The Baby Bear of the Black Fox Mansion - Chapter 21

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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 21
* * *
Whisper, whisper-whisper.
He stopped.
Zeros, who had been inspecting various corners of the estate, made his way to the back courtyard to take another look at the Garden where the tree had stood, when a sound oddly familiar made him pause mid-step.
“Sniffle, sniffle…”
“…Why does this feel like déjà vu?”
He moved toward the sound, following it between the stalks of Bamboo.
Sure enough, Miel sat there with both hands greedily clutching Bamboo, tears streaming down her cheeks as she chewed.
‘She hates this, so why’s she holding so much of it?’
Zeros let out a dry laugh and rubbed the back of his neck.
“Hello there, little one.”
“H-hello… *sniff* *whimper*…”
Whoever’s child she was, her manners were impeccable.
Even while tears and snot ran freely down her face, she bowed dutifully at the waist, again and again.
He chuckled softly and crouched down in front of her.
“Why are you eating that Bamboo with such a miserable look on your face?”
he asked.
[Exactly! Human, get her to stop! What does she think she is, a panda?! This is driving me crazy!]
Dragonian seemed so exasperated that he beat his chest repeatedly from beside Zeros, though the man couldn’t see him.
“*Wail* I am a panda! I’m a panda!”
The child burst into fresh tears.
Dragonian’s expression turned sheepish, and he shuffled backward hesitantly.
“Why, why are you crying again?! Why do you cry every time you see me? I know I look a bit intimidating, but— wait, who told you that you’re not a panda?”
Zeros, unaware of the situation, thought the child was crying because of him and spoke hastily.
“So, what were you doing? Our little panda friend.”
Perk.
At his words, Miel’s expression brightened in an instant, her sniffling forgotten, and she opened her mouth shyly.
“P-practicing…”
“Practicing?”
Nod, nod.
She stops crying just as quickly.
Zeros thought, ‘What an enigma children are,’ and rested his chin on his hand, still crouched.
She was undeniably adorable, round and soft.
‘So this child broke a Curse.’
With just a few words, at that.
The longer a Curse festers, the thicker and more rotten it becomes.
Even if an ordinary human broke a Curse’s seal, the accumulated resentment could corrupt entire kilometers around it into a horrific calamity—yet for a Demon Race to break free and retain sanity was something Zeros found profoundly difficult to comprehend.
‘There’s no distinctive Sorcerer’s scent about her, though.’
Zeros narrowed his eyes.
Over these past few days at the Noctis Estate, he’d explored the manor and its lands thoroughly.
Yet nowhere did he find traces of a Curse.
Not even where the Guardian Tree that had held the Demon Race captive once stood.
Remarkably clean.
‘This child…’
He found it utterly unbelievable.
Watching her snivel and whimper, tears streaming down her cheeks, both hands gripping Bamboo, her chubby cheeks puffed out like balloons—it only made the incredulity deeper.
“Do you really have to cry like this over something you dislike? There could be pandas that don’t eat Bamboo, you know.”
“B-but…”
Large tears, thick as bird droppings, fall one after another.
“If Miel’s mama and papa don’t eat and get sad… what if they think I’m a useless child… *whimper*…”
“…Mm.”
Zeros reached out and gently brushed her chubby, Bamboo-puffed cheeks with his thumb.
“Uh…?”
“No parent thinks their child shameful just for that.”
“*Soft whimper*…”
“If the child is healthy, the parent is simply happy. Even if she’s picky, even if she’s a panda who won’t eat Bamboo.”
Miel blinked.
She tilted her head and slowly reached out her small hand, placing it gently on Zeros’s cheek.
“Are you crying?”
“No.”
Zeros chuckled softly.
“I’m looking for family too.”
“Family?”
“Yes. I lost them by accident long ago. I broke a promise I made.”
Miel patted Zeros’s cheek gently.
“You can cry if you want. Crying isn’t losing for someone like you. Crying just means you let out the sadness and move forward again.”
