The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 58

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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 58
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“……To think she was alive.”
Etienne murmured in disbelief. Her faint voice had taken on the tremor of tears.
Stefano made no attempt to comfort her. He simply took her trembling hand once, gently.
Etienne had been close to Rena. Or rather, to be precise, everyone in the Asterian Family had loved Rena.
And Etienne herself had been part of that family until her marriage.
Of course she loved Rena too. But…….
‘Dead?’
‘…….’
‘It’s impossible! Rena couldn’t have died! Have you all forgotten how extraordinary her Ability was!?’
Etienne had not forgotten that day. The day the entire Asterian Family seemed to sink into darkness.
The day they had to hold Rena’s funeral with an empty casket, with no body to show…….
And yet Rena’s child—Cassius’s child—Etienne’s niece—was alive.
Her heart raced wildly. In truth, when Olivie could not wait and rushed to the Asterian Mansion, Etienne had wanted to go with her.
She wanted to go there too……, to meet the niece she had believed dead all these years.
To look into eyes that mirrored Rena’s, to stroke hair that resembled Rena’s. But…….
She was the lady of Wolfgang. There was much to attend to in the Wolfgang Family before she could leave for Asterian.
Etienne and Stefano sent Olivie ahead first, then swiftly settled the Wolfgang Family’s affairs and made for Asterian.
Wolfgang, home to the Wind Ability.
That Ability was truly remarkable—tales circulated that the children of the Wolfgang Family could gallop to the very ends of the earth.
It was no exaggeration.
Neigh—!!
A horse cried out sharply. The four legs of horses marked with the Wind Ability kicked at the ground and sprang forward, moving like the wind itself.
Even so, the carriage did not rock violently. It could not have—the one wielding that Ability was Stefano himself.
Stefano could not soothe his wife’s sorrow, but he had absolute confidence in bringing Etienne to where she wished to go faster than anyone else.
‘Let’s hurry.’
The coachman answered by urging the horses faster still. The carriage thundered forward.
***
“So……, my aunt?”
Tiel asked carefully, her eyes narrowing. Cassius and Alpheus both nodded.
“Your parents are coming! They should be almost here! Wolfgang’s speed is beyond imagination!”
Olivie announced proudly.
Tiel said nothing for a moment.
She did not dislike meeting her aunt and uncle. It was only…….
‘Useless thing! Goodness, what was Rena thinking, having that? Why didn’t you just die together with her!’
Cornelia’s vicious words came back to her—words she spat out daily.
But Cornelia quickly faded from Tiel’s mind.
Now neither Cornelia nor Rowen nor grandfather occupied her thoughts for long anymore.
“Tiel.”
Because Tiel had a family she loved now. Here, the love she received was vastly greater than the cruelty she had endured there.
‘And.’
Tiel turned to look at Olivie. Her cheeks were flushed with excitement. It made sense—it had been so long since she would see her parents.
‘Olivie is a good person.’
Tiel felt perfectly at ease in Olivie’s company.
As Olivie liked to say—”A girl needs another girl!”—there were small, attentive touches that the men could not provide.
And Olivie excelled at those things. It was Olivie who first noticed Tiel felt hot and took her outside. It was Olivie who went with her.
So Tiel could say with certainty: Olivie was truly a good person.
Which meant.
‘That’s why my aunt and uncle must be good people too.’
Since Olivie was good, they must be as well.
Tiel’s eyes regained their light. The child looked up at Cassius with sparkling eyes and spoke.
“Should I wear something pretty then? Since it’s our first meeting.”
“You’re fine as you are. I’ll love you just as you look.”
Cassius lifted Tiel into his arms as he spoke. His voice carried absolute conviction. And the father’s certainty calmed the child.
That was when commotion began outside the mansion.
“They’ve arrived, it seems.”
Cassius walked to the window, still holding Tiel. Through the main gate, a Wolfgang carriage came to a hasty stop, flanked by knights.
“Shall we go down? Your aunt will be eager to see you.”
“Yes. Father, you’ll stay with me, won’t you?”
“Don’t worry.”
