The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 181

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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 181
The day of the Festival dawned.
Though called a “Festival,” it was not an official ceremony but rather an observance akin to a prayer sent to Lucette, so naturally no Eve Festival had been held.
Yet the inhabitants of Arcadia, having glimpsed Tiel and Karl, had gathered before a fountain fashioned in their image and quietly held their own Eve Festival among themselves.
Karl had asked Tiel if she would like to go see it together, but she declined. For Tiel, this “Festival” was an occasion that brought considerable tension.
So Tiel had immersed herself in warm bathwater scattered with spring blossoms, retired early, and risen early in turn.
The handmaidens Tiel had brought from Asterian and those of Eberard had all gathered in Tiel’s chamber from morning, attending to her hair.
“Now then, let me help you dress.”
Lia wound a soft silk ribbon around Tiel’s slender waist from behind, speaking in a gentle lilt.
Tiel wore the white dress that Iandros had given her—a gown adorned along its hem with finely worked pieces of opal and diamonds that gleamed beautifully when caught by sunlight.
“Miss, you are truly beautiful!”
Lia gasped in admiration as she tended to Tiel’s hair.
Lia had brushed out Tiel’s fine hair with care, then shaped both sides into round, donut-like coils and secured them with ribbon.
It was a hairstyle Tiel had favored in childhood but had rarely worn since growing older.
After fixing the jeweled ribbon in place around both of Tiel’s donut curls, Lia scattered pearl powder here and there through the wayward strands to adorn them.
Tiel gazed into the mirror.
“It makes me look like I did when I was little…….”
Tiel said, her cheeks flushing. Just as she said, she now looked exactly as she had in childhood.
A girl with her hair coiled round on both sides, the remaining locks falling loose—she flickered in the mirror’s reflection before vanishing.
“Truly, Miss was so beautiful even as a child, but now that you’ve grown, you are incomparably lovely…… arranged like this, you look just like a goddess!”
“……Lia! That embarrasses me.”
“Hehe, but it’s the truth, isn’t it?”
Lia breezed past the protest with ease. Tiel gazed quietly into the mirror, both cheeks flushed a delicate rose.
The preparations stretched on for another hour. Apart from binding her hair and tying her dress, one couldn’t fathom what other processes required so much time.
Knock, knock.
Then someone rapped at Tiel’s chamber door. One of the handmaidens inside carefully opened it.
Standing beyond the threshold was Iandros Crassion. He wore the Imperial Uniform that symbolized the empire’s Crown Prince, along with a red cloak. His appearance was most striking.
Yet the handmaiden looked quite flustered, bowing her head as she spoke.
“The young lady has not yet finished her preparations, so if Your Highness could wait just a little longer…….”
“Hmm? No, it’s all done. Please show Iandros in.”
Tiel said, still held fast by Lia’s hands. The other handmaidens exchanged glances with Lia, who remained absorbed in her work on Tiel’s appearance.
She gave the young lady—or rather, the Head of Household of Asterian—a final adjustment to her dress, then smiled gently at Tiel.
“It’s finished, Miss. My apologies for the wait, Your Highness the Crown Prince.”
Lia spoke with utmost propriety. Iandros waved a dismissive hand as if to say it was no matter.
The handmaidens filed out, trailing pins, jewels, dresses, cosmetics, pearl powder, and dried flowers in their wake.
The procession was so long that Iandros, watching the handmaidens depart with their ornaments, murmured to himself, “Has the Festival already begun?”
Tiel, embarrassed, gave Iandros a light tap.
“Don’t tease me……!”
“But when you act like that, I can’t help but want to tease you.”
“That’s terrible……!”
“The Crown Prince of the empire has no forbidden words?”
“But I’m your fiancée…….”
“That’s right, you’re my fiancée. So I don’t fault you even when you speak harshly to me.”
Iandros eased Tiel’s tension with the back-and-forth of their banter.
Her shoulders, stiff with anxiety, loosened and relaxed. Her eyes gleamed once more.
Tiel laughed lightly, then looked up at Iandros and spoke.
“But why are you here? Shouldn’t you have gone to the High Priest before me?”
“To check that your Ability is unharmed.”
Iandros took Tiel’s hand. Her hand, gloved in white silk, settled gently upon his.
“If you find you cannot use your Ability…….”
Iandros carefully removed Tiel’s glove—a gesture so rare in its deliberate tenderness, as if he were handling the most precious porcelain doll.
“Tell me now. Then I’ll lie and say you’re ill, take you back to the Imperial Palace in the Capital, and we’ll be gone. His Majesty will likely welcome it.”
“……You can’t simply abandon a Festival for the empire’s people and flee!”
“He will welcome it. His Majesty tends to treasure you more than his own grandchildren.”
Iandros tickled Tiel’s palm with his fingertip.
Tiel scrunched her eyes shut, trying to stifle her laughter. Iandros continued to tickle gently, as if coaxing her.
“Use your Ability. I need to confirm it.”
“You worry so much, Iandros…….”
“I’d rather not worry about you, but you keep giving me reason to.”
Tiel complied with Iandros’s request and summoned her Ability. Fragments of light scattered and cascaded from her palm where he had been tickling.
Tiel opened her eyes narrowly, gazing at Iandros, and pouted like a child.
“You’re the same way…… and by the way, what was it you said you’d tell me about? Have you finished investigating?”
“Not yet. Once I’m more certain, I’ll tell you. Well, this should be fine for today.”
Iandros replaced the silk glove on Tiel’s hand, his touch still extraordinarily careful.
With the glove fully fastened, Tiel extended her hand to Iandros.
“Will you be going separately?”
“Hmm?”
“Originally, you were supposed to visit the High Priest first and then attend the Festival afterward. And I was to appear partway through…….”
“That was the plan, until I came to see you.”
“I think it’s already too late to go see the High Priest. So why don’t we just go to the Festival together?”
Tiel asked.
Iandros looked at Tiel.
Tiel Asterian was originally meant to appear partway through the Festival with her grandfather, Ebalte Alpheus Asterian.
“What about your grandfather?”
Iandros asked, more out of courtesy than genuine concern.
“Grandfather will understand if it’s you. Besides, you are my fiancé.”
Tiel said. The moment her words ended, Iandros seized her hand without the slightest hesitation.
More than a dozen faces flashed through his mind—those who would surely rage at his unilateral change to the schedule. Yet already, for Iandros, there was no choice but to grant Tiel’s request.
And besides.
‘She was trembling.’
Iandros recalled the moment he had carefully removed Tiel’s glove and tickled her palm.
Tiel had affected composure, but Iandros knew it well.
That Tiel Asterian was trembling with tension.
So it fell to him, as her consort, to comfort her. He could not neglect his duty as her partner. Iandros justified his willful action with such reasoning.
“Let’s go. I’ll have you ride with me in the carriage.”
“You’ll ride with me too, won’t you?”
“I’d rather not walk, so yes.”
“If you walked, you wouldn’t arrive until after the Festival ended……!”
“I am an enormous lion—two strides and I’d reach the Festival Grounds.”
Iandros and Tiel exchanged lighthearted banter as they made their way.
A carriage awaited Tiel at the gates of Eberard.
It was the same carriage that had come to meet her on the day Tiel first arrived at Eberard.
***
[All things shall return to their original state.]
In the darkness, a vast voice echoed and thrummed. Now that voice no longer sounded faint or unclear.
It was so distinct that anyone nearby would surely be able to hear it.
In the darkness, the voice resonated once more.
[In the beginning, darkness existed.]
[All things shall flow according to their nature and return to the beginning…….]

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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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