When listening to the first part of Luke's story, I realized how much of a mess it was, and little did I know that it was just the beginning.

After a thorough investigation, the two carbonated bodies inside what was left of the mansion have been recognized.

These bodies belonged to two members of the low-ranked-noble family who had just moved in Louisane.

Once the identity of the corpses was confirmed. The case was immediately taken over by an envoy of the church.

And my mother was the first suspect of their murders.

Although no one from the deceased family members confessed it to the church's envoy, the townspeople were well aware that the two now-deceased aristocrats were openly making advances on her.

The fact that they died in her mansion coupled with her sudden disappearance was enough to make her the perfect suspect.

The only thing that worked in her favor in that instance was that it made no sense for a commoner, let alone a pregnant commoner, to kill two full-fledged nobles.

Luke instantly knew that the baby was probably his.

He had clearly explained to my mother what would happen to a commoner if she happened to be impregnated by a noble.

She knew very well what it entailed.

Yet she was boldly walking around town with a three-month-old belly, it was clear that she had no intention of aborting.

What she was doing was akin to suicide, coupled with the nobles' murder case she was dragging Luke with her to the grave.

If the envoys discovered her trail, it would have meant not just her demise, but also Luke's.

He didn't know what to do at first, but he soon realized that only one person could provide him with solid assistance: his uncle Emilien.

From the moment he was put on the case Lord Emilien took charge of everything and launched a discreet woman hunt all over the duchy, but it all revealed to be fruitless.

After three months of fruitless research, both the envoys and the Grandfather woman hunter agreed it was time to call it quits.

By that time, she would have been in her sixth month of pregnancy, if she hadn't aborted yet, she would have been dead, and if she had aborted, there would have been no reason to panic because at this point there would be no proof linking her to Luke.

And just when they thought the storm was over. She reappeared in one of Lord Emilien's hospital centers, in a city a day's drive from the Rosetta Manor, with a six-month-long belly.

Grandfather dispatched someone to take her to the safest place they could think of: the Rosetta manor, and she obediently agreed to accompany them.

Once she arrived at the manor, and when they saw her they couldn't believe their eyes, she was extremely healthy despite having reached her sixth month.

Generally for a noble once the pregnancy reaches its sixth month it can become a veritable nightmare, only a small minority go through the end of their pregnancy without going through the horrible pain caused by the mana the baby unintentionally releases.

She didn't appear to have any of the symptoms of a noble pregnancy; at that moment, she should've been dead and me with her, but she even appeared to be overly healthy for a pregnant woman.

It was so abnormal, that both my uncle and he began to suspect that the baby might not be Luke’s.

And they did the bold thing to ask her the question, which tickled both of their brains.

They instantly regretted their decision,

She attacked him.

And by "attacked," I didn't mean clawing, slapping, or something of that sort.

She assaulted him with magic, well, it wasn't quite magic, but more of a raw and savage rampage of mana.

Nobles were baptized to avoid such a rampage, for their own safety and of those around them.

Luke said that her rampage has single-handedly ripped off his right arm and killed two of Rosetta manor’s guards in its way.

If it weren’t for Grandfather Emilien’s presence and his healing ability, Luke would’ve certainly died.

It took them a considerable while and efforts to neutralize her without injuring her.

After she had calmed down, she admitted to being the one who had caused the deaths of the two nobles.

She’s been experiencing these kinds of rampages since her third month of pregnancy. And the two nobles were her first human victims.

She recognized she wouldn't be safe in town any longer, so she burned down the mansion to buy herself some time to flee.

She was able to remain concealed thanks to a certain underground organization with whom she was familiar; she had managed to remain hidden for three months, but a series of incidents compelled her to come out of hiding.

The rampages,

They became more and more frequent and violent.

The slightest annoyance, the tiniest feeling of constraint was enough to set them off.

She had absolutely no control over the rampages, which were merely reacting to the slightest shift in her mood.

The rampages she was experiencing were way out of hand for the organization that was sheltering her.

