…even though that anyone meant Benevirau in particular…

The black-haired boy wanted to talk with the dark-blue-haired butler to inform him about the name that his mother had given him, but that could wait.

The kitchen was exactly where Zoemi had expected it to be situated – from a quick inspection the black-haired attendant nodded to himself with satisfaction.

Despite not being particularly big, the kitchen was up to his standards – both spotlessly clean and well equipped.

Still – it wasn’t like Zoemi was particularly hungry – it simply was still a bit too early for him to have a meal.

After checking up on the gastronomy facility the black-haired boy ended up moving aimlessly until he finally ended up by the stairs leading to a higher floor.

”… since I’m already here…”

Zoemi shrugged to himself and got upstairs.

The first thing that he saw after doing that was a hallway with rows of paintings portraying generations of Banemors.

”…”

The closest one to the staircase was the portrait of none other than his mother.

Zoemi didn’t need the plaque with Learen Etrolia Banemor put under the frame.

Judging by the school uniform – and particularly by the badge of a flower in full bloom, a mark of a third-year student at the Aspakeony Academy – the black-haired girl must have been eighteen when it was painted.

She looked so proud and happy, she still had no idea what will happen to her after graduation…

The next painting was showing a much younger Learen sitting by a smiling pair of a cheerful gold-haired woman with adorable dimples, and a tall black-haired man in whom Zoemi recognized the shadow corpse puppet that Aspakeony showed up within his room before.

Banemor family – Vizta Emmer Banemor; Iwarei Minas Banemor, nee Bellcephora; Learen Etrolia Banemor.

”…so my grandmother was related to the royal family…”

Zoemi raised his brows while sliding his finger on the plaque beneath the family portrait although he definitely spent the most time looking at that particular painting, the black-haired boy didn

t just stop there and walked down the hallway looking at each and every member of his family.

Interestingly enough although the partners wielded many different attributes, Banemors heir would almost always end up black-haired indicating that the shadow and darkness attributes really ran deep in the family.

Or maybe it was the other way around? The children with the shadow or darkness attribute would be more likely to be chosen as heirs…?

It was possible, but it was impossible to tell just by the pictures – the families painted on each would almost exclusively have only a single child – with the only exception being two boys that must have been twins as their faces looked exactly the same.

Although their faces were the same – they were even making the same expression – the colors of their eyes and hair were completely different.

The boy on the left had jet-black hair and eyes while for the boy on the right they were gold.

”…”

Zoemi looked back at the painting that would be chronologically next and saw only the black-haired one – older and already married and with a child – so he curiously looked at the plaque, wondering whether there would be some kind of hint for the gold-haired boy’s faith.

Mirrowel Nestro Banemor; Kasorius Reterne Banemor.

”…huh… HUH?!”

And he certainly found out the answer he was looking for!

As long as it wasn’t some extreme coincidence, there was little doubt about the name!

Wasn’t Kasorius Reterne both the first and middle name of the king of the Bellcephora kingdom who was murdered by the Ghosts of Bellcephora?!

And didn’t Zoemi learn just the previous night that the leader of the Ghosts, Carcassuss was Kasorius’s bastard child?!

No wonder Carcassuss was a powerful darkness magician from the get-go!

Kasorius himself was from the Banemor family!

”This is wild…”

Zoemi breathed out smirking to himself while looking up at the faces of his ancestors.

”That means I am distantly related to at least one member of the Ghosts of Bellcephora… this feels… filthy…”

The black-haired boy made a bitter expression and shuddered at the thought.

”That said… I kind of expected Benevirau to show up at some of the paintings – he was the watching over the Banemor territory for so long after all… is he just keeping a low profile or something…?”

I do not know the answer for that, kiddo – you can go and ask him yourself though.

Zoemi tilted his head and wondered – which prompted the Ludier’s shadow to speak up inside his mind.

”I know, I was just thinking out loud – besides, there are still more paintings. Maybe they weren’t hiding him at the beginning.”

The black-haired boy rolled his eyes and scoffed before continuing his sightseeing tour.

The sun began properly raising – showing itself from behind the horizon when Zoemi arrived at the end of the hallway to see two last pictures, and his question was answered.

The two last ones were different from the rest.

First o all both of them were definitely meant to be a pair – one big and detailed, a masterpiece painted in the same style as all the ones that Zoemi had already seen, and the other, a small one, clearly made by a child who was really trying their best but was only slightly above the level of stick figures.

Still, judging by the frames, the two were clearly favored by the person decorating the hallway.

The large one was showing the dark-blue-haired Benevirau in his butler uniform – who surprisingly was shown with dark-blue eyes instead of misty-gray, with a cheerful black-haired boy sitting on his knees proudly puffing up his chest.

”…huh…”

As he did before, Zoemi curiously looked at the plaque and let out a short gasp.

Benevirau; Mekirien Banemor.

”…!”

Zoemi hurriedly glanced at the previous painting – the plaque specifically…

Mekirien Nevira Banemor; Resque Cortie Banemor, nee Derizno; Sawatrio Orta Banemor.

It showed the same boy already grown up and married to a blue-haired calm-looking woman, together with their young black-haired daughter.

The black-haired boy hurriedly looked back at the picture with Benevirau – and then he looked over at the small childish picture right next to it.

It was supposed to show three people.

A tall blue-haired and blue-eyed smiling man with childish letters spelling the words ‘daddy’ and an arrow pointing at him.

A child figure with black hair and eyes with ‘me’ above them.

And a winged woman with long black hair and black eyes, hovering over the two others in the clouds, with the word ‘mommy’ above her head.

Interestingly enough, Zoemi noticed that in the big portrait, Benevirau’s clothes had the pocket with the chain of the pocket watch sticking out of it on the opposite side than it usually should be…

…although that detail alone could be explained by the change of fashion that happened through the years, that wasn’t exactly the case this time.

”…ah…! It’s mirrored! Could it be that he painted it himself by looking at the mirror?”

You can ask him about it if you go to him.

Zoemi gasped in realization after noticing that the mole on the boy’s face changed its location on the painting where he was an adult – and immediately got a down-to-earth answer from Ludier’s shadow immediately.

”…true…”

Still, this time Zoemi ended up nodding and turned around and walked back down the hallway – he ended up overhearing some noise coming from the lower floor that must have been either Benevirau or Reo – or possibly Ririe.