Chapter 18: The Ninth Child

The candle flame on the table swayed gently as the night breeze slipped through the gap in the window. Its dim yellow light moved with it, stretching Hera's shadow across the floor before allowing it to shrink again.

Hera stood several steps in front of the bed with her hands still clasped together, while Zeldryn remained seated and waited for the answer to his first question.

"Tell me who I am."

Hera remained silent for a moment. The question sounded simple, but it was still strange to hear someone ask about themselves. However, after learning that Zeldryn had lost most of his memories, she no longer dared question the reason behind it.

She immediately lowered her head.

"You are Zeldryn Giorry, Lord. You are the ninth child of Marquis Zorin Giorry, the head of the Giorry family."

Zeldryn, who had been listening calmly, almost let his surprise show.

'The ninth child?' Zeldryn thought. 'Seriously? How many children does this guy have?'

He had already assumed that noble families probably had quite a lot of members. Political marriages were likely common in a world like this as well, but being the ninth child was still far beyond what he had expected.

Zeldryn leaned back slightly before asking in the calmest voice he could manage.

"How many children does my father have?"

Hera raised her head slightly.

"Marquis Zorin Giorry has thirteen children, Lord."

Zeldryn almost froze again.

'Thirteen!?'

He immediately did a rough count in his head. With that many children, the Giorry family's main residence had to feel more like a noble boarding house than an ordinary family home.

"Why does he have so many children?"

The question slipped out before Zeldryn could stop himself. Hera looked slightly confused, as if she was not entirely sure how she was supposed to answer something like that.

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"Marquis Zorin has four wives, Lord."

Zeldryn stared at her.

"Four?"

"Yes, Lord," Hera replied with a slow nod. "Most of Marquis Zorin's children were born from his three wives who came from noble families. You, however, are the son of Lady Anna Giorry."

Zeldryn held his breath for a moment.

'Four wives. You've got to be kidding me,' Zeldryn thought.

After thinking about it again, however, something like that probably should not have surprised him too much. This was the world of the fantasy novel he had once read, and the original protagonist of that novel had been surrounded by seven to nine different heroines throughout the story. There had been a princess, noblewomen, mages, adventurers, and all kinds of other female characters who eventually became involved with him.

By the standards of this world, a marquis having four wives actually felt somewhat reasonable.

Still, merely imagining life inside a family with four mothers and more than ten children was enough to make Zeldryn's head hurt.

'God, the political warfare inside this family must be a nightmare,' Zeldryn thought.

Each wife probably had her own family backing her, while each child could have their own ambitions, interests, and claims to the family's inheritance. Then there were the differences in status between their mothers. Zeldryn had not even met most of his half-siblings yet, but he could already imagine how complicated their relationships must have been.

Even with all those thoughts filling his head, Zeldryn kept his expression calm. He could not afford to look too shocked by information about his own family.

"Then where is my mother now?"

"Lady Anna is currently at the Giorry family's main residence, Lord."

"The main residence," Zeldryn repeated quietly.

That meant his mother lived together with Zorin, his other three wives, and most of the Giorry children. Meanwhile, Zeldryn himself had been placed in a mansion far away from the center of the family's territory.

He stared at the candle flame as it continued to sway.

Since morning, Zeldryn had already felt as though he was being deliberately kept away from the family. This mansion was far too quiet for the residence of a marquis's son. No family members lived with him, and almost everyone here was either a servant or a guard.

Now, that suspicion was beginning to feel even stronger.

Zeldryn looked back at Hera.

"Do I have any full siblings?"

Hera tilted her head slightly.

"You mean siblings born from the same mother, Lord?"

"That's right."

"No, Lord," Hera answered immediately. "You are the only child born to Marquis Zorin and Lady Anna."

'So I'm an only child from my mother's side,' Zeldryn thought.

He gave a small nod as he stored that information away.

All of his siblings came from Zorin's other three wives, which meant he did not have a single sibling who stood in exactly the same position as him. If conflict ever broke out within the family, he would not even have a sibling from the same mother who could naturally stand on his side.

Another question that had been bothering him for some time immediately came to mind.

"Hera."

"Yes, Lord?"

Zeldryn studied her for a moment before finally asking the question directly.

"Why do I feel like I've been cast out from the main residence?"