The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 44
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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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Episode 44
“What a commotion.”
At Cassius’s rebuke, the two brothers fell silent and stopped in their tracks.
“There’s a Wolfgang carriage at the Main Gate……”
Ferdi’s lips pressed shut just as he was about to continue with a meaningful expression.
His eyes widened when he spotted the baby Snow Fox nestled in Cassius’s arms.
The young boy’s face, which had been twisted as if he’d seen a ghost, brightened. Ferdi forgot what he was about to say and approached as if entranced, extending his hand to Tiel.
“……Tiel?”
“Squeak!”
Big brother!
Tiel bounded into Ferdi’s embrace. Ferdi’s arms were somewhat less warm than Cassius’s.
Ferdi’s expression softened as he held his small sister. Ludian, too, forgot why he’d come here in the first place and gently stroked Tiel’s head.
“Tiel! You’ve achieved Humanization!”
“You’re really adorable, Tiel.”
Ferdi spoke with evident delight as he softly stroked Tiel’s head. In the direction of his touch, her small ears folded back.
“So, what are you two doing here?”
Cassius, who had been watching the two brothers fuss over their sister, asked quietly.
The twins suddenly remembered why they’d come, their heads snapping up in unison.
“Father, did you call for Olivie?”
“There’s a Wolfgang Clan carriage at the Main Gate!”
“Ah, so Olivie has arrived.”
Cassius spoke with perfect composure. At his calm tone, the two brothers went pale. Ferdi clutched the baby Snow Fox tightly, as if shielding her from some invisible threat.
“And Tiel is so shy! Of all people!”
“Speak properly, Ferdi. Olivie is your cousin.”
“……”
“Besides, I didn’t summon her. She simply came as she usually does.”
Cassius’s words were the truth.
He had informed Etienne of Tiel’s existence, but he had never directly summoned Olivie.
Ferdi’s opinion that “since Tiel is shy, it’s too soon to introduce her to Olivie” had seemed reasonable.
So Olivie’s arrival at the Asterian Mansion was entirely of her own volition.
“……”
Ludian shook his head with an expression that said ‘I knew it.’
Ferdi felt the same.
Olivie had a willful nature. She’d burst into the Asterian Mansion unannounced more than a dozen times.
So it was certain that this time too, she’d simply arrived on the whim of wanting to see her cousin.
‘I really can’t stand this.’
For once, Ferdi and Ludian’s opinions aligned.
Regardless of what his grandsons thought, Alpheus produced a parchment listing famous painters and continued with a reply.
“If she’s come, she should pay her respects. What’s all this fussing about? Go on, take Tiel and introduce her to Olivie.”
“……!!”
This time, Tiel’s eyes widened in alarm.
She already knew who Olivie was from what Cassius had told her before. She was Cassius’s niece and Tiel’s cousin.
But to meet like this? Tiel didn’t want to greet a stranger for the first time in her Humanization form!
“Squeak!”
Tiel, lost for what to do, buried her chin in Ferdi’s shoulder. Ferdi’s eyes gleamed as he seized the opportunity.
“See here. Tiel is so shy, and yet you want me to introduce her to Olivie……”
Bang!
Just then, the Study door burst open again. Alpheus fixed it with an expression of exasperation.
The servants who had opened the door now bowed their heads as if accustomed to it.
And before it stood……
A charming girl with lustrous silver-gray hair trailing to her waist stood confidently in the doorway.
Alpheus, Cassius, Ferdi, Ludian……. and even the baby Snow Fox! The girl’s pale rose eyes gleamed as she discovered everyone gathered in one place without having to seek them out individually.
“Oh, you’re all here!”
Olivie Wolfgang.
Alpheus’s granddaughter, Cassius’s niece, and cousin to Ferdi, Ludian, and Tiel—she had arrived.
***
“She’s absolutely adorable. So cute! So cute! Can’t I take her with me? Hmm? I lived here at the Asterian Mansion when I was little too. So I’ll take her and let her stay at the Wolfgang Mansion instead.”
“Stop talking nonsense, Olivie……”
Ferdi, already exhausted, rolled his eyes and held Tiel even more firmly.
