Where Is Harry?
"It seems my dear student is… dreadfully worried about this teacher of hers."
"That goes without saying!"
At Eleanor's sharp retort, the Viscountess's lips twitched upward. Then, almost at once, she covered her mouth and began coughing violently. Alarmed, Eleanor hurriedly stroked her chest, and when the wet nurse brought water, she helped the Viscountess sit up against a pillow so she could drink.
Once she'd wet her lips, some of the redness drained from her face. As the Viscountess tried to push herself upright, Eleanor slipped a pillow behind her back and helped her lean against the headboard. Moments later, the Viscountess's gaze wandered around the room as though searching for someone, and she turned to the wet nurse.
"By the way, where is Harry…?"
"P-pardon?"
The wet nurse, who had been pressed flat against the door, went white as a sheet at the sudden question. She crept over to Eleanor's side and, without a word of warning, dropped to her knees. Every eye in the room turned to her.
That's right—why did I forget about Harry? And come to think of it, she seemed to be looking for the 'young master' when she opened the door earlier. A flicker of unease passed through Eleanor. Trembling, the wet nurse spoke.
"F-forgive me, my lady! I should have kept a closer watch…"
The Viscountess Belvoir's brow furrowed. She straightened her back and looked down at the wet nurse, her eyes calm—but calm enough to chill anyone to the bone.
"…Coel. What on earth are you doing? Get up at once. Where has Harry gone?"
"The young master has disappeared!"
"……"
"What did you just say?!"
It was Hin who shrieked at the wet nurse's words. Stepping in for the Viscountess and Eleanor, who had frozen in shock, Hin glared daggers at the woman. Her gaze was so piercing it could make a grown man quake. Eleanor stole a glance at her and thought that perhaps her guess from her previous life had been right after all.
Hin demanded, bristling.
"And just where could a child that young have gone off to all by himself?"
"I—I don't know that either…"
"Ha! Are you telling me you don't know? How could you not know? How many people does it take to watch one child in his own home?"
Listening quietly, Eleanor frowned. In an instant, the words the wet nurse had spoken when they'd first arrived echoed in her mind.
"Young ma… who might you be?"
She had mistaken someone for Harry returning home. Hin, looking utterly incredulous, planted her hands on her hips and scoffed. She took a single step toward the wet nurse, and the woman's face turned deathly pale in an instant.
Watching this unfold, Eleanor rose from her seat and touched Hin's shoulder. The tension left her at once; she was still grumbling under her breath, but she obediently stepped back behind Eleanor.
"Hin, calm down. We don't have time for this. First things first—we call people in and find the child."
"Yes, my lady. Shall I tell Sendel, then?"
Eleanor nodded.
"Tell him to hurry back to the Grand Duchy at once and have the Red Falcon Knights search for a missing child."
"Yes, my lady."
The Red Falcon Knights were the knight order of the Prihoson Grand Duchy, and the force stationed in the territory alone numbered over a thousand men.
By the Emperor's command, Grand Duke Prihoson had long since taken up residence in the imperial capital, and only a portion of the knights remained to guard the ducal mansion there. Though they no longer saw battle as frequently as they once had, men of their caliber could easily track down a single missing child.
Having received Eleanor's orders, Hin shot the wet nurse one last withering look and turned away without a trace of regret. Eleanor looked down at the woman still kneeling on the floor.
"Does it make any sense to claim you don't know? Harry is still so young—how did you fail to keep even the barest watch on a child that small?"
The wet nurse lifted her head and looked up at Eleanor. She hadn't imagined for a moment that something like this could happen in the instant her attention slipped, and her heart was pounding with dread. But looking down at the face of the woman struggling to hold back her tears, Eleanor's showed not a shred of sympathy.
"D-don't be angry, my lady. I did my best, in my own way… truly, I did."
"'My best' isn't a word for a moment like this, is it? At the very least, if you'd spoken up when you realized who I was, the search for the child might have started that much sooner."
Stung by her conscience, the wet nurse bit her lip at those words. The look in her eyes as she gazed up at Eleanor changed.
"My lady has been ill, so my mind was scattered, all right? Do you think I look after the young master because I enjoy it? The moment my lord passed away, every last relative of the Viscount's family descended on the house and stripped it of anything of value, and though there was hardly a coin left, my lady in her kindness kept on the few servants who'd come with her from her family's estate. If I'd known it would come to this, it would have been far better for me to be sent away somewhere else!"
