The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 99

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 99
Ian’s prediction proved correct. Before they could cross the mountain, the sun set and darkness fell. The knights made camp on the mountainside without reaching the summit.
“Don’t lower your guard. Make sure the sentries have no gaps in their watch.”
“Yes, understood.”
The Knight Commander bowed and returned to his post. Iandros surveyed the knights busy with camp preparations. They expertly erected barracks on the mountainside, and from the carriages that had carried their supplies, they retrieved plush, soft bedding and spread it across the cots inside the barracks.
It was bedding that Ferdi, Ludian, and Oliver had brought for Tiel. The bedding was so thick and abundant that if they layered it from the ground up, it might reach the same height as the cot itself.
“Ah, my muscles are so stiff…….”
Ludian emerged from the carriage, stretching with a groan. Iandros, watching him, tilted his head and gestured toward the horses behind them.
“I brought several fine horses knowing you’d feel this way. Why not ride tomorrow instead?”
“But if I ride, I won’t be able to see Tiel…….”
Ludian yawned widely and answered without much enthusiasm. Only then did Iandros wear an expression of realization.
‘I wondered why Ludian, who loves riding, chose the carriage instead of a horse.’
So that was the reason? To stay with his sister?
The problem was that Iandros found himself understanding perfectly. He shook his head, thinking he was equally afflicted.
Just then, Ferdi emerged cradling a small baby snow leopard in his arms. Oliver followed with a blanket, and noticing the wind was rather chilly, draped it gently over the sleeping Tiel.
“Is she asleep?”
Ian drew near to examine the baby snow leopard. Ferdi lowered his voice to a whisper.
“Ian……. Move your face away a bit.”
…….
Iandros withdrew without protest. He had no wish to wake the sleeping child, and besides, there was something he had done wrong in Asterian…….
Ferdi made a soft clicking sound with his tongue before heading toward the barracks. Watching him, Iandros tilted his head and gestured toward a different tent.
“Have her sleep in that one.”
Iandros was pointing to the largest and finest barracks—the one that, by rights, should have been occupied by the Crown Prince himself.
At the sight of that barracks, then Iandros, the faces of Ferdi, Ludian, and Oliver all crumpled helplessly.
“Ian, you don’t mean to say…….”
“Surely not, Your Highness?”
“Come on, have you no shame…….”
Ludian, Ferdi, and Oliver each added their own comment in turn. Ian immediately grasped what they were thinking.
Embarrassed at being caught yielding the better tent to Tiel, Ian pressed his lips together, then spoke slowly.
“……I’ll sleep in another tent. Just let Tiel stay there. If you must, you can all sleep there with her.”
Only then did the eyes of Ferdi, Ludian, and Oliver widen. Ian had said only a few words, yet felt as if he’d been torn apart by predators.
“If that is your wish, we shall not refuse, Your Highness,” Ferdi said with his usual gentle smile, bowing lightly.
Ian completely ignored Ferdi, fixing his gaze instead on the snow leopard sleeping in Ferdi’s arms.
Without fully knowing why, Ian stepped forward a few paces and lightly touched Tiel’s soft, pink footpad.
“……!”
Ferdi’s eyes sharpened instantly. Fortunately, however, Tiel did not wake.
“Mmmph…….”
Within Ferdi’s arms, she merely shifted position. Her surprisingly small paws for a snow leopard stretched out, pushing the blanket aside, before settling obediently back across her belly.
“So now you’ve taken up the hobby of waking sleeping children?”
Oliver whispered curtly. Ian’s ears flushed red with embarrassment and shame as he covered his mouth with the back of his hand.
“No, no, that’s not it…….”
“You were told not to wake her, yet you touched her anyway. What was that about?”
“…….”
“That’s enough. Let’s put her down. Before you poke her again!”
Ian bit back his protest that he hadn’t poked her. He knew from experience that these three wouldn’t listen to any excuse.
