The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 50

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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 50
That warm, steadying voice wrapped around Tiel’s wounded heart.
A small light seemed to bloom from deep within her chest.
“Yes!”
Tiel’s eyes sparkled. The girl who had cowered before Nestian’s abuse and the bitter cold was nowhere to be found now.
In that moment, everyone in the room—Cassus included—felt a warmth settle over them.
Bang!!!!
The door burst open with a violent crash. At this point, the door frame was almost certainly shattered beyond repair.
Everyone in the room jumped in alarm, their eyes snapping toward where the door had been.
A massive, thick door had stood there moments before, but now it had vanished entirely, replaced by a single figure looming in the doorway.
……
……Father?”
“Grandfather?”
“Really?”
“Grandfather……?”
Everyone in the room tilted their heads in disbelief.
Alpius’s face had flushed to a shade that looked ready to burst. Ludian, watching it cycle through shades of red and blue, quickly clapped his hands over Tiel’s ears.
“You Nestian bastards!!!!!”
A roar tore from Alpius’s throat. His golden eyes blazed with menace.
Ludian, having covered Tiel’s ears with the foresight of someone who’d seen this coming, squeezed his own eyes shut. He’d sacrificed his own ears to save his sister’s. A fine strategy indeed.
After his outburst, Alpius finally noticed the cluster of children gathered in the room.
“You all…….”
“Grandfather! Why are you shouting like that? Goodness, I thought my ears would fall off.”
“But he had a point.”
“Even so, those dogs deserve worse than death.”
The children chimed in one by one. Alpius, caught off guard, turned his gaze to Tiel.
As his eyes found her, Tiel’s pupils darted away, avoiding his stare. A middle-aged man shouting was still rather frightening, even if he was her grandfather.
“Wait, what are you all doing here? Didn’t you say you were going out today?”
“We returned early. We heard the rumors about Tiel spreading.”
“But surely rumors, no matter how fast they travel, wouldn’t reach you all, would they? At most, the heads of the various houses would have known.”
Alpius, realizing he’d shouted in front of his beloved grandchildren, looked flustered as he studied their faces.
“The Crown Prince himself told us.”
“The Crown Prince? But why——”
Alpius trailed off, but Ferdi seemed to understand what he’d left unsaid.
Tiel released Ludian’s sleeve and pattered forward to stand before Alpius.
“Grandfather!”
“Hmm? Yes, yes. Of course, my dear.”
“It’s alright. They still don’t know what’s in that chamber.”
Tiel spoke carefully, each word precise.
By “that chamber,” she meant the Secret Chamber that Alpius had once taken her into.
The Secret Chamber meant for those who possessed the Light Ability.
So it would be fine. They would only know vague legends.
‘They won’t know that I can suppress the Madness.’
The Secret Chamber contained the knowledge that Tiel could suppress Madness, but Nestian wouldn’t know of it.
Of course not. The Secret Chamber responded only to the Light Ability, and throughout the entire empire—indeed, throughout the whole world—only Tiel possessed such an ability.
“So I’m fine, Grandfather. And you’ll protect me anyway.”
Tiel extended her small hand. Alpius slowly closed his eyes, then opened them and took it.
The wrinkled face of an aged man softened with warmth. One might have doubted this was the same person who’d been roaring moments before.
“Then don’t worry, my dear. I will protect you.”
“Yes, I’m not worr——”
“I’ll protect you even at the cost of my life.”
“Y-you don’t need to go that far…….”
Tiel hadn’t asked for that much. But she didn’t push the matter further.
The resolve burning in Alpius’s eyes as he looked at her was stronger than ever.
“However, you must be careful. From now on, you go nowhere without your brothers, and you’re to bring Asterion’s knights with you always.”
“Yes!”
“Tiel, caution upon caution. The fact that your ability cannot harm others only worries me more.”
If they had been the ones with destructive powers, he wouldn’t have been so concerned, Alpius muttered under his breath.
“It’s not others harming them you should worry about—it’s them harming others.”
Olivier stated this flatly. And no one contradicted her. Not Ferdi, not Ludian, not anyone.