"Coel…"
The woman's spiteful voice, lamenting her own circumstances more than worrying over the missing child, drained what little color remained from the Viscountess's already pale face. But the wet nurse pressed on. Meanwhile, Hin, who had finished relaying Eleanor's orders, slipped silently back into the room and frowned at the woman.
"Do you know how many months it's been since I was last paid? The other servants, once the wages stopped, made off with everything in the mansion worth a single coin the moment my lady fell ill and took to her bed! My lady is sick, and I'm left to shoulder all the work alone—how am I supposed to look after the young master on top of it all, hmm?! You ought to think about that too, my lady. I must have been pushed to the very limit to let this happen. The very limit!"
"……"
"You're of noble blood, my lady—how could the likes of you ever understand the troubles of the likes of me!"
Beating her own chest as she ranted, the wet nurse seemed at last to run out of strength; she crumpled to the floor and burst into sobs. At the sight of her, Hin was struck speechless and found herself glancing unconsciously at Eleanor. Eleanor's face, as she listened in silence, was terrifyingly cold.
The wet nurse murmured.
"I truly wanted to do well too…"
Wailing into her cupped palms, the woman wept openly, and Hin turned her head away with an irritated click of her tongue.
"And what good does all that crying do? You could be out looking for the child instead of sitting there bawling. Hmph!"
"Hin, where has the physician gotten to—"
"The physician?"
Eleanor's words were cut off mid-sentence by someone interjecting. The voice was so familiar she could have named its owner without turning to look. But there was not a single reason in the world for that voice to be here…
Puzzled, Eleanor turned her head to confirm who it was. The hair that seemed to blaze like fire and the frigid green eyes belonged, without question, to Joshua. The expression drained from Eleanor's face.
"Shall I call it a long time no see?"
"……"
"No—perhaps it hasn't been that long."
"……"
"We did see each other only a few days ago. Quite a remarkable coincidence, isn't it?"
At the unfamiliar voice, Hin instinctively placed herself in front of Eleanor. She had even been radiating a faint killing intent—but upon recognizing the man, her eyes went wide with bewilderment, and she looked back at Eleanor.
"My lady, my eyes aren't deceiving me, are they? This man is…"
"He is. The very person you're thinking of."
A cough—violent enough to sound as if her throat were being torn—rang out, and Eleanor spun around at once. The Viscountess's forehead was burning hot to the touch. Her fever seemed to be climbing higher with every passing moment. Eleanor cut her attention away from him and turned back to the Viscountess.
Perhaps because of the wet nurse's words just now, the Viscountess had her eyes closed, fighting merely to draw breath. Every second counted. Eleanor's heart grew more frantic.
Joshua's eyes traveled over Eleanor's slender back. Something about the sight of her—a figure that looked ready to crumble at any moment—stirred a strange feeling in some corner of his heart. But that shallow, trifling emotion vanished as quickly as it had come.
Clutching at her fading consciousness, the Viscountess seized Eleanor's hand.
"Miss Eleanor, I'm quite all right, so please—find our Harry… Find Harry for me. If anything should happen to that little thing out alone in this weather… cough!"
"Yes. Don't worry, Teacher. I will bring Harry back."
"…Mother? Eleanor, big sis?"
Startled by the child's voice that came out of nowhere, Eleanor whirled around. A small face peeked out from behind Joshua—crowned with hair of the very same violet shade as the Viscountess's.
Once the relief washed over her, Eleanor's anger turned on the child who had given the adults such a fright. She swept quickly toward Joshua, took the hand of the boy hiding behind his back, and pulled him out in front of her.
The child was soaked to the bone by the rain—head, body, and even the tips of his toes—looking for all the world like a drowned mouse. His timid, furtive manner tugged at her heart, but Eleanor did not let her stern expression slip.
"Harry! Where on earth did you run off to? Did it never once occur to you that your mother would be worried sick? Well?"
"B-big sis…"
Perhaps startled by the sudden scolding, the delighted smile he'd worn at the sight of Eleanor vanished in an instant. Harry's face crumpled, on the verge of tears, and then he wrenched his hand free of hers and dove back behind Joshua. Eleanor's voice rang out, firm and unyielding.
"Harry! Come out here this instant, do you hear me?"
"N-no! I won't!"
"What did you say?"
"Your face is scary, big sis…"
"……"