The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 11

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 11
At the news that the missing young lady had been found, everyone in the Asterian Mansion exhaled in relief, their hands pressed to their chests.
Casthus returned to his chambers after manifesting his Ability, cradling the unconscious child tenderly in his arms.
He laid the girl carefully on the bed prepared for Tiel, then immediately ordered the Asterian family’s physician to be summoned.
The servants, drenched in sweat from searching every corner of the mansion for Tiel, scattered at Casthus’s command.
When all had gone and silence settled over the room, Casthus let out a brief sigh.
“Hah…….”
He paused for a moment, then brought his thick hand beneath the child’s small nose.
“……Thank goodness. She’s breathing properly.”
He watched the small chest rise and fall in steady rhythm, felt the faint warmth of breath against his fingertips, and only then did his shoulders drop—his eyes closing slowly, then opening again.
The child in his arms breathed so faintly that he feared she might vanish at any moment, her shallow breathing only deepening his anxiety.
He found what comfort he could in that weak, barely audible respiration, gently stroking her tear-dampened cheek.
‘What on earth.’
What had those cursed Nestians done to this small child?
‘Grandfather……? I—I can’t… I don’t have an Ability…….’
The memory of the girl, trembling and stumbling over her words as she begged, turned his blood to ice.
At the same time, a fury so immense it defied words began to roil in the depths of his chest.
First, his rage at himself—for not knowing his own daughter’s fate while she suffered so.
Second, his rage at those who had driven her to this state.
He hadn’t yet investigated exactly how the Nestian family had treated the child, but…….
‘I don’t need to. I can guess.’
From what little Tiel had said in that corridor, it seemed she had never properly manifested her Ability while in the Nestian household.
And Chender Nestian, the Head of the Nestian house, was a man whose ambitions ran far too deep.
He would never have accepted that his daughter—born of Rena and Casthus—could fail to manifest an Ability.
And yet…….
Casthus recalled what Tiel had shown him just moments ago in the corridor—the light that had bloomed in her small, outstretched palm.
It had taken the shape of a fish, then a leopard, then scattered like wind, then swelled to enormous size as though ready to devour the child itself.
‘And if my suspicion is correct, then that was surely…….’
In that instant, the chamber door burst open.
The Head of the Asterian house, Alpheus, came running in without a shred of dignity.
This was the second time today.
“You found her? The child—is she all right?”
Alpheus burst through the door with a face full of countless questions, his eyes immediately seeking the figure on the bed.
His granddaughter, lying in the enormous bed, was shockingly small and thin—far too small.
It was little wonder the servants had failed to find her, given how fragile and diminished she appeared.
Alpheus’s gaze lingered long on Tiel’s face.
The dread that had seized his heart at the news of her disappearance melted away like snow beneath the sun the moment he saw her small features.
When he’d first heard she was missing, he’d thought he’d lost her again—this granddaughter he’d only just recovered.
Alpheus reached toward Tiel unconsciously, but Casthus intercepted his hand just before it touched her cheek.
“Quietly, Father. The child is asleep.”
“What? But surely we need to check if she’s all right!”
“I’ve already examined her. She’s simply resting.”
“Is that so? Then the physician should——”
“I called for him earlier. He’ll be here soon. For now, it’s best we let the child rest undisturbed.”
After a moment of deliberation, Casthus added,
“Besides, there’s something I need to discuss with you.”
At his son’s firm words, Alpheus turned his reluctant gaze toward his precious granddaughter.
He wanted to look at her just a little longer. In truth, after all the anguish of these past days, he could have gazed upon her for an entire day without tiring.
Yet he too had no wish to wake the sleeping child, so he nodded obediently.
“……Very well. But the child cannot be left alone. Bring a maid.”
Casthus ordered that Lia, the maid who had cared for Tiel when she first arrived at the mansion, be brought to the room.
Since the girl seemed to be cautious with strangers, it would be better to have someone she’d already met care for her until a dedicated servant could be assigned.
