The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 143

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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 143
“How am I supposed to believe what you’re saying?”
Cassius looked down at Osian, who gazed back up at him, rendered speechless.
They truly had abandoned him and fled! But how could he prove such a thing?
Just as Osian was about to open his mouth again in desperation—
“Enough. We return to the Mansion and interrogate him there. Take this man into custody at once. I will question him myself.”
“Wait—!”
Osian thrashed, but the Asterian knights were faster.
They dragged him away without ceremony.
As Osian was hauled out by the Asterian knights, terror seized him—he had no idea how much Cassius already knew.
Did he know everything?
Even whose power he and Jay had enlisted?
His face drained of all color, Osian was loaded onto a horse like a sack of grain and transported to the Asterian Mansion.
After Osian was dragged away,
the knights who had been searching the rear entrance hurried to Cassius and bowed their heads respectfully. They had news to report.
Cassius nodded, signaling them to speak. The knight opened his mouth.
“My lord, we’ve found traces of someone fleeing from the rear entrance. The footprints are deeply pressed into the ground, suggesting the escape occurred not long ago.”
“How many sets of footprints?”
“One pair of adult footprints and three pairs appearing to belong to children. It seems four people—one adult and three children—have escaped this mansion.”
Cassius listened to the knight’s full report before issuing his orders.
“Pursue them at once. They must not escape. You are not authorized to kill. Bring them back alive. And take care—bring the children back without a scratch if at all possible.”
“As you command.”
The knights answered tersely and set off to follow the tracks.
After this, nothing more was discovered in the mansion until they found the remnants of burnt documents in the Estate Garden.
It appeared Jay had burned important things here before fleeing.
So nothing could be found. So nothing could be read, even if discovered.
Cassius considered ordering a search through the ash but decided against it. Nothing but cinders remained.
He had anything worth investigating moved to the Asterian Mansion, and left the empty house guarded by Asterian knights.
Among those who had fled was likely the captured girl—and the brother Lis had spoken of.
‘I need to find them quickly.’
With Lis in captivity, there was no telling what that Jay would do to her brother to silence him.
Cassius mounted his horse and returned to the Asterian Mansion.
Since Wolfgang’s Ability hung from Cassius’s saddle, the journey back to the Asterian Mansion did not take long.
***
The knights threw Osian into the Asterian Underground Prison.
Crash!
His skin scraped against the hard, damp, and cold floor. He collapsed with a shriek.
The cell where the knights confined Osian was darker and more cramped than the one where Lis had been held. It was the most poorly maintained dungeon in the entire Asterian Mansion.
A heavy-bodied man struck the ground with a resounding thud.
Yet none of those present so much as blinked.
Osian Russell.
Though he was indeed a nobleman and the Russell Family possessed the Ability—a house of power—his bloodline had declined so thoroughly by his generation that it was practically negligible. He had no standing to protest Asterian’s treatment of him.
The Asterian knights knew this well. Moreover, whom had they just captured?
The Asterian’s precious treasure, the Empire’s sole light, Lucet’s child, the girl of radiance—Tiel, whom this wretch had dared to harm.
In their eyes, he deserved not interrogation but immediate execution.
Yet the knights did not act rashly; they simply locked Osian away and considered their duty done.
The rest would be Cassius’s affair.
Osian sensed the murderous gazes fixed upon him.
Eyes that promised he would be run through with a blade at any moment. Had Cassius not issued orders, they would have done it long ago.
So Osian took care not to provoke them further; he withdrew to a corner, curled into a ball, and sat.
Then, turning away from sight, he cautiously attempted to use his Ability.
The prison was absolute darkness, and there was no light in his cell, so even if he used his Ability, no one would see.
‘Please, please!’
Osian tried to summon his Ability.
His Ability was the Mist.
By Osian Russell’s generation, it had nearly vanished, but after meeting Jay, he had reclaimed it.
And he had come to understand just how formidable his Ability truly was.
Perhaps it was comparable to—no, even greater than—the Five Great Families!
He had joined hands with Jay for one reason alone: to make his Ability stronger.
This world belonged to the Beastmen with the strongest Abilities; the weak were ruled by the strong.
And indeed, after meeting Jay, his Ability had grown. Not only had it grown stronger, but he had gained access to other powers as well.
But then—
“What…?”
Osian stared blankly at his own palms. Though the darkness prevented him from seeing even an inch ahead, he could sense that his Ability was not responding.
“What…? How is this possible? This can’t be right!”
Osian babbled incoherently and tried again to summon his Ability. Still, it would not come.
Again, and again, and yet again—no matter how many times he tried, his Ability would not manifest. It would not come. It had… vanished.
He cried out like a madman, attempting to use his Ability regardless of who might hear—the guards and knights could listen or ignore him as they pleased.
But the Ability would not come. To the knights’ eyes, Osian was merely flailing at empty air like a lunatic.
“Has he lost his mind?”
A guard muttered. The jailer standing beside him nodded.
“Perhaps he has…”
Then, the frenzied Osian abruptly went still.
The guards and jailors assumed he had surrendered, and they looked away. It was natural that he would tire. The Asterian Underground Prison was utterly escape-proof.
Several other inmates had exhibited similar behavior upon arrival, so the guards paid Osian little attention.
That was why they did not notice. Had they looked more carefully, they would have seen.
The darkness within Osian’s cell had grown unnaturally dense. It had deepened to the point where the guards could no longer even see the prisoner’s face.
“…Ack!”
Osian gasped. His suspended feet flailed wildly as he clawed at his own throat.
Osian hung suspended in the air.
Something incomprehensible gleamed in his pupils. It was darkness, it was power, and it held faith and devotion from him…
“Gack!”
In that moment, whatever had gripped his throat released him. Osian tumbled to the ground, gasping for breath he could not fully catch.
His throat throbbed with searing pain. Trembling, he spoke in a fractured voice where he lay sprawled.
“D-divine one… Jay, that bastard has defied your will and fled. He has betrayed us! We must capture Jay, kill him, I—gack!”
Osian’s attempt to blame everything on Jay was cut short by sudden agony in his abdomen. He curled inward, clutching his stomach.
Then, from above his head, a voice that defied description rumbled through the darkness.
[Jay does not betray me.]
“…!”
[It is only you whom he has betrayed.]
In that moment, the writhing darkness took on form.
Osian could not see it in the gloom, and neither could the guards and knights.
No—the guards and knights acted as though they heard nothing from within the cell. Only then did Osian sense something deeply wrong, and he raised his head.
That was when something thick as an arm pierced through Osian’s abdomen.
“…!”
Osian’s eyes flew wide in shock; he was too stunned even to scream. Blood vessels burst across his eyes.
And moments later, an enormous shriek tore from his throat.
Only then did the guards and knights turn toward Osian, as if hearing him for the first time.
***
“You wish to visit Iandros?”
Lia looked at Tiel and asked.
Tiel nodded without hesitation, already dressed in her travel clothes.
“Yes! I need to go see Iandros.”
“But Miss Tiel…”
Lia had not forgotten Cassius’s and Alpheus’s instructions to keep Tiel’s outings to a minimum for the time being.
Yet when the Crown Prince was mentioned, she could hardly refuse—she was still considering how to handle the situation when—
Knock, knock.
A light knock sounded, and the door soon opened.
Both Lia and Tiel turned toward the open door. The maid who entered bowed respectfully and spoke.
“Miss, Cassius has returned.”

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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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