The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 253

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Special Side Story 3
“I wish I had a beautiful Ability like Mother’s…….”
Luna murmured as she watched the glimmering fragments of light. Her face was full of smiles.
Tiel’s heart grew more complicated as she watched Luna grinning like that, as if imagining herself manifesting an Ability.
‘Could it be because of me?’
She couldn’t shake the thought.
Luna had inherited Iandros’s hair and eye color perfectly, but in most other ways she took after Tiel quite a bit.
So Tiel felt sorry, as though it were her fault that the child hadn’t manifested an Ability.
“Luna.”
Tiel gently stroked Luna’s back. Luna looked up at her.
“Hmm?”
“It’s all right if you don’t have an Ability. You have a warmer heart than anyone.”
Tiel saw her own childhood self reflected in her beloved daughter. That pitiful little girl who envied other people’s Abilities and wished she had her own.
And she carefully whispered to Luna the words her younger self had most wanted to hear.
“An Ability isn’t something you absolutely need to live. But a warm heart—that you do need.”
“Mm.”
“You have the most precious thing, Luna.”
Each time Tiel spoke, her Fish shimmered and glowed.
That Fish was created by Tiel’s Ability, and it was the closest thing to her heart.
So when the Fish shone like that, it meant Tiel’s words were truth, spoken with sincerity.
It became a thread of comfort for Luna, who had been troubled by the lack of an Ability.
Luna, who had been listening quietly to Tiel’s words, suddenly smiled brightly and threw herself into Tiel’s embrace.
“Yes! I love you, Mother.”
“Do you?”
“Yes, and even if I never get an Ability, I won’t be disappointed.”
As Luna nodded vigorously with a wide smile, Tiel stroked her hair.
The small lion ears poking out twitched up and down under Tiel’s touch, following her hand’s movement.
It tickled her palm.
And her heart.
***
‘Even if I never get an Ability, I won’t be disappointed.’
Luna had certainly said that.
At the time, it was not something she said to console Tiel. It came from the depths of five-year-old Luna’s genuine heart.
But a child’s heart is like a reed, swaying easily…….
‘Luna, you’re disappointed…….’
And it wavered again almost at once.
Luna murmured as she watched Ain’s impressive Ice Ball.
Ain, a Snow Leopard Humanoid, had his thick tail in his mouth, but he narrowed his eyes when he saw Luna.
“What’s wrong again?”
“…….”
“Why are you looking so dejected? Did Mother scold you?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“I envy you, Brother.”
Luna spoke in a slightly deflated voice, looking sullen.
“Should I make one for you?”
“If only I could make one too. Not having an Ability is so inconvenient, Ain.”
Among Beast-kin, strength is measured by the magnitude of one’s Ability.
In a society where those of high rank naturally possessed strong Abilities, Luna had none.
So even though she had grown up in the Imperial Palace drenched in her parents’ love, there were certain things she inevitably came to understand.
For instance, if things continued as they were and she never manifested an Ability, her life would become somewhat more difficult ahead.
Of course, as long as Tiel was there and Iandros remained steadfast as Emperor, no one would dare say anything to Luna.
But Luna felt an inexplicable sadness.
It might have been because she was a Lion Humanoid.
Lions as a race were mostly fiercely independent, and Luna was particularly so among them.
So Luna wished she could manage well on her own without Mother and Father—like Ain!
Fluff-flutter.
Luna’s ears and tail, as she sat slumped, fluttered as they wagged.
“But I’m not going to ask Mother about things like this anymore.”
“Why?”
“Mother looks sad.”
Luna’s tail wagged back and forth.
“It seemed like I was making Mother sad. So I’m not going to ask about these things anymore.”
“You’re acting awfully grown-up, Luna.”
Ain sprang to his feet.
His thick tail dragged across the floor.
“You don’t need to think about things like that. You’re allowed to ask Mother such things. And you’re allowed to make Mother a little sad sometimes. Do you know why?”
“I don’t.”
