The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family

“You asked me to find a companion as soon as possible, and now you’re just lazing around!”

“….”

“By doing that, there may come a moment when you can’t handle your abilities! How long will you act so naively, Ianthros Krasion?”

Ianthros lowered his head without saying a word. The Emperor gestured as if he couldn’t stand the sight of him.

“Get out right now! I can’t stand the sight of you!”

Ianthros didn’t hesitate. He stood up as if he had been waiting for those words and left the room.

The Emperor didn’t look at Ianthros, and Ianthros didn’t look at him either.

Cedric followed behind, but Ianthros gestured to him to stay away.

He didn’t want to be with anyone right now.

Anyone.

When Ianthros returned to the Prince’s residence, he dismissed all the maids. The Prince’s residence fell silent in an instant.

He stood in place for a moment, gazing at the distant scenery, and then waved his hand.

Whoosh…

It was Ianthros’ ability, the creation of a spatial dimension. The space expanded greatly, enough for one person to enter.

Without hesitation, Ianthros lifted his foot and stepped into that space.

“….”

He looked at the mansion that had turned into ruins with unfeeling eyes.

The eyes that gazed into the interior of the mansion were pitch black, devoid of life.

Ianthros’ ability, the creation of a spatial dimension.

There were limits to the spatial dimensions Ianthros could create.

When he was very young, it seemed like he could create a wider variety of spatial dimensions, but now he couldn’t remember.

The only place where Ianthros could create a spatial dimension now was this mansion.

The place where Ianthros and his parents used to live, now burned and vanished…

Ianthros looked around. It was pitch black, and nothing could be seen.

It was a profound darkness to the point that one couldn’t even move from their spot if their eyes weren’t accustomed to the darkness.

But because it was a darkness so familiar to Ianthros, he moved forward without a care.

Whenever Ianthros felt tired or lonely, he would hide in his own spatial dimension. Unlike the noisy outside, the space inside the dimension was as quiet as a tomb.

Nothing could disturb Ianthros inside.

Within this mansion, Ianthros was the ruler of this space.

He could easily move to different rooms and summon desired objects.

However, there was one thing he couldn’t do.

“….Ha.”

Ianthros sighed as he looked at the candle in his hand.

Within this space, he could do anything except for lighting a fire in the mansion.

No matter what he did, he couldn’t light a fire inside the mansion.

He longed for the happy times when he lived with his parents and made every effort to light up the mansion brightly.

However, Ianthros couldn’t light a fire until the end.

Neither the chandelier nor even a single candle would ignite. Complete darkness dominated the space.

Ianthros squeezed the candle and crushed it. The candle shattered in mid-air, scattering into powder.

With cold, lifeless eyes, he continued walking. That’s when something unfamiliar touched his foot.

“….?”

He picked up an unidentified object that was chained to his foot.

It was a cushion that was oddly soft and beautiful.

One thing was certain: this item didn’t match the mansion.

‘Why is this here?’

Ianthros briefly wondered if he had put the cushion inside. But that couldn’t be true. Not only had he never seen such a cushion before, even if he had placed it there a long time ago, it wouldn’t have remained until now.

Except for the items that had been there from the beginning, other objects in Ianthros’ spatial dimension would disappear after a certain period of time.

Ianthros held the cushion. However, a familiar scent emanated from it. The boy narrowed his eyes.

‘Snow leopard.’

It was undoubtedly the scent of young Snow leopard.

In an instant, Ianthros recognized the owner of that fragrance. It must have been the cushion where snow leopard had been sitting.

Ianthros didn’t know when this cushion had been here, but…

As if exhausted, Ianthros sat down haphazardly and embraced snow leopard’s cushion.

The scent became even stronger. His sharp features relaxed comfortably.

‘snow leopard.’

Ianthros murmured the name of the small baby snow leopard for no reason.

Had snow leopard brought this cushion? Regardless of what it had become, it was undoubtedly a trace left by snow leopard.

He couldn’t understand why it hadn’t disappeared like the rest, but one thing was certain: this small cushion provided comfort to Ianthros.

Sometimes, Ianthros felt unbearably lonely.

Today was one of those days.

Was it because he had spent time in the desolate Asterian? Compared to Asterian, the palace was no different from a dead space.

There were no laughing or crying people.

Ianthros had grown up mostly alone in the palace.

His grandfather ignored him. The maids and knights were afraid of his powers and kept their distance…

Cedric was with him, but Cedric couldn’t fulfill the role of his parents or a friend.

