Tiya’s Smooth Regression Life Chapter 14

Meanwhile, at that very moment, in Lev’s room.

 

Lev, pale from four days of battling a relentless fever, gazed out the window with a sulky expression.

 

“Melody.”

 

“Yes, Young Master.”

 

“By any chance, last night…” 

 

Did Tiya come?

 

The boy couldn’t finish his sentence and instead fidgeted aimlessly with his hands. A candy wrapper rustled inside his palm. 

 

“No, it’s nothing. I just had a restless dream.”

 

“What kind of dream did you have?”

 

“Someone asked me to lend them something.”

 

“And did you?”

 

“I don’t really remember.”

 

But he felt as though he had received this candy in return. 

 

It had already been years since he’d stopped needing candy to swallow bitter medicine.

 

After studying Lev’s wan face, Melody cleared her throat and, in a voice just slightly louder, murmured as though to herself.

 

“Come to think of it, the Young Lady overdid it with her outing yesterday, so she said she’d be resting in her room all day today. I wonder if she’s lonely by herself?” 

 

Such transparent acting.

 

Lev unwrapped the candy, placed it in his mouth, and turned over.

 

And so, it was only much later—after considerable time had passed—that the people of the estate realized Tiya had disappeared.

 

* * * 

 

To the west of the capital.

 

A hired carriage raced across a barren stretch of land where even roads had not been carved, kicking up dust in its wake.

 

The carriage eventually came to a halt near a deserted village that had long been abandoned by people. 

 

Creak. With the groan of a hinge, a figure cloaked in a black hood stepped out.

 

A person entirely concealed was suspicious enough—yet their destination being ruined only deepened that suspicion.

 

Throughout the journey, the coachman had craned his neck to peer sideways into the carriage, nearly twisting it clean around.

 

He wondered if he had picked up a ghost, the kind rumored to appear in abandoned villages. 

 

However, the passenger never vanished without a trace, and the sensation of the silver coins in his palm was all too vivid. 

 

“I shall return in one hour.”

 

“Y-Yes, sir. I—I’ll be waiting.”

 

The coachman trembled as he watched his passenger disappear into the village, stepping into the mist-laden dusk like vapor.

 

‘One hour. Just one hour, and that’s it.’

 

Suppressing the urge to flee at once, he began counting the seconds in his head.

 

Unaware of the coachman’s terror, the suspicious visitor strode boldly through the decaying houses.

 

And the moment they reached the center of the village, something occurred—precisely the uncanny sight the coachman had feared.

 

The tall figure collapsed downward as though sinking into the earth, until only the black hood remained, cocoon-like, on the ground.

 

A moment later, the hood heaved and— 

 

“Phew, I thought I was going to suffocate!”  

 

A red-faced Tiya crawled out from beneath the folds of the cloak, wiggling her way out. 

 

After rolling up the oversized garments and tidying them neatly, she headed straight for the village well.

 

“So the Frost Spirit’s egg is inside here?” 

 

<Yes. This is definitely the place.> 

 

Winter, who had served as Tiya’s compass and guide throughout the journey, replied.

 

Spirit eggs were inherently rare—difficult to find, and unpredictable as to what spirit might be born from them.

 

No one, except for Winter, who came from the future.

 

<In a few years, a spirit egg appears at an underground auction. The man who purchases it later becomes a spirit mage who subjugates a frost spirit.>

 

<The seller boasted that he’d found the egg in the well of this very village. For a time afterward, the area teemed with explorers.>

 

Fortunately, thanks to the Tall-Tall Potion and Winter’s guidance, she had made it safely to the place where the Frost Spirit’s egg was located.

 

But the truly important final hurdle remained. 

 

Tiya turned her bag upside down and let the contents spill out. 

 

They were the meteorites she had purchased at the market at Winter’s suggestion.

 

<Didn’t I explain that harvesting a spirit egg in its natural state requires a mage?>

 

Tiya gathered the meteorites and stacked them into a small tower of stones.

 

<But we have neither the money to hire a mage nor the time to build trust that such a mage would not betray us and steal the egg. So…>

 

Clap. Once she had finished stacking the stones, Tiya dusted off her hands. Then she crouched before the makeshift altar and asked,

 

“So now I pray through this temporary altar and ask the stars to choose me, right?”

 

<Yes. One of the constellations will grant you its baptism. That is how one becomes a mage.>

 

<To save Lev, you have no choice but to become a mage.>

 

She had resolved herself already. With solemn determination, Tiya nodded and brought her hands together.

 

Winter, positioned opposite her, asked one last time about Tiya’s intentions.

 

<If you become a mage, will you truly have no regrets?>

 

It was only natural that Winter would ask.

 

Magic power is something every human possesses. 

 

For those who reach the pinnacle of the sword, mana becomes aura; for those chosen by spirits, it becomes the power to command them. 

 

However, the Constellation transforms the magic power of the human they baptized into a new kind of power called ‘Mana’. 

 

Spirits were pure beings.

 

They despised what defied the natural order, and would never dwell within the body of a mage.

 

Which meant that if Tiya became a mage—

 

<To obtain the Frost Spirit’s egg, you must pay a very heavy price.> 

 

—she could never again become a spirit mage.

 

Tiya blinked slowly.

 

To say she felt no regret would be a lie. She had always longed to become a spirit mage.

 

Even after resolving to become a mage, a small regret the size of a sugar candy had rolled around in her heart, clattering noisily.

 

But at dawn today, even that last bit of lingering sweetness had melted away like sugar.

 

“Winter. I thought Dad would only smile at me if I became a spiritist.”

 

Winter had said that even if she became a spirit mage, Dad wouldn’t love her.

 

So Tiya had thought she must help him recover his emotions.

 

Only then would she earn his love.

 

But that had not been the right answer.

 

Because, in truth, Tiya had been a precious daughter who had received plenty of her father’s love since the moment she was born. 

 

“But today, I saw Dad’s smiling face.”

 

Dad smiled at me.

 

I made spring sunlight fill his eyes.

 

I was the most precious treasure in his world.

 

“That’s enough for me.”

 

With eyes that shone quietly like the sun rising over a winter field, Tiya looked up at the sky.

 

It was late autumn, when days were short.

 

The evening sky, already dark, shimmered with countless stars, each glowing with its own light.

 

To become a mage, she had to be chosen by one of those stars.

 

“So right now, I’m more afraid that none of the stars will choose me than I am of not becoming a spirit mage.”

 

Perhaps reading the concern in her eyes, Winter spoke more gently than usual, soothing her.

 

<You truly need not worry about that. If you had not become a spirit mage, you would have surely become an excellent mage.>

 

“I came this far because you said that, Winter… but still…”

 

Despite Winter’s encouragement, Tiya seemed to lack confidence. She hesitated, then squeezed her eyes shut and clasped her hands together as politely as possible. 

 

“Dear Stars. Please choose me as your baptized. I… I really have to become a mage.”

 

Silence.

 

“If you choose me, I’ll give you a goodnight kiss every single night.”

 

More silence.

 

“And also… and…”

 

A familiar silence stifled Tiya’s words. 

 

As she hesitantly opened her eyes just a sliver, she saw Winter’s hand covering her clasped hands, as though holding them.

 

The relief of not being alone.

 

The next words flowed out before she could even think of them.

 

“Please allow me to prove myself.”

 

Within those words, she held the wish for the power to save her family—to save Vladizev.