The Baby Bear of the Black Fox Mansion - Chapter 4

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

Chapter 4
* * *
Noctis.
One of the Empire’s Four Great Houses, currently under the leadership of a black fox as Head of House, it dominated the most prosperous lands of the south—a powerful Fox Tribe family with resources beyond measure.
“The Duke’s carriage approaches!”
“Has all the snow been cleared?”
A place where mild weather blessed most of the year,
“Yes! The path has been prepared!”
Whiiiiing—!
A fierce blizzard came howling down.
A land as vast as it was fertile, agriculture and livestock thriving abundantly, ingredients flowing from every direction.
The carriage came to a halt, cutting through the deep snow.
……Though there were times like that.
“Welcome home, Head of House.”
Today was the day the Head of House and his heir returned from Bernard Territory after a month away.
Jerpeon Noctis.
A sorcerer of unparalleled talent across generations—a demon blessed with the gift to annihilate an entire army at the age of fourteen in a war against a rival empire.
An elegant and noble master who embodied the ideal for all foxes.
The Head of Noctis House had returned.
“Was the journey comfortable, si—……?”
Wiggle-wiggle.
Cradled in his arms was a small baby bear.
The Butler, who had come out to greet them in a thick coat, looked back and forth between Jerpeon and the cub before speaking with a rather serious expression.
“Surely you haven’t…kidnapped anyone? As tempting as Bernard’s jewels may be…….”
With each word, their breath rose into the air in white clouds and dissipated.
At the Butler’s grave words, the corners of Jerpeon’s eyes curved upward ever so slightly.
“Your tongue seems to work perfectly well—the heating must be functioning properly. Stop talking nonsense and prepare a suitable room for the child.”
“You have to take good care of her, Butler. She’s a lucky bear!”
Following Jerpeon’s command, Lisar added his own emphatic warning.
The Butler, suddenly finding himself holding a small baby bear in his arms, wore a reluctant expression as he lowered his head in acknowledgment.
He turned his body, the cub still nestled in his arms.
* * *
“Uuugh…….”
Tremor-tremor.
Miel, who had dozed fitfully the entire journey and arrived at Noctis Estate, did not open her eyes until a full day had passed.
“You awake?”
And Lisar, who had spent the entire day eating just enough to eat and keeping watch at Miel’s side, was the first to welcome the child.
“Huh…?”
“Remember me?”
“Honey…sweet…….”
Miel mumbled drowsily, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand.
“I’m Lisar. Li. Sar.”
“Lisar?”
“Yeah. And this is our home.”
At Lisar’s explanation, Miel’s eyes widened.
“Wow… house is huge.”
Miel’s mouth fell open as she looked around the vast room—far, far larger than the hovel she’d lived in before.
Even the bed she lay on now was softer than the straw mattress she’d known.
Beyond the window, everything was white. Snow lay thick and fluffy on roofs and trees alike, pristine and soft as cotton.
“This room gets the best sunlight of anywhere in the house.”
Lisar’s tail swayed gently back and forth.
This room was the finest in the mansion—one Lisar had cajoled out of Jerpeon through sheer persistence.
“You need to eat well, sleep well, and grow healthy—spread that sweet scent of yours everywhere, little bear.”
“……Huh?”
As Miel tilted her head in confusion, the boy’s mouth curled up into a smile.
“Aren’t you hungry?”
Ah!
“Food!”
Grrrrrgle.
The moment the words left her lips, her stomach let out quite an audible protest, and Miel’s ears flushed a bright crimson.
“Let’s eat.”
Lisar chuckled and extended his hand.
In truth, the bear cub looked a bit scrawny to Lisar’s eye.
The bears he’d seen at the Bernard House estate were so plump and round they were little more than enormous furred spheres.
Since he’d resolved to care for the cub, he had a duty to fatten it up properly.
‘The more it eats and the sweeter its scent becomes, the more fortune it’ll bring,’ he thought.
Miel’s eyes rolled around.
“You’re thinking of getting free meals? Shameless little thing.”
“But…”
“If you’re from Bernard House, you should know how to hunt! To think you’d mooch off someone else’s table, you’re not just foolish—you’re a burden on others.”
A half-forgotten memory surfaced, and Miel crossed her short arms stiffly, her expression turning serious.
“Miel will hunt.”
“Hunt now?”
“Yes, I will.”
Miel nodded solemnly.
“Why did your speech change all of a sudden?”
“That’s how the great knights do it, they say…”
