“What a long day it had been,” I said while throwing myself onto the bed.

“And it is far from being over yet.,” Said Syrus.

He was right, I was still expecting a certain someone’s visit.

“Before our guests come in, I’d like to offer the Young Lord his birthday present.”

As far as I can remember Maa has never once missed giving me a birthday present, Syrus has also started to do so when I reached the age of six.

“Oh~ I wonder what it could be?”

“Those aren’t of the level of Sir Mael and Lord Emilien’s gift but I hope these would please the Young Lord,” Syrus said humbly.

He approached me and presented me with a small box.

The box contained two sets of leather gloves: one pair of short black half-scoop gloves and a pair of brown winter leather gloves.

“Thanks, Syrus. Sometimes the simplest means the most.”

“I’m happy that they have pleased The Young Lord.”

With that said he went to a corner of the room to retrieve a rectangular box.

“Oh~ a second gift, I’m quite pampered this year, am I?”

“This one doesn’t come from me but rather from “Maa”.” said Syrus with a very audible emphasis in the “maa” part.

It was very weird to hear that nickname from Syrus's mouth; after all, I gave Mathilda that surname because it was extremely easy for a toddler to pronounce; In the end, the surname stayed, and I was the only one in the manner to use it.

I opened the box to see what was inside and found a pile of blue clothes and on that pile of clothes was a letter envelope.

The envelope was stamped with the initials Maa, I opened it and read the letter in it.

Good Morning/ Good evening Young Lord,

First I’d like to wish you a Happy birthday.

I hope everything is going well for you;

if not, please contact Lord Emilien as soon as possible;

he will undoubtedly be able to

provide you with assistance.

So here is my gift for the Young Lord’s birthday,

Winter is upon us. Please do use these to get yourself warm.

And if possible this time stay away from staircases.

Maa

It seems that she hasn’t forgotten about the accident I had five years ago when she was away.

Her present was a blue scarf. I would never have realized it was handmade if I hadn't witnessed her knitting it.

“When did she send these?”

“She gave me these for the Young Lord, On the day we left the manor.”

“That’s very thoughtful of -'' I was interrupted mid-sentence by a knock on my door.

Syrus immediately went to the door to welcome in the guest.

A tall blonde man with crimson eyes immediately entered the room.

I rose from my seat and went to make my salutation.

We had met earlier in the day but none of us greeted each other.

We had kept our greeting for this moment.

“I, Ronandt am honored to finally meet you, dear father. May the mighty blessing of Djeem the accursed be upon us.”

“I, Luke Aubrecht, am glad to see you being well. May the dazzling blessing of Kine the Flamboyant be upon us.”

Our greetings were a little bit unusual since normally a father and son shouldn’t have to greet each other like strangers but in our case, we had to.

Once we finished our exchange of prayers, Syrus with the hand offered Luke to sit on a nearby sofa and he immediately accepted the offer.

I also followed the mood and took a seat on a nearby chair.

Once I sat, Syrus approached me and said.

“Should I leave?’

I had waited nine years for this day, I realized that I was overly-pampered by my surroundings.

I have to face this myself.

“Yes, please do,” I said.

Syrus was about to leave when Luke suddenly said.

“Wait, Syrus, I think it would be best if you were there, please stay.”

Ah~

“Young Lord ?” Syrus asked.

“ It’s okay. You can stay.” I said.

With a slight bow, Syrus agreed and went to a corner of the room and stood there completely motionless.

“First and foremost, I apologize for Ramia's previous behavior; she used to be a very gentle child. I'm sure she didn't mean any harm. I hope you won't harbor a grudge towards her.“

“As I previously stated, I have no grudge towards her.”

“I really wish you two had met in a better circumstance. She has been raised together with Mael, Mael is basically a brother for her and this place is basically a second home for her. She must’ve been a little bit jealous of how much you and Mael are getting along.

"I sincerely wish you two had met in a more favorable situation. She was raised alongside Mael, who she bellyconsiders to be her brother, and this castle is basically a second home for her. She must have gotten a little bit jealous of how well you and Mael have gotten along in those short two weeks while she hasn’t received a single visit from him."

That would explain why Mael felt so guilty about what she did to me.

Luke suddenly took a deep breath and said.

“I think I’ve talked enough about Ramia. Let’s get straight into it. My uncle has explained to you your situation hasn’t he?”

“Yes, Grandfather Emilien has explained everything I needed to know, and he has also prompted me to consult with Father for the specifics.”

“What exactly would you want to know?” He asked.

“I want to know about my mother.”

When I stated that, he put his clenched fist in front of his mouth, suggesting that he knew the question would come, but a part of him was hoping it somehow wouldn't.

After a long silence, he finally said.

“Where should I begin?” he said with a resigned voice.

“This is merely a suggestion on my part but I think it would be best if Lord Luke were to begin when he met the young Lord’s mother,” Syrus suggested without moving from his spot.

“Aaaa~ I guess you’re right,” he mumbled to Syrus.

He took his time before speaking as if reorganizing his thoughts and started sharing the whole story with me.

Much like Mael and Ramia; Luke, Philip who is father, and Damian who is Mael's uncle were all raised as brothers.

The Edouard brothers were motherless and Luke’s mother had never really recovered from his birth, as such these three lived their entire infancy being raised by Maa, Syrus, and a certain Lidy who was at that time the governess of the Edouard castle.

