The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 78

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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 78
“Huh?”
Tiel looked up at her two brothers and Olivier with a dazed expression, still wearing the Snow Leopard Half-Mask.
“Oh my god, you’re so cute!!!”
“Wait, let me take it off for a moment. I don’t think I’m ready to see how cute you look yet…….”
Olivier let out a squeal, while Ludian clutched at his chest with one hand.
After carefully arranging Tiel’s bangs so they wouldn’t be pressed by the mask, Ferdi ignored the two of them and walked past.
“Come on, let’s go, Tiel.”
“Hey, wait! Let’s go together!”
Olivier yelped from behind and hurried after Ferdi.
Ludian likewise rushed after Ferdi and Tiel.
“I said let’s go together!”
“We’re running late. I thought there was no point in wasting time talking.”
Ferdi strode forward and boarded the carriage with Tiel, while Olivier and Ludian quickly climbed in after them.
Olivier was also wearing a beautiful Wolf Mask adorned with jewels.
“……!”
Tiel reached out as if enchanted and gently tapped Olivier’s Wolf Mask, then suddenly startled and shrank back.
Olivier, who had been watching intently, moved to remove her mask by grasping the lower edge and asked.
“Tiel, would you like me to take it off?”
“Oh, no! You look the most beautiful wearing it…….”
Tiel hastily pulled her hand back and spoke in a hushed, careful voice to discourage Olivier.
It was a good thing the mask was covering her face, or her pale cheeks would have flushed red entirely.
“Aww! How adorable!! If you ever want one, just say the word, Tiel—I’ll take mine off for you!”
“Yes…… but sister, why are you wearing a mask?”
Tiel, nestled in Ferdi’s lap, looked back and forth between Ferdi’s mask and Olivier’s mask as she asked.
Her small fingers brushed against the white Snow Leopard patterned half-mask covering her own face.
“You said we were going to see the Fireworks Festival……, but do we have to wear masks to a festival?”
“At Luminarie’s Fireworks Festival, wearing masks like this and enjoying it together is an old tradition.”
Ferdi swept Tiel’s hair back and straightened her askew mask properly.
“Watching the light burst from the sky, mingling with those whose faces are hidden, saying and doing things you normally wouldn’t…….”
“……Things you normally wouldn’t do?”
Wait—isn’t that dangerous? What if someone intended to commit things like murder, things they’d normally never do?
Tiel’s already large eyes grew even wider as she looked at Ludian, Ferdi, and Olivier.
‘Yesterday, Father and Grandfather definitely said not to wander around carelessly…….’
Tiel scrunched her face beneath the half-mask as she thought.
Wait.
Come to think of it, they said to be careful, but they didn’t actually say not to go out.
“Don’t worry. We’re just going to watch from a place where no one else is.”
“Really?”
“Yes. We’re just wearing the masks for the atmosphere. We went through so much trouble to prepare, it’d be a shame not to wear them.”
The carriage didn’t travel far.
The children soon got out. Ferdi stepped lightly from the carriage, carrying Tiel. Tiel clung tightly to her brother’s neck and sat obediently in his arms.
Since Cassius and Alpheus had instructed her not to stray from Ferdi and Ludian, this seemed like the safest way to be held.
The place where the children had arrived was a desolate lakeside.
True to Ferdi’s word about watching from a place with no one around, the location held only Ferdi, Ludian, Tiel, Olivier, and countless Asterian knights.
……Wait?
Tiel felt something odd and looked around.
A number of Asterian knights roughly equal to those gathered in the plaza were now surrounding the lakeside.
‘Eek.’
Startled, Tiel’s eyes widened.
Why had so many come?
Having heard Tiel’s story the day before, Alpheus and Cassius had assigned nearly all of their knights to the children, keeping only the bare minimum.
Realizing this, Tiel found reassurance in her father and grandfather’s care and protective consideration, smiling slightly.
Servants laid out soft, thin cloth along the lakeside and helped the children settle comfortably.
From across the lake came the sound of masked figures laughing and making merry.
In contrast, the children’s spot was silent as the grave—Ferdi had deliberately sought out this quiet place, as it didn’t seem good for Tiel to mingle with crowds.
“Sit here, Tiel.”
Ferdi helped Tiel to her seat and sat beside her. Olivier and Ludian each plopped down in turn.
Tiel gazed blankly out at the lakeside.
“Um, I’ve never seen fireworks before. Will the fireworks burst from this lake?”
The sight of a small girl wearing a Snow Leopard Half-Mask that suited her perfectly, speaking hesitantly, was utterly endearing.
Ferdi chuckled lightly, ruffled Tiel’s hair once, and spoke.
“Just wait. You’ll see.”
“When will it start?”
“Go ask when it starts.”
At Ludian’s words, Olivier tilted her head slightly with a confused expression and asked back.
“Does Ian handle this?”
“Why would he?”
“Then who am I supposed to ask!?”
“Go ask His Holiness.”
At that confident answer, Olivier raised her fist in mock anger. Tiel startled and hugged the fist to herself.
“Oh, sister!”
“Ah, Tiel, sorry, sorry. I won’t do it again. I made a little mistake~”
Seeing Tiel’s alarm, Olivier quickly lowered her fist and gently patted the girl, then placed a soft kiss on her round head.
That was when it happened.
Bang!
Something burst from somewhere. Tiel jumped and curled into a ball, looking around the dark lakeside.
‘What, what is it?’
Then.
“Look there, Tiel.”
Ferdi tapped Tiel’s shoulder and pointed to the dark sky.
Tiel lifted her gaze.
“……Oh.”
She opened her mouth slightly and let out a soft gasp…….
Golden fireworks rippled beautifully across the dark sky.
Countless petals surged like waves across the dark heavens, rising high only to soon fade away.
At that wondrous and beautiful sight, Tiel’s golden eyes beneath the mask sparkled without ceasing.
“So this is the Fireworks Festival…….”
“The Fireworks Festival of Luminarie is overseen by the Temple. The Temple spends three years preparing solely for this one night, painting the night sky with fireworks.”
Ferdi added a gentle explanation to help Tiel understand.
Tiel nodded.
“It’s really, truly beautiful…….”
That was when tiny lights began to appear around Tiel’s body, flickering softly in bursts.
Yet no one chided her or told her to suppress her Ability. They simply watched the girl.
The small lights bursting from the child’s body gathered like fireflies and took flight together, soon floating gently above the lake.
Over the surface of the vast lake,
the tiny lights scattered into tens of thousands, bobbing softly on the water’s surface.
The lights resembled starlight, and sparks, and……the traces of all things burned away, and also.
The place where all things begin…….
Tiel carefully pressed her hands together and closed her eyes.
From within the child’s small hands, two fish made of light emerged, their fins undulating gracefully as they swam.
“Tiel.”
Olivier called Tiel’s name in a delighted whisper.
The girl’s face was hidden by the mask, but beneath it, Olivier’s expression would have been more excited than anyone’s…….
Tiel answered the call by releasing the two small fish from her hands.
The fish that left her hands circled around the children and the Asterian knights, blessing them, and then.
“……Hehe.”
Unlike the Temple’s fireworks that travelled far, they burst right before them—pop!
As the fish burst, countless fragments of light rained down on the children’s heads like starlight.
It was truly a beautiful sight.
Tiel’s plump cheeks flushed crimson as she gazed up at the night sky, bathed in the falling light fragments.
Her first festival visit.
The first fireworks she had ever seen.
The beloved siblings and sister sitting beside her now…….
It seemed Tiel would not forget this memory for a very long time.

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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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