Chapter 107

Harold's two nephews took the news that their uncle would be away astonishingly well. So well that Harold felt a little put out.

Just in case the boys hadn't quite understood, he said it again.

"Uncle's going to be gone for about a week. Are you sure that's okay?"

Truthfully, there was a good chance it would run longer than a week. Still, that was what he'd said.

Edgar and Edwin's eyes turned to Harold. Looking at those innocent faces, he couldn't bring himself to fudge the timeline. His usual style was to plunge ahead and deal with it later, but he couldn't do that to his nephews.

"I'll try to come back as fast as I can... but it might take longer than a week. Linda's here, and so is the duchess, so you'll be fine. You're really okay with it?"

"We're fine, Uncle."

"We said we're fine."

Edgar and Edwin answered together.

Of course, this beat the alternative — the boys clinging to Harold and telling him not to go. For the past few days he'd been agonizing over what he'd do if Edgar and Edwin begged him not to go to the capital. All that worry, for nothing.

Well — since he couldn't have called it off even if the boys had begged, better this way than the other. It really was. It was, but...

"Oh! Uncle, remember those cookies you got last time? Can you bring some back?"

"Just how much do you love those cookies?"

"You eat plenty of them yourself too!"

"If they're there, obviously I'm going to eat them."

Harold had been shoved completely to the back of the line.

Over a cookie.

The boys were holding up much better than he'd feared. That was a good thing. Really, a good thing.

But somehow a corner of his chest went hollow...

"Safe travels, Uncle."

Even so, his sweet, affectionate nephew flashed a bashful smile and waved.

Given that Harold's departure was still a few days off, that was way too early a goodbye. He looked at the boys uneasily. Did they want their uncle gone already?

"Oh! Uncle."

"Y-yes?"

"There's a toy of Nabi's I couldn't bring from the small house. Can you get that too?"

Edwin said it with a face like the world depended on it.

"Old Linda made it for him. It's about this big, shaped like a bone..."

Harold waited until Edwin finished, then asked,

"It'll be a while before Uncle gets back. That okay?"

"Yes! It's okay!"

Edwin answered without hesitation.

"Safe travels, Uncle!"

---

So, then. Harold hadn't left for the capital yet.

Not yet. The boys clearly didn't mind when — or how soon — he left, but for better or worse, the departure date on his train ticket was still a few days off.

Once Edwin realized he'd said his goodbyes to his uncle a bit too early, he grinned sheepishly and threw his arms around Harold.

"I'll go over what you need one more time before you leave."

Looking at that mischievous, laughing face, Harold couldn't even be annoyed.

There was nothing to be annoyed about to begin with. If cookies and a stuffed animal left behind could make his nephews happy, that was a bargain. Harold went along with Edwin's game.

Laughing, Harold hoisted his nephew upside down by the ankles and spun him around. Edwin looked shocked for a moment, then burst out laughing.

"Uncle, do it again!"

After five or six turns, Harold set him down. Wobbling, Edwin still begged for more. From his flushed face and shining eyes, he'd loved it.

Harold had thought Edwin took after his father in disliking anything physical, but apparently not. Come to think of it, both Edgar and Edwin loved riding.

Taller as he was getting, Edwin was still smaller than most kids his age. Picking him up was, if anything, embarrassingly easy.

"One more!"

"One more?"

"I can't believe I never thought to try this before."

"Hm?"

"Faster this time, Uncle!"

He spun him a few more times on request, until finally Edwin ran out of steam and started panting.

"Uncle."

Even then, apparently untired, Edwin reached out to him again. Harold was happy enough to play as he wanted, but he gently caught Edwin's shoulders so the boy could catch his breath.

Then he looked past him. Edwin lifted his head to follow Harold's gaze. A wide smile spread across his face.

"Edgar!"

Edgar came walking over with Linda.

"...What are you doing?"

Edgar must have seen Edwin from a distance, because he asked with a wince. Undeterred, Edwin bounced up and grabbed Edgar's hand.

"Edgar, you ask Uncle to do it too!"

"I'm not a little kid."

"If Edgar's not a little kid, what is he?"

Edwin asked, giggling. Edgar glared. Edwin snorted at him.

"All right, young sirs."

Linda cleared her throat.

Confirming that the two boys had turned their attention to her, she affected a dignified air.

"Miss Adelheid has already finished getting ready for her lesson."

Edgar and Edwin blinked at the same time.

"Is my class already boring, then? I was thinking we'd cover what you two were curious about last time."

"Swords!"

Edwin's eyes lit up.

"Can we handle swords?"

"Absolutely not."

Linda said it firmly.

"Edwin. Uncle explained yesterday too."

"Aw..."

"A sword isn't a toy. So."

"Always seriously, always carefully, always with a sense of responsibility."

Edwin's lip stuck out, but he recited what he'd been told word for word. That he'd remembered it word-perfect said he was taking it seriously in his own way, and it put Harold's mind at ease.

He didn't think there was much chance of an actual war, but the future was unknowable. Whether or not Edgar and Edwin wanted to become knights, having enough skill to defend themselves would be a huge relief.

