Baby Lynx of the Tiger Family - Chapter 19

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Baby Lynx of the Tiger Clan
Chapter 19
Rabin Khalif.
The lovely boy, who took after both Baiden and Sabrina in equal measure, set out alone on a long, distant journey before he was even three years old.
At the time, the Mariner Family insisted they had nothing to do with the assassination of the Khalif heir, but the circumstances made their guilt plain.
The problem was that without solid evidence, there was no way to bring charges.
It was from that point that the feud between the Khalif and the Mariners, which had lasted for centuries, grew too severe to ever be undone.
“The Mariners have coveted Khalif land for a very long time. Unlike the fertile Khalif Territory, the Mariner Territory is terribly barren.”
By nature, people covet whatever they lack.
Especially when someone right next door enjoys abundance.
The Hyenas, who at first wanted nothing more than fertile land, soon began to envy the Tigers, who had what they did not, and in the end they wanted everything the Tigers possessed.
By wiping out every last Tiger.
“The conflict began to explode after my father and mother got married.”
“…Why?”
“My mother’s maternal family, the Frost Family, is the only Tiger Beastkin house that holds Authority.”
At Sirka’s explanation, Bariya’s eyes went wide.
“Authority?”
“Yes. As the Mariners’ interference grew more outrageous by the day, the Khalif and the Frost Family ended up forging a political marriage. The Khalif bloodline carries no Spirit Beast blood, so they acquired Authority through that union with the Frost Family.”
Should I be shocked that Sabrina and Baiden were a married couple bound by a political alliance?
Or should I be shocked that they had to go so far as a political marriage just to gain Authority?
“Not a single house in the Hyena Clan has any Spirit Beast blood mixed in. Naturally, they have no Authority either, and from that point on, their hatred for the Khalif only grew fiercer.”
Because the Khalif had once again gained something the Hyenas did not have.
“And that hatred ultimately became a blade that stabbed my brother, who was only two years old.”
Sirka let out a bitter sigh.
“My mother, who was carrying me at the time, wandered through Khalif territory after giving birth to protect me, and she killed every Hyena Beastkin who had infiltrated the domain. I possessed even stronger Authority than my dead brother.”
To the Mariners, Sirka was an even bigger thorn in their side than the dead Rabin Khalif had been.
Yet a mother who had already lost a son once held a rage larger than a volcano, and not a single Hyena Beastkin who had tried to assassinate Sirka ever made it back to the Mariner Territory.
“So, little one.”
Sirka met Bariya’s gaze as she held her close.
“You saved the Khalif.”
Bariya’s eyes went wide.
“You saved parents who had nearly lost a son all over again, a son who had nearly driven a nail into his parents’ hearts, a retainer who had failed to protect his lord, and a lord who had failed to take responsibility for his retainer. You saved every one of them.”
Bariya hadn’t saved only Sirka and Jake.
Baiden and Sabrina too, and every single person in this land.
She had saved them all.
“Thank you, Bariya.”
Sirka smiled brightly at Bariya.
“I’m really glad I brought you to the Khalif. It’s become the best choice of my entire life.”
Hearing such words for the first time in her life, Bariya could only move her lips.
Thank you, and glad that you came to the Khalif.
Bariya, who had been forced to live locked away in the darkest, deepest corner of the Mariner Family for so many years, found all of this strange.
“…I, I didn’t do anything.”
What came out of her open mouth was, as always, nothing but denial.
“I didn’t do it.”
“Alright, if you say so, then let’s go with that.”
And Sirka, knowing full well the truth, willingly let Bariya have her way.
“Still, know this much. Bariya, you’re our benefactor, and we will protect you from those Hyena bastards no matter what. So don’t worry about a thing.”
“….”
“Just grow up strong enough to take down those Hyena bastards. That’s the only thing we ask of you. Promise me.”
Sirka held out her pinky.
Hesitating, Bariya also reached out her finger, and their pinkies intertwined perfectly.
“Thank you so much for saving me today.”
“…I told you, I didn’t do it.”
“Yes, yes. I know.”
Sirka laughed and ruffled Bariya’s hair.
Then, saying she must be tired and they should go to sleep, she turned around.
Bariya quietly leaned against Sirka’s embrace, which she had grown accustomed to in just a few short days.
‘The Khalif have Authority. Then they won’t covet me the way the Mariners do.’
Because she had no sense of having done anything so great, she reflexively denied it.
Just that much, and nothing more.
