The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 84

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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 84
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“……What are you doing?”
Ferdi crumpled his face as if he’d overheard something he shouldn’t have, and asked again.
“What did they do? Iandros and Tiel—what were they doing?”
“……What did I just hear?”
Ferdi and Ludian stared at each other’s faces. The identically-featured brothers gazed blankly at their matching expressions for a moment, then fumbled to open their mouths.
“That is, well……”
“…….”
“Tiel and Iandros performed an Imprinting……”
Ludian struggled to complete the sentence, then pressed his head in his hands with an expression as if the world had ended.
Ferdi, who had been sitting composedly beside him, pulled out the cord that had held his hair, tied it back neatly, then stood with a bright smile.
“……Ferdi, where are you going?”
Alpheus watched Ferdi with a wary gaze and asked.
“Please grant the position of successor to Ludian. I have matters to attend to, and I believe I must visit the Imperial Palace.”
Ferdi smiled pleasantly.
“……Seize him.”
The moment Alpheus’s command fell, Cassius appeared abruptly with a sunken expression and pressed down firmly on Ferdi’s shoulder.
“Stay still.”
“…….”
“You are not the only one restraining yourself. Do not act recklessly.”
At Cassius’s menacing tone, Ferdi started to rise, then settled back into his seat obediently.
“Then……what will happen?”
Ludian asked Alpheus urgently. He was grateful Tiel wasn’t present.
If she had been, Ferdi—who was always gentle with Tiel—might have grabbed the boy with his eyes half-wild, demanding to know exactly what that son of a dog Iandros had done to her.
“An Imprinting cannot be undone.”
Cassius spoke flatly.
“But surely there’s a way—!”
“It cannot be undone. Shapeshifters don’t perform Imprinting for no reason.”
The risks of Imprinting were too severe. Not only was there no method, but even if one could somehow break an Imprinting, there was no guarantee Tiel would be safe.
The atmosphere grew heavy all at once. Alpheus and Cassius both sighed.
“How she managed to perform the Imprinting, I haven’t the faintest idea. But I hear the Crown Prince was unconscious throughout……”
“……Are you saying Tiel performed the Imprinting alone?”
“An Imprinting cannot be done alone—there must have been mutual interaction somehow. The question is: what was that interaction? How could it possibly have been done……”
Alpheus murmured.
“Grandfather.”
Ferdi called to him quietly.
“What is it?”
“If Tiel and Iandros performed an Imprinting, does that make Tiel the Crown Princess?”
“It would seem so.”
“Then Tiel will go to live in the Crown Prince’s Palace?”
“Likely.”
“Ah, I see.”
Ferdi laughed dryly.
“I’ll kill Iandros—”
“Hey, hey!”
Before Ferdi could cross the line, Ludian desperately clamped a hand over his mouth.
“But Ludian, listen. My sister is barely seven years old, and we’ve only just found her less than a year ago, and now we have to send her to the Imperial Palace.”
“…….”
“Perhaps we should handle this after all—”
“Enough.”
Cassius cut off Ferdi’s words once more. Ferdi said nothing further and closed his mouth.
For a moment, the gazes of Alpheus and Cassius met across the empty air.
“Cassius.”
“Yes.”
Cassius nodded slightly.
Ferdi and Ludian turned to look at the two men with puzzled expressions.
Alpheus and Cassius appeared to have something to say to the two boys.
“There is one way to keep Tiel from being sent to the Imperial Palace.”
“What is it?”
“If such a way exists, you should have told us sooner!”
Ludian spoke without proper restraint, but neither Cassius nor Alpheus blamed or reprimanded him.
Instead, they were quiet for a moment, as if considering carefully.
“Ferdi, your opinion matters greatly.”
“Please, go on.”
Ferdi nodded.
“If Tiel takes the position of Head of Household of the Asterian, we can avoid sending her to the Imperial Palace immediately.”
“…….”
