Black Killer Whale Baby - Chapter 228
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 228
Even as I spoke, my eyes remained fixed on Sizer’s hair.
Gray hair. A pristine white bridge was visible, just like the direct descendants.
Her appearance was no different from what I remembered.
Anyone could see she was an Orca Beastkin.
It was only natural to question how someone like this could lead the Sharks.
Sizer laughed. It was a familiar laugh.
As if she had heard this question countless times before, her expression was slightly troubled.
Soon, Sizer answered with a bright expression.
“I’m a half-breed, you see.”
My arms, which had been crossed, flinched. I tried not to show it, but I couldn’t help my reaction.
What…?
“That’s why I was the family’s shame.”
My mouth fell open.
“So you’re saying you’re a half-breed of Shark and Orca right now…?”
“That’s right.”
At her calm admission, I straightened my posture. This was the first I’d heard of it.
‘Did Eldest Brother know about this?’
No, if he had known, he surely would have shared it with me. I was certain—Bellus didn’t know either.
“You’re my mother, aren’t you?”
…
There was no way she wouldn’t know who I was.
I decided to drop the pretense.
“If you’re really a half-breed of Shark and Orca, how on earth did you marry Father?”
It was a purely innocent question, without any malice. Even if Father had been ill, he was a direct descendant.
The Orca Family Matriarch was not someone who would overlook such a thing.
“Did you know?”
Sizer’s expression became troubled for a moment, then she smiled again.
“As you can see, there’s no difference in appearance.”
Sizer grasped her own hair and shook it. As if to prove her point.
“The family, blinded by marriage to a direct descendant, sent me away while hiding this fact perfectly.”
…
“Come to think of it, I believe there were quite a few other candidates…”
Sizer turned her head and gazed out the window for a long time.
“Your father chose me.”
…
“Though I don’t know why.”
Sizer’s attire was similar to my memory yet different.
Unlike the image in my memory of her always wearing worn clothes, she was now dressed in finer garments.
But the handkerchief tied around her neck was exactly as I remembered it.
Sizer unfurled the handkerchief.
At the sight revealed beneath it, I swallowed quietly.
“This is the only evidence that I’m a hybrid.”
A distinctive trait characteristic of shark beastkin.
The faint tattoo-like marks of gills on her neck were unmistakable.
Fainter than those of a typical shark beastkin, but clear enough to recognize.
‘Wait, she’s a shark hybrid but can still use the power of water?’
I pondered quietly.
‘That’s broken.’
Ah, now that I think about it, she always wore a handkerchief around her neck throughout all my lessons.
I never once saw her remove it until we parted ways.
“You’ve certainly acquired every advantage imaginable. I’m envious.”
Sizer looked slightly taken aback.
“…Is that all your sentiment?”
“What else would you have me say?”
“Perhaps something like why I abandoned you.”
“Ah, I suppose because I thought I was dead my whole life. Hearing that you’re alive is actually rather pleasant?”
Just as I had never harbored expectations toward my Father, I held none toward my Mother, whom I had long believed dead.
“Besides, you’re not going to play the role of mother now anyway, are you? Well, now that your identity is revealed, I understand.”
“….”
I stated the situation matter-of-factly.
“The sharks were always more important to you than the orcas, weren’t they?”
Enough so that you abandoned your husband and son, along with your newborn daughter.
“….”
The other leader of the sharks remained silent. Silence sometimes contains affirmation.
“So to summarize: the sharks you found distasteful have been eliminated, and the remaining ones will integrate peacefully among themselves and live well. Is that it?”
I felt Sizer’s gaze upon me as I shifted into a businesslike tone.
“Exactly. Now that those bastards are gone, we intend to gather and live among ourselves. We have no intention of ever touching the orcas again.”
“So essentially, you used us to eliminate the sharks you found distasteful from your own perspective?”
My words were blunt, but Sizer didn’t seem to mind. She simply laughed with a certain satisfaction.
“That’s right.”
She shrugged her shoulders.
“You’re strong, after all.”
“….”
“Most of us are the wounded and those with disabilities. We’ll be busy protecting them from now on.”
