The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 217

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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 217
Tiel crouched in the darkness. Beyond the wavering light, she caught glimpses of her torn dress hem—ripped when they’d dragged her here, scraping against the floor.
After a moment’s thought, Tiel gripped the ragged edge of her dress and tore away the fluttering portion cleanly.
Rip!
The hem came free.
‘If I leave it like this, it could catch on my feet when I escape later and trip me up.’
Tiel was certain she would break free from this place. So she was preparing in advance for that moment.
She refused to be anxious as Orpheo wished her to be.
She didn’t discard the torn hem but instead wound it around her wrist. Perhaps she would find a use for it later.
‘Now that I think about it, the Salamander…….’
Had it failed to follow her? Tiel checked the inside of her arms, and finding them empty, her expression dimmed slightly.
‘I hope nothing bad happened to it.’
She thought that if the Salamander had been with her, she would have felt less alone.
‘I wonder if the others are alright. They must be worried about me…….’
Separate from her complete lack of fear in this darkness, the fact that she couldn’t know whether Iandros, Ferdi, Ludian, and her beloved family were safe made Tiel feel a creeping anxiety.
It was then.
“Hm?”
Tiel lifted her head. She thought the small light she was emitting was the only source, but far in the distance, she glimpsed something—a tiny glimmer.
“There’s another light in this place?”
This space was filled with Orpheo’s Darkness—a realm of shadow designed to extinguish Tiel’s light completely.
Yet light existed here? Tiel sprang to her feet.
She moved carefully, keeping the small flame in her palm from extinguishing.
Tap.
Tap-tap.
Tap-tap-tap-tap…….
But soon her pace quickened. She ran toward the small light visible before her eyes.
She hadn’t been mistaken. It was very faint and small, but unmistakably light—just as the small light she now held in her palm was faint and dim, yet undeniably light.
There was no mistaking it. This place was nothing but darkness, and in that darkness, only this one thing shone.
Tiel ran until she was breathless. She couldn’t tell how far away that light was.
Nor could she gauge how vast this space was. She stopped running to catch her breath, gasping.
She felt as if she’d been running for a solid thirty minutes, yet the light hadn’t come any closer.
“Just how far does this place extend?”
How vast a prison had she been locked in? Unable to judge distance in the darkness or identify what that light was, Tiel ran again.
After who knew how long, Tiel finally reached that “light.”
The small, faint light took the form of some kind of jewel.
‘No, that’s not quite right.’
This small jewel was emitting the light itself. Tiel bent forward to examine it more closely. Her pale, wavy hair spilled down across her shoulders.
The jewel appeared to be an exquisitely cut Emerald. Despite its size, the meticulous craftsmanship suggested it was no ordinary treasure.
After staring at the jewel for a long time, Tiel cautiously extended a finger and tapped it gently.
As her fingertip made contact with the jewel floating at eye level, its light flickered uncertainly.
“Ah!”
Tiel jerked her hand away in surprise. The jewel immediately resumed its steady glow.
“Is touching it not allowed?”
Tiel examined it with her eyes alone. One corner of the Emerald was slightly chipped, yet it remained beautiful nonetheless.
“But here……. It looks like something was carved into it originally.”
Tiel murmured, staring at the base of the jewel. Along the edge of the broken section, a small gouge was visible.
The gouge followed a deliberate pattern, and Tiel easily recognized that someone had intentionally inscribed it.
“What was written on it?”
Her legs ached from standing. Tiel crouched down and wrapped her arms around her knees, looking up at the glittering jewel.
‘Why is this here?’
Orpheo had said this space was created to confine her.
A Subspace that the Princess had directly created to lock Tiel away in absolute darkness…….
Then why was there a glowing jewel here? Orpheo wouldn’t have placed it deliberately. He seemed to wish for Tiel to go mad in complete darkness.
Orpheo was the one who waited most eagerly for the small light Tiel was now emitting to extinguish. He couldn’t possibly have put something like a glowing jewel here.
Then perhaps…….
‘Could it belong to the Princess?’
Tiel had come and gone from Iandros’s Subspace as if it were her own home.
His Subspace sometimes became a jewel box holding fragments of his memories.
‘No, not sometimes.’
Tiel had once glimpsed Iandros’s memories. More precisely, the Subspace had “shown” them to her.
Thanks to this, Tiel learned why Iandros’s Subspace—unlike the Princess’s—was confined to a single “manor.”
Subspaces reveal the caster’s memories at their own whim and sometimes pull the caster into those memories.
Could this jewel be something like that?
A tiny Memory Fragment hidden in this infinite darkness created by the Princess?
Tiel swallowed and carefully brought her finger to the jewel again.
The jewel’s light flickered uncertainly once more. But this time she didn’t flinch. Instead, she slowly poured her Ability into it.
The small light that had been faintly illuminating her side gradually dimmed, but she paid it no mind.
‘Mm, it’s alright…….’
Things in darkness inherently crave light.
Even those capable of producing their own light are no exception. In such suffocating darkness, everyone yearns for light, desires it…….
‘I hope you’re not alone.’
Tiel thought this jewel might somehow tell her something about the Princess.
Warmth emanated from where Tiel’s fingertips touched.
The warmth spread along the edges of the finely crafted jewel and pooled inside the transparent Emerald like spring water.
It wasn’t a harsh light. But it was light enough to envelop the Emerald. Each time Tiel blinked, the shadow of her long lashes fell across her cheek.
Had the Princess created this space recently, just for Tiel?
Or had she possessed it since long ago?
Either way, it was clear that this Emerald had been alone in this darkness for quite a long time.
Tiel’s light slowly spread in all directions, and the Emerald resonated with a brilliant green glow.
That light didn’t resemble the verdant green of broad meadows or dense forests, but rather something sharp and ominous, as if laced with poison—yet it soon became infected by Tiel’s light, transforming into a peaceful verdant hue.
Tiel slowly poured her light into it for a very long time. She had no sense of how long she’d been doing this.
The surroundings were dark, and her sense of time had long since vanished.
Perhaps only five minutes had passed since she began using her Ability. Or perhaps five days had elapsed.
She couldn’t know how much time had truly passed, only that it felt as though a very long time had flowed by.
Then it happened.
The Emerald rose gently, drifting until it came to rest slowly in the center of Tiel’s palm.
There it sparkled brilliantly, no longer trembling uncertainly.
“Is it alright now?”
Tiel tapped the Emerald lightly with her fingertip.
And then.
“……!!!”
The ground beneath Tiel’s feet collapsed, and her body plummeted into nothingness. She gasped, eyes snapping wide open at the sudden shock.
And she clutched the Emerald tightly so as not to lose it.
Tiel fell once more into the endless darkness.
***
“…….”
The Princess of Krasia, once beautiful with her golden hair and Emerald eyes, lifted her head slowly.
“Is something the matter?”
A man standing beside her asked. The Princess blinked slowly, then gave a measured shake of her head.

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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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