Tiya’s Smooth Regression Life Chapter 4

“Forget that last part. I’m not curious about Winter’s face at all. Even if you look like a piece of dough that someone kneaded and then tossed away, I don’t care.” 

 

<…>

 

“…?”

 

Despite Tiya’s words, Winter showed no reaction.

 

As Tiya watched her, wondering if she had hurt the ghost’s feelings by asking to see her face— 

 

<Ah, are you finally done yapping?>

 

As if she hadn’t been listening to Tiya at all from the start, Winter spoke.

 

<You’ve heard the story that the Vladizev family receives the protection of a Great Spirit, right?> 

 

It was a sudden change of topic, but unlike Winter, Tiya was an excellent listener; she nodded and pointed to the massive tapestry decorating one side of the room. 

 

“Of course! That’s the Great Spirit.”

 

A silver ornamental fish swimming against a raging current.

 

The symbol of the Vladizev family, and the great spirit said to have been subjugated by the founding head.

 

But it was said that no one knew the true identity of that spirit.

 

<The true identity of that Great Spirit is the Spirit of Time.>

 

Until Winter opened her mouth.

 

“The Spirit of Time?”

 

Is it a spirit that tells the time? 

 

Tiya tilted her head.

 

<Yes. I am the last head of House Vladizev, come from the future following the guidance of the Spirit of Time.>

 

Tiya couldn’t understand most of what Winter said. But she picked out the most unbelievable part and asked again.

 

“The last head?”

 

<In twelve years, the Vladizev family will be wiped out.>

 

“…?”

 

Tiya’s bright, steady eyes began to waver aimlessly.

 

I’m eight right now, so in twelve years…… that means…….

 

She brought her hands behind her back and tried counting with all her fingers—but unfortunately, Tiya only had ten.

 

With a solemn expression that formed a little walnut under her chin, she spun her head in thought before declaring proudly,

 

“I’ll be 812 years old……!”

 

<Twenty.>

 

“Th-that’s what I was going to say. So when I turn twenty, the family will be wiped out…… wiped out?”

 

Only belatedly recalling what “wiped out” meant, Tiya’s eyes widened, then slowly narrowed.

 

Even if she was a bit weak at math, she at least knew how amazing House Vladizev was. 

 

The Frost Fortress of Vladizhev, called the Empire’s Ice Barrier. 

 

Her grandmother, a war hero and a living legend herself. 

 

And the Northern Knights—the strongest order on the continent—made up of spirit-wielding knights.

 

“Winter. You’re really bad at lying. Who would believe that?”

 

Tiya elbowed Winter’s body as if telling her to say something that made sense.

 

“Uh-oh?”

 

Tiya’s body passed straight through Winter and pitched forward, plunging endlessly downward as if being sucked somewhere.

 

She squeezed her eyes shut, flailing her limbs and screaming.

 

<Aaahhhhh!>

 

But after a long while with no pain at all, she cautiously cracked one eye open.

 

<…Huh?>

 

A deep blue sky, a snow-white fortress, and flags bearing the Vladizev crest fluttering in the wind.

 

<This is… Frost Castle?> 

 

Before she knew it, Tiya was standing atop the beloved northern stronghold.

 

When she absentmindedly took a step forward, her body felt strangely light.

 

Looking down at her feet, Tiya gasped.

 

<Whoa! I’m flying!>

 

Her feet hovered a hand’s breadth above the ground, and her body was translucent. Just like Winter!

 

The excitement of hopping around lasted only a moment. 

 

The atmosphere of the castle felt different than usual. Glancing beyond the castle walls, Tiya froze.

 

A moat filled with blood and corpses. Half-destroyed towers.

 

And barbarian forces, like black waves, trampling the once-beautiful snowy landscape.

 

This was already the heart of a battlefield.

 

<G-Grandmother! Sasha! Knight uncles!>

 

She hurriedly looked for the adults, but there was no sign of anyone.

 

Then, in the distance, she saw a familiar back.

 

At the broken edge of the battlements.