……
“It’s natural for people to cry, and there’s nothing to be ashamed of. People who don’t cry are the sad ones. Anyone who can cry aloud has tremendous courage!”
Zeros blinked slowly, studying the child before him.
There was something in her words—he couldn’t say why—that stirred his heart.
Foolish words, messy and rambling though they were…….
“You’re a curious little thing.”
Perhaps even the Demon Race had lost its reason to be angry at such innocent words from a child.
Even he would’ve let out a hollow laugh if someone suddenly set down food and asked him to look at it.
“When you find them, that’ll be wonderful! Both Miel’s mother and father, and your family too.”
“Yes, that would be nice.”
He ruffled the child’s hair with one large hand, then gently took the bamboo from Miel’s grip.
“So stop trying to eat things you can’t eat.”
“But…….”
“If your mother and father found out you cried so hard your eyes and nose were swollen trying to eat something you couldn’t digest, they’d be sad too.”
“That won’t happen though…….”
“That’s exactly why.”
Zeros rose with a soft laugh.
“A baby bear has plenty as long as it eats regularly and gets its honey on time.”
“A baby panda…….”
“……Yes, a baby panda.”
He exhaled quietly.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Yes.”
“You placed a Curse on something before. The Guardian Tree… or rather, the Demon Race trapped in that tree.”
Miel’s eyes widened, then she nodded slightly.
“How did you do it?”
……!
Miel’s eyes grew round at Zeros’s question.
She tore off a bamboo leaf and, after stammering for a moment, opened her mouth with a scrunched expression.
“I’m sorry for taking all those yummy things. Please forgive me.”
Miel bowed deeply from her seated position.
“I did it like this.”
……No, that’s not the kind of thing that gets resolved that way—that’s why I’m asking.”
Normally, those with Purification abilities would need to draw complex formations and slowly lift the Curse through careful, methodical purification.
Tilt.
Miel tilted her head.
“Lifting a Curse is simple.”
“Simple?”
“Yes. You just need to ease their anger. Apologize, listen to them, and when they say what they truly wish for beyond the Curse, you fulfill it. Our power soothes those we touch, so if the Curse was never the real purpose to begin with, it resolves like this.”
“Resentment?”
“The things that remain unresolved…… must be erased. The method is…….”
……
……Are you asleep?”
……
“Wait, you’re sleeping here? This isn’t some lecture you can just hear anywhere……!”
……
“Good grief. If you’re going to suffer, you might as well die. Ah, I’m dead.”
Miel, arms crossed, blinked.
“I just did what felt right…….”
She brought something delicious, apologized, listened to what they wanted, and when they said they wanted to go home, she sent them home.
“They said they wanted to go home, so I sent them back home…….”
“……Home?”
Miel nodded slightly.
‘What house are you talking about?’
Zeros, who had been staring blankly, steered the conversation elsewhere.
“…So how did you learn the Demon Race language?”
“The Demon Race language?”
Zeros fell silent, his expression bewildered.
“You said you had a conversation with that demon.”
“Oh! I studied pictures with the steward and the maid a long time ago.”
She studied pictures with the steward and the maid, and yet she understood the Demon Race language?
Coming from a child, her words made no sense whatsoever.
‘Are there people in Berne with that kind of knowledge?’
Not that he knew of.
Zeros scratched the back of his neck and nodded absently, then rose from his seat.
“We should probably head back soon.”
He had just scooped Miel up and arrived at the main gate of the estate when commotion erupted.
“Master Zeros. Without any notice, what brings you here…?”
“Where is he?”
The grounds before the mansion had fallen into turmoil.
“A troublesome human has arrived. We should go somewhere else for now….”
Miel’s eyes went wide, and she held her breath.
“…Little one?”
…….
“Baby panda?”
Creeeeak—
‘A terribly wicked person…?’
Miel’s gaze had fixed on an elderly man whose form was absolutely saturated with pitch-black spirits.

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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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