The Baby Bear of the Black Fox Mansion - Chapter 56

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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 56
“What?”
Miel shook her head as if deeply wronged.
[So why did a Seal Mark suddenly appear there?!]
“Draconian didn’t do it?”
[No! Why would I do something like that? What even is that? Won’t it erase?! More importantly, where the hell did my heart go?!]
The bewildered Draconian spilled words like machine-gun fire, his voice rising to a shriek.
Miel covered her ears and thrust out her lower lip.
“Draconian, quiet. Shh.”
The moment Miel spoke, wrinkling her nose at the whining sound—
[……!]
Draconian’s mouth sealed shut.
Literally silent. His lips stuck together as if glued, and the voice echoing in his mind fell mute.
[……! …! ……!]
Draconian tried to say something but couldn’t.
Miel blinked.
Tilting her head, rolling her eyes, then looking at Draconian once more, Miel opened her mouth with an uncertain expression.
“Draconian, you can talk.”
Miel said it.
At the same time—
[What?! You, you… you…!!]
Draconian, his mouth freed, pointed at Miel frantically.
After blinking a couple of times, a faint playfulness danced across Miel’s face.
“Draconian, sit!”
Thump!
Draconian collapsed forward and crouched down.
[……This is a dream, right?]
Miel’s eyes went wide.
“Draconian! Miel got an Ability, didn’t I?!”
The child’s eyes sparkled brightly.
And no wonder—until now, Miel, born with a Stone Heart in her forehead, was said to have no Ability whatsoever.
That’s why she’d been scolded for being a half-blood.
But now……!
“Miel got an Ability too!”
Draconian trembled violently.
[Don’t you get it?! You got tangled up with me!]
Draconian shouted with a miserable face.
“Huh?”
Tilt.
It was the moment Miel tilted her head in confusion.
“Well, well. Little one—or rather, little moon bear boss, you’ve been a good girl, haven’t you?”
Zeros, who’d gone to butcher the wild boar, had returned.
Large chunks of meat dangled from his hands.
Miel sprang up and raced over, flinging her arms around Zeros’s leg in a tight embrace.
“Uncle!”
“Hmm? What is it?”
“Miel got an Ability!”
“An Ability? …Wait, suddenly?”
Or maybe not suddenly. This kid did have some remarkable Ability after all.
‘Not sure exactly what it is… but she can see spirits, she reads strange things, and she’s broken curses.’
Is she only realizing it now?
Zeros lowered his gaze with a nod, but what was thrust before his eyes was something entirely unexpected.
“Look here!”
Miel thrust out her hand, showing the Seal Mark on the back of it, and straightened her shoulders proudly.
“This is Miel’s Ability!”
“……?”
Zeros’s eyes narrowed.
He crouched down and studied the Seal Mark on Miel’s hand intently for a long moment. Gradually, his face grew darker.
After a considerable pause, he slowly lifted his head and opened his mouth.
“……Where did this suddenly come from?”
“It’s Miel’s Ability.”
“No. It’s not an Ability—it’s this… it’s an Enslavement Mark. Who did you make a contract with?”
Zeros asked, his face drained of color.
Miel laughed brightly as she watched Zeros grip her shoulders, trembling, his face ashen.
“Wait—Enslavement? No, what exactly did you contract with? What form did it take? Do you remember what you promised to give?”
Miel blinked at Zeros’s words.
“But it’s Miel’s Ability…”
“What Ability?”
“The Command Ability!”
What was she talking about?
Ahem.
Miel cleared her throat and planted her hands on her hips.
“Mister! Give that meat to Miel!”
“This? Well, yes. You can’t eat it raw, so I’ll cook it for you.”
“Yes!”
Miel nodded.
“See?”
See what?
“Whatever Miel says, you do it.”
“…Yes.”
“Mister, stand up!”
Zeros hesitated.
He wavered between whether to obey or speak the truth.
But the hesitation didn’t last long.
