I Became the Emergency Food Supply of the Bear Family - Chapter 40

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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 40

“Ber?”
“This… this belongs to Coco… to her daughter, doesn’t it?”
The servants froze at the sight of Ber desperately stepping in front of Liv.
Watching Ber gaze up at her with desperate eyes, Liv smiled bitterly. She approached the girl slowly, knelt to meet her at eye level, and gently stroked her white hair.
“Yes, that’s right.”
Liv nodded in response. Her black pupils clearly held Ber’s image, yet seemed to look toward some distant place.
“But it’s alright. If you keep clinging to those things forever, it will only pain Coco.”
Her hand rose from Ber’s head to her shoulder. Liv straightened and rose to her feet.
“Coco surely wishes for us to move forward, to live our own lives.”
That’s why she sent you to us. Her voice grew thick, and she smiled without uttering the final words.
“……”
Ber found herself speechless at Liv’s explanation.
And no wonder—it matched her own heart exactly.
‘I wish Mother, Father, and my younger brother could do the same.’
That they could forget me and live ordinary, happy lives.
So that’s it. Perhaps Coco felt the same way. If that were true, how could she refuse the lady?
Ber lowered her arms and stepped forward to stand quietly beside Liv.
The servants, who had been watching the two, began to move again.
The bed, the wardrobe, the desk—flame caught the wood swiftly and blazed upward.
Crackle, crackle. Gray smoke rose skyward with the burning flames. Liv watched in silence. Without thinking, Ber took her hand.
“Thank you, Ber.”
Only for a moment did Ber meet Liv’s gaze as she turned back—then she looked away again toward the fire.
Her grip on Liv’s hand tightened.
The world before her wavered and shimmered, and though it wasn’t cold, her shoulders began to tremble. Soon, a sob escaped her lips.
Only then did Ber realize she was crying.
Why… am I?
Ber shook her head frantically in confusion.
“I’m… I’m sorry. It’s not me who’s sad, it’s you, the lady… but…”
I’m sorry.
Liv watched the girl apologize through her tears, then bent down again. She wiped the tears that had already dampened Ber’s cheeks and smiled.
“You really are a kind child, Ber.”
At those words, somehow her tears stopped.
Those black eyes gazing at her. Liv’s face, tinted scarlet by the firelight.
Staring blankly at Liv’s face, Ber thought.
Ah.
Perhaps I was never a ‘substitute’ after all.
Liv knelt and met Ber’s eyes. As she drew the girl into an embrace, the grandmother watching the two also bent forward.
Feeling the grandmother’s soft hand caressing her head, Ber closed her eyes.

***

Today was the day Ferdi, Lui, and Ber had their lessons together.
Lui, excited at the prospect of studying with Ber now that she had undergone Humanization, arrived at the Study Room unusually early.
While waiting for Heinz, Lui coaxed the obediently seated Ber into play. After a moment of awkwardness, Ber eagerly joined in, and soon both were tumbling across the sofa.
At the sight of the two rolling about, Ferdi burst out laughing.
“But class time’s here—why hasn’t Heinz shown up?”
“I know, right? I got here early just because of this.”
His pouting expression brightened again just as quickly.
“Hey! Did we cancel lessons today?”
“You’re slacking off again. You need to study at least a little. No matter what, you ought to know the basics.”
“I came to the Study Room to do that, but Heinz isn’t here, so how is that my fault?”
Since it was a fair point, Ferdi stayed silent. The boy certainly knew how to argue.
“Anyway, let’s play more until Heinz gets here!”
With that, Lui began tickling Ber, who lay sprawled on the sofa. She burst into bright laughter, her body writhing.
“Ha—stop—I can’t—ha ha, stop it, Lui!”
“Stop bothering Ber and do some preview instead—oof!”
“You’re the one who won’t join in and keeps sitting around bored.”
“Aha—s—soon Heinz will be here, so please—”
“Then I can’t just take it! Payback time!”
“Keheha, Ber you—”
And so the three of them were soon lost in a tickling free-for-all.
Once they had tickled each other until breathless, all three collapsed against the sofa, gasping deeply.
“Ber.”
Then Lui suddenly spoke.
“You’re officially part of our family now, you know.”
The boy certainly had a way with words, even if he didn’t understand what Documents truly meant. Ferdi narrowed his eyes.
“Yeah.”
“You’ve become the youngest daughter of the Grizzly Family. Which means—you’re our little sister now, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
As Ber nodded several times in agreement, Lui leaned his face closer.
“So why won’t you call me big brother?”
“…E-er.”
Ber stammered in surprise.
He had a point. The adopted “Ber” was eight years old, making her indeed the youngest daughter of the Grizzly Family. Lui at nine and Ferdi at ten were naturally her older siblings. Technically that was true, but…
‘Still, they’re just kids.’
Ber looked at Lui with twisted lips.
In Korea, the country where I lived, age determined hierarchy. I was the most senior in the Pediatric Ward, after all!
Thinking this, Ber tried to avoid Lui’s gaze, which seemed to carry some resentment. But when she looked away, she found herself facing her other brother.
Ferdi, sitting to her right, was watching her with an expression as though he were shouting “Yes! Exactly!”
Caught between Lui on the left and Ferdi on the right, Ber rolled her eyes and began to make excuses.
“It’s true, but… it’s just a little unfamiliar.”
I’ve had a younger sibling before, but I’ve never had an older brother or sister.
“Then you’ll just have to get used to it from now on!”
At Lui’s matter-of-fact declaration, Ber turned to look at the boy in bewilderment.
“Come on, go ahead and call me. Do it.”
“…Ugh.”
Ber stiffened at the expectant look in Lui’s eyes.
“It’s fine, just try once.”
Ferdi spoke soothingly as well.
But Ber remained silent. For quite a while.
Unable to bear it, Lui leaned his face toward her again.
“Do you really hate it that much…?”
His expression was genuinely hurt.
This was real. Ber finally steeled herself, clenching her hands tight.
“…Big…”
Big brother, big brother… wait, this is a noble family in a fantasy world—doesn’t “big brother” sound weird here?
Thinking this, Ber chose her words carefully.
“Older brother.”
She spoke the word with her eyes squeezed shut, barely managing the pronunciation. Why did her hands and feet shrivel at just one word?
Then, startled by a sudden thump, she opened her eyes.
Both boys had collapsed under the sofa.
“Ferdi? Lui?”
Ber hurried down beside the sofa. She was about to check on the two collapsed boys, her trembling hands reaching for their chests, when—
Click! The window burst open. She turned her head quickly to see a white owl fluttering its wings as it entered the Study Room.
‘A white… owl?’
Strangely, the owl was carrying human clothing in its beak.
The owl stretched out its feet and swished the curtain by the window, then disappeared behind it. The space behind the curtain grew blindingly bright, and a human shadow appeared. After hastily donning the clothes, he emerged from behind the curtain.
“Young lord, young lady! I apologize for being late. I overslept this morning…”
Heinz—or rather, the owl—apologized and looked around the room.
Ferdi and Lui lay on the floor, while Ber sat beside them, eyes wide open. In that state, she stared blankly up at Heinz.
‘Surely not.’
Grandfather was a white owl Shapeshifter.
Meanwhile, Heinz, unaware of the situation, furrowed his brow as he watched the three of them.
“…What on earth is happening here?”

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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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