.jpeg)
Episode 3
“The content of the book isn’t anything special. It’s about the baby panda daughter-in-law, Tierra, who marries into the Grizzly family, saves the family, saves the world, and just totally dominates everything…”
The fairy, who had an unexpectedly husky voice contrary to its delicate appearance that seemed to survive on dew alone, quickly summarized the contents of Panda Daughter-in-law. Its pulled out a cigar as big as itself, lit it, and exhaled smoke with a sigh.
“I assume you’re familiar with the Five Great Families of Solaris?”
“Yes.”
The fairy's question made Letty's eyes sparkle as she nodded enthusiastically.
Solaris was home to five prestigious families that led the empire. They were collectively referred to as The Grandees of Solaris and were so renowned that even young Letty was well aware of them.
“Among those families, there’s one that never engages in external activities.”
“I know! It’s the Grizzly Grand Duke Family.”
According to rumors, they were a fearsome clan that would sometimes eat their own kind depending on their mood, which led the Emperor to banish them deep into the mountains.
“Correct. That terrifying Grizzly Grand Duke Family is the main setting of this novel. The reason they’re ostracized by other beastkin is actually due to a curse, but the female protagonist, Tierra, breaks the curse and earns everyone’s love.”
As she reflected on the contents of Panda Daughter-in-law, Letty recalled the curse that the evil god Lunarian supposedly placed on the first Grizzly Grand Duke, who was a founding member of the Solaris Empire.
‘I’ve heard that the Grizzly family was cursed.’
However, since the Grizzly family was so secretive, no one knew exactly what the curse was or how to break it.
“What’s the curse?”
“The Curse of the Seven Deadly Sins.”
“Seven deadly sins…”
Letty echoed the fairy’s words while rolling her eyes.
“In simple terms, it means that all direct descendants born into the Grizzly family have ridiculously terrible personalities. The Grand Duke is so lazy that he refuses to work, and the sole heir has such a temper that people can’t even talk to him. Their personalities are disastrous to the point of being a curse.”
“How do they break the curse?”
“Tierra’s special ability is purification, so just being around her breaks it.”
‘Purification… I’m so jealous.’
Since she was still too young to manifest her own special abilities, Letty didn’t even know what unique abilities red panda beastkin possessed.
‘Mom always said our abilities are a secret, but I should’ve pestered her to tell me.’
Feeling momentarily disheartened, Letty shook her head. To reunite with her mother, she needed to stay focused.
‘Right now, my abilities don’t matter!’
“This book says that Letty has an incurable disease.”
Letty didn’t know exactly what an incurable disease was, but she could tell it was something bad.
“Correct. That’s when the book starts to get a bit strange.”
In response to Letty's comment, the fairy, who was lightly flipping through the book’s pages, looked up.
“This part shows your mom blaming the protagonist. Take a closer look.”
【“Why didn’t you keep your promise? If you had given me just the Tears of an Angel, my daughter could’ve lived! If you had handed over that jewel you don’t even need as promised, my daughter wouldn’t have died like this!”】
As Letty carefully read the scene where her mother was screaming in despair, she tilted her head in confusion.
From the conversation between Tierra and her mother, it seemed they had made some sort of agreement. However, Tierra didn’t fulfill that promise and failed to provide Letty with her cure.
If her death was a result of that, then Letty's mother had every right to be angry.
“What’s strange about it?”
“It’s weird for such a kind protagonist to not give your mother the cure. Also, I don’t even remember an episode where the protagonist made a contract with your mom.”
The fairy explained that, based on her knowledge of Tierra’s character, she would have helped Letty even without expecting anything in return. It felt as though Tierra’s character had changed because of Letty's mother.
“From that point on, the storyline of the book stops making sense. After that scene, your mom turns dark and destroys the world.”
“What?!”
Letty's eyes widened in shock at the fairy’s words.
‘My mom… destroys the world?!’
My mom is super strong, isn’t she?!
The fairy, misunderstanding Letty's reaction, added a comment with a somewhat embarrassed expression.
“Well, it’s not entirely unreasonable emotionally. Her only daughter died, after all.”
Sigh.
With an aged sigh, the fairy spoke again.
“Anyway, I’m a dem… no, a fairy synced with the book, and because the book got messed up, I can’t remember all of the original content. But it’s clear that something about the book has changed.”
Letty nodded in agreement with the fairy. The story did sound strange just by hearing about it.
“Originally, Panda Daughter-in-law was a healing story without any villains, but suddenly your mom became the antagonist, leading to a bad ending.”
“So, if my mom doesn’t become evil, it’s fine?”
“Oh, you’re finally catching on.”
The fairy was so impressed by Letty's understanding that its flew over and patted the little red panda’s fluffy head.
Her fur was so soft and puffy that the fairy practically got buried in it.
“That’s right. As long as you don’t die, the problem is solved!”
