Chapter 74

Downstairs, they might be able to make out what was happening. Better than the second floor, at least.

Gripped by a bad feeling, Edgar held tight to Edwin. He couldn't think what would send the royal guard rushing here like this.

The first name to come to mind was Grisha Lambert. That the man had some connection to the royal guard was obvious even to a child's eye.

The new owner of a country house that had served as the crown prince's residence for generations, and the royal guard watching over the woods it stood in. As it happened, that new owner looked strikingly like the previous king. Facts that meant something.

"...Edgar."

The moment they got down to the kitchen, Edwin pulled Edgar behind him. Shouting was coming from outside. He couldn't catch the words, but it was clearly Linda's voice.

Besides Grisha Lambert, what else could send the royal guard rushing over...?

Uncle?

Edgar's eyes went wide.

"Edgar, no. Where do you think you're going?"

Edwin caught hold of Edgar. When Edgar shook his arm off, Edwin wrapped both arms around him from behind and hung on. He clung on desperately as Edgar thrashed.

"We don't even know what's happening. You can't just go running out. Grandma told us to stay put, remember?"

"But—!"

"Edgar."

Edwin said it calmly, without a trace of a smile.

Edgar stopped moving. Edwin didn't let him go, but whispered quietly.

"Here, Edgar. Breathe with me. Yeah? Slowly."

Edgar drew a breath in and let it out slowly. At first his chest hurt like he'd been punched in the gut, but the tension eased little by little. Edwin listened carefully to Edgar's breathing, then slowly relaxed his arms.

In that short span, cold sweat had soaked him through. Not knowing what to do, Edgar dumbly tracked Edwin's movements. Edgar hadn't noticed when Nabi had come in, but the dog was sitting beside them with the teddy bear in his mouth.

"Nabi! Aren't you a good boy. Did you bring it for him?"

Edwin praised Nabi with a big show of it. The bear went back into Edgar's arms as a matter of course.

Instead of soaking up Edwin's fussing as he usually would, Nabi turned to face the direction of the commotion.

"Edgar. Are you okay now?"

"..."

"Let's wait here."

Edgar opened his mouth.

But no voice came out. He didn't know what to say either. He was aware he wasn't thinking straight. But his uncle. Something might have happened to his uncle.

"Uncle's going to be fine."

Edwin said it as if he'd looked right into Edgar's head.

"That's what you were worried about, right?"

"..."

Giving up on untangling his head, Edgar nodded slightly.

"Dad said it, Grandma said it. Uncle's an incredible knight."

An incredible knight had been murdered once already.

"If Uncle's on his own, nobody can hurt him. And if Uncle really was hurt, he wouldn't hide it from us. Remember?"

Edwin poked Edgar in the cheek.

"We're Uncle's only family."

"..."

"But something serious does seem to have happened. Times like this especially, you can't just do whatever you want."

Slowly, Edgar came back to himself.

Edwin was right. He was still worried about his uncle, but in the body of a child there was nothing he could do to help. He didn't even know what was going on.

For all he knew, it might have nothing to do with his uncle at all. Some patrol matter, maybe.

"..."

And there were adults here. There was Linda, and the guardsmen who'd come running were faces Edgar knew.

His uncle had taught him something, too. If bad people came while his uncle was away, he was to escape through the secret passage. Because Edwin might turn it into a game, his uncle had only taught it to Edgar.

Edgar opened his mouth. His breath caught. But if something really did happen and Edwin didn't understand why they were heading for the cellar, that could be a serious problem.

Edgar had to protect Edwin. He'd promised. Edgar reached out toward Edwin, who was next to Nabi keeping an eye on outside.

"What? Edgar?"

"..."

"Edgar?"

"...Ed... win. Um."

His throat hurt as if it might tear. But Edgar spoke.

"The cellar."

"The cellar?"

"Yeah. If something happens..."

Luckily his voice came back quickly. Edgar coughed a few times as he tried to settle his stinging throat.

Worried, Edwin found a glass of water and handed it to Edgar.

"We have to go to the cellar. We can escape through there."

"A secret passage? I didn't see one in the cellar!"

Edwin promptly jumped up.

"Secret passage! It's a secret passage, right?"

At the bright voice, no different from usual, Edgar gave a faint smile.

"Uncle taught you? Why did he only teach you?"

"Because you got yourself stuck under the roof."

"...That was the day?"

Unable to say anything to that, Edwin clamped his mouth shut.

Still keeping an eye on outside, Edwin measured the distance from the kitchen to the stairs.

"There are grown-ups here, so I don't think we'll end up alone... but this spot isn't great."

"Not great?"

"This house only has one staircase. Trying to force our way to it isn't a good bet."

Edgar looked at where the commotion was still going on at the front door and at their own position in the kitchen, and understood what Edwin meant. The stairs were between the front door and the kitchen.

Nabi, who'd been sitting on his haunches keeping watch outside, sprang up.

"The back door might be better... there are horses too, right?"

Their uncle had taken a carriage today.

Edwin patted Nabi, who was nudging him insistently with his head.

"But saying all this, it might be nothing! Don't worry too much, Edgar."

"Woof!"

"Nabi?"

The moment Edwin's attention shifted to Nabi, the dog pounced on both of them. Before either could react.

