Chapter 14

"Hello, young masters."

"..."

"...Hello."

The sight of the twins, one clinging to each of Harold's legs, was cute enough to draw a smile on its own.

Günter dropped to one knee to meet the children at eye level. They were already small for their age, and hanging on to an uncle a head taller than most grown men made them look smaller still.

No wonder even the perpetually easygoing Harold Bertholdt fretted every time he talked about his nephews.

"My name is Günter Bleiss, young masters. I'm caretaker of the old Bertholdt manor."

Young Edgar and Edwin looked, by anyone's judgment, like Albrecht's children. To someone who'd known Albrecht Bertholdt as a boy, the resemblance was strong enough to make you rub your eyes.

Maybe because their uncle was right there, Edgar and Edwin weren't spooked by the unfamiliar adult. But they weren't quite ready to drop their guard, either, and neither returned the greeting with any warmth.

Günter wasn't disappointed. If anything, he'd have worried if they hadn't been wary.

"I don't know if you'll remember. I said hello when you both visited the estate as very small children."

The twins tilted their heads in unison.

It had been before the Countess went missing. Natural enough that they wouldn't remember.

"...Nabi?"

But one of the pair had gone wide-eyed. Günter gave a faint smile and picked up on it.

"You remember Nabi?"

"I gave him his name! He was a little puppy!"

"Edwin!"

The one who'd been hiding behind his uncle got excited and popped out in front. The other grabbed at his brother, but couldn't hold him back.

Seeing them like this, what Harold had been saying made sense. Identical faces — but the personalities were plainly different.

"He's this big now."

"Really?"

"Of course. I told you back then he'd grow much bigger than you, didn't I?"

At that, Edwin yanked on his uncle's clothes.

"Uncle, Uncle. Do you know Nabi?"

"Nabi?"

"A sheepdog. The young masters were very fond of him."

Harold nodded at Günter's explanation, catching up.

Wide pastures stretched around the old Bertholdt manor. Albrecht, who lived mainly in the capital, had granted the nearby tenants permission to use the pastureland. The old manor ran a herd of its own, too, and sheepdogs were familiar enough to Harold.

"Cute name. You gave it to him, Edwin?"

"Yeah."

Edwin answered with a mischievous look.

"Nicola wanted to give him a different name, but Nabi was perfect! Even if he was going to grow really big later, as a baby he looked just like a kitten!"

What looking like a cat had to do with a name meaning butterfly, Harold couldn't say, but if Edwin said so, Harold went along with it.

It was one of the things he'd learned looking after his nephews. Kids' logic wasn't logical at all, so you didn't argue.

Once he'd wrung enough agreement out of his uncle, Edwin turned on a new target. Grinning, he grabbed Edgar's arm and shook it back and forth.

"Edgar, don't you remember?"

"Ummm..."

Edgar's face pinched into a frown. Edwin cackled.

"You said you wanted to follow Nicola around and Mom scolded you! You're pretending not to remember because you're embarrassed, right?"

"What? No I'm not!"

"Come on. I know. You sulked that Nicola let me name him and wouldn't let you."

"I did not sulk!"

"Every time I went, I kept calling him Nabi. He wouldn't respond to anything else, so Nicola ended up having to call him Nabi too."

Forgetting he was even talking to Günter, Edwin was busy teasing Edgar. The reserved child from moments ago was nowhere to be seen.

Günter watched the lively twins with quiet satisfaction. How shaken he'd been when Mattheus had told him what had happened in the capital!

He'd heard both young masters were healthy and that Harold was looking after them well, but the heart being what it is, the knot in his chest hadn't loosened until he saw them with his own eyes.

Thinking Harold must be feeling the same, Günter had looked up — and swallowed hard without meaning to.

The face that only moments ago had been laughing along with Edwin had gone frighteningly hard.

Harold met Günter's eyes and gave an awkward smile with lips that trembled at the corners.

It was less a smile than the look of a man about to smash something, but when Harold jerked his chin toward the door, Günter gave a small nod.

Whatever it was, it wasn't something to discuss in front of the children.

"Nabi will remember you both, too."

"Really?"

"Of course. Sheepdogs are terribly clever. Come see him when the weather warms."

He'd heard why Edgar and Edwin didn't want to go down to the country estate.

But the Bertholdt domain was where they'd been born. Whatever else was true, Günter couldn't bear the thought of the estate losing them.

"Mm."

Edwin hesitated a moment. But before Edgar could say anything from beside him, he called out quickly.

"Okay! We'll go sometime!"

---

"If it wouldn't be too much, what about getting a puppy for them later on?"

Once only the adults were left, Günter put it to Harold.

"The young masters clearly love animals... and I've heard it helps. They've been through a great deal."

"Might be a good idea..."

Harold nodded at Günter's suggestion.

