The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 18

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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 18
When she tried to thank Cassius, an unexpected shyness washed over her.
But Tiel shook off the feeling and spoke with bright determination.
“Thank you for the beautiful room. I really love it. The bedding is so fluffy, and the rug is so soft. Oh! And the Sun Catcher is really beautiful too.”
“You seem to like the Sun Catcher.”
At his words, Tiel’s cheeks flushed and she nodded eagerly.
“Yes, I really do love it.”
Tiel didn’t know the value of the Sun Catcher made from the Blue Diamond, but she could certainly tell it was truly beautiful.
“I’m glad you like it. Next time, I’ll find you a Yellow Sapphire that matches your eye color exactly.”
“……W-well.”
There was no need for him to go that far! But she didn’t want to dismiss his sincerity, so she simply nodded.
Just then, the maids emerged carrying a three-tiered tray laden with desserts. After arranging the pretty confections artfully on the table, they set down the Cocoa and Cassius’s coffee side by side, then quickly departed.
‘……Desserts!’
Tiel suppressed the urge to immediately pop one of those fluffy-looking cakes into her mouth and deliberately looked away.
She had come to express her gratitude to Cassius, and she didn’t want to appear distracted by cake.
Yet she couldn’t help but let her gaze drift toward the desserts.
The moment the tray arrived, Cassius noticed that Tiel’s eyes had become fixed on the sweets, and he found himself smiling.
“Go ahead and eat.”
He picked up the plate holding the Strawberry Cake that was nearest—the very one her eyes had been locked on—along with a small fork, and pressed them into her hands.
“Thank you….”
The child accepted the plate without hesitation and pierced the edge of the cake with her fork.
But unlike when Lia fed her, the cake crumbled into powder on the fork’s tines rather than cutting cleanly.
Tiel’s brows drooped in disappointment at not being able to eat the cake.
Watching this quietly, Cassius placed his hand over hers as she gripped the fork, and together they lifted a piece to her lips.
“There.”
A small smile played at Tiel’s mouth.
The child opened her lips like a baby bird and received the cake. The moment the whipped cream touched her tongue, her face lit up with pure joy.
“Eat slowly. I’ll give you as much as you want.”
Cassius waited patiently as she chewed and swallowed each piece, then offered her another bite of cake the moment the last one went down.
When she seemed to choke, he had her drink a few sips of warm Cocoa dotted with marshmallows, and his expression remained gentle throughout.
Watching the child accept everything offered to her without protest, he brushed her unruly hair back so it wouldn’t get smeared with cake.
Suddenly, he remembered something from not long ago—the way a knight had muttered sheepishly after his daughter gave him a brooch to wear to the Training Grounds.
‘Daughters are the best these days! That little thing is so adorable, I’m living just to watch my daughter now!’
At the time, he’d simply dismissed him as an ordinary doting father.
……But now.
That man had a point. There really was a unique pleasure in raising a daughter, Cassius murmured to himself, gently poking Tiel’s cheek.
***
“You, you bastard! You told me the child is wary of strangers, to keep my distance—and then what?”
Alpheus fixed Cassius with a look of betrayal.
“And then you had her sit on your lap eating cake?”
“Rumors travel quickly within the Mansion, it seems.”
Cassius answered calmly.
As Alpheus grew even more heated at his composed tone, Cassius lowered his gaze from his tea and directed his attention to the older man.
“The child came to thank me herself. What was I to do?”
“Don’t make excuses! And before that, you took her and had her eat cookies, didn’t you?”
Alpheus shouted at Cassius, burning with indignation.
He himself was desperately restraining the urge to meet his granddaughter and stroke her small head!
His son had told him to stay away because the child was wary of strangers, yet here was that same son having tea time with his granddaughter. No wonder he felt betrayed.
But Cassius responded without concern, his tone even.
“She no longer avoids my touch, so there’s no harm in my seeing her. Besides, I had her brought to me to explain her Ability.”
“Her Ability?”
“Shouldn’t she know what kind of Ability she possesses?”
Cassius spoke as though recalling something, his voice soft. He was remembering how the moment Tiel regained consciousness, she had stared anxiously at her own palms.
“Still, she’s barely been at the Mansion, and you’re already telling her about it…….”
“She must know. Tiel believes herself to be useless.”
“What? Useless?”
Alpheus shot to his feet. His eyes were wide, and a low rumble echoed in his throat.
“Useless? Why would that child be useless!”
Tiel was Alpheus’s own granddaughter and the rightful heir of Asturian.
That wasn’t simply because she had manifested the Light Ability. It was simply because she was Tiel.
Because she was Tiel.
Because she was the daughter of Cassius Celestus Asturian and Rena Nestian.
There is no useless child in a parent’s eyes. Even if Tiel had never manifested an Ability at all, Alpheus would have treasured and adored her with the same fierce devotion. That is what a parent does. That is what family does.
But useless? Alpheus’s expression became complicated, torn. Yet he couldn’t bring himself to blame the child for thinking that way.
There was blame enough for the adults—for himself included—who had allowed her to believe such a thing.
He hadn’t protected her. Worse, he hadn’t even known she was alive all these years. The weight of those lost years was unbearable.
Cassius watched Alpheus’s expression darken and opened his mouth quietly.
“She asked whether she could be of use to Asturian.”
‘Will I be able to help the Asturian family?’
Remembering Tiel’s trembling voice, Cassius’s face tightened slightly. Alpheus stood speechless, his mouth opening and closing soundlessly.
“Your father said that any child of his should naturally be of service to the family, didn’t he?”
“Thender, you son of a bitch!”
That a child should naturally serve the family—what kind of nonsense was that! The family should support its children, not the other way around!
And Tiel was only seven years old.
The fact that she would voice such a concern so carefully meant she had been hearing such words for a very long time.
Alpheus collapsed back into his chair with a heavy sigh.
He hadn’t even properly met his granddaughter yet, and already he couldn’t stop picturing her small face in his mind.
“Which is why the time has come to address the most pressing matter.”
Cassius’s eyes suddenly gleamed with sharp intensity.
He set down his teacup, and the liquid inside rippled. His reflection appeared on the surface, then faded.
“The question of Nestian’s punishment.”
It was the most critical issue.
It was also the matter that everyone in Asturian, including both Cassius and Alpheus, most desperately desired resolution on.
“Indeed. I was already planning to send Nestian a letter.”
Alpheus’s turbulent expression—roiling with anger at Nestian and guilt over Tiel—suddenly settled into quiet resolve.
Tiel had come to Asturian of her own will. Now the rest was the responsibility of the adults.
It was time to send Nestian a letter stating that Asturian would be keeping the child.
He would have preferred to ignore such formalities altogether, but he couldn’t afford to. If he did, Nestian might later lodge a complaint and reclaim the child.
Since Tiel had manifested the Light Ability, they couldn’t leave any opening for Nestian to seize upon. Everything had to be handled meticulously.
Without any obstacles in the way.
And they had to extend their thanks to the Crown Prince, who had brought Tiel all the way to Asturian.
The matters he’d been putting off under the guise of caring for the child were now at his doorstep.
They had to be dealt with one by one. Alpheus tapped the armrest of the sofa as he spoke.
“Tiel is your child, but she is also Rena’s child. We can’t hold her responsible for hiding the child.”
Alpheus paused, then continued.
“……But we can still make him pay in other ways.”
“Understood.”
Thender Buchanan Nestian had hidden Cassius Celestus Asturian’s daughter and abused her.
Now it was time for him to face the consequences.

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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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