The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 14

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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 14
“I believe Tiel has manifested her Light Ability.”
“……What?”
Silence fell across the study in an instant.
Only the ticking of the clock’s second hand and the soft click-click of Cassius rolling a Rocket in his palm punctuated the stillness.
Alpheus spoke first.
He regarded his son with disbelief and asked quietly.
“……Are you certain? You saw it yourself?”
“Yes.”
Cassius nodded without the slightest hesitation.
“I saw it clearly.”
The Basement where he’d found Tiel had been far too dark, utterly silent, surrounded on all sides by shadow—it was impossible to miss what he’d witnessed.
Fragments of light pouring forth in violent spirals from that small hand.
Taking the shape of a fish one moment, a leopard the next, scattering like a handful of wind, then swelling to tremendous size as if ready to devour the child itself.
It was only for a brief instant, but that immense radiance which had illuminated the entire Basement was unmistakably the child’s own power.
At Cassius’s response, Alpheus murmured in disbelief.
“A Light Ability—then the legend truly……”
There existed an ancient legend that had passed down through the Crasion Empire for generations.
It was the legend of “one who possesses the Light Ability,” blessed by the Light God Lucet.
The legend spoke of two prophecies. First: that a child bearing the Light Ability would bring dawn to a land where morning never broke. And second:
that a child bearing the Light Ability would vanquish the ancient darkness and maintain the balance between light and shadow.
An age where legend existed merely as legend.
Now, save for the few who remembered it, all had forgotten the tale. No one truly believed the Light Ability spoken of in those old stories could exist.
And yet.
‘My granddaughter has manifested the Light Ability.’
The manifestation of the Light Ability was no matter to be dismissed as merely impressive.
‘It is troublesome, rather.’
Should word spread that the legendary Light Ability had appeared—that its bearer had been found—the Nestian house, the Imperial Palace, and the Temple would all move to claim Tiel.
A child bearing the Light Ability carried that magnitude of consequence.
Yet such concerns were not what occupied Alpheus and Cassius now.
Because Asterion was.
The sole ducal house that safeguarded the Empire, and the family of the Black Leopards—bearers of the Flame Ability, the mightiest power in existence.
Therefore, whether Tiel possessed the Light Ability or not, no one would dare lay a hand on Asterion.
Not unless they tired of living.
Thus Alpheus harbored no worry about complications arising from the news of Tiel’s manifestation. His concern lay elsewhere entirely.
It was another legend, one that lay hidden.
A legend passed down solely among the Leopard Clan, alongside the tale of the “Child of Light.”
“Asterion and Nestian shall reclaim their Original Power together with the glorious light.”
As the age had arrived when the Light Ability was dismissed as mere fantasy, few remained who remembered this prophecy.
Now, only the head of Nestian and the head of Asterion—along with his successor, Cassius—knew of it.
Alpheus squeezed his eyes shut, as though he needed a moment to think, and murmured.
‘The Original Power……’
The Original Power—could it truly mean that the child might lift the curse that plagued the Asterion house?
If that were truly the case……
At that moment, sensing the direction of Alpheus’s thoughts, Cassius exhaled sharply and spoke.
“It would be wise not to burden her with expectations.”
“……”
“A legend is only a legend, Father.”
His voice was resolute. No one—no one—would impose such weight upon Tiel.
Not even if that someone were his own father, Alpheus Evald Asterion himself, head of the Asterion house.
Alpheus slowly inclined his head and raised his teacup to his lips.
“Yes.”
A legend is only a legend, after all……
***
Inside the study of the Nestian house head. Chender Nestian’s office.
“Still haven’t found her? Useless wretches, all of you!!”
Chender Nestian, head of the Nestian house, roared in a voice thick with rage. Blood vessels stood stark in his eyes and neck as anger flushed his face crimson.
Standing before the Knight Commander reporting Tiel’s continued absence, Chender clenched his teeth at the thought of his granddaughter, vanished without a trace.
“That brat……, if she’s caught——”
He would teach her a lesson she would never forget.
After Tiel disappeared, Chender had first confined the maids who had failed to supervise her properly to the Basement dungeon.
His anger still unslaked, he had cut the wages of Zayra, Rowen’s nurse and the last to see Tiel, and threatened dismissal if she did not find the child.
Though Chender habitually spoke of disposing of Tiel, this time the situation was different.
‘If Asterion discovers that she’s alive……’
If it became known that Nestian had kept Tiel hidden, Asterion would certainly not remain idle.
Tiel was Rena’s child, yes—but she was also the child of Cassius Celeste Asterion.
He had to find her quickly. Before Asterion learned of her existence!
Chender pressed his throbbing temple and glared, his fury undiminished by the knights’ continued failure.
At the same moment, in the image of Tiel vanishing, he saw the face of Rena—Tiel’s mother and Chender’s own daughter—layered over it.
Rena, who had suddenly fallen in love with Cassius Celeste Asterion, that fool, and vanished, claiming she would marry him.
She’d seemed so obedient, so innocent and mild—and then she’d vanished on a whim. The child had inherited that exact trait from her mother.
If she was to inherit anything from her mother, it ought to have been her prodigious talent for the Freezing Ability.
But of all things, why must she be a perfect copy of that willfulness!
Though the Nestian Knight Commander fumbled before him, Chender barely noticed, lost instead in a single troubling thought.
‘How is it we still haven’t found her?’
A week had passed since Tiel disappeared. Every servant and knight of Nestian had combed the entire Mansion in search of her. And yet……
‘My apologies. We have not located her.’
‘We could not find her.’
‘There are no traces in the annex either……’
She was nowhere to be found.
For an entire week without food or proper access to the privy, if she were truly hidden somewhere within this Mansion, traces of her should have appeared somewhere.
‘There are no traces at all.’
Which meant Tiel might have escaped beyond the Mansion.
‘How bothersome……’
Chender clicked his tongue. He regretted letting the opportunity slip—he should have disposed of her when he had the chance.
The only consolation was that Tiel was merely seven years old, and the Nestian Mansion was surrounded by the Snowy Field, so harsh that even adults could scarcely traverse it on foot.
Therefore,
“Sigh……. Expand the search beyond the Mansion. Even if she did escape, she couldn’t have gone far.”
“Yes, sir!”
The Knight Commander, who had stood in discomfort throughout, gave a curt reply and swiftly exited the study.
Chender stood by the window overlooking the snow-covered expanse, gazing out at the Snowy Field where sleet fell in curtains.
If she had gone beyond the Mansion, she was certainly dead.
The Snowy Field of Nestian was so vast and cruel that even adult snow leopards lost their way and froze to death.
All the more so for Tiel—a mere seven-year-old with short fur, being of mixed Black Leopard and snow leopard descent, unable to withstand the cold.
So most likely……
‘If she went out there, she’s dead.’
Chender stared at the expanse with cold eyes, his murmur matter-of-fact.
There was no hint of regret or sorrow in that voice.
‘Good, then.’
He had been tormented by the problem of how to dispose of her—unable to kill his own blood directly, yet unable to return her to Asterion. The headache that troublesome child had caused him.
If she’d had the good sense to walk out into the snow and die, it was a blessing.
At Chender Nestian’s command, the Nestian knights who had been searching the Mansion expanded their scope to the Snowy Field beyond.
Their orders were to retrieve even a corpse if they found one.
And……
‘Kill on sight, should she still be alive.’
The knights, given orders to kill a mere seven-year-old child, looked up at the Nestian Mansion as one.
A blue velvet curtain hung across the window of the Nestian house head’s study.

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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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