Chapter 16

Bringing up the move, Harold had been genuinely nervous.

If he'd been living alone he'd have done whatever he pleased, but not this time. He had nephews who, when he'd said they were going to the country estate, had given the grown-ups the slip and snuck out of the house.

The Bertholdt estate wasn't somewhere they could stay for the time being, on account of the investigation. Well — if the head of the house insisted on living there, no one could really stop him, but Harold didn't want to. The boys aside, Harold wasn't ready to live in that house without his brother.

It's not far. We can look after it from here.

They could always come back later.

If the boys said they wanted to stay at the Bertholdt estate, he was prepared to go along with it.

But Adrien Renard had spent years as butler and would know the Bertholdt estate inside and out. There were security concerns as well, and Harold hoped the boys would agree to a new house.

"Sounds good."

To Harold's surprise, Edgar and Edwin nodded easily.

"You're... sure?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"You — you're okay with not living at the Bertholdt estate? We can go back there, you know."

They'd agreed so readily that it was Harold who was thrown.

"A new house sounds fun."

"Can we get a puppy?"

"Uncle, buy me a book."

"Edgar says he wants to study a foreign language!"

"Edwin's curious about magic."

The twins sat on the sofa swinging their feet and chattering. Harold listened to their requests in a daze.

"Edgar likes stuffed animals, so we should have lots of them."

"Edwin — I don't like stuffed animals!"

"Then what's that?"

"This is, this is..."

Edgar hugged the bear tighter, seething.

Unable to come up with a comeback for his twin, Edgar tugged at Harold's clothes instead.

"...Um, Uncle. I don't want lots of people around."

Edgar mumbled with half his face buried in the bear. His face was flushed as if he might burst into tears at any moment.

Flustered, Harold scooped him up.

"Mm, sure. Just Uncle and Edwin, then?"

"..."

Edgar didn't say anything and tightened his grip on the bear. After a moment, the face buried in the bear nodded.

Anger toward the men who had run wild through the Bertholdt estate surged up again. He couldn't begin to imagine how frightened the boys, shut in that cold room, must have been at all the racket outside.

The men who had entered the estate had all been caught, but the anger wasn't going to fade. He'd stayed out of the investigation for the boys' sake, but it hit him now that surely he could have at least been there for the arrests.

He could have "accidentally" broken a few things in the process...

"Uncle."

Harold came back to himself at the weight on his trouser leg.

Edwin was stretching both arms up toward him.

"Hug me too."

His anger scattered in an instant.

Harold laughed apologetically and hoisted Edwin up too. Edwin burst into giggles.

Unlike Edgar, who settled quietly in his arms, Edwin squirmed around looking for a position he liked. Harold panicked, worried he'd drop him.

Edwin laughed happily against Harold's shoulder. Harold sighed at the laughter coming from the top of his head and adjusted his grip on Edgar.

"Edwin. Hold on to Uncle's head tight so you don't fall."

"Okay!"

"Now duck down so you don't bump into the door."

Edwin laughed and wrapped both hands around Harold's head. Harold used his free hand to support the child riding on his shoulders so he wouldn't tip backward.

Bending low so Edwin wouldn't hit the doorframe, Harold carefully passed through the doorway. The staff of the Archibald estate went wide-eyed at the sight, and he gave them an awkward smile.

Small laughter followed him. The image of Lord Bertholdt with young nephews clinging to him wasn't unusual in this house anymore, but it never stopped drawing smiles.

"Uncle, where are we going?"

"To look at a house."

"The new house? Already?"

"Let's go see if you like it."

Edgar, tucked in the crook of Harold's right arm, blinked up at his uncle.

"What if we don't?"

"Then we'll find a different one!"

Harold said it simply, as if it were nothing at all.

---

It was a neatly kept two-story house.

Set beside the Bertholdt or Archibald estates — the kind of houses the capital's nobility kept — it was small enough to look almost shabby. Even Lily Manor, where Albrecht Bertholdt's body was being kept, was small next to other estates, and this house was more modest still.

The woods spread out around it, though, were another matter.

Similar to the woods around Lily Manor. They had to be. It was the same forest.

If Lily Manor sat in the middle of the King's Woods, this house was on its outskirts.

"Uncle..."

Edgar and Edwin lingered in the carriage, calling out to Harold hesitantly.

"We're going to live here?"

"Do you like it? We're not moving right away. It's not quite ready yet."

"Are we allowed to live here?"

They were still small children, but they'd clearly been taught something. That there were only a handful of houses inside the King's Woods was common knowledge for anyone living in the capital.

His brother would have paid attention to the boys' education. When Harold had been their age, he'd been running around like a wild animal, lessons or no. Being his brother's children must have made the difference.

Harold smiled proudly. He remembered what Edwin had said earlier — Edgar wanted to study a foreign language. His brother's children really were different.

"Shall we go in?"

Harold said cheerfully, entirely missing the doubtful looks on his nephews' faces.

"Is it — is it okay to go in?"

