Book One The Black Lion Old Version

Choosing a house

Jeralt did not think he would ever return to this place when he walked around the halls. He couldn't help but be reminded of Siri every place that he looked was a spot that they walked together, talked together, and had their first time. He could recall all of these things.

It was a painful reminder of the amount of time that had passed since her passing. Another painful reminder is the daughter he lost, who was stillborn. The gravestone of his wife and his stillborn daughter, Sonia, was looking at. He didn't think about that tragic day for many years. He wishes he could forget it. What should have been the happiest moment of his life turned out to be a tragedy. He had not revealed to his son why he left the monastery 20 years ago.

The look he saw in his son's face when Rhea offered him a chance to be a teacher was something he did not expect to see. Excitement as much as he hated this, the mercenary life was not the life he wanted for his child. He wished to have a life for his son where he could just be normal, with friends, so he could just be anybody but a mercenary.

He felt like a failure as a father and as a captain of the knight of Seiros. He was full of regrets. He looked at the gravestone of his wife, the woman he loved. He would have given anything to see her once again. He told her how much she meant to him. If there was one thing he was glad about, it was that Byleth inherited his mother's love for animals and her appreciation for nature. He never wanted the mercenary life for his only surviving child, but there was no choice. There was nothing he was good at except being a soldier. When he was once a knight of Faerghus, which felt like a different lifetime ago in his youth, he was considered the greatest captain the kingdom had ever had. Though those who knew him in his youth are long dead, his friends, his parents, his father's namesake, Byleth. Despite naming his son after his own father, he had nothing in common with him. He didn't know why he named him after his own father. Jeralt. When he thinks about the life he had before he met Rhea, he is reminded of how old he truly is.

Those who look at him would think that would think he is in his late 40s to early 50s though it would actually be the case that he is much older than he had known. He was in his mid-20s when he met Rhea. He was a brash youth who sought glory.

When the archbishop was about to be killed, he shielded her with his own body.

What he thinks about that day,

The boy that he was died.

He disregards the memory,

Not wanting to think about those years where he had lost everything and everyone that he had loved.

His parents, brothers, and sisters, aunts, and uncles, along with nieces and nephews that he no longer keeps track of due to how painful it is to see and outlive everyone.

He kept everyone at arm's length due to not wanting to deal with the pain and hardship of losing loved ones.

The first person who truly brought out

the man he was before

He saw everyone he loved die was Siri Nobody can bring that part of him out again, not even his son.

He hopes the gods won't be so cruel as to have him outlive even his own son.

He put Siri's favorite flower on her gravestone along with his daughters and turned his back.

He had work to do and he knew the Archbishop would not have him stand in the monastery for long.

He walked past a bunch of potential students, including his son, and saw the transfer students from a few days ago.

They resembled other people that he had once known Naruto Usamaki in particular looked like his parents his mother and his Father It was with the assistance of Siri that he opened had taught them everything he knew about how to fight and how to properly defend themselves He was not only their friend but their teacher Here 20 years later was their son Who was walking with his friends to his class.