The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 248

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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 16
Tiel told Olivier how delightful her travels with Iandros had been.
Olivier punctuated the telling with exclamations like “Really?” and “How wonderful!” and by the time the story ended, her eyes were shining.
“So when are you two getting married?”
Ferdi, sipping tea beside Olivier, raised an eyebrow.
“Why are you so curious? Shouldn’t your wedding come before Tiel’s?”
“Huh?”
Olivier turned with a bewildered expression. The tips of her ears had flushed slightly pink.
“That’s right, sister. It seems your wedding would come first……?”
Tiel knew that Olivier had a lover.
Stefano, the Head of the Wolfgang household and Olivier’s father, had always wished for his daughter to marry for love rather than political advantage, so the two were not bound by a political marriage.
Stefano had declared since Olivier was very young that he would see her married for love.
“With that personality, a political marriage won’t work. She’ll be divorced within a week. The only way she’ll make it longer is if both of them want the match.”
Stefano loved his daughter deeply, yet he could assess her with remarkable objectivity.
In any case, Olivier had begun courting thanks to her father’s convictions. Her intended was a goat beast-kin with a gentle nature, the sort of man who accommodated Olivier’s temperament in most things.
Tiel genuinely supported the two of them, and if Olivier married him, she was confident she would celebrate with enthusiasm.
As Olivier sipped her tea, she spoke in response to Tiel’s story.
“No, we’re going to wait a while.”
“Why?”
“The Imperial Wedding comes first, of course! That’s obvious.”
“Oh, because of us……?”
“Haha, honestly that’s just an excuse. I’d simply prefer to wait a bit. Marriage is about taking responsibility for another person’s life, and I’m still struggling to take responsibility for myself alone.”
Olivier spoke with the maturity of an adult. In her bearing there was no trace of the young lady who once shattered the walls of the Asterian Mansion.
“So we’re going to have ours later. But Tiel! When you get married, you’ll naturally invite me too, right?”
“It’s an Imperial Wedding, so invitations will go to everyone.”
“Not like that! I want to receive an invitation written directly by you.”
“Of course, sister. I’ll write an invitation myself and send it to you…….”
Tiel’s ears flushed slightly. The word “invitation” still felt unfamiliar to her.
Yet whenever something felt strange, she would glance at the ring on her finger, and her heart would settle into calm.
‘Iandros.’
It felt as though he were holding her hand.
And that feeling was truly, genuinely comforting.
***
Time passed.
In that interval, the trial was held, and Thender and Cornelia were imprisoned, while Rowen was confined to her residence.
But she was not confined to the Nestian Mansion. The Nestian Mansion had now passed into the Asterian’s possession.
Rowen was held in a small villa that had once belonged to Nestian. It was not an unkind arrangement.
Tiel attended the trial and observed their punishment with composure.
Did it pain her?
It did not seem so. They were paying the price for their sins.
Tiel could forgive everyone in the world, but not her grandfather Thender.
In the end, everything turned out well.
‘That’s something I can say only because it turned out well.’
What if it hadn’t?
What if Tiel had not met Iandros that day? What if she had not escaped to the Asterian Mansion?
Then Tiel would have died again, by her grandfather’s cold, merciless hand.
Each time she turned this fact over in her mind, her chest grew chill and her mind became strangely serene.
And when the trial ended, she felt that everything was finally over.
As though the blizzard that had tormented her for so long had at last ceased.
Such was Tiel’s thought as she left the courtroom.
‘Will the Snow Leopard Clan line end?’
Rowen had no children and was now incapable of marriage, so Tiel was the sole surviving bearer of the Snow Leopard Clan.
Tiel found herself hoping that if she and Iandros were to have children—if by chance they did—at least one of them would be of the Snow Leopard Clan.
Tiel had hated Thender and Nestian, not the Snow Leopard Clan itself.
Her mother had been of the Snow Leopard Clan, and so was she.
She had never denied the fact of her being Snow Leopard Clan, nor had she ever despised it.
Thus Tiel had come to hope that if she were to have a child, it would be born bearing the Snow Leopard form.
After the trial ended, Crasion became remarkably peaceful.
There were no particular incidents, no accidents—save that Tiel found herself overwhelmingly busy.
Having received a proposal from Iandros, there were countless matters to settle beforehand.
With Cassius’s help, Tiel methodically worked through the mountain of preparations.
The frequent visits of Iandros to the Asterian Mansion made the process feel effortless.
And after some time.
On a beautiful day when the sky was clear and the sunlight streamed in at just the right angle.
“Tiel!”
An excited voice called her name.
Tiel turned with a bright smile, her body moving with a graceful pivot.
The skirts of her dress, studded with tiny diamonds that glittered like starlight, swayed softly.
“Sister.”
Tiel stood in a grand hall of the Imperial Palace, attended by handmaidens.
The servants fussed over her dress, arranging and perfecting every fold.
Tiel, cradling an armful of beautiful flowers, smiled warmly at Olivier.
“Have you come to see me?”
“Of course! You’re so beautiful, Tiel. My baby is already getting married…….”
Olivier beamed and seized Tiel’s hand. Tiel clasped her silk-gloved hand in return.
Today was Tiel and Iandros’s wedding day.
And it was also the day of Iandros’s coronation.
An imperial coronation and wedding taking place simultaneously was unprecedented in Crasion’s history.
Yet Wilhelm did not discourage Iandros’s plan.
As a grandfather, he knew all too well how long Iandros had waited for this day.
Iandros was a man who had spent his life waiting for the moment he would become emperor, and for the moment he could be with Tiel for all his remaining days.
For him, there could be no delay whatsoever.
Tiel comforted the family members who came to see her in the bride’s chamber and wept with adult composure.
“Please don’t be so sad, brother…….”
“To me you’ll always be seven years old! I can hardly believe you’re getting married already…….”
Ludian continued, his expression somewhat melancholy. In contrast, Ferdi standing beside him wore an expression of complete calm and serenity.
Yet Tiel understood: it was Ferdi, not Ludian, who was more deeply troubled right now.
“But I’ve been an adult for quite some time now, brother. I’m hardly a little girl who needs to be carried about anymore.”
As Tiel smiled gently, Ludian nodded in agreement.
Ludian had long known this truth.
Tiel was no longer a child.
She had grown beyond recognition, become dignified enough to stand without family support, and learned to soothe her own heart.
Had she been a noblewoman of ordinary circumstances, she would have been married long ago.
But Ludian also understood that her wedding had been delayed until now precisely because of her unusual situation.
And yet.
‘What can one do about the regret?’
Ludian thought that Iandros and Tiel were truly perfect for each other.
They were an incomparably well-matched pair.
But that was beside the point.
Seeing one’s beloved younger sister married was a different matter altogether! His head and heart kept drifting in opposite directions.
Ferdi seemed to understand Ludian’s feelings, draping an arm across his shoulders.
“We understand, Tiel.”
And he spoke.
“You’re no longer a little snow leopard cub who needs to be carried about. We’ve known that for a long time.”
Ferdi’s words flowed smoothly.
“But even after you’ve grown old enough not to need carrying, we wanted to hold your hand so you wouldn’t stumble…….”
Ferdi smiled.
“Now you have someone to hold your hand, so it’s time we let that go. I’m sorry, but not sad, Tiel.”

“I will always be your brother and your family.”

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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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