The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 65

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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 65
***
Ian sat on the edge of a grand sofa in an enormous reception room, holding a teacup to his lips.
The boy’s face hung heavy with shadow. He rubbed at the space between his brows with the tips of his fingers, pressing down hard.
“Your Highness, are you unwell?”
Cedric, Ian’s adjutant, asked with careful concern in his voice.
Ian shook his head.
“Don’t worry about it. I just have a bit of a headache.”
“I’ll have the physician summoned as soon as we return to the Imperial Palace.”
“I said don’t worry about it.”
Ian replied irritably, and Cedric took a step back, choosing silence. Years of experience had taught him that with Iandros in his current state, discretion was the wisest course.
Iandros Crasion was acutely on edge.
As if to prove the point, Ian’s teaspoon clattered to the floor.
Ting!
Ian didn’t bother to pick it up; instead, he glared at his cup with a furrowed brow.
Cedric hastily retrieved the spoon, silently praying his lord wouldn’t lose control here.
“That Crown Princess business……”
Ian muttered under his breath.
He’d been wrestling with the matter of the Crown Princess appointment for a solid month now.
He’d managed to avoid it skillfully enough until now, but the Emperor had declared there could be no more delays — he would select a Crown Princess immediately after Luminarie concluded and set marriage negotiations in motion.
As a result, Ian would end up marrying whoever he grabbed at the first opportunity after the festival ended, and he was decidedly unhappy about it.
On top of that.
‘Why is this happening?’
Ian stared at the dark energy rippling across his fingertips.
He’d tried to suppress his Ability, but it was futile. Somewhere along the way, his Ability had stopped obeying him.
Instead of struggling to contain it, Ian tested his Ability slowly, carefully.
The air where his hand touched tore open, and a jet-black void yawned between the edges.
This was Ian’s Ability: Subspace Creation.
Seen this way, it seemed unremarkable. But anyone who had ever witnessed Ian use his Ability before would know at once that something was profoundly wrong.
Normally, the Subspace that Ian opened blazed with white light.
But now, his Subspace emanated black light, roiling with an ominous hunger that seemed poised to swallow everything whole.
If Ian didn’t concentrate, the entire thing would shatter to pieces. It looked no different from a wine glass moments before breaking.
Iandros watched his unstable Ability with an irritated expression and withdrew it with a gesture.
The unstably wavering void vanished in an instant, torn away by a single flick of his hand.
The boy opened his eyes, closed them again.
‘What is happening to me?’
Just days ago, everything had been fine. He was certain of it. When he’d entered his Subspace days before, it hadn’t been like this.
But from some point onward, his Ability had stopped obeying him.
As though responding to something, it kept slipping beyond his control.
It felt as if his Ability were thrashing wildly inside him, beyond his mastery. Ian brought the teacup to his lips.
‘Unpleasant.’
That feeling continued to pull the boy deeper and deeper into cold, dark waters.
Then.
Knock, knock.
A light, cheerful rap at the door. Ian straightened on the sofa, and Cedric’s face brightened as he turned toward it.
Creak—
The door opened, and a small, lovely girl stepped into view.
“Ian?”
The youngest princess of Asterian, whom Ian and Cedric had been waiting for, had arrived.
The moment Tiel appeared, the room seemed to flood with light—or so it felt.
The small girl who possessed the power to brighten her surroundings also held a special gift: the ability to brighten the hearts of those around her.
“Tiel, come here.”
Ian, who had shed the shadow that had draped his features only moments before, gestured to Tiel.
All of the darkness that had been pulling the boy under vanished from his mind the instant she appeared.
***
“Ian!”
Tiel bounded over and settled beside him on the sofa. By now, the space beside Ian had become her natural place.
It was their first meeting since that day when she’d celebrated his birthday at the mansion.
Since meeting Ian, Tiel had never spent so much time apart from him, so she was genuinely delighted to see him again.
But.
‘Something’s troubling him.’
A shadow hung over Ian’s face, one she hadn’t seen in some time.
Tiel blinked her large, round eyes, watching him carefully.
Neither Ian nor Ferdi were unskilled at concealing their feelings, but neither could hide them from Tiel’s gaze.
Her years of mistreatment and abuse in Nestian had made her acutely sensitive to the moods of others.
Discerning that Ian’s spirits were low was hardly a difficult task for her.
Yet somehow, asking him directly what was wrong felt like it would cross a line, so Tiel chose a different approach instead.
“Ian! Did you open the gift I gave you?”
Tiel’s golden eyes gleamed like jewels, round and bright with anticipation as she gazed at him.
She’d been counting the days to see him.
Whether he liked the gift or not — that was what she wanted to know! There was so much she wanted to ask.
Ian caught the eagerness in her heart and drew up the corners of his mouth in a smile.
“Of course I opened it. I loved it.”
“Really? You’re not just saying that to spare my feelings, are you?”
“Why would I do something like that? I don’t say things I don’t mean.”
Ian said it plainly.
“Oh, I’m so relieved! I worried about it for ages. You seemed like you’d have almost everything already……!”
It made sense — Iandros Crasion was the Crown Prince of the Crasion Empire.
Finding something he didn’t possess would be like searching for a needle in a desert.
Fortunately, after much deliberation, Tiel had found her needle.
“What you gave me is incomparable to anything else. You poured your Ability into it, didn’t you?”
Ian gazed at Tiel’s bright, round face. She nodded vigorously, her round, braided hair bobbing up and down.
“I learned how to infuse Ability into objects! I thought if I poured my power into it, maybe the light would last longer……”
Just as Ian had guessed, Tiel had instinctively realized that light could not survive in his Subspace.
That’s why she’d breathed her power into the gift — so that this light might live a little longer inside the Subspace.
She’d wanted to give him a fish, truthfully, but fish were fragments of herself and couldn’t be given away.
So instead, Tiel had infused her Ability into a Holy Object, and judging by Ian’s reaction, her attempt had succeeded!
“How is it? Has the Subspace grown a little brighter?”
Tiel asked hopefully. Ian, feeling playful, pinched his thumb and forefinger together into a small gap and replied.
“Just a tiny bit.”
But Tiel’s response was not what Ian expected.
“Oh, thank goodness……”
Rather than disappointment at “just a tiny bit,” Tiel felt joy at “even a little.” Ian laughed at the sight of her, unable to help himself.
As always, Tiel defied his every expectation.
“I was teasing, Tiel. Thanks to your gift, the Subspace has grown much brighter.”
Ian abandoned any attempt to tease her and placed his hand on her small, round head.
“Thank you. I mean it sincerely.”
Tiel looked up at Ian and beamed.
“But I’ve received so much more from you, Ian! Things that are physical and things that aren’t.”
Everything Ian had given Tiel was precious beyond measure, each gift invaluable.
It wasn’t limited to material objects either.
When he’d discovered her in that Nestian mansion, he’d knowingly involved himself in troublesome matters and rescued her, returning her to her father’s arms — an act of genuine kindness.
The way he’d continued to visit and check on her, concerned that she might not adapt easily to the Asterian Mansion.
So really, gifts like these were nothing compared to what Ian had done for her.
“When I become better at controlling my Ability, I’ll give you a Holy Object that shines even brighter!”
“I’ll be looking forward to it, Tiel.”
Ian smiled leisurely. Tiel nodded with determination.

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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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