I Became the Emergency Food Supply of the Bear Family - Chapter 4

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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 4

Na Bom couldn’t risk shaking her head and inviting unknown consequences, so she lowered her gaze and pretended not to understand.
Anna asked nothing further, simply bathing Na Bom’s body, combing through the wet fur with meticulous care until it dried completely.
Then Anna carried Na Bom back to Theodore’s bedchamber.
“It’s cold, so stay here.”
Only after arranging blankets before the fireplace did Anna turn to leave the bedchamber.
‘…….’
What on earth was happening?
Why was she polishing the Emergency Ration like this, cleaning off every speck of dirt?
Either way, I need to escape from here quickly.
Various thoughts swirled in her mind, but Na Bom’s consciousness could not continue much further.
She hadn’t slept properly next to the bear, and the bathwater had felt far too pleasant. With her fur dried clean, she was on the very edge of sleep.
Most of all, the spot Anna had chosen for her was perfect.
‘So warm…….’
Na Bom curled herself into a ball and buried her face in the blankets.

***

Crash!
The bedchamber door swung open with tremendous force.
“Your Grace!”
“Your Grace! Are you here?”
Children rushed into Theodore’s bedchamber with cheerful laughter.
Brown-haired boys with golden eyes—unmistakably bearing the blood of the bear.
“Young masters!”
Just then, a stern voice thundered from the doorway.
“How many times must I tell you not to enter the Master’s bedchamber without permission? Have you finished your lessons before coming to play?”
“We finished. Left it on your desk.”
“Very well for you, Master Ferdinand. But Master Louis’s work—where is it?”
“You know. I’m just not good at studying. These days, it’s all about aptitude, right? I’m the second son anyway, and learning swordplay is much more efficient.”
“That’s nothing but complete nonsense—!”
“Huh? Nonsense about what?”
The second young master, Louis Philip, tilted his head as if he’d heard something strange, and the old man trembled before abruptly turning his back.
“How can a bear cub speak so well? All that business about young bears being cute must be a lie. I’m done trying. I’m done. Blast it all.”
The grumbling old man paid them no mind as the two boys roamed about Theodore’s bedchamber in high spirits. With their tutor Heinz gone, the bedchamber was their world.
“Huh?”
Louis, who had been bouncing on the Master’s bed, spotted something and jumped down to the floor.
“Snow, brother.”
“Hm?”
“Snow!”
Pointing at the fireplace with his finger, Louis turned to Ferdinand, the Young Count of House Grisly.
“Look at this! It is, isn’t it? Snow!”
“……It is snow.”
Ferdinand murmured his reply, gazing quietly at what lay before the fireplace. His neatly drawn brows furrowed slightly.
It was a peculiar sight.
Something sat upon the blankets—snow, or rather, a snowball far larger than the ones they used for snowball fights, so it should be called a snowdrift.
But what was strangest of all:
“How odd. It’s right in front of the fire, yet it doesn’t melt.”
Louis had immediately identified Ferdinand’s own greatest puzzle. Ferdinand murmured in agreement, but Louis’s hand was already reaching toward the snowball.
“Huh? Wow! It’s so soft.”
“Louis, Heinz said not to touch things carelessly.”
“It’s not that. This is really amazing!”
Ferdinand tried to brush Louis’s hand away from the snowball, but failed. The moment his hand touched the snowball instead of Louis’s, Ferdinand’s eyes went wide.
“It really is soft.”
“I told you!”
“And… a little warm.”
Ferdinand and Louis looked directly at each other simultaneously. Curiosity gleamed in their paired golden eyes.
The two began to touch the snowball absently.
After some time had passed, Ferdinand suddenly murmured:
“I don’t think this is snow at all.”
At that very moment.
A tremor.
The snowball shifted, and something sprang from its rounded surface with a soft pop.
Two small, elongated ears covered in white fluffy fur.
Startled, the two boys withdrew their hands, and then the snowball lifted its head with a jerk.
Eyes like black buttons blinked as they gazed up at the two boys before them.
“Brother. This isn’t snow.”
“Right. It’s not snow. This is—”
Ferdinand spoke blankly, identifying the snowball’s true nature.
“A rabbit.”
The two boys stared silently at each other once more.
Soon, Louis leaned his face down toward the rabbit.
Drip, drip-drip.
Something fell through the air, and the rabbit shook its head.
Looking up to check, Na Bom saw Louis drooling steadily.
“Brother, I’m hungry.”
“Tsk. Heinz said not to eat it.”
“Not that. The snowflakes. They look delicious.”
“They’re not snowflakes. It’s a rabbit.”
“Right, a snow-rabbit.”
“Yes.”
Even Ferdinand, who had been restraining his brother, looked down at the rabbit once more.
Gulp.
The sound of swallowing pooled saliva was clearly audible to the rabbit’s ears.
The snow-rabbit—Na Bom—jumped in place.
‘What is it with these guys!’
She didn’t know who they were, but one thing was certain.
The droplet that fell on her head was damp and sticky, and their gazes were those of creatures surveying prey.
Small boys they might be, but these were unmistakably predators.
As Na Bom scrambled backward, the boys’ hands reached out in equal panic.
Thinking they meant to devour her, she retreated more urgently—when someone’s hands suddenly lifted her up.
“Anna?”
“That won’t do, young masters.”
Anna shielded Na Bom, hugging her tightly to her chest.
At Anna’s protective stance, Na Bom looked up at her with eyes gleaming with tears.
This woman wasn’t a beast. Absolutely not!
But the moment their eyes met, the tears vanished entirely.
“Emergency Ration, you mustn’t go near the fire either! You’ll get hurt!”
Na Bom immediately lowered her ears and hung her head.
That commanding presence. Even if she wasn’t a beast, she was a formidable creature. How many animals were weaker than a rabbit?
“W-we weren’t really trying to eat—”
“That’s right. We just didn’t want the snow-rabbit to melt near the fire, so we were trying to stop her…….”
“Save your excuses. Wipe your mouths first.”
Gulp.
At Anna’s sharp words, both boys wiped their mouths at once.
“Since the Master’s new Emergency Ration belongs to him, you mustn’t handle her carelessly. Understood?”
“Ah! So it’s the Master’s Emergency Ration.”
“Then we’re in real trouble if we touch her.”
The boys gave repeated nods with eerie chuckles, and Na Bom tilted her head in confusion.
Anna had definitely called them “young masters” before. Weren’t these Theodore’s own children?
‘But then why do they call him “Your Grace” instead of “Father”?’
Since the original work contained almost no information about House Grisly, speculation was difficult.
Instead, Na Bom recalled the romance novel settings she’d read in the hospital room.
The setting that best fit the Grisly household was one where a strict father maintained distance even from his own family.
‘That does make sense.’
If one’s father were a butcher of blood, anyone would be frightened.
As Na Bom accepted this understanding, she felt a gaze from below.
The two boys stood on tiptoe, looking up at Na Bom nestled in Anna’s embrace.
As their eyes raked across her entire body, Na Bom felt her heart tighten. The pads of her feet seemed to grow damp at once.
“Small.”
“Yeah. Really small.”
“Isn’t the Master’s Emergency Ration awfully thin?”
“Right! We should feed her more.”
Ferdinand and Louis spoke in turn, alternating their gaze between Na Bom and Anna. Anna touched her chin and murmured thoughtfully.
“Now that you mention it, the Emergency Ration hasn’t eaten yet.”
“Really? That works out great! Right, brother?”
“Oh, I see. That’s a good idea.”
After exchanging just a few words, Ferdinand and Louis clasped hands as if they’d completely understood each other’s thoughts.

