Tiya’s Smooth Regression Life Chapter 3

Tiya scanned her surroundings and quickly snatched up a poker from the corner. 

 

“First strike wins…!” 

 

It was a moment where the Grand Duke’s intensive education truly shined, but—

 

<Stop!>

 

The ghost’s words slammed the brakes on Tiya’s feet.

 

Blocking Tiya’s path, the ghost asked in a tone dripping with exasperation.

 

<Is this how you act when hunting bears, too? Just charging in blindly?> 

 

Of course not.

 

‘The reason I could crack a brown bear’s skull was because I lured it with its sense of smell, then struck when it let its guard down…….’

 

“Aha?”

 

As if something had clicked, Tiya’s eyes gleamed like a hunter who had just spotted her prey.

 

* * * 

 

Click.

 

The closed door opened.

 

The intruder’s movements were cautious—almost as if they knew someone was inside the room.

 

Fumbling through the darkness with their eyes, the thief soon found what they were looking for and let out a sneer. 

 

In a far corner of the room, a small figure could be seen curled up tightly, as though asleep.

 

“Right, there’s no way she could have lasted until this hour.” 

 

Turning his gaze away from the child, the intruder headed straight for his target.

 

Just as the masked thief reached out toward the spirit egg—

 

The ghost, who had been watching the intruder from the center of the room the whole time, shouted.

 

<Now!>

 

A voice the intruder could not hear.

 

Using that as a signal, Tiya, who had been hiding behind the open door, burst out like a low-flying crow. 

 

Tatadak!

 

Her light footsteps made no sound, her skirt fluttering like small wings.

 

The weapon flashed viciously as it aimed squarely for the back of the thief’s head—

 

“Uryaaa! Wolf’s Fang!” 

 

Tiya swung the poker with a loud shout. 

 

“W-What the—!”

 

The poker barely grazed past the thief’s head as he noticed the ambush at the last second.

 

<Idiot! Who makes that much noise during a surprise attack!>

 

“But shouting your technique name when you fight is the rule!”

 

As Tiya protested timidly, the thief pulled something like an iron ball from his pocket and threw it.

 

Boom!

 

A choking cloud of smoke instantly filled the room.

 

“Kyaa! I can’t see anything!”

 

Losing her sense of direction and composure, Tiya flailed the poker wildly.

 

What calmed her was the ghost’s low voice.

 

<Shut your mouth and stay calm. I’ll track the enemy.>

 

“Y-you can see him?”

 

<Of course.>

 

That was a lie. The ghost was just as unable to see an inch ahead. 

 

But she could ‘sense’ the enemy’s presence.

 

In the thick smoke—

 

The ghost, silent with sharpened senses, suddenly pointed to one spot and shouted,

 

<Third Form. Strike from head height with Wolf’s Claw.>

 

“Thir—!”

 

<Shut up!>

 

Hmph. Swallowing the technique name with a sulky look—

 

Using the ghost’s words and pointing finger as her guide, Tiya moved without hesitation.

 

Drawing on the sensation of swinging a wooden sword hundreds, thousands of times, Tiya swung the poker.

 

Clang!

 

Thud.

 

The thief collapsed, eyes rolling back, without even letting out a scream.

 

Feeling the solid impact through her hands, Tiya knew she had won.

 

But instead of hopping around in place with joy, she forcibly suppressed her excitement and struck a pose of false bravado.

 

“Hmph, did I get him?”

 

<…You did, but don’t say things like that. It’s a resurrection spell that makes even dying enemies jump back up.>

 

“Huh? There’s such a scary spell?”

 

As Tiya stood there dumbfounded, the smoke cleared and noise erupted outside the door.

 

“What was that sound inside…… h-huh? Smoke?”

 

“Is there a fire? Here! Bring some water!”

 

The servants, who rushed in belatedly, froze in shock at the sight of the unconscious intruder and Tiya.

 

“A thief? He’s knocked out!”

 

“Did the young lady catch him?”

 

Good heavens, how could such a tiny Young Lady catch a thief! 

 

Half in disbelief, the servants still rushed over to Tiya to check if she was hurt.

 

Just like the thief, none of them noticed the ghost standing three steps away from Tiya.

