Black Killer Whale Baby - Chapter 245

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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 245
Silence served many purposes.
It filled the space where I could no longer speak, and it held patience until Levai’s silent tears finally ceased their flow.
“….”
Levai, who had been staring ahead for some time, spoke without looking at me.
“I have shown you something unseemly.”
“….”
“I will accompany you.”
His posture was upright. His voice was measured. His expression was calm. Somewhere along the way, he had returned to his usual self.
Except for the reddened skin beneath his eyes, raw from tears.
Instead of departing, I opened my mouth quietly.
“Levai.”
Levai did not answer, but his shoulders flinched slightly, waiting for my next words.
If only people’s hearts could work as they wished.
“Is there anything you want from me?”
“You ask such a thing right after closing the door? Then give me the Matriarch.”
“Besides that.”
His stubborn answer almost made me laugh, but I didn’t.
“It’s better to say everything you want to say now. While you still have words left to speak.”
“….”
“We know well now that people meet their end far sooner than they think. So don’t leave regrets behind. I’ll listen to everything.”
“I’m not sure if you mean you’ll listen attentively, or if you mean you’ll grant all my wishes. But either way, you’re quite cruel.”
“….”
“That’s precisely why I love you.”
His gaze, which had stubbornly fixed forward, turned toward me.
Levai removed his glasses for a moment, then casually placed them in his chest pocket.
It was the first time in a long while that I saw his bare eyes.
“You see, I can no longer see anything now.”
“…What kind of nonsense is that? Do you really mean you can’t see, or is it a metaphor?”
“Perhaps it’s both?”
“What?”
“I’m about to tell you something rather strange.”
I furrowed my brow slightly.
“But shouldn’t you go directly to the Serpent Clan Head? She’ll be waiting.”
“I’m sorry, but tell her to wait.”
“….”
“Right now, this conversation with you is more important.”
I could guess what the Snake Clan Head would say, and if it were urgent, she would have come herself.
This wasn’t about such calculated thinking—it was genuine.
Since this conversation was both first and last, I wanted to speak with sincerity.
“This is exactly what drives a person mad. Do you understand?”
…What have I done now?
“So perhaps I cannot give up either.”
“….”
“Since you say you dislike it, I will not do anything that would make you uncomfortable. I do not wish for you to forbid me from even standing beside you. However.”
His eyes were deep and penetrating.
“Matriarch, do not abandon your duties as Matriarch.”
“What duties?”
The duties of a Matriarch were too numerous to count on one hand.
The duty to unite my retainers, to protect my territory, to bring prosperity to my lands, to safeguard my domain, to care for my people….
“A Matriarch does not keep only one husband. That is the point.”
When I was thinking of something so utterly public, an absurd answer came.
At least, it was absurd to me.
“…Insane, when did that become a duty?”
“You seem unfamiliar with it, but regarding the territorial laws of Aquasiade—would you know them better, or would I?”
“Obviously you would!”
“….”
“…You bastard.”
A faint smile crossed Levai’s cold face.
“Orca Beastkin have long been characterized by their unique belligerence and camaraderie, yet there was a time when their numbers dwindled because they bore few offspring.”
“Are you really giving me a history lecture about Orcas right now, in front of an Orca?”
“Thus, the Matriarch took the lead in accepting diverse companions for the sake of racial diversity and development. Including not only Orcas but other Beastkin as well.”
“….”
“Though it is now an obsolete law, I would hope that you would honor it, Matriarch.”
“Right, fine. I’ve heard enough of your nonsense, strategist.”
Was it my fault for trying to listen seriously? He was never one to be frivolous in situations like this.
No, perhaps even he has changed living through this life. Who knows.
I pressed my temples firmly. A waste of time, I muttered.
“Enough, go tell the actual Matriarch….”
Levai reached out and carefully grasped my wrist, and my words stopped of their own accord.
I knew he was approaching, but I let it happen.
“I am saying I wish to be by your side even like this. You need not give me affection or love.”
“….”
“I simply cannot be satisfied anymore as a strategist with nothing to show for myself in critical moments, like in the previous life. So I spoke this madness. I simply wish to be entangled with you in some way—on paper if nothing else, or anything really.”