After Ferdi, Ludian, and Oliver hurried into Ian’s barracks, Iandros stood alone and tilted his head in confusion.
‘Why did I do that?’
He certainly hadn’t intended to wake the sleeping child……. Perhaps it was simply because he hadn’t seen her Beast Transformation form in such a long time?
The first time Ian had seen Tiel’s Beast Transformation was in the Nestian Mansion.
‘Please save me…….’
‘You can use Beast Transformation?’
A terrified small child who had crept into his room in the middle of the night.
Moments later, Tiel had transformed into a snow leopard. Iandros could still vividly remember that version of her.
Dull, matted fur without a trace of shine. Thin, withered tail and frame. Eyes wide with fear.
So small that one might believe her to be a cat rather than a snow leopard. Yet the small snow leopard now cradled in Ferdi’s arms was…….
‘She’s grown quite a bit.’
Grown far beyond any comparison to then, her fur gleaming with health, her tail hanging beneath her body plump and full, and finally, those paws, soft and supple as jelly——
‘They were so soft…….’
So very soft. Only now did Iandros understand why he’d been drawn to lightly touch Tiel’s paw.
It wasn’t merely because the sleeping baby snow leopard was endearing. In that moment, he’d remembered the Tiel he’d first met, and realized just how much she had changed.
He’d been struck by wonder at how far a family’s love could transform a small child.
Iandros had lived a life far removed from such love.
Yet such a fact no longer brought him sorrow. He had grown too early to grieve over such things. So instead of mourning, he chose to rejoice.
He was grateful to have met Tiel.
That day, the fact that it was he—and no other—who had been in that mansion felt like a stroke of fortune arranged by someone unseen.
***
[The village won’t do. There’s too much unnecessary light in the village…….]
Following the voice’s command, Chender blocked the road leading to the village so the children could not enter and stay the night there.
Blocking the path proved simple. The Nestian knights who had arrived early had already collapsed the road, making it seem as though no path had ever existed.
They had completely blocked the direct route across the mountain into the village, so the group would be forced to camp on the mountain instead.
This was precisely what Chender desired. After receiving word that the Nestian knights had collapsed the road to block it, Chender laughed with satisfaction.
“In any case, it’s nearly impossible to stand against all of them.”
Moreover, they were a knight order and royal procession assembled by the Emperor himself. To lay even the slightest hand upon them would invite not merely disaster but potential annihilation of the entire house under the Royal Murder Charge.
But.
‘So long as I don’t touch the Crown Prince, what’s the harm?’
And if neither Nestian’s Ice Freezing nor Ikher’s Lightning Strike were used, then no matter what befell the group in that mountain, neither Nestian nor Ikher could be held accountable.
[I need something very dark…….]
A desolate voice echoed once more at Chender’s ear.
The voice that had whispered faintly at Chender’s ear since long ago had recently grown suddenly clear.
As if speaking directly from beside him…….
Chender tilted his head with unfocused eyes and laughed like a madman.
“Yes, the mountain will be very dark…….”
The knights, being no fools, would surely carry campfires or torches to light their surroundings, but compared to the lights of a village, such meager flames were no brighter than fireflies.
Besides, campfires and torches alone could not banish the darkness entirely—the group would be forced to endure the night clinging to the shadows!
Darkness would blind their eyes, and swallow that little girl Tiel. They would feel her slip away from their cherished grasp while their vision was stolen by the night.
‘I never thought it would be this easy.’
Once Tiel left the embrace of Alpheus and Cassius, the plan unfolded with astonishing smoothness.
A room with no candle lit.
In the darkness that had descended, surrounded by impenetrable black, Chender crouched and laughed like a madman.
***
Within the barracks, its floor layered thick with plush bedding, warm and cozy.
Oliver, Ferdi, and Ludian surrounded the sleeping baby snow leopard, gazing down at Tiel with expressions of grave concern.
As they all held their breath,
Ludian carefully pointed toward the sleeping baby snow leopard.
“……The child is glowing?”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————