Previously
Iandros hides Thiel under his bed when Cedric Yuvino comes searching for a runaway 'maid.' After the guards leave, Thiel reveals her identity as a Nestian hybrid and shows Iandros the scars from her grandfather's abuse.
Thiel murmured Ian's name several times, as if turning it over in her mind,
and soon broke into a smile.
Ian watched her, then awkwardly turned his head away and spoke.
Ian crossed his arms as he said it. Thiel peered up at him cautiously, and he gave a slight flick of his chin, prompting her to hurry.
At his urging, Thiel quickly spun in place.
In that instant, the little girl vanished,
and in her place stood a tiny snow leopard cub.
Having shifted into her snow leopard form, Thiel darted past Ian's feet straight to the bed.
Clamping a bundle of blankets tightly in her
jaws, she dragged them over and set them down at Ian's feet.
Ian asked, sounding unsure whether he really
had to carry it along. Thiel gave a firm nod in response.
‘Yes, because it’s my mother’s keepsake.’
Seeing that resolute look, Ian sighed and picked up the bundle of blankets. Only then did Thiel’s face brighten.
Ian then reached a hand out into empty air.
Whoosh—!
A sharp, dazzling light burst forth for a moment. Thiel squeezed her eyes shut, then slowly blinked them open.
‘Whoa…’
Seeing what Ian had conjured, her mouth dropped open slightly.
What Ian had opened in midair was a pure white aperture.
Startled, Thiel stepped back. It was only natural for someone who had never witnessed such power before.
Ian tossed Thiel’s bundle of blankets into the opening.
"…!!"
Thiel’s eyes widened in sheer astonishment.
‘The blankets are gone!’
She had seen with her own eyes what Ian was holding, and the moment
he threw it into that hole, the blankets vanished entirely.
Thiel padded around the opening in utter bewilderment, but there was no sign of the missing bundle anywhere.
Seeing her confusion, Ian plunged his hand back into the aperture.
He pulled the very same bundle of blankets back out of the rift
and held it before Thiel.
Only I can open it.”
Ian pointed to the white aperture hanging in the air as he explained.
Subspace Creation.
It was an ability that allowed its wielder to manifest a personalized space of their own design, though its true nature was hardly understood.
That was because almost no one in the Empire’s history had ever possessed it.
Centuries ago, a certain imperial princess was said to have wielded Subspace Creation, but she had not lived long.
Hundreds of years later, Iandros Crassion had been born with the same gift.
Even so, very little was known about it.
That was because Ian had always been extremely reluctant to reveal his power.
Ian’s Subspace Creation could store physical objects within the private dimension, and it could even pull living people from reality into its folds.
Naturally, Thiel had no way of knowing this,
and a lingering wave of fear and hesitation made her step back.
As if reading Thiel’s mind and sensing what she was feeling, Ian shrank the subspace rift down to a smaller size in the air.
At Ian’s reassuring words, Thiel took a cautious step forward.
She bit her lip, turning it over in her mind.
‘There’s no other choice anyway.’
Even if she were to be trapped in that subspace forever, she had to step in right now.
If she delayed any longer, the servants would
come to fetch Ian, and if they caught her, she would be dragged straight back to that attic.
Thiel looked up at Ian, her eyes gleaming with newfound resolve.
She reached out and took Ian’s hand.
Seeing that, the corners of Ian’s mouth curved into a gentle smile.
He gently placed Thiel into the subspace, and she shut her eyes by reflex.
In that moment—
The gentle warmth of Ian’s hands wrapping around her vanished, and the subspace Ian had opened slowly closed behind her.
Thiel looked around in dazed wonder, catching her breath.
Ian’s subspace.
It was a complete mess.
In stark contrast to Ian’s composed exterior, the subspace resembled a ruined, dilapidated palace.
Torn rag dolls lay scattered here and there, along with weathered old books strewn across the floor.
There were also battered, broken toys. Without thinking, Thiel extended a paw toward an old doll.
Right then—
‘Ah…’
The instant Thiel’s paw brushed against it, the doll vanished without a trace.
Thiel carefully pulled her front paws back, alarmed.
‘I shouldn’t touch anything.’
Fearing that whatever she touched might simply disappear, Thiel huddled cautiously in a corner, terrified of breaking the subspace.
Fortunately, nestled in the corner of this ruined chamber was a soft, pristine cushion that looked almost out of place.
Just to be safe, Thiel tested it with a gentle tap of her forepaw.
‘It didn’t disappear.’
Thankfully, unlike the other objects, the cushion did not vanish when she touched it.
Its plush comfort felt entirely alien to the broken expanse of the subspace, but Thiel curled up on it without another thought.
She curled into a neat ball and closed her eyes.
Sitting across from the man, Sinder offered a genial smile and lifted his teacup to take a sip.
His face wore a smile, but internally he was seething.
‘Damn it all!’
Sinder gritted his teeth at the thought
of his wretched little granddaughter.
Thiel.
A worthless little hybrid.