Edwin, who'd been chattering nonstop about Nabi, was one thing, but Edgar seemed to have a soft spot for anything with fluffy fur too. The stuffed bear Harold had put in his arms back at the Bertholdt estate still turned up in Edgar's grip often enough.

"So — how long do you intend to stay at the Archibald estate?"

"I said yesterday..."

"I know you're busy, sir, and I've heard you're arranging a new place. But continuing to impose on the Archibald estate isn't going to be good for the young masters."

Günter said it without holding back or minding Harold's mood.

"It's not good for them to be indoors all the time either. It's no fault of Count Archibald's, but there are no children in the Archibald household, and it isn't well suited to the young masters."

"I know. I know."

Anne had even offered to rearrange parts of the house for the boys' sake. Harold had turned her down. He didn't want to impose on Anne any more than he already was.

The real reason things had dragged on was that the reply he'd been counting on to come first — before all the others — still hadn't arrived.

"I've at least filled one of the rooms with the boys' things. Brought over what they needed from home. When the weather holds, they play in the garden."

Günter still looked unsatisfied but didn't press further at Harold's explanation. Harold wasn't happy with the situation either.

He'd decided that if no reply came by the end of the week, he'd go in person.

"More to the point."

Harold's face changed.

The reckless boy who used to squirm through scoldings for breaking one piece of furniture after another had become the iron knight who trailed rumors like a storm behind him.

Despite the tangled state of things around the Bertholdts, Günter watched him with a kind of quiet awe. Watching, with his own eyes and not through rumor, how the boy he'd all but raised had grown up — that was something else entirely.

"That Nicola Edwin mentioned when he was talking about the puppy."

That said, Günter hadn't forgotten his own job either.

He'd noted when the look in Harold's eye had shifted. He answered the name Nicola without any sign of surprise.

"Honestly, I can't say for certain."

Harold blinked.

"You can't say?"

"He's likely one of the shepherds who rented pasture from us. Whenever the young masters came down to the estate, they walked the pastures often. I imagine he's someone they got friendly with then."

"But he let him name the puppy, didn't you say?"

"When the Countess found out Master Edwin had named him, she gave us one of our own sheepdogs in exchange and had the puppy brought home..."

Harold pressed a hand to his forehead but got the gist. He himself had childhood memories of running through the pastures.

His brother, maybe not, but his sister-in-law would have encouraged the children playing outdoors.

Harold steadied himself and asked again.

"You wouldn't have let them go out alone, would you? And there'd be a register of who rented the pasture, right?"

"Shall I check? It'll take a little time to get word to the estate, but we can confirm whether there's a shepherd by the name of Nicola."

Without a surname, it could simply be someone with the same first name. Nicola was common enough. There was no telling whether this shepherd was the "Nicola Rowell" from the report in his brother's coat.

But turning up this close to home?

Adrien Renard had been his brother's butler in the first place. The butler — the man closest at hand of all.

Harold clicked his tongue.

He'd misjudged. Keeping those three names from Mattheus and Günter out of concern for their safety had been the wrong call. Günter didn't recognize the shepherd Nicola, but the other names might be a different story.

If the rest of them were as close by as Adrien Renard and Nicola...

Better to know and be ready.

"Find out if that shepherd is Nicola Rowell. Even if he isn't — just in case — look into him."

Viscount Gauss Manfred was at Intelligence. Even if Günter turned up nothing, running it through Intelligence too would make things certain.

"If you can, handle it yourself, Günter... or use only people you truly trust. The fewer who know, the better."

"Understood, sir."

Günter caught on quickly.

He didn't ask anything more after Harold spoke. He'd have his own guess about what was going on without needing to ask.

"Aside from him — have you ever heard of a Gordon Devlin or a Dustin Glenn?"

Günter frowned.

"No... those aren't names I recognize."

It wasn't going to be quite that easy.

Before Harold could add anything, Günter spoke up quickly.

"I'll look into those as well. If I don't recognize them, they likely aren't in the papers I brought."

"Probably not. When you get back to the office later, pass the names to Mattheus too."

Harold scrubbed a hand hard through his hair.

He was going to have to think things through more carefully from here on. When he'd been on his own, he could do as he pleased, but not anymore. He didn't know how a single slip might come back around.

"The names may turn up in the papers coming up to the capital later."

"The watch and Intelligence will help with that."

Something struck Harold and he thought to check.

"It's all right for them to see the documents, isn't it?"

"Yes."

Günter smiled.

"And sir. If you're staying in the capital, what about the other staff? Shall I have them sent up from the country estate? Or —"

"That —"

Knock, knock.

"Lord Bertholdt. A letter has arrived."

The knock cut Harold off. The servant on the other side of the drawing room door spoke politely.

"It's from House Lambert."