The Baby Bear of the Black Fox Mansion - Chapter 65

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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 65
“Once you’ve said your piece, I’m leaving.”
Zeros Nordic strode down the hallway with long, purposeful strides.
Behind him came the sound of someone shrieking for him to wait, which he cleanly ignored.
Zeros Nordic stopped as he was about to descend to the first floor. The level below was rather noisy.
“Little Half-Moon Bear, hold onto me tight, yes?”
“Huh? Okay.”
Miel nodded and threw her arms around him with all her strength, burying her face against his chest.
Zeros Nordic pushed open the second-floor window wide.
That was when he was about to jump.
“What are you doing? Nordic.”
A large hand gripped his shoulder, accompanied by a weighty voice that grated against his ears.
Zeros Nordic’s brow furrowed.
“What else—going home.”
“Come down.”
“No.”
Zeros answered lightly and let out a derisive snort.
“She doesn’t like House Bernier. Let’s talk about it next time.”
“She is a child of our house.”
“How convenient. All those years you left her alone—where was your concern then? Don’t make me laugh.”
Zeros Nordic exhaled sharply and stepped back down into the hallway for a moment.
The grip on him went slack.
And in that instant—
Crack!
Zeros Nordic’s leg swept upward across the other man’s face.
As the man’s head snapped to the side from the blow, Zeros pushed off the hallway floor and hurled himself through the window.
“What the—?!”
“Oh dear, my apologies. Little bear proprietor.”
“Half-Moon Bear!”
“Yes, yes. Little Half-Moon Bear.”
He fell into the dense canopy of trees below, catching himself on sturdy branches to break the impact.
“Come on, let’s hurry.”
“Hurry where? Seniors don’t usually flee.”
Another figure appeared.
Where the eldest had been before, now came the second son of House Bernier.
“I said we’re going home.”
“Her home is here. Where exactly are you going?”
“I—”
Zeros Nordic blinked slowly.
“Half-Moon Bear Village?”
“…What?”
Pola Bernier let out a hollow laugh.
At the sound, Miel peeked her head up slightly.
“Second nephew. Shall we have a word? You ran away from home, and now you return just to leave again without even looking at your family’s faces?”
“…Miel, he’s not actually my uncle.”
Miel spoke in a low murmur, watching Pola Bernier’s blue eyes.
“…Right, so. I’m just curious where this misunderstanding started in the first place. From this second uncle’s perspective.”
“He’s not my uncle…”
“…Good heavens, you’re stubborn. Very much like a bear, I’d say.”
Pola Bernier blinked and rubbed the back of his neck.
Watching the child cradled in Zeros Nordic’s arms, her eyes full of wariness, Pola Bernier sighed.
“Do you remember me?”
“…Once, a long time ago.”
“You’ve seen me before?”
A nod.
Miel acquiesced without hesitation.
Her memory of it was dim, but she knew such a person had existed.
“Well then. How about we have at least one meal together before you go? Niece.”
“…Why?”
“Hmm?”
“Everyone just dislikes me.”
Pola Bernier blinked.
“……Who dislikes you? You? Well, we were a bit neglectful, that’s true, but…… we didn’t actually dislike you.”
That wasn’t it.
“We didn’t even give you meals, and all that.”
“……What?”
“Since Mother and Father were gone, they said I should learn to stand on my own, so I hunted too. But…….”
In Noctes, it wasn’t like that.
“Lisar really did give me Honey Sweets, and meals too, and presents, and he never got angry…….”
“…….”
Pola Bernier’s eyes widened.
“Even when I didn’t hunt, food appeared every single day.”
When she tried to hunt, Zerpeon told Miel she didn’t have to until she grew up.
He said she could have whatever she wanted if she just asked for it.
Miel learned warmth there.
She wasn’t cold. Her belly wasn’t empty, and when she cried, no one grew angry. Instead, they held her close and kept her warm.
“Miel likes it here.”
The moment the child spoke with such finality.
Thunk.
A staff came down with a heavy, definitive sound.
“I’d like to hear more details about that.”
At that very grave and weighty voice, Miel’s head snapped around reflexively.
“……We’re done for.”
Zeros Nordic exhaled heavily, then turned his body slightly away.