He should have disposed of her long ago, but he had let her live solely for the sake of his late daughter, Lena.
And yet she had slipped out of her room last night and thrown the entire estate into turmoil.
‘Of all the days, on a day as crucial as this!’
Several servants had reportedly seen Thiel slipping toward the annex where the guests from the Imperial Palace were staying.
Sinder had sought the guests’ permission and ordered the servants to scour the annex thoroughly, but in the end, they had failed to turn up a single trace of her.
Even now, she was likely scurrying around like a rat somewhere on the grounds. Sinder ground his teeth, gripping the handle of his teacup so tightly it nearly cracked.
‘Just let me get my hands on that brat…’
She had never once crawled out of her quarters in all seven years of her life; in the end, this was the result of sloppy supervision.
Sinder watched the man before him, praying that last night’s commotion had not disturbed him.
Cedric Yuvino.
As the Emperor’s deputy, he was an honored guest from the Imperial Palace sent to evaluate the qualities of Sinder’s granddaughter, Rowen Nestian.
Sinder had bent over backward to cater to Cedric’s every need throughout the visit.
Yet that hybrid Thiel had nearly ruined everything.
Taking a leisurely sip of his tea, oblivious—or perhaps indifferent—to Sinder’s turbulent thoughts, Cedric spoke.
At those words, Sinder’s face brightened.
Clack.
Cedric set his teacup down.
Cedric rose from his seat. Just then, the door to the parlor where they had been conversing swung open.
It was Sinder’s granddaughter, Rowen, barging in unannounced.
A lovely child with soft, shimmering silver hair, she strolled right into the room.
Sinder tried to stop his granddaughter, but it was in vain.
Cedric’s brow furrowed slightly as Rowen threw open the parlor door without so much as a knock.
Sensing Cedric’s displeasure, Sinder scrambled to usher Rowen away, but reigning in the willful girl was no easy feat.
Sinder glared at the maid trailing behind Rowen
and demanded, ‘Where is Cornelia?’ But the maid simply looked blank, not understanding what he meant.
Rowen asked with a radiant smile, clutching Sinder’s hand tightly.
The attendant who had stood silently beside Cedric the entire time seemed taken aback by Rowen’s brazen demeanor, though no one else in the room took notice.
Cedric exhaled a soft sigh and smoothly drew the matter to a close.
In formal terms, Cedric’s farewell
meant there would be no reason for them to meet again.
Rowen, however, failed to grasp the finality of his words.
Will you come to Rowen’s mansion again?”
Understanding the clear dismissal in Cedric’s words, Sinder tried to cut her off, but it was useless.
Can’t I go along with the guests to the capital?”
Rowen stamped her feet in excitement, but Cedric did not dignify her with a reply.
A heavy silence fell over the room. It was Cedric
who finally broke it.
At Cedric’s curt directive, Sinder’s complexion
drained to an ashen white as he followed to see him off.
Beside them, naturally, was Rowen, who still had no inkling of what had just transpired.
The servant standing beside Cedric looked down at Rowen with a gaze full of pity.
A strand of bright golden hair flickered out beneath his tilted cap, only to be tucked away a moment later.
The servants of the Nestian estate lined up in orderly rows, bowing deeply to bid them farewell.
Accompanied by the Nestian retinue, Cedric, his servants, and the imperial entourage
boarded the carriage.
Cold sweat beaded heavily on Sinder’s forehead as he wrestled to keep his granddaughter from trying to climb aboard the imperial carriage.
Clack—!
Before Sinder could even finish his farewell, the attendant shut the carriage door in his face.
It was a glaring breach of etiquette, but Sinder, utterly flustered, was in no state to register the insult.
The carriage promptly set off.
The moment they cleared the gates of the Nestian estate, Ian—disguised in servant’s livery—whipped off his cap and grumbled.
Cedric chided him in a measured tone, but Ian shook
his head dismissively and replied,
I told you I have no interest in an early marriage…”
Iandros Crassion needed a partner to establish an imprint at an early age.
His condition was currently unstable.
The sheer magnitude of Ian’s power was so vast that his physical body could barely contain it.
At this rate, his magic risked overflowing out of control, making it imperative
that he find a compatible partner to seal it.
An imprint allowed one to share the burden of their magical ability.
However,
the noble houses that lacked true power in the Empire were desperate to push their daughters forward as candidates for Crown Princess, eager to secure their own standing.
This tiresome dance had dragged on endlessly, and Sinder
was no different from the rest.
Ian was thoroughly sick of the entire circus. Sensing Ian’s growing irritation, Cedric smoothly changed the subject.
Only then did Ian seem to recall something.
Ian pressed a finger to his lips, then stretched his hand out into the empty air.
Cedric watched Ian in quiet curiosity.
Whoosh—!
A glowing white rift wobbled softly in the air. Cedric stared at the opening Ian had conjured.
Ian slid his hands into the subspace, and…
"…?"
He abruptly pulled out a tiny snow leopard cub from within the subspace.
Cedric’s eyes went wide with shock at the sight.