The Mansion Awaits Spring
Chapter 44
Soon, the group arrived at the sea.
They had come to a beach where the waters were particularly calm—a geographical advantage where the depth didn’t increase much even if one walked far out. It was a spot where many nobles enjoyed swimming in the summer.
April’s feet sank deep into the endless stretch of white sand, so she slipped off her shoes one by one and held them in her hand.
Seeing this, Fezin reached out to take her shoes, then offered his other arm for her to hold, matching his pace to hers as they walked.
The sand on the beach was so soft it almost felt ticklish against her feet.
April let out an involuntary laugh, and seeing her smile, Fezin spoke.
“You’re going to pass out the moment you get home. You used up a lot of energy today.”
“Lying in bed for two days afterward is the real fun of a party.”
“That’s true.”
“But why are you insisting on swimming? You’re sensitive to the cold.”
Fezin had become so accustomed to the weather in the Empire that he certainly wouldn’t be able to adapt to the freezing temperatures of his first winter back in the Grand Duchy.
At April’s question, Fezin replied, “It’s cool. I’ve wanted to try it since I was a kid. You know they never let children go into the winter sea.”
“That’s true, too.”
April was certain that Fezin, now weakened by the cold, would catch a terrible cold. However, she figured that was his own problem to deal with and didn’t bother trying to stop him further.
After the servants gathered firewood and lit a bonfire on the beach, the men in evening wear, led by Fezin, began charging into the winter sea.
Since swimming in the sea was an activity that transcended social status, the servants also rushed into the water as they pleased.
The women remaining on the shore watched them, laughing and chatting.
When every single policeman had ended up in the water because the Superintendent had jumped in, someone approached April.
“Miss April.”
Turning at the call, she saw Sara Dieus, a member of the Grand Ducal family, standing there.
April remembered her as the person who had been laughing along with the man who insulted her parents with his knife.
Sara Dieus approached and spoke in a polite tone.
“I’m sorry about earlier. I only just realized today how vulgar a person I can be.”
“Yes, I didn’t realize people could be so vulgar either.”
Nodding at April’s response, Sara Dieus continued.
“I’m not apologizing because I think you’re a witch. It’s true that I was being vulgar, but I’m not so senseless as to believe in such supernatural phenomena.”
Sara’s cynical tone was strangely amusing, causing April to let out an unintentional chuckle.
April had no intention of forgiving them, but she knew that a laugh was effectively an expression of forgiveness.
Since she had already laughed, there was no helping it. April spoke honestly.
“I shall forgive you. Since I’ve already laughed.”
“That’s generous of you, though I’m not sure what was so funny,” Sara replied petulantly.
April thought that Sara, who at least sought forgiveness, was better than those who were still whispering and regarding her as a witch.
As the atmosphere softened and the two were about to converse further, Fezin suddenly emerged from the dark sea and approached them.
He silently looked at Sara, and Sara, who was Fezin’s older cousin, spoke immediately.
“Ah, I was just apologizing. For what happened earlier.”
As she spoke, Fezin looked at April.
April narrowed her eyes and asked, “What?”
“Just because someone apologizes doesn’t mean you have to forgive them. What matters is how you responded.”
“I forgave her.”
“Well, if you say so.”
Only then did Fezin flash a smile toward Sara and say, “I was about to be disappointed in you, noona.”
“You can be disappointed. I’m already disappointed in myself. I suppose I’ve been out in society for too long. To think I was laughing at such low-class behavior.”
Sara gave a bitter smile.
While the disappearance of the Runos family had been a turning point, the signs had been there even before then.
As the culture of the Empire was embraced as sophisticated, the belittlement and criticism of anything ’non-Imperial’ had become increasingly common in the social circles of the Grand Duchy.
Sara Dieus felt this keenly. And she looked objectively at the fact that she, too, was one of those generalized young people.
Fortunately, April had accepted Sara’s apology with unexpected grace. It was a different result from the image of April Runos that society had crafted over the past seven years.
Sara’s mind raced with the thought that the constructed version of April Runos might be nothing more than a phantom, entirely different from the real April.
Upon arriving at the beach, the servants had brought an enormous amount of alcohol. While watching those swimming in the sea, the people remaining on land knocked back drinks.
The people drank more on this beach than they had during the entire day. Consequently, everyone was drunk and chattering away with unprecedented noise.
Sara, also quite intoxicated, shared several trivial stories with April by the bonfire.
She felt the other nobles looking at her strangely, but there was a bland yet unwearying, subtly addictive quality to talking with April.
Whether April was a strong drinker or not was unclear, but she remained sharp and alert.
As Sara asked April this and that, other nobles grew bold from the alcohol and began to join the conversation.
Surprisingly, April got along quite well with people.
She wasn’t overly talkative, but having learned the art of social conversation from a very young age, she knew how to manage a topic so it wouldn’t die out. That was considered a very important skill in high society.
The banquet did not end even as the swimmers came ashore to dry off and began drinking again.
* * *
It was an hour when it wouldn’t have been strange for the sun to rise by the time April and Fezin left the Grand Duke’s estate.
The Dieus family members stayed at the Grand Ducal Residence, while other nobles returned to nearby townhouses. However, since the Runos family’s townhouse was completely unmaintained, they had no choice but to return to the Runos estate.
April looked at Fezin, who had climbed into the carriage heading to the Runos estate to escort her, and asked, “Aren’t you too tired?”
“Not at all.”
Fezin bluffed, but in the cold air, April could feel a heat radiating from him that was far above normal body temperature.
The long-awaited banquet had been more than a little exhausting. Both tried their best to keep their eyes open, but they both fell asleep, and by the time they regained their senses, they had already arrived at the Runos mansion.
The sun had long since risen, and by the time they reached the mansion, Fezin had even begun to cough. It seemed he had caught a severe cold.
Seeing Fezin’s fever-flushed face now visible in the daylight, April said in disbelief, “I mean, why would someone who’s lived in the Empire all this time jump into the sea?”
“It’s cool.”
“It’s not cool at all. It’s exactly like Paul’s mustache.”
“Even so, that’s going too far.”
“Right, it’s not actually that bad.”
April conceded that much, and Fezin let out a silly laugh as he thought of Paul’s mustache amidst his coughing. It also looked as if he were laughing because the fever had made him lightheaded.
April rebuked him. “Still, it was a stupid thing to do.”
“I know.”
Fezin replied, feeling pathetic himself.
Though it might be an excuse, Fezin thought that if he had just kept swimming, he wouldn’t have caught a cold.
The problem was the lingering after-effect from when April had momentarily vanished from his sight.
He had caught the cold because he kept going in and out of the water, worried that something might have happened between April and the other noblewomen. Since he had been wandering around in sub-zero temperatures while soaked, it would have been stranger if he were fine.
Even when he was talking to Sara Dieus, he had come out of the water thinking she was actually bullying April.
Thinking about it as he headed back to the sea after realizing that wasn’t the case, he knew April wasn’t the type to be bullied so easily.
Why hadn’t he been able to make that judgment then?
He figured his brain must have frozen from the cold. Or perhaps the lingering heat and trembling of April’s hand in his had clouded his reasoning.
