The Baby Bear of the Black Fox Mansion - Chapter 3

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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 3
Jerpeon fell silent for a moment.
From head to toe, every feature marked Miel as a child of the Bernair Family.
Even if her pigmentation was slightly lighter overall, even if she had a pebble on her forehead instead of a jewel, that didn’t make her a child of the Panda Clan—it simply didn’t work that way.
“Why would you think such a thing, little bear?”
“The other children say Miel is a bear who was brought from outside, a foundling!”
……Ah.
So the child had been bullied.
From those words alone, he grasped the full picture.
“So Miel wants to find my real mommy and daddy!”
If she went to the Panda Clan, surely Miel would finally meet her mother and father.
Jerpeon said nothing.
Lisar, standing beside him, rolled his eyes.
“So you don’t want to go back to the Bernair Family?”
“Right. That’s not home for Miel.”
“Do you even know where the Panda Clan is?”
Miel stopped in her tracks.
She shook her head slowly.
Now that he thought about it, Miel knew absolutely nothing!
‘Where in the world is the Panda Clan?!’
Lisar waved his hand in front of the frozen bear.
‘The book!’
Perhaps The Wicked Bear Cub contained information about where the Panda Clan was located.
Miel glanced around.
And she spotted it.
……!
A bucket thick with mud and grime, and beside it, scattered belongings.
“No, no, no!!”
Thump.
Miel collapsed like a tragic heroine, pressing her small palms against the ground.
“My book!”
“Your book?”
“Yes. There’s a path there showing how to get to the Panda Clan…….”
Or there was.
Miel recalled the forest path drawn in the picture book.
Though Miel couldn’t read, she certainly understood that the picture showed the way to the Panda Clan!
“Want me to clean that up for you?”
Miel’s eyes grew wide at Lisar’s words.
“Yes!”
“Good. In that case, how about coming home with me instead?”
“Home? Why?”
“Because…….”
Naturally, he planned to bring along this foul-smelling bear and hoard all her luck for himself!
‘But I can’t very well say that out loud.’
After all, the boy was a cunning and bold member of the Fox Clan.
Deciding he would need to coax the dim-witted cub with a gentle touch, Lisar rolled his amber eyes playfully.
“The Panda Clan is incredibly hard to find, you know! And you’ll get terribly hungry along the way!”
Miel tilted her head.
“Miel can hunt.”
“Even so……you won’t find any Honey Pastries!”
As Lisar rummaged through his pocket for something enticing, he pulled out a Honey Pastry he’d received from some girl when leaving Bernair Territory.
‘Even a stupid bear couldn’t possibly fall for something like this…….’
It was the moment Lisar sighed at his own foolishness and squeezed his eyes shut.
“Honey Pastry!”
Wait?
Did she actually fall for it?
“My home has plenty of Honey Pastries. Real honey too, and I can help you find the way to the Panda Clan.”
Miel’s mouth opened at Lisar’s words, then snapped shut again.
“See, this one’s so stupid she’ll fall for the same trick a hundred times over.”
“She really does whatever she’s told, doesn’t she?”
“You believed that?”
“That’s awful of you, you liar.”
“It’s because of kids like you that all Bear Humanoids got stuck with the reputation of being slow and stupid! How can you be so dim-witted? Please, study a little~”
Miel clenched her fists and opened her eyes wide, planting her tiny hands on her hips.
This time, she wouldn’t be fooled.
“Miel isn’t dumb.”
“What?”
“You said you’d give it to me, but you’re not really giving it, are you? Miel’s not stupid~”
Miel declared this with a proud shrug of her shoulders. She was already five years old, after all—practically grown.
“Huh?”
Perk.
Lisar’s ears shot up in utter bewilderment, and he popped a Honey Pastry straight into Miel’s mouth.
Crunch.
“……!”
The sweet honey flavor of the pastry—which she had only smelled until now—bloomed across her entire mouth.
“Why would I lie about something like this?!”
Munch munch.
Miel’s honey-brown eyes welled up instantly.
The Honey Pastry, which she was tasting for the very first time, was far, far, far more delicious than she’d ever imagined!