Of course, you couldn't ask a lot of eight-year-olds. But Linda, at least, would make sure they knew how to run.

"All right, Edgar. Off to your lesson too."

"..."

"Edgar?"

"Yes, Uncle."

Edwin had lost all interest in his uncle the moment Linda spoke, but Edgar stayed at Harold's side.

"..."

"What's wrong?"

"...Nothing."

A few days had passed since they'd come down to the Reichnek domain, and Edgar, who'd been nodding off from travel fatigue, had his energy back.

But every so often, seeing him standing there quietly saying nothing, Harold's heart would drop. He couldn't guess what was going through that little head. At least Edwin came out and asked him things directly.

"I don't think traveling agrees with me."

"Hm?"

Edgar yawned, wide.

"I'm still sleepy all the time."

"Yeah?"

"Or is it because it's hot?"

"It's a lot warmer here than in the capital, yeah."

"It's practically summer already. It's hot."

For the first time since coming to the Reichnek domain, Edgar was complaining.

It took Harold a moment to catch what Edgar meant, and then he laughed. The Bertholdt domain was in the south, but the last time they'd been there was several years ago. The boys probably barely remembered it.

Most of Edgar's short eight years had been spent in the mild capital, so no wonder the Reichnek weather, where summer came early, was hard on him.

"Should we get you thinner clothes? Make sure to wear a hat whenever you go out. And drink plenty of water."

"You're not hot, Uncle?"

"Uncle's been to hotter countries."

"...Hotter than here?"

"Yeah. I've even been to a country where it's summer all year round. It only cools off a little in winter, and even then, it's hotter than here."

"Edgar! Aren't you coming?"

Edwin called from a distance. Edgar started to bolt over to his twin, but curious to hear more of Harold's story, he looked back with clear reluctance.

Harold gave his back a gentle push.

"Uncle'll tell you about the countries he's been to next time."

"Promise?"

"Yes. I promise."

Only after that assurance did Edgar hurry off. Harold watched Linda settle hats on the boys and lead them out to the garden. Adelheid, already ready by the front door, was chattering away.

The boys were doing much better than Harold had feared. He smiled to himself and headed up the stairs. The Reichnek estate's butler saw him coming and opened the door.

"The boys?"

Inside the study, the Marquis Reichnek and Claudia were in the middle of a conversation.

"Out in the garden with Linda."

"Thank goodness Adelheid actually listens to Linda. Who she takes after, honestly."

"Takes after who, indeed. Claudia, she's the spitting image of you at that age!"

"Father. Don't make things up."

Claudia lifted her teacup with grace and denied it. The Marquis Reichnek snorted outright but let it drop and beckoned Harold over.

Harold sat down in the empty seat and looked at the table. Beside the fine teacup were the papers the two had been going over. They'd been turned toward where Harold was sitting — clearly meant for him to see.

Even so, he wasn't sure it was really all right to look. That was because—

"Is it all right to bring this out?"

The papers were stamped, plain as day, with the eastern base's crest. The contents were worse. The eastern military installations and troop deployments.

"Hendrick set them aside for you to see, so it's fine."

"...Isn't this, ah, unauthorized removal of military intelligence?"

Harold made an aggrieved face, but Claudia didn't so much as blink.

Even the Marquis Reichnek — retired now, but originally an officer at the eastern base — smoothed his collar with an entirely straight face.

And this from a man Harold had heard was a stickler for regulations back when he served.

"We're all in the same boat now, aren't we?"

"I was under the impression we wouldn't be raising troops."

"Of course not."

The Marquis Reichnek nearly jumped.

"But you can never tell how things will go. You'll be staying close to Grisha from here on out, won't you?"

"Yes."

"Grisha will come to you for military advice."

"So that's why—"

"And we have to plan for it in case things go wrong."

"..."

The north cared who ended up on the throne, but not how they got there. If backing from what was effectively the kingdom's only army wasn't enough, just how badly would things have to fall apart?

Harold understood what they were worried about. Presumably the same reason Adelheid was at the Reichnek domain instead of the capital.

"Truly, at the very end of the very end — no troops."

The Marquis Reichnek said it looking Harold in the face. Claudia nodded beside him. Father and daughter, they didn't share a single feature, but the unshakable steel in their eyes was identical enough that you couldn't tell them apart.

"Grisha has the legitimacy."

Claudia said quietly.

"Raise troops, and that legitimacy is tainted. That can never happen."

"..."

Harold sighed.

"There's one thing I'd like to ask that might be out of place. Is that all right?"

"Ask away."

He'd had no reason to think about it before and had let it go, but with the question of succession coming up again and again, Harold couldn't help turning his mind to it now.

Anyone who had ever seen Waldemar Alharn couldn't deny who Grisha's father was. Ryan's undisguised affection only made it more obvious.

But royal blood and legitimacy were separate things. The two didn't necessarily travel together. He couldn't ask Grisha, so Harold asked Claudia.

"I hate to ask, but — the late king passed away before the wedding, didn't he?"

A child born without a marriage was illegitimate. Never a rightful heir to the throne.