Chapter 97

"What are you doing?"

In Edwin's hand was a sharp paring knife. He had no idea how Edwin had brought it along. No — where on earth had he gotten hold of it in the first place?

Unlike Edgar, who had rushed over ashen-faced, Edwin was calm even looking at the blood running down his hand.

"Edwin, what did you do?"

"I did it on purpose, so you don't have to freak out."

"On purpose is worse!"

Edgar snatched the paring knife out of Edwin's hand. Thankfully, Edwin gave the blade up without a fight. Edgar set the knife well aside, pulled off his coat, and pressed it hard against Edwin's palm. The cut didn't look deep, but the blood was soaking through.

He couldn't tell what Edwin was thinking. Edwin had a dreamy, somewhere-else streak, but he'd never seemed unstable enough to pull something like this.

Ever since the funeral, Edgar had been so busy keeping his guard up against the Duke of Lambert that he hadn't paid enough attention to Edwin. He shouldn't have let that happen. Uncle had told him before. Now that it was just the two of them, they had to look out for each other.

And yet. And yet—

"Edgar, you've got a bad habit."

"..."

With his uninjured hand, Edwin rubbed at the corner of Edgar's eye. Edgar hadn't even realized he was crying — only then did he notice how blurry his vision had gone.

Edwin gave a helpless laugh.

"Fair enough, I didn't really explain. Guess that's why we're twins."

Tears clung to his lashes and dropped when he blinked. Before one could run down his cheek, Edwin wiped it away first.

"Don't just assume the worst. Okay?"

"...Then what is it?"

"There's a reason for everything. Edgar, believe it or not, I have a plan!"

A plan?

Instead of taking the bait on Edwin's absurd claim, Edgar looked around. Obviously there was nothing useful in the room.

If he'd known it would come to this, he wouldn't have waved off the driver when he'd offered to come along.

No — this wasn't the place to be doing this. The Duke of Lambert would find out what had happened, but with Edwin bleeding, this wasn't the time to worry about covering it up.

"Plan or no plan, we're going to a hospital right now. We've got the carriage, so it'll be faster to head to a hospital nearby than to go back to the Lambert estate."

"Fine, fine. But I really do have a plan."

Edwin, as if the wounded hand didn't hurt at all, laughed and carefully pushed Edgar back.

Normally Edwin went along with whatever Edgar wanted, but every so often he'd dig his heels in about something strange. Whatever he was after, once he got like this, he wouldn't budge until he'd seen it through. At least Edgar had gotten him to agree to a hospital—

Edwin smiled gently at Edgar. And then—

"...Huh?"

"Ta-da."

Edgar stared at Edwin, thrown. Edwin set Edgar's coat down on the floor. His own sleeve was soaked with blood too, but thankfully it wasn't pouring the way it had before.

Edgar stared blankly at the wooden box that had appeared in the middle of his father's bedroom. It was old enough to look ready to fall apart at any moment. As old as the decorations at the Lambert estate.

But it was too beautiful to dismiss as just an old box — as delicately worked as a piece of art. If it hadn't just appeared out of nowhere in a dust-choked bedroom, he'd have believed it was the prized possession of some collector.

"What is this?"

"A family safe."

"A family... what?"

"Usually they're kept in the master's bedroom or study. Uncle never told you?"

"I..."

Edgar faltered.

Albrecht, the previous Count Bertholdt, had died in an accident, and Uncle — the only adult left in the family — had been murdered too.

It was only a few days before Uncle's death that they'd finally started talking about who wanted the next count's title, and about training for the heir as well.

Not that the training had meant anything grand. Just learning the domain work Uncle had been handling on their behalf—

"..."

At the very least, Edgar had never heard from Uncle about anything like a family safe at the capital estate.

Had Uncle told Edwin about it? Why? Why hadn't he told him?

"You didn't hear from Uncle?"

Edwin, who had bent down to inspect the safe, looked up at Edgar with wide eyes.

"Mattheus told me when he gave me the key."

"...Old Mattheus did?"

"I figured Uncle would've told you and you'd already know."

"Ah..."

"He said it usually has domain-related documents in it, but the same things are kept at the bank too, so really it wasn't all that important."

Edgar let his guard down.

He didn't know why he'd felt so tight in the chest. He couldn't understand himself, flaring up like that for a second. It wasn't something worth getting angry about.

Instead, Edgar knelt down beside Edwin. He stopped Edwin from trying to open the safe with a bloody hand and opened it himself. The bleeding had slowed, but not fully stopped.

"You need blood to open this?"

"You need it to call it out of where it's hidden. Usually they're hidden with ancient magic."

"Magic?"

At that, Edgar understood the whole thing.

Edwin's interest had cooled a little compared to when they were younger, but he still loved magic. Edgar had no interest in history himself, but there were things he'd picked up thanks to Edwin.

Right. A safe appearing in a room where nothing had been — of course that would be magic.

"Blood is the simplest and surest form of proof. In some families you can't be the heir unless you can summon the safe."

"Why?"

"You have to be able to summon it to prove the bloodline, right?"

"Why? What does that have to do with it?"

"Ha ha, that's a talk for when you're older, Edgar."

Edwin grinned mischievously. Somehow it felt like he was being treated like a child, which got on Edgar's nerves, but he swallowed the sigh and opened the safe.

