The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 83

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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 83
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“How is her condition?”
“Quite well, Your Majesty. Apart from some minor shock, I see no cause for concern.”
The Imperial Palace physician bowed deeply. Alpheus and Wilhelm stood side by side, gazing at the small girl sitting quietly on the bed.
“Really, I’ve told you several times I’m fine…….”
Tiel fidgeted with the edge of her blanket, looking embarrassed.
“Even so, I wanted to be certain. Tiel, try not to do anything so reckless next time.”
Alpheus spoke to the child as one might gently scold her. Tiel nodded obediently.
“Yes, I won’t do anything dangerous again…….”
She glanced nervously at Wilhelm.
With His Majesty the Emperor present, could she really promise not to save the Crown Prince if such a situation arose again?
But such worries melted away like snow the moment the Emperor spoke.
“Thank you.”
Wilhelm chose his words carefully, determined that his gratitude would be conveyed completely—yet would never become a burden on this small girl’s shoulders.
“Because of you, Iandros lived. I wished to express my gratitude.”
“Oh, no, Your Majesty.”
Tiel shook her head in alarm.
“It was only natural……, what I did.”
“It was not natural. You did something extraordinary. But child.”
Wilhelm closed his eyes slowly, then opened them, speaking with deliberate care.
“If such a situation arises again.”
“…….”
“You need not help.”
The words were merciless.
So cold and cutting for Wilhelm, Iandros’s grandfather, to utter—words that carried the weight of genuine pain.
Tiel could not answer at once, hesitating before she dared to question the Emperor.
“……Why?”
“Why? Because you were in danger…….”
“But Iandros was in danger too.”
At Tiel’s words, both Alpheus and Wilhelm blinked simultaneously.
Alpheus’s eyes seemed to ask, ‘So you’re saying you’d rush in again if such a thing happened?’ while Wilhelm’s gaze held a kind of exasperated tenderness.
Wilhelm cleared his throat with a soft cough, then spoke.
“I am currently seeking a suitable bride for Iandros. Once we find one, he will be able to receive her Special Ability—and situations like this will not recur. I swear it: there will be no need for you to risk yourself like that again.”
“Yes…….”
Tiel nodded.
She had heard talk of seeking a bride for Iandros before, but hearing it directly from the Emperor made her feel strangely unsettled.
‘I’m not sure why…….’
Perhaps it was because once Iandros married, he would no longer have time to play with her?
Tiel pushed down the sadness creeping into her heart, shook her head vigorously, and looked up at both the Emperor and Alpheus with wide eyes.
“Anyway, I have something to tell you!”
“And we have something to ask you.”
Alpheus gently stroked Tiel’s hair as he spoke.
“Tiel, what did you do inside the Subspace?”
At Alpheus’s question, Tiel flinched slightly. Countless things she had witnessed in the Subspace rushed back to her mind.
But Tiel kept silent.
Whether it was a vision or truly Iandros’s memories, she did not wish to speak of it.
Instead.
“I was trapped in a dark, empty space the whole time.”
“Only that?”
“Yes, so I created some light to look around, but there was nothing anywhere…….”
Tiel continued hesitantly.
“But there were strange things attached to Iandros’s neck.”
“Strange things?”
“They seemed similar to what I felt that day on the street…….”
“Ah, what Iandros mentioned.”
The Emperor nodded. It appeared that Iandros had returned to the Imperial Palace that day and reported Tiel’s account to him.
“Yes, and since they seemed to dislike light, I used my Ability……and fortunately they all disappeared.”
“……They dislike light?”
“Yes.”
Tiel nodded.
Alpheus and Wilhelm exchanged a brief look, then turned their attention back to Tiel.
“Continue.”
“So those disappeared, but instead…….”
Tiel hesitated, pointing to the nape of her own neck.
“On Iandros’s neck right here, there was a strange mark…….”
“…….”
“……?”
Alpheus and Wilhelm tilted their heads in the same direction, at the same angle, their incomprehension evident.
