Chapter 109 What you said is really not convincing.

Joe Rodney.

"Why is there another illegitimate child?"

Hedda stood by and watched Edith studying his information. She couldn't help but sigh. Unexpectedly, she turned around and saw Bell. She quickly explained, "I didn't mean anything bad!"

"It's okay." Bell shrugged and added some water to Edith's glass. "It's normal."

"Except for mistresses and lovers who are particularly favored, illegitimate children will generally not be recognized by their original families throughout their lives, unless they have extremely extraordinary talents and can bring far greater benefits than the damage to the family's reputation - those who are recognized are naturally geniuses."

That’s why there are several well-known illegitimate children at the top of the league.

"It can be considered an 'entrance exam' in another sense," Edith sighed.

She continued to flip through the documents in her hand.

Joe Rodney was named Roy before he was ten years old, taking his mother's surname. When he was eleven years old, he was taken home and his surname was changed to Rodney, and his name was changed to Joe at the same time.

"I know that!" Heda knew almost all the family secrets. "The original heir of the Rodney family was named Joe. He seemed to have fallen seriously ill when he was about seven or eight years old, and he has never appeared in public since then."

Earl Rodney probably didn't want the death of the heir to affect the family, so he secretly looked for the illegitimate children who had been living outside, tried them one by one, and chose Roy, who was extremely talented, to bring back to the family. But he didn't want to acknowledge Roy's identity as a mother, nor did he want the "illegitimate child inheriting the family" to become a topic of conversation among the nobles of Renwei, so he simply changed his name to Joe and tried to push Roy into the social circle in the name of curing his illness.

"Joe has been locked up at home since he was seriously ill at the age of seven. Four years later, when 11-year-old Roy appeared in public, everyone would just think that he had grown older and looked different." Hedda was very excited, counting the time on her fingers. "Joe didn't have many friends of the same age, so naturally no one could recognize his identity as an imposter.

At his 11th birthday party, Lord Rodney pushed Roy out to announce that his eldest son had recovered from his illness, and everyone came to congratulate him - who knew that Roy would jump out and say his real name when introducing himself.

It was the first time Bell had heard such a story. Hearing this, he didn't even care about what he was doing. "How do you expose it? Just say I'm a bastard?"

"That's not the case." Hedda scratched his head and thought carefully. "I wasn't old enough to enter the social circle at that time. I wasn't there, and I heard it from others. It seems that after the party officially started, a child of the same age came up to talk to him. Roy may have had little contact with people, so he became very close to the other person after just a few words, and whispered to him, "Let me tell you a secret—"

"—and then the child announced the news at the party."

The three people in the dormitory took a deep breath.

"And then?" Mu Lin had entered the room without anyone noticing, and was now staring intently at Hedda. "What was Earl Rodney's reaction?"

This made Hedda excited.

She turned and walked to the wall, adjusting her position to ensure that her three roommates surrounded her in a semicircle. After enjoying the atmosphere as if she were standing on a stage for a few seconds, she cleared her throat and described the situation vividly: "The child's family has no power, and Lord Rodney immediately became angry and said that the other party was lying - but anyone with a discerning eye could see the problem."

"It's just a kid's joke. If you really don't care, you can just laugh it off. He must be hiding something if he's so anxious. After all, Roy has lived outside as an ordinary child for ten years. It's good that he hasn't been suspected. But if he is suspected and asked about, he won't be able to hide anything."

Edith frowned, let go of the pen with her right hand, and pressed hard on her brow: "...So, Earl Rodney admitted it?"

“No.”

Heda shook her head. "He still insists that Roy is Joe, and he calls him by that name to the outside world. Roy was locked up for a while after that incident, and he appeared again for the entrance exam."

What happened next was also recorded in the documents Edith had.

She quickly flipped back to the first page of the school records, pointed and read aloud: "He went crazy during the entrance exam and used a self-destruct spell in the place where students gathered at the checkout counter. In the end, one student and two companions died, and countless others were injured. He himself survived because of timely treatment."

The person who died this time was not the son of some small family, but the son of a powerful marquis. His title was higher than Earl Rodney's and he had some say in the palace. However, because Joe blew himself up instead of intentionally injuring anyone, and Earl Rodney went crazy and banged his head against the wall in the palace to save his child - this showed that they were father and son - the Queen let the matter pass lightly.

Of course, the Marquis has been at odds with the Rodney family ever since, and they still have no contact with each other to this day.

"If that's the case, there have been rumors that the young master was killed at the behest of the queen." In the cafeteria, Amy listened to the dormitory conversation summarized by several people, looked around, and made sure that no one was eavesdropping or peeping around, then quietly leaned in and said, "After all, that person was really in power at the time, and the heir was so outstanding. If he wasn't killed, the family would only get bigger and bigger."

"But I think this is purely an accident. The Queen did not take the initiative to intervene, but she did play a role in the subsequent development of the incident. Earl Rodney's attitude of disregarding his political career for the sake of his children is very popular with those in power. By pushing him up and suppressing those who are truly ambitious, the court can be balanced."

Mulin bit the spoon, looking puzzled: "To protect an emotionless illegitimate child like this...Do the nobles take the issue of heirs so seriously?"

