~~
Dietrich
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I continued to read through the journal that I had found in Alaric's desk. There was a lot in its pages that told me of the life that he had led. Not all of it was relevant to the case, but it made me happy to know that he was happy, at least for a while.
1736- October 15
The Wedding to Rahel is today. The first of three over the next few weeks. She was the oldest by a mere week. That was a coincidence in my opinion. And I heard the others talking about how she was the first wife and that put her in charge of them. If that was how they chose to govern themselves, that was fine. However, as a man, I will be the one that runs my house. Though, I do not intend to be cruel to my wives or my children. I will be a loving husband and father to my future children.
1736- December 12
.....
All three of my wives are expecting. They all three apparently conceived on their wedding night. I guess I am a more fertile man than I expected myself to be. However, I am overjoyed. I will not have just one child in the coming year, but three. The preparations have already begun. The ladies will be making the clothes from cloth that was given to them by their families and others from the village for our weddings. There is a lot of the white silken material that will be used for the dressing downs for the children. They are also overjoyed. To think that this joyous day would come so soon.
1737- June 25
The first of my children was born today. A healthy baby boy that I have named Justus. He cries often, but Rahel is caring for him already.
1737- June 27
Another son was born today. Friedrich is the name that I have chosen for him. He has a head full of fair hair like his mother Nini's. I could not be more proud than I am at this moment.
1737- June 30
Another son. Three babies. Three births so soon. All boys. My third son, Oskar, was born to Iris this morning. She was the only one to deliver so early in the day, the others delivered my boys in the evening. I feel like things around this home are going to get busier and a little more noisy. I don't mind though, children are a blessing and I feel truly blessed to be their father. I will take care of them and protect them as I should.
1739- January 22
All my wives are expecting again. They conceived at different times, but they all are expecting within the same month. Each of them has a rotation in the month of ten days. If it goes over that time, I will skip that day and bed none of them. That is how things work for us. Well, except for February, that month is different. Still, to think that they all got pregnant within the same rotation again, that is odd. I am not complaining though. I will take all the children that they can give to me. This is truly a blessing for me.
1739- September 1
Another son was born today. Henny was his name. He is with Iris now, doing well and staying away from the older boys. They can be a little rowdy at times.
!739- September 13
A fifth son was born today. The mother was Rahel. Matz was born through the night before the son came up. He is a little sick, but the doctor says that he should get better soon. I would loathe this day if I were to lose a child. I would not like to see my pass leave this world so soon. However, if I were to lose him, I feel that it would be my karma coming to catch up to me. I have committed so many crimes against people in the world, crimes in the name of justice. And if my son dies, I will blame none other than myself.
1739- September 18
Matz is doing better. The doctor tells me that he is getting stronger by the day and that he no longer worries about him or his health. I am overjoyed at this news. I do not wish for my family to suffer the repercussions of my past.
1739- September 25
I have a sixth son. Nini gave birth to yet another healthy little boy. He is so much like his older brother Friedrich. That same head full of hair from the day that he was born. That color that stayed with him even now, two and a half years later. This son has been named Meik.
1740- January 1
My family is doing well. All my boys are strong, healthy, and happy. Soon, I will be starting lessons for the older boys. They are approaching three years of age and it will soon be time for them to pick up the pen and study. They will learn to be smart and strong, just like their father.
1741- March 17
In the midst of the lessons for the boys today, I learned that Iris and Nini are expecting. I was surprised that Rahel was not part of that revelation. The previous two times they had conceived at the same time, or close to it. I was hoping that every time would be the same. I am enjoying this pattern that I have with my boys.
1741- April 29
Today I learned that Rahel is expecting. I made sure to give her extra attention during her last rotation. I wanted to keep my pattern of boys going as they had been. Soon, I will be adding to my family even more. Three more babies, maybe I will have a daughter this time.
1741- November 30
I got a surprise this morning. Both Nini and Iris birthed my children on the same day. This is a first for them. They are not twins, but they will basically be raised as such. Nini's third son for me was named David and Iris's third son for me is Jakob. They will grow to be strong just like the others.
1741- December 15
Today Rahel went into labor. Hers is by far the biggest surprise to date. She gave birth to twin boys. Julian and Leo make my count of sons up to ten. I am one proud father.
1745- July 31
I thought that the days of more babies might have come to an end. The mothers had not conceived in the last couple of years, so we have focused on the education of the ten sons that I have now. The oldest of which are now eight. They have been learning multiple languages as well as arithmetic and writing. They also learn how to fight. The training hall has not gone to waste with my boys here.
