Black Killer Whale Baby - Chapter 199

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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 199
Upon receiving the summons, Lirivel couldn’t stop grumbling.
‘She hadn’t called for me in ages, and now suddenly this…’
Honestly, I felt both hurt and irritated.
When I said I was greedy and asked to enter Suha’s service, where was she then!
My lord Calypso, who had returned from the Dragon’s City, hadn’t even called me separately—she’d only issued a single command.
It was an order to wait.
There was nothing good about contacting her right now?
No, if she was going to neglect me like this, why did she take me into Suha’s service in the first place?
‘I should just steal her position.’
Lirivel thought this far before shaking her head.
‘Never mind.’
No matter how I looked at it, taking the position of Calypso Aquasiadel was impossible.
‘She’s a madwoman.’
My eyes hadn’t deceived me.
Who would have thought she could defeat the Matriarch?
At first, everyone thought it was a lie. Impossible, they said, treating it as mere rumor.
But the moment the Matriarch—no, now the former Matriarch Ocula Aquasiadel—made her declaration herself, the rumor became truth.
Had there ever been such a peaceful transfer of the Matriarch position in Orca history?
Orcas are greedy.
Past Matriarchs, old and ugly and filthy, had clung to their positions until the very end.
In the end, it was commonplace for them to be forcibly dragged down by younger, stronger successors. It was tradition.
Yet Ocula—and among all past Matriarchs, one of the strongest, most selfish, and most tyrannical—had stepped down of her own accord.
The Orcas couldn’t speak of it openly, but whenever they gathered in small groups, they whispered incessantly.
“How on earth did an eight-year-old defeat the Matriarch?”
“Isn’t it just a scheme to pass down the successor’s position?”
“But why would the Matriarch do that? She could do whatever she wanted.”
This continued until Pierre Aquasiadel ascended to the position.
With Pierre taking the seat, all rumors ceased.
A few who had ardently followed Ocula continued to raise doubts until the end, but even they vanished when news spread that Pierre’s illness had been cured.
Following that, rumors spread that Calypso Aquasiadel had won her duel against the Matriarch but exhausted all her vital energy and fell into a deep sleep.
People began treating this as merely a rumor spread to seat Calypso as the next Matriarch after Pierre.
No matter how strong she was, everyone regarded Calypso’s victory as an ‘impossible feat.’
They thought the duel between Pierre and Ocula must have been distorted in the retelling.
Since no one corrected it, the rumor quietly spread as if it were truth.
It was around this time that Lirivel received the summons.
“I should have killed her sooner…”
“…”
“Should have let her die faster. What good is it that her illness was cured?”
Her mother Heila muttered while gazing into a mirror.
After Pierre ascended to Matriarch, an emergency gripped the factions of his brothers, Rodesen and Bior.
It was only natural. They’d chased down a school of salmon only to end up catching not a single one.
It was equally understandable that Heila darkly lamented the failed assassination of Pierre.
Lirivel slipped out of the mansion in secret, moving covertly toward a location without drawing surveillance.
When Lirivel finally arrived, someone was already standing there waiting.
Long hair bound into a single braid swayed gently.
“You came?”
It was Calypso. She smiled brightly.
“Lirivel.”
* * *
It had been a while since I’d seen Lirivel, but nothing about her had changed.
Well, only a few months had passed anyway. If anything stood out, it was that she’d grown taller.
‘It’s the age when orca children shoot up like sprouts.’
Agenor and Atlant, who were around the same age, were growing visibly taller by the day, like bean sprouts themselves.
As Lirivel approached, her expression was displeased.
“You managed to find me somehow. I thought you’d completely forgotten about me.”
Her slightly reproachful tone and dissatisfied face made her feelings perfectly clear.
“What, did it bother you that I seemed to be neglecting you?”
When I spoke in a rather affectionate tone, Lirivel’s expression softened a little.
“Yeah. And you supposedly fell asleep after a duel where you gave it your all. Yet here you are, wide awake?”
“Come on, didn’t you receive all the messages I sent?”
I’d left a secret message for Lirivel through a herring beastkin that no one else knew about.
That I hadn’t fallen asleep, and that I had something to give her, so she should come discreetly.
Lirivel’s expression eased somewhat, but she didn’t seem entirely satisfied.
“Just be careful. Things are very chaotic because your father became Matriarch.”
“I imagine so. By orca standards, this is something that shouldn’t happen, right?”
The orca Matriarch becomes the strongest female beastkin. This fundamental premise had been broken.
It was something that had almost never happened in their long history, so everyone was confused even as they whispered about it.
‘It seems the term “temporary Matriarch” didn’t sit well with them either.’
“Mother is absolutely furious.”
“Ah, I figured the Orca Family Matriarch would be.”
“Don’t take this lightly. Your father’s illness is cured, so they can’t do anything through force anymore. But that’s why tradition is tradition.”
“Yeah, I know. It wasn’t an easy decision for me either.”
I shrugged lightly and nodded my head.
“Let’s go inside first. I have something to give you.”
Lirivel still looked disgruntled, her expression pouting, but she obediently followed me.
The place we headed toward was a space familiar to Lirivel as well.
It was the underground space beneath Father’s mansion.
The moment Lirivel stepped inside, she gasped at the sight of items scattered all over the floor.
“What, what is all this?”
“Ah, it’s a bit cluttered, isn’t it? Here, here. Don’t step on that. It’s important.”