In their place, a child who can do such a thing is basically not favored, and the family will definitely kick the child out immediately if something happens. How can they still make up excuses and forcefully keep the child?

Edith also had this doubt. She recalled the contents of the file: "Earl Rodney has many children. His two wives gave birth to nine children in total. Including 'Joe', there are ten in total."

"Except for the real Joe who died of illness, what about the other eight children?"

She turned to look at Tuttle. It was he who had given her the Rodney family's education during the promotion match. "You said at the time that they all had problems as if they were cursed, but now it seems that Joe has a lot of problems too - so what diseases did those 'orthodox' ones have?"

Tuttle frowned. "I don't really know," he said frankly. "After all, it's their family's privacy. I only got some information because my parents participated in the customization of their treatment plan."

"My parents were in charge of treating the third girl, who was about two years older than Joe. It was said that her legs were fused together when she was born, and they were as hard as stone. No sword, spell, or potion could separate them."

"Then how is she... uh." Lynch said hesitantly, "Is she still alive now?"

"She's still alive. My parents should have given her a plan to help her excrete. I'm not sure about the details, but it should have helped her survive for a while."

Tuttle glanced at Edith, cleared his throat, and said calmly: "If you need, I can go back and look through it. I should be able to find some information."

"Excuse me," Edith said quickly.

Treatment plans can still reflect a family's habits. Some families value reputation above all else and would rather die than accept "unconventional" treatment plans; some families think highly of themselves and leave a lot of changes in the treatment plans, indicating that they don't trust doctors at all.

The image of Earl Rodney in her eyes was currently very vague, and she needed more information to fill in this person.

Leaving behind the slightly smug and delighted Tuttle and the enthusiastic Amy, Lynch, who was sitting at the end of the table, seemed to be a little worried. He hesitated for two seconds and looked up to meet Edith's inquiring gaze.

Lynch: “…”

The tangled thoughts in my mind disappeared in an instant, and I told the story naturally: "If I remember correctly, I should know 'Roy'."

"We all know--" Hedda paused in the middle of his sentence, suddenly realizing what the other party meant, "You know 'Roy'?!"

Not the current Joe, but Roy before he was ten years old and was not picked up by his family?

"Yes." Lynch glanced at his sister's puzzled look and said, "...when I was six years old."

Bell frowned, as if trying to search his memory: "Starting at the age of six? Was there anyone else present besides the tutor?"

"And the governess' children."

Belle finally dug out the vague figure from the depths of her memory. She racked her brains, but could only barely recall a few fragments - the new tutor moved into the manor with the child, but the boy was not allowed to appear in the main house. She could only occasionally see a head popping out from behind a pillar at the boundary between the main house and the servants' quarters.

Other than that, I have no memory of anything.

"I'm surprised you still remember him." She complained, "Is that boy also called Roy? No, I remember he was quite shy. It shouldn't be the same boy."

Besides, Earl Rodney is a nobleman from the royal capital, so he should not have the opportunity to come into contact with a tutor from a small border town.

"That's why I dare not say it." Lynch looked a little aggrieved. "Didn't Hedda just say that 'Joe' called herself Roy Arnold? The tutor's last name is Arnold. She claimed that her husband was dead and she didn't need to focus on the family, so her father agreed to hire her as a tutor."

The name and situation all matched.

"There should be a lot of people with the same name." Mu Lin asked uncertainly, "Is there any other evidence?"

"We are the same age, he is three years older than me. He had a very good temper at that time, and you didn't play with me, so I often went to find him secretly." Although most of the time, the other party was the one being played.

Enlightenment only covers the ages of six to eight. Before the age of eight, teachers only need to understand basic magic knowledge, and then the more particular families will re-select them. When Lynch was eight years old, his parents unanimously decided that the original teacher could not teach him more, and took the initiative to dismiss Teacher Arnold.

Lynch rarely felt lonely.

He secretly asked the housekeeper to go to Roy's house to meet him, but unexpectedly, only Teacher Arnold was left at home. She smiled a little reluctantly, but still maintained her usual gentleness and poured him a glass of water.

"He was taken away by his father." The teacher confessed, "I don't have a husband, but Roy has a father."

The housekeeper kept urging him, and he didn't have time to ask more questions and hurriedly left the teacher's house. Not long after that, he learned from his parents that teacher Arnold had died of illness.

"I heard that her husband had many women outside." The mother was furious, "and he had many children outside. She thought this was a good idea, so she took the child back home as an heir!"

"You too, do you think that girl is better? I don't even want to say--"

Edith paused for a few seconds.

"A lot of women?" Edith turned to look at Hedda. "I remember you said he wasn't into women."

He has two wives, countless mistresses, and has given birth to so many children. Does this mean he doesn't like women?

"Yes." Heda nodded desperately, "It is said that he simply likes children and is with different women for the sake of children."

Edith: “…”

Is she crazy or is the world crazy?

"What a family of lunatics," she complained to Hedda. "Is being sick a necessary condition for becoming a noble?"

Amy came over and shook her head solemnly, "No."

Edith: "..."

What you said is really unconvincing.