The Baby Bear of the Black Fox Mansion - Chapter 26

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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 26
Dragonian tilted his head back as if half-dazed, losing track of the conversation.
“Uh….”
Miel’s eyes rolled about in their sockets.
There had been so much she wanted to ask….
“He has no memory.”
“Ah, searching for lost memories. How typical.”
Lisar nodded and grasped Miel’s hand.
“Let me help. We’ll find a way together.”
“Yay! Thank you!”
“No, but from now on you can’t keep secrets from me. I believe everything my little bear tells me. Understand? Don’t ask anyone else for help—come to me first, always.”
Lisar spoke with his fluffy fox tail swishing about, grinning widely. Seeing him smile so brightly, Miel nodded with firm determination.
She had no idea what to do on her own, so this felt like a real stroke of luck.
Pleased, Miel turned her head to look at Dragonian.
“Lisar’s going to help! Isn’t that great, Dril!”
“I’ll help you and Miel too, Dril.”
At their greeting, Dragonian’s lips began to quiver, and then….
[AAAAAAAHHHHH!!]
Unable to bear the stress, he burst through the ceiling and vanished in an instant.
“…Waaah.”
“What’s Dril saying?”
“He just screamed and flew up into the sky.”
“He must be happy. That’s a relief.”
Oh, so he was happy.
Miel nodded repeatedly.
“Well, it’s getting to be evening time. Let’s go.”
Lisar tucked the drawing carefully away and, with a warm smile, firmly took Miel’s hand as they left the room together.
* * *
Clink, clink.
“….”
“….”
“….”
The next morning at breakfast time.
Unlike usual, the Dining Table was very quiet.
Miel rolled her eyes as she chewed meat that had been slow-cooked tender in honey.
Munch, munch.
With her cheeks puffed out on both sides, Miel stabbed the meat Jerpeon had cut for her with her Fork again, then swallowed what was in her mouth with a gulp.
“Good grief, what’s with this mood at the table? I can hardly breathe. Cheer up, all of you.”
“How brazen—pushing your way into someone else’s table uninvited. Forcing your ugly faces into view at the Dining Table….”
“Well, little panda, we’re not family, so maybe we should… no, we don’t deserve to eat at this table. We’re in the way. Should we go somewhere else and eat by ourselves?”
Zeros rested his chin on his hand and let out a scoff.
“…!”
Miel froze in place, her mouth already open to receive the next piece of meat.
Her gaping mouth showed no sign of closing.
“M-Miel… are we… in the way…?”
It was true that Miel was not their family.
‘In The Unloved Bear, even family members ate together.’
Miel set down the Fork she had been holding.
So Miel had no sense of belonging.
Jerpeon looked startled and shot Zeros a sharp glare before hastily opening his mouth.
“That’s not how it is, little bear.”
“….”
Miel poked out her lip and fidgeted with her fingers.
“That old fool was talking nonsense. Your uncle likes eating with you, little bear.”
“…Really?”
“Yes.”
“Even though I’m not family…?”
Jerpeon reached over and wiped away the sauce smeared on Miel’s cheek with his thumb while nodding.
“You’re more important than family, little bear. You’re our Benefactor, after all.”
“…Ah!”
That’s right.
Miel said she’d paid back her debt, and now there was debt again piling up. Her mouth curved upward, tentative at first, then the child nodded her head with determination.
“Miel, paying back her debt.”
Miel rubbed beneath her nose with a proud expression.
“Yes, so don’t worry about it and eat. What I said was meant for those two people sitting at someone else’s Dining Table and eating without shame—people who haven’t done a thing to earn it.”
“……?”
Jerpeon’s eyes turned cold as he glanced sideways at Zeros Nordic and Valen Noctis.
Miel’s eyes went wide.
“No, don’t.”
Miel spoke up.
“You shouldn’t say mean things to your friend.”
“Hm?”
“The patient man said you have to speak beautifully. Words can come out sharp and pointy, or soft and round, you know… if you say them wrong, then… you can’t be careful and… and…”
The longer Miel spoke, the more her words began to tangle.
