The Baby Bear of the Black Fox Mansion - Chapter 18

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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 18
“You said before that what descended on our lands wasn’t a curse at all, didn’t you?”
“If your mouth works, speak plainly. I had my doubts, but there was no curse-stench about it, so I couldn’t be certain,” he replied.
Jerpeon stood before a door and knocked.
“Come in.”
At the soft voice from within, Zeros’s eyes widened slightly.
Jerpeon opened the door slowly, a faint smile playing at his lips.
Zeros’s brow twitched at the serene contentment written across his face.
“El.”
“You’re back? Jerry.”
“I simply missed you.”
“Ugh.”
Zeros watched Jerpeon deliver the saccharine words without the slightest embarrassment, then his gaze shifted back to her.
“So you’re awake.”
“Zeros?”
The woman—Serniel—opened her eyes wide. Her amber gaze fell upon him.
Her complexion was pale, her frame noticeably thinner than he remembered, yet her eyes and cheeks held a certain vitality.
Zeros’s eyes widened as he strode toward her, crossing his arms to study her from every angle.
“You look well.”
“So do you.”
At his casual remark, the woman merely shrugged lightly in response.
“I can hardly believe it. What on earth happened? What caused all this?”
“A curse.”
He paused.
At Jerpeon’s words, Zeros’s face hardened.
His jaw clenched as he let out a hollow laugh.
“Don’t talk nonsense. A curse carries its own distinctive miasma. True enough, that sudden climate change and Serniel’s collapse resembled curse-work in certain respects, but… there was none of that oppressive taint unique to a curse.”
Zeros spoke with conviction.
“It was a curse.”
“I’ve lived with curses my entire life, and I felt nothing.”
“To be precise, it was an ancient curse. From when the Demon Race still existed—one that likely began to trigger several centuries ago.”
Zeros furrowed his brow, arms folded across his chest.
“What are you saying? No, fine. Even if that endless winter that descended on your lands was indeed some curse. How did you resolve it? Did you find some sorcerer more gifted than I am?”
“That child.”
“That child?”
“The one you met earlier—the little cub—found the Curse Medium and broke the curse.”
At Jerpeon’s words, Zeros’s eyes widened considerably.
“What? That… bamboo-munching, weeping panda-wannabe brat?”
He nodded.
“How, exactly?”
“That’s… something I don’t fully understand myself.”
He shook his head and settled onto the edge of the bed.
Even now, a week after everything, it all felt like a dream.
“What was the reason? If you broke the curse, that means you found the Curse Medium, doesn’t it?”
“It was the Guardian Tree.”
“The Guardian Tree?”
“The great, ancient tree behind the Noctis Estate.”
“That was the Curse Medium?”
Zeros fell silent.
It made no sense whatsoever. A Curse Medium fundamentally radiates a tainted aura.
It kills everything around it—every living thing from the plants beneath it onward.
Yet that tree had emanated no such corruption. What’s more, it bloomed flowers every year and bore fruit as well.
“There was a Demon inside it.”
“A… what?”
“A Demon.”
Jerpeon recounted to Zeros what he had witnessed in that dream.
When he’d finished, Zeros drew a sharp breath.
“So what you’re saying is, some ancestor of the Noctis Duchy, over a dozen generations back, committed a Forbidden Act, summoned a young Demon in exchange for his lifespan, failed to honor the contract, and sealed it away with sorcery instead? And when your wife—a northerner—crossed this house’s threshold, it gave the seal reason to break?”
“Yes. For a stupid cat, you grasped that remarkably well.”
“Want to die?”
Zeros let out a low growl.
In any case, he’d seen condition-triggered curses plenty of times, but one that had lain dormant for this long was a first.
“But all that resentment accumulating over hundreds of years… breaking it with just a few words from some kid? That’s ridiculous.”
If it were that easy to break a curse with mere words, why would sorcerers even exist in the world?
Everyone brings food and says ‘Please, just this once,’ and that’s the end of it.