He was just an advisor.

But just because he found one cushion, just because he held one cushion in his hand…

‘It’s ridiculous to feel less lonely, isn’t it?’

A faint smile appeared on Ianthros’ lips.

He hugged the cushion tightly.

It smelled like baby snow leopard.

Strangely, he kept thinking of snow leopard.

He seemed to miss her.

* * *

“This year, they said His Highness the Crown Prince’s birthday celebration will be skipped.”

Cassius placed two pieces of meat on Thiel’s plate and spoke.

Perdi, sitting right next to Thiel, carefully wiped his sister’s face with a napkin.

Thiel received Perdi’s care and looked up at Cassius.

“It’s Ian’s birthday?”

“Yeah.”

Thiel tilted his head. Skipping the Crown Prince’s birthday celebration. Could there be something going on?

Although Thiel had never been to a palace celebration, she had a rough idea of how grand and magnificent the parties held at the palace were because Cornelia Aunt and Rowan often attended them.

She also knew how important those parties were to the Crown Prince and other nobles.

It was during that time when Thiel was worrying about whether something had happened to Ian.

“By the way, let’s set aside Ian’s birthday celebration. Thiel, when is your birthday? I forgot to ask.”

“….”

The knives on the dining table all stopped moving at Ludian’s words. The thoughts of everyone except Ludian came to a halt.

Perdi opened his eyes wide and glared at Ludian.

“Ludian, you—”

“Huh? Why? Can’t I ask?”

Perdi tightly closed his eyes in response to Ludian’s clueless answer.

Asterian considered the day Lena Nestian left as her birthday.

Since Nestian didn’t tell Asterian when she died.

But after she disappeared and gave birth to Thiel, there must have been a separate date for his birthday.

Yet, the reason they didn’t ask Thiel about Lena’s birthday…

“….Ah.”

Ludian sighed softly, as if he had just realized. Thiel’s birthday was Lena’s birthday!

Because in Nestian, it was told that Lena died after giving birth to Thiel.

Ludian looked at Thiel with a bewildered expression. Was he hurt by the previous question? The boy was engulfed in an impulse to grab his own head, which he thoughtlessly questioned.

However, contrary to their thoughts that the child might be deeply hurt, Thiel didn’t show any signs of crying or sadness. Just…

“It’s my birthday? I don’t know when my birthday is. They never told me, saying it was an unlucky day….”

“….”

“Since Mom passed away while giving birth to me… It’s a day I don’t celebrate. But it’s the first time someone has asked me. I’m glad.”

Thiel hesitated for a moment whether it was okay to use the word “glad.”

Because her birthday was her mother’s death day.

Thiel still carried guilt for thinking that her mother passed away because of her.

And perhaps it would never disappear throughout her life. However…

‘…Can I say something like this?’

The person who asked about her birthday was the first. And it was none other than her older brother.

So, her mother will forgive her for this much.

Thiel nodded and spoke.

“My birthday is probably in winter. Grandfather always became sharp in winter.”

The four men of Asterian simultaneously had the same thought.

They wanted to kill Zander.

Force surged into the hands holding the knives as if they had made a promise. They tried hard to suppress their impulses.

Cassius was the first to open his mouth.

He had a bewildered expression, as if he didn’t know where to start from.

“Tihel… Lena’s matter is not your responsibility. It’s not your fault.”

“Yes, Dad.”

“It’s true. I’m not saying this to comfort you. You were just a newborn at that time. What could you have done wrong?”

“….Yes.”

“If Lena had heard that story, she would have gone wild and torn your grandfather in half.”

“….?”

…Torn?

“And I would have been torn too. As a sin for not knowing that my daughter would be treated like that.”

Thiel blinked his eyes.

Mom? It was completely different from what she heard from Zander.

Zander always said, “Lena was a well-behaved child unlike you!” Whenever Cornelia Aunt mentioned Lena, she scolded her severely.

But what Cassius said was more similar to what Cornelia Aunt said.

Tearing someone apart… Mom… Really? Cassius nonchalantly spoke as Thiel, who seemed surprised, blinked her eyes.

“So, Thiel, help your dad so he won’t commit any more sins. If you keep blaming yourself for Lena’s death, when you meet your mother later, he will be killed without any chance to explain.”

“….”

“Understood.”

“Yes….”

“Let’s eat, my daughter.”

Cassius put a piece of meat into Thiel’s mouth.

Thiel chewed the meat with a less shocked expression.