Just learning that Khalif already had Authority was enough to lighten my heart more than I could have hoped.
Perhaps because of that, a drowsiness I couldn’t resist began to creep over me.
‘Huh.’
Just before I drifted off, my eyes met those of Rabin Khalif in the portrait.
A boy with a far gentler air than Sirka’s.
Strange.
‘He looks… familiar somehow.’
Maybe it’s because he resembles the three members of the Khalif family?
“Haaahm.”
But I was too sleepy to think about anything else.
Bariya soon leaned against Sirka and sank into a deep sleep.
* * *
While Sirka went to tell Bariya the truth to ease her mind.
The Khalif Mansion was thrown into an uproar.
“…That really happened?”
At the news that their son had once again nearly been lost, Baiden flew into a rage.
Sabrina, who had sat on the living room sofa and recounted what had happened that day, nodded with a weary expression.
“It shocked me even more than what happened with Rabin. I swore I’d never go through something like this again.”
Sabrina pulled the cork from a wine bottle with her bare hands and drank straight from the bottle, gulp after gulp.
“Those bastards still haven’t given up. Now they’re going after both the little one and our son at the same time.”
Creak.
Blood dripped steadily from Baiden’s clenched fists, accompanied by an ominous crunch.
Sabrina quietly watched her husband’s blood pooling on the floor.
“If something had gone wrong with Sirka, I wouldn’t be here right now either.”
“Sabrina.”
At those words, Baiden immediately unclenched his fists and knelt before his wife.
He reached for her hand, but stopped when he saw his own bloodied fingers.
“All I could think about was getting my son out of that damned poison as fast as possible. I didn’t spare a single thought for getting poisoned myself, or for taking revenge on the Hyenas.”
Baiden’s face twisted.
To think he had nearly lost not only his son but his wife as well.
And there is no greater pain than being left alone.
“Little one, if it weren’t for Bariya, that’s certainly what would have happened.”
“Did the little one use Authority?”
“Yes. The little one tried to hide it, so I didn’t get to ask what the ability was, but it was her, all right. She came down with Authority Fever.”
A fever that comes on when a Beastkin still too young to control her power overuses it.
It subsided quickly, but it was unmistakably Authority Fever.
I’d seen it countless times while raising Rabin and Sirka.
“We owe that child a debt.”
Sabrina let out a sigh.
The shock had been so great that her hands were still trembling.
“No wonder I felt so drawn to her. I suppose she’s the child who’s meant to save us.”
I don’t believe today’s attack was aimed solely at Bariya.
Those scoundrels had been after the Khalif family since long before Bariya was even born.
If Sirka hadn’t brought Bariya along, if Sabrina hadn’t noticed when they first fled and had let them slip away, if she had simply let them go without forming a contract.
That poison would have eventually struck Sirka and killed every one of them.
Just imagining it was horrifying.
“Now it’s not just a simple contract. We’ll have to beg the little one to stay here, for our sake as well.”
“Indeed. She saved you and our son.”
Baiden hesitated, then rested his cheek on Sabrina’s knee.
Sabrina didn’t bother to push him away.
His shock must be severe too.
“I’ll stay at the mansion for the time being. Of course I’ll go check now and then whether those Hyena bastards have crossed into our territory again, but as long as I can, I’ll stay. Sirka is here, and so is the little one, and I’m worried about them.”
Calmed by the bit of warmth Sabrina had offered, Baiden lifted his head at her words.
“Really?”
“Have you ever known me to talk nonsense?”
“No, you’re not that sort of person.”
Baiden leaned against Sabrina’s knee once more.
The face that had been twisted with rage and anguish slowly broke into a smile again.
“The little one truly is our benefactor.”
Baiden and Sabrina had entered into a political marriage for the sake of Authority alone.
The only difference is that Baiden loves Sabrina, while Sabrina doesn’t feel the same way.
Baiden, who had spent his days pining for Sabrina, who was always off wandering beyond the mansion walls, could hardly hide his delight at the thought of being able to see his beloved wife all the time from now on.
Bariya really was a lucky charm in more ways than one.
* * *
The next morning.
While Bariya was eating breakfast in the dining hall, Baiden dropped a shocking piece of news on her.
“Little lucky charm, I’m planning to hold a banquet soon to announce you as an honored guest of the Kalif.”
What on earth is a lucky charm, what’s an honored guest, and why in the world would anyone throw a banquet for that?
Bariya, thrown into a state of shock, was so flustered that for a while she couldn’t say a word.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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