Black Killer Whale Baby - Chapter 257

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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 257
Whale wore an expression of surprise at the name I’d called out, but he left the room saying he’d bring her anyway.
Along with the news that the dizziness would likely persist throughout the day.
As I sat alone killing time, the door soon opened and Hauser entered.
“What are you doing?”
I flinched.
“Come here.”
Though I said this, his shoulders remained slumped with no sign of straightening.
It didn’t seem like he would approach either.
I knew that posture well.
And I could tell exactly what expression he wore beneath that hair covering his eyes today.
How could I not—I’d seen that look countless times whenever I was injured in my third cycle.
“Should I come to you? By the way, I’m still not feeling well.”
“I’ll come to you.”
I watched him approach with absurd disbelief.
“Why are you being stubborn when you were going to come anyway? Are you playing games with me?”
“Playing games? I wish I were in a position where such things were even possible.”
Hauser laughed. But it wasn’t a complete laugh.
It was a laugh that contained pain, sorrow, and despair all at once.
“…I thought I would never see the Matriarch in such a state again.”
“….”
“No, I’ve lived half my life to prevent seeing you like this….”
Hauser pressed his eyes shut tightly.
I watched him and held my breath, then tugged at his sleeve.
“…Just sit here for now. My neck hurts.”
Hauser sat obediently. I lifted my hand and brushed away the hair covering his eyes.
Eyes streaked with tears and bloodshot turned toward me.
A persistent obsession.
A gaze that remained unchanged from the past to now.
“Look carefully. I’m alive.”
“….”
“And I’ve recovered completely. You can check for yourself if you’d like.”
“…Yes.”
Hauser laughed as if he might cry. It was a bitter smile.
“Not a single scar. So now I understand….”
“….”
“That the Matriarch’s circumstances have changed.”
In the past, we had no one with healing abilities. Therefore, injuries brought danger.
Especially in the extreme situations of war with fierce battles continuing, when clean bandages, cloth, and medicine ran out.
There were countless who died from injuries that would normally have healed.
So for Hauser, a serious injury must have felt like a death sentence.
“I understand now…. That things are different from the past.”
Hauser clenched his teeth.
Following Levai, this was something I had wanted to tell him once—that we were living in a time different from the past.
It seemed Hauser had come to realize it himself through this incident.
Even knowing it was a cruel realization, there was nothing I could do for him.
“Since the people by your side have changed, the Matriarch must have changed as well.”
Yes, we could never be the same person.
“Is that why you didn’t seek us out?”
Tears as bitter as blood streamed down Hauser’s cheeks.
I reached out and gently wiped away his tears with my thumb.
“That’s not it.”
I spoke calmly.
“I know I’ll storm the Imperial Palace again like this, so how could I call you?”
I wanted you all to live peaceful lives in this lifetime.
Hauser’s face crumpled at my words.
“…You kept Dolphin by your side.”
“Ah, that one’s a special case.”
“….”
“I mean it. After witnessing that hell, why would I want to drag you into it again? I simply wanted you all to live in peace.”
I wiped Hauser’s cheeks bluntly and repeatedly. Certainly, the me of the third cycle was somewhat indifferent and cold like this.
“Hauser, you idealize me too much.”
“…That’s not true.”
“It is. No one deifies me like you do.”
“…That’s not true.”
It was a stubbornly persistent voice.
“That’s why you can’t accept the me that’s different from my past self.”
For a moment, his deep eyes wavered. A small confusion flickered in those eyes distorted by obsession.
“But you already knew. Or rather, you must have felt it. That I’m different from before.”
“…No.”
“So you kept obsessing over restoring memories? Even going so far as to show me directly restoring Camula’s memories.”
“…No, that’s not it. That’s not it. It’s not like that.”
I grasped the chin of the man trying to lower his head and lifted it up. Our eyes met.
“Face reality. When did your Matriarch ever teach you to live in dreams?”
“…Matriarch.”
Before his wavering eyes like a child’s, I remained cold.
“Hauser. In the past and now, I cannot accept your feelings.”
“That doesn’t matter…!”
“I can no longer become the person you desire.”
Hauser’s face contorted sorrowfully.
“Let the past remain in the past.”
