I Became the Emergency Food Supply of the Bear Family - Chapter 33

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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 33

In no time, the rabbit transformed into the shape of a small child and nestled into Ribe’s arms.
“……Mother.”
The word tumbled out with such longing, and tears began to fall from the child’s eyes.
The child was crying while smiling.
Ribe, not yet comprehending what had happened, reached out and touched the child’s pale face. Only after wiping away the tears with her fingertips did Ribe understand.
The curse within her had vanished.

***

Na Bom awoke from her sleep.
The beige ceiling spread before her eyes—unfamiliar yet not quite strange.
But Na Bom didn’t rise. Instead, she closed her eyes again.
What had that dream been about?
Grizzly’s family appeared in it, along with the youngest daughter who was said to be dead. Even the girl’s name appeared—a name she had never heard nor asked about before.
‘She was called Coco.’
A dream unnaturally vivid, so sorrowful that even her own heart, though not part of their family, had ached.
If that dream were truly something Grizzly’s family had experienced, their actual past—
‘Then there was a reason he saved me.’

“I brought you to this castle because I wanted to save you.”

Theodore, who had appeared suddenly and saved her from the wolves.
He had a reason he couldn’t turn away from Na Bom.
A young arctic rabbit believed to possess the power of Eoestre. A young bear believed to grow stronger if consumed. Innocent lives who had perished because people took unverified rumors as truth.
Theodore couldn’t abandon her as she was about to be captured by wolves for reasons similar to those that had taken his daughter.
She was grateful for being saved. Without Theodore, she would surely have been delivered to the Imperial Palace by now, locked away in some dreadful Underground Prison.
But at the same time, she felt sorry. Because—
‘I can never replace Coco.’
The moment such an obvious thought occurred to her, why was it—
That a corner of her chest seemed to sting sharply?
“Hey, rabbit.”
Just then, a gruff yet playful voice sounded.
“You’re awake.”
It was Pallas. Na Bom quickly sat up and greeted him, speaking eagerly.
“P-Pallas, I had the strangest dream! Could it have been something you showed me……?”
She asked hurriedly, then suddenly felt something odd. Na Bom blinked and looked again at something that had just passed through her field of vision.
What reflected in Na Bom’s eyes was a human arm, white fingers. After repeating the motion of opening and closing her hand several times, she finally gasped, her mouth falling open in realization.
“Wh—? Did I—did I achieve Humanization?”
Limbs shorter than expected. Brilliant white hair that swayed whenever she looked at herself and then at Pallas. The flowing dress she was already wearing. The touch of fabric against her bare skin.
Na Bom sprang up. Unable to contain her joy, she began bouncing on the bed.
“I achieved Humanization!”
“You did.”
Because her expression was far happier than he’d imagined, Pallas smiled faintly, arms folded.
Na Bom continued jumping while admiring her own body.
It seemed Pallas had dressed her. She was already wearing a dress. The bright yellow skirt swished with each bounce—it was delightful just to watch.
Running about in a rabbit’s body had been enjoyable, and the feeling of stepping on snow had been pleasant too, but a human form felt far better. There was something she couldn’t even have imagined doing in her previous life—and she’d already done it. Bouncing on a bed!
Unable to contain her joy, Na Bom burst into bright laughter. As she laughed and leaped high, a face suddenly passed through the edge of her vision.
Ribe stood before the doorway, watching Na Bom. It was then that Na Bom realized this was not the room given to her.
‘This was the countess’s bed!’
Na Bom’s face went pale and she hurried to stop. As the creaking sound began to fade, Ribe spoke.
“Humanization. Congratulations.”
She gazed at Na Bom with a gentle smile, no hint of anger at all, offering her words of celebration. Yet why was it that Ribe’s golden eyes seemed ready to spill tears at any moment?
Na Bom found herself apologizing.
“My lady, I’m sorry for jumping on the bed……”
But before she could finish her apology, Ribe suddenly pulled her into a tight embrace. Na Bom’s face was buried in the woman’s chest and she struggled for a moment, but the voice that followed made her go still.
“I congratulate you. I’m so happy for you.”
Ribe’s voice trembled as she spoke, patting the small back reassuringly.
“And thank you.”
Then, with a gratitude she couldn’t explain, Ribe’s hand stroked down the child’s back.

