Tiya’s Smooth Regression Life Chapter 10

At the sudden change, Tiya—and even Winter—turned to look at Lev.

 

He had just laughed. I saw it.

 

And she still had not asked what he meant by “dying before becoming an adult.”

 

So, unlike usual, Tiya tried to hold her ground.

 

“Can’t I stay here just a little longer?”

 

“No.”

 

“Hmph.”

 

Tiya deliberately dawdled, moving as slowly as she could.

 

Lev, who had been standing stiffly, seemed to lose patience and abruptly grabbed her hand.

 

“Hurry up, get… out.”

 

His hand was strangely hot.

 

Right at that moment, Lev’s staggering body collapsed right on top of Tiya. 

 

“Gah, you’re heavy! Brother, I’ll get up!”

 

Tiya, struggling beneath Lev’s weight, soon realized something was wrong. 

 

“B-Brother?”

 

Lev’s breathing was ragged and uneven. His body hung limp without strength, and his entire frame burned like embers.

 

The servants, who realized too late that Lev was half-conscious, rushed forward.

 

“Young Master!”

 

“Bring ice, all of it!”

 

Their movements were swift yet composed, as though such things were familiar to them.

 

“Young Lady, please return to your room.”

 

Without offering any explanation—no, as if there was no time to explain—they hurried Tiya out of the room.

 

The hallway became a bustle of activity for a moment.

 

On the faces of the servants carrying blocks of ice, Tiya saw a fear she recognized.

 

Suddenly, she remembered the night Mother had died.

 

That night, too, everyone had been gripped by a fear they could not put into words, a suffocating silence pressing down on their shoulders.

 

Even though she knew she shouldn’t, Tiya peeked through the slightly ajar door.

 

Faintly, she could hear Lev’s voice, ragged with fever.

 

“Mel… I’m sorry for behaving badly. I didn’t mean it. I… was wrong.”

 

“It’s all right, Young Master. You’re only like that because you’re ill. I get irritable when I’m sick too.”

 

Melody comforted him gently in response to his apology.

 

“You must endure it and greet Young Lady Astia again tomorrow.”

 

“That’s enough… Tell her not to come to my room anymore.”

 

“Why, Young Master? You waited so long for the Young Lady to return. So…”

 

Tiya could not listen any further. She stepped back and fled to her room as if escaping something behind her.

 

Her breath climbed painfully up her throat.

 

After making sure no one was around, Tiya grasped at Winter’s garments as though clutching fabric.

 

“Wi-Winter… Brother’s mistaken about something, right? Yes?”

 

That he would die before becoming an adult. Why?

 

Hadn’t Winter said so clearly before?

 

That the plague would spread, that the barbarians would invade, that her whole family would die, and Winter would become head of the house…

 

‘Wait.’

 

A crawling unease crept up her spine like an insect.

 

Until now, Tiya had thought that the family in the capital would die after being drawn into the northern war.

 

So she had believed their deaths lay far in the future.

 

She had believed that if they cured the plague and stopped the mastermind, preventing war with the barbarians, everyone could be saved.

 

But when she reconsidered, something felt off.

 

‘Not Father or Brother Rodion… but how would sickly Brother Lev get caught up in a northern war?’

 

The doubt spread through her whole body as trembling.

 

And just before she had opened Lev’s door, the words Winter had been about to say—

 

<Because he will soon di—>

 

Tiya forced out her voice.

 

“Brother Lev… he dies in the war, right?”

 

<When did I say he dies because of the war?>

 

Winter’s tone was so calm that it felt unnatural.

 

Counting the months off on her fingers, she continued evenly.

 

<That child likely won’t see next summer. That is precisely why we cannot make Lev our ally.>

 

Next summer. Even considering how long spring lingered in the capital, that was barely half a year away.

 

“Why…? What’s the reason? Why does Brother die?”

 

As she pressed on desperately, Tiya shook her head.

 

“No, no. Brother won’t die. Now that we know, if I stop it—”

 

<He was born with an absurdly high affinity for spirits, wasn’t he?>

 

Spirit affinity.

 

The power to commune and resonate with spirits and host their presence within the body is usually inherited through bloodline.

 

The founder of Vladizev, who had summoned the Great Spirit itself, possessed spirit affinity beyond compare, and that power passed intact to his descendants.

 

Thus, when Vladizev children turned four, they held a spirit ceremony to call forth a spirit to form a bond with. 

 

Lev had postponed the rite because of his health, but his extraordinary affinity drew in spirits from all corners of the world.

 

And in the year Lev turned seven.

 

When he responded to the call of a spirit, a spirit of flame took root within him, etching a small feather-shaped spirit mark onto his right shoulder blade.

 

But it was not a proof of ability—it became a calamity.

 

<The problem was that his spirit affinity was too high. Lev’s fragile body cannot endure the heat of a flame spirit. He suffers relentless fevers and, before he sees the summer of his tenth year, he dies.>

 

Winter’s voice, describing Lev’s death, was so detached it sounded like she was reciting a report. That made it all the more impossible for Tiya to accept.

 

“Why… why didn’t you tell me?”

 

<Even if I had, what could you have done? Knowing the future doesn’t mean you can change everything. Lev Vladizev doesn’t die from a mere accident or ordinary illness. He is simply fated to die that way.>

 

Winter’s tone softened, as if speaking to a sulking child—almost as though she expected Tiya to understand.

 

<Even if by some miracle you save him, what benefit does that bring us?>

 

The annihilation of House Vladizev meant the downfall of the North. 

 

Winter had seen countless northern lives snuffed out in vain, their blood soaking the land like a river.

 

The dazzling snowfields she had loved beyond measure.

 

The kind people who had embraced an abandoned child without hesitation.

 

The final sanctuary her soul was meant to return to.

 

She could not bear to watch it all reduced to ashes again.

 

Thus, the moment she crash-landed in this unexpected past, she began drawing up the most rational plan.

 

And in that plan—

 

<Unlike Shurka, Lev is physically weak, so he has no utility value. Saving him is a waste of time.>

 

Lev’s survival had never been included.

 

Tiya listened quietly. Then her shoulders began to tremble.

 

The sign of anger was obvious, yet Winter merely crossed her arms, as though daring her to try something.

 

As if she would not budge no matter what Tiya said.

 

And when at last a shout burst from Tiya’s mouth—

 

“Y-You cold-blooded meow!”

 

Winter fell momentarily silent.

 

<Are you trying to say ‘cold-blooded’?>

 

“Yes, that! Winter’s a cold-blooded meow!”

 

<It’s cold-blooded, not cold-blooded meow.>

 

“Cold-blooded meow!”

 

<Cold. Blooded.>

 

“Cold-blooded… cold-blood… cold… ngh…”

 

Air kept slipping through the gap in her missing tooth.

 

Flustered, Tiya shouted in frustration.

 

“The important thing is that you’re a cold-meanie meow!”

 

“…”

 

The taut tension snapped.

 

Even from between Winter’s tightly pressed lips, a faint breath escaped.

 

Tiya’s face flushed red.

 

“D-Don’t laugh! I’m angry!”

 

She stomped her feet.

 

“You said you need me to save Vladizev. You said there are things only I can do…”

 

She hadn’t meant to cry. But she was so furious that tears gathered in her eyes.

 

“If I can’t even save my own brother, how am I supposed to save Vladizev?”