The fairy shouted energetically. If Letty didn’t fall ill, or even if she did, as long as she was cured without Tierra’s help, Panda Daughter-in-law wouldn’t end with Letty's mom destroying the world.
“Problem solved!”
Letty also shouted energetically after the fairy. That way, Letty could reunite with her mom!
“Tierra starts acting out of character from the point where she fights with your mom, so the key is to prevent them from fighting.”
The conflict between Tierra, the protagonist, and Letty's mom, who had turned into an antagonist, stemmed from Letty's illness.
“Then I just have to not get sick.”
Letty didn’t like being sick anyway.
The fairy, as if confirming her statement was correct, nodded vigorously and flew into the air, circling around the child’s head.
“Well, getting sick might be inevitable, but all you need to do is obtain the cure—the Tears of an Angel!”
“Isn’t Tierra the only one who has the jewel called the Tears of an Angel?”
Letty asked, just in case, and the fairy nodded firmly.
“The Tears of an Angel is a healing relic passed down to the daughter-in-law of the Grizzly Grand Duke. There’s only one in the world.”
Letty's pointed ears drooped at the fairy’s resolute answer.
‘I haven’t even awakened my special ability yet. How am I supposed to obtain such a precious treasure?’
As the red panda hung her head in dejection, the fairy tilted her head and whispered.
“What’s important here is that the Tears of an Angel is a jewel passed down to the daughter-in-law of the Grizzly Grand Duke. It wasn’t originally Tierra’s possession.”
“So… if I become the daughter-in-law, then it’s mine?”
“Exactly.”
At the fairy’s answer, Letty wiped her face with her fluffy little paw, shook her fur, and stood up.
She didn’t know what being a daughter-in-law meant, but if she became one instead of Tierra, she could meet her mom!
“Then I have to hurry to the Grizzly Grand Duke’s house!”
At the moment when Letty made her firm resolve.
“Hey! Didn’t I tell you to jump up immediately when I woke up?”
The door burst open, and a plump girl stormed into Letty's room.
“If you’re slacking off, I’ll tell Mom everything!”
Lingling, who barged into Letty's room—which was too small to even be called a room—glared at Letty and pressed her forehead with her finger.
“I didn’t slack off.”
Letty had done so many things after getting up. She had discussed the content of Panda Daughter-in-law with the fairy and set her goal to go to the Grizzly Grand Duke’s house.
As Letty confidently straightened her shoulders and replied, Lingling let out a mocking laugh.
“I told you to bring me my morning snack once you woke up, didn’t I? Because you didn’t, I had to walk five whole steps myself. If that’s not laziness, what is?”
Lingling, a snake beastkin who was surprisingly plump, believed Letty should fetch her snacks every hour.
“You lazy and useless raccoon.”
Lingling snorted as she shoved a large croissant into her mouth.
“This is why your mom abandoned you—because you’re so lazy and useless.”
“That’s not true!”
“What. You’re a raccoon, aren’t you?”
She wasn’t a raccoon, and everything else Lingling said was wrong too.
‘Mom didn’t abandon me.’
In her dreams, Lingling's words would have made her cry, but now she felt nothing. After all, she knew her mom was looking for her.
“They say raccoons are deceitful, so your mom must be just as trashy as you. No matter how useless her child is, how could she just abandon you at someone else’s house?”
“.........…”
Letty didn’t bother responding to Lingling's words, but Lingling assumed she had crushed Letty's spirit and became even more gleeful.
“Oh, maybe you weren’t the child she wanted? Maybe that’s why she got rid of you.”
Feigning surprise, Lingling widened her eyes as she continued.
“Come to think of it, you don’t have a dad either, do you? Did your mom mess around and have you without even getting married?”
“Mess… around?”
Roll around?
Unfortunately, Letty didn’t understand Lingling's words. Lingling decided to explain herself in simpler terms for Letty's level.
“So basically, your dad is trash too. He abandoned both you and your mom.”
Letty, who was called a useless child abandoned by both her parents, clenched her fists tightly.
‘No! Everything Lingling says is wrong!’
“If you were hoping for anything, give it up now. Your mom will never come for you.”
Leaning close to the hunched-over Letty, Lingling licked her thin lips and sneered.
“No one in this world will ever want someone like you.”
Just as Lingling's cruel taunts reached their peak, Letty launched herself forward, fists clenched, ready to attack Lingling.
Thwack!
“Wow. That was some next-level trash talk. Is your personality for real?”
But the fairy’s book hit Lingling before Letty could.
Pulling out large hardcover books from thin air, the fairy hurled them at Lingling, who was much larger than itself.
“Ow!”
“Did you just set a record low for personality? Honestly, even Hell wouldn’t want you.”
“What? What does that mean? And who’s talking? Wait, what’s this? Is this bug talking?”
“I’m not a bug! I’m a fairy!”
Whack, thwack, smack!
“Ow! It hurts! Stop, hey!”
Comments
Post a Comment