 

Then, someone pulled off the thief’s mask.

 

“No, this person is—!”

 

Under the lamplight, the culprit’s face was revealed.

 

The one who had lured Tiya into the room and locked her inside.

 

The one who had even planned to frame her for stealing the spirit egg.

 

“It’s Erin!”

 

It was Erin, the maid assigned to Tiya.

 

For the first time, the corner of the ghost’s mouth lifted as she watched the scene with a cold expression.

 

In the ‘events of today’ that the ghost originally knew, Erin was never caught.

 

Thus, people believed that the youngest daughter of the Vladizev family, who was ignored for failing to become a spirit mage, had stolen the Spirit Egg. 

 

Tiya was a naive and foolish child who only knew how to say she didn’t do it, so she was branded a liar starting from this day and gradually became isolated in the mansion. 

 

All while never imagining that the one person who believed in her—Erin—was the real culprit.

 

Watching Tiya beam foolishly, puffed up by the adults’ concern and attention, the ghost muttered irritably.

 

<Damned spirit. What am I even supposed to do with a brat like that.>

 

Despite her words, the ghost’s mind was already busily spinning new schemes toward her goal.

 

Before long, her gaze, roaming around the room, settled on the spirit egg.

 

Her lips twisted.

 

At the very least, she had decided how to make use of this changed situation she herself had interfered in.

 

<From here on, everything will change.>

 

The face of the ghost muttering those significant words remained hidden behind the black veil and could not be seen.

 

* * * 

 

The next day at noon.

 

Tiya, who had fallen asleep as if she had fainted as soon as the previous day’s excitement died down, opened her eyes late. 

 

‘Mmm, it feels like something huge happened yesterday.’

 

Blink. As she blinked once, the sensation of the poker vibrating in her hands came back to her.

 

Blink. Another blink brought back the despair of being trapped in an unfamiliar room…

 

Blink. And when the last of the drowsiness finally cleared from her hazy eyes—

 

<If you’re awake, get up.>

 

“G-g-ghost!”

 

She was face-to-face with the ghost, sitting cross-legged in midair and looking down at her.

 

Tiya scrambled up and ducked behind the sofa.

 

After catching her breath, she peeked over the back of the sofa—but the ghost didn’t disappear.

 

‘It wasn’t a dream!’

 

And the same ghost from yesterday had appeared again—this time in broad daylight!

 

‘Still, she helped me, so she doesn’t seem like a bad ghost.’

 

Tiya scraped together all her courage and slowly rose from behind the sofa. 

 

Then she looked up at the ghost and expressed her thanks from the day before.

 

“Th-thanks for helping me yesterday. I’m Tiya. Tiya from Astiya.”

 

At her greeting, the ghost stared at Tiya in silence. Or rather, because of the pitch-black veil, Tiya couldn’t even tell where the ghost was looking.

 

The silence dragged on for a long while.

 

By now, more bored than afraid, Tiya squirmed as she waited for an answer—and her gaze landed on the ghost’s clothes.

 

Yesterday it had been too dark to notice, and she’d thought it was just black clothing.

 

‘That’s… the Vladizev Knight Order’s uniform, isn’t it?’

 

Just then, after the long wait, the ghost finally spoke.

 

<…Call me Winter.>

 

It was a short answer, but it was more than enough for Tiya.

 

The moment she realized the ghost was wearing a Vladizev knight’s uniform, her wariness melted away like snow.

 

“Okay, Winter! Then, um.”

 

Huu—Tiya took a deep breath and rattled off a torrent of words.

 

“Winter, are you really a ghost? How long have you lived in this mansion? Have you seen me before? I actually lived here when I was a baby! Nobody else can see you—does that mean only I can? Ah! But I still can’t see your face! So if you could just take that thing off your face—guh!”

 

Tiya, who had been chattering without a break, suddenly clamped her hand over her mouth as if she had realized something.

 

What Winter was wearing was a funeral veil.

 

Grandma had said that Northerners, who considered emotional restraint a virtue, hid their sorrow behind black veils.

 

Which meant asking someone to lift their black veil was extremely rude.

 

In other words, Winter was in a very sad state right now—and she lacked even the strength to hide that sadness, which was why she wore the black veil.