Other lies—he could manage those. He could clean up whatever mess they made.
But if he indulged this expectation, she might grow reckless, trusting only in this Ability, and throw herself into genuine danger.
“…Nothing happened.”
“But Miel definitely has the Ability?!”
Miel spun around sharply to look at Draconian.
Draconian’s expression had grown serious, his mouth firmly shut.
“Draconian, give me your hand!”
Miel extended her hand, and Draconian quickly placed his palm against hers.
“It works?!”
“…Who are you talking to now, little one?”
Zeros asked.
Miel recounted everything that had happened that day.
She spoke in a rush, rambling and chaotic, but fortunately, Zeros—trained by now in “Miel-speak” from their time together—followed her meaning without much difficulty.
“So the mountain trip before was because this entity called Draconian asked you to go? You obtained a Stone Heart there, and then Draconian disappeared? You brought the stone back because you were worried, and just now when you woke up, you had a mental conversation with him?”
“Yes!”
“And then the stone suddenly seeped into the back of your hand, became a Seal Mark, and after that your Ability awakened—so now whenever you speak, this Draconian does whatever you say?”
Miel nodded eagerly.
“That’s not an Ability awakening. That’s a contract.”
“A contract?”
“In other words… that entity called Draconian has become something like your Subordinate.”
“Miel’s Subordinate?”
Miel’s mouth fell open.
A Subordinate!
“Well, something like that. There wasn’t any specific promise you made with him when you contracted?”
Mmmmph~!
Mmmmmph~!
Miel’s head snapped up.
[Damn it! I need to get out! I have to find the rest of my body! And you’re going to do it!]
“Me?”
[That’s right. Now you’re the only one I can ask.]
“Fine. If Miel really needs me, what choice do I have?”
He gave his answer.
Miel’s gaze slipped away.
Zeros couldn’t hide his alarm, his eyes narrowing.
“Baby moon-bear boss. What exactly did you promise? Is it dangerous?”
“…No?”
But Miel had gone searching for a heart and nearly been devoured by a wolf.
So Miel was still gazing off into the distance.
“Little one, you don’t seem to understand — an Enslavement Contract only takes hold when both parties want something from it. It’s a binding that chains every freedom of the subordinate to the master, so the penalty for breaking it is severe.”
“……?”
Miel’s head tilted.
A low groan.
Zeros, breathing heavily, lowered himself to the child’s eye level and spoke again.
“You won’t get honey, you won’t find your family, and if you don’t keep the promise, you could cough and die.”
“……!”
“So tell me. What promise did you make?”
“Just that Draconian would find his body for me…….”
“His body? Why does he need his body found?”
“Draconian says his body is scattered in lots of places.”
Zeros’s brow furrowed. He couldn’t make sense of any of this.
He understood that Draconian was a spirit of some kind.
But a separate heart, a fragmented body, and on top of that — an existence dignified enough to enter contracts?
“This Draconian — that’s the name the little one from Noctis mentioned before, right? The name is Draconian? That’s both the personal name and the species name?”
Miel had been about to nod when she stopped.
‘Now that I think about it, it did sound a bit longer than just Draconian…….’
Miel glanced sideways at Draconian.
Draconian, sprawled in midair, had placed an Ice Pack on his forehead again.
[Not Draconian — Draconian.]
Draconian muttered weakly.
There was no expectation whatsoever that he would be understood properly.
“Draconian.”
Hearing that, Miel pronounced it carefully and clearly.
[……!]
Draconian hurled the Ice Pack away and rushed over to stand beside Miel.
[That’s it! That’s the one!]
Finally!
Draconian, his expression radiant with emotion, looked at Zeros.
It was enough if someone — anyone — recognized his true identity. At the very least, those who might be called his parents would know.
“Draconian?”
“That’s right.”
“……Draconian, you say?”
He repeated it back, his brow tensing.
Miel watched him with a puzzled expression, noting how his face seemed to stiffen just slightly.

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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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