The Baby Bear of the Black Fox Mansion - Chapter 19

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

Episode 19
“…….”
Jerpheion’s mouth snapped shut.
He had no idea how to explain to this small child that he was not, in fact, a panda.
“Do you really want to go?”
“Yes! Miel isn’t actually a Bernerre child, you see—Miel’s a panda child! If we go there, maybe Miel’s mama and papa will be there. They might have forgotten about Miel, so Miel’s going to go find them.”
Jerpheion watched Miel speak her mind with careful precision, saying nothing.
“Why did the little bear think it was a panda all on its own? There are plenty of bear clans besides Bernerre. There are polar bears in the north, black bears, grizzlies, brown bears……”
Miel’s mouth began to open and close, then finally gaped wide.
“Th, there are that many kinds of bears……?”
Faced with this unexpected revelation, Miel’s eyes began to roll in circles.
“Miel is…….”
The fidgeting Miel asked him to wait just a moment, then stuffed both Honey Cookies she’d been holding into her cheeks and scampered off with a patter of feet.
“…….”
Not long after, she came running back again.
“Here it is!”
Miel thrust a book she’d been clutching to her chest straight toward him.
It was crumpled and warped, as though it had been soaked in water and then dried.
The cover bore a picture of a panda.
The Wicked Bear Cub
It was a fairy tale.
The protagonist appeared to be a panda.
He flipped through the wrinkled fairy tale book and read.
It was a picture book with almost no text. He read the few words that were there.
The story told of a protagonist who was bullied by family for looking different, who happened to hear from a bird that it might not be a bear but a panda instead, and who set out on an adventure to the village where pandas lived.
Upon arriving at that village, the protagonist meets a true panda family.
He could see why the child had projected herself onto this panda protagonist.
And it hurt.
Yet there was nothing Jerpheion could do about it.
“…….”
In a way, it was a thought perfectly fitting for a small child.
“Do you know what sort of people your mother and father were?”
“…….”
She shook her head gently, side to side.
Miel’s small face drooped as she did.
Miel knew nothing about her parents. Truly nothing at all.
No one had ever told her about her mother and father.
“Well then. You really don’t know anything?”
“I, I think he was my youngest uncle’s brother.”
“Your youngest uncle? Do you happen to know his name?”
Hmm…….
She had definitely heard it mentioned before.
Miel’s eyes suddenly brightened.
“Ga… ga… ga…….”
Mmm.
Ah!
“Garangi… Bernerre……?”
“Garangi……?”
Jerpheion’s brows drew together.
No name as ridiculous as that existed.
If it was a similar name…….
‘Gares Bernerre, perhaps.’
He was the youngest son of the current House Bernerre patriarch.
Spoiled from birth, he was covetous by nature—greedy, but possessed only the distinctive stupidity that came with being a bear.
He wanted to be a duke, it seemed, but couldn’t match even the dirt beneath the fingernails of House Bernerre’s junior duke.
‘If she’s the daughter of the current House Bernerre patriarch…….’
There was only one.
A figure who had never appeared publicly, not even once.
The youngest daughter of the duke—the only female born among four siblings.
Needless to say, Jerpheion had never seen her either.
‘Only gossip about how sickly she was ever circulated.’
She hadn’t attended the Academy either.
Gares Bernerre and the young duke, the second son of House Bernerre—they’d all attended the Academy, but not her.
Then one day, word of her sudden death arrived.
The funeral was held quietly, only among immediate family, or so the rumors went.
“……Hmm.”
The crux of it all was how the youngest daughter of the sickly House Bernerre had met someone, and how she’d borne a child.
‘If she’d truly stayed home, the family head or the young duke would know.’
Jerpheion exhaled softly.
He supposed he’d have to reach out to them at some point.
After all, he was harboring a child of another race without permission.
‘Judging by how she’s been treated, they probably aren’t searching for her.’
Since the child wanted it so badly, a visit to Panda Clan territory seemed worthwhile.
Fortunately, their lands weren’t far from the Noctis Territory—they lay to the south, after all.
“For now, I’ll look into your parents myself, so be patient.”
“……Will we really go to the Panda family?”
Miel clasped both hands tightly, her expression anxious as she asked.
Jerpheion gazed at her quietly, then nodded.
“Yes, let’s visit the Panda family soon.”
Brighten.
Miel’s face lit up at once.
“I’m happy!”
“Good.”
He rubbed her cheek with his large hand as she grinned with relief, giggling softly.
‘Her mother must be dead.’
The way House Bernerre had quietly held a funeral made that clear.
Jerpheion swallowed a truth that might have been cruel, and smiled with genuine tenderness.
“How do you like the bamboo?”
“Um, well……”
Miel, clutching Honey Cookies in both hands, rolled her eyes around.
“It, it tastes okay……”
Miel had insisted quite firmly that pandas ate bamboo, so he’d hurriedly procured a few shoots.
In any case, they owed her a debt of gratitude, and to repay it, Jerpheion was willing to do anything.
“Yes, Miel is truly a fine panda……”
Miel puffed out her cheeks, pretending to chew something.
Her lips protruded awkwardly.
Her eyes rolled continuously.
Glistening tears pooled at their corners.
To anyone watching, she was a perfect picture of someone telling a lie.
Stifling a laugh, Jerpheion spoke with composed ease.
“I see. Then shall we make bamboo dishes for the baby bear’s supper? If bamboo is a staple diet, then you shouldn’t eat Honey Cookies either.”
Quiver.
Miel’s pupils trembled as though shaken by an earthquake.
“……”
Her lips, which had been greedily clutching the Honey Cookies, suddenly formed a perfect triangle.
Her tightly sealed lips quivered with wrinkles.
Then.
Round teardrops spilled down Miel’s cheeks in a torrent.
“Waaah! T-taste, taste of bamboo… doesn’t taste good……”
Her face wet with sorrow, Miel finally burst into tears.
“Oh, little one.”
Jerpheion, looking somewhat taken aback, scooped the child into his arms and patted her back.
“I was joking. The baby bear isn’t ready for bamboo yet.”
“Waaaaaah!”
Miel broke into full, hearty sobs.
‘Little girls cry adorably.’
With a faintly amused expression, Jerpheion kept soothing the child.
Only after promising an entire box of Honey Cookies and one large Honey Jar did Miel finally dry her tears.
* * *
“……I haven’t seen that child around lately.”
The men seated around the round table turned to look at the man with his arms crossed.
“That girl?”
“Miel.”
“Ah, the Second Young Miss.”
The man shrugged his shoulders.
Polla Bernerre, the second son of House Bernerre, tossed a Honey Cookie laden with honey into his mouth while resting his chin in his palm.
“What, has she entered another round of Secluded Cultivation Training? That girl who hated this mansion and wanted to live in the cottage her mother loved—what’s she doing now?”
A flinch.
The youngest son of House Bernerre.
Gares Bernerre drew in a sharp breath.
He was a man with coarse brown hair and eyes the same shade.
He tilted his teacup and rolled his eyes slowly.
“I saw her hunting every day—at least once a day, that is.”
A stout man lifted his head slowly.
Grizzel Bernerre, the Count, gazed at Gares Bernerre with narrowed eyes.
“Have you any news of the child? Gares.”

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