The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 5

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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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Chapter 5
Tiel rolled Ian’s name around in her mouth a few times, as if savoring it, then broke into a wide smile.
Ian watched her for a moment, then turned his head away as if embarrassed and gestured.
“Go on, transform.”
Ian spoke with his arms crossed. Tiel carefully gauged his reaction. Ian tilted his chin forward, signaling her to hurry.
“Come on.”
At those words, Tiel spun around once in place.
The small girl’s form vanished in an instant, replaced by a snow leopard.
Having transformed into a snow leopard, Tiel dashed past Ian’s feet and rushed toward the bed.
She clamped the bundle of blanket she’d been clutching in her mouth and brought it to his feet.
“Do you really need to bring this too?”
Ian asked, his tone suggesting he wasn’t sure it was necessary. Tiel nodded at his words.
‘Because Mother’s locket is inside.’
Seeing that determined expression, Ian sighed and accepted the bundle of blanket. Only then did Tiel’s expression brighten somewhat.
And then.
Ian stretched his hand toward the empty air.
A brilliant flash erupted.
Light poured out in an instant. Tiel squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them.
‘Wow…’
But as soon as she recognized what Ian had created, her mouth fell open slightly.
What Ian had formed in midair was a white hole.
Tiel startled and stepped back. It was a natural reaction—she’d never seen a Special Ability take this form.
Ian tossed Tiel’s blanket bundle into the hole.
“…!!”
Tiel’s eyes widened in shock.
‘The blanket disappeared!’
She’d clearly seen Ian holding it, and watched him toss it into the hole, but the blanket vanished completely.
Tiel circled around the hole in confusion. The missing blanket was nowhere to be found.
At her reaction, Ian thrust his hand into the hole.
“Look here.”
He coaxed her like a child, pulling out her grimy blanket bundle from inside the hole and showing it to her.
“It’s all there safely, right?”
“…Chirp?”
“…This is my ability. I create a subspace that only I can open.”
Ian pointed to the white hole floating in the air as he spoke.
Subspace Creation.
A Special Ability that allowed the caster to generate any space they desired—an ability whose properties had scarcely been documented.
This was because owners of such an ability had been virtually nonexistent in imperial history.
Long ago, a certain princess possessed the Subspace Creation ability, but she didn’t live long and died.
Then, centuries later, Ian was born with the Subspace Creation ability.
Yet much about it remained undiscovered.
This was because Ian was extremely reluctant to reveal his ability.
Ian’s ability—Subspace Creation—could store objects within the subspace, and could even pull people from the real world into the subspace itself.
Of course, Tiel had no way of knowing such facts. She took a timid step backward.
Understanding Tiel’s fear, Ian created an even smaller subspace in the air and spoke.
“You can open it anytime, close it anytime. As long as I’m alive, you won’t get lost in there. So don’t worry.”
At Ian’s words, Tiel cautiously stepped forward.
Tiel pressed her lips together and thought.
‘I don’t really have a choice anyway.’
Even if she ended up trapped in that subspace forever, she had to enter it.
If more time passed, the servants would come to fetch Ian, and if they discovered her, she’d be dragged away immediately.
To the Attic.
Tiel looked up at Ian with a determined sparkle in her eyes.
She extended her small front paw toward him.
At the sight of this, Ian’s lips curved into a soft smile.
He scooped her up into his arms.
“Don’t be so scared. I’ll pull you right back out.”
He carefully placed Tiel into the subspace. She reflexively shut her eyes tight.
The next moment.
“…Huh?”
Ian’s hand, which had been gently supporting her side, vanished, and the opened subspace slowly closed.
Tiel looked around. Then, startled, she drew a sharp breath.
“…This is…”
Ian’s subspace.
It was in quite a state of disarray.
Contrary to Ian’s relaxed image, the subspace he’d opened appeared to be a ruined mansion.
Stuffed animals with torn seams were scattered here and there, ripped books lay strewn about.
Old, broken toys also littered the space. Without thinking, Tiel extended her front paw toward an old doll.
The instant she touched it.
‘Oh.’
The doll vanished without a trace the moment her paw made contact.
Tiel carefully withdrew her paw and thought.
‘I can’t touch things, then.’
It seemed that touching things made them disappear. Tiel carefully settled into a corner so she wouldn’t damage anything in the subspace.
Fortunately, one soft and beautiful cushion—strikingly out of place in the ruined room—lay in the corner.
Tiel tentatively tapped the cushion with her paw.
‘This one doesn’t disappear.’
Fortunately, the cushion, unlike the other objects, didn’t vanish when Tiel’s paw touched it.
Though it was utterly incongruous with the ruined subspace, Tiel didn’t question it and climbed onto it.
She curled up on the cushion and blinked.
***
“I hope your stay has been comfortable.”
Chender, seated across from his guest, let out a slow laugh and brought his teacup to his lips.
He wore a smiling face, but his insides were seething with anxiety.
‘Damn it, damn it!’
Chender clenched his teeth as he thought of his small, worthless granddaughter.
Tiel.
That useless little mongrel who was good for nothing.
He should have disposed of her long ago, but he’d kept her alive for the sake of Rena, his daughter, and now she’d caused trouble.
She’d escaped from her room last night and caused a commotion throughout the estate.
‘And of all times, on a day like this!’
More than a few servants had witnessed that little wretch entering the guest quarters where visitors from the Imperial Palace were staying.