She resolved to seek Luke's assistance at the end of the day, and the only method she could think of contacting Luke was through the Grandfather's healthcare facilities, which were distributed throughout the duchy's territory.

They got it the hard way but at the end of the day, Luke and Uncle Emilien got the answer to their earlier question.

They had no idea how or why she was safe from the rampage but they no longer had any doubt about the baby’s father identity,

At this point, they had no choice except to put her under their protection and wait to see how things play out.

Lord Emilien took charge of keeping her in watch during the rest of her pregnancy, after all, Luke still had a wife and child waiting for him at home, whereas Lord Emilien's absence could easily be covered by a long hunting trip to find oneself.

It worked extremely well for a month and a half, except for several rampages occasionally triggered by nightmares she'd had, but she'd be able to keep her rampage in check as long as she was fed five lunches a day and wasn't asked annoying or stressful questions.

But all changed when her pregnancy was approaching the eighth month.

It began.

Hers arrived later than planned, but it arrived nonetheless.

These rampages suddenly got more frequent, to the point where they may last all day, with the only difference being that this time the rampages were accompanied by agonizing pain.

The last three months are very difficult for a noble for a reason, during that period of the pregnancy, both the baby's and the mother's mana are attempting to adapt to each other.

In my mother's case, she didn't have any mana to adapt to mine in the first place, so the rampage could be explained by the fact that she had nothing to suppress the mana I was unconsciously releasing, and the pain was most likely caused by my mana forcing her body to match to my constitution as a noble.

The suffering a noble feels during pregnancy cannot be relieved by healing magic, and the same was true for the pain my mother was going through.

At the time, they had only two options: terminate her pregnancy or place her in a dream-like state with the help of a friend, who I presume was the masked man from that night, which would not relieve her agony but would help her bear with it for the remaining month of her pregnancy.

They obviously choose the latter option.

And, as a result, she spent the rest of her pregnancy in a vegetative state.

It was around that time, and only then, that they decided to seek assistance from Maa, who had had her fair share of experience with noble birth deliveries.

Four weeks after Maa arrived in the Rosetta manor, the day came.

After nearly two months of being in a vegetative.

The big day had finally arrived.

As I expected, it was a complicated birth delivery. But in the end, my mother and I both made it out unscathed.

On a moonless night I, Ronandt was born.

At first, they believed I had some type of physical handicap because I wasn't crying, but their fears were eventually proven unfounded.

Luke eventually began to explain why my mother and I were separated after he completed detailing the circumstances around my birth.

I had a hazy recollection of seeing her on the bed and a hazy recollection of them performing the baptismal, but that was all I could remember; my next memories were of being cared for by Maa.

That's why I initially assumed she died while giving birth to me, but both Grandfather and Maa confirmed that she was alive.

I was separated from her not because she was dead, but because when she awoke from the dreamlike condition she had been placed in, she had lost all of her memories.

She'd lost all of the memories that made her who she was.

She was like me; she had no memory of who she was.

No, in my case it would make sense to not have any memory in the first place.

But that wouldn’t make sense either because.

Wait~

It wasn’t that.

In her case, there was something wrong with her for not have any memory left while in my case there was something wrong with me because as a baby I shouldn’t have any memory, but the fact that I had no memory in the first place makes it even more wrong than I was if I had memory.

Wait, is it really wrong for me to not have any memory?

Wouldn’t I be more normal if I had no memory of not having any memory at all?

Did I even have memories, to begin with?

Aaaaaaaa~~

I put those mind-boggling questions aside and concentrated on the rest of the story.

Since she wasn’t in a state where she could take care of me, they decided to move her to one of Grandfather's manors in the northeast part of the Duchy, where they hoped to recuperate sufficiently to live as a normal human being.

And in less than two years, she had regained the independence that a person her age should have but she still hadn’t recovered any memory of who she was.

They finally decided to let go of her without informing her who she was or what she had done.

First and foremost, to offer her a fresh start, but also for my own sake.

