The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 233

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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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Side Story Chapter 1
“Search every corner! Gather anything that could serve as evidence!”
“Bind every last person! Leave no one free!”
The Asterian knights surged through like a tidal wave, their thunderous shouts shaking the great manor of Nestian to its foundations.
The estate, which until now had known nothing louder than the occasional outburst from the old Head of Household, descended into chaos in an instant.
Some had already foreseen this and knelt without resistance, while others fled, unwilling to bear their ‘master’s’ crimes on their own shoulders.
Tiel watched those who knelt with quiet intensity.
Wondering if she might recognize any of the faces.
But.
‘Not a single familiar face.’
Had the servants Tiel remembered been driven out or found work elsewhere long ago?
Or perhaps some still remained among them, but Tiel simply couldn’t recall them.
Either way, she felt no particular regret at seeing no faces she recognized.
Tiel stood in the heart of the surging Asterian knights, her gaze fixed upon the great manor of Nestian.
The girl who had lived in Nestian’s cramped attic had returned, after fifteen long years.
“You are a disgrace to Nestian.”
“Tch, how unpleasant. You take after your mother so much…….”
Had they known? Those who had dealt such wounds to a child’s spirit without hesitation.
That the pitiful, wretched little thing they scorned and ignored and even sought to erase would return like this?
“If she resists, you may handle her roughly…….”
“Head of Household, as you instructed, we have ordered the knights not to destroy the manor. The Asterian knights will apprehend only the guilty, as commanded.”
The captain of the Asterian knight order bowed his head as he spoke. Tiel smiled softly and nodded.
“Thank you, but if necessary, feel free to tear it apart.”
“Yes, understood.”
Tiel gazed once more upon the manor of the Ducal House that had once stood shoulder to shoulder with Asterian and ruled this empire.
‘No one could have known that Nestian would come to this because of Grandfather’s greed.’
Had Thender not been consumed by desire, Nestian would still stand as an equal peer to Asterian among the Ducal Houses.
They would be remembered in history as beast-kin with Frost Binding Ability stronger than any, and the Black Leopards would never have set foot in this manor.
As Tiel turned this truth over in her mind, she brushed back her fallen hair and tilted her head.
‘Mm, my heart feels strange…….’
What Nestian had desired most was Tiel’s Ability.
Perhaps they had wanted to reclaim Tiel herself, the manifestation of her Light Ability.
In the end, it was their hunger for the Light Ability that brought them to ruin.
How absurd was that?
Tiel had once existed as Nestian’s possession.
Living quietly in a frigid attic corner where the warmth of any fire could not reach.
Had Thender not committed ‘such things,’ Tiel would have continued living there, and the Light Ability would naturally have become Nestian’s glory.
But Thender wounded Tiel’s spirit, scorned her, and ultimately murdered her.
In truth, Nestian’s downfall began from that very moment.
‘I wonder if they regret it?’
But Thender, as Tiel knew him, would not.
Even if Thender knew everything and returned to the past, he would treat Tiel the same way.
The world might change, every other person might change — but not him.
At that moment, someone approached and placed a hand upon Tiel’s shoulder.
He enfolded her shoulder with his broad, solid hand, and regarded her with a warm gaze.
“Tiel, you seem better than I feared.”
It was Cassius.
“Father.”
Tiel lifted her chin to meet her father. Two pairs of luminous golden eyes met in the air between them.
“I’m relieved that you seem well.”
Cassius did not ask Tiel what she was thinking, nor did he ask how she felt.
He simply stood beside her, as if to say that should she ever wish to flee, he would go with her.
“Yes, it’s better than I expected. I was a little worried before coming, but…… it’s better than I thought. I’m not even in a bad mood.”
At Tiel’s answer, Cassius laughed softly. He watched his daughter, who had grown so tall, with quiet pride.
Tiel was a proper Head of Household of Asterian.
But before that, she was his daughter.
***
Meanwhile, the Asterian knights continued to search the great manor of Nestian, hunting for ‘someone.’
It was obvious who they sought.
The very instigator who had brought all this about.
The Snow Leopards of Nestian, masters of the manor upon the Snowy Field who nearly plunged the Crasion Empire into ruin.
“Search every inch!”
The many Asterian knights still remembered that day vividly.
The day when the power of the legendary Evil God Orpheo had covered the land of Arcadia.
The day when the serpent circle conjured by the Calamity God Seck floated up into the sky, and the ceiling of heaven began to crack like thin glass.
That day, the knights present here nearly lost their lords, nearly lost their friends, nearly lost their parents, nearly lost their children.
Had Tiel not stopped the Evil God Orpheo’s plan that day, they would not be standing here now, intact.
Even now, the memory made their spines run cold.
Of course, not everything that happened that day was entirely Nestian’s fault.
But.
‘No one can deny the fact that they played a major role in awakening the Evil God Orpheo.’
It was indeed so.
The collusion between Rowen Nestian and the person known as Je was already common knowledge among the people of the Crasion Empire.
Moreover, had it not been discovered that when Asterian pursued Je, Nestian had hidden them?
Nestian was Je’s accomplice.
A fool repeating the very mistake some idiot from Everard had once made!
Thus, after all circumstances were resolved, Asterian, exercising the authority of the head of the Leopard clan, initiated an internal purge first.
And so now.
“We found her!”
Tiel and Cassius hurried toward the sound of that cry.
As the voices of the knights and the clamor grew closer, Tiel understood precisely where the sound was coming from.
Rowen’s chamber.
A place Tiel had never been able to enter before.
But that was no longer the case.
“H-h-h-huhhhhh…….”
Tiel observed Rowen Nestian, held by the Asterian knights, weeping.
The bedding lay rumpled at her feet, as though she had hidden beneath it moments before.
Tiel looked at Rowen.
“……Rowen.”
She called to her softly, but Rowen, as if deaf to Tiel’s voice, kept her head down and wept.
Dark circles hung beneath her chin, as though she had not slept since that day.
Her cheeks had hollowed and her frame grown skeletal — it was difficult to believe she was a living person at all.
Perhaps for this reason, Rowen did not resist as the Asterian knights lifted her and dragged her away.
Later, from accounts given by servants, it was said that since that day, Rowen had been tormented by terrible nightmares.
Consequently, Rowen’s mental state could hardly be called sound.
“Stop, stop!!”
Rowen let out a scream.
She looked desperately distressed.
It was perhaps a natural consequence of having borne the power of the Evil God Orpheo for so long.
In Rowen’s chamber, one travel bag was also discovered, as if thrown by someone.
It was packed full of Rowen’s clothing. Some were torn in anger and no longer intact.
Tiel gazed at the travel bag for a moment.
Had she been trying to flee?
Rowen alone, in such a distraught state, could never have managed to leave.
The question was soon answered.
Cornelia Nestian had not been found.
According to the servants’ testimony, she had packed clothing and jewels into a large travel bag and fled.
In doing so, she had wanted to take Rowen with her, but Rowen’s condition was too poor, so she had left her behind.
“Ugh! Let go!”
And she who had abandoned Rowen was captured not long after at a port town nearby.

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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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