My closed lips held a stubbornness I couldn’t quite shed.
But Hauser already knew it too—the fact that he was being obstinate.
I spread both arms wide, facing Hauser.
“Come here, Hauser.”
Hauser flinched in surprise.
“Come on.”
Soon his massive frame settled into my embrace. I patted his broad shoulders gently, then stroked his back.
Pat, pat. The way one would comfort a child.
In the third cycle, the place where I first met Hauser was a secluded spot within the Aquasiadel Territories.
He was a mutant who couldn’t adapt among the orcas.
“You’re similar to me?”
“….”
“If you wish, follow me.”
I remember every moment with those I brought with my own hands. That’s how I am.
“I cherish you.”
Surely romantic love between two people isn’t the only worthwhile emotion.
To love family, to love comrades, to love friends.
There was a life where my subordinates were everything to me. Even if that’s no longer the case now, the affection I held hasn’t disappeared.
I’ve simply gained more precious things alongside the care I had for my subordinates.
“That’s why I want you to live in the present now, instead of ending with a death in the past.”
“….”
“With me.”
Hauser dampened my sleeve with tears at my gentle refusal.
Soon, tentative arms wrapped around my back.
“…Yes. Esteemed Matriarch.”
Hauser murmured into my shoulder.
“I will follow you, as you are now, for the rest of my life.”
I patted his back without speaking.
* * *
“And that’s how it happened.”
“Huh.”
Atlant crunched on fruit, his expression thoroughly dissatisfied.
“So to summarize—that whale bastard confessed, and you rejected him?”
“To be precise, Hauser loved the me from the past.”
“But what’s the difference? You were you in your past life, and you’re you in this life.”
“Do you really think so?”
Atlant paused for a moment. Then he narrowed his handsome brow.
“Well… you are different from your past self. Back then, you were rather cold.”
“I was indifferent.”
Eldest Belus, sitting beside Atlant, spoke quietly.
“What do you mean? I don’t think I was ignoring you to that extent. I was just a bit inattentive to my surroundings, that’s all.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
….
Saying anything more would only pile up arguments against me.
I raised both hands and shrugged my shoulders.
“Anyway, I’ve secured a promise from Hauser that he won’t make any efforts to restore me to my former self or revive the memories of my past subordinates.”
“That’s good to hear.”
Atlant replied curtly.
“Remembering isn’t always a good thing.”
Atlant’s expression looked somewhat complicated. He’d been like this ever since seeing Camula, so I suspected there might be something between them—perhaps like what Levai and I had experienced.
I guessed there might be something they didn’t know back then.
“I’m relieved to see you both seem to be in good condition.”
At my words, Atlant and Belus exchanged a glance.
“You… why do you call people one by one like this? You could just meet everyone together.”
“Come on, where’s the warmth in that? If we did that, some people wouldn’t get to talk. Everyone was equally worried about me, weren’t they?”
…acting like a Matriarch in the most unnecessary places.”
“You like it though.”
I let out a soft chuckle.
Through Belus and Atlant, I learned roughly how things had unfolded outside after the research facility disappeared.
“So what do we do now?”
Hmm….
Belus, in my place on the bed, was representing our group. Or perhaps he’d taken on the role of conveying my intentions to Loreille.
“Let’s do this.”
The city of Madrum had vanished. The Imperial Palace must be in complete upheaval over this enormous incident.
Just thinking about it sent a thrill through me.
“What are the odds the Imperial Palace will control or block information about this?”
“There’s no need to even say it.”
“Right, let’s exploit that point.”
I snapped my middle and index fingers together audibly.
“We’ll stay here for a while. In the meantime, whether we send people or buy them, spread this rumor far and wide.”
Madrum was both a strategist for the Imperial side and an indispensable force in supporting combat personnel.
To put it dramatically, half the brain had been blown away.
“The Orca, enraged by Madrum’s actions, stormed the research facility. Countless beastkin were suffering as experimental subjects.”
….
“Land animals, aquatic animals, beastkin of all kinds.”
“… What? That’s the truth, isn’t it?”
“But they used not just their own kind, but land animals and even ferocious beastkin in experiments, and it turned out most of them were actually these types.”
“Ho?”
I grinned wickedly.

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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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