I Became the Emergency Food Supply of the Bear Family - Chapter 44

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 44

The atmosphere had turned heavy. If this continued, a reunion looked unlikely. Ber, having assessed the situation, let out a quiet sigh.
“I understand. It’s a shame, but it can’t be helped.”
She answered in a deflated voice, then slowly lowered her head and added softly:
“Then please be careful on your journey, Father. And you too, Ferdi.”
…….
Without pressing further, Ber turned cleanly away.
The girl’s hand rested on the office door handle.
“From now on, I won’t show you my rabbit form ever again.”
With that firm statement, she turned the handle.
In that instant.
“Wait.”
“Wait, hold on!”
Theodore and Ferdi cried out simultaneously.
The corners of Ber’s lips rose slowly.
Mission accomplished.

***

That night.
Pallas appeared suddenly in Theodore’s bedchamber.
“I thought you’d be awake.”
Theodore, perched on the edge of his bed, greeted Pallas. Moonlight filtered through the gap in the curtains, casting itself across Theodore’s face.
“Your face is so heavy with care. And yet you take the girl beyond the territory like this?”
…….
“I don’t believe it. I warned you so carefully, yet she’s been running around inside Grizzly Castle all this time.”
Pallas deliberately chose sharp words, but Theodore did not answer. Pallas shook his head and released a sigh.
“It seems she understands how to handle you far better than I do.”
No doubt she called you Father and clung to you. Or perhaps she declared a boycott on Animal Transformation. To think he’d fallen so easily into such a malleable man.
Pallas’s laughter faded, and his eyes grew heavy.
“Her fever. It’s growing worse, isn’t it?”
Theodore’s brow furrowed as he met Pallas’s gaze, then quickly averted his eyes. Pallas released a short sigh.
“I was clear about this before. The only way to understand Unknown Power is to use it.”
…….
“Until now it’s been merely a low-grade fever, but there’s no telling what may happen next. You’d do well to steel yourself.”
At those words, Theodore met Pallas’s eyes again. Pallas emphasized his point:
“Before it’s too late.”
“……I understand.”
Eyes closed, fists clenched, Theodore answered.

***

A large carriage was parked before the main gate.
One by one, people began boarding. Louis had already climbed in, and Ber was about to do the same when—
She caught sight of someone and turned to look back.
“Mother!”
Rib was approaching with Anna. Ber broke into a quick jog toward them.
“I’ve come to see you off, Miss, with the Lady.”
“Thank you, Anna. And thank you, Mother!”
After offering a bow, Ber lifted her head and caught sight of Rib’s face.
The gaze fixed on her seemed to waver. Her eyes were full of worry and unease.
A foster daughter departing on a long journey.
Perhaps Rib saw Coco reflected there as well.
Unable to stroke the girl’s hair or embrace her, Rib hesitated. So Ber reached out her arms—pulling Rib close and burying her face in her embrace.
Her head, which had barely reached Rib’s stomach before, had somehow risen to rest against her chest.
“I’ll be careful, so please don’t worry.”
…….
“Mother.”
At that clear voice from within the embrace, Rib’s eyes widened.
“……Yes.”
Rib answered and extended her own arms, pulling Ber close.
As she gently stroked Ber’s hair, Rib’s gaze moved to Theodore, who sat in the carriage. Meeting her eyes, Theodore nodded solemnly.
With Ferdi’s assistance, Ber boarded the carriage as well.
Accompanying them to the entrance ceremony were Theodore, Louis, Theodore’s secretary Demirun, a knight serving as escort, and Aleksei.
Inside the carriage, Theodore, Ferdi, Louis, and Demirun were already seated. As Ber hesitated over where to sit, Demirun spoke as if he’d been waiting for her:
“Your seat is over there, Miss.”
He pointed—specifically at Theodore’s lap.
“……It’s far too cramped. Run, weren’t there larger carriages available? We could still switch to another—”
“Oh! My, look at the time! If we don’t depart now, we’ll be late!”
“Ah, right! Hmm… it’s too tight anyway. I’d best transform. Could you keep my dress for me?”
At Demirun’s urging, Ber nodded quickly, and her form began to dissolve.
Inside the dress draped across Theodore’s lap, a rabbit’s hind legs kicked free. The small tail twitched with each hop backward. Ber watched as Demirun carried off the dress, then settled herself against Theodore’s belly.
Theodore startled, his eyes widening, but he wrapped the rabbit firmly in his arms. In the same moment, the carriage lurched forward.
The rabbit’s head turned toward the window. Wind blew in, and the curtain fluttered. As the rabbit stretched her front paws and wriggled, hands appeared from both sides simultaneously—Theodore and Ferdi swept the curtain open wide.
“You wanted to look outside, didn’t you?”
Ferdi, seated ahead, smiled faintly as he spoke—as though he knew her heart completely.
‘……How did he know?’
She hadn’t even tried to express her wish. Yet Ferdi, who understood her least of all when she was in this form, grasped her so well.
It made her happy—and somehow a little frightened.
The rabbit pulled her face back into Theodore’s embrace, pressing herself deeper against him.
…….
Two white ears trembled below Theodore’s line of sight. Soon his mouth softened into a smile.
Seeing that tender expression, Demirun stifled a laugh. Hearing it, Theodore glared at him. Demirun coughed and bowed his head low.
‘Choosing a four-passenger carriage paid off.’
Even with his head down, Demirun’s lips curved upward.

Once they left the Northern Region, the brilliant autumn foliage gave way to verdant leaves. In the lower provinces, the air still carried the warmth of late summer.
As they drew nearer to the Central Empire, the roads widened and traffic from carriages and horses grew frequent.
After four days total—or barely two days once lodging time was accounted for—they finally arrived.

Luaalvero

The grand characters written above the northern gate of the capital peeked through the curtain gap.
‘We’re here!’
Giddy with excitement, Theodore toyed absently with the rabbit’s ears as they twitched with fidgeting, letting slip a single short word.
The carriage came to a stop before the lodging.
Everyone began to disembark in turn, until only a small rabbit and Theodore remained inside.
‘Up I go.’
The rabbit hopped down from Theodore’s lap onto the front seat, grabbed the dress that Demirun had carefully folded, and dragged it open with her mouth.
Theodore watched blankly for a moment before belatedly helping the rabbit. He lifted her and placed her inside the dress’s folds, then turned around so Ber could dress.
Eyes closed, Theodore reflected on the past two days.
Throughout those two days, Ber’s condition had been sound. True to her word, she had not run a fever at all. Though he had deployed two attendants—a proper knight and a servant—they’d scarcely been needed; the journey had been remarkably peaceful.
And those two days had been.
“My Lord.”
At the sound of Ber’s voice, Theodore spun around.
“I… I must have been quite heavy for you.”
Now properly dressed in her gown again, Ber examined Theodore’s legs, her face flushed crimson. He found himself smiling in spite of himself.
“You weren’t.”
Rising from his seat, Theodore steadied himself with one hand against the carriage roof while lifting Ber with the other.
“……!”
Ber gasped in surprise and clung to his neck, linking her arms around him.
Without waiting for assistance, Theodore stepped out of the carriage with effortless grace and set Ber gently on the ground.
“You need to eat more.”
Ber’s face turned deep scarlet. She muttered something about being able to come down on her own, that he shouldn’t treat her like a child. With her lip pouting out a thumb’s width, she was adorable to Theodore.
“Two days pass more quickly than one realizes, don’t they, my Lord?”
At Demirun’s mischievous quip, Theodore’s expression instantly cooled.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————