The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 258

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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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Special Side Story, Episode 8
Waaaahhh!
Waaaa!
Heuuuuh.
The cry she’d tried to swallow came spilling out anyway. Luna sobbed and sobbed.
But something was wrong.
‘Why isn’t anyone coming?’
Whether at the Imperial Palace or the Asterian Mansion, no one ever left Luna alone.
While she slept, someone always kept watch at her side, and whenever she woke from a nightmare like this and cried out, they’d come running to check on her.
But now.
‘Why won’t anyone come, whyyyy… heuuuh….’
Luna’s tears began to flow. Clear droplets streamed down her plump cheeks.
It was strange. There was no reason no one should come.
At least one person should have come to check on her.
Finally, Luna wiped away her tears and peered cautiously over the edge of the bed.
If no one was coming, she’d go find someone herself. She’d go and cling to them, crying about the terrible, frightening dream.
But.
“Heuuuh, but it’s scary down there tooooo……”
The space beneath the bed was pitch black.
Between the bedskirt and the bed legs, that dark void seemed to open its eyes and glare down at her.
In the dream too, a snake had lunged out from a place like that.
Luna shed tears in droplets, unable to bring herself to climb down or lie back.
‘S-should I lie back down?’
She tried lying down again carefully. But no matter how she thought about it, going down was terrifying.
‘No, I have to get out….’
Luna forced herself up.
If a snake might come looking for her at any moment, she couldn’t just lie there peacefully.
What should she do? What could she do?
After five minutes of this wavering, Luna suddenly sprang to her feet.
“I, I have to go……”
It was better to overcome her fear and leave than to stay alone.
Besides, if there was a snake under the bed, the bed itself wasn’t safe either!
‘S-sniff, gulp, if, if that’s the case, I have to face it bravely….’
Luna, the brave warrior and brave lion Beast-kin, legitimate princess of Crasion, held back her tears and quietly slid down beneath the bed.
Luna’s legs were short, her arms were short, and her body was small, so she couldn’t descend the way others did.
She had to slide more like going down a slide.
Whoooosh.
Luna managed to slide down under the bed and immediately snapped her head up.
‘H-have to escape quick!’
A black snake coiled up under the bed might attack her.
Luna scrambled out of the room as if fleeing. A door that someone had left slightly ajar—whether they’d left her room or entered it—made her escape all the easier.
Tap, tap-tap-tap!
Once outside her room, Luna ran without direction, searching for her mother’s chambers.
Whether it was the depth of night or the early morning when birds and moon alike slept, the corridor was empty of servants.
‘Mom, where is Mom?’
Finding her mother in the Imperial Palace had been easy.
You just grabbed anyone and said, ‘Take me to Mom!’
But at this late hour, there was no one to grab.
And the layout of the Asterian Mansion was unfamiliar. Luna walked barefoot through the dark corridor, her face twisted with despair.
Then, just then.
“Uh-uh, that, that is…?”
Luna’s head snapped up at the sight of a light in the distance.
A light!
Where there’s light, Mom must be.
Mom’s place always shines so brightly!
Luna ran toward the only bright thing gleaming in the darkness.
But Tiel wasn’t there.
This was in front of the Staircase Landing. Not where her mother’s chambers would be.
Instead.
“What is this……”
Luna blinked and reached toward the shining thing.
It was Cassius’s Salamander.
Luna had seen it before a few times. Just this afternoon, Ludian and Ferdi had shown her something similar.
Flames danced across the Salamander’s entire body, and its red eyes stared directly at Luna.
Luna reached out carefully and touched the Salamander.
“It’s not hot.”
Luna didn’t have a Fire Ability, yet the Salamander didn’t feel hot to her at all.
The child picked up the Salamander carefully and dropped down onto the cold floor with a soft thud.
She examined the Salamander from every angle and asked cautiously.
“Why are you out here?”
Normally, after an Ability is used, those ‘by-products’ dissolve naturally into the Ability and disappear.
So this Salamander should have vanished the same way, yet it was here like a stray cat.
Luna held the Salamander tight and looked around.
It occurred to her that maybe the Salamander’s master was looking for it.
A Salamander follows its master’s commands like a servant, so it would run to its master when called.
But Luna didn’t know much about Abilities.
Since she’d never owned an Ability herself, it wasn’t strange that she thought the Salamander might have ‘lost its master.’
“Should I find your master for you?”
It had to be one of four: Alpheus, Cassius, Ferdi, or Ludian.
So if she put her mind to it, finding the master wasn’t that difficult.
But then.
Tap, thump!
The Salamander bounded out of Luna’s arms and stood up on the floor.
Then it turned and scampered down the Staircase Landing.
Luna gasped and hurried after it. She usually found stairs a little frightening, but strangely, right now she wasn’t scared at all.
The Salamander bolted all the way to the Garden. Only when it reached the Fountain did it stop and wait for Luna.
“Huff, huff……”
Luna arrived moments later, breathless, and dropped down beside it with a soft thud.
A midnight run—far too harsh an exercise for a four-year-old.
And Luna had only been awake for ten minutes. She made groaning sounds and rubbed her legs.
“Why did you bring me all the way out here……”
The Salamander only tilted its head at Luna’s resentful complaint, offering no other response.
Instead, it rubbed its body vigorously against her cheek.
The warmth of the Salamander’s perfectly heated body spread across Luna’s cheek, which had grown cold in the night breeze, quickly restoring its warmth.
“Are you… worrying about me?”
The Salamander nodded as if it understood Luna’s words.
Luna’s face brightened at the gesture. If her tail had been visible, it would surely have stood up stiff with happiness by now.
“Hehe……”
Luna forgot all about the nightmare she’d had just moments ago and forgot about finding her mother. She simply stroked the Salamander.
It was far more intricate than what Uncle Ferdi and Uncle Ludian had made.
And even up close, it wasn’t hot. Luna instinctively knew this Salamander wouldn’t hurt her.
“You’re really amazing.”
As Luna murmured this, the Salamander puffed up proudly and nestled into her hands.
To any observer, it would have looked as though Luna was the one using an Ability.
In truth, Luna couldn’t use Abilities at all—it was the Salamander giving off light—but from outside, it appeared otherwise.
Luna carefully fidgeted with the Salamander and smiled brightly.
“Will I ever be able to summon a cool friend like you someday…?”
Someday, she wanted to do that.
But whenever Luna brought up anything related to Abilities, the adults’ expressions would sour slightly, and four-year-old Luna had begun to think that perhaps she would never be able to create such a wonderful companion.
That was Luna’s first lesson in giving up. She’d learned it considerably earlier than most.
As she turned these thoughts over in her mind, sad once more, that was when Luna reached up to wipe her eyes.
Rustle.
A sound came from the bushes.
The sound of something moving.

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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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