Edgar asked, gripping the bear.

They were even polite about it. Harold lifted Edgar down from the carriage. Edgar clung to the carriage hesitantly, but Harold went on to lift Edwin down too, so it did him no good.

"Come on now, this way."

Harold walked briskly to the front gate. Ivy climbed the gate, but it opened smoothly.

Every road into the King's Woods was under heavy guard. Given how close it was to the palace, and that the retreats there were used only by the royal family, that was to be expected.

Any stranger got turned back at the gate, and even inside, interference would be hard. It was the best security Harold could hope for in the capital. However much he wanted to, he couldn't stay by his nephews' side around the clock.

"Edgar? Edwin?"

Harold looked back.

The boys had stopped near the front gate, unable to take another step. Edgar, more specifically.

Edgar had caught Edwin by the clothes as he tried to dart forward. Edwin looked back and forth between his brother and his uncle, at a loss.

"This — this place is that place."

His brother must have been more serious about the boys' education than Harold had realized.

"I was told we can't just come in here..."

"Mm. Fair enough."

As he had leaving the Archibald estate, Harold gathered his nephews into his arms again. Edgar and Edwin settled easily into his hold.

"The person who owns this place is a friend of your uncle's."

"...A friend?"

"That's right. My friend said it was all right for us to live here."

"You're actually friends with the Duke of Lambert?"

"I know the Duke, but my friend is Marquis Roys. Ah — you probably don't recognize the name."

Harold opened the front door with the key that had come with the reply to his letter.

"Grisha and I went to school together."

Grisha Lambert. The Duke of Lambert's eldest son. And, of course, the Duke's heir.

There were three houses in total in the King's Woods. Originally all three had been used by the royal family, but a little over a decade ago the easternmost had been granted to House Lambert.

Its owner, Grisha Lambert, wasn't fond of the place.

"When I asked to borrow it, he said use it however I like."

Even so, since it had been a gift from the king he couldn't leave it to rot, and the small house was in fine shape. Winter was ending and the newly warm sunlight poured in through the windows. The floorboards, kept spotlessly clean, didn't creak. There were no stains on the wallpaper, no smell of mildew.

A few trustworthy people to watch the boys when Harold was away, and it would be perfect. Asking the country estate to send someone, or bringing over people who had originally worked at the Bertholdt estate, would do fine...

"You're really that close?"

Edgar asked again, apparently unable to believe his uncle was on those terms with the Duke's heir.

"Close enough to be lent this place?"

"When I was at the academy I came here to hang out a lot. Not skipping of course, just after class..."

Harold cleared his throat. He had enough sense not to brag to his nephew about being the kind of student who never paid attention in class.

Edgar, mouth slightly open, took in the house as if in a trance. Harold couldn't picture his brother dragging the boys to social gatherings, but he had been Director of Intelligence... maybe the boys had crossed paths with Grisha Lambert at some point.

Even Harold couldn't call his friend warm. To the children he must have come across as a distant, difficult adult. Enough that finding out Uncle was his friend came as this much of a shock.

"So — what do you think?"

"What do we... think..."

Edgar's mouth opened and closed a few times before he gave up.

Edwin, meanwhile, wriggled his way down out of Harold's arms.

"Edwin!"

"Uncle, can I go upstairs?"

"Careful going up."

Edwin took off through the house, delighted. Harold went up the stairs after him.

In the brief moment Harold had let him out of sight, Edwin had opened every door on the second floor and gone poking around.

"Uncle! Uncle! Uncle!"

Edwin's voice came from one of the rooms lining the hallway.

The tone was urgent, but with laughter in it. Watching Edgar's face as he went, Harold followed after Edwin. Edgar's eyes were round as he took in the house. He didn't seem to dislike it, and Harold felt a quiet relief.

He'd said they'd find somewhere else if the boys didn't like it, but finding a place that met his security needs would be hard. As a last resort he'd been prepared to stay on at Anne's.

"Edwin? What is it?"

"Can this be my room?!"

Edwin turned to Harold, flushed with excitement.

Harold looked at the room Edwin had picked. There was nothing particularly special about it, apart from a large window with a clear view of the garden and the front gate. Edwin, though, seemed taken with that window — he was pressed right up against it, staring outside.

"So you're okay with living here?"

"Yes! Can we get a puppy?"

"Sure. Should we bring that Nabi puppy up? Edwin, you named him, right?"

"Really? Nabi can come here?"

"Of course."

At Harold's answer, Edwin broke into a smile as bright as the sunlight streaming in.

"..."

"Edgar. Do you like it here?"

Harold was looking after two nephews. Edgar's opinion mattered just as much as Edwin's.

Edgar squeezed the bear tightly. Worried Edgar might say he liked it just because Edwin did, Harold watched him carefully.

Whatever the debate had been, Edgar settled it and nodded.

"If I can pick my room too."

"Of course you can."

The moment Harold set him down, Edgar took off down the hallway.

Chasing the light patter of small footsteps, Harold shook his head and laughed.