Uchiha in Zenless Zone Zero

Zhong Xi's birth brought a wave of liveliness to the entire Victoria Housekeeping estate.

Nearly every maid and butler expressed their affection for this new member.

At the request of Rina and Lycaon, Zhong Yan also attended the Victoria Housekeeping family banquet.

This banquet was specially held by the Mistress of the household for Zhong Xi. With both mother and daughter absent, only Zhong Yan, as the father, could attend on their behalf.

As a result, the seat he was given was second only to the Mistress herself, placing him on equal footing with Rina and Lycaon.

This indirectly confirmed Ellen's status within the household.

Incidentally, the Mistress herself attended the banquet as well, seated at the upper left of Zhong Yan.

A dignified woman with striking long white hair, she looked every bit like a princess from the Middle Ages—noble and untouchable.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Zhong Yan. My little Ellen owes you a great deal," the Mistress suddenly struck up a conversation with Zhong Yan before the banquet officially began.

This caught Zhong Yan slightly off guard, but he recovered quickly, picking up the wine glass in front of him and replying, "Ellen is my only friend at school. Naturally, I wanted to look out for her... though the way I did it was a bit, well, you know."

"Haha, you two are in love with each other, so there's nothing wrong with that. But I'm curious—when I had Lycaon invite you to speak with me before, why did you refuse?" The Mistress followed up with a rather pointed question.

Zhong Yan hesitated for a moment, unsure how to respond. After a brief silence, he finally said slowly, "Back then, Ellen and I hadn't progressed to where we are now. But now, I want to take responsibility."

His answer was brief and direct—exactly the kind that pleased the Mistress. At the very least, there was nothing in it that she could find fault with.

Besides, she'd only wanted to toy with him a bit. She hadn't actually planned on holding the past against him.

Now that their child had been born, what reason would she have to fear he'd run away?

"I heard there's more than one woman around you, and some of them also have children with you. But you promised Ellen that you wouldn't neglect her. I believe you. As for the child... leaving her here at the Victoria Housekeeping estate shouldn't be a problem, right?"

The Mistress spoke firmly. In her eyes, Zhong Xi was not only Zhong Yan's daughter but also a child of the estate.

If Zhong Yan dared to deny this, she absolutely wouldn't allow it.

Ellen could leave with him—but the child? Absolutely not.

From a strategic perspective, this child was a bargaining chip in negotiations with the Uchiha.

Of course, as long as relations didn't sour, things wouldn't escalate to that point.

"No problem. I'm not exactly suited for raising a child. Leaving her with you puts me at ease," Zhong Yan nodded, not rejecting the Mistress's request.

Just as Zhong Ling had been placed in the care of the Cunning Hares, Zhong Xi, too, should remain with Victoria Housekeeping. Given his current situation, bringing the child home simply wasn't realistic.

Because bringing the child home meant bringing her mother home, too.

Zhong Yan hadn't achieved his dreams yet. He planned to wait until he could buy a place in the central district of the city. Right now, that cramped apartment couldn't possibly accommodate so many people.

"In that case, let's not leave tonight until we're drunk!" The Mistress's smile bloomed as soon as she received Zhong Yan's agreement.

And just like that, Victoria Housekeeping was now firmly tied to the Uchiha.

...

Several months passed.

News came: Belle was pregnant.

Zhong Yan had long expected this. After all, Anby and Ellen were both still recovering. Belle was the only one he could turn to.

That made him, essentially, the father of three children.

To think that just over a year ago, he'd still been a clueless young man—it was hard to believe how fast things had progressed.

But then again, what choice did he have? He had three wives.

These days, when he wasn't working, he often went back and forth between the Cunning Hares, the rental apartment, and the Victoria Housekeeping estate—bringing nutritional supplements for his children and checking in on their mothers.

Before long, Zhong Ling, now six months old, learned to crawl, and Anby made a full recovery, ready to take on missions again.

At the same time, the Cunning Hares established an unwritten rule: during missions, someone must always stay behind to watch over Zhong Ling. If not, they would refuse the mission, even at the risk of offending clients.

As for Zhong Xi, there was no need to worry.

Even in Ellen's absence, there were plenty of skilled maids at the estate to care for her—true professionals, no less. There was nothing to worry about.

One day, perhaps on a whim, the Mistress of Victoria Housekeeping personally invited the entire Cunning Hares.

Or rather, they were inviting Zhong Ling—after all, he was also Zhong Yan's child and the biological older brother of Zhong Xi.

But at only six months old, there was no way he could understand any of this. The Mistress likely just wanted to see him.

...

That day, responding to the Mistress's invitation, the entire Cunning Hares visited the Victoria Housekeeping estate.

When she heard there would be a free dinner, Nicole agreed without a second thought.

Incidentally, Zhong Yan knew nothing about this—the Mistress hadn't informed him. She had extended the invitation to the Cunning Hares in a personal capacity.

Still, Nicole wasn't worried. With the Uchiha name behind him, there was no way Victoria Housekeeping would dare harm his child... even if they held a similar bargaining chip.

To her, this invitation was just another dinner party.

By contrast, perhaps only Anby took a more serious view of Zhong Yan's other child.

And toward Ellen—whom she had once seen as her greatest rival—she still harbored a hint of caution.

But at this point, that wariness seemed completely pointless.

There was no longer any possibility for anything to progress between them and Zhong Yan.

Indeed, it became clear that Zhong Yan didn't favor any one of them over the others.

If anything, he seemed most invested in raising Zhong Ling.

After all, he was his firstborn son.