This was a dog who'd stayed calm through all of Edwin's fussing until now. Edgar was more startled by that than by hitting the floor. Not content with knocking the twins over, Nabi planted himself right on top of them. As if telling them to stay down.

Crash!

From the front door where the guardsmen had gathered came a heavy sound and the sound of shattering glass. A window, most likely. The kitchen itself was untouched, but not so untouched that they didn't feel the tremor through the floor.

Even when the commotion stopped, Nabi wouldn't leave the twins' side. When footsteps came running toward the kitchen, he bared his teeth at the door and growled.

"Young masters!"

But it was Linda who pushed the door open and came into the kitchen. Her hair, normally tied back without a strand out of place, was half undone, and her clothes were smudged with soot and torn in places.

Nabi wagged his tail once. Without needing any explanation, Linda took in Nabi guarding the door and Edgar and Edwin sprawled on the floor, and grasped the situation.

"Good boy, Nabi."

With a quick word of praise for Nabi, Linda scooped Edgar and Edwin up.

"Nabi, come!"

Small as Edgar and Edwin were for their age, tucking one under each arm and running with them should have been too much for a white-haired old woman.

Linda did it without difficulty — running steadily, as if she couldn't feel their weight at all. Nabi kept growling toward the front door, and only followed after Linda called his name once more.

"What's happening?"

Linda didn't answer.

She didn't slow down either. She headed straight for the stable and swung herself onto a horse that was pacing and snorting in agitation.

"Hold on tight."

Linda spurred the horse on. Edgar reflexively clung to her waist. Edwin let out a small yelp and wrapped his arms around her neck.

Everything had happened too fast. He had no idea what had actually gone on. What was that noise, the shaking...? And on top of that, the soot on Linda's clothes?

The house shrank in an instant. Under the faint remnants of sunset he could see the tangled shadows of figures. Before he could look closer, they were far behind. The sheepdog gave a low bark and ran after the horse.

"...!"

His heart, which had been pounding loud enough to ring in his ears, gradually settled. Only belatedly did he realize the horse had no saddle.

Edgar looked at Linda. Without a saddle, holding two children, Linda was keeping her seat steadily. Was this... normal?

No way. Even Edgar, whose entire experience of knights was his uncle, knew that this kind of feat wasn't something you could pull off this easily.

Wasn't she a nursemaid? That's what he'd heard!

"It's dangerous — keep your head down."

Whether Edgar was thrown or not, Linda glared ahead, her face set hard.

---

The watch hospital on the outskirts of the capital.

"There's someone in here!!"

"Bring something to break it open!"

The flames roared.

People were trying to put the fire out, but the flames wouldn't die down easily. They were doing whatever they could to pull out those who hadn't made it out of the flames yet. Most of them were patients.

Harold arrived in the middle of that chaos with Grisha.

"Damn it."

He'd been briefed on the way, but when the heat hit him full in the face, Grisha muttered a curse.

Harold felt the same.

However you looked at it, a fire burning that hard hadn't started naturally. The watch hospital was old, sure, but it was a hospital of all places. Fire precautions were a given.

But a fire that spread this fast — that only burned bigger the more water they threw on it — wasn't right.

"Rescue?"

"We're still on it!"

Grisha watched the burning main building tensely, then started moving.

Cutting in on a fire crew that was already working the fire well would only get in the way. And there were problems beyond the fire.

Because this building held more than just watch officers. Criminals. Like Dustin Glenn, who they'd just heard reported dead at the Lambert estate.

"What happened?"

Gauss, who had been guarding the annex, came quickly to Grisha. The annex hadn't come out of the fire unscathed either. The first-floor lobby was covered in signs that the fire had been fought back — half burnt and soaked through.

"The fire started in the main building. Suspiciously fast. As for the cause, probably..."

"That can wait until after the fire's out."

"The fire spread before anyone could do anything. It caught on the annex too, but we got it out here quickly. But we thought we'd better evacuate the patients — that's when we found it, checking."

"How did he die?"

"It was staged to look like suicide. But it wasn't."

"Suicide?"

"With everything going on with the fire, it startled us at first, but no. It's just for show."

They reached Dustin Glenn's sickroom in no time.

Between the flames and the smell of burning it was hard to tell, but Harold caught the smell of blood mixed in.

For Harold this whole business had gone past shocking and just become absurd. That of all people it was Carlisle Adler jerking them around this badly, he couldn't believe.

And that a prince, of all things, had reached this far.

"Things are what they are, but we're trying to preserve as much as we can..."

"Witnesses?"

Harold asked Gauss, but without any real hope. As expected, Gauss shook his head.

"Is Dustin Glenn the only one dead?"

"As far as we can confirm right now."

"...A headache. First priority is putting the fire out. Coordinate with the watch to move the injured, and get help from other hospitals."

Grisha sorted out what needed doing first.

The tight security from his last visit wasn't here, but there was still some. The Intelligence officer kept checking the burning building anxiously.

"If Dustin Glenn really was murdered, that fire is arson too, in all likelihood. Vicious bastard. We have to catch him no matter what."

"Agreed."

"Have you learned anything?"

"About that..."

Gauss opened the door to the sickroom. The first thing to hit them was — on the floor —

"...!"

Harold sprang forward.

A kitchen knife struck the dagger he'd already pulled and slid down the length of it with an ugly, grating sound.

"Tch."

The stranger gripping the kitchen knife clicked his tongue, looking disappointed.