Black Killer Whale Baby [EN]: Chapter 200

Lilibel frowned, looking slightly puzzled by my words.

“…How is that different from what I’m doing now?”

“Can you monitor your parents?”

“Yes, I can. I’m doing it now.”

Lilibel said matter-of-factly.

Some might call it heartless, but in reality, her uncle and aunt had been calculating with their child from the start.

They had acknowledged Bai Yan as their only child, thinking Lilibel would die soon anyway.

Having grown up like that, Lilibel had something in common with me.

There seemed to be no lingering affection for her parents in her eyes.

‘Come to think of it, even in the 3rd timeline, Lilibel and my stepmother were using each other like chess pieces, weren’t they?’

It was a pretty common orca mother-daughter relationship.

‘It’s rare to have a relationship like mine with Dad.’

My resurrected dad had taken on a role that only he could fulfill. The same was true for Lilibel here.

I paused for a moment before asking.

“What about stabbing your parents in the back?”

Lilibel didn’t answer.

Instead, she stared at me silently.

The gaze she directed at me was sharp, cold, and composed.

I smiled, confirming the deeply rooted trust within her.

Lilibel responded to me, and I gave further instructions.

* * *

‘Okay, I’ve taken care of Lilibel, who was the most concerning.’

Inside Aquasia Del [a powerful underwater kingdom], it was known that I was in a deep sleep, so my range of movement was limited.

Moreover, I had to return to the Crack of Time [a mysterious temporal anomaly], so instead of moving around, I gathered the people I needed.

“I’m counting on you.”

The person who heard these words from me out of the blue was Bellus, my first brother.

His neatly trimmed eyebrows twitched.

“You know, when you don’t understand something, your eyebrows twitch like that. It’s a habit you share with the second brother.”

“That’s unpleasant to hear.”

“Really? I was feeling unpleasant about you hiding the truth all this time.”

“…….”

“Go ahead, make excuses. I’ll listen.”

“…I was just confused. Not anymore. In the past and now, you are the only liege [a feudal superior or sovereign] to me.”

“I must say, your shamelessness in saying that without changing your expression is still the same.”

Bellus said that when he saw me as a three-year-old, he couldn’t possibly believe that this little girl was the mysterious ‘liege’ who appeared in his dreams.

Well, I understood that.

He said he couldn’t see my face in the dream, so it wouldn’t have been easy to warm up to a suddenly appearing younger sister.

“I’m not going to argue. I thought it was better for you guys not to remember.”

“…….”

Bellus’s lips moved slightly.

“So, you wanted to remember alone? Isn’t that lonely?”

“It’s better for one person to be lonely and miserable.”

“…….”

“Anyway, first brother. Enough with the heavy stuff. You’re the smartest of the three, so let me ask you one thing.”

Bellus looked at me, waiting for my words. It was a familiar occurrence, and he didn’t feel bad about it.

“Why do you think you and the second brother remember your previous lives?”

It was something I had been wondering for a long time.

Atlant, as you can see, wasn’t a brainy type, so it was something I couldn’t discuss with him.

I did ask him, though.

“Well, it just happened somehow.”

That’s the kind of answer he gave.

It would have been better if Leviathan had memories too.

…He didn’t have any memories, and I decided it was better that way.

Bellus was smart, though not as much as Leviathan.

“The most likely guess is to first consider who can manipulate time. Then the first person who comes to mind is…”

“Duke Dragon?”

“Yes, Liege.”

I slowly shook my head.

I first met Duke Dragon, and the world was destroyed by his rampage in the 3rd timeline.

I had been regressing since before that.

“…I can’t reveal it, but I don’t think it’s him.”

But if it wasn’t him, why did they remember?

Who can manipulate time?

And Tuss said to me that I was someone who had endured the ‘power of time’.

I looked down at my hands.

‘Could it be that I have such power… but that’s a stretch.’

If that were the case, I wouldn’t have regressed.

Why would I repeat my life if I was crazy?

I decided to put this question aside for now and asked again.

“Then let’s change the question. You and the second brother remember, but why doesn’t the third brother remember?”

“…….”

“Leviathan doesn’t remember either.”

It wasn’t just family members who remembered, but the third brother didn’t.

Besides, Lily seemed to remember something, even if only partially.

“The difference between me, that idiot Atlant, and the third brother…”

Bellus pondered for a moment, then frowned. The expression on his face as he looked at me suggested he was hesitant to speak.

“What is it? Just tell me straight. Don’t make me die of curiosity for three years.”

“…Well, Liege. This is just a guess.”

“Guesses and imaginations are all fine, so just tell me quickly.”

“It’s like the difference in the moment of death.”

“What?”

Bellus said calmly, as if his hesitation had been a lie.

“Think about when the third brother died.”

“Why would I…”

It wasn’t a pleasant thing to do.

To have to relive the death of someone who died to save me.

