The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 242

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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 — Episode 10
Iandros wandered through the Night Market, purchasing countless items and gifting them to Tiel.
Tiel was flustered at first, but when she thought of it as a expression of Iandros’s affection for her, joy overwhelmed her, and she accepted everything he offered without refusal.
It wasn’t only merchandise he bought.
“Iandros, look at this. It looks delicious, doesn’t it?”
Tiel pointed to a skewered food being sold in the Night Market—chicken interspersed with cherry tomatoes and grilled to perfection.
“Two of those, please.”
After Tiel paid, the merchant handed over two chicken skewers.
Tiel offered one skewer to Iandros and watched as he took a bite.
“Iandros, is it delicious?”
“Yeah, it’s delicious. Have a taste yourself.”
The moment those words left Iandros’s lips, Tiel broke into a broad smile and bit into her own skewer.
The warm chicken skewer wasn’t quite as fine as the fare from the Asterian Mansion or the Imperial Palace, yet it was truly delicious!
“Delicious…!”
As Tiel marveled, Iandros, facing her across the shared meal, laughed.
They went on to sample a variety of other foods.
Being near the coast, there were countless street foods made from seafood, all of them fresh and delectable.
After exploring the seemingly endless Night Market from end to end, Tiel and Iandros turned to face each other, their faces flushed with excitement.
“That was such fun! There was so much to see, and so many surprising things. Thank you for bringing me here.”
“Don’t mention it—thank you for coming with me, Tiel. Who else would I bring to a place like this?”
Iandros extended his hand toward Tiel.
“Come, there’s somewhere else I want to take you.”
“Somewhere other than the Night Market?”
“Somewhere far more important than the Night Market.”
Iandros took hold of Tiel’s hand once more and led his betrothed away.
Though the sun had set and darkness enveloped their surroundings, this posed no obstacle to the two of them.
Where were they going? Tiel was curious about where Iandros was taking her, but she asked nothing.
A deep certainty filled her heart—that he would never lead her anywhere dangerous—alongside a strange anticipation that he was guiding her toward somewhere truly magnificent.
She sensed the honor guard following in their wake.
Holding Iandros’s hand, Tiel followed silently where he led.
Iandros stopped atop a gentle hill.
From here, the Night Market they had just visited was visible at a glance.
At a subtle signal from Iandros, one of the honor guards following behind spread soft cloth across the grass.
“Sit, Tiel.”
“Yes. Come sit too, Iandros. Your legs must ache after wandering around with me all this time…”
Iandros and Tiel settled onto the cloth, speaking in hushed, intimate tones.
They gazed down at the bustling Night Market and lost themselves in recollection.
‘Now that I think about it, I’ve done something like this before.’
Sitting in a place just like this, watching fireworks display.
The memory surfaced gently. Tiel found herself seized by an impulse to use her Ability and conjure light as she had then, filling the sky with radiance.
‘There’s no one nearby, and the Imperial Palace guards are watching the perimeter, so it should be fine, shouldn’t it?’
It was in that moment, as Tiel reached out her hand—
Bang!
Someone in the distance launched a firecracker skyward.
The firecracker burst apart as it reached the heavens, scattering into countless fragments of light.
A fireworks display!
“Oh…!”
Tiel gasped, her lips parting slightly in wonder.
Had Iandros brought her to this vantage point expressly to show her the fireworks?
Countless lights burst and cascaded across the night sky, their display too beautiful to turn away from.
“Wow, it’s really so beautiful……”
Tiel smiled radiantly, bringing both hands together before her heart.
By now, everyone present understood without need for words what Tiel was about to do.
Two fish sculpted from light bloomed like flowers between her palms, swimming upward into the night sky.
The two fish spiraled around each other, scattering fragments of light like starshine all around.
And finally, as they reached the heavens—
Burst!
The two fish collided and shattered, erupting in brilliant, luminous radiance.
Tiel’s light.
The light that had illuminated this sky countless times before.
The light that had driven back darkness again and again.
Everyone in the Night Market surely recognized Tiel’s light. After all, there was not a single beast-kin in the Crasion Empire who did not know of Tiel Asterian’s Ability.