“So, with your friend, you only say kind words. But still, people make mistakes, so that’s okay. Um, even if the patient man makes a mistake, what matters is how you… you… you collect it.”
“That’s right, that’s right! Our little panda is doing so well!”
Zeros Nordic swung his arm as he cheered for Miel, who spoke with careful deliberation.
“Our little panda—whose child is this? She speaks so well. That one doesn’t even know how precious a friend is.”
“…….”
Jerpeon, gazing at Miel’s bright, earnest eyes, closed his mouth.
“So if you say something mean to your friend, you have to say ‘I’m sorry.'”
“…….”
“Right now, okay?”
Jerpeon’s eyelid twitched slightly.
He couldn’t bring himself to tell the child it was impossible, and yet he had no desire to offer an apology to those shameless people.
Explaining the complicated nuances of their relationship to the child was, of course, impossible.
“If it’s hard to do alone, Miel will help you.”
“……yes.”
“Friend, look at me. This is how you do it.”
Miel held a Fork speared with meat in her hand and bowed her head with a small nod.
“……little bear. Adults have… complicated circumstances.”
“Hurry up, okay?”
“…….”
Jerpeon’s eyes twitched at the corners.
He stared quietly at Miel’s expression, full of anticipation, then pressed his forehead with his palm.
He turned his head stiffly, as though chewing on something, to look at Zeros Nordic.
A thought seized him—a desire, remarkably one-dimensional and simple, to throw a punch at that grinning face.
“Hurry!”
The gleaming honey-colored eyes capture his gaze.
“……friend, I’m sorry.”
At last, Jerpeon managed to open his mouth.
“Khhh. Kuh…….”
Zeros Nordic’s body trembled as he barely suppressed his laughter. Just as he was about to bow his head—
“Is your anger gone now?”
“…Eh? Uh, uh……. What.”
“Then it’s okay, friend. You have to do it now.”
“……what?”
The corners of Zeros Nordic’s eyes twitched finely.
He looked at the child in bewilderment. She gazed back at him, her bright eyes sparkling.
“You received an apology and your anger is gone, so now you have to forgive him. It’s okay, friend.”
“……uh-huh.”
Zeros Nordic rubbed the back of his neck.
He’d never spoken words so embarrassing in his entire life—his skin was crawling with goosebumps.
But he couldn’t bring himself to shatter that sparkling innocence.
“…Yeah, it’s… fine. Friend.”
In the end, Zeros Nordic managed to speak without meeting the child’s eyes.
Miel broke into a wide smile and nodded her head proudly.
“Now you have to do it with grandfather too. I’m sorry, grandfather. Like this, okay?”
Jerpeon stiffened.
His cheek convulsed sharply.
“Baby bear, that’s…….”
“I’m fine.”
Valen Noctis cut in.
“You won’t take the apology?”
“That’s right.”
Miel glanced at Valen Noctis, gave a small nod, and quickly popped the meat she’d speared on her fork into her mouth.
Miel stole a glance at Lisar sitting beside her.
The rigidity that had gripped him moments before had melted away—now he chuckled softly, and there was something almost peaceful about it.
“You okay?”
“Hm? Yeah.”
“Good. You’re okay. Don’t hate Grandfather Lisar.”
And since the black creatures clinging to Valen Noctis showed no inclination to approach Miel, she could now remain the composed little panda, dry-eyed and dignified.
The meal that had begun again was nearly finished.
“Father.”
Lisar, who had been hesitating, finally opened his mouth.
“What is it, my son?”
“……Do you perhaps know of the Dril Clan?”
Lisar asked carefully, having spent nearly the entire previous night without sleep, poring over every relevant book, yet finding no mention of the Dril Clan.
“The Dril Clan?”
Jerpeon’s brow furrowed.
He had never heard of such a race name before.
“I’m afraid I don’t know.”
“I’ve never heard of them either. You mean ‘Dril’?”
Lisar nodded slightly.
“They’re an extinct clan now, but there was once a minor race called the Dril among the monkey tribes.”
The answer came from an utterly unexpected source.
Valen Noctis.
Crash!
Dragonian, who had been holding a cloth pouch filled with ice to his forehead near Miel, burst through the ceiling once more.

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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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