“……What appeared?”
“A mark shaped like a fish……, and I tried to erase it, but it wouldn’t go away…….”
“A, a fish?”
Alpheus’s eyes went wide. They were nearly bulging from their sockets. He grasped his granddaughter’s hand firmly, his voice trembling.
“Surely you don’t mean the fish-shaped mark emits light…….”
“How did you……know that?”
Tiel covered her mouth in shock, and Alpheus gripped her hand, his face draining of all color.
“Please, tell me it’s not true.”
“……What?”
“Tell me it’s not true!”
Tiel looked up in bewilderment at Emperor Wilhelm.
The Emperor turned away as though unable to face Alpheus, dragging his hands across his face in dry-washing motions.
……Why were they acting like this?
Confused, Tiel grasped Alpheus’s hand and whispered urgently.
“Um, grandfather…….”
“…….”
“Did I do something wrong?”
“Tiel.”
Alpheus called her name with careful tenderness. His eyes wavered with unstable emotion as he spoke her name in a voice that seemed to be dying away.
“That is……an Imprinting.”
“……What?”
“You and the Crown Prince have formed an Imprinting, right now…….”
This was precisely the situation Alpheus had hoped to avoid. After Tiel and Iandros had returned, he had sought out Wilhelm to warn him not to think of making Tiel a Crown Princess, given the sacrifice she had made. And yet the children had entered the Subspace together, completed the Imprinting between themselves, and popped right back out!
For Alpheus, it was enough to drive him to madness.
He staggered to his feet, swaying.
“……Where are you going?”
The Emperor asked.
“I must see the Crown Prince……to confirm whether this is true…….”
Alpheus ground his teeth as he spoke. The Emperor, unable even to think of stopping him, simply nodded.
“Rest a while longer.”
“I, I want to come too! I’m perfectly fine!”
Tiel bounced off the bed.
“I’m completely fine, see?”
Tiel hopped in place to demonstrate, and the Emperor, his face somewhat fallen, could not bring himself to stop her and merely nodded.
“……Very well, then.”
“Yes!”
Tiel set off after the Emperor toward Iandros’s chambers.
Alpheus hurried ahead, determined to verify this himself, moving faster even than Wilhelm, who did not have the heart to stop him.
The three arrived quickly at the room where Iandros lay.
Before entering, Tiel looked up at the Emperor and asked.
“Um, Your Majesty. Has Iandros woken?”
“He has not. According to his physician, the shock was severe enough that he may remain unconscious for some time. Fortunately, there is nothing physically wrong with him.”
‘Now I understand why there was nothing wrong.’ The Emperor murmured so softly that Tiel did not hear. She lifted her head.
“Pardon?”
“No, I misspoke.”
The knights stationed outside the Crown Prince’s bedchamber slowly opened the chamber door.
A massive bed sat in the center of the spacious room, and upon it lay Iandros, motionless as death.
The Emperor, Alpheus, and Tiel approached the sleeping Iandros slowly.
Alpheus looked at the Emperor.
The Emperor nodded.
“…….”
Alpheus placed his hand on Iandros’s body, gently rolled him onto his side, and examined the area around his neck.
Just as Tiel had described, a mark distinctly resembling a fish was etched into the skin.
The moment both Alpheus and Emperor Wilhelm confirmed the mark with their own eyes, their faces went cold.
“Tiel, come here.”
Alpheus gestured to his granddaughter.
Tiel nodded and approached hesitantly, standing beside Alpheus.
“Place your hand on it.”
“My hand?”
“Yes.”
Without further question, Tiel did as he asked.
Her small fingertips touched Iandros’s skin.
At that instant, the mark on his neck responded to its counterpart, shimmering with light.
Unlike when Tiel had been trapped in Iandros’s Subspace, it now glowed more distinctly, more vividly.
As if answering her call.
“Oh…….”
Tiel’s eyes widened, and she blinked.

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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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