility.
April took the coat Paul brought from the rack and put it on as she spoke.
“It seems he’s not the most diligent worker. Judging by how the teapot has never been used.”
“Yes, he is certainly not the diligent type.”
“That’s unexpected.”
At April’s remark, Paul smiled for some reason—a smile like the movement of a hidden snake.
Since April had always thought of Paul as a straightforward, uncomplicated man, that snake-like smile felt jarringly out of place.
April asked, “Did my saying it was unexpected sound strange?”
“Ah, yes.”
Paul hesitated for a moment before continuing with his usual jovial expression.
“Most people don’t know the Superintendent very well. It’s rare for anyone to describe him as ‘unexpected.’”
“Is that so? Well, I suppose I was away from the Grand Duchy for a long time.”
As April nodded, Paul asked, “In what way did you find it unexpected?”
“Hmm… Pejin might not have been diligent, but in my memory, he was a very tenacious person.”
“Was he?”
“So I suppose I assumed his diligence would follow suit.”
She spoke with a slight smile.
“Well then, I shall head to Pejin’s house.”
“Yes, I will hail a carriage for you,” Paul replied.
Ever since returning from the amusement park, Pejin had been plagued by inexplicable nightmares.
In his dreams, skeletal hands would choke him. He couldn’t see the face, but in the dream, Pejin instinctively guessed who it was.
Most of the time, it was the Lunos family.
No, in fact, it was always the Lunos. The previous Lunos head, Madame Runos, and even the Dowager Lady Lunos took turns strangling him.
It felt as though the dead were choking him to demand something.
There was only one reason all the Lunos were angry with him.
It was about April Runos.
Pejin, who had been struggling to break free from the skeletal grip, opened his eyes to a hand urgently shaking him. His butler, Pascal, was waking him up.
“Young Master!”
“…Damn it.”
Pejin spat a curse into the empty air.
His hands were gripping the bedsheets as if clinging to them for life. Cold sweat was pouring from his entire body.
“How can you have such dreams every single day…”
Pascal, who knew Pejin had been suffering from nightmares for the past few days, trailed off, his voice thick with excessive worry.
Pejin pushed his heavy torso up as if the Dowager Lady Lunos were still sitting on his chest and asked, “Is someone here?”
Seeing the bustle outside preparing for a guest, Pejin inquired, and Pascal answered with a look of inexplicable relief.
“Miss April has arrived.”
“April? Lunos?”
“Yes, it is Miss April Runos.”
“Why is she coming to someone’s house so suddenly?”
Pejin grumbled as he stood up to reach for his robe, but Pascal spoke firmly.
“You cannot.”
Pejin paused at the opposition from Pascal, who usually provided what he wanted before he even asked for it.
Pascal continued sternly, “The young lady of the Runos family is here; how can you think of going out in a robe? You must dress properly.”
“If it were the Dowager Lady Lunos herself, perhaps, but for just April Runos…”
“If the Dowager Lady had come, I would not have been the one waking you, Young Master.”
“True. I would have been severely scolded by now for still being in bed.”
The two shared a small laugh at the thought of the Dowager Lady Lunos, and thanks to that, some of the worry, concern, and anxiety washed away.
Ultimately unable to win against Pascal’s nagging, Pejin pulled out a suit for the first time in a long while.
Since he usually wandered around the house in a robe and wore his police uniform—whether formal, ceremonial, or duty wear—as his everyday clothes when going out, the suit felt incredibly awkward.
The same went for April, who had been looking around the patio of her own volition.
April blinked in surprise.
“A suit?”
“It’s cold; why are you waiting out here? You should have gone inside.”
“Why are you worrying about the cold with a native of the Grand Duchy?”
April retorted.
Just as she said, the people of the Grand Duchy were so resistant to the cold that they rarely even wore coats when the temperature dropped just below freezing. Even if April was considered weak against the cold among them, she was incomparable to those from outside the territory—and since she was wearing a thick fur, Pejin’s concern was unnecessary.
Finding Pejin’s unfamiliar attire curious, April found herself scanning his outfit as she asked, “I asked why you’re in a suit.”
“Mr. Pascal told me to wear it. Said I should show some courtesy since a guest is here.”
“Is that so?”
“He hasn’t forgotten his memories of the Dowager Lady. They were quite intense, after all.”
April burst into laughter at Pejin’s words.
“True. If my grandmother were here, you would have been scolded for about ten different things by now.”
“What do you take the Dowager Lady for? She would have found at least twenty.”
April nodded in agreement and murmured, “I miss her, my grandmother.”
“Do you know what’s truly strange about the Dowager Lady?”
“What?”
“Even though she scolded me like that, I find myself missing her too.”
April looked up at Pejin as he spoke. She could see the longing for the Dowager Lady on his face as well.
That expression brought a strange warmth to April’s heart.
Once they were seated in the parlor, Pejin asked, “You said you had a favor?”
“Yes.”
April pulled a letter from her handbag.
As Pejin reached out to take it, April tightened her grip, preventing him from pulling it away, and added, “Read it and don’t laugh. And if you grant the favor, I will certainly compensate you.”
“I get it, so let go.”
April released the letter with a distrustful look.
Pejin began to read the letter she had written.
The content—a request to open a path for her to enter high society—was by no means a laughing matter.
It was a difficult request, and April knew there was a much higher probability of refusal.
Pejin put the letter back in the envelope, placed it on the table, and asked, “The reason you want to enter society is because you want to bear an heir?”
“Yes.”
“And what about your desire for revenge against my brother?”
At Pejin’s question, April watched him in silence.
Reading that she had no intention of answering, and even less intention of denying it, Pejin spoke.
“Why should I help someone who might potentially harm my brother?”