 

Arrows stuck in her body, wounds covering her—but…….

 

<Winter?>

 

That back was unmistakably Winter’s.

 

Tiya ran toward Winter, who stood precariously as if she might tumble down at any second.

 

Looking down at the battlefield, Winter reached her hand above her head. The family ring on her index finger glowed palely.

 

Soon, in a hoarse and cracked voice, she spoke.

 

“In accordance with the contract, I command the summoning.”

 

A small voice drowned in a battlefield filled with screams.

 

But at that moment, the world’s time stopped.

 

The only things that moved were Winter and Tiya, and—

 

【You understand that I cannot promise the contract will unfold as you wish.】

 

A pitch-black ornamental fish that emerged from the ring and floated around Winter.

 

Tiya understood instinctively.

 

‘That’s the Great Spirit of Time…….’

 

“I don’t care. So take me back three years into the past.”

 

No sooner had Winter finished speaking than a single scale peeled from the spirit’s body and drifted down like a withered leaf.

 

Without hesitation, Winter caught it and placed it in her mouth.

 

Soon after, Winter’s upright posture collapsed. 

 

Tiya, finally reaching the rampart, reached out for Winter, but her hand couldn’t grab anything.

 

<Winter! Are you okay? Does it hurt a lot?> 

 

Even Tiya’s voice didn’t reach her.

 

Just as Winter, who was suppressing her pain by clawing at the stone floor until her fingernails turned over, tried to painfully lift her head.

 

【The contract is sealed.】

 

Crack.

 

Tiya thought she heard something shatter deep inside herself.

 

“Gasp.”

 

It felt as though someone had gripped her heart and crushed it. Her breath caught in her throat, and she couldn’t keep herself upright.

 

Thud!

 

Tiya was suddenly back in her room in the Vladizev mansion in the capital, gasping for air.

 

Winter, looking startled, touched near her own heart before looking down at Tiya.

 

“Th-that just now was…….”

 

<…You saw it.>

 

Tiya realized.

 

What she had just seen wasn’t a dream or a hallucination—but Winter’s memory.

 

Tiya barely managed to push herself up. 

 

Even though the pain had already vanished, her heart was thumping wildly.

 

The ruined Frost Castle and the blood-stained earth. And the family ring Winter had been wearing.

 

All of it pointed to a single truth.

 

<There was a massive invasion by the barbarians. Strangely enough, they were armed with the Empire’s newest weapons. Normally, barbarians would’ve been no problem—but at that time, the North wasn’t the North you know.>

 

Winter’s words were true.

 

In a dry voice, Winter spoke of her past—and of Tiya’s future that had yet to come.

 

Soon, a plague known as the “Reaper’s Mark” would sweep through the North, and it would take years before a cure could be developed.

 

The moment the plague broke out, the imperial family would seal off the North, and in the isolated land, countless people would lose their lives in vain.

 

The barbarians, who had been unnaturally quiet, would seize that opportunity to invade.

 

<After the direct line of the Vladizev family all died, I—who had been from a collateral branch—rose to become head. But by then, it was already beyond saving.>

 

The direct line of the Vladizevs. Our family all dies.

 

Tiya’s chest, which had been rising slowly, began to heave faster and faster.

 

Even so, Winter did not stop speaking.

 

<After that, it’s as you saw. At the very end of the end, as a last resort to turn everything back, I made a contract with the Spirit of Time and came to the past, but…>

 

Suddenly, Winter extended her hand toward Tiya.

 

It looked like she was telling her to take it and stand, so without thinking, Tiya grabbed it.

 

But just as in Winter’s memory, Tiya couldn’t grasp Winter’s hand.

 

No—Winter’s hand could grasp nothing at all.

 

<As you can see, I failed. In this state, I won’t be able to change the future. But……>

 

Winter looked down at Tiya.

 

Her eyes were hidden behind the veil, but Tiya instinctively felt that their gazes met.

 

<If there is someone who can see me and hear my voice—like you—then that’s a different story.>