The Baby Bear of the Black Fox Mansion - Chapter 39

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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 39
“Damn it, where the hell did he go?”
Gares Bernear stamped his feet in frustration.
A man built like a bear—each footfall sent tremors rippling across the earth. He gnawed at his nails, his expression twisted into a scowl.
“Damn it, that half-blood brat is nothing but trouble. Half-blood garbage spawned by a half-blood whore. Neither he nor his mother had the grace to be born with jewels…….”
Why did his brothers insist on doting on them when they should have simply forgotten?
They all hid them away out of shame anyway, never letting them see the light of day!
“Ah, damn it! If I kept him this invisible, I should’ve been able to forget about him by now.”
He seized his own head, thrashing about in agitation.
And he was the one who’d sown the discord in the first place!
He’d whispered to that half-blood that he’d been abandoned, that he had to hunt alone, that everyone despised him.
How many times had he withheld food and ignored him, using the falling snow as an excuse?
Yet that failure refused to give up, kept dragging himself out to hunt, and somehow had the audacity to stay healthy and prance about like nothing was wrong.
Oblivious as he was!
“Someone with half his wits would’ve realized he doesn’t belong here and resigned himself to it!”
Gares Bernear spewed his frustration.
Every time he beat the boy into tears, the wretch would be fine again by the next day—as if watching his own sister live, healthy and untouched. It grated on him every single time.
And for what? The boy did nothing.
‘Well, well. Not only does this pathetic man whisper garbage to a small child, but I haven’t seen anyone live quite this shamefully in a long while. I should just tear the whole thing off.’
‘When did you arrive, Master?’
‘The noise was unbearable, so I came.’
The Gardener spoke while picking at his ear.
‘Bears eat the filth that comes from men like this. Absolutely.’
He exhaled a long sigh.
He couldn’t fathom how such rotten trash had sprouted from his own bloodline.
“Oh, Father? What are you doing here?”
“……Amy.”
Gares Bernear caught sight of his daughter as she emerged from the brush, along with the collateral children, and quickly composed his expression.
He smiled with practiced warmth.
“What brings you to this place?”
“That half-blood Stone hasn’t been around lately. I came to see if he actually ran away from home.”
Amy’s innocent remark made Gares Bernear pause.
Something about the child’s words felt off.
It sounded as though she already knew the boy might leave.
“Did he really run away? What do you think, Father?”
“He hasn’t been seen.”
Gares Bernear spoke while carefully masking any urgency in his tone.
“But why would you think he might run away?”
“Well…….”
Amy laughed along with her retinue of followers, giggling together.
“The other day, I told him he wasn’t a child of the Bernear Family!”
“What……?”
“Wait, he actually believed it and left home? How stupid!”
Amy burst into laughter with the innocent glee of a child. Gares Bernear’s face hardened slightly.
“What exactly did you tell him?”
“Huh? Well, the usual things~ What else? Anyway, he’s gone now, isn’t he? I feel so relieved! Could you buy me a new Dress as a celebration, Father?”
Gares Bernear drew in a sharp breath.
“I gave you an order. Do you require further explanation?”
“But……!”
……
“I-I’ll need some time. I need to explain and convince him…….”
“You have one month.”
Her father was not a forgiving man.
He rarely issued commands, but when he did, he abhorred their non-compliance with a passion.
Especially if a lie were exposed—the offender might be Exiled to the Cave for life, or even Erased from the Registry entirely.
“Tell me exactly what you said.”
“What?”
“I asked you, what exactly did you say!”
Gares Bernear seized Amy’s shoulder and raised his voice.
‘Talking nonsense……. No wonder the child turned out like that, raising her with such a personality.’
The Caretaker clicked his tongue disapprovingly.
“Ah, Father. It hurts.”
“Now, speak up!”
“It hurts, Father!”
Only after Amy cried out did Gares Bernear finally release the tension in his grip.
The child looked at him with glistening eyes.
The other children behind her stared at him with frightened faces.
“I apologize. I have an urgent matter, so tell me quickly.”
Amy hesitated, then slowly opened her mouth.
“Hey, don’t loiter around the manor like that and go back to your filthy shack! You’re not even a bear the Bernear Family picked up anyway.”
“Really, sister. Why would you say something like that?”
“What—as if anyone in this family doesn’t already know he’s some stray bear Father brought home from outside.”
As she spoke casually of what had happened, Gares Bernear dragged his palm roughly across his face.
Grown pale, he drew in a sharp breath.
‘I have to find her.’
If he didn’t find her at once, Father or his brothers would take matters into their own hands, and if the whole truth came to light then, his head would roll.
‘There’s still time. Calm down.’
She couldn’t have gone far anyway.
Once he found her, bringing her back would be easy. He could gather information first and think about the next step later.
Gares Bernear, now pale, stood up quickly from his seat.
* * *
“Wow, my belly’s so round.”
“Must be bloated.”
Miel, sitting in the carriage that swayed and lurched, was patting her plump, protruding belly and blinked.
Across from her sat Valen Noctis, and beside her was Zeros Nordic.
“Puffed up.”
“Your tongue’s too short.”
“……!”
Miel’s eyes widened.
“It’s not!”
“All children are like that. How old are you?”
“Five.”
The child spread her small palm wide and extended it proudly. Zeros, watching the pale little hand thrust forward with such confidence, let out a soft laugh.
It was somehow amusing how proudly she carried her shoulders just for being five years old.
“You’re that proud of being five?”
“Yes!”
“What’s so proud-worthy about it?”
Zeros tilted his head.
“Because Miel lived really, really hard! Five-year-old Miel became a grown-up Miel because baby Miel worked sooo incredibly hard to survive!”
“Pfft—and how exactly did you work hard?”
“Well, my youngest uncle said that if you don’t have parents, you have to make it on your own, so since I was a baby I hunted and picked plants and gathered berries and I even ate the super bitter roots without complaining and chewed them up really well.”
Miel announced this with pride.
‘Though actually I did complain a little to the Caretaker and the housemaids because it was so bitter.’
Miel thought to herself.
‘But the plants from the places the Caretaker showed me were always bitter.’
Miel pouted her lip.
…….
…….
At the innocent words that tumbled out, the carriage fell silent for a moment. Zeros’s face grew rather cold.
“Your youngest uncle, you say…”
Zeros furrowed his brow, tracing through the genealogy of the Bernear Family in his mind.
“Ga… what was it again.”
“Gales.”
“Gales?”
“Yes.”
Miel nodded her head firmly with a confident expression.
Did the Bernears have such an odd name?
“Are you talking about Gares Bernear?”
“Yes!”
Valen was the one who got the answer right.
Clatter-clatter.
The road proved rougher than before, and the carriage swayed more noticeably than it had earlier.
Miel, who had been tapping his foot restlessly, seemed thoroughly bored as his fingers fidgeted.
“I wish my own child had been born safely and grown up like you.”
“Oh! So you were looking for your family, then.”
“That’s right.”
Miel nodded in agreement.
“Just like Miel.”
“Exactly.”
Zeros chuckled softly and reached over to ruffle Miel’s hair.
Miel giggled for a moment, then suddenly looked across at something and went still.
‘Still so many dark shapes out there.’
They moved sluggishly, though they made no attempt to approach Miel as they had before.
Miel suddenly leaped down from the carriage and began climbing up Valen Noctis’s leg.
“……? What are you doing.”

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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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