The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 135

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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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Episode 135
Iandros exchanged a few more words with Cassius and Alpheus before returning to the Imperial Palace.
After that, life settled into an unremarkable routine—save for the advice to refrain from going out for the time being. When Tiel asked how long she had to exercise such restraint, both Cassius and Alpheus answered: until the mastermind was caught.
The girl locked in Asterian’s underground dungeon remained unconscious for some time. It was strange, given what the physician had said—that she’d wake soon, having passed the critical threshold.
The girl tossed and turned frequently, her face contorted as though trapped in nightmares, yet her consciousness never returned.
A week passed this way.
“She’s awake?”
Alpheus, who had been examining documents in his study, raised his eyebrows. The maid who had entered with the news bowed her head respectfully.
Alpheus wasted no time, sweeping aside the stack of papers and rising abruptly from his seat.
“I’ll go at once. Has Cassius been informed?”
“Lord Cassius is out today. We’ve only just sent a messenger from Asterian to reach him.”
“Very well. I’ll go first—wait.”
Alpheus had started toward the study door when he stopped short.
The maid, who had been following with her head bowed, looked up in confusion.
“Is there something you wish me to do?”
“You haven’t mentioned this to Tiel, have you?”
Alpheus narrowed his eyes and spoke in hushed tones.
Tiel had no habit of eavesdropping on others’ conversations, so there was no reason to expect the young Snow Leopard lady of Asterian to be lingering outside his door—and yet Alpheus took considerable care with his words.
“No, sir. I haven’t told her yet.”
“Good. She’ll learn of it soon enough anyway, but keep it from her for now. It will be… inconvenient to have Tiel present during the interrogation.”
“Yes, Lord Alpheus.”
The maid bowed deeply.
Only then did Alpheus set off, his aide falling into step behind him as he strode forward.
They hurried toward the underground dungeon. The Asterian soldiers guarding it recognized Alpheus, saluted properly, and opened the doors.
Without hesitation, Alpheus walked in and made directly for the cell at the far end. Inside sat a girl with a vacant expression.
……
Alpheus regarded the girl silently.
This was the girl who had tried to harm his precious granddaughter.
‘This is unbearable.’
He could not forgive her. Tiel was his granddaughter, whom he had raised with such care, protecting her as if she were glass about to shatter or take flight at any moment. He had sworn never to expose her to any further threat. And yet—
The girl had tried to harm Tiel. Worse, they still hadn’t identified the poison she’d used. Alpheus pressed his throbbing temple.
“Open the door.”
At Alpheus’s command, the guard stepped forward and unlocked the dungeon cell. In response to the guard’s touch, the cell ceased warming itself and the bars cooled.
The dungeon air gradually grew cold.
Alpheus remained where he stood and posed his question.
“What is your name?”
“…Lis.”
The girl answered obediently. Yet something was wrong. Alpheus’s eyes narrowed. Her answer—though brief—sounded strangely hollow, devoid of presence.
It wasn’t as though she’d spoken at great length or made any particular gesture. She had merely given her name. And yet it carried such emptiness. How peculiar.
“Then why did you attack my granddaughter?”
Alpheus asked again.
……
Lis did not answer this time.
Alpheus himself had not truly expected an answer, so he gave the silence little weight.
He took a step closer. Startled by his sudden approach, Lis curled into herself.
Lis appeared to be no more than thirteen or fourteen years old, with thin, spindly limbs and a slight frame. When she hunched over, she looked no older than Tiel.
Seeing Lis in that posture, Alpheus was briefly reminded of how Tiel had looked years ago, and he advanced no further.
Instead, he spoke with measured force, each word weighted with warning.
“You have committed treason against the Head of Household of Asterian. By our law, execution is your due.”
……
“However, I will spare you if you reveal who compelled you to do this—taking into account your youth, the fact that you hesitated at the last moment, and the possibility that you have a master behind you.”
With his words finished, Alpheus fixed the girl with a cold stare. The Golden Eyes of Asterian, hidden within the folds of his weathered gaze, flashed.
“But if you do not speak, Asterian will see you dead.”
“…Will you?”
The girl’s response came in the faintest whisper—so quiet that if he’d turned his back, he would have missed it entirely.
But Alpheus caught the movement of her lips and asked once more.
“What was that?”
“…If I tell you… will you save my brother?”
“You dare bargain with me, a criminal with no standing? You have no choice in this!”
……
Lis said nothing and simply stared at Alpheus.
Her face remained hollow, yet there was not a trace of fear in her eyes as she looked upon the former Head of Household of Asterian.
It was as though she had endured all the terror this world could offer long ago and had nothing left to fear.
Yet there was something strange about it.
‘Does she have a brother to save?’
Alpheus blinked, his mind working behind narrowed eyes.
If she truly had a brother being held hostage, and that was why she’d carried out this crime, why hadn’t she mentioned it when he’d first demanded she reveal her master?
He’d assumed she was a child with nothing left to lose, but if she had a brother, everything changed. No one in this world wished to lose their sibling.
And no child would go willingly to her death if she had a brother depending on her.
Had Alpheus himself been in such circumstances, he would have laid bare everything and begged for his brother’s rescue.
So why was this girl behaving this way? As though she had never once harbored any expectation that Alpheus would save her brother at all?
If her family was indeed being held hostage and that’s why she’d done this, Alpheus had already made it clear he would show mercy, considering her age and tragic circumstances.
Yet why this attitude? His frown deepened. After a moment of silence, Alpheus spoke.
“Is your brother being held hostage?”
……
“Answer me. If you don’t, I will kill you. And then you’ll lose any chance of saving your brother. Is that truly what you wish?”
Alpheus pressed her sharply. The girl curled tighter, picking at her nails, before raising her head to meet his gaze.
“…Yes. He’s locked away.”
“And they took your brother hostage, gave you poison, and sent you to commit this act?”
“…Yes.”
“Do you know who did this to you?”
The girl hesitated at his question, then nodded. Alpheus tilted his head, silently commanding her to speak. After another pause, she scrunched up her nose.
“We… we never spoke to him directly, but Jay called him ‘Oshian.'”
“Oshian?”
By coincidence, the name the girl had spoken was that of a nobleman—not a famous one, but Alpheus had heard it before.
‘Though it could be a different person with the same name.’
This required careful handling. Alpheus nodded.
His aide, who had accompanied him, withdrew a small notebook and fountain pen from his pocket and began recording everything the girl said.
The names ‘Jay’ and ‘Oshian’ were written neatly into the notebook. Alpheus nodded.
“Who is Jay?”
“Jay is just his name—Jay. He doesn’t… he doesn’t go by any other name. He’s Oshian’s… friend.”
Alpheus nodded absently. It appeared this ‘Jay’ had not revealed his real name to the girl. It was likely just his initials.
The girl knew more than expected. Despite her unhealed injuries, her face contorting with pain at intervals, she haltingly shared everything she knew with Alpheus.
Through her account, Alpheus learned that two men—one called Oshian and another called Jay—were confining young Beastmen and conducting strange experiments on them. The revelation struck him like a blow.
“So your brother is imprisoned there as well?”
Lis nodded.
Alpheus asked if she remembered what kind of experiments they were conducting, but Lis said she didn’t know.
All she knew was that she would fall asleep at set times, and when she woke, her entire body ached as though she’d been beaten.
Alpheus could not comprehend it.
Why would men who were conducting experiments on children suddenly target Tiel to poison and harm her?
A vicious migraine descended upon him.

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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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