“Because you’re a child.”
Ain Crassion, who was merely two years older than Luna, pointed at Luna Crassion as he spoke.
“Don’t think about such things. You’re too young to think about becoming grown-up and worrying about other people’s feelings at the same time.”
“Ain…….”
“So go ahead and act spoiled all you want. And if Mother looks sad, this dignified big brother will go comfort her.”
“……?”
“Being grown-up is my job anyway, so when you act spoiled, then I’ll…… Ack!”
Luna bit Ain’s thick Snow Leopard tail with her sharp fangs.
Ain, suddenly having his tail bitten, jumped back in surprise.
“Oh my, Your Highness!”
“Young Master, are you all right?”
“Your Highness Luna! You mustn’t bite your elder brother! My goodness, your fangs have grown so much…….”
The handmaidens rushed over and separated Luna and Ain.
Ain stood with his fur bristling, cradling his tail and looking at Luna.
Luna, thinking that Ain was annoying, opened her eyes wide and fresh.
‘I thought he was worried about me, but he wasn’t!’
He wasn’t trying to comfort her at all—he’d been trying to use the moment when Luna was making Tiel sad to get closer to Tiel himself.
Thinking this, Luna touched her fangs to see how sharp they really were before being carried away in the handmaidens’ arms.
In truth, Ain’s words really had been meant to comfort his younger sister.
But Ain’s way of expressing himself was clumsy, and Luna was still too young to understand his true meaning.
Still, Ain wasn’t angry that Luna had bitten his tail. The handmaidens too sighed with relief after confirming there was no wound on it.
However.
“It’s gotten all wet…….”
The tail that Ain held in his mouth every day was now covered in Luna’s saliva.
“I, I’ll dry it right away for you, Young Master……!”
The handmaidens hurried off to fetch a cloth to wipe his tail.
***
“Tiel.”
Iandros, who had quietly approached from behind the lost-in-thought Tiel, wrapped his arms around her waist.
Tiel was slightly startled, her eyes widening as she turned to look at him.
Iandros’s golden eyes gleamed with unusual radiance, catching the slanting afternoon sunlight.
“Oh, Iandros!”
Iandros most enjoyed being called “Iandros” by Tiel.
Pleased by the mere fact that his name had been called, Iandros rested his chin on Tiel’s shoulder as he spoke.
“Surprised you?”
“Yes, I didn’t expect you to be here at this hour…….”
“I wanted to see you. But why are you standing here?”
Iandros reached his arms forward in front of Tiel and closed the window crack as he spoke.
“The wind is cold. Why aren’t you sitting inside?”
Tiel was a Snow Leopard Humanoid, so she would hardly be cold by a breeze like this, but Iandros doted on her as if she might melt away like an ice sculpture at any moment.
Sometimes she even felt his care was more protective than that of the Asterian people themselves.
Tiel gazed at her reflection in the closed window, then slowly turned back to Iandros.
“Just thinking about something, that’s all.”
“Is your mind troubled?”
“A little today, yes.”
“Let me guess—it’s about the little ones, isn’t it?”
When Iandros pronounced “little ones” in his affectionate voice, Tiel smiled brightly.
“You got it exactly right.”
“Inside this palace, only those two children could worry you like that.”
Iandros tickled Tiel’s waist as he asked.
“Tell me. Did the children get into trouble?”
“Oh, ah-ha-ha, no, they didn’t!”
“Then? Did one of them wake you from your afternoon nap again, insisting they don’t want to sleep alone?”
“No, and I wasn’t taking a nap anyway.”
Tiel turned her body and perched lightly on the window sill. Naturally, Iandros firmly gripped her waist to keep her from falling.
For a moment, their gazes met.
“Iandros.”
It was Tiel who spoke first.
“Yes, Tiel.”
Tiel carefully touched Iandros’s golden hair as she continued.
“Luna seems quite troubled lately.”
“Luna?”
“Yes, I think the fact that she doesn’t have an Ability is bothering her.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————