***

“Go on, eat all you like!”
As soon as Anna set her down, Ferdinand and Louis leaned in to either side of Na Bom’s ears and spoke in unison.
Her ears rang with the children’s characteristic loud voices. But her dizziness wasn’t caused by their voices alone.
Na Bom gazed blankly at the landscape spread before her.
Dandelions, romaine, carrots, raspberries, parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. Along with various other herbs.
In a world covered entirely in white snow, she seemed to have stepped into a lush tropical forest.
Verdant nature thriving behind transparent glass walls.
This was the Greenhouse.
“You can eat anything you want.”
At the gentle voice from behind, Na Bom turned her head.
Ferdinand, a boy with neatly trimmed brown hair and a soft expression, regarded Na Bom quietly.
“Really. Even Mother doesn’t say anything about it anymore.”
As Ferdinand spoke in a reassuring tone, his gaze turned inward toward the Greenhouse.
Perhaps it was her imagination, but his golden eyes seemed touched by sorrow.
“Anna, can the snow-rabbit eat anything?”
“I’ve heard rabbits like dandelions and carrot leaves best, so those would be fine.”
“Dandelions and carrots!”
Louis dashed away, his long hair streaming over his shoulder.
Ferdinand nodded, giving Na Bom a look that said to follow. Na Bom gazed quietly after the boy as he moved ahead.
“Come on!”
A gentle push from behind urged the reluctant rabbit forward, and Na Bom stepped along with an uncertain expression.
Ferdinand led Na Bom to the dandelion patch and crouched before it, plucking dandelion leaves and offering them to her.
“Here.”
Na Bom hesitated, then pressed her nose to the leaf. Sniff, sniff—her nostrils flared gently as she breathed in the scent.
It was fragrant.
Grass could smell this rich? This was definitely tastier than dry hay!
She’d eaten nothing but shriveled hay in the cold for so long; the fresh, verdant scent awakened her stomach.
Yes.
This was merely instinctive, natural behavior for one reborn as an animal. Certainly not because she’d opened her heart to a predator over food…….
Gurgle-gurgle-gurgle.
At the deep cry of her stomach, Na Bom could no longer think of anything else.

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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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