Chapter 130

"Hi. The kids doing all right?"

The moment she saw Harold, Anne Archibald asked first about his nephews.

"Yeah. Looks like they've taken a liking to Reichnek territory……"

Harold stopped mid-sentence.

It hadn't really been long. Set against how often they'd seen each other since he'd gotten to the capital that winter, the few days he'd been away in Reichnek territory hardly counted — half a day at best.

And yet — something…… something? Anne's air had changed. Harold could feel that something was off without being able to place it, and eyed her narrowly.

"Wh-what?"

Having made the trek out to the Bertholdt manor at Harold's request only to end up on the receiving end of a pointed glare, Anne shifted back on her feet, flustered. She even sank into a half-crouch, ready to bolt if it came to it.

"Mm……"

"What is it! Did any of my people slip up? I checked here yesterday too. No sign anyone got in, and — dust, well, dust we can't help. You know we don't cover the actual upkeep, right?"

Anne, uneasy, ran her eyes over the interior as she spoke. After the Dustin Glenn business, she couldn't afford any more slip-ups; Bertholdt manor was being kept at the highest security tier.

Since it was next door, Anne naturally stopped by often on her way to and from work to check on the place. After Harold had left the capital she'd been even more attentive to it.

But if it was that monster of a man, he might pick up on something most people would miss.

"Which is exactly why I told you to have the manor put in order before it gets any hotter. If you're not going to use the manor itself, at least the garden——"

"No. That's not what I meant."

Harold cut her off.

"You……"

"Yes?"

"Something's different about you, isn't it?"

"About me?"

"Something…… something's off."

Anne cocked her head.

Harold studied her closely. The city watch uniform, the medal on her chest — nothing obviously changed……. Right. There was a decorative sword at her waist. That was new.

Not the flashy sort, but the delicately worked scabbard stood out sharply against the trim uniform. At Anne's rank she was allowed a personal sidearm within regulation, but Anne carried standard city watch issue.

No — even setting the sword aside, something in the way she carried herself was different.

"Ah."

Following Harold's gaze, Anne touched the sword, recognition dawning on her face.

"I got put on a new assignment recently. That's probably it."

"New assignment?"

"I've been going in and out of the Winter Palace, so I have to look the part."

Harold scowled openly.

The Winter Palace was Second Prince Gerald's residence right now. Not the household guard — the city watch had no business being in and out of that palace.

"Did you know the Second Prince's fiancée had come to the capital?"

"……What does that have to do with you?"

Before he'd left Reichnek territory, Claudia had mentioned Gerald's fiancée. It came back to him now.

He'd half-forgotten, honestly. Claudia was right that a little caution never hurt, but the woman had been living abroad. Whatever kind of person she might be, watching a young woman with no power and no connections to speak of was more attention than he could spare.

"Oh — you already knew she was coming?"

"Yeah."

It wasn't the kindest thing to say of the fiancée, but Ryan Adler had gone to considerable lengths to line his son up with a woman from the humblest family he could find. Nobody said it that plainly, but Harold wasn't so thick as to miss it. Her only relative in the kingdom was Queen Gloria, a distant one at that, and given Gloria was herself the daughter of a poor country noble house, the fiancée had probably lived all but a commoner's life.

Privately, he did feel a little sorry for her. If she hadn't been made a prince's fiancée she could have gone on with her days without ever getting tangled up in any of this.

And there was no guarantee the engagement would lead to a marriage. Harold put the odds of that vanishingly low.

"Isn't the Second Prince delivering the invocation this year? No fiancée at all, like Carlisle — that'd be one thing. Having one who doesn't show up is a problem."

"Marquis Roys, I take it?"

"……The Duchess Lambert, actually."

Anne snickered at him.

Her amusement didn't last. She gave a shrug.

"Right now there aren't many noble daughters her own age in the capital who'd make good company for the prince's fiancée."

"You're not exactly her age either, are you?"

"I'm not there to keep her company."

Anne shifted her hip slightly to show off the sword.

"Guarding."

"What about the household guard?"

"There was that whole uproar right before, remember. The First Prince's confinement caught the household guard in the fallout too."

"Even so, it lands on the city watch?"

"Also, right now the household guard doesn't have any female knight who'd be… let me put it simply, of the right standing to be assigned to a prince's fiancée."

Anne pointed at the medal on her chest.

"I'm not household guard, but I've got the medal, and I'm young enough that being seen alongside the fiancée doesn't look strange."

"……Because you're a Count?"

"That's part of it."

"Bothersome."

"It's royal-family business. His Majesty is conservative on things like that."

Given Ryan Adler's own origins, it was contradictory to the point of comedy.

But that was tied to Ryan's desperate effort to keep up the kingdom's appearances for his nephew's sake. It cut against what Grisha wanted, but on that point Ryan gave no ground.

"So the fiancée is staying at the Winter Palace right now?"

"Yep."

"What kind of person?"

"Reconnaissance?"

"Something like that."

She knew the whole situation, so Harold made no secret of the reason.

Even if Anne didn't tell him, the capital would already be buzzing with rumor. There weren't many noble women her age around, but there were some.

