The Teddy Bear Sends the Insomniac Villain to Dreamland - Chapter 45

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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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Chapter 45
“Brother is busy again today, I suppose.”
“My apologies, Young Master. As you know, he has an overwhelming amount of work. Please bear with him a little longer.”
“…I’m tired of hearing ‘understand’ every single day. I only wanted to greet him for a moment—why did you stop me!”
Eren had paced outside Blake’s study before returning to his room, his eyes glistening with unshed tears.
Peter, the attendant who witnessed those gentle, watery eyes, swallowed the guilt rising in his throat.
For days, Eren had sought Blake, yet he was genuinely consumed by work.
When they had met in the Apple Garden days ago, Blake had seemed so at ease that Peter wondered if he was deliberately avoiding Eren—but that had been merely a fraction of Blake’s day.
Currently, the head of the Leblanc Duchy was absent from his post.
The curse’s severity had worsened to the point where he could no longer manage his duties properly, so he was traveling throughout the Empire with a select few, searching for a way to break it.
In his stead, Blake was filling that void.
No wonder he was so busy.
Blake was a capable lord.
Having virtually inherited the dukedom, he was conquering the Cartel and seizing control of the Eastern Region.
Yet….
“Fine! Since I can’t ask Brother directly, I’ll ask you instead.”
This small, young master was acutely feeling the absence of his busy and melancholic family.
Eren, cursed not long ago, was certainly more vibrant and human than Blake. Peter worried that this brightness might deteriorate even faster due to the family’s emptiness.
Watching Eren, whose dark undereyes remained unchanged even after visiting the Convent, Peter the attendant bowed his head.
“Ask me anything, sir.”
“Have you ever seen a bear doll in this house?”
Peter’s shoulders flinched. Eren, catching that moment, asked sharply.
“Answer honestly. I’ve already read the newspapers and I’m asking anyway.”
What should he say?
Peter, who had hesitated briefly, opened his lips heavily.
“Yes, I have seen it.”
“What? You really have?”
“Yes. If you’re referring to the rumors in the recent newspapers, they are true.”
Everyone in the Leblanc Mansion knew that the heir of the Leblanc Family carried around an adorable bear doll.
Moreover, one secret unknown to those outside the mansion was that Young Master Blake treasured the doll so dearly that he had even assigned guards to protect it.
“Is Brother… ill? I mean… everyone was saying he’d gone mad…”
“Not at all!”
Peter vehemently denied it.
While people gossiped that Blake, who had been suffering from the curse, had finally lost his mind, the mansion’s staff did not think so.
‘Have you heard? Young Master Blake acknowledged someone’s greeting?’
‘That’s a lie!’
‘It’s true. He usually doesn’t even look at people and just walks past, but this time he glanced and even nodded in greeting!’
‘No way, you must be mistaken.’
The dark traces of exhaustion that had settled beneath his eyes had vanished, and his gait carried a subtle vitality.
Even the mansion’s servants, who had not noticed at first, gradually began to perceive his transformation.
“The eldest young master is absolutely not losing his mind.”
“Then why is he carrying around that bear doll? Where did it come from?”
“I’m afraid even a mere servant like myself cannot say for certain. However, he is not afflicted with anything as you seem to worry. Rather…”
“Rather?”
Eren leaned in closer to Peter, gazing at his soft, round face as he finally voiced the thought that had been occupying his mind.
“He appears to be happy.”
***
“Happy, he says.”
Early summer, when the sun blazed mercilessly.
With nowhere else to go, I redirected my aimless wandering feet toward the Apple Garden.
There was no particular reason for it.
The weather was pleasant, and sleep refused to come even when I lay in bed.
My brother was occupied, and there seemed no way to uncover the truth about the bear doll.
Whenever I cornered the servants and questioned them, they either responded with “Oh my, I’m not sure,” or spouted nonsense like “The bear doll was so cute.”
Yes, nonsense.
It was all nonsense.
My brother and a bear doll—it was a ghastly combination that made no sense whatsoever.
Beneath an apple tree overlooking a tranquil lake, I collapsed onto the ground and leaned my back against the trunk, my lips pouting.
“There’s no way my brother would carry around such an ugly bear doll.”
Of course not!
That hideous bear doll with its dingy yellow fur and lime-green eyes was obviously not his.
My brother was the Empire’s greatest swordsman, dispatching Demon Beasts with effortless precision. Unbowed by curses and impeccably noble in all matters—Blake Leblanc was the Empire’s finest man!
