When I first heard the first part of Luke's story, I realized how much of a mess it was, and I had no idea that it was only the beginning.

The two carbonated bodies discovered inside what was left of the mansion have been identified following a thorough investigation.

These bodies belonged to two members of a low-ranking noble family who had recently relocated to Louisane.

Once the identities of the bodies were established, The case was immediately taken over by a church envoy.

And my mother was the first person suspected of having a direct connection with their murders.

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

The fact that they died in her mansion, combined with her sudden disappearance, made her the ideal suspect.

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

Luke realized right away that the baby was most likely his.

He had clearly explained to my mother what would happen if a commoner were to get impregnated by a noble.

She was well aware of what it entailed.

Notwithstanding this, she was confidently walking around town with a three-month-old belly, indicating that she had no intention of aborting.

She was committing suicide, and with the nobles' murder case, she was dragging Luke with her to the grave.

If the envoys had discovered her whereabouts, it would have meant not only her doom but also certainly Luke's.

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

Lord Emilien took charge of everything from the moment he was assigned the case and launched a discreet woman hunt throughout the duchy, but it all proved futile.

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

She would have been in her sixth month of pregnancy at that point, and 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 there would have been no proof linking her to Luke at that point.

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 her pregnancy, having reached her sixth month.

In general, once a noble's pregnancy reaches the sixth month, it can become a veritable nightmare; only a small minority of pregnant women survive the end of their pregnancy without experiencing 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 point, she should've been dead, and I should've been with her, but she appeared to be unusually healthy for a pregnant woman.

It was so out of the ordinary that both my uncle and I began to suspect that the baby was not Luke's.

And they were brave enough to ask her the question, which tickled both of their minds.

They immediately regretted their decision.

She attacked him.

And when I say "attacked," I don't mean clawing, slapping, or anything of the sort.

She assaulted him with magic, or rather, a raw and brutish rampage of mana.

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

Luke stated that her rampage had ripped off his right arm and killed two of Rosetta Manor's guards.

Luke would have died if it hadn't been for Grandfather Emilien's presence and healing abilities.

It took them a long time and a lot of effort to neutralize her without injuring her.

She confessed to being the one responsible for the deaths of the two nobles after she had calmed down.

She's been having these outbursts since her third month of pregnancy. Her first human victims were undoubtedly the two nobles discovered dead inside the rumbling.

She realized she wouldn't be safe in town for much longer, so she set fire to the mansion to buy herself some time to flee.

She was able to remain hidden for three months thanks to a certain underground organization with which she was familiar. However, a set of events forced her to come out of hiding.

The rampages have become increasingly frequent and violent.

The smallest annoyance, the smallest sense of constraint, was enough to set them off.

She had no control over the rampages, which were triggered by the slightest change 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 help at the end of the day, and the only way she could think of contacting Luke was through the Grandfather's healthcare facilities, which were scattered across the duchy's territory.

They had to work hard for it, but in the end, 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 did not doubt the identity of the baby's father. At this point, they had no choice but to place her under their protection and wait to see how things played out.

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, with the exception of a few rampages triggered by nightmares she'd had, but she'd be able to keep her rampages under control as long as she was fed five lunches a day and wasn't asked annoying or stressful questions.

But everything changed as her pregnancy approached the eighth month.

It started.

Hers arrived later than expected, but it did arrive.

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

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

In my mother's case, she didn't have any mana, to begin with, so the rampage could be explained by the fact that she didn't have anything to suppress the mana I was unconsciously releasing, and the pain was most likely caused by my mana forcing her body to match my constitution as a noble.

Healing magic could not alleviate a noble's suffering during pregnancy, and the same could not be said for my mother's pain.

They had only two options at the time: to terminate her pregnancy or put her in a dream-like state with the help of a friend, who I assume was the masked man from that night, which would not relieve her pain but would help her bear it for the remaining month of her pregnancy.

They obviously opted for the latter.

As a result, she spent the remainder of her pregnancy in a coma.

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

The day arrived four weeks after Maa arrived at the Rosetta manor.

After nearly two months in a vegetative state.

Finally, the big day had arrived.

It was a complicated birth delivery, as I had expected. But, in the end, both my mother and I escaped unscathed.

On a moonless night, I, Ronandt, was born.

Because I wasn't crying, they assumed I had some kind of physical disability, but their fears were soon dispelled.

After he finished detailing the events surrounding my birth, Luke began to explain why my mother and I were separated.

My next memories were of being cared for by Maa. 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.

