Tia’s Smooth Life After Regression - Chapter 146

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Tiya’s Smooth Regression Life

Chapter 146

Shurkha said nothing.

He knew that what had moistened his fingertips were tears, but he couldn’t understand why they had flowed now, or for what reason.

He also couldn’t understand why his chest felt so tight the moment he saw the child who had awakened from her long sleep.

Tiya quietly looked up at Shurkha’s face like that, then very gently tugged at the hem of his clothes.

“Who made… my Father cry… *cough cough*.”

Tiya, who had been struggling to speak, broke into a dry cough.

When Shurkha lifted the water glass that had been at the head of the bed, the child drained it completely before finally catching her breath.

Tiya, having regained some strength, asked with her hands on her hips.

“Who bullied my Father?”

From Shurkha’s perspective, it was nonsense that wasn’t even worth laughing at, but Tiya herself was very serious, as if she had been given an important mission.

“Tell me, I’ll scold them for you.”

“As if. It was just a physiological phenomenon.”

Yes, that’s all it was.

“A physiological phenomenon?”

The child, who had been puzzled by the unfamiliar meaning, suddenly exclaimed “Ah!” as if someone had whispered the answer in her ear. Then she narrowed her eyes and began to giggle.

“Ehh? That’s not true though? I saw Father crying and everything? It wasn’t because your eyes were dry, I saw you really bawling?”

Seeing her ramble on with such nonsense, it seemed her physical condition had recovered to some extent.

Anyway, now that he had seen the child awaken, he should return to handle the paperwork.

Thinking this, Shurkha pulled over a nearby chair and positioned himself beside Tiya’s bed.

Only after settling his bottom in the chair did he recognize his own actions and hesitate.

He should hurry back to the study.

There was no longer any business for him here.

“Hmph, it can’t be helped. I’ll make a concession for my stubborn Father. So, um, open that drawer.”

Once again, instead of jumping up from his seat, Shurkha’s body obediently moved as Tiya instructed.

He reached out and opened the first drawer of the nightstand. Inside was a single piece of paper, so crumpled it looked ready to tear at any moment.

A voucher labeled ‘Father’s Time.’

Taking the voucher from Shurkha’s hand, Tiya stared at it for a long while.

Then, as if handling something very precious and delicate, she placed it on her palm and held it out to Shurkha again.

“One hour of Father’s Time, please approve it.”

Tiya’s last remaining Father’s Time.

Like trying to savor the last piece of candy, she had been hesitating to use it all along.

“What’s the reason?”

“When someone’s sad, it helps to have someone by their side. Of course, Father isn’t sad, just crying because his eyes are dry.”

Tiya used her last remaining time not for herself, but for Shurkha.

“So let’s stay together for the next hour.”

Tiya took Shurkha’s arm as if squeezing out her last bit of strength and hugged it to her chest.

She looked ready to chat away with Father, but despite her enthusiasm, her eyelids soon began to flutter closed.

And before long, with her eyes completely shut, only Father’s Time passed meaninglessly.

Ten minutes, thirty minutes, one hour passed like that.

Time flowed endlessly, but Father’s Time did not end.

Dawn passed and day broke, yet Shurkha did not leave Tiya’s side.

* * *

In the middle of a night so dark it was impossible to tell whether one’s eyes were open or closed.

An old hired carriage was racing fiercely down a muddy downhill road in the pouring rain, without even lighting a lantern.

Though it was no different from a life-or-death sprint, the passenger knocked on the driver’s seat, urging the coachman even more.

“Faster, pick up more speed!”

It was when the carriage, having run like this for some time, reached the Imperial Border.

The carriage window, which had been curtained and never opened, finally opened to reveal the passenger’s face.

It was Count Montes, his face gaunt from weeks of house arrest and imprisonment.

A smile spread across his face, which hadn’t relaxed even once since the revelation of not only creating and spreading the plague in the North, but also the Princess’s assassination.

“Ha, ha… it really is the border.”

The night before, it was the mage who had given him the infection source of the ‘Mark of Death’ who had secretly visited Count Montes when he was on the verge of disappearing as morning dew on the execution ground.