The chances of a noble couple conceiving a child are extraordinarily low, even lower for a second child, and conceiving a third child may be considered a miracle for the nobility.

In the Altaira only men are permitted to be the head of a ruling family.

And in Luke's case, he'd squandered two of his greatest chances. His first child was a girl, and his sole son was unpresentable for high society.

The fact that Luke's first child was a girl favored me. The lack of a legitimate heir may allow them to introduce me as a child of light with unusually crimson eyes.

Their initial plan was to keep me hidden until Luke would take the head of the Ducal family and introduce me as a child of light who had managed to remain hidden from the church for years, and for that plan to become reality there was no place for my mother.

Black hair like mine is incredibly unusual in our world, and when combined with my crimson eyes, it made my appearance even more uncommon.

So to ensure the success of their plan, they had to eradicate every trace of my parents' existence.

But their plan completely fell apart four years ago,

Four years ago Maa was summoned to the Ducal family to assist Ramia’s mother to give birth to Luke, the first official son: Eliel

At this level, introducing me as a child of light could do nothing but make me appear suspicious.

Because if I were adopted into the Aubrecht family as a child of light after Elliel's birth, I would be placed on the same level as Elliel, and given that I'm five years older than Elliel, that would put me at the top of the line of succession, and that move would make no sense in the eyes of the nobility and the church unless there was a hidden reason behind these moves.

They were at a loss as to what else they could do for me until they received the letter announcing Luke's grandfather's arrival in three months.

From here, I knew everything there was to know about the story except one thing.

“What does father believe might have caused her amnesia?” I asked.

“Are you certain you want to find out?” After a long pause, Luke asked in an even more solemn tone than before.

I felt the beating of my heart accelerating,

Anxiety was creeping up on me.

I had a feeling I wasn't going to like the response to my question.

But I knew I had to confront it nonetheless.

“Yes,” I said, refraining. my entire body to shake.

He extended both of his hands as if to exhibit something with his palms.

Suddenly a red fire appeared on his left palms and bolts of lightning on his right hand.

“Our family is recognized for producing exceptional fire and lightning users, of which I and your great-grandfather are prime examples. When a noble is born, we can tell what element or form of magic he will be skilled at based on the color of the mana he is unconsciously releasing at birth. In Ramia's case, she presented mana that was a blend of red and yellow, whereas in Eliia's case, he presented mana that was pure yellow; in either case, the yellow color remains. From the color, we could tell that Ramia, just like your great-grandfather and I, will become an expert at lightning and fire magic in the future, whereas Elliel would likely become an adept of lightning magic.”

“And my case?” I asked, feeling anxiety rising in me.

“In your case, the hue of your mana was grey fog. We initially assumed that your mother's extended coma had led her to forget everything. However, when we utilized a magic item that allows its users to peer into a people's memories on her, we realized that the only memories she had left were from after her coma, her memories had been completely erased. There was only one possible explanation for something that radical...”

“My magic,” I said this while firmly squeezing my fist to keep it from shaking.

A sudden urge to throw up suddenly gained over.

“Yes, we believe you, like my uncle Edouard family, have developed the unique ability to erase people's memories, but you don't have to feel bad about it because you didn't do it on purpose. That kind-” His words were interrupted by a series of strangled coughs from me.

“Are you okay?’ “Young Lord are you okay ?” Syrus and Luke said in unison.

If their assumption is correct, and I’m highly sure that its case here,

If I really have the ability to wipe people's memories,

Then my mother must have been my first victim.

That could also mean that I could have somehow gained sentience by that same process.

The sheer thought of being a ripoff of someone whose entire existence had been obliterated from her memory by me filled me with dread, revulsion, and, of course, guilt.

“Ronandt! Young Lord!” I vaguely heard from Syrus and Luke.

I felt a tearing sensation in my chest.

Before I knew it, I'd fallen out of my chair and rolled on the ground, attempting to suppress the painful sensation in my chest.

For the second time in my life, I passed out.