The sharks who had committed misdeeds were now gone.
But the remaining ones would have to fight against the infamy accumulated by those dead sharks for the rest of their lives.
And while I could say they used the term “cooperation,”
eliminating the shark resistance led by Shek was ultimately necessary for me as well.
The gains were substantial.
The Shark had joined hands with the Imperial Court, and now that I knew he was desperate enough to come to this land himself.
I had certainly not lost in this exchange.
“What is it you want?”
“Just to live peacefully, that’s all.”
Sizer, holding a cigarette holder in her hand, certainly appeared at peace.
She looked different from the person I remembered, one who carried emptiness like a burden.
A thought suddenly occurred to me.
The emptiness you felt in your past life—could it be.
“If you had lost all the Sharks who follow you now, how do you think it would have been?”
“Hmm?”
“Would you have felt empty?”
Sizer pondered for a moment before saying it would not have been so.
“Yes.”
I quietly surmised that in her previous life, she had likely lost all her followers in a defeat to those Shek creatures.
There was no point in thinking about it now.
“If we also stop tormenting the Weak Beastkin in the Wasteland, then we have nothing more to discuss. Let’s end this conversation here.”
“Ah, then what about this. You said your name was Calypso?”
Sizer raised her hand slightly.
“Now that the agreement is concluded, may I bring up something personal?”
“What is it?”
“I’m glad to meet you.”
….
I stared at Sizer intently.
She smiled leisurely and with a hint of slyness. It was incongruous with her delicate face, yet somehow harmonious.
“I didn’t know you already knew me. Daughter.”
….
“What did you think when you saw me?”
What did I think.
“I don’t have the fortune of the Orca Family Matriarch, and I don’t have the fortune of a mother either, I suppose?”
….
Sizer lowered her head and laughed aloud.
Why are you laughing? I wasn’t joking.
“But you did have the fortune of an Eldest Brother and the fortune of a Father.”
In this life, at least.
“As I said, I hold no resentment toward you. If anything, I’m grateful you’re alive.”
“…That’s surprising.”
“Do you hate Orcas?”
“It seems I did.”
Yes, you hated them.
“I hate Orcas. How can a world exist where only the strong survive?”
“Aren’t you also oppressing me, a weak one, Teacher?”
“This is training, dear.”
She seemed disillusioned with the orcas who preached the law of the jungle.
So it wasn’t incomprehensible that she had fled.
‘I can’t know what happened between her and Father, but still.’
“I don’t know what things were like when you were here, but the orcas will be different.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. Unfortunately, there was no tearful mother-daughter reunion like in the stories.
I had already been loved enough.
“Being a hybrid means half of you is orca, doesn’t it? So whenever you have second thoughts, come over to our side anytime.”
“…I’m sorry, but I have no intention of abandoning the sharks who follow me.”
“Who said anything about abandoning them?”
I turned my head.
From somewhere, I sensed someone rushing over urgently.
As they drew closer, Sizer seemed to sense it too and turned toward the door.
“There’s someone who has been desperately longing for you.”
I stared intently at Sizer.
Teacher.
I murmured quietly to myself toward my first teacher in life.
It’s such a shame you didn’t recognize me.
I really wanted to meet the Mother of this place once.
I was grateful.
Thanks to your teachings, I became the Matriarch. I really wanted to see you again just once.
In the end, we’ve met again after going through an entire lifetime.
When I had thought this far, the door burst open.
There stood Father, drenched in sweat.
It was a sight rarer than rare.
I let out a small whistle.
“My… you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
I rose from my seat.
“Well then, why don’t you two who share a past connection have a good talk together.”
One of them had gone pale as if seeing a dead person come back to life.
The other was trembling, as if ready to flee at any moment.
‘What is this? Watching them, I feel like I’m witnessing an epic tale unfold.’
Even as I thought this, I quietly excused myself from the room.
Using the power of water slightly, I caught the legs of Mother, who was about to flee, and made her sit on the sofa…
I’m sorry, but that was intentional.
You’ll forgive me for this much mischief, won’t you, Teacher?
No. Mother.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————