The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 12

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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 12
Tiel knew about the physicians attached to each house. The Nestian Clan had one of their own, after all.
But.
‘…That person never treated me.’
The day Rowen shoved her down the stairs and split her forehead open, Tiel had once sought out the so-called family physician in secret, away from the servants’ eyes.
She’d overheard Rowen mention it one day, quite by chance.
‘I need to see the physician. My cuticles are driving me mad—they’re so irritating!’
Rowen had gone straight to the Nestian Clan’s physician and returned without another complaint about the cuticles.
After that, whenever she was hurt, she felt the urge to seek out that ‘physician’—but she always held back.
Grandfather didn’t seem like he would permit it. She might be punished for acting on her own….
But that day, the split on her forehead ached unbearably, so Tiel gathered her courage and knocked on the door of the room where the physician was staying.
The wound was simply too deep and painful to leave alone…. She would have been grateful just for a cloth to clean it. Yet.
‘I cannot treat your injuries, miss.’
The Nestian physician, a man with a stern expression, left Tiel standing in the cold hallway and spoke with finality.
‘I am the physician of the Nestian Clan. But you, miss… have never received the Nestian name, have you?’
The Nestian physician turned her away, saying he could not treat her because she had not received the Nestian name—she was not a true Nestian, but a hybrid.
That day, Tiel understood.
‘So a family physician only treats those who bear that family’s name….’
I cannot receive treatment.
And yet.
“It is an honor to meet you. Might I take a moment to examine your condition?”
Cade, who introduced himself as the Asterian Clan’s physician, was asking politely and warmly if he might examine Tiel’s health, seeking her permission first.
It was so completely opposite to what she had experienced at Nestian that Tiel faltered, her eyes darting as she opened her mouth.
“Well, um… I’m Tiel. But… I haven’t received the Asterian name yet. Can I still receive treatment?”
The moment Tiel finished speaking, silence fell over the room.
Everyone was caught off guard by her question—whether she could receive treatment without yet bearing the Asterian Clan’s name—and found themselves at a loss for what to say to this small child.
As the room suddenly grew quiet, Tiel felt herself shrinking, trying to gauge the mood.
What did I do wrong?
Should I not have asked that question?
She regretted the foolish question, but it was too late to take it back. Just as she was about to squeeze her eyes shut and silently beg, ‘Please pretend you didn’t hear that.’
“Tiel.”
A gentle voice tickled her ear. The voice had become familiar after hearing it only a few times, and Tiel carefully lifted her head.
A sharp nose. A handsome curve to his mouth. A jawline carved as if by a devoted sculptor, and smooth skin.
He resembled the fine statue Rowen treasured, or perhaps—maybe Cassius was even more handsome.
But what captured Tiel’s gaze was not his handsome features.
‘….’
Beneath lashes thick and full lay a pair of transparent, beautiful golden eyes.
When she met those same Golden Eyes as her own, strangely, the tension seemed to melt away.
As Tiel blinked without tearing her gaze from Cassius’s face, his handsome mouth curved up in a smile.
“Look at your eyes.”
Before Cassius finished speaking, Lia pulled a Hand Mirror from her pocket and handed it to him.
Cassius held the small mirror up to the child’s nose.
“What color are they?”
Tiel gazed at her own eyes for a moment, then nodded and answered.
“Gold.”
“That’s proof that you are my daughter. And proof that you are one of the Asterian Clan.”
It was only natural. Golden eyes were something only the Asterian bloodline of the Black Panther House was born with.
So the paternity test was merely a formality; everyone agreed without objection that Tiel was Cassius’s biological child and carried Asterian blood.
Tiel’s eyes grew wide as she held Cassius’s gaze.
“So, Tiel.”
Cassius drove home his point, stroking the child’s small, round head and whispered gently.
“As long as you have those eyes, there is nothing you cannot do in this house.”
A brief silence followed. Realizing what Cassius meant, Tiel’s voice trembled as she asked again.
“That means…”
“….”
“I can stay in this house? Is that what you’re saying?”
“Yes.”
Cassius answered without a moment’s hesitation. In that instant, Tiel’s eyes gleamed and her mouth fell slightly open. The heart that had been frozen solid by long neglect and mistreatment suddenly flooded with warm light.
‘I won’t be cast out.’
No matter what happened later, for now she could stay. That fact alone filled Tiel with a joy so intense she wanted to leap.
Though whenever she recalled the furious tone of Duke Ewald’s voice, anxiety still crept up.
“You don’t have to eat less. You don’t have to live as if invisible, and you don’t have to sleep in a storeroom or shed.”
Every time Tiel heard Cassius’s voice, the anxiety that rose up dissolved into nothing, leaving only a handful of relief that tickled her chest.
Cassius’s large hand cradled her small, soft cheek. One eye squeezed shut from the pressure of his palm, and with her other eye wide open, Tiel gazed up at him.
“So don’t worry. You can stay here without doing any of that.”
“…Yes.”
“You must be exhausted. Let’s have you examined first, Cade. We can talk more later.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Cade nodded lightly. He carefully extended his hand to Tiel and asked permission once more.
“Might I examine your condition?”
Tiel thought for a moment, then nodded.
***
After a thorough examination, Cade diagnosed that while Tiel suffered from malnutrition, her overall health was fortunately sound.
Along with a prescription: simply eat well and rest, and she would naturally improve.
Tiel felt relieved by Cade’s words that her overall health was sound, but the servants of the Asterian Mansion were not.
“Malnutrition in a seven-year-old child!”
“It’s unthinkable. We need to tell Hugo to prepare something rich and delicious at once.”
But the servants who meant to urge the mansion’s cook were put in their place by Parden, the butler of the Asterian Mansion, and Sophia, the head maid.
“Malnutrition isn’t cured by simply feeding someone greasy food.”
Besides, evening had long since passed. Feeding her rich food at this hour would certainly make her ill and cause her to suffer for days.
Moreover, when Tiel first arrived at the mansion, she had eaten cake too eagerly and vomited it all up.
So it was right not to give her anything to eat at this hour, but….
‘She couldn’t eat properly at lunch or dinner.’
They couldn’t send a child to bed without proper food. So Sophia asked the kitchen to prepare a soft corn soup, a bit of meat, and some warm bread for Tiel.
Following Sophia’s instruction that one must eat something gentle on the stomach at a late hour, Tiel emptied more than half a bowl of warm corn soup.
As the warm food went down, it truly felt as though her stomach had settled.
While Tiel sat on the broad bed, touching her full belly.
Lia entered the room with a tray and set it on a small table.
“There now, miss. Something sweet will brighten your spirits.”
Lia spoke as tenderly as an incantation from a fairy tale, placing a small spoon in Tiel’s hand.
Tiel blinked at the dessert before her.
What Lia had brought was a red fruit pudding with sweet and tart cream.
After seeing Tiel’s eyes sparkle at the sight of dessert before, Lia had realized the child loved it.
So Lia had asked permission from Parden and Sophia, and brought a light, sweet confection the child could enjoy without burden.
Tiel blinked at the dessert before her.
Was she allowed to eat this?
This was the first time she’d eaten something at such a late hour, and it felt strange. When she looked to Lia as if asking permission, Lia smiled warmly and took Tiel’s hand in hers.
Then she scooped a spoonful, carefully balancing the cream and pudding, and brought it to Tiel’s mouth.
“…!”
“How is it? Delicious, isn’t it?”
Tiel was startled by the flavor of the pudding in her mouth, her eyes widening in surprise.

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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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