The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 137

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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 137
“Oh!”
Tiel jumped in surprise, her eyes flying open. A white shape had fluttered down nearly to her feet, and it landed gently on her shoulder before flapping its wings several times.
“Wow!”
Tiel turned her head to look at the white bird perched on her shoulder and gasped with delight.
The gift Iandros had sent was a carrier pigeon.
“Hello?”
She extended her hand, and the pigeon hopped lightly onto her palm.
It was smaller than the typical carrier pigeons used for delivering letters.
Moreover, while ordinary carrier pigeons were trained from common brown or black birds that drew no attention, the plumage of the one Iandros had given Tiel was a dazzling, brilliant white.
Ferdi and Ludian had known in advance what gift Iandros was sending, so they showed no surprise.
Instead, they grumbled about how Iandros always sent such lovely gifts, though fortunately their complaints didn’t reach Tiel’s ears.
Tiel coaxed the pigeon gently and opened the letter pouch fastened around its ankle.
Then she unfolded the letter inside.
The letter was written in Iandros’s neat handwriting and read:
[A well-trained carrier pigeon from the Imperial Palace. It has no name yet, so you can give it one. Once you name it and train it properly, it will follow you faithfully. It already knows the route to the Imperial Palace, so there’s no need to teach it a new path. I’d like you to send your reply through this pigeon. Write in detail about how you felt receiving my gift and send it back.]
The letter was short and concise.
After finishing Iandros’s letter, Tiel broke into a radiant smile and gently scratched the pigeon’s cheeks. The white bird, showing no shyness, nestled contentedly into her hand.
“What should I name you?”
Tiel murmured, and the pigeon tilted its head. She pressed a light kiss to the bird’s beak.
“Tiel, you shouldn’t kiss animals like that……”
Ferdi, who had been watching quietly, expressed his disapproval and scolded his younger sister, but Tiel paid him no mind.
With her large eyes blinking softly, Tiel gazed at the white bird before lowering her head to whisper to it.
“I’ll think about it carefully and give you the very best name……”
At that, the pigeon seemed delighted and let out a long, clear chirp.
A small feather drifted down gently onto Tiel’s hair.
***
“You didn’t expect it to work anyway, did you?”
“That’s different!”
The man’s voice rose sharply. The dark-haired man, his face a sickly shade of blue, slammed the table with a bang.
“That creature spilled everything about us. The Asterian house is investigating the Russell family! That’s why we can’t move carelessly. Why did things turn out like this?”
The muttering man suddenly opened his eyes wide and glared at the man sitting across from him.
The man across from him was cradling a small child in his arms, calmly lulling the infant to sleep. The sight seemed far too peaceful for the current situation.
“Calm yourself, Osian. The child will wake. Be good……”
At those words, the man called Osian cried out while gripping his hair.
“Jey! Put that damned brat down and let’s talk about this situation!”
Despite Osian’s outburst, Jey merely shrugged. He made no move to set the child in his arms down. Jey opened his mouth slowly.
“Why? What’s the problem? Just do things as usual. Then nothing will be discovered. Osian… surely you don’t think this place will be found out?”
“How could it not be? You said that brat was supposed to die right after finishing that job anyway! But we’ve just received information that he’s still alive at the Asterian Mansion!”
“That was certainly a mistake.”
Jey gently stroked the hair of the boy he held in his arms. The face of the boy, who had fallen fast asleep, became visible.
“By the plan, Lis should have died on the spot. But because that child absorbed all of That Power himself, he didn’t die. That was certainly an unforeseen variable. Who would have known? That he would absorb That Power in Tiel’s stead……”
“That Power was prepared specifically to kill Tiel Asterian! So why didn’t Lis die?”
“That Power is poison to Tiel, but not to Lis. He probably suffered greatly for the first few days, but once those days pass……”
Jey smiled brightly.
“He’ll gain such strength. Osian, you won’t even be comparable to him.”
“Jey! You bastard! This is not the time for your stupid jokes!”
Osian trembled with rage. At the sound of Osian’s voice, the boy asleep in Jey’s arms stirred. Jey made soft shushing sounds with his mouth and patted the boy. The boy drifted back into sleep.
“It’s not a joke. I raised that child myself. So naturally, he’s compatible with That Power.”
“Then why did you send him?”
“Of course……”
Jey’s lips moved as if to say something, but instead he broke into a broad smile without speaking.
“Don’t worry. This place won’t be discovered. So stop making such a fuss and go back to acting as you always do. Won’t it look even more suspicious if you, who’ve been cooped up in the mansion all this time, happen to leave now?”
Jey changed the subject.
Since Osian was a simple, dim-witted man, he didn’t press Jey about what he’d been about to say.
“I was going back anyway! Don’t forget, Jey. If I get caught, you die with me. Understand? We’re in the same boat.”
“Strictly speaking, I’m the boatman and you’re nothing but a rotting sardine dangling beneath my hull……”
“You bastard!”
Osian raised his hand as if to strike Jey, then let it drop with a thud.
Then he stamped his feet loudly and stormed out of the room.
After Osian left, Jey pulled the boy closer and rested his head against the child’s small head.
“Your sister caused quite a mess……”
Jey whispered softly. Still, the boy did not wake.
“So you’ll have to clean it up……”
The room was lit by nothing but a candle, meant only to make out each other’s faces.
From within that dim darkness came the sound of quiet laughter.
***
“So, did you find anything?”
Iandros, having received a report from Cassius and Alpheus about Osian and Jey, asked while examining the documents.
“We have not yet found them, but we have identified several locations believed to be the hideout mentioned by the boy.”
Cassius unfolded a map. It was a map showing the Russell family’s territory.
He added that there were so few places to search because the territory was so small.
Iandros slowly examined the locations marked on the map. The small territory meant it shouldn’t take too long to search through them.
“Did the boy confirm that Osian Russell is the mastermind?”
“We confirmed it through a portrait.”
“Then why not simply have Osian Russell brought here directly for questioning instead of investigating so quietly?”
Iandros asked, seeming puzzled.
Certainly, this matter was grave enough that the Head of the Asterian Household had nearly been harmed. So even if Osian Russell, the suspected culprit, were brought in for direct interrogation, no one would raise an objection.
However, Alpheus shook his head.
“Osian is not the problem. According to the boy, it’s a man named Jey who is the real threat. That man is so elusive that he vanishes in a heartbeat. To capture both of them at once, it’s better to investigate quietly.”
“I see. Is there nothing I can do to help?”
“Your concern alone is gratitude enough.”
Iandros set down the documents. He tried for a moment to recall Osian Russell’s face.
But he could not. The Russell family was a very humble provincial noble house, while Iandros was none other than the exalted Crown Prince.
Unable to remember the face of the man who had dared to harm his beloved Tiel, he felt a sudden irritation rise within him.
“And send Osian’s portrait to the Imperial Palace as well. I wish to see it too. I would question him myself if I could summon him to the palace, but as the Duke suggests, he may flee, so I’ll refrain.”
“Yes, Your Highness. I shall send it at once.”
Alpheus bowed. Iandros turned his head to gaze out the window to calm his irritation.
The sun was setting.
“Duke.”
Iandros called to Alpheus.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Alpheus answered.
“Does it not seem to you that the daylight is growing shorter?”
“Hmm… I believe it may be a matter of perception. The daylight cannot suddenly grow shorter.”
Alpheus replied to Iandros’s question. Iandros nodded in agreement at the Duke’s words.
“I suppose so.”
“Yes.”
“Yes, it must be merely my imagination.”

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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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