He told me that there was a time where grandfather Emilien had developed a very workaholic behavior, traveling non-stop from town to town. For him, it was certainly a way to cope with his wife's absence.

When they reached 10, Lord Emilein had lost, or rather he had exchanged his mania for something else.

Hunting.

He had developed a burning passion for hunting, and since we had reached an age where one would be thirsty for adventure, he regularly brought us on his hunting trips.

And among his favorite spots was a small town named Louisane, it was a small town so small that it wasn’t even ruled by a noble family but rather by a mayor, he was a bald old man who had served vehemently the paladin order as a legionnaire.

The mayor was constantly accompanied by a small girl with doll-like features and startlingly black lustrous hair.

That girl’s name was Barbara and she was my mother.

She was the Mayor’s daughter. She had, despite her small stature, the same age as Luke and Edouard's brother.

There was about half a day to go from Louisiana to Beaufort, so when they went on hunting trips, they would often sleep one or two days in the Mayor's mansion before returning to Beaufort.

As a consequence, Luke and Edouard's brother frequently interact with her.

Despite their difference in genders and status, it didn’t take them long to become good friends.

They were often warned by Syrus, who was the only one accompanying them for their hunting trip, over their unusual friendship because he felt that their unusual combination could end very badly but since they were just children, all they saw in her was a new friend, as such, they turned deaf ears to Syrus’s warning.

As the years passed, their bond grew stronger, to the point that they would come to the Louisane even without Grandfather's company. but it came to an abrupt end when they reached fifteen, the three of them were required to continue their studies overseas, as every member of nobility their age did.

When a noble reaches the age of fifteen, he must enroll at the Aurora Academia (commonly referred to as the Academia) for at least a five-year program, the only exception to this rule were those who joined the paladin Order or the clergy.

The Academia is a church-run Institution located in the Holy Capital: The biggest and wealthiest city the human continent has to offer.

The fundamental goals of academics were to pass on to the younger generation of nobility the information, beliefs, and wisdom that the church had accumulated over its 4000 years of existence.

Despite being situated in the territory of the ErstMench theocracy, the Holy capital is entirely administered by the church. The Holy Capital might also be regarded as the cradle and capital of the cult of the Seven Apostles, as it is home to the majority of its active members.

In the end, they had no other choice but to bid their farewell to their only commoner friend and split ways. But, before leaving, a certain someone did something that the church would regard to be crossing a line that should not be crossed.

In a burst of hormones and a burning youthfulness, Luke secretly confessed his love and requested her to wait for him, and to his astonishment, she agreed and promised to wait for him.

They all departed for Aurora Academia, and as the years passed, Luke began to reconsider his vow.

Living in the most advanced and dogmatist city in this world, he began to realize how hopeless their promise was,

Their promise contradicted both society's and biology's beliefs. A noble can’t have children with a commoner, there was too much difference between and no matter how blinded by love he was couldn’t ignore that fact and even if they choose happily like an old couple the knowledge of their coupling reached the church's ears, it would be the end for them.

In the end, he had no choice but to accept that he won’t be able to realize the promise he had himself proposed.

Due to the heartbreaking realization, he drowned in the darkest period of his life and had no one to confide in as Damian had already joined the paladin Order and Philip had entirely fallen in love with a girl who had the same passion for medicine as he did and was rarely available.

It was around that time he took notice of Ramia’s mother, she has been crushing on him since their third year in the academia, after three years he finally he gave her a try, you know to see how good their chemistry was and it didn’t take them long to get the answer:

The result of their test is the storm known as Ramia.

They immediately decided to go back to the Beaumont Duchy to get married.

After nearly six years of absence, he was finally back in Beaufort.

His marriage was immediately organized. But before getting married, he had one thing he must do.

He went back to Louisianne, first to apologize for breaking the promise they two made and to finally let go of her, after all, there were only a few months before his future wife would give birth.

When he got there he noticed that many things had changed, the town had grown and a low-ranking noble family had established the town as their domain, the old man died two years after our departure, and mother overtook his duty but with a noble family around, the amount of power and authority she had drastically diminished.

But it all didn’t amount much for him, she was still there, the passing hasn’t tarnished the sighest her beauty, she had waited for him, all those six years.

He told her the truth, about how he couldn’t uphold their promise, that there was no future for them together.

Luke couldn’t really explain well to me what her reaction meant but she basically didn’t get angry but instead asked him one thing before completely let go of him.

She simply asked him to do it to seal off their farewell.

What would you ask?

You know that thing that a man and a woman do when they want to get warm.

Hand Holding? Nah~~I wish it was something that simple.

Once they finished they bid their final farewell, he then got married and he thought what he did settle everything, that he could turn the page. But Nah it was far from being over.

Around one month after Ramia's birth, some news reached his ears.

The Louisane Mayor mansion has caught fire, the mayor has gone missing and on top of that two man’s corpses were found within the rumble.

Despite his pledge to never get involved in each other's lives, he rushed to investigate what had happened; it was only when he arrived at Louisane that he learned of the news; she was last seen with a three-month pregnant belly.

I was the freeloader in her belly the last time she was seen.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen.

Here go the mysteries of my birth,

I was the byproduct of a very heated farewell.