Tiel laughed awkwardly in his arms.
The four children had been evicted from the Study by Alpheus’s command to “stop making a fuss and go play outside.”
Olivie nodded happily. She had no intention of lingering long in her grandfather’s dreadfully boring Study anyway!
Moreover, the real reason she had come today was none other than this small, adorable, and precious cousin of hers.
‘She’s so incredibly cute!’
Olivie’s pink eyes sparkled endlessly.
Olivie recalled the moment she’d first heard about Tiel from her mother.
‘……She’s alive?’
Etienne, Olivie’s mother and Cassius’s sister, had murmured in a trembling voice.
The moment Etienne heard that Tiel was alive, she embraced Olivie and sighed with relief, saying “thank goodness.”
And Olivie had thought:
‘I want to go meet her!’
‘You can’t. It’s written here that your cousin is very shy. At least wait until she’s fully adjusted to the mansion……”
‘I want to go meet her! She’ll definitely like me once she sees me! That mansion is full of nothing but men. How lonely must she be, all alone as a girl? I need to go and keep her company!’
The moment she heard that the cousin she’d thought was dead was alive, she’d thrown a fit for three days and nights, rolling around demanding to go to the Asterian Mansion.
Unable to withstand Olivie’s stubborn insistence, the head of the Wolfgang family finally relented and sent her on her way.
And now,
‘I’m so glad I came!’
Olivie’s eyes sparkled as she attempted to snatch Tiel from Ferdi’s embrace.
“Not happening.”
But Ferdi’s ironclad defense prevented Olivie from holding Tiel. Still, the girl remained undaunted.
“Just let me hold her once!”
“Absolutely not. Do you think Tiel is some object?”
“Squeak……?”
“I’ll handle her like cotton, okay? I’ll hold her as if she’s the most precious thing in the world. Just once, let me hold her!”
“Ha, it’s not happening. You’ll probably drop her the moment you pick her up.”
Ludian teased. Olivie stopped chasing after Ferdi and spun around to glare at Ludian.
“Ludian.”
“……”
“Do you perhaps……want to die?”
Olivie muttered ominously. Ludian flinched. Tiel flinched as well.
Olivie was the sole heir of the Wolfgang family, a house renowned for having no equal in martial prowess.
Ferdi and Ludian had grown up with Olivie from a very young age and had learned the hard way that touching her was never a good idea.
“If you say such things……you’ll never get to hold Tiel again.”
Ludian shot back without backing down. Ferdi nodded in agreement.
“That’s right. Tiel doesn’t like reckless types who charge in like you.”
“Oh my, what are you saying. Tiel~, it’s all a misunderstanding. Okay? Your sister isn’t that type. Come here, let me hold you. Alright?”
In response to Ferdi’s words, Olivie swiftly changed her demeanor and spread her arms toward Tiel.
Tiel, who had been clinging to Ferdi’s embrace all along, quietly looked toward Olivie.
‘She doesn’t seem like a bad person……”
If Olivie were a bad person, Cassius and Alpheus would never have let them meet.
Besides, even though the twins appeared to dislike Olivie on the surface, the pitch of their voices had risen slightly since her arrival.
Hmm.
After hesitating for a moment, Tiel wriggled free from Ferdi’s embrace and extended her front paw to Olivie.
“Chirp……!”
“Oh my goodness, Tiel!”
Rather than scooping Tiel up, Olivie very carefully took her front paw and lifted the hem of her dress slightly with her other hand.
“Nice to meet you, Tiel! My name is Olivie Wolfgang. I’m your cousin sister!”
At that moment, a gentle breeze drifted in, tickling the bridge of Tiel’s nose. Tiel’s eyes widened at the refreshing wind.
‘So cool!’
A crisp breeze wrapped around Olivie’s form and swirled, gently tickling even the tips of Tiel’s fur.
A soft current of air caressed the small baby Snow Fox’s fur as if stroking it, the breeze passing delicately through each hair.
It was the power of the Wind Ability possessed by the Wolfgang family.
“Chirp!”
Tiel’s eyes, which had been heavy with warmth just moments before, suddenly came alive.
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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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