It will save your life.
I took in the sight of an enormous tusk that dominated the scattered belongings with its overwhelming presence.
I gazed at it and fell into thought for a moment.
I made a brief trip through the Temporal Rift.
I entered together with Ekion.
He was also with me when I collected key materials, including some extinct creatures, within the Temporal Rift.
However, since Ekion would incur a ‘penalty’ if he exited and re-entered, I had only stepped out briefly to fetch Lirivel’s materials for him.
Therefore, once today’s treatment concluded and I finished a few quick errands, I would return to the Temporal Rift with Tus.
And then I would truly spend those three years.
“Why does it smell so much like grass…”
Lirivel frowned but moved carefully, as if following orders.
There was a reason for everything.
Shortly after, Lirivel came face to face with Whale, who was sitting on the basement sofa, and her pretty face contorted.
However, when I asked him to hold my hand for the ‘diagnosis,’ his expression became strange.
“Whale, then I’m counting on you.”
“Okay.”
Whale nodded, closed his eyes, and concentrated.
‘Unfortunately, even with the same illness, the specific materials can differ slightly, or so I’ve heard.’
I watched the pure white light bloom and fell into contemplation.
Fortunately, the materials needed for Lirivel’s treatment were nearly identical to Father’s, aside from the key components.
“It’s within the expected range.”
“Is it?”
The newly identified materials were all among what we had prepared in advance.
Even if something were missing, I could now easily access the Matriarch’s storage, so finding anything wouldn’t be difficult.
“Can we treat her right away?”
“Yeah, we can. Should we?”
Whale’s eyes widened slightly toward me. I stopped mid-glance at him.
‘Does he smile like that?’
I should have started explaining to Lirivel, but I momentarily forgot about that.
Whale had a stern appearance and rarely smiled, so it caught my attention.
Even when he did smile, it seemed faint.
“You startled me. I’m not saying anything bad, but… your smile seems a bit different?”
“Ah, um… Does it show?”
“It shows, doesn’t it?”
“Do you like it?”
“Does it matter if I like it?”
“Um…”
Whale seemed to ponder for a moment, then smiled with his cheeks flushing slightly.
“Third Brother said… it might work if I do this…”
“…Third Brother? Agenor? When did you two become so close?”
Hadn’t she kept her distance from everyone except Levai?
Our conversation hadn’t lasted long.
“Excuse me, Calypso Aquasiadel? Can we put the romance aside for now and get an explanation? So what exactly needs to be done?”
At her sharp tone, I quickly shook my head.
Lirivel spoke that way, but there was a hint of anxiety in her expression. Of course—she must have witnessed the diagnosis of ‘Father,’ who carried the same affliction.
Moreover, she’d likely heard that Father’s illness had been completely cured.
As someone with the same condition, it was natural for her to feel tense.
“What needs to be done? Just sit there.”
“….”
“We made a promise, didn’t we? That I’d cure you.”
When I looked at Whale, he nodded slowly.
As Whale reached out his hand again, Lirivel’s trembled.
Not from fear, but as if she couldn’t believe this moment was real.
“…Me.”
Lirivel’s lips quivered.
She bit down hard, then opened her mouth again.
“…Can I live?”
The way she forcibly held back her tears revealed her proud and stubborn nature.
Though young, she had matured early—an inevitable survival instinct born from adversity.
Why must only I suffer?
Why must only I die young?
How much worry and anguish must she have endured?
I gazed at my relative with compassionate eyes for a moment, then nodded decisively.
“Tell me how you feel when you begin your new life.”
“….”
“Close your eyes.”
The treatment began.
* * *
“How does it feel to be reborn?”
I smiled brightly at Lirivel as she opened her eyes.
Perhaps her condition was milder than Father’s, or she hadn’t suffered from it as long.
Unlike Father, Lirivel didn’t fall asleep after the treatment ended.
She regarded me with her characteristic cold and aloof expression.
But looking closely, it was no longer sharp or cutting.
“…Thanks.”
“Hm?”
“Th-thank you!”
Lirivel shouted, then huffed indignantly before quickly covering her mouth with elegant composure.
Her flushed cheeks made her look like the young girl she was, and I couldn’t help but smile.
“Be quiet. The one who healed you has fallen asleep.”
Whale was currently leaning against me, deep in slumber after the treatment had concluded.
As I brought my index finger to my lips, Lirivel’s cheeks flushed deeper, yet she obediently closed her mouth.
After a moment of hesitation, she slowly knelt before me with graceful dignity.
“…Thank you.”
She seemed to be deliberating on what to call me.
Then she gazed at me with clear, resolute eyes.
“Matriarch.”
Since I’d sent Levai away before beginning the treatment and allowed no one else into this space, only the sleeping Whale, Lirivel, and I remained here.
Looking at the versatile Orca who had once been my only friend and had betrayed me, I smiled faintly.
“Yes.”
“…I never thought you could actually heal me. From now on, I will follow only you, Matriarch.”
“You needn’t say such things—isn’t that already how it should be? You made an oath, after all.”
“…I’m just reading the mood. The mood, that is.”
Lirivel glared at me with a sullen expression, yet she did not change her posture.
“Very well, Lirivel. Shall we begin settling our accounts?”
At my words, Lirivel stopped glowering and her expression turned serious.
I saved your life and gained your loyalty.
And….
“From now on, you’ll need to serve as my secret weapon in earnest.”

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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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