The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 69

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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 69
‘What do you mean I can’t…?’
Tiel nestled into Cassius’s embrace while gazing toward where Alpheus stood.
Alpheus and the Emperor exchanged a few brief words, then moved away together.
“Tiel.”
She had been watching them for some time when Cassius’s voice called her back to herself.
“Father, why do you think Grandfather is angry?”
“…I couldn’t say. Anyway, Tiel—you worked hard today.”
Cassius deliberately sidestepped her question, and Tiel didn’t press further, nodding with a bright smile.
“Did I do well?”
“Yes, very well indeed.”
Tiel beamed.
‘Thank goodness.’
It had been her first time using her Ability before so many people, and she’d worried something might go wrong.
Yet she had performed beautifully, far better than she’d expected. Tiel swallowed her pride and hugged Cassius around the neck.
“Tiel! You were wonderful!”
“Really impressive, my little sister.”
Her twin brothers rushed over and gently stroked her hair. Ludian took her small hand firmly and asked with a solemn expression.
“When did you grow so much?”
Their praise made her heart flutter with embarrassment. Tiel buried her face in Cassius’s embrace.
Just then.
“Tiel!!!”
A loud voice rang out.
Tiel’s head snapped up. Ferdi and Ludian’s faces darkened visibly.
Olivier came running from a distance, beaming, with Wolfrang’s knights trailing behind her. Her expression was quite amusing given that she was wearing a dress yet sprinting about without a care.
“Miss, if you run like that…!”
“Oh, never mind.”
Olivier brushed off the pestering knight with an irritated gesture, then rushed over and seized Tiel’s hand.
“Tiel, I saw you! You were absolutely magnificent!”
“Sister Olivier!”
“You were truly the best, truly the best! Today was completely…your day! And from now on, every Luminarie will be your day too! Oh, how my dear one has grown….”
“You talk like you’re the one who raised her.”
“I practically did!”
Olivier answered shamelessly.
Cassius didn’t acknowledge her.
“Father, may I explore the Festival Street with Tiel? I’ll be careful, very careful!”
“That’s right, sir. We’ll be cautious. We’d like to show Tiel around the festival.”
Ludian and Ferdi turned to Cassius with pleading eyes.
“Please!”
Ludian looked rather like a hopeful puppy.
Cassius made a thoughtful sound, then set Tiel down and placed his large hand atop her head.
“Go play with your brothers. Be careful, and careful again.”
“Yes! I will!”
“Guard her.”
The moment Cassius gave his command, the elite knights of House Asterian took position behind Tiel, Ferdi, and Ludian.
Ferdi and Ludian were strong enough not to need protection, but one couldn’t let children wander alone in a place like this.
“All right, let’s go!”
“Yes.”
Wolfrang’s knights, who had tagged along, bowed and answered in unison.
Olivier’s expression turned sour. She scrunched up her face and protested.
“…You too?”
“Of course, naturally.”
“Ugh, fine. All right, follow along.”
Olivier nodded.
Tiel laughed and took Olivier and Ferdi’s hands, one in each.
“What can we see?”
“Everything—this festival only comes once every three years. We should take in the whole thing.”
Ferdi gripped Tiel’s hand firmly. A pleasant warmth spread through her small palm.
The children headed out toward Festival Street.
People were laughing and chattering everywhere, enjoying themselves freely. Along the darkened street, small lights were scattered here and there to keep people from stumbling.
Tiel gazed at the sight for a moment, then carefully tugged Ferdi’s hand.
“Hmm? What is it?”
“Brother, why is the festival held at night? If it’s for Lucet, the Goddess of Light, shouldn’t it be held during the day?”
“That’s simple.”
Ludian interjected abruptly.
“Light shows up when it’s dark.”
“Huh?”
Tiel tilted her head slightly, not quite understanding Ludian’s overly terse explanation.
Ferdi helped her understand by gently stroking her cheek.
“Tiel, you used your Ability earlier, remember?”
“Of course I do!”
“Your light was wonderful—it embroidered the night sky. But what if it had been daytime?”
“Well, then…”
Tiel’s face twisted in realization.
If it had been day, no matter how brightly and brilliantly her light shone, it would have been nearly invisible, swallowed by the blazing sun.
Now Tiel understood why the people of the Crasion Empire celebrated this festival at night.
“Tiel.”
Olivier beamed and lightly pinched Tiel’s soft cheek.
“Light is born in darkness! We have hidden ourselves in the darkness and waited—oh, how long we’ve waited—for the light that would be born from within that darkness!”
It was a story all children of the Crasion Empire heard growing up.
Of course, Tiel had never heard it before, but most people here would have heard it in childhood.
Olivier stretched Tiel’s soft cheeks playfully.
“In other words, we waited for you! Tiel, you probably don’t yet understand how much meaning this festival holds….”
Just then.
“Really?”
A sharp voice cut through from somewhere.
Ferdi, Ludian, Tiel, and Olivier all looked up at once to find the voice’s source.
Wolfrang’s knights and Asterian’s knights also turned to look.
Where their gazes converged stood.
“This little brat actually manifested a Light Ability? I can’t believe it!”
A boy in a disrespectful stance, weight on one leg, was staring at Tiel.
That boy was Sterling Iker, the heir to House Iker.
“Sterling Iker? Why’s this unlucky brat come all the way here to cause trouble?”
Olivier’s voice turned sharp and threatening.
The knights were startled by their lady’s crude street-thug manner of speaking, but none dared to reprove her.
“Sorry, I was distracted before and didn’t see it. But…”
Sterling’s sharp gaze fixed on Tiel. She met his eyes without flinching.
“A Light Ability is pretty abstract, isn’t it? None of us really know what a Light Ability actually is, so—”
“Sterling.”
Ferdi, who had been listening quietly, stepped forward with a cold smile.
Though House Asterian and House Iker were both counted among the Five Great Houses, Iker was a Marquis house while Asterian was a Duchy. The prestige of those titles differed greatly.
So how dare the mere heir of House Iker speak so insolently in the presence of House Asterian? Ferdi stepped forward intending to put him in his place.
But then.
“Wait, I just—Ow!!!”
Sterling’s head snapped back violently as his skull was struck. The boy clutched his throbbing head and jerked it up.
A moment later, Sterling’s eyes widened as he recognized who had cuffed him.
“F-Father?”
“You damn fool! You’re causing trouble again!”
Sterling would have sworn on his life that he had never seen his father’s face so furious before.
“M-Me?”
“Who else is standing here, fool!”
Ferdi, Ludian, Olivier, and Tiel exchanged glances, then looked up at the Head of House Iker.
The crowd along the street had parted and stepped back, with Iker’s knights now flanking their lord.
At that moment, Olivier leaned down and whispered softly into Tiel’s ear.
‘Why scold the boy in public? How embarrassing.’
Tiel ordinarily didn’t sympathize with gossip about others, but this time she found herself agreeing with Olivier.
Because the Head of House Iker had come to this street in person, the festivalgoers had quietly begun dispersing.
Of course, since Tiel, Olivier, Ludian, and Ferdi were also walking about with knights in tow, the citizens had to make way for them as well.
But the presence of young heirs enjoying a festival was quite different from that of a Head of Household arriving in person.
The Head of House Iker, his anger still unappeasoned, glared at his son for a long moment before turning to face them.
“Please forgive my son’s rudeness.”

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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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