The duke's daughter

I: The Adoption and The Mock Battle

In early November 1159, Rhea leaves the nearly two month old infant Byleth in a basket with a blanket on top of the basket on Rodrigue's doorstep before she knocks on the door and leaves. "Who is knocking on my door at this hour?", he asks before he walks over to the door. He answers and finds the basket on his doorstep before bringing the basket inside, pulling the blanket off the top of the basket and finding Byleth fast asleep in the basket. "A baby girl?", he asks, confused. He finds a message in the basket, which says "Lord Rodrigue, please forgive me for making you answer the door at this hour, but I must ask you to take in Byleth. Please raise her as your only daughter. Her biological parents died shortly after she was born, so she needs a family she'll grow up knowing. Yours truly, Archbishop Rhea.",. "Seriously, Lady Rhea?! You gave me a orphaned baby girl who lost her birth parents shortly after she was born for me to raise?!", he says aloud in disbelief, but he quickly calms down and accepts the task he received from Rhea. It's nighttime, so he puts the basket on the table in the bedroom he shares with his wife, who had already changed into her nightgown, climbed into the bed and fallen asleep, before he changes into his nightshirt, climbs into the bed, pulls the covers up over them both and falls asleep. The next morning, after they wake up, his wife looks at the table and spots the basket. They get dressed for the day before he walks over to the table and takes Byleth out of the basket, after which she wakes up and opens her eyes to reveal her teal eyes match her teal hair. Rodrigue adopts her and renames her Byleth Rose Fraldarius before she meets her older brother Glenn and their uncle. When he moves his gloved hand to push her hair out of her tiny face, she grabs his finger, surprising him and his wife. His younger brother laughed at this. "Looks like Byleth's going to grow up with a good amount of strength.", he told Rodrigue. "Yeah.", he replied. So with that, she became Byleth Rose Fraldarius, the only daughter of Rodrigue Achille Fraldarius. Nearly 20 and a half years later, in March 1180, Byleth and her younger brother, Felix Hugo Fraldarius, attend the academy with their friends. 4 years ago, she saved their older brother Glenn, Dimitri, his father Lambert and Dedue from getting murdered by sinister mages. "Hey, do you know what's ahead of us this year, Byleth?", Felix asks Byleth as they walk to class. "Honestly, I'm not sure, Felix. But I hope this year will be a good one.", she tells him. Jeritza was their professor this year. By the end of April, it was time for the annual mock battle. The blue lions won the battle.