Black Killer Whale Baby - Chapter 146

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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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Chapter 146
My face hardened into stone.
A small hand extended toward me. Large, glistening eyes brimming with desperation.
Cheeks like glutinous rice cakes, and skin flushed peach-red from tears.
When I didn’t respond, her small lips trembled with anxiety.
I was flustered.
‘…What kind of creature is this?’
Of course, this wasn’t my first time seeing her. I’d seen her in the previous round.
Back then, I’d merely thought: so she’s the female lead. Typical of a childcare-themed heroine. That was all….
It wasn’t like this.
‘Is it because I hadn’t spent much time observing her up close?’
If the word “adorable” were incarnated as a human, would it look like this? I was bewildered by my own reaction.
‘So appearance really does transcend personal preference…. I’m feeling it again.’
I found myself amusing as I earnestly analyzed my own emotions in this moment.
By the time I came to my senses, I’d already lifted the Young Boy into my arms.
“…What are you doing?”
Atlant stared at me in disbelief.
“Can’t you tell? She wants to be held.”
She wants to be embraced.
“A child lifting a child. How ridiculous.”
“By anyone’s measure, I’m much bigger than her?”
“In my eyes, you’re both the same. How do you think you’d look if a loach and a goldfish were competing in height?”
“…Similar?”
“Exactly!”
Hmm, I see. I nodded solemnly.
All the while holding Lili snugly in both my arms.
“But she wants this.”
“Since when do you listen to what others say? If you’re going to listen to anyone, listen when I ask you to spar!”
“No. You’re weak and annoyingly persistent.”
“….”
Atlant rubbed his ribs. His lips twitched as if he wanted to say something, but he finally spoke.
“Damn, it hurts!”
“Then get stronger.”
I’d taught him about “fact violence” and the phrase “broken ribs” back in the third round, and he’d been using it ever since.
Like Lü Bu from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, recklessly charging forward. Yet there was something oddly endearing about him.
“Hey. Or rather, Matriarch. Don’t you understand the problem? A subordinate, you see, that’s what it is, yes! Affection! You raise them with affection and affectionate training!”
“Affection, my foot. Keep it up? I can make you walk to the City of Dragons from here.”
“Ugh….”
Thinking no one’s listening, my speech pattern from the third round naturally emerged.
I laughed in exasperation.
Part of me wondered if that’s what I truly wanted to say, and I felt a pang of sympathy.
“Enough joking around. So what exactly did you do to him? Tell me honestly.”
“Nothing. What could I have done? He just slept all crumpled up.”
“That’s what I thought.”
“…You believe me?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
I blinked.
“Have I ever not believed you when you said something?”
“….”
Atlant rubbed the back of his neck and whipped his head away. His ears were flushed red.
He seemed embarrassed. He always got like that when he was shy.
I let out a soft laugh and turned my gaze away.
The Young Boy had clung to me so tightly earlier, trembling uncontrollably, but after I held him, his trembling had subsided considerably.
As if sensing my gaze, his bright eyes followed me.
Those beautiful crimson eyes held the hue of a sunset. They sparkled even more when caught in the light.
‘The tail is really soft.’
Whether by instinct or deliberately, the Young Boy’s fluffy tail tapped me gently.
“Big sister?”
For just a moment, something inside me snapped like a taut string breaking.
“…There really isn’t a single childlike one among the Orcas.”
“What?”
I heard Atlant’s confused voice, but I was already lost in thought and couldn’t hear anything he said after that.
“…Should I raise a baby squirrel?”
I thought I’d spoken very quietly and softly.
“Have you lost your mind?”
I’d forgotten that he was searching for the Young Boy with his senses heightened to their maximum using the power of water.
He’d heard everything.
Since he’d heard it anyway, I asked with utmost seriousness and gravity.
“Hey, Second Brother. Wouldn’t it be fine to raise one more baby squirrel?”
Instead of answering immediately, Second Brother hesitated.
“…Why are your eyes so crazy?”
“Mine?”
“Yes! And raising? What are you talking about raising? First worry about your Yongyang or whatever!”
This is something. He’s even bringing up Ekion. Though it’s natural, it was half a joke anyway.
