The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 188

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 188
“……Really?”
Someone murmured as if doubting their own ears.
An Oracle had descended—which meant, just as Rowen had said, that Rowen truly was the Beast-person chosen by Lucet God.
The High Priest remained silent for a long moment before speaking slowly.
“I am not lying.”
“…….”
“Truly, an Oracle has descended. Lucet God has said through you, Rowen, that the balance of this land shall be restored.”
Rowen gazed down at the other Beast-people with a triumphant expression, while Ferdi and Ludian pressed their lips shut.
Karl too held his silence. Each time his eyes met Rowen’s, he felt a peculiar unease.
‘What is this feeling?’
When he looked into Rowen’s eyes, he felt as though he were sinking into an endless mire.
A sensation of falling into endless darkness—darkness from which he would never escape…….
As Karl pondered this sensation, his eyes suddenly widened. His pupils constricted.
‘Darkness from which I would never escape……?’
This was the same feeling he had experienced long ago in his childhood, when Arcadia had been a cursed land where the sun would not rise.
Yet Karl could not understand why he felt this way each time he met Rowen’s gaze.
It wasn’t as though Rowen had anything to do with that incident…… So why did this feeling arise?
The other Beast-people, stunned by the High Priest’s shocking words, echoed his statement back to him.
“Through you, Rowen…….”
“The balance of this land shall be restored……?”
That could only mean one thing: Tiel had lost her qualifications.
It meant that Tiel had forfeited her station as Divine Representative, and that Lucet God had withdrawn her Light Ability and granted it to Rowen of Nestian.
Which is to say…….
“Tiel…….”
Ferdi murmured.
If the High Priest himself came forward and affirmed in the Temple’s name that an Oracle had descended and that Rowen’s Ability was truly the Light Ability, then Tiel’s fate was sealed.
All the sacrifices Tiel had made for the Crasion Empire until now would be forgotten, and the people of the Empire would hail Rowen as the true Divine Representative.
This could not be allowed.
It could not be allowed. How much had Tiel devoted to the Empire? She was the one who tended to the Beast-people with such care, sparing even the time to look after herself.
How hard had Tiel worked to restore light to Arcadia? How much had she done to prove the “qualifications” they spoke of…….
“Ferdi.”
Iandros nudged Ferdi. Only then could Ferdi free himself from the thoughts that held him captive.
It was only after Iandros roused him that Ferdi became aware his pupils had shifted to something beast-like, and that his claws had extended, ready to tear someone apart at any moment.
For someone of Ferdi’s typical temperament—one accustomed to restraint and composure—this was no ordinary occurrence.
“There’s nothing more to hear. Let’s go.”
Ludian jerked his chin toward the exit. Ferdi nodded and followed him. Iandros did the same.
There was nothing to be gained by remaining here. They would only have to watch Rowen strut about for longer.
And if an excited Ferdi or Ludian made even the slightest mistake, it would be blamed on the Asterian house and used to diminish Tiel further.
Ferdi and Ludian could not bear that. The thought of causing harm to Tiel was worse than death itself.
And so they departed, just as Olivier and Clemens had done, regardless of whatever the High Priest and Rowen might say afterward.
They returned to the Eberard Mansion. Since Karl Eberard was still at the Temple, they had arrived home before its master.
“Where is Tiel?”
Ferdi asked the maid who received his coat. She folded it neatly, draped it over her forearm, bowed her head, and answered.
“Miss Tiel is resting in her room. Cassius is with her.”
“Father? Understood. I’ll go see her.”
Ferdi spoke. Iandros and Ludian likewise removed their coats and handed them to the maids before heading toward Tiel’s room.
The finest room in the Eberard household.
Ferdi, Ludian, and Iandros all believed it was only natural that Tiel should receive such accommodations.
Tiel was the benefactor of Eberard, and she was precious to everyone in equal measure.
But now such treatment would become unfamiliar to her. Ferdi and Ludian could not accept that reality.
How could they, having raised their youngest sister in Asterian?
Their sister, raised on only the finest things in the world, dressed in the most exquisite fabrics, and given the most precious affection. They could not bear the thought of her being treated any other way.
Rather than knock, they chose to open her door carefully. Ludian grasped the handle.
Tiel’s maid, Lia, came hurrying from a distance, her expression slightly startled as she spoke gently.
“Miss Tiel is sleeping……! If you enter now, you might wake her.”
“Just want to see her face and leave.”
At Ferdi’s firm words, Lia nodded and stepped aside. Ferdi, Ludian, and Iandros entered the room.
The first thing they saw was a darkened chamber.
Tiel did not care much for darkness; even when sleeping, she kept a lamp lit.
The maids were well aware of this and managed her bedroom carefully—they would slightly part the curtains to let moonlight in and keep a lamp burning.
But now Tiel’s room was pitch-black.
It could not be blamed on the Eberard maids’ ignorance, for there were quite a few Asterian servants present as well.
Yet…….
They felt something amiss and moved closer to Tiel’s bed.
Beside Tiel’s bed stood a tall man. They recognized him instantly from the back of his head.
“Father?”
Ludian whispered, lowering his voice. But Cassius did not turn; he simply gazed at Tiel.
“Father?”
Ferdi called again. Cassius tilted his head and glanced at them briefly.
“Shh. Stay quiet and look there.”
Cassius pointed at Tiel. Three pairs of eyes turned toward her at once.
Tiel lay peacefully on her bed, and beside her, Cassius’s Salamander flared—whoosh!—burning softly to dimly illuminate Tiel’s side.
But what Cassius meant for them to see was not the Salamander struggling to light the darkness.
“…….”
“……What is this?”
Iandros broke the silence.
They were momentarily robbed of words by the sight before them.
Upon Tiel’s belly floated the Light Fragment Fish she usually carried with her, swimming about in gentle drifts.
And chasing them was something like a black serpent, devouring the fish as it went.
When the fish were swallowed, they were reborn. Then the serpent swallowed them again.
Born anew, swallowed anew. The cycle seemed endless.
Ferdi instinctively reached out toward the serpent. But the serpent neither dispersed nor fled from his touch.
It was like a phantom itself.
The black serpent consumed the golden fish. The fish was reborn from Tiel’s fingertips, and the black serpent consumed it once more.
Consuming, being born, consuming, being born……. The endless cycle continued without pause.
Ferdi, Ludian, and Iandros paradoxically recognized this as some kind of cycle.
Yet there was something deeply unsettling about it.
One-sided consumption. Born again only to be consumed again. Born to be devoured, born to be devoured…….
“What in the world…… is this?”
Ludian asked, his eyes narrowing. Cassius shook his head to indicate he did not know.
How could he?
When Cassius first witnessed this sight, he had instinctively realized that the serpent meant to harm Tiel.
But beyond that realization, there was nothing he could do.
The serpent did not vanish under Cassius’s power, and he dared not fully use his Ability for fear Tiel might be injured.
Tiel’s fish seemed incapable of attack; they did nothing but flee and be swallowed.
What troubled him most was that Tiel’s fish never drifted more than a few inches from her.
As if they were trying to protect their sleeping master…….

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————