6 Years

Chapter 3

" Welcome back, Brother... Whose child is he?" Louis asked, referring to the baby boy in William's arms. The baby cooed when his dark blue eyes met Louis, causing William to smile, "Mine."

Nothing.

They stared into each other's eyes.

After a few seconds of tensed silence, Louis broke the silence, "No," He said, barely moving a muscle in his face. " That's impossible, Brother. Unless you... No... It can't be...Brother is a chaste unlike Mr Moran...!" Louis felt lightning cackle through his veins and time slowed down. He began to gawk at Cedric, who was giggling without a care, and he could not deny the resemblance between him and his older brother. Well, except for the colour of his eyes. The baby had the same blond hair, the same tilt of the chin and nose and also the same smile. Looking at his smile that resembled a lot like William, Louis's eyes soften, finally accepting the reality before him. 

The fact that he now had a nephew. 

Out of a sudden, Cedric started to sob and his cries resounded through the whole manor.

Probably disturbed by the sound, Albert walked down the stairs and was surprised to see William carrying a baby, "Who is that child, Will? And he looks like... Wait a minute..." Albert gave William a questioning look, " No way..." Now, it was Albert's turn to gawk at Cedric.

Relieved that he did not have to explain again, William turned his head back to Louis, "Louis, can you give him some milk. He might be hungry..."

"Yes...! Of course, Brother."

After Louis had carried Cedric(with quite a bit of difficulty) to the kitchen, Albert turned to William, " What is his name?"

"Cedric...Moriarty. I am thinking of adding our middle name "James" to it. He is also Enola Holmes's child, but left him to me." Saying this, William took out the letter from his breast pocket and gave it to Albert.

"Hmm...Guess leave us no choice but to take care of him but Will, what about our plan? You are only eighteen, you can't just tell those foul-mouth nobles that Cedric is your  child! It Might ruin his life!" Albert told William worriedly. In society, illegitimate children were considered as "Shameful". Which was the reason why the disgusting nobles tended to kill an illegitimate child or sent them for adoption. And both Albert and William knew that

"We will keep them in the dark." William said, his tone serious as he sat down on the couch, "We will say that one of our distant relatives has passed away and we took their child under our ward."

Albert sighed, feeling slightly conflicted, "That might work. I received word that our distant cousins Baron and Baroness Hertford died in a carriage accident yesterday, we can just fabricate the records."

"That will be excellent, brother Albert. After all, that is our 'speciality.' William then stood up, "We will keep him in the dark about this and also our goal, until he is older that is."

Albert nodded his head in agreement." Then what about the letter, Will? Should we burn it?"

William, who seemed to remember something, confessed, " To be honest, I actually thought of burning it at the fireplace right there, but we need to consider about Cedric. He deserved to know."

Albert was silent.

Truth to be told, Albert was feeling very guilty about the matter with Cedric.

If he had not poured so much wine for William to drink that night, William probably would not have done the deed and had to shoulder both the burden of a father and also as a crime consultant. He was the only one who noticed that William was overworking himself and had promised William to not tell anyone in their group about it. Albert hung his head, thinking himself as a failure on being an elder brother.