I Became the Emergency Food Supply of the Bear Family - Chapter 46

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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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Episode 46

Enya’s melancholy deepened with each passing day. Growing concerned, Kayen had proposed that she enroll at the Royal Academy where he studied—thinking that attending classes might ease her growing frustration.
When they returned to the Capital, where the Royal Academy was located, Enya made her way to the familiar streets.
The moment she stepped into the Alley Market, she encountered an elderly couple who had come out to the market entrance and were surveying the surroundings. They were the grandparents whom Enya had treated last.

“You’ve come back! Thank goodness you’re safe.”

As if finally at ease, the grandmother wiped her tears and grasped Enya’s hand tightly.
Ever since Enya had vanished from the streets, the elderly couple had been searching for her whereabouts.
Enya wept in the grandmother’s embrace, crying aloud like a child. The grandparents said nothing, simply stroking her hair.
‘I could never forget that scene.’
Ber’s eyes had grown moist.
It was a moment where the heroine’s sorrow burst forth, and the comment section of that episode overflowed with weeping emoticons. Of course, there were also many comments tinged with resentment toward Kayen.
‘I was so caught off guard by the sudden dark turn.’
Though ominous foreshadowing had been woven throughout, the work carried a healing tag, so many readers were startled by the sharp pivot.
In any case, because the elderly couple was so kind, Ber thought they were perfectly qualified to become Enya’s guardians.
Ber swallowed hard and clenched her right fist.
‘I rewrote it twenty times, so it should be fine.’
The letter Ber had prepared was roughly like this:
In a few years’ time, a skilled herbalist would arrive on the streets of the Capital. The herbalist would have no home. So, in exchange for treating the knee, would you take in the herbalist?
Since the content read like a prophecy of the future, Ber had been careful with the handwriting. She had practiced copying Theodore’s cursive script from the Entry Certificate extensively, and rewritten the letter several times.
‘If it looks like a child’s handwriting, they’ll think it’s a joke letter, obviously. Besides…’
If she forged it to look like a letter written by the head of House Grizzly, it would make future arrangements much easier.
Her effort paid off—the elderly couple’s expressions showed surprise. While an elderly person having knee pain might be natural, she had written that it was specifically the grandmother’s knee.

“Grandfather is in excellent health! Your knees are so strong.”

That was what Enya had said during her examination, and they remembered it clearly.
Of course, for now they would remain skeptical, but when the herbalist Enya actually appeared in two years, the elderly couple’s mind would surely change.
As Ber stood lost in thought, watching the grandparents, a small voice came from behind her.
“…A-are you listening to me, miss?”
When she turned around, Aleksei stood there with a face burning red. Without quite realizing what she was doing, Ber had dragged him away and hidden him behind another shop.
“What’s wrong?”
When she asked, meeting his eyes, the boy flushed even darker and quickly bowed his head.
Then he spoke in a crawling voice.
“M-my hand…”
“Oh.”
It seemed she had been gripping his hand too tightly while lost in thought.
“Sorry.”
Ber apologized and quickly let go. But even after releasing his hand, Aleksei’s face remained flushed.
“Are you alright? Your face is so red.”
“Eek.”
When Ber leaned in to examine his complexion, Aleksei started back in alarm, nearly stumbling. He looked as though he might fall over.
Just as Ber turned to check on the boy again, a voice calling her name came from a distance.
“Ber! What are you doing over there!”
Ruy was approaching, his voice ringing out. Ber quickly left the alley and ran toward him. It was better not to catch the grandparents’ attention again.
“I bought apples.”
She spoke as she quickly handed Ruy the bag of apples.
“It’s already getting late. We should head to dinner.”
At Ferdi’s perfectly timed nagging, Ber called out as if she had been waiting for it.
“Yeah, let’s go now!”
As Ber ran toward Ferdi and Olsen, she suddenly glanced back at the Alley Market.
‘I really hope those two become a shelter for Enya.’
Ber smiled, offering a silent wish in her heart.

***

Theodore and Demirun headed northwest on the Capital’s streets.
Only by passing through a massive entrance guarded by numerous sentries and crossing a magnificent garden could they finally reach their destination.
The place they were headed was the Imperial Palace.
When Theodore requested an audience with the Emperor, the attendant was bewildered.
To arrive at the imperial residence without an appointment and suddenly ask to see the Emperor no less—it was conduct that violated protocol greatly.
Yet the attendant did not refuse Theodore’s request.
The Emperor’s puppet, Theodore Grizzly.
Aside from the imperial family of the Albero Empire, the Emperor’s courtiers and the palace attendants still regarded the Grizzlys as barbarians.
Since barbarians could scarcely be expected to follow imperial etiquette or conduct proper discourse, they were simply ushered through without protest.
Yet the imperial family, and above all the Emperor himself, held House Grizzly in high esteem. Even an impolite and sudden visit would earn Theodore a room from the Emperor for as many days as needed.
A vassal sworn to absolute obedience. No matter how barbarous, turning him away was unthinkable.
Contemplating the attendant’s transparently expressed sentiment, Demirun’s lips curved upward.
“In this empire, we remain foreigners. Of course, this visit did skip many procedures. Had you informed us in advance, we would have arranged an audience appointment to coincide with the entrance ceremony date.”
“Demirun.”
To Demirun’s idle remark, Theodore responded with just one word. Demirun let out a quiet laugh and answered.
“I know.”
Yes. Even without explanation, he understood.
This discourteous visit was deliberate.
Until now, they had merely been holed up in the Northern Region, hiding the rabbit. But they could remain idle no longer.
That was why Theodore sought confirmation.

“Baekrang seems to be gathering and sending out Eostrae Candidates.”
“To the Central Region.”

The Central Region, as Pallas had obliquely referred to it. More precisely, why the imperial family was seeking the Power of Spring.
Walking down the Emperor’s long, broad corridors, the two arrived at the imperial study.
Once the attendant had left the study, the two exchanged signals with their eyes.
Not the reception chamber, but the study. The situation was distinctly different from usual.
The Emperor’s study was connected to his bedchamber.
In other words, unlike the reception chamber, the study was located in the most private reaches of the palace.
Soon, a small creaking of hinges sounded, and the inner door of the study opened.
Theodore rose from the sofa.
The Emperor emerged from the door connected to the bedchamber, leaning on a minister’s arm.
“…”
In that moment, Theodore was certain.
The Emperor was gravely ill.

***

The Albero imperial family possessed a precarious characteristic.
There were very few members of the royal bloodline.
An unfortunate accident.
At a hunting event held in the empire’s western region, the horse the Crown Prince was riding suddenly went wild. The horse did not stop; it ran on. The Crown Prince, unable to endure any longer, fell from the horse, only to be trampled mercilessly beneath its hooves.
In the end, the Crown Prince died at the young age of eighteen.
Between the Emperor and Empress, there were no children besides the Crown Prince. The Empress’s grief was so profound that she bore no more children afterward.
Then, when the Emperor was nearing sixty, the Empress finally became pregnant again. That she gave birth to a son was a blessing beyond measure—yet the moment she had delivered the child, the Empress grew frail and passed away.
The current Emperor’s age: seventy-five.
The New Crown Prince’s age: merely seventeen.
Far too young to entrust with the governance of a nation.
Should the Emperor die in his present state, the young Crown Prince would ascend to the throne—but would this empire truly be alright? Given that the Emperor’s reign had been peaceful, not only the empire’s nobility but the common people as well harbored great anxiety.
Now the empire’s Emperor had fallen ill. And the imperial family was searching for an Incarnation of Eostrae.
The reason the imperial family sought the Power of Spring seemed far too clear.

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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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