Chapter 58

Edgar looked at Harold.

He couldn't tell what his uncle's face was doing. He wanted to ask why his uncle would say something like that, what was happening — but all that came out was shallow breath.

Whatever he read there, Edgar's uncle broke into a smile. A cautious smile, the kind you'd wear handling a piece of blown glass that might shatter at a touch. Back when they'd first met in that dark, unheated playroom, this had been a man who only pulled up an awkward corner of his mouth. When had he started smiling like that?

The same as the uncle in his memories. Of course. He was his uncle. Edgar just didn't want him to die...

"But no games. I'm telling you because I trust you, Edgar."

Edgar steadied himself.

The royal guard patrolled King's Woods. If something happened here bad enough that they'd need to run, that was a different kind of problem entirely.

Edgar forced his voice out.

"...Okay."

"So..."

Harold glanced up at the ceiling and gave a wry smile.

"All right, let's head up. If Linda's looking for me, there must be something going on."

Harold held out his hand. Edgar, about to fall into it out of habit, shook his head. Instead he took his uncle's hand the way he had coming down the stairs.

It wasn't that he minded being carried. He just felt he needed to be a little sharper. All this time he'd been grumbling about how hard it was to live as a small child, but wasn't he the one who'd been settling comfortably into that reality?

"Hey, Uncle."

"Hm?"

"Where does that lead?"

Well.

Not that he was asking with any personal use in mind. If it was for emergencies, he should still know.

"You know there's a small lake in King's Woods?"

"A lake?"

"The stream we went to see together last weekend?"

It was a waterway that had been put in to maintain the forest. Edgar nodded.

"There's a lake downstream. Small, but a lake all the same. We'll all go see it sometime."

"So it leads to that lake?"

"Right. The royal guard barracks are over there. You know the royal guard?"

"Of course I do!"

Edgar was a little disappointed but reset his thinking.

If it came out where the royal guard barracks were, it wasn't far from the edge of the woods. Plenty enough...

Not that he — grown, not a child — planned on running off on his own.

Still, knowing didn't hurt. There was no telling what life would throw at you — Edgar himself had, in an instant, been thrown back into the past.

"Sir Harold!"

The moment they came out of the basement, Linda's voice rang out.

"What's the matter?"

Harold and Edgar went up to the second floor. Linda sighed.

Linda pointed at the ceiling. Harold's shoulders shook with laughter. Linda's face, by contrast, twisted.

"Do you think I don't know it was you who put him up to it, Sir Harold? Get your nephew down from there, at once!"

"How on earth did he get up?"

"You'd better ask him yourself!"

Edgar couldn't work out what the two of them were talking about, and tilted his head.

When Linda saw Edgar, her face softened a little. Less angry than worried, maybe...

"His clothes are caught on a nail and he can't get down."

"Ah."

"Uncle, I'm fine! I can come down. Wait, hold on a second..."

Only when Edwin's voice came from the ceiling did Edgar figure out what had happened.

Edwin had climbed up into the ceiling looking for a secret passage!

"..."

There was a rustling sound from up there.

A moment later, Edwin said, in a small voice,

"...Don't tell Edgar."

Harold looked at Edgar.

Edgar sighed.

Harold laughed.

"I'm coming up. Stay right where you are."

"Okay..."

There was no way up to the space Edwin had gotten into. Edwin had climbed onto the wardrobe in his uncle's room, pried apart a gap in the ceiling panels, and squeezed through. All that energy and drive, and none of it applied to anything useful.

After hearing Edwin's explanation and checking the gap, Linda shot Harold a fierce look. Once Edwin was safely out, Edgar was sure his uncle was going to catch it from Linda.

If it hadn't been for the secret passage, Edwin would never have gone up into the ceiling in the first place.

"I can't do it from this side. I'd have to break the ceiling, and—."

"Even Sir Harold can't get away with wrecking this house."

"I know that much..."

Harold scratched his head.

"I'll go in from above. Please keep an eye on Edwin."

"Understood, Sir Harold."

Edgar hadn't even opened his mouth to say anything when Harold threw the window open. In an instant he was gone from Edgar's sight.

Edgar rushed to the window in a panic. He looked down, thinking his uncle might have fallen, but there was nothing there.

"Edgar."

Harold's voice came from above. Edgar looked up.

"Go inside and stay with Linda."

Harold was clinging to the wall. As Edgar watched, he pulled himself easily up onto the roof and gave his nephew a light wave.

Edgar held his breath and listened. His uncle had definitely gone up on the roof, but there wasn't a sound. Surely there should have been at least a clatter of tiles.

"Master Edgar. Come inside."

"...Is there a way in from the roof?"

"There used to be an attic. It's been sealed off from inside, but there's still a window that opens on the roof side."

Linda checked the gap Edwin had gone through again.

"Once Master Edwin is out, we'll need to get this repaired..."

Then she pressed the point with Edgar.

"If you find somewhere like this, never go in — tell me or your uncle. All right?"

"Yes..."

Edgar answered obediently and watched Linda.

Suspicious of her or not, he didn't have any open hostility toward her. It was only that, as long as she was one of House Lambert's people, he trusted she wouldn't do anything foolish enough to shame the name.