It wasn’t long before Lia, who had first attended to Tiel, arrived—drenched in sweat herself from searching the mansion.
Casthus gestured over his shoulder toward the sleeping child. “Care for her well. And see that she doesn’t disappear anywhere again.”
“Yes, sir.”
Lia nodded firmly, pledging to herself that she would not leave the young lady’s side for even a moment.
Casthus and Alpheus took one last look at Tiel’s face, committing her image to memory, before leaving the room where she slept.
***
Tiel’s eyes fluttered groggily as something gently shook her awake.
“……Mm.”
She wanted to sleep more.
When she shifted, her soft cheek pressed into the pillow, and the pressure naturally lifted her eyelids.
But her vision was blurred.
It was as if a transparent film had settled over her eyes—she couldn’t see clearly—and her body felt heavy, as though someone were pressing down on her from above.
Tiel stirred carefully, trying to sit up.
That’s when an unfamiliar voice reached her.
“Young lady——”
“……!!!!”
Tiel turned toward the voice with a tilted head, and found herself staring directly at an unfamiliar man sitting at the head of the bed. She squeaked in alarm and dove back into the fluffy blankets.
She was so startled that her ears perked straight up. Her heart began to race. Sleep fled from her entirely.
‘Who is this person?’
Trembling beneath the blankets, Tiel tried desperately to understand what was happening.
On top of that——
‘Why am I here…….’
She remembered discovering that the Asterian people despised her, and fleeing immediately afterward.
Buried under the blankets, Tiel carefully sifted through her fragmented memories.
Soon it came back to her—she’d overheard a conversation between Casthus and Alpheus, then run to the Basement, and ended up sitting crying in that endless corridor.
But what happened after that?
‘……W-what did I do after that?’
When Tiel finally remembered what she’d been doing in that dark corridor, her thoughts came to an abrupt halt.
Her eyes flew wide open, and she bolted upright out of the blankets.
She stared down at her own hands—scarred and marked with wounds—paying no mind to the strangers in front of her.
Then, just then——
‘My palm… there was a fish……!’
As Tiel frantically examined her hands, a large, warm touch fell upon her shoulder.
Startled, she lifted her head.
“!”
The owner of that warm hand was Casthus. In an instant, Tiel forgot all about her hands and instinctively shrank back, her eyes darting nervously.
“Little one.”
The tenderness in Casthus’s voice, the gentleness of that familiar term—Tiel had never heard him speak to her this way before. Her body curled inward with the shock of it.
……Or had she? It almost seemed like she had……
‘Little one, come here.’
In that moment, she recalled Casthus’s warm, gentle voice calling to her in the Basement, and her ears pricked forward.
Though she’d been in a state of panic in that dark place, she remembered everything vividly—the situation, his warm tone, the sense of safety she’d felt in his embrace.
‘……This is strange. He seemed to hate me so much…….’
Hadn’t he said in that corridor that she should be killed immediately?
‘……This cursed child must be executed at once……!’
When she recalled the Duke’s rage-filled voice, Tiel’s body trembled.
Yes, he had said that.
That’s why she’d run for her life.
Because she didn’t want to die, because she wanted to live.
And yet……
Why was Casthus calling her as though she were the most precious thing in the world?
So Tiel remained confused, but she didn’t pull away or reject his touch.
Casthus relaxed at her response. He’d worried the child might panic again and refuse the examination.
He stroked her fluffy hair gently and spoke in a calm, measured voice.
“I’m sorry to have startled you. But it’s better to finish quickly so you can rest.”
“……Y-yes.”
“This is Kade, the Asterian family physician who will be looking after your health from now on.”
At Casthus’s words, Tiel carefully turned her head to regard Kade.
A middle-aged man in a white coat smiled kindly at her.
“Hello, young lady. I’m Kade Lester, the Asterian family’s physician. Please, call me Kade.”
Tiel hesitated, studying the mood.
It seemed like she ought to say something in response, but she couldn’t think of what.
Moreover——
‘……The Asterian family physician?’
Tiel blinked her eyes.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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