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

I was estranged from her, not because she was dead, but because she had lost all of her memories shortly after I was born.

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

She, like me, had no recollection of who she was.

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

But that would also be illogical because.

No, it wasn’t that.

In her case, there was something wrong with her because she didn't have any memory left, whereas, in mine, there was something wrong with me. After all, as a baby, I shouldn't have been as sentient as I was.

In my case, being over-sentient as I was when I was born, gave me the impression that something was missing, such as memory, but it didn't make sense for me to have any memory at all.

For years, I felt constrained by the fact that I was born conscious, or that there was something both missing and misplaced in me.

For years, I tried to come up with an explanation, but as time went by, I eventually settled and accepted that fact as normal.

For the time being, I decided to set those perplexing questions aside and focus on the rest of the story.

Since she wasn't in a condition to care for me, they decided to move her to one of Grandfather's manors in the Duchy's northern region, where they hoped she would recover sufficiently to live as a normal human being.

In less than two years, she had regained the independence that a person her age should have, but she still didn't remember who she was.

They eventually decided to let her go without telling her who she was or what she had done.

First and foremost, I wanted to give her a fresh start, but I also wanted to help myself for my sake.

A noble couple's chances of having a child are extremely low, even lower for a second child, and having a third child may be considered a miracle for the nobility.

Only men are allowed to become the heads of ruling families in the Altaira.

And in Luke's case, he'd blown two of his best chances. His first child was a girl, and his only son was unfit for high society.

The fact that Luke's first child was a girl favored me. Due to the lack of a legitimate male heir, they thought they would be able 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 Ducal family's throne 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 a reality, there was no room for my mother.

My black hair is quite unusual in this world, and when combined with my crimson eyes, it makes my appearance even more unusual.

So, in order for their plan to succeed, they had to eliminate all traces of my parents' existence.

But their plan fell apart four years ago when Maa was summoned to the Ducal family to assist Ramia's mother in giving birth to Luke, the Ducal family's first official son: Eliel.

At that point, introducing myself as a child of light could only make me appear suspicious.

Because if I were adopted into the Aubrecht family as a child of light after Elliel's birth, I'd 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, which would make no sense in the eyes of the nobility and the church unless there was a hidden reason behind these moves.

They didn't know what else they could do for me until they got the letter announcing Luke's grandfather's arrival in three months.

Except for one thing, I knew everything there was to know about the story from here.

"What does her father think might have caused her amnesia?" I questioned.

"Are you sure you want to know?" Luke asked, even more solemnly than before, after a long pause.

Anxiety was creeping up on me as I felt my heartbeat quicken.

I had a feeling I wouldn't like the answer to my question.

But I knew I had to confront it anyway.

"Yes," I answered quietly.My entire body began to tremble.

He held out both of his hands as if to demonstrate something with his palms.

Suddenly, a red fire appeared on his left palm, and lightning bolts appeared on his right hand.

"Our Aubrecht family is well-known for producing exceptional fire and lightning users, of which I and your great-grandfather are prime examples. We can tell what element or type of magic a noble 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 Elliel's case, he presented mana that was pure yellow; the yellow color remains in both cases. We could tell from the color that Ramia, like your great-grandfather and me, will become an expert in lightning and fire magic in the future, whereas Elliel would most likely become an expert in lightning magic.``

"How was mine?" I inquired, my heart thrumming.

"The color of your mana, in your case, was grey dark fog." We assumed that your mother's prolonged coma had caused her to forget everything. However, when we used it on her, a magical item that allows its users to peer into a person's memories, we discovered that the only memories she had left were from after her coma, and her memories had been completely erased. There could only be one explanation for something so extreme..."

"My own magic," I said, squeezing my fist tightly to keep it from shaking.

An overwhelming desire to vomit arose.

"Yes, we believe you, like my uncle Edouard's family, have developed the unique ability to erase people's memories or something similar, but you shouldn't feel bad about it because you didn't do it on purpose." And then there were the-" His words were cut short by a flurry of strangled coughs from me.

"Are you all right?" "Young Lord, are you all right?" Syrus and Luke both said the same thing.

If their assumption is correct, which I am confident is the case here, and if I truly have the ability to erase people's memories,

My mother, then, must have been my first victim.

That could also imply that I gained sentience through the same process.

I was filled with dread, revulsion, and, of course, guilt at the prospect of being a ripoff of someone whose entire existence had been obliterated from her memory by me.

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

In my chest, I felt a tearing sensation.

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

I passed out for the second time in my life.