He was curious about what was inside, and Edwin's face had gone pale. Since Edwin clearly wasn't going to budge until he'd checked the safe, Edgar figured the fastest way to a hospital was to get this over with.

Drops of blood were still falling from under Edwin's hand.

"...Doesn't look like there's anything important."

Edgar checked the documents inside the safe and showed them to Edwin.

Just as Edwin had said, they were domain-related documents. The patent of title, the deed to the estate, that sort of thing. The same items were kept at the bank. Edgar had seen these documents when he'd formally inherited the title of count.

The seals showed these were the originals. But things like this had historical value at most — nothing beyond that.

"This is all?"

"Yeah."

"Nothing further in?"

Edwin poked Edgar with his knee.

"Nothing."

Edgar swept his hand across the bottom of the safe to show him. Edwin glared at the safe with a blank expression.

Something... was off. Edgar swallowed and looked at Edwin.

"Ed... win?"

"..."

"Edwin. What's wrong?"

Edwin's lips twisted. His face was screwed up as if he were about to start cursing.

Then Edwin looked at Edgar. Meeting those worried eyes — worried even without knowing what was going on — he swallowed the curse back down.

Edwin broke into a wide smile.

"It's nothing. Nothing at all."

"That's not a nothing-at-all face..."

"I said it's nothing."

Edwin got to his feet and beckoned. Not understanding, Edgar obediently put the documents back and closed the safe.

Just as it had appeared, the safe vanished in the blink of an eye. The blood that had fallen to the floor went with it.

"Still, it's magic. I was hoping something more interesting would be hidden."

"Disappointed there wasn't?"

"Something like that."

Edwin chuckled. It really didn't look like that was what was going on, but Edgar couldn't push him any further.

"Um. Hey, Edgar."

"What?"

"I'm getting kind of dizzy. Should we go to the hospital?"

"Say that sooner!"

Edgar snatched his coat off the floor and hurried Edwin out of the estate. If Edwin hadn't insisted on locking up properly, they could've been out even faster.

"Good heavens, young masters! What happened?"

The driver, seeing Edwin come back covered in blood, looked ready to faint.

Edgar sighed. Edwin gave an awkward laugh and held out his bloodied palm.

---

"..."

"Edgar? You can sleep more."

Edgar curled up under the blanket. The train's vibration carried through. He tossed and turned wrapped in the covers, then poked just his eyes out.

Reading by the window in the light of the reading lamp alone, Uncle noticed and let out a soft laugh.

"Bathroom?"

"..."

Edgar shook his head. When his hair, mashed flat by the pillow, fell into his eyes, Harold gently smoothed it back into place.

Edgar blinked slowly.

"It's still the middle of the night."

"When do we get there?"

"Still a long way to go..."

"..."

Edgar yawned and sat up. Just as Uncle had said, it was pitch dark outside. Ordinarily he'd have gone right back to sleep at this hour, but for some reason sleep wouldn't come.

Careful not to wake Edwin sleeping beside him, Edgar climbed down from the bed and shuffled over to Uncle in slippers far too big for him. Harold didn't try to send him back to bed — he lifted his arm and made a space for Edgar at his side.

"What are you doing up, Uncle?"

"I was just reading."

"Reading what?"

Edgar rested his head on Uncle's leg and asked.

"I've never seen you read before."

"...Uncle does read every now and then."

Harold stroked Edgar's head. Edgar closed his eyes. Sleep still wouldn't come, but he liked how quiet and still this time was.

When Edgar went still, Harold, apparently thinking he'd drifted off, let his hand pause. Edgar opened his eyes and caught Uncle's retreating hand.

Rough. The knuckles were heavy, and the callouses were coarse enough to prickle against his own skin. Up close he could see scars he'd never noticed before.

"Is the busy stuff all done now?"

"Hm?"

"You've been busy, so the trip to the Reichnek domain kept getting pushed. I know that. The duchess ended up going down ahead."

"Well..."

Harold paused. Edgar waited, playing with his uncle's hand.

"You know I work at the northern base, right?"

"I know."

"So — the northern commander... the top general at the place where Uncle works."

"I know what a northern commander is, Uncle."

"Underestimated you there. The northern commander visits the capital once a year. Since Uncle works at the northern base, he had some things to take care of while the commander was in town."

"So that's why you were busy?"

While they'd been staying at the hotel, Uncle had worn that snowflake brooch every time he went out.

"Yeah. There was more work than Uncle expected."

"Oh."

"Were you in a hurry to go on the trip?"

"Not really..."

Edgar hunched down. Uncle reached over and pulled the blanket up around him.

"It's just that with Uncle gone, I was bored."

"...Uncle didn't want to work either. I was thinking about ditching it and taking Edgar and Edwin somewhere fun instead."

"But you're a grown-up, Uncle. You have to work."

"Right. So Uncle worked."

Harold poked Edgar in the cheek. Edgar chuckled.

Maybe it was because they'd be meeting Adelheid soon. Old things kept coming to mind. Things that had happened after Uncle died. Things that wouldn't happen this time around...

Would Uncle have made preparations again, in case he died? Would Grisha Lambert still be their guardian?

"Edgar?"

"Sleepy."

"Right. Uncle'll keep watch, so go back to sleep. Want to go back to the bed?"

"No..."

Edgar didn't let go of Harold's hand.

He didn't have the courage to ask his uncle. He could only hope the day he'd have to find out would never come.