“In any case, be cautious—be cautious above all. Until the Luminarie, it would be wise to refrain from going out. Cassus and I will find a way to resolve this.”
“Yes.”
“So Tiel, don’t worry. Go rest properly, or play if you’d like. That’s what children should be doing.”
“Yes! Thank you, Grandfather!”
Tiel gave Alpius a light embrace and released him. Alpius chuckled warmly, watching his granddaughter with affection.
And there were two brothers who watched the scene with carefully composed expressions.
“……Didn’t he tell us to practice our Ability Training?”
“He said that was what children should be doing…….”
Ludian and Ferdi muttered under their breath.
But again, no one was listening.
Well, one person was.
“Huh? He really said that? He just told me to play and rest!”
……
They learned anew the bitter truth that sometimes not hearing was a mercy.
***
After the children had all left.
Cassus and Alpius remained in the room, exhaling heavy sighs.
“That bastard Chender…….”
A voice thick with anger tore from his throat like the roar of a beast.
“I didn’t expect him to go this far.”
Even if Tiel had been lost to Asterion, the existence of the Secret Chamber was a secret known only to Nestian, Asterion, and the Leopard Clan.
Yet Nestian had spread word of it—the truth that another legend regarding the Light Ability existed within the Leopard Clan.
And that this legend concerned the Curse that had bound the Leopard Clan for so long.
“Damn it.”
He’d managed to stay composed in front of Tiel, but the situation was far graver than it appeared.
With the Temple and the great houses already watching Tiel, if the imperial palace joined their ranks, not even Asterion could guarantee the child’s complete safety.
“I never thought he’d resort to something like this.”
“What else would frighten him? What he fears most is surely that Asterion grows stronger through Tiel’s existence.”
Cassus was right.
What Nestian feared most was Asterion’s growing power.
The thought of his vile ambitions stirred a fresh wave of rage. But Tiel was his granddaughter, after all.
And the child was only seven years old! To orchestrate such schemes over a mere child? Did the man possess no conscience whatsoever?
“That’s exactly why he’ll live his whole life like that—like a loser!”
The porcelain teacup in Alpius’s hand crumbled to powder. White dust clung to his fingers.
“Well, it was bound to happen eventually. Given that Tiel possesses this ability, even if the rumors hadn’t spread, other houses would have coveted her.”
“That’s true, but…….”
Why now.
Cassus didn’t know yet, but Alpius did.
The Emperor himself had set his sights on Tiel as a potential bride for Iandros.
And now this had happened.
In trying to shield his beloved granddaughter from the interference of rival houses, he’d nearly handed her into the Emperor’s grasp instead.
And he would sooner have dirt in his eyes than witness that.
“There’s only one way to keep those vultures from laying a hand on Tiel…….”
Alpius swept his thick hand across his face as if to clear his mind. The rough skin of his palm scraped audibly.
Cassus too turned his gaze away, as if gathering his thoughts. A brief silence fell between them.
……
“Are you alright?”
“I’m fine. It’s just…….”
Cassus turned the teacup in his hands over and over. It was identical to the one Alpius had just crushed.
“It’s harsh on Ferdi.”
……
Cassus was right.
The only method they’d devised was cruel to Ferdi. Because of this, neither Alpius nor Cassus could bring themselves to make the decision.
“For now, then……, contain the rumors.”
Rumors, being formless things, often grew far larger than the truth they were born from.
And rumors about the legendary Light Ability? They would spiral out of control the moment they began to spread in earnest.
“Yes, I’ll contain it.”
“We must assign Asterion’s elite knights to guard Tiel.”
“That would be wise. Otherwise, Ferdi and Ludian will have to escort her personally.”
“Yes, that way…….”
……
“Not again.”
Not again.
They had not forgotten what it meant to lose someone. They had not forgotten Rena.
They had not been able to hold Nestian accountable for what happened to Rena, but…….
If something were to happen to Tiel this time.
‘They would see justice done.’
Grind.
Alpius’s teeth clenched together.
The atmosphere around him was utterly menacing.

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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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