‘He’s a good person…!’
Lisar’s place in Miel’s heart elevated in an instant.
“Look, I have plenty of Honey Pastries.”
Lisar drew out the pastries from his pocket and held them toward her in both hands, piled high.
“So, won’t you come to our house? Little bear.”
“…….”
Swish swish.
Lisar’s full, lustrous tail swayed, its glossy fur flowing like silk.
Jerpeon sighed as he watched his own son seduce a bear cub with Honey Pastries.
Just like a Fox Humanoid—at barely seven years old, the boy was cunning beyond measure.
Something about it felt familiar.
“Will you help me find my mom and dad?”
“Of course, I’ll help! Isn’t that right, Father?”
“…….”
This sounds like it’s going to be a bother.
Jerpeon rolled his eyes slowly from left to right, considering.
He hated bothers more than anything in the world.
And why, of all things, a bear?
To foxes, bears were…… well, simple-minded brutes remarkably easy to trick.
They seemed to take offense at being called stupid and stubborn, so they tried to show off their cleverness, but it only made their petty, sinister schemes all the more transparent.
Dull-witted, lacking perception, idiotic.
Which meant that for Jerpeon, who despised stupidity, they weren’t exactly a favored species.
‘I can just send her back once Lisar tires of her.’
Whether to the Panda Clan, the Bernair Family, or somewhere else entirely if he felt sympathetic enough to arrange separate lodging.
Having settled the matter in his mind, Jerpeon curved his lips into a smile and dropped to one knee.
He met those round, innocent, pure eyes and gaze—then hesitated.
She was rather cute, come to think of it.
“Little bear, wouldn’t you like to return to the Bernair Family?”
“…….”
Nod.
Miel nodded quietly in agreement.
She had always thought of the Bernair Family as her home.
But they said she wasn’t a child of the Bernair Family.
Then….
‘Actually, Miel’s mom and dad might still be alive.’
Perhaps what she’d been told about her mother’s death and her father’s death was a lie, or something she’d simply misunderstood.
So Miel would go to the Panda Clan herself and find her family.
“…Miel also wants to see her mom and dad.”
However, from what Jerpeon could see, the Panda Clan seemed like the wrong choice no matter how he looked at it.
“Then, will you come to my house?”
“Which house is it?”
Miel asked with crisp, incisive clarity.
The maid and the steward had warned her not to follow just anyone.
“Noctis. It lies far to the south—the territory of the Fox Clan.”
“The south has plenty of sweet honey too! And so many Honey Pastries!”
Lisar whispered, pressing into Miel’s arms the whole pile of Honey Pastries he’d received from the girl before they’d departed Bernair.
“Of course, well, they’re a bit scarce now…… but I do have something for the bear cub!”
Lisar’s voice grew slightly fainter behind her.
It was a voice stripped of confidence, tinged with worry.
“Will you come?”
Miel deliberated.
1. He had saved her from danger.
2. He had promised to help her reach the Panda Clan.
3. He had promised to help her find Mother and Father.
★★He had given her loads of Honey Pastries.★★
★★★Therefore, there truly must be plenty of sweet honey!★★★
Wonderful!
‘I wasn’t deceived! Miel, you’re not stupid.’
Miel’s eyes gleamed.
“I want to go…!”
The clever bear cub (?) Miel had fallen perfectly into the trap.
“This way.”
Jerpeon watched Lisar depart with the bear cub by carriage and noticed the scatter of the young one’s belongings.
A single book, clothes soaked and muddy, a worn bear doll, a fish that looked as though it had drowned in the mire.
And…… a Locket Pendant.
‘Is that all there is.’
He ordered the others to gather everything except the fish.
‘The pendant……’
Jerpeon’s eyes narrowed.
An engraving marked its surface—a pattern he felt certain he’d seen before.
“Father, let’s hurry!”
“Yes.”
Jerpeon rinsed the Locket Pendant in water once, slipped it into his pocket, and climbed into the carriage.
In that moment, the carriage bearing the bear cub slipped away from the Bernair Territory in a flash.

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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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