Urs Bernier.
Patriarch of House Bernier.
* * *
The reception hall of House Bernier.
Zeros Nordic patted Miel’s back while regarding the three men seated across from them.
In the center sat Urs Bernier.
To his right was the count Griszel Bernier, and to his left sat Pola Bernier.
Miel’s lower lip protruded slightly as she expressed her displeasure with her entire body.
‘How much does she hate House Bernier?’
Zeros Nordic thought to himself.
But in truth, Miel didn’t actually dislike House Bernier.
Rather, she disliked what would happen once she returned to House Bernier.
She dreaded returning to that life—living alone in a hut again, hunting every single day, and whenever her belly rumbled, having to dig up roots that servants or stewards pointed out for her to chew on mindlessly.
But to be precise…….
‘And no Honey Sweets either……!!’
The real reason was that she wouldn’t be able to eat Honey Sweets.
Even now, Miel was carefully keeping a whole bucket of honey that Lisar and the old man had given her tucked in her bag.
Miel!
By now, she couldn’t even imagine a life without honey!
‘And because that shop owner is his.’
She’d heard the shop was on Lisar’s side of things, so she simply couldn’t buy it in House Bernier anymore.
But if she were somehow captured and forced to stay with House Bernier, she might never be able to go back to Noctes.
“It’s been a long time, little one.”
Flinch.
At Urs Bernier’s words, Miel’s eyes darted around nervously.
A very large and frightening grandfather. She thought perhaps she’d caught a glimpse of him once from far away when she was very small.
Of course, she’d never actually spoken with him before.
Miel, who had been fidgeting with her fingers, lowered her head deeply.
“Hello.”
“Yes. And this is the first time we’re having a conversation like this, isn’t it?”
Urs Bernier let his words trail off.
“The first time, perhaps.”
“Yes.”
“…I see. I heard that Noctes kidnapped you.”
Miel’s eyes went wide.
“No! Lisar and the Honey Sweets man, they saved Miel! It was Chaka’s people!”
Urs Bernier faltered at the sight of Miel shouting with her fists clenched.
He regarded the child in silence.
“Is that so.”
“Yes!”
Miel disliked it when good people were misunderstood. So she spoke with deliberate emphasis, pressing harder on her words.
“So, when you ask why I hunted when you didn’t give me food, I can answer that, right?”
Urs Bernier began to speak as he usually did, then softened the edges of his words instead.
He had rarely dealt with a child so young, but each time their eyes met, his typically sharp tongue seemed to tangle before he could speak.
Plump baby cheeks and bright honey-colored eyes that gleamed with innocence.
Her round face and gentle gaze were simply adorable.
There was something about that soft roundness that was peculiarly endearing.
‘Were Bear Tribe children always this cute?’
The thought made Urs Bernier hesitate.
What was he thinking about, with such an important conversation looming ahead?
‘What does she mean by “when you ask what hunting is”…?’
Miel’s eyes spun in circles.
She had only hunted because she was told to hunt, but when he asked what she meant by hunting, she couldn’t find an answer to save her life.
“I just… that’s what I meant…?”
Urs Bernier closed his mouth.
“Who told you to hunt?”
Ah! That was a question she could answer.
“Uh-huh.”
“…Who?”
“My uncle. The one from my nest.”
Crack.
At the unsettling sound that suddenly rang out, Miel’s body jerked upright.
Startled, she whipped her head toward the source of the noise.
Griszel Bernier, who had been standing with his arms crossed, opened his eyes slowly. As though nothing had happened.
“What is it.”
“…Nothing. I just heard a pop…”
Miel’s eyes darted about frantically.
A moment later, she noticed that the armrest of the sofa where Griszel sat had not merely dented but shattered into pieces, and her eyes went wide.
“There! It’s broken there! Oh no.”
Miel pointed frantically at the armrest with an alarmed expression. It looked as though it might crumble to dust at any moment.
“Ah. It’s broken. There must have been a defect in the manufacturing. I’ll buy a new one.”
“Yes. Please buy it soon.”
Griszel Bernier, who had just spoken with cool nonchalance words that would make the rare imperial beaver artisan who had crafted this sofa weep in indignation, simply nodded his head.
“Understood.”

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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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