The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 263

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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 13
“Next to Runa?”
Cassius squinted, looking bewildered.
Salamanders fundamentally never strayed far from their master, and even when they did, they lingered near places where the same flame energy could be felt.
Yet Runa possessed no Flame Ability whatsoever, nor could she conjure even the smallest spark—so why was the Salamander lingering there?
“My… next to Runa?”
Tiel also looked startled, setting down the teacup she’d been sipping.
She knew well enough that the Salamanders meant no harm to Runa, so her concern didn’t stem from that.
But why was that Salamander following Runa around? Simply because she was a child and it wanted to look after her?
“That child is rather peculiar.”
“Indeed, peculiar. My power being what it is, she won’t come to harm from the creature, but…”
Cassius had always been prone to worry. It had been that way since he raised seven-year-old Tiel with such tenderness.
Sometimes that concern bordered on overprotection, but since it sprang from affection and love, no one held it against him.
Tiel felt the same way.
“Yes. Please don’t worry too much, Father.”
Tiel smiled softly.
“That Salamander may have gained a rather unusual ability, but it was born from Father’s Ability and reborn anew through my power—it would never harm Runa.”
There was no possibility of that.
After all, no one cherished and loved Runa as deeply as Cassius and Tiel did.
That Salamander surely understood their hearts.
“Perhaps it wants to play with Runa? Or perhaps to comfort her?”
“I couldn’t say. That creature has been beyond my control for some time now.”
Ferdi interjected into their conversation, gripping Tiel’s shoulder.
“If it were any other child, they might have wept. Salamanders do have a rather unsettling appearance, after all.”
“…A Salamander?”
Tiel blinked, as though unable to agree. Unsettling in appearance? Where?
Cassius’s Salamanders blazed so intensely that you could barely make out their forms at all.
Despite that, Tiel had always found them adorable, so she couldn’t bring herself to agree with Ferdi.
“Hmm, you don’t think so? I rather did.”
“From the moment I first saw a Salamander, I felt drawn to it. Since Runa is my daughter, she must take after me in that respect.”
Tiel’s first encounter with a Salamander had been in the Underground Chamber.
Lost and weeping in that dark place, she had been found by one of Cassius’s Salamanders. Was that why? Tiel had always been fond of them, unreasonably so, without reason.
“I’m grateful that the Salamander is so attentive to Runa. It warms my heart.”
“Why?”
“Because Runa feels loneliness quite keenly. If the Salamander keeps her company, she won’t have to be lonely.”
Of course, the Salamander wouldn’t be able to follow them all the way to the Imperial Palace.
Since Salamanders were born from the Flame Ability itself, they would only feel at ease near those who possessed it.
But as long as it played with Runa during their stay in Asterian, the child could get through those days without feeling quite so alone.
Then, at that moment—
Someone knocked urgently on the door.
Ferdi ordered them to enter in puzzlement, and a maidservant rushed in with a panicked expression.
“Huff, huff—Cassius! Tiel!”
“…!”
Everyone in the room caught sight of the maidservant’s face and realized something grave had happened. Cassius, Ferdi, and Tiel’s expressions darkened in an instant.
“What is it?”
“Well, you see, Miss Runa—!”
The maidservant spoke with her hands clasped tightly.
The moment Runa’s name left the maidservant’s lips, all three of their hearts lurched in unison.
Tiel’s complexion deteriorated with visible speed. She grabbed the maidservant in alarm and demanded, “Where is Runa? Where is she?”

***
“Do you like water?”
Having heard that Raven was a crow Beast-kin, Runa asked him this question.
“I heard that bird Beast-kin like water.”
From what she’d been told, bird Beast-kin were extremely fastidious and enjoyed bathing twice a day.
So Raven must like water too. With that thought, Runa took hold of his sleeve.
“You too, Raven?”
“Yes, I do like it.”
“Bathing, or just looking at it?”
“Both.”
“Come with me then.”
Runa pulled Raven along by his sleeve. As he was being led, Raven glanced back over his shoulder.
The maids of Asterian and the Imperial Palace guards were watching Raven and Runa from a distance.
They couldn’t approach too closely because Runa grew upset when they did, but they were certainly keeping watch.
As Raven turned to look back with an uncertain expression, one of the guards signaled to him.
It meant he could follow the princess. Only then did Raven relax and follow Runa.
“Look at this!”
What Runa showed Raven was a vast pond.
It was a newly dug pond, wide enough that small rowing boats could be set afloat upon it, with a statue standing proudly in its center.
The statue depicted a young snow leopard cub, and though this was the Black Leopard Clan’s estate, no one asked why there was a statue of a snow leopard here.
Everyone knew who that snow leopard was.
The statue, showing a small snow leopard cub sitting with its tail wrapped around itself, was so exquisitely and beautifully crafted that it drew gasps of admiration.
While Raven was captivated by the statue, Runa—who had been holding his sleeve—vanished.
“Oh, Your Highness!”
Startled, Raven looked around for Runa.
And the boy’s eyes widened.
“What…?”
“Myaow.”
Runa, having shifted into her Beast-kin form out of joy, was rolling around near the pond in the shape of a lion cub.
Seeing grass cling thickly to Runa’s lustrous fur, Raven dropped to a crouch with a flustered expression.
Then he carefully reached out and brushed the grass from her coat.
Had it been anyone else, they would never have dared touch Runa’s body so casually.
No matter how young, Runa was the princess of Crasion.
But Raven was only five years old, and though he understood that Runa held an exalted position, his desire to brush the grass from her fur took precedence in his heart.
Of course, some of the knights watching from afar were surprised, but they knew that neither the Emperor nor the Empress would reproach a boy tenderly brushing away the leaves, and so they made no move to stop him.
“Your Highness, if you roll around like this, your fur will get dirty…”
Despite Raven’s flustered attempts to pick off the leaves, Runa paid him no mind and placed her front paws on his lap with a soft thud.
“Myaung!”
“Are you happy?”
“Purr!”
“…I’m glad.”
Runa tilted her head. The gesture seemed to ask, ‘Aren’t you happy?’
Raven, realizing that Runa had brought him here deliberately to lift his spirits, smiled softly.
“I am happy too, thank you.”
The princess is a kind person.
Does she resemble the Empress, who was said to have a gentle disposition? Or is it simply because she is still so young?
For a moment, Raven thought of Ludian, who had taken him in, and realized that the Asterian gift for caring for and loving others was perhaps simply their nature.
While Raven quietly admired the pond, Runa bounded toward its edge with quick hops.
Her legs were still short, so even as a lion Beast-kin, she bore no resemblance to a dignified adult—she looked far more like a puppy or kitten.
“Your Highness! Come along with me!”
Raven jumped to his feet and chased after Runa. The Salamander that had been circling nearby followed in their wake.
Delighted, Runa bounced in place, then dipped her fluffy front paws into the water’s surface, then withdrew them—repeating this over and again.
The image of a small, round-faced lion cub was reflected on the transparent water’s surface.
Enchanted by the sight, Runa gazed at it for a moment, then turned to show it to Raven—but that was when it happened.
Her foot caught.
In an instant, Runa’s body tilted. She blinked, not yet understanding what was happening.
As her body slowly began to fall and startled Runa stretched out her front paws—
“Your Highness!”
Raven was rushing toward her in a panicked scramble.

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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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