The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 184

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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 184
Tiel stumbled backward, retreating a step.
‘How?’
The Light Ability was Tiel’s alone. It always had been, and always would be.
So how was Rowen using the Light Ability right now?
And why precisely at this moment, when her own Ability had faltered?
‘It’s far too convenient…….’
Could all of this truly be coincidence?
Tiel lifted her head, gazing up at the sky. Clouds still hung thick and heavy.
And then she understood. The light Rowen had shown was not nearly as strong.
Had the sun been beating down as fiercely as before, Rowen’s Ability would have gone unnoticed.
The light was that feeble.
But precisely because clouds had rolled in and obscured the sun, the light Rowen had conjured became visible to every eye.
Rowen gazed at Tiel with a proud smirk, as though her light were the only illumination in the world.
Someone was helping Rowen. It had to be.
Otherwise it made no sense. The moment Tiel’s Ability vanished, Rowen’s appeared.
But how?
Who, and by what means?
Tiel looked up at the sky once more. To her knowledge, no house possessed an Ability of such enormous scale.
No Ability existed that could move the clouds themselves. So then…… who was helping Rowen?
In that moment, a small seed of doubt bloomed in Tiel’s mind.
Could it be that Lucet was the one helping Rowen? Had Tiel truly lacked the aptitude, and Lucet had withdrawn her Ability for that reason? Was the collapse of Crasion’s boundary, the imbalance between day and night——was it all because of her? Just as everyone said?
Then Iandros seized Tiel’s hand with sudden force.
Tiel looked at him, her wrist gripped in his grasp, as he brushed her bangs aside and whispered, his voice low enough for her ears alone.
“Don’t cry.”
……
“You look like you’re about to.”
He finished speaking and turned at once to face the imperial subjects, the priests, and the representatives of each house watching the scene——and spoke.
“My fiancée is in no fit state to continue. We’ll end the festival here. All of you are dismissed.”
“But, Your Highness——”
Andres moved to stop him, speaking in alarm, but Iandros did not listen. The resemblance to his father, King Wilhelm, was striking.
Iandros ignored Andres and opened a Subspace.
The entrance of the Subspace rippled unsteadily.
In truth, Iandros’s Subspace remained unstable, but he could not think of any safer place to take Tiel right now.
The safest place for her was in his arms, and within his Subspace.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Iandros grasped Tiel’s hand and stepped into the Subspace.
Tiel, held by his hand, was pulled into the Subspace and turned to look back.
Countless beastfolk were watching her. Among them were Ferdi, Ludian, Cassius, and Alpheus. They made no move to stop Tiel and Iandros from entering the Subspace——indeed, it seemed they thought it the better choice.
Just before she fully entered, her eyes met Rowen’s.
Rowen smiled, thin and vicious.
……
Tiel felt goosebumps rise across her skin, and she turned away. And with that, Iandros’s Subspace sealed shut.
Once a Subspace was closed, there was no way to reopen it. Only Iandros could open and close it.
Which meant that unless Iandros and Tiel left of their own accord, there was no way to extract them from the Subspace.
The festival became chaos in an instant. The beastfolk stared blankly at Rowen’s Ability.
The moment Tiel vanished, Rowen withdrew her Ability. The Ice Fish that had glowed with light fell to the ground at once and shattered with a crisp snap.
So utterly different from Tiel’s fish, which always warmed and enveloped everyone in gentleness……
Yet because what Rowen had shown was undeniably light, the beastfolk began to wonder if her words might be true.
That Tiel Asterian had lost her aptitude as a Child of Light, and an angered Lucet had created a new Child of Light……
The beastfolk of Arcadia still protested that it was nonsense, but those from other lands already acted as though it were fact.
Moreover, when Rowen Nestian had used her Ability, Tiel Asterian had not. That detail above all else transformed doubt into conviction in the beastfolk’s hearts.
‘She couldn’t use her Ability.’
‘But Rowen could!’
Andres announced that the festival would resume once Tiel’s condition improved, and urged everyone to return home.
Cassius watched with a hard expression as Rowen Nestian boarded her carriage and departed with unhurried grace.
Ferdi and Ludian approached him and spoke.
“It’s absurd. The Light Ability cannot manifest in two people. And besides, hasn’t Rowen Nestian already manifested the Frost Ability? She must be using some trick.”
Ludian nodded in agreement with Ferdi’s words.
“It doesn’t make sense. And that light didn’t seem complete either. Tiel’s Ability is far more pure, and——how do I put it……”
“Like light itself,” Clemens said carefully, joining the conversation.
At her words, all of them nodded at once.
Any beastfolk who had never seen Tiel’s Ability might have been fooled into thinking what Rowen displayed was truly the Light Ability.
But they had watched Tiel use her Ability more closely than anyone.
“It was a clumsy imitation of Tiel’s Ability,” Alpheus said.
They all nodded.
Especially the way she used it.
It was strikingly similar to how Tiel had used her Ability at seven years old——so much so that both Alpheus and Cassius saw Tiel in Rowen’s face.
“We should investigate Rowen Nestian,” Ferdi added.

“Still, I worry about Tiel. She has a gentle heart……”
“She’ll be fine. Iandros has her. I don’t much care for him, but he’s always been sincere with Tiel.”
Ludian spoke with certainty. It would be fine.
Cassius, Alpheus, Ferdi, and Ludian gazed for a moment at the place where Iandros and Tiel had vanished, then turned to leave.
Trusting that Iandros would care for Tiel with utmost tenderness.
***
“Come here. Are you alright?”
The darkness was too deep to see Iandros clearly, but his gentle voice came through perfectly.
Tiel nodded, her cheeks cradled in his large hands.
“I’m, I’m fine. Really……”
“That’s a lie.”
“……You’re right. It is a lie.”
Iandros took Tiel’s hand and led her forward. In the darkness, Tiel walked slowly behind him.
Tiel had been born as a Child of Light, gifted with the Light Ability, and had lived as such ever since.
So to her, darkness was something utterly unfamiliar. She had always been light itself.
Yet even in darkness where she could not see an inch ahead, she felt no fear——because Iandros’s hand held hers.
Tiel followed Iandros, step by step.
When they reached a certain place, Iandros grasped her waist and lifted her with a single motion. Tiel’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Wait——Iandros!”
Iandros tossed her downward. Yet Tiel did not blink, nor did she brace herself for the impact that would follow.
Iandros would never drop her onto the ground.
And her instinct was right. Tiel realized that what she had been thrown onto was an extraordinarily soft bed.
As Tiel fumbled across it in confusion, Iandros spoke, his voice slightly softer.
“It’s your cushion.”
“……What?”
“Your cushion. The one that was in my Subspace……”
Tiel’s eyes narrowed.
‘Is he talking about that cushion that kept growing larger?’

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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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