Black Killer Whale Baby - Chapter 281

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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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Side Story: Act 6
The face looking down at me bore a massive scar.
Was it because of the scar that she couldn’t open one eye? Or did she simply keep it closed?
“Who are you?”
“…Speaking so casually right from the start.”
“…”
“You must be someone important?”
“Who are you, ma’am?”
Her hair color matched the collateral branches of the Orca family. I’d never seen her among the people Mother had introduced to me before…
“My name is Heila Aquasiadel.”
Aquasiadel? That’s the same surname as mine!
“So the young lady is Callin Aquasiadel? That would make me your great-grandmother.”
“Great…grandmother?”
The woman tilted her head.
“I recognized you immediately because your face is identical. I saw what Calypso Aquasiadel looked like when she was three years old.”
“Really? My mother?”
So she’s close with Mother!
People like that appeared from time to time among the Aquasiadel family. They said they’d been Mother’s subordinates in the past.
How many subordinates does Mother have anyway?
I’ll have to make sure I have at least ten more than she does!
“Yes. How could I ever forget?”
The great-grandmother smiled softly.
In that instant, I felt it—murderous intent.
“The face of the person who killed my entire family.”
My entire body froze solid.
“Listen carefully, daughter. You may one day meet an enemy far superior to you.”
“Like Mother?!”
Chills ran down my spine.
It felt as though someone had bound me tightly with rope.
“Even so, do not panic. Even if you meet someone as strong as your mother.”
“…”
“Because you are weaker than that person, you will surely…”
An explosive torrent of water danced before me like waves.
It was truly an enormous surge of water.
“…let your guard down.”
But…
She’s still weaker than Mother!
The moment the water surge was launched at me, I threw all my strength into ducking my head down.
“Oh?”
Done! The frozen tension in my body loosened!
I gasped, my breath coming in quick bursts.
Around me, tiny streams of water rippled and swayed like those of a small child.
“You let your guard down?”
The Orca Family Matriarch laughed with an amused expression.
“More than that… your mother certainly couldn’t manipulate water streams like that. You’re better than she was?”
I know this.
She’s teasing me.
I can create water streams, but they’re weaker than Mother’s!
I know that too!
I spat out the decisive words Mother had taught me.
“Damn you, Grandma!”
“…”
“Wicked old hag! A human reeking of lion! Shame of the orcas!”
“Huh?”
“It’s wrong to toy with someone so much younger and weaker than you!”
The Orca Family Matriarch blinked her eyes.
Then she burst into loud, hearty laughter.
“My, my. Quite the spirited one.”
I didn’t shout for nothing.
‘Someone will come.’
Cali isn’t stupid.
Mother let me play freely in the castle, but she always said danger could be lurking somewhere.
That Father would come running to help me anytime, anywhere, and so would Uncle Tus.
And Mother too!
Even if I couldn’t escape now.
I’d do whatever I could!
‘Darn it, if only I’d done fifty more push-ups… and more running practice!’
Then maybe I could have fought back.
But acknowledging your own weakness and using your mind—that’s also the mark of a true orca!
“I once had a daughter as spirited as you. It’s a long story…”
The moment the Orca Family Matriarch’s eyes narrowed like threads.
I spotted a familiar face.
Wait…? Lirivel… Aunt?
“Alright, let’s have a bit of fun together.”
* * *
-30 minutes earlier.
“Hmm?”
I lifted my head sharply.
“Calypso, what’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing…”
A sense of unease settled over me.
“I felt something intensely unpleasant.”
“Unpleasant?”
Ekion tilted his head before adopting a more serious expression, joining me in contemplation.
The discomfort faded, but the feeling lingered like a stain.
“Nothing unusual in the outskirts today?”
“No. Tus hasn’t reported anything.”
Tus and Hauser handled the castle’s security. If there were no special reports, there shouldn’t be anything amiss.
“Did you sense something?”
As I struggled to articulate my unease, Ekion continued.
“Your instincts are close to precognition, Calypso. Like mine.”
“I know that. But I can’t figure out why this is happening….”
Usually when I felt uneasy, the reason would surface naturally, but why not now?
‘It’s been so peaceful.’
One year since the Aquasiadel Kingdom was founded.
There had been resistance in building the nation. Multiple rebellions had all been quashed by my hand, or by Levai, Hauser, and Ekion.
‘I even cleared out the remnants of the Lion faction recently.’
It wasn’t for nothing that I let my daughter roam free in the castle.
But this inexplicable sense of foreboding.
The moment I thought of it, my breath settled against my lips.
My lips parted as Ekion’s pressed against mine persistently.
“A sedative.”
Ekion’s arm wrapped around my waist was firm. As my clothes shifted, a glimpse of his toned chest became visible.
I blinked before letting out a soft laugh.
Ekion’s face looking up at me was beautiful and graceful.
After so long in marriage, I understood.
‘That scheming dragon.’
He knew I was weak to his face and exploited this angle.
There were nights when what should have happened once happened twice, three times because of this….
“Hmm, the sedative seems a bit weak?”
“A sedative? What sedative?”
A hand suddenly grabbed me from behind.
As I tilted my head back, another handsome face appeared with a pop.
Below the glasses, his face was pouty. The Dolphin advisor expressed his displeasure with a petulant expression.
“It’s your time anyway, so why did you bring him along?”
“I didn’t bring him.”
“I know. So send him away.”
I looked between Levai and Ekion before smiling faintly.
Levai’s words weren’t wrong. And Ekion had become more perceptive than before.
It was likely due to his strong determination not to be disliked by me.
Soon Ekion rose smoothly and vanished.
Not forgetting to seal his lips against mine before he disappeared.
“I’ll wait for the night.”
“Ahaha….”
Barely had the thought crossed my mind that I shouldn’t look back when my shoulders spun around.
“Mm, Levai… mmph.”
I had no chance to speak. I was too busy accepting what Levai’s lips offered me.
Time passed briefly, and I gazed at the man pinning me down as I lay on the sofa.
His hair, grown quite long by now, swayed gently from his shoulders.
Levai would carelessly remove his glasses during our kiss, tossing them aside.
I found this habit endearing and took small pleasure in kissing him while he still wore them.
Because I quite liked the eyes beneath his glasses, clouded with desire.
“What are you thinking?”
I had been looking in the direction his glasses flew, but now I turned my gaze back.
I saw a man with flushed skin beneath his eyes.
His expression was precarious, barely maintaining an intellectual composure, and it filled my heart completely.
“…Still, looking at you makes me feel like I’ve returned to the third cycle.”
Levai was not surprised.
It was a topic that appeared far too often in our conversations.
“At first, I hated how you seemed to dismiss that statement as merely the past. Now it’s fine.”
“….”
“Because you’ve finally acknowledged it.”
I closed my mouth.
“Both the me that existed within you, and my heart.”
At some point, I had admitted that I could no longer clearly distinguish my third cycle from this one.
I felt it while suppressing several rebellions.
‘The third cycle that ended in world destruction, and all those subordinates including myself who died pointlessly—I can neither fully accept nor erase any of it.’
Because the third cycle existed, I exist now in the fourth cycle.
Moreover, before Levai and Hauser, who remember the third cycle far more persistently than I do, I could only feel helpless.
They were the primary culprits who forced me to acknowledge it.
I closed my eyes and laughed softly.
When I opened them, Levai pulled down smoothly. My vision flipped, and we had switched positions in an instant.
With me now straddling him as he lay beneath me.
I smiled brightly.
“So, how does it feel to finally become what the Matriarch so desperately desired?”

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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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