Cassius began to add more, then closed his mouth.
Ferdi had grown up for eleven years as the heir of the Asterian and the child destined to take the Household Head Position after Cassius.
He was not ignorant of how cruel such words must be to this boy.
‘That’s why I didn’t want to bring it up.’
In fact, ever since learning that other noble houses were wary of Tiel and hostile to the Asterian, he had often discussed this problem with Alpheus.
But he had tried to avoid raising even this matter.
“Tiel entering the Imperial Palace is dangerous. I think you all understand why.”
Tiel had manifested a Light Ability.
And word had leaked that her Ability could strengthen the Abilities of the Asterian and Nestian.
Simultaneously, absurd rumors were spreading—that one could use even stronger Abilities if Tiel were by one’s side.
In such circumstances, entering the Imperial Palace would be no different than leaving a child defenseless in enemy territory.
‘No matter how much His Majesty and the Crown Prince protect her.’
The Imperial Palace was vast.
And vastness meant: at any time, in any place, any person might slip in and attempt to harm Tiel.
The safest place for Tiel was the Asterian Mansion in Asterian Territory.
To ensure that, something decisive was needed—something that would prevent others from taking her away. And……
‘That something is the Household Head Position.’
If they made Tiel the Head of the Asterian Household, and Alpheus handled the state affairs while she grew, there would be no problem in managing family affairs.
Moreover, the Head of the Asterian Household could not simply go to live in the Imperial Palace on a whim—they could not prevent her from becoming the Crown Princess, but at least they could delay it.
‘Until Tiel is old enough.’
Tiel was far too small and too young.
She was only seven years old, and due to her poor nutrition in Nestian, she was late in growth—far smaller than other children her age.
In other words, she was a tiny child incapable of defending herself.
And it was the duty of adults—the duty of family—to protect and care for such a child.
Yet this was only Cassius’s thinking, and he had no intention of imposing that responsibility and duty upon Ferdi as well.
If Ferdi refused, Alpheus and Cassius had already prepared to find another solution.
He gazed down at his son, who had grown so much without his notice, and placed a thick hand gently on the small head.
“Ferdi, I am not forcing you. Make your own choice. No one will speak against your decision.”
“……You said I should make my own choice?”
Ferdi met Cassius’s gaze.
His son, grown so tall now, looked up at his father.
The father merely gazed at his son, saying nothing, doing nothing.
“Give the Household Head Position to Tiel.”
“……Ferdi, above all else, your wishes matter. You are……”
“My wishes alone don’t matter, Grandfather. The one who was supposed to inherit the Household Head Position after you wasn’t me—it was my father.”
Ferdi looked up at Cassius and spoke with measured clarity, his young voice unmarred by hesitation or regret, so distinctly that all gathered there gazed at him in stunned silence.
“And since you’re asking me, it seems Father has given up the Household Head Position.”
“Yes.”
For Tiel’s sake, Cassius could have sacrificed not only the Household Head Position but his very life.
Tiel was an indispensable presence in the Asterian, a being he never wished to lose again, and the precious and fragile apple of the Black Leopards’ eye.
Ferdi nodded as if he had known this all along.
“Then why ask me? My father—who has striven his whole life to inherit the Asterian Household Head Position—is giving it up for Tiel. What reason could I possibly have to refuse?”
“…….”
“The Household Head Position of the Asterian means nothing to me. I would give such a thing to a beggar if it meant I could save Tiel.”
“……That won’t do. What are you saying?”
Alpheus, the current Head of the Asterian Household and the owner of the position they were now declining to inherit, murmured as if struck by a headache.
“I only mean what I say. Don’t worry about my feelings—do as you both wish.”
“Ferdi.”
“I will follow. I will do whatever it takes to protect Tiel.”
Ferdi’s golden eyes shone with brilliant clarity.
Like the light that had covered the Training Grounds’ sky when Tiel held him close during his rampage……

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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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