“You, how dare you come here of all places…!”

“Rather than getting so angry, welcoming me would be much wiser for your future.”

“Future?”

“Yes, Count. I will get you out of this place.”

Though he thought it might be a trap, the Count had no choice but to follow the mysterious mage. Things couldn’t get any worse.

The mage who suddenly appeared before Count Montes, who had been moved to the Underground Prison, freed the Count from his cell.

Amazingly, wherever the mage went, the guards within the Palace happened to be away from their posts.

Having safely escaped the Imperial Palace, the mage put the Count in an old hired carriage and began driving it himself.

After running the carriage all dawn and safely shaking off their pursuers.

Looking at the Imperial Border visible in the distance and the land of his homeland, the Kingdom of Harman, the Count smiled with satisfaction.

Even if he wouldn’t be welcomed upon returning to his homeland, they would never be able to discard him as a card.

He was still the Prince’s Uncle and his spiritual pillar.

‘I can start everything over again.’

As long as he survived, he could reclaim everything he had lost and even take revenge on the Vladijef Family.

Of course, finding the backing behind the mage who had helped him was also essential.

‘It must be the work of someone well-versed in Palace affairs.’

To safely help him escape from the Imperial Palace prison.

From the time he had employed a Palace mage, he had thought this person couldn’t be an ordinary nobleman.

It was while he was going through the list of nobles in his mind one by one, deducing the culprit, that it happened.

Suddenly, an absurd hypothesis flashed through Count Montes’ mind.

There was exactly one person who was familiar with the geography and system within the Imperial Palace and could control the guards at will.

“No way…”

It was right then.

The carriage that had entered the forest path shook, then gradually slowed down until it came to a complete stop.

“Hey, mage! What’s the problem?”

Though the Count knocked on the wall toward the driver’s seat several times, no answer came.

Having no choice, the Count stepped out of the carriage to check the driver’s seat, then looked around in confusion.

But no matter how much he looked around, neither the mage who had occupied the driver’s seat nor the horse was visible.

“…”

A strange sense of unease began to threaten the Count.

Should he wait for the mage inside the carriage, or venture out on foot?

It was the moment he finished his brief deliberation and turned toward the border area without hesitation, abandoning the carriage.

Suddenly, he felt a burning pain in his abdomen as if his internal organs were being consumed by fire, and strength drained from his legs.

The Count, who had fallen to his knees in the mud, only realized he had been stabbed when he saw blood spreading over the puddle.

As the Count slowly raised his head, the culprit who had stabbed him revealed himself.

“You bastard…”

It was the mage who had abandoned the carriage and disappeared.

As if he had finished his task, he removed the hood he had been wearing the entire time for the first time in front of the Count. In the grayish dawn light, his lapis lazuli-colored hair gleamed palely.

The Count squeezed out every ounce of strength he had to speak.

“Grrk, why… what are you…”

But his opponent had no intention of even listening to the Count’s words.

Slash.

In the darkness, the blade’s cold blue light flashed, and the smell of blood grew thicker.

Still, the Count’s eyes, with his head buried in the muddy ground, could see the mage’s retreating figure growing distant.

Then his teeth parted as his final words leaked out.

“Karsein….”

My nephew, my son.

The Count’s secret that no one should ever know was thus buried in the mud.

* * *

The next day, at the Prince’s Palace.

A scream burst out from the Prince’s bedroom.

One might think the Prince was simply unable to control his temper as usual, smashing objects to vent his anger, but the attendants couldn’t bring themselves to lift their heads.

The Prince’s voice leaking out beyond the door was mixed with grief and tears.

No one spoke aloud about why the Prince was making such a commotion, but they could guess.

The fact that Count Montes, who had escaped the night before, had returned as a corpse was already widely known.

So no one dared to set foot in the Prince’s bedroom.

“Open the door.”

Among the attendants who were only bowing their heads, a voice filled with strong resolve echoed.

The moment they confirmed the owner of that voice, relief spread across the attendants’ faces.

It was the Empress, perhaps the only one who could calm this situation.

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