Black Killer Whale Baby [EN]: Chapter 262

262

The meaning of those words didn’t sink in before I quickly grasped the situation.

Crown Prince Cale, the male protagonist of the original story, was an ideal crown prince on the surface.

But digging deeper, he was full of bravado and perfectionist tendencies.

He didn’t tolerate mistakes and applied the same strict standards to others as he did to himself.

In the original story, he was portrayed as someone thorough in protecting Lili.

But judging from what I saw directly, it wasn’t protection but excessive control and surveillance.

Lili seemed to have her life suppressed in the name of love.

Well, this was a long time ago. It was a fact I learned after trying to seduce him once in my first life.

So, considering the current situation.

‘He must really hate this situation I’ve created.’

Born as a lion, he was a human who had been revered his entire life.

He pretended to be benevolent but was also a typical chauvinist who was deeply prejudiced in favor of land-based predators.

To me, someone he already considered inferior and had even been defeated by once.

To be dealt such a big blow?

He would be beyond displeased; he would be furious and go mad.

I didn’t need to see it to know.

‘Love and hate are just a hair’s breadth apart, they say.’

That wasn’t wrong. I probably knew him better than even his own family.

I raised my head, thinking of a ridiculous joke.

Dana, the leader of the Elephant Tribe, and Ampilla, the Hippo Tribe leader, directly showed me the letter with the Crown Prince’s summons.

Afterward, our group, as well as Lorei, the leader of the remaining monkeys and the community lord of the new city, gathered to hold a meeting.

That evening, I sat in my office, looking at the documents on my desk.

“Seriously, I’m impressed every time I see it. How did you manage to extract only the key information…?”

What I was looking at was the original research data that Levi had brought from the Madrum Research Institute.

I was reviewing it, even though I had already seen it once.

“You only see as much as you know, they say.”

“I’m always impressed by how you subtly show off your intelligence.”

“Thank you for the compliment. Since you’re giving me compliments, I’d appreciate it if you could give me a reward afterward.”

I briefly looked away from the documents and looked at Levi.

“Do you have a reward in mind?”

“Yes. Would you grant it if I asked? I’ll tell you anyway.”

“Go ahead.”

“Please go for a walk with me. A picnic would be nice too.”

I was momentarily taken aback.

“…I’m amazed that you can say such things in front of all these people.”

With just that one sentence, the temperature in this office seemed to drop by about ten degrees.

That was because Ekion was sitting right next to me.

Hauser was standing over there, and Whale was leaning against the wall with a sly smile.

Was that all? Atlan was watching with great interest, and surprisingly, Velos had a cold expression.

Finally, my dad was sitting quietly across from me.

“I’ve decided not to do anything sneaky like some people anymore. A person needs to have genuine charm.”

…It was quite a talent to say such things with a straight face while everyone was staring or glaring at him.

“Master, if I can perfectly replace the dolphin’s role, would you be okay with that guy disappearing?”

Hauser said with an expressionless face. Whale smiled kindly and raised a hand. He was in favor.

Aren’t you guys brothers, even though you’re not blood-related?

“From now on, I’ll only let you get hurt enough to not die when my brother gets hurt. Hahaha.”

I shook my head, unsure whether Whale’s words were a joke or serious.

Then, I quietly patted the hand of Ekion, who was sitting next to me.

“Dad, I’m sorry, but I think you should calm down the water power a bit.”

“I didn’t use it, though.”

“…What else would you call having it pointed at his neck if not a threat.”

Then Dad quietly removed the streams of water swirling around Levi.

In fact, I only gathered those who had memories of the past life, or who knew that I had those memories.

It was because there was something to discuss about the Crown Prince.

The past life and this life must be clearly distinguished, but when the Crown Prince’s past actions were re-examined from various angles, there might be schemes he had planned in this life.

Or there might be things that I alone wouldn’t have thought of.

As a result, one more person naturally took a seat here in addition to our group.

It was Camula, whom Hauser had helped regain her memories.

