The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 261

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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 11
“Raven, hello!”
Luna ran over in a patter of footsteps and greeted him. Raven bowed awkwardly.
“Good day, Your Highness.”
“Raven, come here.”
At Ludian’s gesture, Raven carefully stepped past Luna.
Though the order of the princess Luna was important, here Ludian’s command—as his knight—carried greater weight.
Raven was only seven years old, but he was a clever boy who understood what mattered most.
“Luna wants to play with you.”
“…Pardon? With me, sir?”
“That’s right. So look after her well, keep her safe. If it looks like she’s heading anywhere dangerous, stop her.”
Raven’s eyes darted around, gauging the black-clad guards in the room.
Luna was Crasion’s sole princess and Asterian’s cherished granddaughter.
And they were going to let such a precious child play with him?
Ordinarily, nobles did not permit their children to mingle with commoners.
The difference in station was natural. How much greater, then, must be the gap between Princess Luna and Raven, a commoner?
It was heaven and earth apart.
Of course, nobles were sometimes assigned commoner companions.
But could such a thing truly be called friendship?
A noble child acquired a commoner friend for one reason alone: to serve as a plaything.
Raven knew this well, and so he could not answer at once.
‘Is this a test?’
Sweat beaded on his brow. He struggled for words, weighing each carefully.
But as Raven hesitated, unable to find an answer, Tiel stepped in.
“I’m not trying to torment you. If it makes you uncomfortable, I don’t want to force it.”
Given Luna’s station as Crasion’s princess, the commoner boy would naturally struggle to answer readily.
“So you can speak freely.”
Raven looked up at Tiel. Her soft voice was paired with eyes full of concern as she regarded him.
Raven had seen eyes like that once before.
The day he was discovered rummaging through discarded food on the street, found by Ludian.
Ludian had worn a look very much like Tiel’s in that moment.
It was a warm gaze. More than that, it was the look of someone incapable of cruelty.
Courage returning to him, Raven slowly turned to regard the little princess Luna.
Luna stood with her hands clenched tightly in Tiel’s skirts, her expression falling slightly, worried that Raven might refuse to play with her.
Watching her thus, Raven shook his head.
“No, Your Majesty, I’m grateful. I would very much like to spend time with the princess. I’ll make certain she comes to no harm.”
At Raven’s earnest words, Tiel broke into a bright smile. Joy bloomed instantly across Luna’s face.
Ferdi, watching quietly, smiled as well. Only Cassius and Alpheus remained unmoved.
They were older than Tiel, Ludian, and Ferdi, and had lived far longer within the nobility.
To their eyes, the sight of a princess wishing to play with a commoner seemed decidedly odd.
Yet what mattered more was what Luna herself desired, so Cassius and Alpheus said nothing.
Besides, as mentioned, it was not entirely unheard of for a young noble to gain a commoner companion. Though in such cases, the word “servant” suited far better than “friend.”
In any case, Luna’s expression grew remarkably bright now that she had secured the chance to play with Raven.
Grab.
Luna seized Raven’s wrist and spoke with a wide smile.
“Then let’s go to my chamber.”
“Yes, I… yes?”
“I have something to show you!”
Luna nodded enthusiastically.
Raven wrestled with whether he ought to simply follow Luna out. He was Ludian’s servant, a member of Asterian’s household.
Should he not take proper leave, offering his respects before departing? Yet no one in the room seemed to expect such formality.
They appeared only to wish Raven to follow Luna as quickly as she desired. In the end, he left without properly excusing himself, trailing after her in awkward haste.
Tap.
The two children departed, and Cassius, left alone with the others, stared after them with a grave expression.
“Tiel…”
“What about Tiel?”
“She was fully grown before she prepared to leave my arms, but Luna, that child, is already…?”
As Cassius brooded deeply, Alpheus’s brow furrowed sharply behind him.
“You fool, what are you saying about a child not even ten years old? She’s simply fascinated because she’s seeing another child her own age besides her brother for the first time!”
Alpheus’s rebuke was swift.
Yet Cassius, heedless, continued to watch Luna’s retreating figure as she trotted away holding Raven’s hand.
Before Raven had appeared, Luna had clung to Alpheus, Cassius, Ferdi, and Ludian in turn. But since laying eyes on Raven, she had ceased doing so.
It was a loss, somehow, that stung.
“It’s all right—I have my own daughter, after all.”
“…?”
“Tiel, shall we have tea together? It’s been far too long.”
At Cassius’s words, Tiel smiled brilliantly.
Soon Asterian’s servants brought forth an elegant spread: delicate teacups, fragrant leaves, and sweet pastries arranged in abundance.
***
“Look at this.”
Back in her chamber, Luna carefully withdrew something from the satchel she carried.
Raven examined it closely: a Salamander, its entire body ablaze with dancing flame.
“Your Highness, that’s dangerous!”
In that instant, Ludian’s warning echoed in his mind—that he must stop her if she seemed about to do something perilous.
But how could he stop her now? She was already holding it in both hands!
The Salamander gazed at Raven with a bewildered expression, cradled in Luna’s grasp.
“This one? When I asked him a moment ago, he said it belonged to Grandfather.”
Whether the Salamander was already famous, everyone in the household seemed to know of it.
“But it likes me, I think—it follows me everywhere. Watch this!”
Luna set the Salamander down at a distance and scurried over to sit beside Raven.
Then.
Whoosh-pop!
The Salamander Luna had placed at the far end of the room scurried back swiftly and nestled itself into her arms.
Luna laughed with delight as though she possessed the whole world.
“Remarkable indeed, Your Highness.”
It recognizes her and follows her like a person might. Does this young princess have some special gift?
It was as Raven pondered the Salamander thus that Luna spoke again.
“But Raven, why were you doing that back then?”
“…Pardon?”
“In the garden, when we met that night. Why did you wear such a gloomy face?”
Luna asked, her words precise and clear.
Though it had been a brief moment, she had seen it—the shadow of worry on Raven’s face that night.
And an ordinary child does not venture outside at night simply because she suddenly wishes to view the garden.
Piecing it all together, it was clear that Raven had something troubling his heart, or that his spirits had been dampened.
“Ah, it is nothing worthy of your concern, Your Highness. I was merely…”
“Why not? I want to hear.”
Perhaps Luna could help him resolve it.
After all, even as young as she was, Luna was quite the problem-solver within the Imperial Palace.
Her mother’s worries, her father’s troubles—a single clever suggestion from Luna would settle them!
Though she had not been able to address her mother’s concerns about her Ability, she had managed the rest quite well, or so she believed.
Raven glanced at Luna uncertainly before slowly opening his mouth.
“It is an embarrassing matter, Your Highness—not something fit to share with you.”
“Still, I want to hear it.”
When Luna persisted with quiet firmness, Raven began to speak.
“The truth is, I was thinking about Ludian.”
“Uncle?”
“Yes. He took me in, saying I seemed to have talent, but…”
Raven smiled sadly.
“The truth is, I have no talent at all.”
It was a remark of such maturity it seemed impossible it came from a boy of only seven years.
And more than that, it carried a note of sorrow.

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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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