Today though, this glorious day that it is, I learned from my three wives that I am to have three more sons. They didn't call them sons, but I am resigning myself to that. I will most likely never have a daughter. I have come to terms with that fact. I will raise my sons to care for their family well, and they will give me grandchildren, and hopefully granddaughters, in the future. For the time being though, I am happy raising them into perfect little gentlemen.
1746- April 1
Nini was the first to labor this time. She had birthed my eleventh son, Johann. He looks so much like the others, that same fair hair. I am glad that there is diversity in my family, but I also love how the boys born to each mother have features from them. They all look like me though. That is a fact. Every son that I have is easily recognized as being mine. They all have my eyes, but strong features. They are all handsome young men.
1746- April 11
Rahel birth Klemens just before midnight last night, and Iris birthed Christoph this morning. Both were boys. My twelfth and thirteenth sons. Everyone is resting well, but over the last few weeks I made the decision to bring in a couple of nannies. I knew that once the babies were here, my wives would have a hard time with all the children. Their numbers are rising, and they are not as young and agile as they were when we first wed. I do not wish to have them exhausted while caring for my children. The nannies, Merle and Anke, will assist with the studies that the boys participate in on a daily basis. Their studies had started to slip in the recent months as my wives got closer to their deliveries. I am happy that the nannies will be helping with them, as I cannot do it on my own.
1750- May 1
I am beginning to distrust the nannies that I have for my boys. They have been with us for four years now, but I caught them talking to the boys about monsters. I try to explain to my children that vampires, werewolves, were-cats, witches, warlocks, Fae, were-bears, and all the other people of the shadow world are our friends. I do not want these women to undermine me. I do not want them to tell my children that my friends, my brothers and sisters that I fought with, are animals that need to be exterminated.
1750- June 2
The wives are expecting again. I fired Anke and Merle though, so I am not sure how well things will be going with the children. The youngest now are four, and the oldest are thirteen. I believe that I can trust the boys to work on their studies now though. They are old enough to be trusted as they are close to being men of their own right.
1751- January 4
Rahel gave birth this morning. The birth was difficult. My son, Jeremias is fine, but my wife did not make it. She passed away from a bleeding that would not stop. The doctor said that there was nothing more that he could do. This day was supposed to be a blessing, but it is now one for mourning. I do not want to take this out on my child though. He is an innocent party in this. Who is going to care for him though? Who will feed him? I need to force Iris and Nini to do this job for him while they are about to deliver their own baby. Iris is also now the 'first wife'. This is going to be her responsibility for the most part.
1751- January 5
Iris gave birth to Phillip this morning. She will be feeding both of the boys for the time being. And once Nini delivers, they will alternate.
1751- January 6
Nini had Basti this morning. These three boys were delivered so close together. It helps though, Jeremias needed these other mothers of his. He needed them to nurse him so that none of my boys died.
1751- December 18
Nini died this morning. The doctor said that it was from exhaustion. There was just too much for her to do. Iris is now the one that needs to care for the three boys that are almost one year old. I need to hire nannies again, but the only ones available are the ones that I fired. I need to give them stricter rules on what they can and cannot say to my boys. And if they do not listen, then I will be rid of them, permanently this time.
“Permanently?” Shawn sounded shocked. It was the first time that he interrupted me in a while. I had been reading these entries and learning about Alaric without even thinking about what Shawn was getting out of this. “Did he mean that he would kill them, or that he would never rehire them?”
“I don't know.” I shook my head. “At this point, I just don't know.”
I read on. The entries were mostly about training and the dissatisfaction with the nannies. Iris died a year after Nini did, and so when his youngest sons were only two, Alaric was a widower that had no one there to help with his brood of boys. No one except for the nannies that he didn't fully trust.
The entries came fewer and fewer after that though. And by the time that five years had passed since his wives all died, Alaric stopped recording anything in the journal at all. He seems to have just lost the drive to record anything at all by them. And at that time, his oldest sons were already almost twenty years old and looking for brides of their own. Life was moving on, but Alaric seemed to have been lost in its wake.
I felt sorry for my old friend. He never had a forever love. He never had that one person that he felt was meant for him. He had a large family, but by the time that the journal ended, he must have felt that things were unraveling. His sons were leaving him and going out on their own. He was going to be heartbroken. Trust me, I know how hard it is when your kids get older and leave you. That is what happened with mine recently. And they were still staying at home. I can't imagine how Alaric truly felt by this point.