“Wow, this is amazing. It’s really a sight I couldn’t have seen in the past… Should I be moved or shocked?”

Camula stood behind the sofa where Dad was sitting, holding a plate of snacks in one hand.

The way she was diligently eating the white snacks looked like a moviegoer engrossed in an exciting movie while eating popcorn, but was that just my imagination?

“A love triangle over our Master.”

“Camula, why is your choice of words like that again?”

“Ah, I made a mistake. Come to think of it, it was possible for orcas to have multiple partners, right?”

Camula said, widening her eyes as if she had forgotten.

“I had completely forgotten because Master wasn’t interested in the opposite sex in the past life. Everyone thought Master would grow old and die alone? Or suddenly fall in love with books and… ahem. Ahem.”

Camula felt the ominous atmosphere and quickly shut her mouth.

I shook my head briefly and picked up the documents again.

“The Crown Prince’s actions are quite different from the past life, but it’s not difficult to guess.”

Once we got to the main point, I could feel everyone forgetting their emotional outbursts from just now and listening attentively.

“He was defeated by us once in the past life. Even though he gathered all his forces and gave it his all.”

Of course, as a result, he ended up causing the Dragon Duke to go berserk, leading to a mutual destruction ending.

I didn’t bother mentioning it.

“Unfortunately, he’s not a stupid bastard, so he seems to have excellent learning abilities. Moreover, he seems to remember the past life unexpectedly.”

Camula flinched.

Judging from how her one leg was shaking even more, it seemed like she was reminded of her experience when she had a limp.

I tapped the documents in my hand.

“What he’s focused on in this life is ‘Dragon’.”

I already knew this since meeting the young Ekion.

The Imperial Family tried to control the Dragon and manipulate it in their hands. At that time, I simply thought this.

“Of course, he tried to imprison and brainwash the young Dragon Duke of the current generation.”

Or the battle in front of the Dragon’s Tomb that I saw in the Snake Tribe’s jungle.

“He searched for the Dragon’s Tomb, where the Dragon Duke had abandoned his title and wandered long ago. As a result, he’s said to have collected the Dragon’s corpses.”

Or the energy mass resembling the Dragon’s power named ‘Terra’ that was installed in the Madrum Research Institute.

Finally, after seeing the documents brought from Madrum, I could see that it wasn’t something that could be simply overlooked.

“The power of earth has already been defeated once by our water power. He must want to achieve complete victory this time, even if it means drawing in the power of the Dragon.”

It was obvious without even seeing it.

I fiddled with the paper.

The fact that I went to Madrum was thanks to the incident in the Snake Territory that triggered it.

If that hadn’t happened, I would have gone more cautiously.

And if that had happened, the Suin [beast-people] who were experimented on there would have suffered for a longer time. Or they would have died.

The corner of the paper was crumpled.

“There were no more Dragon corpses or Dragon power in Madrum other than the ‘Terra’ they were using.”

This was a fact that Ekion, who was also a Dragon Duke, had told me.

“I’m sure. The remaining Dragon corpses that he gathered must be in the Imperial Palace.”

In the first place, he’s a human who doesn’t know how to entrust important things to others.

Because he had experienced failure once, his perfectionist tendencies must have become even more obsessive.

Just looking at how he came to the Aquasia del Territory, which he repeatedly called dirty and inferior, and tried to help the sharks’ rebellion to hinder us, I could tell.

He was in such an obsessive state that he had to do things that didn’t need to be done.

“And if we go to the Imperial City, he will definitely prepare traps and try to lure us in.”

Ironically, a letter with the Imperial Family’s summons arrived late on our side as well.

“We will respond to this and go to the Imperial Palace. However, all personnel will go.”

Dad arrived here with a large number of people so that we could handle it without any problems, even if a war broke out.

“If there are traps set by the Crown Prince as you said, do you have countermeasures for this?”

At Levi’s question, I nodded slowly.

“It’s not a perfect answer, but it’s written here – the solution.”

I showed the crumpled document in my hand.