“We’d lose our jobs,” he muttered.
“I found that detail unusual as well,” Jerpeon said.
Jerpeon gently took hold of Serniel’s hand and continued.
“For a curse dormant hundreds of years… it seemed far too intact. If it had been trapped in the tree all that time, it should have gone mad long ago.”
“That is strange, I admit.”
He furrowed his brow, arms crossed.
Either some ability had been used when awakening the curse, or the child possessed some special power. It had to be one or the other.
What was certain was…
“If that’s true, the kid has sorcerer’s talent.”
It was remarkable.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a child with sorcerer’s talent outside our own bloodline.”
“Since you’ve come all this way, rest a while before you leave. Zero.”
“Yeah, yeah, that’s what I was planning anyway.”
Zeros replied to Serniel with a mischievous grin.
“Who gave you permission…”
“Your wife did?”
……
Jerpeon’s mouth fell silent.
“Once my body’s recovered a bit, I should thank the child properly, Jerpeon.”
“Of course.”
Jerpeon nodded eagerly at Serniel’s words.
Serniel patted the back of Jerpeon’s hand and gave Zeros Nordeic a slight smile.
“Have you heard anything about what you’re looking for? Your wife and child?”
“…No.”
Zeros gazed quietly out the window.
“It’s always the same.”
He let out a short sigh.
“Anyway, I’ll look around a bit too, so you focus on healing.”
Zeros said this to Serniel, then turned sharply and left the room.
“Don’t sulk and treat him well, Jerpeon.”
“I will.”
* * *
Knock, knock.
At the sound of the door, Jerpeon looked up from the pile of documents he’d been processing.
“Come in.”
The door clicked open, and a round-faced child poked his face through the gap.
A smile rose to Jerpeon’s lips.
“Little Bear, is that you?”
“Is Honey Cake mister busy?”
“Honey Cake…”
He let out a soft laugh.
He had no idea what an impression those honey cakes must have made for the child to still be calling them by that name.
“Did you enjoy the honey cakes that much?”
“Yes!”
Miel’s eyes gleamed as his head bobbed up and down with such enthusiasm it seemed it might fall off.
“The cousin, he said he’d give them to me all the time but never actually did, and Honey Cake mister really gave them to me, so I like it so much. You’re a kind person!”
……
He couldn’t imagine what sort of treatment the child must have received at Bernear to be so delighted by a single confection.
Jerpeon pulled a box of honey cakes from the drawer.
He’d already prepared one separately to give to the child anyway.
“Here, this is a gift for you.”
Seeing the elegant box, Miel accepted it eagerly.
Miel, having been poor, had learned well that when someone gave you something, you were supposed to accept it.
So he took it without hesitation, but…
“All of these?”
“Honey Cakes.”
“……!”
“A whole box.”
“Ohhhhh…….”
Miel’s mouth fell open.
“All of these are Honey Cakes?”
“That’s right.”
“……For Miel?”
“Yes.”
Miel’s gaping mouth showed no sign of closing.
Jerpeon gently lifted the child’s chin with a soft tap, then brushed her cheek tenderly.
“Would you like to eat some?”
“Yes!”
He settled Miel on the sofa, took the seat beside her, and carefully unwrapped the neatly packaged box.
When Miel saw the Honey Cakes stacked inside in honeycomb shapes, her eyes sparkled.
The moment the child grabbed a cake in each hand——
“Forgive me for being so hurried that my thanks came so late. Little one.”
“……?”
Jerpeon lowered his head.
“Thank you for saving my wife and Lisar. And for letting me see the sun over my own lands again. I’m truly grateful.”
“……!”
Miel, who had been gazing at Jerpeon intently, broke into a radiant smile.
“Mhm! No problem!”
“If there’s anything you want, I’d like to grant it.”
“……!”
Miel’s ears perked up sharply.
“A panda……!”
“Hmm?”
“Miel wants to go see the panda cubs!”

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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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