The Baby Bear of the Black Fox Mansion - Chapter 49

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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 49
“So Miel, which bear do you think you’re most similar to?”
“Well…”
There was something Miel overlooked.
Beastkin tribes maintained close bonds within their own species, forming villages and packs to live together.
Among them, there were certainly clans that ruled their kind or served as leaders.
But that didn’t mean they only married within their species.
Berneuer, in particular, was a clan representing and governing all bear-kind—doubly so.
Which meant Berneuer itself was built from countless bloodlines mixed across generations, in a sense a multi-species cultural house.
Miel carried all those bloodlines within her.
Whether moon bear, arc bear, or fire bear—she might have inherited distinct genetic traits from any one of them, or from many.
‘Pandas are a peculiar bunch, really.’
They prized pure lineage and bred only within their species.
“…Hmm.”
Zeros Nordic considered the question.
He wasn’t confident the child could understand this explanation.
“Moon bears might be a bit closer, don’t you think?”
So he simply gave the answer the child wanted to hear.
There was no harm in childhood dreams, hopes, and fantasies.
When dreams fade and hope dissolves and fantasies crumble—that’s when you become an adult.
A bear who dreamed of flying, only to learn she never could, who then shifted her wish to becoming the strongest bear instead—that too was proof of growing up.
“Really?! That’s what Miel thinks too!”
“Is it?”
“Yes! So next time, we should go visit the moon bear clan!”
He paused.
Zeros Nordic gazed at the child with a bitter smile.
“Moon bear, arc bear.”
His voice carried an aching earnestness as he repeated the tribe names, eyes fixed on the book.
“Do you know anything about your parents?”
He asked, hesitant.
“…Yes.”
The child nodded quietly.
“Uncle said Mom and Dad left right after I was born.”
“…”
“But since I’m not a Berneuer child, and since so many people care about me, maybe… they said it was almost the same as saying I have no parents.”
Zeros Nordic fell silent at the child’s words.
Perhaps they’d assumed Miel’s parents were dead because there were no parents within Berneuer to care for her.
So that was why she’d set out on this journey.
Because it was a lie, and if her real parents existed somewhere else, she desperately wanted to meet them.
“Well, they could exist in another bear clan.”
Zeros Nordic stroked Miel’s soft fur in silence.
Many species mingled and bred with one another, but one thing was certain.
The Jewel on Forehead was the product of Berneuer.
This child was Berneuer’s child.
That fact would never change.
“…Right! That could be it.”
Zeros Nordic laughed heartily as always, and Miel’s face lit up.
“Really?!”
But the man chose not to force that cruel truth upon the child.
There was no need, and he didn’t want to.
By his usual nature, he would have dressed it up prettily and told her the truth anyway.
But he didn’t want to. He couldn’t say why.
He simply didn’t want to.
A floating, nameless emotion filled him—a wish that this child know nothing, understand nothing.
“Yes.”
“What about you?”
“Hmm?”
“Do you have family in the panda clan?”
Ah.
Zeros Nordic let out a soft chuckle.
“No, there wasn’t.”
He tilted his head slightly, still stroking the child’s hair as he spoke.
There was nothing.
He’d known all along there wouldn’t be.
She didn’t have a single panda trait to speak of.
Miel blinked.
‘Such profound sadness.’
It washed over her like the tide.
His face wore its usual smile, yet somehow it seemed like he was weeping bitterly.
Miel wriggled and climbed into Zeros Nordic’s lap.
“…? What are you doing?”
“Just… being here.”
“Hmm?”
“Being alone is hard. So if someone’s with me, it’s okay.”
“…”
Zeros Nordic exhaled slowly through gritted teeth, almost without realizing it.
“When Miel is sad, holding the butterfly makes it better.”
Oh, the butterfly is a cat.
The child added the explanation.
“A baby panda isn’t a cat though?”
“It’ll do instead.”
Poof!
Miel became a baby bear cub.
Soft and fluffy and warm to the touch. Zeros Nordic found himself pulling that small body close without thinking.
“Hah.”
Such a trivial thing, really.
Many people who knew his circumstances had come to comfort him, to offer words of encouragement.
It wasn’t that their kindness was wrong. But nothing had truly reached him.
Yet…
“Squeak?”
“…Actually, this does seem to help.”
He couldn’t fathom why simply holding this small bundle of fur made everything feel somehow bearable.
Zeros Nordic curled up slightly, cradling the baby cub.
“…A long time ago, I had somewhere urgent to be.”
“…?”
The baby cub tilted its head.
“I’d promised to return in a month. My wife was due to give birth soon after.”
“…”
“But something went wrong. A Curse I was handling suddenly spiraled out of control, and I became trapped within it. By the time I barely escaped, I was so badly injured I couldn’t even move.”
Miel blinked very slowly.
The words were difficult to follow, but it was unmistakably clear he was speaking of something sorrowful.
“By the time I finally made it back, she was gone. The house was in ruins, completely empty. As if it had been ransacked.”
He clutched the small bear cub tightly, his voice trembling as he forced the words out.
As if these were words he’d held in for an eternity, confiding in no one.
“I searched desperately, tracking down every lead I could find. But… no one knew anything. No one.”
He’d seized, tortured, and beaten the young beasts that lived in that area, terrorizing them. He’d committed every crime imaginable.
And yet…
He’d found nothing.
Beyond the promised month, then a second month and beyond, he’d only heard testimony that she’d been waiting. But who had attacked, what had happened, where she’d gone—he could learn none of it.
Whether she lived or died, whether she’d managed to escape or had been taken captive.
“…I hope she’s alive.”
Miel’s small front paw trembled as it reached out and touched Zeros Nordic’s bowed head.
Pat, pat.
The tiny paw stroked the large man’s head.
At that soft, fluffy touch, Zeros Nordic’s cheeks flushed faintly.
“…”
It took a moment for him to regain his senses—embarrassed at being comforted by a child—before his eyes widened.
As if he scarcely remembered what he’d just poured out.
He drew a sharp breath, appearing somewhat at a loss, then slowly straightened his hunched form.
Sproing!
The baby bear had transformed back into Miel.
“…Sorry, I said something strange just now.”
He rubbed his face briskly, as if to erase the words.
He couldn’t fathom why he’d suddenly spilled out such a thing.
Perhaps it was disappointment—knowing full well that he wouldn’t find the person he sought in this panda settlement.
“There will be hope.”
“…!”
His eyes widened.
“There will be hope. Miel’s mother and father must surely have hope too!”
“…Do you think so?”
“Yes!”
The innocent answer burst forth without a shadow of doubt, brimming with hope.
“Did you know? Actually, my wife was a bear Beastkin too.”
“…! Was the mister also searching for a baby bear?”
“No, a snow leopard cub. When two different races interbreed, the offspring usually inherit the stronger Genetic Trait.”
Unless his bloodline came from a race or house superior to Nordic, the child would have inherited his Genetic Traits strongly.
His wife, as he knew her, had been an ordinary bear Beastkin.
Which meant the child likely inherited his Genetic Traits.
“In any case, thank you, little panda.”
At his words, Miel shook her head firmly.
“Miel not a panda.”
“Ah. Right.”
“From now on, call me little sun bear.”
Pfft.
With hands planted on his hips, speaking with utter seriousness, Zeros Nordic burst out laughing.
The gloom that had weighed on him moments before had vanished completely.

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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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