Tia’s Smooth Life After Regression - Chapter 139

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Tiya’s Smooth Regression Life

Chapter 139

* * *

Late in the evening, a carriage from the Vladijef family emerged from the Imperial Palace.

After two intense weeks of courtroom battles, Shurkha had been cleared of charges and released, but there was no sign of victory inside the carriage.

Between Rodion and Shurkha, who sat facing each other, hung a heavy silence that hadn’t even been felt in the courtroom.

The short journey home was about to end without a single word exchanged between father and son.

“Why did you research a cure for white fever?”

Rodion impulsively broke the silence, and immediately regretted it.

When he learned that his father, who had been indifferent even to his mother’s illness and death, had been secretly researching his mother’s hereditary disease.

Rodion felt an unpleasant sensation, like stepping into a muddy swamp.

It was probably due to a sense of betrayal. The Shurkha Valoz he had known was not the type of man to yearn for his wife so tenderly.

Yet what answer was he hoping to hear by asking such a question?

Rodion chewed on his regret, but fortunately or unfortunately, no answer came.

For a while, only the occasional sounds of the coachman cracking his whip and wheels crushing gravel continued.

When the brightly lit Vladijef Manor came into view in the distance, Rodion gave up on hearing an answer from Shurkha.

Then, mixed in with the rattling noise of the carriage, Shurkha’s low murmur reached his ears.

“…Probably because of pathetic lingering attachment.”

Rodion’s gaze turned toward Shurkha.

Surprisingly, he was looking at Rodion as well.

Shurkha’s ice-blue eyes, devoid of any warmth.

Though they were damnably similar to his own, Rodion could never find any fragment of emotion in them, as always.

Nevertheless, that single word “attachment” strangely stuck in his ears.

Like a thorn lodged under a fingernail, the lingering echo of those words that had made Rodion uncomfortable instantly evaporated with Shurkha’s following response.

“I don’t know what answer you were hoping for, but it was simply for my own sake.”

Only then did Rodion feel relieved.

Because Shurkha was the worst kind of father and husband, just as he had thought.

“How fortunate indeed.”

Because only if he was that kind of person could Rodion despise and hate him with peace of mind.

Just as the cold atmosphere settled in the carriage once again, the carriage came to a stop.

As soon as Shurkha stepped out of the carriage, a child’s high-pitched voice that shook the summer night greeted them.

“Father! Brother!”

Soon the sound of running footsteps grew closer, and Tiya threw herself at Shurkha like a cannonball.

“Tiya! Be careful-!”

Rodion, who was belatedly getting out of the carriage, cried out in alarm.

He had thought Shurkha would push Tiya away just like that.

However, contrary to his expectations, a very unexpected scene unfolded before his eyes.

Shurkha caught his daughter with practiced ease.

Of course, he didn’t embrace the child in his arms, but Tiya wrapped her arms and legs around Shurkha’s torso on her own, dangling there.

“I was waiting! You made me wait too long!”

“Get off.”

“Don’t worry! My core strength is super strong, so I won’t fall.”

Rodion watched the father-daughter pair from a step behind, who looked harmonious on the surface even if they weren’t really communicating.

“Kyaaaah! I’m falling, I’m falling!”

“Fall off.”

“When you say things like that, it makes me want to be stubborn, you know?”

Even though they were each saying their own thing, the conversation was strangely continuing.

Shurkha entered the manor with Tiya on his back like a turtle shell.

“…”

Anton quietly approached Rodion, who was watching the scene in bewilderment.

“Young master, you’ve truly worked hard.”

“…Yes.”

As soon as he heard those words, fatigue suddenly washed over him. Yes, perhaps he was so tired that he had seen an illusion.

Anton discreetly handed him a letter as he rubbed his face wearily.

“This is correspondence that arrived from the Mage Towers.”

Rodion silently received and pocketed the letter.

He owed Lord Argon of the Mage Towers a great debt from this incident.

Not only had he appeared as a witness at the trial at his request, but it was also Argon who had informed him that the Imperial Investigator had requested a mage capable of protective magic from the Magic Association to prevent the spread of disease.

Thanks to that, Rodion was able to deduce during the trial that the criminal was planned to be used as a scapegoat for the messenger of death.

‘I should inform him of the trial results immediately.’

It was when Rodion opened the letter while mentally organizing a list of thank-you gifts to send to the Mage Towers.

His expression hardened as he confirmed the contents of the letter.

[The patron’s identity is not Count Montes.]

That single line invalidated all the calculations Rodion had believed in.

* * *

The Red Palace of the Imperial Palace.

That secret prison where Shurkha had been confined was currently welcoming a new occupant.

“This is absurd! That fool of a judge!”

Count Montes, sitting slouched in an armchair while smoking a cigar, merely watched quietly as the excited Prince stomped his feet and smashed objects.

In his eyes swirled currents of anger no less than the Prince’s.

‘He was cleverer than expected for someone from the North.’

However, at the same time, he rationally assessed the situation.

There was only one reason he had failed in this matter.

He had overlooked the fact that Rodion Vladijef was someone who could fabricate false testimony if necessary.

He was different from the foolish northerners who bound themselves with principles of honesty and integrity.

A sneer escaped through the Count’s teeth.

No matter how noble one pretended to be, the fact that human nature was ultimately no different satisfied him.

The Prince’s anger, upon noticing this, turned in the wrong direction.

“Are you finding this amusing? At this crucial time when I need to be recognized as heir, do you know how much I’ll have to beg His Majesty to get Uncle out of here!”

At the Prince’s words, the Count finally burst into genuine laughter.

Suppressed anger leaked from the Prince’s eyes.

The Count paid no heed and rose from his seat to pat the Prince’s shoulder familiarly. To his nephew, who irritably swatted his arm away, he spoke with a face that still hadn’t lost its smile.

“No matter how much you beg His Majesty, you won’t be able to get me out of here.”

“…Do I appear that incompetent to you?”

The Count gazed with tender eyes at his nephew, who still couldn’t grasp the situation even at this point.

To be honest, the Prince was indeed lacking in many ways.

That’s why the Emperor wouldn’t appoint him as Crown Prince either.

But what did incompetence matter? This child was his sister’s bloodline, and his own as well.

So how could he not feel affection?

The Count spoke as always, kindly but somewhat sternly.

“No matter how capable you are, I will never be ‘officially’ released. His Majesty is probably planning to use this opportunity to cast me out.”

“…What?”

Framing Count Valoz was actually just a pretext.

If they thoroughly investigate him, all the various corruptions he had committed would eventually be exposed in detail.

Falsifying ledgers, illegal dealings, even embezzling from the national treasury.

“I won’t be able to leave this palace alive on my own two feet.”

“Don’t say such ridiculous things! If I ask His Majesty, he will surely forgive Uncle. Look even now! Didn’t he allow me to meet with Uncle!”

The Prince argued desperately, but anxiety began to creep across his face.

“He allowed it because he knows this meeting will be the last. Despite appearing ruthless, that man has a soft heart.”

Finally, anger and terror mixed together on the Prince’s face. Count Montes etched that expression into his memory as he continued speaking.

“Listen carefully, Karsein. Whatever happens from now on, you know nothing about it.”

Even a foolish Prince like him could vaguely sense the weight contained in those words.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————