ORPDRL Chapter 27

 Episode 27

Grisys opened his mouth to explain his sarcastic comment but soon found it too bothersome and closed it again.

“Father-in-law, you’re not as sleepy anymore, are you?”

As Letty said, while he still found the world tiresome, he was no longer so drowsy that it felt impossible to stay awake.

Since Letty didn’t seem the type to keenly observe every detail of his expression, Grisys suspected the child was using some kind of ability—likely related to the curse on the Grizzlies foretold by the prophecy.

“Hup—cha!”

While Grisys was momentarily lost in thought about Letty, the child seized the body of the black misty snake that coiled around him.

Hiss!

Hiiiiss—!

The black snake, now writhing and hissing in fury, made sounds only Letty could hear.

Despite her initial fright at the snake’s gleaming fangs aimed at her, Letty mustered her courage and clenched her tiny fists. She could clearly see that the more she pulled the snake away from Grisys, the better his condition became.

‘I have to do my best…!’

“Heave—ho!”

With one final effort, Letty managed to pull the black snake completely away from Grisys.

Screeeech! Screeeech!

However, instead of vanishing as it thrashed about like it was about to die, the snake shrank to the size of a worm and slithered into Grisys’s collar.

‘I guess that’s all I can do for today.’

Exhausted from the effort, Letty broke out in a cold sweat and let her head droop. Her body, drained of energy, tipped forward.

“…Are you okay?”

Noticing her condition too late, Grisys hastily scooped Letty into his arms. Feeling the soft, fragile child in his hold, he couldn’t bring himself to stand up or stay still as usual. Instead, he anxiously shifted his feet.

“Wake up. If I can’t control my strength properly right now, I might hurt you.”

Grisys was a bear beastfolk, and as a direct descendant of his bloodline, his physical strength was immense. He worried that his lack of control over his body might unintentionally harm Letty.

“Letty is fine… Father-in-law, I just have a favor to ask.”

Nestled in his arms, Letty spoke hesitantly. Grisys bent closer, curious about the favor from the pale-faced child.

“What is it?”

“Please go back to work soon. Father-in-law might lose your job at this rate.”

“…..…”

Grisys was speechless at her words. A future daughter-in-law, covered in sweat and visibly unwell, worrying about his job? It left him dumbfounded.

"Are you not a panda bear but a member of the worker ant clan?"

"P-Panda bears love working too."

…Probably.

Letty mumbled, trying to justify herself while convincing Grisys, but he firmly shook his head.

"Losing my job wouldn’t matter."

In fact, he wouldn’t mind losing it at all.

Grisys couldn’t understand why the elders had not yet removed him from his position as head of the Grizzly family.  

Trapped by the curse of sloth, he had neglected not only his duties as the Grand Duke but also his responsibilities as the family head.

Though Brunhardt and Lorik worked tirelessly to assist him, the family’s fortunes were visibly declining due to Grisys’s lack of active participation in its affairs.

‘Perhaps they haven’t found someone capable of replacing me yet…’

If not, they might have decided that his current uselessness worked to their advantage.

Grisys was lazy, but he wasn’t stupid. He knew that the elders were exploiting his absence to abuse the Grand Duke’s power and siphon off the family’s wealth.

‘…But so what?’

To him, it was all meaningless—mere façades of honor, power, and wealth.

A world without Isilla held no meaning for him, and no amount of power or riches could bring him any joy in her absence.

‘That’s right, Isilla is gone…’

"No! That’s not allowed!"

Thwack!

Letty struck Grisys’s back again, her fist landing squarely. The snake she had worked so hard to shrink was beginning to grow again.

‘Moriel is after the position of head of the family!’

However, Grisys, now accustomed to her smacks, simply lay back down without much reaction.

"Why are you lying down again, Father-in-law? Are you a vagabond or something?"

While they talked, Letty had been tugging at him with all her might, dragging him from the garden to a path between the main building and the grounds where carriages and people passed. It wasn’t an ideal place for lounging, let alone lying down.

"Good grief…"

Letty grumbled in exasperation, glaring at him with puffed cheeks as Grisys continued to ignore her words. 

Exhausted from capturing the snake and dragging Grisys’s large frame to this spot, Letty let her shoulders slump.

‘That’s it for today. Tactical retreat…’

Dejected, Letty turned to head back to the main building. She was so drained that she couldn’t maintain her human form, and her fluffy tail drooped lifelessly, dragging on the ground.

As the soft sound of her small feet scuffing against the gravel filled the air, it was drowned out by the sudden, loud clatter of an approaching carriage.

“Hyah, hyah!”

With the coachman’s urgent cries, the carriage wheels thundered wildly over the gravel path.

Letty, however, was too exhausted to register the commotion. Her perky ears only caught the coachman’s shouts when the carriage was already upon her.

“...……!”

She looked up, her eyes widening in horror.

“Ah, ahhh!”

The startled coachman yanked at the reins, but the horse was already inches from Letty. She tried to step back, but her small legs froze in fear.

Thud!

A massive hoof rose high in front of her eyes. Letty instinctively crouched down, wrapping her arms around her head.

“Aaaah!”

A maid’s sharp scream pierced the air, reaching Grisys’s ears.

“Lett—!”

Grisys, witnessing Letty in danger just a short distance away, instinctively reached out. His body moved to save her before he even realized it.

“Letty!”

Grisys’s hand was mere moments from reaching her.

— No, you must not.

The snake that had been hiding in his collar emerged, its jaws opening wide. It had grown large again, no longer the wormlike creature it had shrunk into.

— No, you must not act. Stay still. That is the best thing you can do, Grisys Grizzly.

— If you move to help the child, you will only hurt her more. Just like Isilla.

The snake’s words coiled around him like a curse, binding him in place. That familiar sense of helplessness washed over him.

At that moment, Letty’s tear-filled brown eyes met Grisys’s blood-red ones, darkened with despair, in the air between them. 

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