After the academy, Edgar had gone back to the domain. As promised, the Duke of Lambert hadn't tried to hold him. Well — he had asked whether Edgar might stay in the capital. Edgar had turned it down.

Whatever the Duke of Lambert had wanted him to become, Edgar had refused to be a piece on a complicated political board.

"Master Edgar."

Still, Linda being here... meant his uncle was tied to the Duke of Lambert one way or another. As a friend, the way the Duke had said?

Even if that was what his uncle believed, the Duke of Lambert might have had different plans of his own.

"Master Edgar."

"Yes?"

"Is there something you wanted to say to me?"

Edgar looked at Linda.

There was plenty he wanted to say. Why are you here, what do you want from my uncle, what is Grisha Lambert planning...

But of all those questions, Edgar didn't let a single one out.

"No. Nothing."

"Really?"

"Yes."

Linda held Edgar's gaze steadily.

Edgar lifted his chin firmly. There was nothing to shrink from. Getting Linda out of the house would be easy. Just run to his uncle and whisper that he'd thought about it and it really would be nicer with just family — that would settle it.

Even if his uncle was clumsy with children, it wasn't unbearable. People made it work either way. Edgar had never lived with his uncle like this himself, so they'd all learn together.

But if he'd meant to live like that, when his uncle had gone on about travel he would have jumped at it. There was nothing to call home anyway. Neither the domain nor the house in the capital had made a strong enough impression on him to feel attached to.

As long as his uncle and Edwin were there, anywhere could be Edgar's home.

But Edgar still wanted to find out.

Why his uncle had died.

Who had killed him.

Because he wanted to find them and take his revenge.

"...Very well."

Linda was the one who backed off first.

Linda looked at Edgar with something unreadable in her eyes. Edgar still didn't look away.

Linda opened her mouth as if to add something, then only shook her head. Only then did Edgar relax and follow her.

"Master Edwin?"

"Yes?"

"Your uncle is coming for you. Wait a little longer."

Linda spoke gently, to keep Edwin calm.

To Edgar's ear, Edwin's voice was practically brimming with mischief, but — well. If a little kid was stuck in a ceiling, worrying was fair enough.

Soon there was a bustle of noise above them, and Edwin called out brightly,

"Uncle!"

A moment later, Harold spoke.

"I've got him. I'll bring him down."

"Uncle, how did you get up?"

"Edwin, honestly..."

Their voices trailed off. Linda sighed and headed back into Harold's room.

Harold came back into the room as fast as he'd gone out. The difference was that he now had a filthy child tucked under his arm.

"Idiot."

"Ah, what?! You said Edgar wasn't there, Uncle!"

"He never said that, you idiot."

"Edgar, don't talk to your brother like that."

"Who climbs into a pit of dust because they're bored?"

Edwin was covered head to toe in dust. His black hair looked gray. His shirt was ripped in a long tear too.

Edwin flailed his arms, but they didn't reach Edgar. Edgar snorted.

"I wasn't bored!"

"All right, no fighting."

When Harold set Edwin down on the floor, Linda looked like she was one breath away from shouting, but she asked the most important question first.

"Master Edwin. Are you hurt anywhere?"

"No! I'm fine!"

Edwin bounced up and down as he answered Linda, and each bounce left an Edwin-footprint-shaped stain on the carpet. Harold, startled, picked him back up. Every time Edwin squirmed, dust rained down.

"...To the bathroom."

Edwin, who usually made a fuss about bath time, was meek this time.

"Sir Harold... those shoes, we'll write off as a loss."

"Right."

Harold gave an awkward smile. He'd only gone up to fetch Edwin, and now he was covered in dust too. Not to Edwin's degree, but a mess all the same.

Harold obediently slipped off his shoes, and — barefoot — carried Edwin off to the bathroom.

Linda glared at the stains on the carpet with a look that said she'd set the whole thing on fire if she could. Then, apparently remembering Edgar was still in the room, she asked in a softened tone,

"Would you like some cookies, Master Edgar?"

Edgar shook his head.

"I'll wait until Uncle and Edwin are out of the bath, and eat with them!"

---

Whether the unexpected commotion had worn him out, Edwin took a nap. Edgar, full of milk and cookies, looked as though he was reading a book beside him at first — but when Harold checked on them again he'd fallen asleep against Edwin.

Harold slipped the book out from under Edgar's arm and pulled the covers over him. Edgar whimpered a little and pressed close against Edwin.

While the children rested, the adults had work to do. Harold checked the gap in the ceiling Edwin had climbed through again. It was a natural gap that had opened up over time, and it would be easy enough to seal.

Click.

"Sir Harold."

Linda came quietly over to Harold. Watching her close the door, Harold looked at her, puzzled.

"When Edwin wakes up I'll give him another warning. I let my guard down since we were inside the house..."

"With children, you can't just give in every time. When they need scolding, they need it properly."

"Well — I know that, but the moment I see their faces I can't manage it."

"Not that a scolding would land on either of those two anyway."

Linda sighed, her eyes complicated.

"You do know, Sir Harold, that neither of those boys is an ordinary child?"