The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 186

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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 186
This was the first time Tiel had ever seen Iandros in his animal form.
Iandros had never shown that shape to anyone until now.
Save for his late parents, it would be fair to say no one else knew what his Beast Transformation looked like.
A massive lion pushed its head into Tiel’s embrace. The beast’s head was as enormous as its body, so large that Tiel could not wrap both arms around its neck.
A low rumble escaped from deep within.
Iandros made a growling sound as he gently licked Tiel’s cheek.
“Ah—ahahaha… that tickles…!”
Tiel burst into laughter. The dried tear tracks on her cheek gleamed where the light caught them.
But no new tears fell. Iandros thought that was enough.
After licking away the tear marks from Tiel’s cheeks several more times, Iandros climbed onto a cushion and settled in place.
Iandros closed his eyes, holding Tiel within his embrace.
Nestled in the arms of the enormous golden lion, Tiel gazed at Iandros’s face for a long time.
The great lion was beautiful.
More beautiful than anything Tiel had ever seen.
As Tiel lay in Iandros’s warm, soft embrace, she felt her heart gradually finding peace.
The light that had been shimmering faintly from Tiel began to grow brighter.
What had at first been a glow barely illuminating her two hands grew to brightness that lit Iandros’s entire Subspace.
But the two of them held each other so tightly that neither noticed the transformation.
***
“Investigate Rowen Nestian again. From beginning to end. Leave nothing overlooked. I will not tolerate carelessness.”
Cassius issued the command. His aide bowed in acknowledgment and withdrew. Cassius checked his watch, gauging when Tiel might return.
‘She should be back soon.’
Iandros could never make Tiel sleep outside, so Iandros would surely bring her back soon.
His prediction proved accurate. Iandros arrived carrying the sleeping Tiel.
“Your Highness.”
Cassius bowed with proper respect and received Tiel from Iandros’s arms.
Tiel remained deeply asleep even as she was transferred from Iandros’s embrace to Cassius’s, breathing softly.
“I was trying to comfort her for a moment, but she fell asleep. It seemed better to let her rest, so I didn’t wake her. I’ve given her all the comfort I can. The rest falls to her family.”
Iandros spoke, looking down at the sleeping Tiel. The tear tracks that had clung to her pale face had vanished entirely.
“My gratitude, Your Highness. On behalf of Asterian, I offer my—”
“There’s no need. Tiel is my fiancée. Of course I should care for her.”
At that moment, Ferdi and Ludian, who had rushed out upon hearing of Tiel’s return, spotted Iandros.
“Ian.”
Ferdi approached him. Iandros brought his finger to his lips and made a soft shushing sound.
Understanding at once what he meant, Ferdi and Ludian fell silent and turned their gaze to their sister cradled in Cassius’s arms.
Tiel remained small in stature even as a grown woman—unusual for carnivorous Beast-Men, who typically grew much larger than average.
Perhaps that was why. To Ferdi and Ludian, Tiel still looked like a tiny, teenage sister.
Ferdi gently brushed back some of Tiel’s hair, then looked up at Cassius and spoke.
“Please, let’s get her inside. She should rest in bed.”
“Yes.”
Cassius strode into the Eberard Mansion with Tiel in his arms. Ferdi and Ludian pulled Iandros aside.
“We need to talk, Iandros.”
Iandros followed Ferdi and Ludian without hesitation. They came to rest in one corner of the dark Garden.
It was among the most secluded parts of the Eberard Garden, a place where no one ever passed through.
Once Ferdi confirmed that no one was nearby, he spoke first.
“Is Tiel alright?”
“She cried a bit, but she’s managing.”
“She’s not managing!”
Ludian spoke up.
“I’m going to kill that damned Rowen Nestian right now.”
This time, Ferdi did not try to stop Ludian. Ferdi felt the same way.
What Rowen had done was no ordinary transgression.
Rowen had mimicked Tiel’s Light Ability, and moreover—
“Her Ability? Still can’t use it?”
“No, she could use it inside my Subspace. I think Tiel’s condition has a lot of influence on whether she can use her Ability.”
“That’s normally the case for everyone, isn’t it?”
“Not you two, though?”
“We’re strong enough that we don’t have to worry about that.”
Ferdi spoke matter-of-factly.
“Most Beast-Men with weak Abilities are greatly affected by their physical and mental state. Tiel’s Ability isn’t weak, but ever since childhood, she’s been—”
Ferdi trailed off, and Iandros didn’t press him to continue. Everyone knew Tiel had suffered abuse while growing up in Nestian.
“So it’s confirmed. Rowen Nestian definitely stole Tiel’s Ability.”
“But how? Have you ever heard of a Beast-Man who stole another’s Ability?”
Iandros countered. Ferdi shook his head.
“If something like that were possible, the Five Great Houses wouldn’t exist in the first place.”
“Exactly.”
“But Nestian has that thing there right now.”
Ferdi said it plainly.
Ludian and Iandros understood immediately who Ferdi was referring to.
“You mean Je?”
“Yes. Remember what that girl said when she attacked Tiel before? That she was conducting some kind of experiment on young children. She took all those children with her and disappeared. And her sibling was never found either.”
“Right.”
“…”
Ludian, who had been listening quietly to the two, cut in.
“Are you saying that creature figured out how to transfer Tiel’s Ability to Rowen through some kind of experiment?”
“Exactly. Do you remember Tiel’s Sphere?”
The Sphere that Tiel had given to Cassius.
Both Ludian and Iandros had heard of it. They both nodded at once.
“We can all imbue our Abilities into objects. Like Olivier’s necklace, Wolfgang’s carriage, Asterian’s underground prison, or the Flowing Water in the Eberard Mansion—we can store the power of our Ability and use it. I suspect they used a method like that to extract Tiel’s power.”
“Then we really do need to capture that creature Je.”
Iandros muttered under his breath.
“What about the Beast-Men? How are they reacting?”
“Still fighting.”
This time Ludian answered. If Ferdi handled the thinking, Ludian handled the action. The twins of Asterian had always divided their labor that way.
This time too, it was Ludian’s responsibility to take to the streets with the Eberard knights and calm the Beast-Men.
The Beast-Men of Eberard and those from other regions had split into two factions, pointing fingers at each other and fighting.
The Eberard Beast-Men were determined to stand by Tiel no matter what, trying to drive the others away, while the Beast-Men from other regions were angry, questioning “Is Tiel really qualified?” and “Maybe Rowen was actually the true Child of Light?”
Everything was a complete mess.
Iandros felt a surge of the urge to cover Tiel’s eyes and ears so she wouldn’t have to hear any of it.
But he wouldn’t do that. Because he knew Tiel wouldn’t want it.
“This is serious. At this rate—”
As Iandros was murmuring, a brilliant light flashed from somewhere.
Iandros, Ferdi, and Ludian all turned at once toward the source of that bright flash.
It was coming from where the Lucet Temple stood.
Where the current High Priest was staying. The Temple that was not yet complete, but soon would be.
Light was bursting forth from that place.
The same light that Tiel had cast when she was seven years old, bathing all of Asterian’s territory in radiance—
It was bursting forth from there now.
Iandros, Ferdi, and Ludian moved toward it without hesitation.

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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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