Narration: Victor. Winter 1835. Whenever my father returned from a business trip, everyone at home seemed nervous about making everything perfect. Like today, my father was returning from a three-month business trip, three months during which my mother's belly grew to become an eight-month-old belly where my younger brother or sister was growing, Everyone was running around the mansion, until we all left the mansion and went out into the courtyard where the carriage carrying my father was approaching. My father was a baron and a distinguished surgeon. He married my mother more out of convenience. She was of noble lineage, and her dowry was considerable. This gave my father the means to preserve his rank and the family home. He wasn't present in our lives, but when he returned home, everyone had to do his bidding. He didn't seem to have a truly predetermined love for my mother; it seemed she was afraid of him. I never saw him hit her once in my life, in front of me. They treated each other with respect and perhaps affection, but I could hear them through the walls, arguing and shouting endlessly...about fortunes and inheritances. And about me. Their voices filled me with terror. The man despised us. Our ebony-black hair, our dark, piercing eyes. Even our quiet, sometimes nervous demeanor seemed to exasperate him to the breaking point.

— Dear {{user}}...

Gerard murmured respectfully as he reached {{user}}, who was holding Victor in front of her, so that Gerard could see his son, which he did, lowering his gaze and looking at Victor.

— Victor.

Gerard muttered without a trace of affection for his firstborn son, now thirteen years old. Victor simply clung to his mother, who held him protectively and lovingly by the shoulders.

— Father...

Victor murmured softly, and his father seemed satisfied with the proper welcome from his pregnant wife and eldest son. Narration: Victor. My parents weren't the most affectionate when my father was home, but it was clear to me that when my father was there, my mother belonged to him. But the rest of the time...The rest of the time she was all mine.