Seeing my expression, Bellus quickly changed his words.

“Just look at the situation. Only the situation.”

Then he explained himself.

“The third brother knew until the moment he died that you had safely escaped far away.”

“…What are you talking about?”

I slowly recalled the memories of the 3rd timeline. It was the day of the final battle.

The moment we had won, Duke Dragon went berserk.

Everyone died one by one, and my brothers ran to get me to escape.

“Cough, I’ll hold this place.”

The first person to stay behind was Agenor.

“The next person to stay was me, right? I went back to that dying guy and told him.”

“…….”

“You escaped safely, and you alone survived. And you’ll continue to live well.”

“…….”

“So he died smiling.”

I blinked.

“But unfortunately, that idiot Atlant and I died knowing that you weren’t safe. Atlant lived longer than me, though.”

I closed my eyes, recalling the image of Atlant, who had died the most tragically among my brothers.

“Agenor had no regrets in life.”

“…You’re saying you were different?”

When I opened my eyes and met his gaze again, Bellus was smiling faintly.

Unlike me, it didn’t seem difficult for him to recall that time.

“It was the first time I wanted to live again so badly.”

“…….”

“Liege, I didn’t want you, my younger sister and only liege, to die.”

It was the smile of someone without regrets.

“To conclude, yes, Atlant and I died with regrets, and I think you became the medium, which is why we have memories left.”

“…….”

“As evidence, only the memories related to you, Liege, are clear, and the memories fade when we are far away from you.”

This was something Atlant had once mentioned as well.

“I saw that you were alive, and now that I do, maybe my regrets have disappeared, just like Agenor’s back then.”

I realized that I was clenching my fist tightly.

The difference in regrets.

‘Lily also had something she regretted so much that she wanted to live again?’

The image of Lily, who wasn’t very involved with me, was quickly forgotten.

I looked at the brother and subordinate in front of me with an expression that seemed like a heavy sigh was about to escape.

“You should have just thrown away those memories and been reborn.”

Bellus calmly shrugged.

“Well, if I had become a handful of seawater and met the Sea God again, I would have wished for the same thing.”

“…….”

“To let everyone live happily in the next life and to see it with my own eyes.”

“…….”

Bellus simply said nonchalantly, ‘If I didn’t have memories, I wouldn’t know if my wish was granted, would I?’

“More importantly, Liege. If this hypothesis is correct, isn’t it possible that someone among those who followed you so devotedly could also appear?”

“Huh?”

“Someone who remembers.”

I blinked.

Certainly, there were many subordinates who followed me fervently, and some of them surpassed my three brothers.

But…….

“Leviathan is one of them, but he doesn’t remember?”

“Well… isn’t it not just about that dolphin guy?”

When I asked what he meant, Bellus just shook his head coldly.

Saying it was nothing.

I decided to consider it as one of the hypotheses.

Thinking that the possibility was low.

‘Anyway, you said that memories become clearer when I’m close. Then there won’t be anyone among those who are far away who remembers.’

Even Lily didn’t say anything about remembering something until after she met me.

Thinking like this made me feel lighter.

I’m going to enter the Crack of Time anyway, and I’ll only know the results in three years.

* * *

A vast wasteland.

The land where the aquatic animal beastmen were forced to live after being driven out by the land animal beastmen was mostly barren.

The only fertile land was ruled by Aquasia Del, and the rest of the land was abandoned.

Occasionally, the orcas would patrol as if doing a favor.

Liege ‘Ocula Aquasia Del’s’ iron rule was that it didn’t matter if the weak died.

The weak beastmen living here no longer received aid, help, or protection like in the old days.

Thus, what occupied the abandoned lands was a group of sharks.

“Ugh, ugh. P, please save me. I, I only have this much money…”

Weak beastmen could only beg like this, and they thought it was natural to live this way until they died.

That was the case until half a year ago.

Thud!

The shark beastman who had been oppressing the weak beastman and snatching his money fell to the ground.

The horizontal lines on the necks of the fallen were the traces of gills when the sharks were animals.

“Thank you, th, thank you!”

The people who had been bowing in gratitude raised their heads and were a little surprised.

Recently, there had been rumors in the wasteland area of someone who suddenly appeared, knocked down those who oppressed others, and then disappeared.

“Is that the person who’s been rumored to be roaming this area these days?”

“…Isn’t that person too young?”

The beastmen who had only heard rumors until today tilted their heads.

The back of the person disappearing as if they had done their job was too small to be an adult.

It was a boy.

Who looked to be about ten years old.

The navy blue hair, with black dot-like patterns scattered on top, was impressive.

Among the beastmen who were saved by the boy, the most knowledgeable tilted his head.

Surely, he had seen such a pattern somewhere before…

“…Whale?”

Yes, it was a species of whale beastman.

Which whale was it?

“Ah, that’s right!”

Humpback whale.

Yes, it was a humpback whale.