With that, Olivie kicked open the door with such force and dashed out.
As a result, the door panel that had been damaged once before was damaged again and hung askew.
‘Well, well, that girl.’
Alpheus watched his granddaughter’s path through (?) the door frame with warm affection. It was the very same door panel he himself had damaged not long before.
One could be so happy. Well, well…….
Just then, something crashed loudly down the stairwell.
Whatever broke did so with tremendous clatter.
‘Well, well, that girl…….’
The sound rang out once more. Alpheus’s expression shifted from amusement to alarm.
If the family reunion continued like this, the entire Asterian Mansion would be in ruins. Alpheus hurried his step.
“Olivie! Can’t you walk quietly!”
But everyone knew that the old man’s voice did not carry far enough to reach Olivie’s ears.
Not that she would have heard it anyway, even if she’d wanted to…….
Tiel thought quietly to herself. She had now grown somewhat accustomed to the Asterian Family and her older siblings.
From what she’d observed, Olivie damaging the mansion was a daily occurrence—matched only by how often Ferdi called Ludian an idiot and a fool.
‘And grandfather still hasn’t given up…….’
At this point, one might as well surrender—just as Tiel had cleanly given up on Ferdi and Ludian’s quarrels.
It was a thought the Tiel of her first days at Asterian could never have managed, but now she could even shake her head in resignation.
She had become a true member of this leopard mansion. Cassius found his daughter’s growth slightly touching.
Crash——!!
“You rascal!!!”
Alpheus shouted and hurried on. Ferdi and Ludian followed close behind him.
Cassius, meanwhile, walked a step behind them, watching the scene unfold at leisure.
‘Like someone who’s embarrassed……. Ah, wait. Father would never be embarrassed.’
……Tiel’s insight was quite sharp.
Tiel gazed at the mansion Olivie had damaged.
The spiral staircase hung precariously, and the marble floor was cracked in several places—though how Olivie had managed it was a mystery.
She must have been very happy.
That was when it happened.
“……My child.”
The woman standing far below the stairs walked forward hesitantly, as if unable to believe her eyes.
Hair black as ebony, eyes golden as the sun.
Without words, Tiel could know. That woman was her aunt——, and Cassius’s sister, Etienne.
Tiel wriggled lightly in Cassius’s arms—a sign to be put down. He set her down at once.
Etienne did not draw closer than a certain distance. Her expression seemed on the verge of tears.
Which meant.
‘I should go to her.’
Tiel pattered forward and stood before Etienne. She did not shy away or hesitate.
Etienne’s trembling eyes took in the small girl before her.
Hair soft and pale as the Snow Leopard’s, eyes bright and dark as the Black Leopard’s, shimmering gold.
Tiel smiled brightly and bowed respectfully to Etienne.
“Hello, Aunt!”
“……My child.”
“I’m Tiel.”
And she had even introduced herself clearly. For Tiel, it was a remarkable achievement—a sign of growth.
Etienne pulled Tiel into her arms without hesitation. Her shoulders shook slightly.
Rena had been a Snow Leopard, but to the Asterian Family, she was like light itself.
The Black Leopards of Asterian, who had no regard for one another, had learned to care for each other because of her. She had transformed the barren atmosphere of the mansion entirely.
This was Rena’s child. Etienne remembered how overjoyed Rena had been when she learned of her youngest brother’s pregnancy.
‘This child will bring even greater joy to Asterian.’
But Rena was dead, they said. Died in childbirth……. Like that.
She had never even imagined the child could be alive…….
Tiel looked at Etienne’s shoulders, which shook faintly. She understood what it meant.
She had cried much. She had held back tears just as many times.
So the child said nothing, and instead held her aunt’s body gently.
From within Tiel’s arms, two small fish bearing faint light swam forth and circled around Etienne.
Tiel held her close.
And there were words she felt she ought to say—words that seemed to need speaking.
Words for Etienne to hear. Words for her mother, whom she had never seen. Words she felt called to speak.
And…….
Words that she herself, already dead once and risen again, needed to hear.
Don’t cry.
I’m here……, 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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