Even if my head still feels off.
Even if sleep, once again, refuses to cooperate.
Chapter 10
Hauses Hohenwald
Hildy
Itell myself I’m not going to look him up, and that’s not even the first lie of the night.
I sit on my bed with my laptop balanced on my lap and open it, watching Lucy to make sure it doesn’t disturb her sleep.
This feels intrusive, like skipping steps. Like accusing him of being something before I’m ready to know what that something is. But you know what else was intrusive? The book left on the counter that messed with my head.
I type what I think is safe.
Lenzin Faulker, Munich, Germany.
It feels reasonable. Academic. The kind of search you do when you’re still hoping the answer is boring.
The first result isn’t a person. It’s a place.
A regional article in English, translated clumsily, about land preservation outside Munich. Rolling hills. Dense forest. Stone fencing that looks older than most American cities. The caption mentions a rural district I half-recognize, close enough toMunich to claim it socially, far enough to still be countryside. Not city. Land.
I scroll back up, pulse ticking faster.
The second result is in German. I read it carefully, sentence by sentence, because I know how much hides in phrasing.
Lenzin Faulker, listed as residingnearMunich. Rural district. Agricultural zoning. Heritage council affiliation. Not Munich proper.
I click.
Municipal records. No photos. No drama. Just a short bio and a list of committees. And then, almost as an afterthought, a line buried in parentheses.
Erbe des Hauses Hohenwald.
Heir of the House of Hohenwald.
My fingers still on the trackpad, my brain stalls. House. Not family. Not name. House.
I copy it. Paste it into a translator even though I don’t need to. The meaning doesn’t change.
I feel stupid for a second. For not realizing what that phrasing implies.
I open a new tab.
Lenzin Faulker von Hohenwald.
This time the results reorganize themselves, like the internet has decided I’m finally asking the right question.
Academic affiliations. European land trusts. A foundation bearing the Hohenwald name, described asmulti-generational.
I click again.
There’s a profile now. Minimalist. Institutional. The kind of page that exists for people who don’t need publicity. Near the bottom, in restrained, almost apologetic language, it says:
Designated successor to Graf von Hohenwald.