Chender had authorized a thorough search of the guest quarters, but they’d ultimately failed to find Tiel.
She was probably hiding somewhere in the estate like a rat right now. Chender gripped the teacup handle so hard he looked ready to shatter it, grinding his teeth.
‘That little brat, when I catch her…’
She was a child who’d never crawled out of her room on her own until she turned seven. That negligence in supervision had now become a problem.
Chender glanced at the man across from him, hoping last night’s incident hadn’t disturbed his mood.
Sedric Yobino.
The Emperor’s aide, a guest from the Imperial Palace sent to test the abilities of his granddaughter Rowen Nestian.
For the past month, Chender had exerted great effort to serve Sedric lavishly.
But that little wretch Tiel had ruined it all.
Whether Sedric knew Chender’s thoughts or not, he leisurely took a sip of tea and spoke.
“Thanks to your generous hospitality, I’ve had a most comfortable stay. Please give my regards to the Family Head of Nestian.”
At those words, Chender’s face brightened.
“I’m so glad to hear it. Before you leave, perhaps we could see Rowen once more…”
Click.
Sedric set down his teacup with a decisive sound.
“Rowen will do. The road ahead is long, so I should take my leave. I hope we’ll meet again. If you ever visit the Capital, I’ll see to your comfort then.”
Sedric rose from his seat curtly. At that moment, the door to the reception room where Chender and Sedric had been speaking burst open.
“Grandfather!”
Who entered suddenly was Chender’s granddaughter, Rowen.
A lovely girl with lustrous, finely-textured silver hair walked into the room with a graceful step.
“Oh, Rowen, dear. Wait just a moment…”
Chender tried to stop his granddaughter, but it was no use.
At Rowen’s brusque entry without knocking, Sedric’s brow furrowed.
Noticing Sedric’s displeasure, Chender tried to hurry Rowen out, but managing a willful granddaughter was no easy task.
Chender gave the maidservant standing behind Rowen a questioning look—’Where is Cornelia?’—but the maid didn’t understand.
“Grandfather, the guest is leaving now? Did he say he’d look kindly upon Rowen?”
Rowen grasped Chender’s hand and asked brightly with a smile.
A young attendant standing beside Sedric throughout frowned at Rowen’s willful behavior, though no one present noticed.
Sedric sighed and attempted to organize the situation.
“Yes, Rowen. It was a pleasure to meet you. May the Blessing of Crasion accompany you.”
Sedric’s words, translated, meant they’d likely never meet again and to wish her well.
But the young Rowen couldn’t possibly have understood what Sedric meant.
“Yes, but when can we meet again? When will you visit Rowen’s estate again?”
“Rowen, that’s enough…”
Chender, who understood what Sedric meant, tried to stop Rowen with a pale face, but it was in vain.
“Grandfather, I want to go to the Capital too! Can’t I go to the Capital with the guest?”
Rowen’s dress fluttered. Sedric gave her no further response.
Silence fell between them. It was Sedric who broke it first.
“I’ll take my leave now.”
At Sedric’s words, Chender followed behind him with a face drained of color to see him off.
Of course, Rowen, still oblivious to what was happening, remained between them.
The young attendant beside Sedric looked at Rowen bouncing about with contempt.
Beneath the attendant’s slightly askew hat, bright golden hair gleamed for a moment, then vanished.
The servants of the Nestian Estate lined up and bowed to see them off.
Sedric and the young attendant, along with the Imperial Palace guests, boarded the carriage while receiving farewells from all of Nestian’s servants.
Chender had to wipe away cold sweat as he tried to stop his granddaughter from insisting on boarding the imperial carriage.
“May the Blessing of Crasion accompany the Nestian family.”
“May the Blessing of Crasion…”
Bang!
But before Chender could finish speaking, the young attendant slammed the carriage door shut.
It was quite rude behavior, but the shocked Chender couldn’t spare a thought for it.
The carriage departed hastily.
The moment the carriage pulled away from the Nestian Estate, Ian, disguised as a servant, removed his hat and spoke.
“Damn it, why does she talk so much?”
“She’s the Family Head of Nestian. You shouldn’t speak of her so carelessly.”
Sedric rebuked him slowly. But Ian, as if unconcerned, brushed off his hair and spoke.
“Tch, anyway. This is why I said I hate betrothals…”
Ian desperately needed a Consort with whom to form a Bond.
Ian was currently in an unstable state.
The magnitude of the Special Ability he possessed was so great that his body couldn’t bear its weight.
At this rate, he might rampage. So he had to find a Consort and form a Bond quickly.
Through Bonding, the Consort could receive a portion of his ability.
But.
Families unable to become the head of their clan sought power by producing a Crown Princess Consort from their own lineage.
This situation continued unabated. Chender was of the same ilk. Ian was now thoroughly sick of it all.
Noticing Ian’s displeasure, Sedric quickly changed the subject of conversation.
“By the way, the Family Head of Nestian seemed anxious. Could it be related to the incident this dawn?”
Only then did Ian look as if he’d realized something.
“Ah, right.”
Ian brought a finger to his lips and stretched his hand toward empty space.
Sedric quietly observed Ian.
A brilliant flash erupted.
A white, luminous subspace wavered unstably in the air. Sedric watched the subspace Ian had created.
Ian thrust both hands into the subspace. And then…
“…?”
“…Chirp.”
He pulled out a tiny baby snow leopard.
“Your Highness?”
Sedric’s eyes widened.

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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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