Tiya’s Smooth Regression Life – Chapter 7

Author: rolypoly

<That’s why his heart is empty. He doesn’t even have the capacity to hate you. He can’t love anyone.>

To seek affection from someone incapable of loving anything was a pitiful and futile thing.

For Tiya’s sake, Winter spoke the cruel truth.

The truth that she would never, ever be loved by her father.

<So the reason the Count doesn’t acknowledge you isn’t because you failed to become a spirit mage. There’s no need to waste your heart on someone like—>

Winter suddenly trailed off.

Poor thing—Tiya’s small shoulders were trembling, as if she were crying in silence.

Ah. I’m not good at comforting crying children.

After hesitating, Winter crouched beside Tiya and asked as gently as she could,

<Hey… are you crying?>

Tiya abruptly lifted her head.

“No! Northerners don’t cry!”

Winter thought it was a bluff, but truly, there wasn’t a single drop of moisture on Tiya’s cheeks.

In fact, it was quite the opposite.

“So Dad doesn’t hate me. And I didn’t even know that….”

A smile brighter than Winter had ever seen bloomed on her face.

Because I wasn’t a spirit mage.

Because I was lacking and inadequate.

That wasn’t why he didn’t love me.

‘He just can’t love, like Winter said.’

Realizing that, the shriveled parts of her heart filled with renewed determination.

“Winter. I think I know how to make Dad our ally.”

<Now you’re finally making sense.>

The girl and the ghost nodded at each other, then spoke at the same time.

<We’ll have to get hold of the Count’s weakness.>

“I’ll have to help Dad find his emotions again.”

<…?>

“…?”

As if they had misheard one another, both tilted their heads sideways—then spoke in unison again.

<We threaten him by using his weakness.>

“We restore his emotions so he’ll help us!”

Well, look at that.

A deep valley opened between them once more. Winter spoke sternly.

<I’ve already worked out the entire plan. You just trust me and do as I say.>

“No way! I’ve got my own plan! I’m going to help Dad get his emotions back and even make him reconcile with Grandma.”

<Your plan will fail one hundred percent. I know that.>

“It won’t! It definitely won’t!”

Tiya barked back without yielding.

<You little bean, who did you inherit that stubbornness from?>

“I take after my grandma! And I’m not a bean! My grandma’s super huge! I’m gonna grow super huge like her someday too!”

What is this? It’s nothing special, but why does it irritate me so much?

Winter clenched her fist as if she might flick Tiya on the forehead, but soon let out a hollow sigh and relaxed her hand.

‘What am I even doing, arguing with an eight-year-old.’

It’s not like she could actually flick that tiny forehead anyway.

If the other side insisted on this approach, then she had her own method.

<Fine. Then let’s make a bet about whose method is right.>

“A bet?”

As expected of a Northerner—Tiya’s eyes lit up at the word.

<Yes. You try in your own way to make the Count our ally, and I’ll move in my own way. Then, when we need his help, we’ll see whose method moves him.>

“Deal! I accept it!”

Tiya spoke boldly, but Winter knew she didn’t stand a chance.

Winter knew her future.

She knew that the child, desperate for a single glance of approval, for praise and recognition from her father, would eventually grow tired of hoping and give up on everything.

So this was a bet decided from the start—Winter’s victory was inevitable.

Early morning.

Tiya’s day began buried under piles of letters.

[We made stew with the bear you caught and shared it together. Maybe because you caught it yourself, it tasted amazing!]

[Sasha is being well taken care of by our knight order.]

[Don’t worry about us, and make sure you rest well in the capital.]

[I’ll come kidnap you again soon.]

Before the blockade was enacted and the roads to the North were completely closed, several Northern lords who had fled to the Capital in haste delivered letters from the people of Frost Fortress to Tiya.

Tiya read and re-read those letters every morning.

Whenever she thought of her grandmother, Winter’s words echoed in her mind, sending a chill through her chest.

<By then, the entire direct line of Vladizev had already died.>

She had been too afraid to ask—both then and now—what her family’s final moments had been like.

No, it wasn’t just her family.

Thinking of the atrocities she had seen through Winter’s memories, the people of Frost Fortress wouldn’t have been safe either.

They were people who would never think of fleeing, staying to protect their posts until the very end even after a blockade was declared.

‘It’s okay. Thanks to Winter, we know the cure for the plague.’

She and Winter had already figured out how to obtain Palancho infused with divine power.

<Two months from now, you’ll attend the consecration ceremony at the Grand Temple, right? That’s our chance.>

Participating in the consecration ceremony to obtain the medicinal ingredients to cure the plague and sending them to Grandmother.

That was Winter and Tiya’s plan.

In addition, Tiya had one more mission.

‘How do I help Dad get his emotions back?’

While she was worrying over it for several days, a brilliant idea flashed the moment she saw a book sticking out from the bookshelf.

“Do you know what method I came up with?”

<I didn’t ask.>

“I thought about it a lot, and Dad doesn’t know anything about emotions right now, right? Like a baby who hasn’t learned anything! So I thought—”

<I said I’m not curious.>

Ignoring Winter’s flat response, Tiya declared proudly,

“I’m going to raise Dad properly like a baby!”

The horrifying combination of words finally caught Winter’s attention.

<Raise him…? Him raising you?>

“Nooo, I’m the one raising Dad!”

As Grandma used to say—

“If you educate them properly, you can even teach a brown bear proper tea-time manners.”

That was it. The greatness of education!

Tiya held up the book she had pulled from the shelf like a holy scripture: <The Encyclopedia of Childcare: How to Raise Your Child into a Fine Adult>.

“Everything’s in here. How to raise a baby into a fine adult!”

Winter’s gaze slowly scanned the page Tiya had opened.

Chapter 1. Let’s Eat Yummy Meals Together.

Below the sub-heading, someone had meticulously written an additional explanation by hand.

Tip. If you don’t want your child to become a picky eater, the guardian must demonstrate first.

When the guardian munches on Count Pea, crunches on Marquis Broccoli, the child will follow along and eat too.

The ultimate parenting method that helps both guardian and child grow strong—morning meals!

Whoever wrote this book probably hadn’t envisioned a “baby” who was 438 months old.

<You don’t seriously think this kind of method will work, do you?>

“Of course it will! I’ll raise him wonderfully and make Dad cry his eyes out for sure!”

Winter was deeply impressed—though not in the way Tiya hoped.

<Unbelievable. Was I really this stupid…?>

Taking Winter’s muttered amazement as encouragement, Tiya thrust her fist into the air.

“Operation Raise Dad—let’s go!”

* * *

Shurka Vladizev.

No, the man who had now become Shurka Valloze was called a “Poison Scorpion” by the public, and it wasn’t just because of the black scorpion-shaped spirit mark wrapping around his neck.

Four years ago, when he severed ties with his mother, the Grand Duke of Vladizev, for certain reasons, and inherited only the Vladizev mansion in the capital—the nobles of the central capital openly spoke of the fall of the next Northern overlord, indulging in their petty satisfaction.

But within a month, when he secured from the Emperor the title and territory of Count Valloze, they fell silent.

The title of Count Valloze.

It was the title given to The Grand Inspector—a position of immense power, authorized to uncover corruption among nobles and officials and carry out punishment accordingly.