The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family

So, it was definitely a child.

Of course, there were beastkin living in this land, so there was nothing unusual about a child being present. But...

"Why does he look like that?"

Olivier stepped in front of Ian and Tiel, just in case something unexpected happened. Tiel looked at the boy’s face.

‘······He’s hurt.’

It seemed like he must have rolled around somewhere. His youthful cheeks were covered with small wounds, and the clothes he wore were ragged, with many parts torn, exposing his skin.

After watching him for a moment, Tiel tapped Ian Dross’s arm. It was a signal to let her down.

“No.”

“······”

“I want to go down and check on him. What if it's dangerous? No.”

However, Ian Dross firmly refused. As if worried Tiel might leap from his arms, he tightened his hold on her even more.

“Ah, seriously....”

In the end, Tiel gave up on getting down from Ian’s arms, and lightly waved her hand to call fish to her palm.

‘He must not be used to this light, since there’s no sun here...’

Of course, Tiel’s light was different from others, and no matter how brightly it shone, it didn’t hurt the eyes, but Tiel still didn’t realize that.

The reason the boy might still be squinting was probably because Tiel’s light was dazzling to him. She thought so.

“No, don’t...”

But the boy seemed to dislike Tiel’s consideration. As the light slowly faded, the boy hurriedly came closer, eyes wide with panic.

At that moment, everyone who was standing there could clearly see the color of the boy’s eyes. His eyes were...

“...Nestian?”

Ludian muttered. Ferdie shook his head. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

“No, it’s similar to Nestian’s, but... different.”

Nestians are born with wall eyes, but the eyes of the Snow Leopards were a little lighter and more transparent. If anything, they resembled the color of frozen ice.

However, the boy’s eyes were not like that; they were a darker, bluish...

“Like the sea.”

Clemence muttered. The children, except for Tiel, who had seen the sea, nodded in agreement. As Clemence said, the boy’s eyes were just like the sea.

They resembled the deep sea, where the waves were fierce and could swallow everything. In their minds, one question arose simultaneously.

‘Who is this child?’

Who could this child be to have eyes like that? No matter how one looked at it, the eye color and hair color of a commoner wouldn’t match this. But no family that had such eye and hair colors as their emblem came to mind. At least, not that they remembered.

“Please, please help...”

The boy mumbled and took another step closer. The problem was that the sound was so small, faint, and weak, they couldn’t hear his voice...

“Don’t come any closer. If you do, I’ll treat you as an enemy.”

The captain of the knights stepped forward, blocking the children and speaking threateningly. The boy, who was half the size of the captain, hesitated and took a step back. The captain, seeing that, felt a faint sympathy.

The boy was much smaller than Ian, Ferdie, and Ludian, and wasn’t even as big as Olivier or Clemence. He looked to be about Tiel’s size, but probably just a little taller than her...

‘The princess is just so small.’

He couldn’t compare him to Tiel. And even if the boy was male, that was different. The captain looked down at the small, youthful-looking child. He was probably only about seven years old.

However, despite feeling sympathy for this small child, the captain couldn’t allow him to approach the children any further.

This place was outside the imperial palace’s watch, an unknown territory where beastkin lived in the Land Without Morning, a land that did not interact much with outsiders.

They didn’t even know what the boy was doing here, so they couldn’t let him approach recklessly. Just then, the boy stepped up to the captain and grabbed his wrist.

“Huh?”

“Please help me, please... help. Please...”

Tears streamed down his round cheeks without stopping. His small cheeks were quickly soaked. The captain was so taken aback that he didn’t even think to shake off the boy.

Though he was a well-trained knight, he had never been trained in how to push away a child who was barely eight years old.

And then...

“...Help you?”

The boy stumbled and cried out, and that made it even harder for them to reject or dismiss him.

Thanks to the boy's desperate shout, even the children standing behind them could hear his voice clearly.

“He said help!”

“It’s better to check his injuries...”

Olivier and Clemence said. Ferdie and Ludian, who had been quietly observing, added their thoughts.

“Why is this kid alone in these mountains? It’s too suspicious.”

“Yeah, can we even treat him? We still don’t know much about the beastkin living here. There are rumors among the academy kids that the beastkin here eat each other...”

“Enough, stop.”

Ian Dross, who was also familiar with ‘those rumors,’ knew it was inappropriate for Tiel to hear them.

Ian Dross was concerned about Tiel being so quiet in his arms. As soon as she heard "help," he knew she would start struggling to get down.

As Ian Dross lowered his gaze, he met Tiel’s sparkling golden eyes, which were staring at him.

“...Why are you looking at me like that?”

Ian Dross asked. Tiel fiddled with the sleeve of his clothing as she answered.

“You’re... the Crown Prince, right?”

“...Yes.”

“As the Crown Prince, you wouldn’t ignore the people of the empire when they’re hurt or in danger, right?”

“....”

Tiel knew well that Ian Dross wasn’t going to let her down. Ian always prioritized her safety, so this was to be expected.

And there was one thing Tiel knew for sure—that in this situation, Ian Dross had full authority over all decisions...

“That boy is badly injured. We brought medicine, so it would be okay to share some. If you really don’t want to, we can just apply the medicine and take him to somewhere safe...”

If Ian Dross hadn’t heard the boy’s plea, it might have been different, but now that he had, ignoring his request wasn’t an option. Ian Dross also thought the same. But still...

“Didn’t you learn that you shouldn’t just use the Crown Prince like this?”

“I haven’t learned that yet... And Ian, you’re not just the Crown Prince, you’re my friend, my guardian, and my... ugh!”

“Okay, okay, enough.”

In the end, Ian Dross, who raised his hands in surrender, lightly covered Tiel’s mouth with his hand and looked at the captain.

The captain, still holding the boy, who was clinging to his wrist and crying, looked at Ian Dross.

“We can’t treat his wounds here, so we’ll have to find a proper place to tend to him. We’ll find the way again with Tiel’s ability. Let’s move quickly.”

As soon as Ian Dross gave the order, the captain swiftly grabbed the boy, who had been sobbing and clinging to his wrist, and lifted him up as though he had been waiting for that command.

The knights were very skilled at finding a place to rest for a while. After Ian Dross’s order, they soon discovered a fairly decent cave nearby.

To be prepared for any potential danger, half the knights settled deep inside the cave, while the other half positioned themselves outside. The children settled in the middle.

“But, did a medic come along?”

Olivier asked as she looked at the knights. Clemence, Ludian, and Ferdie all shook their heads.

“The medic is at the Arne estate. But we have a military doctor with us, so it’s fine.”

Ian Dross pointed to a man carrying a heavy, sturdy medical chest among the knights. He had been traveling with them since they left the Asterian estate.

The military doctor nodded lightly to the children before kneeling down in front of the boy, who was lying like a corpse.

The boy seemed exhausted and tired, and had fallen asleep while they were looking for a place to rest. Soft, weak breathing could be heard from him, on the verge of stopping.

“Check his condition.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

The military doctor quickly examined the boy’s wounds. He might have internal injuries, but they couldn’t examine that here, so they could only look at the external wounds.

Tiel held out her light to help as the military doctor examined the boy’s wounds. The boy’s round, youthful face was fully revealed under the light...