But seeing him get worked up made my mischievous side kick in.
“So what? Don’t I have money? Don’t I have a sense of responsibility?”
“That’s exactly the problem. Don’t even dream of responsibility! Damn it, this is something that requires that Dolphin from before, but why does he have no memory!”
Well, once I decided to take responsibility for something, I’d carry that burden until my dying breath—that was my nature.
“Right! You know, that one among your subordinates who had such severe emotional deprivation issues! You’re looking at him with the same eyes you had when you recruited him. Are you aware of that?”
“I am. I’m being rational. Probably?”
Atlant spoke of Suha as someone severely lacking in affection, yet possessing exceptional talents and even more outstanding combat abilities.
He was precisely the one I had eagerly sought to recruit with gleaming eyes.
“Get your head straight. That one doesn’t have the special talents you’re always looking for, nor is he one of your subordinates with remarkable combat prowess.”
“Cuteness is a talent too.”
“…Is that even something you should say? What a useless thing to bring up!”
Well, perhaps it was good for my mental health. Entertaining such a light thought, I adjusted my hold on the Young Boy.
“Yes, I understand. It was a joke. But it wasn’t something I threw out carelessly—I simply gave it some thought for a moment.”
I laughed softly.
I had no real intention of raising him.
I merely felt a strange emotion for a brief moment.
“…It’s just that I’ve never grown up so purely before, so I felt a moment of greed.”
“….”
Second Brother wore an expression of defeat. Soon, scratching his cheek, he spoke cautiously.
“Ahem, so you want to act spoiled like that? If it’s something like that, then to me….”
“You don’t do it with someone weaker than you?”
“Oof!”
I let out a soft laugh. The laughter soon blossomed into a full smile.
“I don’t particularly want to act spoiled. Besides, I have you now and Father as well.”
As I said this, I looked at Lili in my arms.
The reason the Baby Squirrel feared Atlant, if he had done nothing.
I could roughly guess what it might be.
“Rather, I understand why she’s afraid of you.”
“Why is she afraid? Not that I’m particularly curious….”
“Children are afraid of big, fierce-looking people.”
“You’re saying I’m fierce?”
“Yes. And people with loud voices scare them even more.”
Second Brother naturally had a loud voice.
If Atlant had been the first person this child saw when opening her eyes, it would have made sense.
“Besides, outside was full of unfamiliar Knights, so it’s no wonder she’d be frightened.”
When I looked at Lili again, she said nothing.
Instead, she wrapped her arms around my neck and rubbed her face against mine.
“Big sister, how did you know…?”
At her small, ticklish whisper, I laughed.
“Was I right?”
Lili nodded slightly.
I pondered for a moment before asking.
A concern that began the moment I decided to take this child to the City of Dragons.
Now, at last, I had resolved to ask.
“What’s your name?”
Lili blinked her large eyes. Soon, her soft face broke into a bright smile.
With tears glistening on my cheeks and my face puffed out like a rice cake, I felt a small hand touch my ear. I smiled at the ticklish sensation and tilted my head toward it.
A small hand reached up to touch my ear. I laughed at the ticklish feeling and leaned in to listen.
“Lili…”
“Yes, Lili. I’m Calypso. Calypso Aquasiadel.”
This wasn’t the first time I’d introduced myself to her this way.
But this was certainly the first time we’d met like this.
I kept one hand supporting the Young Boy so she wouldn’t be startled, while my other hand gently patted her back.
Soon we would depart for the City of Dragons again.
Before that, I had hoped she would wake up, and now that she had, it was time to share the conversation I’d been putting off.
“Can you tell me how you ended up collapsed there?”
* * *
“What?”
Father was a man who rarely showed surprise.
His expression was so unchanging that one might mistake him for a statue.
But this time, he seemed slightly taken aback, his eyes widening briefly before narrowing again.
“Is that the truth?”
“Yes.”
I nodded.
When I returned to the carriage with Atlant after finding Lili, the area around it was still in disarray.
The Knights, learning that Lili had been found, returned to their posts.
Instead of heading back to the carriage, I went to Father to tell him what I had just discovered.
“It’s true.”
What I had just discovered was…
“The Black Panther Noble House currently exists in the City of Dragons.”

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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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