CH 5

Bella quickly opened her mouth to say something, but in the end she brought up a slightly different thing from what she was originally meant to say.

“How can I expect grandchildren from a guy who doesn’t even think about getting married?”

“That’s quite true.”

Suradel clenched his chin at an angle and looked away from his mother, who seemed to be somewhat uncomfortable.

Unlike usual, he bore a dry expression that did not show emotion.

“Does Mother want me to have a relationship with someone? Though it’s obvious what’s going to happen in the end?”

“…….”

A heavy silence fell between the two for a long time. Eventually, Bella broke the flow.

She beckoned Suradel quietly.

“Come closer, Son.”

Suradel approached her slowly, but not too much.

The gazes of the two were getting closer, and they stared at each other.

“Keep your head down.”

The moment Suradel bent down, a fierce hand slammed into his back.

Paak–!

“…Ah?”

“Who thinks about breaking up before you meet someone?”

Paak, paak.

“Do you regret meeting Primo and I?”

“It’s a slightly different case…”

Suradel blinked slowly, then burst into a smirk as if realizing something.

“No. I have no regrets.”

Bella looked at Suradel as if she was finally relieved, then she smiled.

“Go to the shopping mall with Lia tomorrow. There must be a lot of cool things after coming out of that small tank.”

“What about Mother?”

“Tomorrow is the day Primo returns from the fief, isn’t it? I have to go meet him.”

“Well, then, shall I buy a ‘welcome back’ gift for Father?”

“Why?”

In response to the answer that came out without a single thought, Suradel raised one corner of his mouth.

“Oh, my. My father will be upset.”

“What’s there to be upset about? He will be happy just by looking at my face.”

“Because you’re lovers.”

“By the way, Lia needs some clothes to wear right away. Since there’s nothing urgent besides that, let’s slowly fill it up with what Lia wants.”

“Can I make a date appointment with Lia now?”

“What date? Keep in mind, you are going as a guardian or money bag.”

“Sure.”

Suradel answered and walked to the door.

As he was about to pull the doorknob, Bella’s voice suddenly came from behind.

“I love you, my son.”

Suradel turned around and replied, his eyes curving as he smiled.

“Me too.”

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

Bella gave me a spacious and well-located room.

It seemed that her offer to me to stay here was sincere.

However, it stabbed my poor conscience that it was kindness given thinking that I was a killer whale demibeast.

Alone in the room, I moved my fingers.

I jumped on the spot and opened my mouth to see if my teeth were right.

After going through a series of processes, the reality that I became a human came closer to me.

My heart swelled.

It was sudden, but it was a miracle that was achieved in four years.

“Yes. I missed these five fingers, not those flipper wings that couldn’t even fly.”

I looked in the mirror and wiped my pale cheeks that were without a single speck.

When I looked at my reflection in the glass window earlier, I was embarrassed because of the hair similar to that of a killer whale, so I did not see properly.

“…Pretty.”

Overall, a cute and pretty face. It was the opposite impression of when I was a penguin.

The hair seemed to have followed the color of my animal form, so I shall skip it.

Pure white skin with a flush of redness. I also liked the fact that my eyes were a color similar to the sea.

The gentle eyes didn’t seem to go well with my personality, but… 

It seemed good for inducing the opponent’s carelessness so that I could attack the vital point.

However, there was one thing I didn’t really like.

“Why do I look so weak?”

A demibeast who was born as an animal and humanized like me would have a human body proportional to the maturity of the animal.

Then, as an adult, this was what I looked like, fully grown…

“Damn penguin genes.”

Of course, I did not have a child-like appearance as I was a complete adult, both as a penguin and as a human being.

My body proportions were also quite good, but…

This weak body looked like it would 100% break somewhere if there was a problem, like if a strong person came and did a drop kick.

It seemed even more so because I was sandwiched among the giant killer whales.

Before I was possessed, I was well above the average height of women, so there was a great sense of loss.

“I’ll hold it in because it’s a pretty face.”

It was when I was looking in the mirror and thinking about this and that. A familiar voice was heard along with a knock.

“Lia. May I come in?”

I thought about pretending to sleep for a moment, but I finally sighed and gave permission.

