The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 158

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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 158
“It’s not difficult at all!”
Tiel grabbed Iandros, biting back the words she wanted to say: ‘Your Highness, there’s an unresolved problem with your Subspace!’
Iandros tilted his head to the side, his eyes averted from hers as he spoke.
“All we need do is enter without being detected and leave the same way with what we’ve taken.”
“It’s not that simple in practice!”
“Don’t worry, Tiel. There’s nothing for you to be concerned about.”
Ferdi smiled gently, speaking with the air of someone who had grounds for such confidence. Yet Tiel couldn’t fathom what exactly he was relying on to make such an assurance.
“And if we’re discovered?”
If they were discovered, she’d been told they should prepare for war—but with the Empire’s Crown Prince alongside them, there would be no actual conflict between Nestian and Asterian.
That wasn’t the real problem, though. The problem was Nestian itself! Nestian, whose ties to other families had been completely severed!
How could she send her fiancé and brothers into such dangerous territory blind? Tiel looked toward Olivier, silently pleading for his intervention.
Olivier, who had been regarding Ferdi, Ludian, and Iandros with utmost seriousness, reached up to fidget with the necklace around his neck before speaking.
“Now I know why you called me! You want me to imbue this with my Ability, don’t you? So you three can use it to escape?”
“Exactly right, Olivier.”
“I thought so. But my Ability alone won’t be enough. There are three of you, aren’t there? You’ll have to leave someone behind in the escape, won’t you?”
“Think before you speak, Olivier.”
“And while we’re at it, you really should think before speaking.”
A torrent of rebukes poured forth from both Ferdi and Ludian. Olivier’s eyes widened sharply as he snapped back.
“I was joking! Ugh, now I don’t even want to help. I was going to do it for dear Tiel, but now…”
Once again, Tiel had to suppress the urge to say: ‘If you’re willing to help me, please do something about my brothers!’
“Anyway!”
Olivier spoke up. Everyone turned toward him. He grasped the necklace and yanked it free from his neck in one sharp motion.
Snap.
The necklace string snapped. Yet Olivier paid it no mind, laying the necklace across his open palm as he spoke with unmistakable pride.
“Watch this—I’ll show you how to use Wolfgang’s Ability!”
“Already?”
“Better to demonstrate beforehand!”
Olivier declared this with a flourish, gripping the necklace pendant tightly in his hand and squeezing his eyes shut.
Then—
Boom-boom-boom-boom!
A deafening roar erupted, and a whirlwind materialized within the Reception Room! Plates, cups, coasters, frames, and decorative objects flew in every direction.
“Hey! Olivier! Have you lost your mind!”
“Are you insane!?”
Ferdi and Ludian, moving on instinct, surrounded and shielded Tiel while rounding on Olivier with fury.
Iandros attempted to open his Subspace and pull Tiel inside, but he realized his Subspace had become unstable and lowered his hand.
Through it all, Olivier simply grinned as though the partial destruction of the Asterian Mansion was of no consequence whatsoever.
A moment later, the whirlwind subsided. Olivier’s usually pristine hair, caught in the wind, was now disheveled in every direction.
“Did you see?”
Olivier asked, his eyes gleaming.
“See what, exactly?”
Ferdi responded in bewilderment.
“Wolfgang’s Ability summons wind beneath your feet. The whirlwind just now happened because this room is cramped. In a wide space, the wind generated beneath you will guide your escape. Or—you can use it differently. It’s simple: you break the pendant. Break it and throw it toward your target, and a whirlwind will form there.”
Olivier continued.
“Or you can use it some other way. The method is straightforward. Just shatter the pendant and aim it. Throw it, and a whirlwind will form at the target.”
“…You could have explained that with words later, you know.”
“Where’s the fun in that!”
Tiel gave up trying to understand her beloved cousin.
Olivier tossed the shattered pendant onto the wrecked table and collapsed onto the sofa with a heavy sigh.
“Anyway, like I said, my Ability alone won’t be enough for all three of you. I’ll have to ask Father…”
“I’ll ask Uncle for you.”
Ferdi said this, and Olivier looked at him with an expression that seemed to ask: ‘Why are you volunteering when I can ask myself?’
Ferdi, clearly unwilling to engage with Olivier further, spoke through visibly gritted teeth.
“Nothing decent ever comes from entrusting you with anything. Just look at the state of this room. Grandfather would want to hang you upside down by your ankles if he saw this…”
“Grandfather’s been trying to hang me upside down since I was seven, but he’s never managed it once.”
“That’s not something to brag about…”
Ferdi, Ludian, Olivier, Iandros, and Tiel had long since grown into adults, their childish appearances entirely replaced by maturity, yet their conversation remained unchanged from when they were young.
And though Tiel was deeply anxious about the situation ahead, she found comfort in listening to her siblings speak with such casual intimacy, and so she sat quietly, lending them her ear.
If Ferdi had made up his mind, there was nothing Tiel could do to stop him.
That was simply who he was. Her eldest brother was the sort of man who had to do whatever he set his heart on.
And when Tiel herself was involved in that something? There was no question about it. Even if she pleaded with him, Ferdi would absolutely go to Nestian.
Rather than continue trying to dissuade them, it was better to focus her efforts on what Ferdi had asked of her: crafting the Light Orb.
This was a time for choice and concentration.
After that, Ferdi, Ludian, Olivier, and Iandros continued their discussion regarding the plan to infiltrate Nestian in secret.
Their expressions grew grave as they spoke in the now-ruined Reception Room.
Yet their conversation was cut short when Alpheus, having heard that Olivier and Iandros had come to the mansion, suddenly threw open the Reception Room door.
“…”
“…”
“…”
Everyone stared at Alpheus in silence. Alpheus himself stood transfixed, mouth agape, his usual formality forgotten even as he faced Iandros, his gaze fixed on the devastated Reception Room.
And within three seconds, Alpheus had identified the culprit responsible for reducing the room to this state and let out a roar.
“Olivier!! How old are you now, and you’re still pulling stunts like this!!”
Considering that Olivier was now in her late twenties, Alpheus’s outburst was entirely justified.
Yet Olivier seemed unmoved by his ire, scratching her cheek with the same attitude she’d had since childhood—one of casual indifference.
***
“Come here.”
At the call of the man in white, a young man obediently approached him.
The man peered into the young man’s eyes.
The young man’s eyes were unfocused and clouded, as though devoid of light itself, submerged in a darkness of unknowable depth.
To look upon them brought only revulsion. Repugnant eyes, a repugnant countenance. Yet the man inspected the young man’s state as though completely indifferent to such matters.
After confirming there was nothing amiss with the young man, the man smiled with satisfaction.
“Stable. You’re indeed different from your sister. You will become the masterpiece of my life.”
At the man’s words, the young man lowered his head—whether in gratitude or simply to avoid the gaze, it was impossible to say.
For a moment, the young man’s lowered face resembled that of a younger boy, yet there was no one in this place who would notice such a subtle change.
“Sit here and wait for that person. I have someone I must meet.”
At this command, the young man obediently nodded. He appeared to be someone from whom all capacity for resistance had been utterly drained.
He gave no reaction to any word, showed no agitation at anything said to him.
The man in white left him alone in the darkened room and departed.
Left alone, the young man stared blankly at the wall for a moment, then brought his hands together and tried using his Ability.
It resembled the way Tiel used her Ability. Yet there was one crucial difference—
Sssh—
What gathered was not light, but darkness. From within the dark, something like a black serpent coiled and crept forth, felt along the skin of his palms.
It was the exact same power that had attacked Tiel.

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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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