The Baby Bear of the Black Fox Mansion - Chapter 40

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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 40
“Just so you know. Ah, you can’t smell Miel, can you?”
“Smell?”
Valen Noctis nodded, his expression uncertain.
“I don’t smell anything, but…….”
“My cousin said Miel has a foul smell on her.”
“……A foul smell?”
“Yes. She said it’s a smell that only comes from orphans without mother and father. I was wondering if it’s gone now since the maid washes her clean every single day.”
Zeros Nordic’s cheek twitched sharply.
The child speaking seemed perfectly fine, yet something about it twisted inside him in a way he couldn’t understand.
Irritated without knowing why, he opened his mouth, his face creasing.
“What kind of rubbish comes out of a child’s mouth like that? Don’t you dare listen to such filth from some worthless brat.”
“If there’s no smell, then I’ll sit here.”
Having successfully climbed up, Miel plopped down onto Valen Noctis’s lap.
“Phew.”
The way she wiped her forehead in mock exhaustion, anyone watching would think she’d just summited a three-thousand-meter peak.
Her naive, pure, and guileless gesture drew an involuntary smile to his lips.
Zeros realized he was smiling without meaning to and quickly smoothed his mouth with his hand.
“Right here, Grandfather?”
“…Yes.”
Never before had a child approached him so boldly, so Valen Noctis answered, unable to fully hide his bewilderment.
“Did only this hurt?”
Small fingers reached out and pressed against the old scar on his cheek, her palm flat against it.
A very old wound.
A scar that traced across his cheek.
After so much time had passed, the wound should have scarred over and ceased to pain, yet occasionally some nameless ache would visit it and make it spasm of its own accord.
“You’re curious. If I were truly such a great man, would this word become a curse when I die?”
“……!”
“Valen. Your child will be born a black fox, and you will kill your own child by your own hand.”
The only thing his brother had left him.
“Well. I didn’t even notice the pain back then.”
“Was something else hurting more?”
“……!”
Valen Noctis drew in a sharp breath without meaning to.
There was something strange about the child’s amber-colored eyes that made it feel as though she knew everything.
“……I suppose. I’ve never thought that far, but perhaps it’s true.”
“I see.”
Miel nodded.
“But where are you going?”
“To confirm something.”
“Confirm?”
As Miel tilted her head, Valen Noctis carefully stroked the child’s hair with one large hand.
“Little bear cub.”
“Yes.”
“Can you see things that others cannot see?”
“……!”
Miel’s body trembled.
Startled, her eyes grew wide as saucers, and Zeros Nordic across from them looked perplexed.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It’s…….”
“N-No, I—I can’t—?!”
Miel spoke hurriedly.
“Young lady, it’s better to keep such things secret until you become an adult.”
“Huh?”
“Why, you ask? Because bad sorts will try to use you—that much is obvious. People like you, who see such things, are rare, and you’ll be tormented terribly. You might end up having to look at nothing but that forever, little bear.”
“Hm…… Miel, you’re brave, but…… every day is hard.”
“That’s why you must hide it well. You must pretend not to see, even when you do. Until you become strong enough to protect yourself.”
The caretaker and the maid had told her this.
If you don’t want to see such things every day, they said, it must remain a secret. Miel steadied her gaze.
Valen Noctis watched the frozen child in silence for a moment, then slowly nodded.
“I see. If you cannot see it, then there is nothing to be done.”
“But why? Would it be strange if you could see it?”
Valen Noctis shook his head at Miel’s question.
“She is a special child.”
“Special…?”
Miel’s eyes brightened.
“There is an old oral tradition in Bernair.”
“An oral tradition?”
“It’s something like a legend or a fairy tale.”
Zeros Nordic spoke.
“I learned of it by chance while traveling after renouncing my title, but…”
“Mm-hmm.”
“When a great crisis befalls the world, it is said that a child with special eyes is born in Bernair. This child sees what others cannot see, hears what others cannot hear, and shines so brightly that she is like the sun itself.”
Like the sun…?
Unfortunately, Miel didn’t think she shone quite that brightly. The one who shone brilliantly was Miel’s cousin.
She was loved so dearly that her brightness was dazzling, radiant as the sun itself.
“Spirit Sight. It is said to be eyes that perceive the Hidden Aspect—beings that exist in the same space as reality but live in an entirely different time, a Unique Ability found only once in all the world.”
“…?”
A flood of difficult words had poured out.
But somehow, she didn’t think that was her.
‘Miel just sees ghosts and shiny things and those black, squirmy creatures.’
And besides, Miel wasn’t the only one who saw them.
‘Master Ganri saw ghosts too, and the maid, and the attendant, and the butler—they all saw them!’
So Miel didn’t fit that “found only once” description.
“It’s not Miel!”
So the clever little bear Miel, exercising her remarkable judgment, arrived at her conclusion swiftly.
“It’s not?”
“No! Because Miel only sees ghosts!”
“…What? What do you see? Ghosts…?”
Zeros Nordic’s eyes widened in shock.
Oh.
“…Oops.”
Miel, belatedly realizing what she’d said, hastily clamped her hand over her mouth.
“…I’m done for.”
* * *
After her slip of the tongue, Miel sealed her lips shut, and the carriage arrived at a village in an odd silence.
It was at the very edge of the foxes’ territory—a small, quiet village where merchants and travelers passed through for brief stays.
Beyond it, mountains stretched out.
“One room. Two adults and one child.”
“Yes, you may use room 303.”
Zeros Nordic, heading toward the plaza in the center of the village, entered the inn and rented a room.
Miel opened her eyes wide, and even Toto bounced about, peering at everything around them.
‘Huge pot. Really long counter. Enormous cat!’
Seeing the large planter, the bar table, and the oversized cat sprawled across it, Miel’s mouth fell open.
Valen Noctis, watching Miel patter about the dining room where a few patrons sat, finally opened his mouth.
“Do not wander alone, child.”
“Yes.”
Miel, caught in Valen Noctis’s grip and pulled along, rolled her eyes in wonder.
‘This is an adventure!’
This was the first time Miel had come this far since running away from home.
And even that had been cut short—picked up by Zerpeon and Lisar within five hours of leaving—so it hardly counted as an adventure at all.
“Is this the inn?”
“Yes, it is.”
Miel’s eyes sparkled with light.
‘The place where the hero Panda always slept!’
Whenever the adventuring panda stopped at a different village, he would pay to spend the night like this.
Her heart pounded with excitement.
‘Miel can do the exact same things the hero Panda does.’
There was something Miel had always wanted to do if ever she slept at an inn.
Miel bounced up and clung to the bar chair.
……just kept hanging there.
Zeros Nordic, who had been calculating something, lowered his gaze with mild displeasure at the sight of Miel dangling and swaying precariously.
“What are you doing?”
“Heeeeey……!”
Grunt!
She couldn’t pull herself up.
“Honestly, what is this.”
Zeros Nordic let out a small laugh, then grasped the child’s waist and set her down firmly on the chair.
“Thank you.”
“All right.”
“Hey, innkeeper!”
Thump!
Miel, now seated at the bar table, struck it sharply with her fist and called out, causing the innkeeper to pause.
“Did you call for me, little miss?”
“Yes.”
Miel nodded.
“What can I do for you?”
“Well. I’d like a big cup of warm milk with plenty of honey in it. Big size.”
Miel raised her index finger high and chuckled, placing the order with a smirk.
Long ago, the steward and the maidservant had performed a play called “The Wicked Bear Cub” for her, and the steward, who had played the panda, had placed an order just like that.

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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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