The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 165

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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 165
“Mm…….”
Tiel slowly opened her eyes. Everything was blurred; she couldn’t quite focus on what lay before her.
She blinked. The ceiling was familiar. This was her room.
‘Why am I here?’
Tiel carefully pushed herself upright, her thoughts still hazy from sleep.
“Ugh…….”
She pressed a hand to her forehead, grimacing against a sharp pain. With each wave of the headache, white flashed across her vision. Through the discomfort, she tried to piece together what had brought her here.
‘What did I do? Today……. We had dinner together…… and then…….’
She remembered dinner, but nothing after. It took another fifteen minutes of racking her brain before she finally recalled collapsing during the meal.
“Right, that did happen……”
But why had she passed out suddenly? Tiel checked her body carefully to see if something was wrong.
She steadied her breathing and tried to summon her Ability. A tiny, faint light gathered at the tips of her fingers.
“……Huh?”
Startled, she tried again, but the result was the same—a weak glimmer of light at her fingertips.
‘What’s happening?’
Tiel placed her hand over her heart and checked the flow of her Ability through her body.
The amount of Ability running through her had diminished to an abnormal degree. Her eyes widened. In alarm, she threw off the blanket and bolted upright.
“Why is this happening? Could it be……. Did I use too much putting my power into that orb yesterday?”
It was true that last night she had worked hard to create an orb imbued with her Light Ability, but she hadn’t depleted her power to such an extreme degree.
Tiel rushed to the dresser and yanked the drawer open. A single sphere rolled out, emitting a faint glow.
It was the Glass Orb she had tried to infuse with her Light Ability. At its center, a small fragment of light glimmered—proof of her attempt.
“Because of this?”
The moment Tiel muttered in dismay, two fish suddenly burst into existence in her palm.
The creatures undulated gracefully around her, their long fins rippling like a worried puppy circling its master.
“Oh, you two!”
Tiel tapped one gently with her finger. A faint ripple of light spread from the point of contact.
For just an instant after her finger touched them, the fish glowed brightly as before—but the light faded almost immediately.
Their glow was so faint and dim that in sunlight it would scarcely be visible at all.
Tiel dashed to the window, drew back the curtains, and examined her fish more closely.
These creatures were fashioned from fragments of her own Ability.
Which meant the state of the fish reflected the state of her Ability itself.
But for them to fade like this……. Tiel felt a sudden, overwhelming helplessness and despair wash over her.
With Iandros’s Ability already unstable, the last thing she needed was her own Ability failing too.
And worse—she and Iandros had formed a Companion Bond Mark.
If this situation persisted, both of them could suffer consequences. Tiel picked up the Glass Orb with careful hands.
She had failed to create a bright Light Orb like the one she’d once made for Cassius, but even so, a faint luminous power dwelt within it.
If she broke this orb and absorbed the residual light energy, she might regain just enough Ability to function slightly better than she did now.
But…….
“I can’t……. I don’t know when I’ll need it.”
Tiel decided her sudden weakening was temporary—a fleeting phenomenon.
Just as night follows day and day follows night, it would pass, and soon her Ability would return.
Yet she couldn’t be certain.
The cycle of day and night in the Crasion Empire had been disrupted long ago. Days had grown shorter while nights stretched unnaturally long.
Lysette’s Oracle had ceased, the Temple had lost its power and authority, and the empire’s people blamed Tiel herself for all of it……
Given such circumstances, she couldn’t trust that her Ability would return. Perhaps she would spend her entire life with this weakened power, or perhaps it would disappear entirely.
‘I’ve read records of Beastkin who lost their Abilities completely.’
She’d seen such accounts in the archives of Asterian.
Tiel bit her lips hard and, as if shaking off all the dark thoughts, shook her head firmly.
“No, it will come back.”
It had to.
But to prepare for any uncertainty, it was wise to preserve this Glass Orb.
If Ferdi and Iandros managed to infiltrate Nestian as planned, she would need to give them this orb at least.
Tiel abandoned the idea of breaking the orb and absorbing the faint light energy within it.
Instead, she placed it back deep in the drawer.
In that moment, her fish began circling the curtain, swimming insistently as if asking her to open it.
“Hm? You want me to open this?”
When Tiel approached and reached for the curtain, the fish swirled more frantically.
Though puzzled, she pulled the curtains open.
Bathed in the bright sunlight, the faint light of her fish was swallowed—their forms nearly invisible—yet they seemed oddly reassured.
“You like being in the light? I suppose it makes sense—you were born of light, after all.”
Tiel spoke to them gently, a tender smile on her lips.
Just then, someone knocked on the door.
The visitor seemed to assume Tiel would naturally be sleeping and, after knocking, didn’t wait for permission before entering the room directly.
“Miss?”
It was Lia. Seeing Tiel standing by the window with the curtains open, Lia hurried over and examined her condition.
“Are you alright? You shouldn’t be up—please, lie down again! I’ll fetch the physician right away.”
“I’m……. I’m fine. Lia, did I collapse during dinner?”
“Yes! Everyone was so startled. When you suddenly collapsed, the whole household turned upside down.”
Lia spoke in a worried voice and gently sat Tiel back on the bed. Tiel looked up at her from where she sat.
“Father and Grandfather must have been quite frightened. And my brothers too……. At least Iandros wasn’t here, so he…….”
“Iandros is here at the residence now, miss……”
“……Iandros is?”
“Yes, it’s quite a story, actually. Cassius or Iandros will explain. For now, please rest!”
After settling Tiel into bed and tucking the blanket carefully up to her knees, Lia left the room.
Tiel leaned back against the pillow and blinked slowly.
Her two fish, now faint and barely visible, continued swimming anxiously around her…….
***
“Tiel’s awake?”
Upon hearing the news, Cassius stopped what he was doing and headed straight for Tiel’s room.
Others did the same, abandoning their tasks to rush to her.
Iandros, who had been conversing with Ferdi and Ludian, and Alpheus, who had been preparing to go out, all made their way toward Tiel’s room.
Consequently, five men found themselves face to face in the wide hallway outside her door.
“Word travels fast, it seems,” Cassius remarked lightly.
He opened Tiel’s door.
Inside, she sat propped against the headboard, dozing.
“Tiel!”
Ludian rushed in first, checking her condition.
Iandros was surprisingly the last to enter. He regarded her sleeping form with a calm expression, though his eyes narrowed as he observed the faint fish hovering nearby.
‘I wondered if I was mistaken.’
But seeing the dimmed fish now made it clear. There was no mistake.
Tiel’s Ability truly had weakened.
Her fish recognized Iandros and swam toward him, circling nearby.
When he extended his hand, one fish settled against his palm.
The light was far dimmer than when he’d last seen them in the Subspace.
‘Perhaps the darkness of that place made the light seem brighter?’
And here, with all this brightness, the light appeared correspondingly weaker?
The fish that had nestled in his hand soon resumed swimming and returned to Tiel.
The scattered trails of light that had followed its path were nowhere to be seen now.
Iandros felt his throat tighten with unease as he moved toward the sleeping Tiel, his expression remaining composed.

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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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