"Well. Kind of a similar feel to Prince Gerald?"

"……In a good way, or a bad way?"

"Mm."

Anne paused a beat before saying:

"Good. Well, you could argue bad, but honestly, for a prince's fiancée she's just too……"

"Too?"

"Unpretentious, I guess. On the first day of guard duty I watched her climb a tree in a dress and nearly lost it."

Blindsided, Harold couldn't find a reply and shut his mouth. Anne's face turned abruptly weary and she heaved sigh after sigh.

Only after her explanation could he put a finger on what had been off about her. It wasn't only the ornamental sword — even her clothes were subtly nicer than usual. Even her hair, which she usually left alone as long as it didn't get in her way, was neatly done.

"When I asked her what on earth she'd been doing, she said there was a fruit she'd never seen before. I told her that if she was curious she could ask a servant, and she said she hadn't wanted to disturb them."

"……"

"She's got more spine than the Second Prince, at least. Personally I think the Second Prince——"

Anne hesitated, but she came out with it.

"——if he'd been the second son of Marquis Adler's house, this would've been a happy engagement."

"……That's a dangerous thing to say."

"I know. That's why I'm only saying it to you."

Anne smiled ruefully.

It wasn't exactly kind praise, but the impression she gave was less that she disliked the fiancée and more that she pitied her.

Like it or not, Anne knew the royal family's circumstances as well as anyone; the sentiment tracked. Harold immediately caught himself thinking the same thing.

Of course, that was one thing and this was another. He hadn't even met the woman. If there was anyone to blame it was the King. If he wasn't going to marry Carlisle off, he shouldn't have engaged Gerald either.

Though the man had nothing in his head but handing the throne to Grisha.

"For you to be talking like that, sounds like you're pretty taken with her."

"Won't deny it. But more than that——"

"Feel sorry for her?"

"That'd be a bit rude to her……"

He swallowed the observation that she'd already had plenty of rude thoughts as it was.

"Frustrated with her?"

Anne screwed up her face:

"I know she's not a child, but looking at that dopey face, I catch myself thinking, now what am I supposed to do."

"How old is she?"

"Two years younger than the Second Prince."

So she was past twenty.

Seeing Anne fret this hard over someone well past adulthood was rare. She must have caught how amused Harold was, because she gave the innocent floor a kick.

"Never mind. Once you meet her, you'll get what I mean. You'll get the chance, right?"

"I have to go into the palace before Founding Day."

More precisely, it was about Grisha's security. Harold himself had almost never been inside the royal palace. Trailing after Grisha to check the palace's defenses ahead of time would serve him well.

Palace security was the royal guard's jurisdiction, so he could always ask Wilhelm, but that wasn't the same as seeing it with his own eyes.

"All right…… be nice to her."

"You think I'd give her a hard time?"

"To a stranger, you look pretty rough yourself, you know. Ugh, honestly! Maybe it's just that Lady Peres looks so young. Do you think this is what Cecilia felt the first time she saw me?"

"How would I know……"

"Let's change the subject. So — what are we doing with the place?"

Realizing she was only sinking deeper the longer she talked, Anne cut to the point.

The Second Prince's fiancée wasn't particularly important. Not if she didn't even realize the kind of board she'd been shoved onto.

If she was the naive country girl Anne described, going home never knowing any of it would be best for her. Nobody could say how things would go from here.

But at the very least, what happened with this manor was Harold's call.

"For now, we'll get the place in order like you said. I was going to bring people up from the old manor, but that's off the table for the moment……"

"Really?"

That Harold had gone down to the Bertholdt domain and back hadn't been made public. Official word wouldn't reach the capital for some time yet.

He'd get an earful from Anne later — why hadn't he told her — but there was no help for it.

"The old manor's steward is in the capital on domain business, so for now he'll take on the running of this place alongside his other duties. I'll introduce him later."

"What do you want us to do with the city watch?"

"Only until the cleanup's done, if that's all right? Doesn't look like anyone's going to be breaking in anymore, but……. Ah, and one more thing — someone from the northern base may be staying with us for a while."

"Northern base? That sergeant?"

"You've met him, right?"

"Yeah. The Doak family's third. But he's got quarters, doesn't he — why would he stay at your place?"

"He's on watch."

"Harold……"

Anne let out a sigh.

"Just how long have you been slacking at the northern base?"

"What are you talking about? I'm the one on watch. The commander asked me to keep the sergeant from doing anything reckless."

"……Ah. Sorry. From the look of you day to day, I figured it was the other way around."

Anne gave a sheepish laugh. Harold glared at her a moment before shaking his head.

"Apparently he hasn't fully accepted his sister's death yet. I haven't seen him myself — haven't been back in the capital long."

"Mm…… have you told the boys?"

Anne, who knew Edgar and Edwin, asked right away.

"Which is why it isn't final yet. I have to get the boys' say-so. Just — know that it might happen."

"Got it."

The Bertholdt manor was quiet. Nobody had laid hands on it in months. Harold looked out at the dust-covered corridor for a while before he spoke again.

"So — how's the investigation coming along?"