The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 169

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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 169
Tiel and Iandros followed the fish through the winding passages.
The fish led them deeper into the manor, toward places Iandros had never taken Tiel before.
“Where are we going?”
“I was just wondering the same thing.”
Tiel tilted her head in confusion. Iandros seemed to contemplate something for a moment, then grasped her hand firmly.
“…Iandros?”
“Come on.”
“Why did you suddenly take my hand?”
“I’ve held you before, haven’t I?”
“That’s true, but…”
While Tiel and Iandros exchanged light words, the fish circled around them and darted ahead, leading them onward.
Then they stopped before a doorway. Neither Iandros nor Tiel opened the door immediately—they simply halted.
“What room is this?”
“I’m not sure either. As you know, there are hundreds of rooms in this place.”
“What if we go in and end up trapped in a maze like you were?”
“That’s what frightens me too. Being trapped alone wouldn’t matter, but you’re with me now.”
Iandros spoke calmly. Tiel swallowed back the words she wanted to say—that she was afraid of him being trapped alone.
“But this time should be fine. Even if we do get trapped, your fish will be there with us.”
The moment Iandros finished speaking, the fish circled reassuringly around Tiel’s fingertips.
Their fins flicked against her skin, gleaming ceaselessly.
Tiel and Iandros exchanged glances for a moment, then decided to open the door and step inside.
“May I open it?”
“If that’s what you want, go ahead.”
Iandros agreed without hesitation.
He was prepared to open a gateway to the Subspace and pull Tiel into his arms to escape at the first sign of danger, so opening the door fell to her.
Tiel opened it carefully.
Click. The door swung open. Before stepping inside, Tiel and Iandros looked into the room.
And in the next instant, both of their eyes went wide.
“Wh-what is this?”
Tiel covered her mouth delicately as she turned to Iandros, her eyes fixed on the scene before them.
But Iandros was equally shocked.
“What is this?”
What Tiel and Iandros saw was a wall embedded densely with countless Light Fragments.
All four walls were studded with Light Fragments, filling the room with daylight brightness.
Each individual fragment did not shine as intensely as the Light Fragments Tiel once created.
Yet hundreds of faint lights gathered together to become a radiant glow that filled the entire room.
Tiel could not fathom why so many Light Fragments existed within Iandros’s Subspace.
“Why would…”
Iandros too could not understand why Tiel’s Light Fragments were embedded deep within his Subspace.
As the two stood transfixed, the fish that had led them here transformed into a handful of light and slipped into one of the fragments on the wall.
The fish that had helped Iandros was not one Tiel had sent—it had emerged from swimming within Iandros’s Subspace.
Neither Iandros nor Tiel understood why Tiel’s Ability had accumulated here in such abundance, but in any case, this situation was not unfavorable to either of them.
“Can you absorb them?”
Iandros asked Tiel. She cautiously brought her hand to the wall, then nodded.
“Yes, I can absorb them.”
“Then do it quickly. We don’t know what might happen. You should keep your Ability close.”
The moment Iandros finished speaking, Tiel carefully placed her hand against the wall and gazed up at the Light Fragments.
The small, densely packed fragments glowed ceaselessly, as if drawing her in.
“Hello there…”
The instant Tiel murmured those words, countless Light Fragments surged into her hand all at once.
Her white hair fluttered slightly from the backlash, and a brilliant flash of light bloomed in her palm.
Yet Tiel did not absorb every Light Fragment in the room.
She left untouched the wall where the fish had entered, its embedded fragment still glowing.
Because of this, even after Tiel absorbed the fragments, the room remained luminous.
Iandros looked at her as if asking why she hadn’t absorbed the remaining fragments from that wall.
The reason Tiel had left them was simple.
‘In case something happens to Iandros again…’
If trouble came, she would need the strength to summon him once more and save him.
For some reason, Tiel felt certain that the fish would help Iandros again someday.
Iandros, reading her thoughts well enough, did not press the matter.
“At least we’ve accomplished our goal.”
Moreover, she had absorbed far more Ability than they had originally aimed for. This should suffice for some time.
But what came after?
What would happen once she had used up everything she had just absorbed?
The same thread of anxiety took root in both their hearts, yet neither spoke it aloud.
“Let’s go now. There’s nothing good in staying here too long.”
Tiel found those words strangely sad.
For the Iandros of old, the Subspace had been his only refuge—his sole sanctuary.
And having read the memories held within the Subspace, Tiel understood all too well what this place meant to him.
Yet here he was, saying there was nothing good in staying.
Tiel wished, with all her heart, that one day this Subspace—this manor—would have its lights kindled again.
It was not an impossible dream.
‘Once, it was a place where even a single candle could not burn.’
But Iandros’s Subspace permitted Tiel’s light. That was why she had taken to gifting him sacred objects imbued with her Ability.
And once, she had dreamed of illuminating this entire Subspace with her own Ability—of filling it with radiance.
‘Will that day ever come?’
Tiel gazed around the empty corridors, dark and shadowed, lost in thought.
Iandros grasped Tiel’s hand and traced a great circle in the air.
Space tore and split, revealing an exit that connected the Subspace to the outside world.
To be safe, Iandros let Tiel pass through first, then followed after her.
Still holding Iandros’s hand, Tiel emerged into the outer chamber.
“…Huh?”
“Tiel?”
But standing before Tiel were both Ferdi and Ludian.
Tiel’s eyes darted to where she had emerged.
This was Ferdi’s room!
Iandros had opened the exit directly into Ferdi’s room. Both Ferdi and Ludian’s gazes fixed immediately on Tiel’s hand, which still gripped Iandros’s tightly.
“…Ha-ha.”
Not long after, the owner of that hand emerged fully from the Subspace. Upon seeing Ferdi and Ludian, Iandros’s brow furrowed.
“What are you two doing here?”
“This is our brothers’ room…”
Tiel tapped Iandros lightly on the shoulder. He only then shrugged.
“Right? I must have opened it in the wrong place.”
“How can you open it in the wrong place? You’ve never once opened an exit incorrectly.”
Ferdi spoke up.
Ferdi was right. Iandros had never opened an exit incorrectly.
If he had meant to open it into Ferdi’s room, that would be one thing, but from the current situation, it didn’t appear he had done so intentionally.
“My Ability has been unstable lately.”
Iandros admitted it plainly. Since the members of Asterian already knew his Ability was unstable, there was no point in hiding it.
“So I opened the exit in the wrong place. I apologize. But if you had stepped away when the exit began to form, we wouldn’t have this awkward encounter.”
Iandros countered shamelessly. Ferdi and Ludian regarded him with exasperation, though they offered no real reproach.
Ludian’s gaze slowly drifted to Tiel’s hand.
Only then did Tiel realize she was still grasping Iandros’s hand tightly. She quickly let go.

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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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