“Out of nowhere?”
Miel was mimicking something the Butler who’d lived with her in the cottage had taught her, and now she pouted.
But hunting?
With that frail little body, hunting?
‘Don’t tell me she means to catch those fish-like things,’ Lisar wondered.
He recalled the dead fish, sodden and filthy in the muddy water.
‘A single one of those wouldn’t even fill her belly.’
“Just eat with me.”
“Miel has her pride.”
Pride?
Lisar blinked.
‘Bears are stubborn creatures,’ he thought.
With that realization, he rolled his eyes slowly and a smile began to bloom across his face—the kind that seemed to melt away like ice cream.
“Is that so? If you eat with me, we’ll have honey-drizzled ice cream for dessert.”
“…!”
Pop!
A small, adorable tail sprouted from Miel’s backside.
“And tender meat stewed long in honey.”
A flinch.
“Even a roasted fish as large as I am…”
Another flinch, and another.
“…”
“So the baby bear just wants to hunt tiny minnows the size of a fingernail instead?”
Another flinch, then another, then another.
With each word Lisar spoke, Miel’s small tail quivered more intensely.
Lisar swallowed his laughter and spoke with feigned nonchalance, while Miel’s tightly closed lips trembled.
Watching the child fidget with her fingers, Lisar casually turned his body away.
“There’s a river beyond the Back Mountain. Of course, it only has minnows as small as a baby bear’s palm, and since everything’s frozen solid now, you might have to catch wild game instead…”
“…!”
“But if you break the ice, the water flows underneath, so hunting should be possible, don’t you think? In that case, I’ll go eat honey-drizzled ice cream, meat stewed tender in honey, and a roasted fish as large as my father.”
Miel’s body trembled.
Sproing.
Her ears popped up in succession, twitching this way and that.
Lisar watched her, suppressed a small laugh, and extended his hand again.
“Baby bear, do you really hate it?”
“…”
Miel shook her head side to side.
Come to think of it, maybe pride wasn’t so important after all.
“…Fine.”
Miel took hold of Lisar’s hand hesitantly, her ears flushed bright red.
Lisar giggled and held Miel’s hand firmly as they headed toward the dining room.
As they walked down the corridor, Miel’s gaze drifted to the window outside, and her eyes widened.
“There’s so much fluffy stuff outside.”
“Cotton? Oh, that’s snow.”
“Snow?”
“The kind that falls in winter.”
“Ah! Now that you mention it, I think it did have a name like that.”
Miel added the words hastily, embarrassed.
She’d called it cotton all this time because it resembled fluffy down, and had forgotten its real name.
‘Come to think of it, Miel trembles when that cotton falls too.’
There had been times when cotton fell from the sky so thickly that Miel’s hut was buried halfway.
Snow that never ended, no matter how much her strong, capable paws dug through it.
It was so cold that there were no prey to hunt and no berries to gather—if the maid sister and the caretaker uncle hadn’t taught her where food could be found, she might have become nothing but bones.
The strange herb the maid sister and caretaker uncle had shown her, which looked like tree roots, was remarkable: eating just one was enough to keep hunger away for an entire week.
Moreover, eating it alone made her ailments disappear and her eyes gleam bright.
“It wasn’t always like this, apparently.”
“Snow wasn’t always here?”
“Right. Before I was born… the greenery was supposedly magnificent, the smell of grass was wonderfully fragrant, flowers bloomed everywhere so bees would flutter about, and honey flowed wherever you went.”
Honey flowed with every step you took?!
Miel’s mouth fell open.
Gulp.
Miel swallowed and her eyes gleamed with excitement.
In Miel’s mind, she pictured a scene like a painting: with each step, honey gushed and bubbled up from the ground beneath her feet.
“But then, when I was born… Mother became ill, and the territory…”
Lisar’s voice grew smaller and smaller until the boy came to a complete stop.
“Honey candy…?”
Tap.
Miel’s small paw gently touched Lisar’s cheek.
Flinch.
At the soft touch of the little bear cub’s paw, Lisar’s eyes widened and his pointed ears trembled.
Flush!
Lisar’s face turned crimson as he shook his head frantically.
“I-I said something strange just now. Let’s go eat right away!”
“Mmm…”
He looks so sad somehow.
Miel slowly turned her head to look out the window again.
In that moment, the saturation of her honey-colored eyes seemed to surge and intensify, shifting toward a golden hue.

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