“Everyone just talks nonsense! I should meet with my brother directly and ask him myself.”
Though the sky above was blue, my insides burned black with frustration.
I spoke those words, yet I had no time to meet with him.
And that fact gnawed at me, yearning as I was for my brother…
“It would be so simple if I could, but it’s truly heartbreaking….”
Heartbreaking indeed. I hadn’t seen him before leaving for the Convent, and I couldn’t see him now that I’d returned.
My body grew weary from dwindling sleep, but my heart accumulated fatigue just as readily.
I wanted to know why my brother avoided me so. No matter how busy he was, surely he could spare time to see my face—that thought only deepened my sorrow.
“Ugh, I really don’t want to cry!”
I really didn’t want to cry, yet tears kept streaming down my cheeks.
Wiping my tears away roughly with my sleeve, I struck the tree trunk with my fist.
“I won’t cry!”
With that cry, a short scream erupted from the tree.
“Ow!”
…A scream?
The female voice from above sent chills racing down the back of my neck.
That was definitely a scream, wasn’t it?
But this is the Leblanc Estate, isn’t it?
The only women around here are the servants, so could some slacker have wandered all the way out here?
But why up in a tree, of all places?
As I lifted my head amid this cascade of unanswered questions, my eyes widened in shock.
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
“Aaaaaaah!”
Eren shrieked in terror upon meeting a pair of bright, pale green eyes—luminous as spring grass.
“W-who are you?!”
***
Truly, fortune had smiled upon me all day long.
I swallowed hard as I watched Eren point at me with eyes wide as saucers.
On this fair early summer afternoon, I had been perched atop an apple tree, humming contentedly to myself.
I was gazing up at the sky while waiting for Nix, who had gone to fetch the donuts that had been served for dessert this morning—they were delicious, she’d said.
Suddenly, the mana contained within Arcanum surged powerfully. I could sense it instinctively.
It wasn’t overflowing, but it was enough to restore my true form. But how could this be?
How could I return to my original shape?
As I wrestled with this puzzle, a brilliant idea struck me like lightning.
What if I used mana as a shield?
If I could weave a barrier of mana around my body, just as it had enveloped me when I met the Crown Prince—
‘Then I might be able to prevent my mana from leaking away, at least for a time!’
It was a revolutionary thought.
The drawback was that once the mana in Arcanum ran dry, I would revert to being a teddy bear again.
It was a crude method—using mana to stop mana from escaping—but it seemed like the only way to regain my true form right now.
To return to my original shape, I first had to exceed the capacity limits of the teddy bear’s mana vessel.
Just as I had regained my true form when the Crown Prince’s stored mana combined with my own—
The mana flowing through the bear doll’s channels and the mana stored in Arcanum would make it possible.
I closed my eyes to put the plan into action. I felt mana pouring from the storage stone embedded in the ribbon.
Pure, luminous mana filled my body, and when my head throbbed with such intensity that I thought it might burst and I opened my eyes again—
I saw a pair of pale white legs precariously balanced atop the great tree!
Hurrah! I was myself again!
My heart raced with newfound hope.
I had to show Blake!
Seizing what I thought was my chance, I was about to leap down from the tree when—
“There’s no way my brother would carry around such an ugly teddy bear.”
Eren suddenly appeared.
Of all the timing!
And he began insulting the ugly teddy bear.
What do I do? There’s an ugly yellow teddy bear right here.
“Ugh, seriously. I didn’t want to cry!”
Then he shook the tree with a violent jolt.
Hey, stop shaking it!
My body, now far larger than when I was a stuffed bear, swayed precariously.
“I won’t cry!”
Despite insisting he wouldn’t cry, Eren wailed loudly and struck the tree with force, causing my body to stagger.
“Ugh…”
Then Eren’s head snapped up, and upon seeing me, he let out a piercing scream.
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
“Aaaaaaaah!”
And now.
I awkwardly climbed down from the tree and found myself facing Eren in an uncomfortable silence.
“….”
“Hello?”
Of all times, why did it have to be like this?
Last time, I’d hidden in his bedroom and avoided detection, but this situation was entirely different.
When I offered a slight smile, Eren’s shoulders trembled violently.
I’d worried he might call all the mansion’s servants, claiming an intruder had broken in, but Eren remained silent.
He simply stared at me with flushed cheeks, his plump face tinged with bewilderment.
His grapefruit-colored hair swayed gently in the soft summer breeze.
“…Guardian angel?”
After gazing at me for a long moment, Eren murmured softly, and at that small whisper, laughter burst from me.

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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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