“This child healed your curse, didn’t she?”

That morning, when Pallas came to check on Ribe’s condition, she was already awake.
Holding a small, pale girl with long white hair carefully in her arms, Ribe met Pallas’s gaze directly and asked.
When Pallas nodded silently in affirmation, Ribe’s hands clenched the sheet fabric.
Only the Power of Spring could have healed her curse. Which meant this child was……
Ribe’s voice cracked as she reproached Pallas.

“Why didn’t you stop her? The Power of Spring is an unknown force beyond our understanding. If she misused such a power……”
“Ribe. Don’t you think I understand Eoestre better than you do?”
“……”
“Don’t underestimate the Great Sage of the Empire.”

For all his reasonable words, Ribe continued to glare at Pallas. Daggers, even.
‘The husband and wife are cut from the same cloth.’
That Theodore fellow would certainly look at him this way too once he woke from his hibernation.
Curiosity about Divine Beings was irresistible, and there was a hypothesis he’d wanted to verify, so he’d gone ahead with it.
‘Far more bothersome than I imagined.’
Pallas let out a deep sigh and opened his mouth again.

“It is still mere conjecture, but the Power of Spring will not harm the child.”
“……Pardon?”
“Look at her now. Isn’t her Humanization perfect?”
“That’s only because this child worked hard at it.”

Ribe cut off Pallas’s words—the kind that suggested it was all thanks to the training he’d imposed—with a cool remark.
It wasn’t wrong, so Pallas fell silent with an expression of profound displeasure.

“Clothes.”
“Mm?”
“Please make her clothes, Pallas.”

Ribe made her request boldly, brushing aside the child’s shoulder as white hair fell to her waist, hidden only by the blanket.

“Magic is not omnipotent. I have no skill for making clothes for a girl.”
“Then fetch them for us.”
“……Are you now ordering the Great Sage about like a servant?”

Pallas narrowed his eyes in exasperation and glared at Ribe, but she merely responded with a gaze devoid of any warmth.
Pallas heaved a deep sigh, muttered that he understood, understood, in a dismissive tone, and turned to leave.

“Just bring them from Coco’s room.”
“……”

At those added words, Pallas turned back to face Ribe again.
The small girl held precious in her arms. The child’s brilliant white hair bore an uncanny resemblance to Ribe’s own.
‘Disrespectful creatures.’
Such tiny lives didn’t even know how to kneel before a great sage.
Yet it was none other than himself who had fallen for it, and that was a battle he could never win.
‘All of this is because of you, Dorothy.’
Pallas’s wry smile faded instantly.

Coco’s clothes fit the child remarkably well.
It was a dress tailored for when she would achieve Humanization around the age of six.
Theodore had said the child was eight this year, and whether it was due to Species Difference or simply not having eaten properly, her frame was so small it was heartbreaking.
Yet watching her laugh brightly and bounce on the bed was unbearable.
It felt as though her own daughter, who had left this world before ever achieving Humanization, had returned to her.
Ribe embraced the girl.
Apologies came first. The curse was a punishment she deserved for failing to protect her daughter. It felt wrong that this small child had healed her of it.
But once the words of gratitude had left her lips, she couldn’t stop them.
The child had no idea how much comfort her presence brought, how great a solace she was.
If the curse hadn’t been lifted, she surely would never have spoken to her, never have held her close.
Drawn in by the warmth, Na Bom nestled into Ribe’s embrace without thinking.
“Thank you so much for congratulating me, my lady!”
At the innocent sound of the child’s voice, Ribe laughed aloud.

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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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