Chapter 12

Eight months have passed since my skills were identified.

Even after eight months, I still don't understand why my parents sounded disappointed or desperate when I was born.

Their attitude towards me hasn't changed at all since the discussion, and it's likely that they will continue to judge whether I have the talent to be a duke after I grow up a bit, as they probably said when I was born.

I had finally learned to crawl, but the maid who was always watching me, just like when I was born, prevents me from exploring the house.

To be precise, I can explore, but whenever I try to go somewhere, she always picks me up and moves in the direction I point, holding me the whole time. At first, my body would react negatively, but now I prepare myself mentally before she picks me up.

Honestly, it's a bit annoying.

Some might think, "Don't be picky! She's carrying you around!" but I really want to do things on my own.

Recently, I've been going to the study in this castle, but she always watches me closely the whole time.

(I can't concentrate.)

If I do anything suspicious, she will surely report it to my parents.

That's a problem.

My position is still unclear.

I am certainly one of the first candidates to be the next duke in this castle.

However, when I was three months old, the second and third wives, who were also pregnant, gave birth one after another.

The second wife gave birth to a boy, and the third wife gave birth to a girl.

By the way, my father has one more wife, the fourth wife, making a total of four wives.

My mother, the first wife, married my father, who was a count, in what was called a political marriage.

It was just a name, though.

In reality, they had liked each other for a long time.

Fortunately, my mother, Sophia, had magical talent.

While magical talent isn't supposed to be hereditary, statistically, children born to parents with magical talent are more likely to have it as well.

It's a kind of jinx.

Moreover, she was a rare trio, which led to the noble who was her former fiancé giving up on her for political reasons.

By the way, a single magical talent is called a solo, two is a duo, three is a trio, a single skill is a single, two skills are a double, and three skills are a triple.

My father made her his wife under the pretense of being interested only in her talents, but the truth is that they loved each other, and that's how things turned out.

Next, let me explain about the third wife.

She also has magical talent.

Her family is a viscount's, which is a bit lower in status, but she is a duo with two magical talents.

While there are a fair number of nobles with duo magical talents, she is rare because she has the light attribute.

My father wanted a child with magical talent when he married my mother, so he chose her for her particularly rare talent.

The fourth wife is in a very delicate position, being the third daughter of a baron.

Being the third daughter of a baron puts her in a very ambiguous position in the nobility.

Therefore, it's unusual for her to be married to the current duke.

However, she has a unique constitution, possessing a double with a rarity of 6 and a skill of rarity 4, and she is also a duo with two magical talents.

My father highly valued this and made her his wife.

To be honest, I don't really understand the relationships between these people!

My mother is the kind of person who, in my previous life, could get along with anyone, and I've seen her having tea in the courtyard with the third and fourth wives through the window.

Finally, the second wife is a difficult one...

She is the second daughter of a duke, and her parents arranged her engagement to my father when she was born.

They apparently didn't speak properly until she was over 15.

To be honest, my father didn't like her.

From what I've heard of my parents' conversations, my father is a good noble.

He genuinely cares about the people and takes action, making him quite a remarkable person.

That's why he's so affectionate with my mother...

However, this duke's second daughter is a bad noble in the worst sense.

If I were to imagine a bad noble based on information from novels, she would be this kind of person.

Specifically, she often says things to my father like, "Isn't the tax from the people too low?!" or "They multiply like weeds, so we should exploit them more!" or even "The status of commoners in the castle's knight corps should be lowered!"

Naturally, she doesn't get along with the other wives.

It's only natural, given that she looks down on the wives of lower status.

Every time we meet in the hallway, she glares at me with a look of disdain.

She probably thinks that the next duke should be her son.

I don't really need that, but when she treats me like this, I suddenly feel a strong desire to become the duke.

When I was three months old, her first son was born.

After the ominous ritual, it was revealed that he had a single magical talent and one skill.

To be honest, it's mediocre.

The odds aren't bad, but they're not good either. (I have seven)

However, the second wife was very excited about this result.

She kept saying things like, "The next duke will definitely be my child!!" which made no sense.

At first, my father said, "It's still too early to tell. I will basically pass the position to Rain," but he seems to have lost patience with the second wife, who wouldn't listen, and now he mostly ignores her.

He only talks to her when necessary, with a forced smile.

Every time I see that face, it reminds me of high school.

It's exactly like a former classmate who had to talk to me, even though they didn't like me, with a strained smile.

Anyway, given my complicated position, I want to study hard and leave home as soon as possible, but the maid always interrupts me when I'm reading.

"Time for bed.

Let's go back to your room," she says, picking me up and carrying me back to my room.

I thought about crying and making a fuss, but it's her job.

If anything happens to me, she might lose more than just her job, so I can't really get angry. As a result, I only get to touch a little bit of knowledge.

(I need to do something about this.)

That's what I thought.