The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family

ddenly entered.

“… Rowan?”

“… Grandfather? Are you firing Zayra? What’s this nonsense! Zayra is my nanny!”

It seemed that Rowan had been listening to the conversation behind the office door.
For a moment, a sense of defeat flashed across Zender and Stanley’s faces.

“… Rowan, let’s talk later.
This is adults’ business.”

“No, I don’t want to! You can’t send Zayra away! No matter what happens, you can’t!”

“We’ll talk later!”

As Zender shouted out angrily, Rowan jumped back in surprise, her shoulders jerking back.

“…”

Then, glaring at Zender, she swiftly turned around and left the office.

“…sigh.”

Dealing with Thiel alone was already giving him a headache, but why was Rowan being so stubborn today?

Zender sighed and wiped his face with his rough palm.

Silence hung heavily in the air.

***

“…!”

Thiel huddled behind Lia’s wide skirt, shrinking her body.
She peeked up at Alpheus with cautious eyes.

“So, his words were true.
The child is very wary of strangers.”

Alpheus withdrew the hand he had awkwardly extended.

Lia gently stroked Thiel’s back and whispered to her.

“He’s the grandfather of the young lady.
He is Lord Cassius’ father.”

“… Yes.”

Thiel nodded.
She knew that Alpheus was her biological grandfather to some extent.
However…

‘… I’m scared!’

In Thiel’s eyes, Alpheus appeared similar to Zender.

When examined closely, they had no common traits in terms of abilities or personality, but to the eyes of a seven-year-old child, they seemed similar.

The fact that both were elderly men was the only similarity between them.

‘I know he’s a good person.’

Just yesterday, I was going to say, ‘Thank you for giving me a beautiful room.’

Is it because of her Grandfather, Zender, who abused her? Whenever she saw someone around Zender’s age, she would become so distraught.

Thiel couldn’t approach Alpheus directly, and instead peeked at him from behind Lia’s wide skirt.

Alpheus, who watched Thiel with pity, suddenly seemed to remember something and clapped his knees, saying,

“Yes, Thiel.
I have a gift prepared.
How about that?”

“A gift?”

“Yes! Hurry up and bring it in!”

Alpheus’s voice as he shouted seemed excited.

After Alpheus finished speaking, the servants began to bring large boxes into the room one by one.

The boxes, tied with pretty ribbons, came in various sizes.
Some were small enough to reach Thiel’s knees, while others were larger than Thiel.

Curious about the various gift boxes coming in, Thiel discreetly peeked her head out from under Lia’s skirt.

‘They’re similar to the ones Rowan used to receive.’

The gifts were similar to the ones Rowan received on his birthday.

Rowan used to receive boxes that looked just like that from Zender.

Of course, Thiel had never received anything like that before…

“Now, Thiel.
They’re all yours.”

“A-All of these here?”

“Yes, these are gifts from your grandfather.
They’re all made by the best toy craftsmen.
Some of them were personally made by Lorenzo, the toy craftsman who only makes twelve toys a year!”

Alpheus pointed to the room filled with gift boxes.

“He only knows how to tease children with toys.”

From what he heard, Cassius gave Thiel a precious dreamcatcher as a gift, but Alpheus was confident that Thiel would prefer these toys over the dreamcatcher.

Usually, children at this age prefer toys over jewels.

Therefore, on the day Thiel first arrived at this mansion, Alpheus, with excitement in his heart upon seeing Thiel’s sparkling eyes and curly white hair, inquired about toy craftsmen and placed a massive order for toys for his granddaughter.

Throughout the process, he had never once thought that Thiel might not be his granddaughter.
It was natural.
Thiel’s mischievous face resembled Cassius’ when he was young.

Lia took Thiel’s hand and gently whispered, as if soothing a child.

“Now, young lady, why don’t you open the gift boxes? Shall I help you?”

Thiel nodded.
Lia took Thiel’s hand and sat down on the floor, about to pull the ribbon of the gift box, but at that moment…

“Just a moment, let me do it.”

Alpheus urgently interrupted Lia’s actions and sat down next to Thiel, taking the gift box into his own hands.

Thiel’s eyes briefly showed confusion, but they quickly faded away due to the anticipation of the gift.

After Alpheus pulled and untied the ribbon, he handed the gift box to Thiel.

Thiel glanced around for a moment, then opened the lid of the large gift box.

As the lid opened, what came out from inside was…

“…!”

A large doll in the shape of a black cat, adorned with yellow sapphires in its eyes.

As Thiel faced the fluffy and large doll, a bashful smile spread across her face, accompanied by laughter.