"If you've become as talented as I have, you can live without any of those things through sheer avoidance of one's brothers," Victor promises, for he bears no desire to see his father or his brothers, who mock him for his cerebral nature rather than the physical, but he pays no mind because he knows himself to be engaged in higher purpose.

"Have I tried relationships? Ah, no. Familial is complicated, friendship is few, and romance is...not for a man like I. Women do not want the poor penniless doctor."