“….”
“I am not asking for an immediate decision, nor is it something you must do. Just.”
Levai looked down at the floor, then offered a bitter smile.
“Please say you will think about it. That is my wish.”
* * *
‘How did my life become so popular like this.’
In the conference room, I contemplated the matter seriously. There was no other choice.
In my third return, Levai and I had that sort of conversation, and since I didn’t understand Levai’s heart or my own, I’ll set Levai aside.
‘It had to be Hauser, didn’t it?’
The one who came running because he liked me.
Beyond him, there were truly countless subordinates and retainers.
Every single one of them looked at me with eyes of blind loyalty, as if they’d had stars embedded in them.
Sometimes it was frightening in its excess of devotion.
‘My appearance hasn’t changed, and my personality… hasn’t changed either.’
What could be the difference?
Truth be told, I couldn’t claim to have particularly good self-esteem when it came to romance.
Hadn’t I endured truly harsh words during my first and second lives at the Black Panther Manor?
The fiancé I supposedly had either contributed to that mockery and ridicule or mostly turned a blind eye to it.
“Are you listening, Matriarch of Aquasiadel?”
“Ah, yes, I’m listening. Very well.”
When I lifted my head, the Snake Clan Head Natasha was sitting there.
She was smiling, but her delicate brows were slightly furrowed.
It seemed my attitude displeased her.
“The Serpent warriors failed to capture or kill them, but they didn’t fail at pursuit, you said? The imperial warriors who attacked the Dragon’s Tomb.”
“So you were listening?”
“Of course.”
Listening while doing other things and thinking of other matters had been my specialty in my previous return.
It was the specialty that used to raise Levai’s blood pressure in so many ways.
“Where are those bastards heading now? To the imperial palace?”
“If that were the case, we could seize evidence, which would be wonderful, but unfortunately it’s not.”
Natasha unrolled a scroll that lay on the conference table. It was a map of the Continent.
Natasha’s long finger pointed to one location.
“This is our territory. And the direction those who fled are heading is this way.”
Her finger traced a line.
‘They’ve moved quite far in just over a day.’
At the tip of Natasha’s finger were mountains and rocks drawn on the map.
“The direction they’re heading is rather unusual.”
“Unusual, you say?”
“Because this is actually a path that’s no longer well-used.”
“Why is that?”
Natasha explained that this was a place the Serpent Clan Head from several generations ago had blocked off by mobilizing personnel.
To go this way, one had to pass through an extremely narrow passage.
“Creatures we don’t get along with—or rather, creatures we can’t stand to look at—live in this place.”
Natasha’s finger traced the path of the fleeing ones once more in a straight line.
At the end of this path lay this City.
“Precisely, the City ruled by the Monkeys—’Madrum.'”
Monkeys. If they serve the Second Prince, they’re loyal retainers who’ve abandoned all morality and ethics—I’d say they’re mad scientists with every screw loose.
That’s the kind of people we’re dealing with here.
“And you remember how the Suha you brought along broke the Alligator Captain’s brainwashing? Thanks to that, negotiations with the Alligators went smoothly.”
Natasha swept her palm across the map.
“They were outraged when they learned the Imperial Family had tried to enslave their children by exploiting their breeding season.”
With that revelation, securing their cooperation wasn’t difficult at all.
“Still, it won’t be easy to defy the Imperial Family. Your resourcefulness is impressive, Serpent Clan Head.”
“Ah, do Orcas not produce many offspring as a species?”
“Generally speaking, that’s correct.”
“We’re different. For Alligators and us, children are infinitely precious—treasures that carry our species into the future.”
I nodded in agreement.
“There was an Imperial messenger who gave the Alligators medicine, claiming it was beneficial for them.”
Five in total.
“After exposing the truth and pressing the matter, they stabbed the Alligators present and fled. Two died on the spot, two were captured, and one escaped.”
“And then?”
“We anticipated all of this, so our personnel who were waiting are currently in pursuit.”
Natasha pointed at one specific location on the map—the very city she’d indicated moments before.

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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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