The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 215

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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 215
Tiel opened her eyes in the darkness.
But she did not panic. By now, darkness had become so sickeningly familiar.
Darkness had endlessly tried to swallow Tiel whole. This was not the first time she had been trapped in it.
‘Can I use my Ability?’
The surroundings were pitch black, with nothing visible, but her hands and feet were not bound.
Tiel tried to use her Ability. A small flame flickered to life above her pale palm.
She attempted to strengthen it and brighten the space around her, but failed.
‘This is all I can manage, it seems.’
Even that dimmed as if it might extinguish at any moment.
As Tiel had grown, she had learned several things about her Ability—one of them being that she could not use it freely under certain circumstances.
For instance, when she was with Rowen, or situations like this one….
‘When trapped in darkness.’
In such circumstances, she could not command her Ability at will.
Was it because the power of Lucette and the power of the Evil God Orpheo stood at opposing poles?
Tiel rose to her feet carefully, protecting the small flame she had managed to kindle from being snuffed out.
And yet.
“I can’t feel the ground beneath my feet at all.”
It was as though she floated suspended in empty air. There was no solid earth beneath her soles, only the sensation of treading on emptiness itself.
[Of course not—you’re not standing on ground right now.]
Then, that ghastly voice echoed from the darkness again. Tiel spun around in alarm.
“W-who are you?”
The small flame in her hand was not bright enough to illuminate anyone at a distance, so it only wavered across Tiel’s own startled face.
[Do you know where you are right now?]
‘It’ spoke. Tiel kept her mouth shut and shook her head.
How could she know where she was when she couldn’t see even one step ahead?
Only one thing was certain: the place where she now stood was not an ordinary space.
Such pitch darkness was impossible for any Beast-kin to create. And if what that ‘voice’ had just said was true….
‘It said I’m not standing on ground.’
All Beast-kin born on this earth walk upon the ground.
It was an obvious law of nature, an immutable truth that needed no explanation. Yet not standing on ground?
Then the place where Tiel was imprisoned must not be an ordinary location, but rather a specific space created with deliberate intention by someone.
Like Iandros’s Subspace, for instance.
‘Could this be the Crown Princess’s Subspace?’
Tiel’s eyes changed. At that, the voice hiding within the darkness erupted in laughter.
[Clever! No wonder you managed to survive for twenty-two years!]
In that moment, something emerged from the darkness. Tiel narrowed her eyes to see it more clearly.
And the moment it drew close enough to her face, the small flame hovering above her palm wavered precariously, as if about to die.
“Ah!”
[Look closely.]
Yet Tiel could see the face of the ‘thing’ right before her eyes distinctly.
“…!”
Because it had thrust its face directly into hers!
They were so close their noses nearly touched. Tiel felt her heart thundering violently in her chest.
It pounded so fiercely that she could hear the beating in her own ears.
[Surprised?]
A man with a blackened face whispered.
Tiel stared, wide-eyed, at the face thrust abruptly before hers.
The face was as dark as if wearing a mask, but what was strange was that not only the skin but every part of the body—including the whites of the eyes—was pitch black.
Tiel instinctively recognized this as the appearance of Orpheo.
“You are….”
[Yes, this is the first time I’ve shown this face to anyone. Though this isn’t my ‘true’ form either, but….]
Orpheo laughed wickedly. Even the teeth and gums visible between the lips were black. Tiel felt her entire body break out in gooseflesh at the sight of that endlessly dark visage, yet she could not flee.
Her body had stiffened; she could not move from where she stood.
[As you’ve probably noticed, this is not an ordinary space. It’s one specially created by the First Princess of Crysion—for you alone….]
“The First Princess of Crysion….”
[Yes. She is pouring all her strength into realizing our grand plan. And in doing so, she created this separate space just for you. We couldn’t place you in our space, after all.]
Though Tiel didn’t know what ‘space’ they meant, she was briefly grateful that she had no desire to be part of it anyway.
[I’ve tried so many methods to kill you. You may have sensed it, but you must have overcome countless crises as you grew.]
‘I did sense it….’
Orpheo had made obvious attempts to kill Tiel many times over. When she was small, she had dismissed them as mere nightmares, but now that she was grown, she understood clearly.
They were no nightmares. They were tricks Orpheo had used to murder her.
[For our plan to be fully realized, you must die. But you cannot die completely—there must remain ‘light.’ That is why.]
Tiel did not fully understand what Orpheo meant, but she listened intently nonetheless.
[So we stole your Ability and created a replica like you. We crafted a ‘light’ we could hold in the palm of our hand and mold. You are no longer needed—you need only vanish from this world….]
The figure drew its face back carefully, then thrust it forward again abruptly.
Tiel bit back a scream.
Not a man, but—
Orpheo now wore a woman’s face. Like the man’s before, every part of the body was pitch black.
Yet despite this, the woman was strikingly beautiful. Her face held something that seized the eye.
And the moment Tiel beheld that face, she felt an aching, overwhelming longing.
The face bore a striking resemblance to her own reflection in the mirror, and it resembled Ferdi and Ludian as well—and most crucially, it was identical to the portrait hanging in the Asterian Mansion.
Rena Nestian.
“…Mother!”
Tiel moved her stiff tongue and called out to her mother. The woman’s face that Orpheo wore was unmistakably her mother’s.
There was no mistaking it. Blood runs deeper than water. A child does not forget her parents!
[But killing you has not been easy. I commanded my faithful servant to kill you. But after giving the order, I realized….]
Orpheo spoke in Rena Nestian’s voice. Each time Rena’s face twisted as Orpheo spoke of ‘killing’ her, Tiel felt sharp pangs of pain in her heart.
[With their power, it would take decades—no, centuries—to kill you. It seemed faster to wait for you to die of old age….]
“….”
[So I created this space.]
Orpheo smiled broadly in Rena’s face. Tiel saw her mother’s face beaming for the first time in her life—and it was the face of an Evil God, which was agonizing beyond words.
Orpheo drew its face very close, speaking with evident pride.
Among the three siblings, Tiel bore the strongest resemblance to Rena Nestian. Now, with the grown Tiel and Rena’s faces pressed together, a strange scene unfolded—as if divided by a mirror.
[You will not be able to take a single step beyond this space. If I cannot kill you, I can imprison you. I can crush that tiresome ‘light’ inside you with overwhelming force and lock it away…. I’ve thought of this before, but at that time my power was insufficient.]
Orpheo whispered.
[But now I have enough strength. I will confine you here for all your days. You will neither die nor live, and you can never escape of your own will until someone frees you. And yet… poor child of Lucette.]
Orpheo, wearing Rena Nestian’s face, gently caressed Tiel’s cheek.
[Who will ever free you from this place?]

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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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