“Come in.”

As soon as Suradel came in, I groaned inwardly and asked.

“What is it?”

As if it was the question he had been waiting for, his eyes curved happily as he replied,

“I miss Lia.”

“…When did you miss seeing me?”

“Just now. Exactly an hour ago.”

We both knew it was complete nonsense. It was a shameless answer.

‘Whether as a penguin or as a human, I don’t know why you are so interested in me.’

‘Or, maybe… Is that how you flirt with every girl?’

‘It didn’t matter as long as it’s a female?’

I felt that my level of contempt for him had risen somewhat, so I decided to find out some things.

What questions should I ask?

It’s better to ask what I was most curious about when I was a penguin.

“Suradel. You’re a killer whale, but why are you silver-haired? You’re short too.”

Of course, compared to an ordinary demibeast, he was very tall. He was close to 190 centimeters.

However, it’s said that the head of the Weil family, who was a blue whale demibeast, was over 2 meters tall.

Bella, a female killer whale, was also taller than Suradel.

“Puhaha!”

Hearing my question, Suradel laughed out loud and walked to where I was.

“To begin with, it is difficult to know what kind of species people are just by their appearance. Only certain species of demibeasts share some of the same characteristics.”

Before I knew it, he stood in front of me and slowly leaned his head forward.

“Height has nothing to do with species. You’re a killer whale, but you’re really small too, aren’t you?”

“…That’s right.”

‘Actually, I think my humanized body is small because I was an Adélie penguin that could only reach a person’s knee.’

Well, if that was the case, then small rodent-like demibeasts would be as small as fairies when humanized.

As my father was a pure-blooded human, there were far more pure-bloods around me than there were demibeasts, so I did not know until now.

There was nothing more to say, so I kept my lips shut. Suradel then asked, his long eyelashes fluttering.

“Are you sad that you’re short, Lia? I know how to grow taller, do you want me to tell you?”

Come to think of it, Suradel was a great mage, capable enough to be admired by his father.

This was a fantasy world, so there might be a way.

I asked with a little hope.

“What?”

“It’s to gain weight at the heel or on top of the head.”

…Should I kill him?

The ferocity of the Adélie penguin sleeping inside me was about to come out.

Right this moment, I remembered a question that he had not yet answered, and I asked with anger.

“Then why is your hair silver?”

If it was a killer whale, which corresponded to a ‘specific species’, he would have to have hair similar to mine.

Suradel looked away as if contemplating whether to speak or not.

“That…”

“That?”

I was very nervous as I waited several seconds for his answer.

Suradel smiled broadly and brought his index finger to his lips.

“Secret.”

‘Indeed, it would be good for my future peace to kill him in advance now.’

As my eyes grew fierce, Suradel raised his hands over his head and declared surrender.

“It’s a mutation. But anyway, it’s not albino or pigment deficiency.”

“…Show me.”

‘I think I’ll be able to believe it only when I see with my own eyes that Suradel is a killer whale.’

Judging by his personality alone, I think a fire fox would suit him perfectly.

When asked to show, he blinked slowly as if he had heard something unexpected.

“You want to see me in my natural state?”

“Yes.”

Then Suradel suddenly blushed and muttered shyly.

“Now, here…? It’s still noon, are you okay with it?”

“What do you mean?”

As I scrunched up my face, he batted his innocent-looking eyes.

“Does Lia want to see my natural state?”

This crazy guy…?

“No, not in that natural state! How you look like as an animal!”

Of course, it’s true that he’s handsome, so if he showed his natural state as a human, I would appreciate it… but!

Then Suradel’s gaze lowered; he was visibly disappointed.

“I thought Lia wanted me…”

“Don’t act. I know you’re kidding.”

“Haha, was it obvious?”

His lips curled up playfully. 

“Well, if Lia shows, I’ll show too.”

“…I don’t know how to animalize in the first place.”

“Then I’ll wait until you learn, okay? I am more patient than I look.”

I smoothed my lips.

Even after learning how to animalize, I couldn’t possibly become a penguin in front of him who thinks of me as a killer whale.

In the end, I couldn’t see his true self.