Yet it mattered not.
When they had come to the Night Market, the reason they concealed their identities was that they had to interact ‘directly’ with the beast-kin there.
Moreover, if the Crown Prince and the Head of the Asterian Household had gone to the Night Market in their true identities, they would necessarily have brought their honor guard in close attendance, risking harm to those enjoying the market.
That was why they had hidden their identities—but the news that the Crown Prince and his betrothed, the Head of the Asterian Household, were currently residing at the Royal Villa had long since become common knowledge, so there was no need to conceal her Ability.
“How was that, Iandros?”
Tiel turned to face him, her smile brighter than the Ability she had just wielded.
It was then.
A fragment of light born from Tiel’s Ability fell between them, briefly illuminating Iandros’s face in brilliant radiance.
“…!”
And Tiel saw it.
Iandros’s face, flushed red exactly like hers had been in days past.
“Iandros…?”
The light faded swiftly, yet she could still see the flush lingering on his cheeks.
Tiel reached out tentatively and gently cupped both his cheeks in her palms.
“Iandros, right now……”
His pulse thrummed rapidly beneath her touch—from his cheeks to her hands, and from her hands to her own heart.
Tiel felt embarrassed, yet she did not wish to avert her eyes from his.
No—she wanted to gaze deeper, more clearly still.
‘What is he thinking?’
What thoughts occupied Iandros Crasion’s mind as she stared so intently into his eyes…?
Were they the same as hers?
Did his heart harbor the same feeling as hers?
A thousand thoughts swirled through Tiel’s mind. The fireworks display ceased abruptly, and silence descended on all around them.
In a quiet so profound that even their breathing could be heard, their heartbeats echoed loudly in their ears.
Yet Tiel could not tell whether it was her own heart thundering or his.
Then—
Iandros gently grasped Tiel’s hands and pressed his cheek firmly against her palms.
Though Tiel’s hands already rested against his cheeks, Iandros deliberately pressed harder, achieving a perfect, complete contact.
Thump, thump. Thump.
The sound of his heartbeat grew ever clearer.
As their two hearts’ rhythms mingled and their minds grew turbulent—
“Tiel, my betrothed.”
Iandros spoke.
Those handsome lips, which had been sealed a moment before, parted, and the mellifluous voice that Tiel so loved flowed forth.
Iandros’s emerald eyes held Tiel Asterian wholly within them.
Their gazes met.
“Thank you for being with me.”
Iandros spoke softly, his words barely a whisper.
“Thank you for knocking on my door that day, for trusting me and following, for letting me be by your side, for saving me from within my own Subspace……”
“……”
“Thank you, Tiel.”
It was then that Iandros knelt on one knee.
Tiel released the hand that had cradled his cheek and gazed at Iandros Crasion with wide, astonished eyes.
“Iandros…?”
Iandros was her Bonded Partner.
Her Imprinted Mate, the one she had pledged to for all their lives. Her one and only betrothed.
That betrothed now knelt on one knee before her, gazing up at her.
Iandros drew a small ring case from his pocket and opened it.
As the case opened, a beautifully crafted ring was revealed.
It was a diamond ring that sparkled with the same crystalline transparency as Tiel’s hair.
“I didn’t want to go through with some tedious wedding ceremony when the time came. I didn’t want to become that kind of ordinary man.”
Iandros laughed softly.
“I wanted to propose to you myself. I wanted to ask your permission directly, Tiel Asterian.”
Iandros took Tiel’s hand and brought it to his lips, pressing a kiss to the back of her delicate hand.
Then he raised his head and looked up at her, speaking slowly.
“Tiel, after I ascend the Imperial Throne, will you marry me?”
Iandros slipped the ring slowly onto Tiel’s slender finger.
“If you trust me and follow me once more, I will make you the happiest person in all the world.”
It was a confession sincere and ardent.
In that moment—
Bang!
The fireworks burst again. Countless lights adorned the night sky.
Tiel gazed upon Iandros’s face as he professed his love and proposed to her.
The face of a man in love—a betrothed who looked at her as though he had laid bare his truest heart and could offer still more if she desired.
Tiel knew she would never forget this day, this face, for as long as she lived.

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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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