Tia’s Smooth Life After Regression - Chapter 15

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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 15

The final silence.

The strength naturally drained from her clenched hands. She held her breath and looked at Winter, trying to suppress the sigh that threatened to burst out like tears.

“Wi, Winter-“

Shh.

Winter raised his index finger to his lips.

It was when Tiya, who had been rolling her eyes around, unconsciously looked up at the night sky following Winter’s fingertip.

Among the countless stars navigating the vast universe, one of the brightest stars flickered greatly.

Soon, a handful of starlight slid down from the night sky, cutting through the Milky Way and falling before Tiya.

“Huh, what…?”

Like catching scattered flower petals, the remnants of the shooting star quietly settled into her outstretched hand.

“Wow.”

It was dazzlingly brilliant, yet never hot.

Tiya looked back and forth between Winter and the shooting star, not knowing what to do, and exclaimed.

“Winter, look at this! The Star Deities came to me! They must have heard my prayers!”

【I told you. You would definitely be chosen.】

At those words, something surged up from a corner of her parched heart.

“Great Spirit. Please send me a spirit.”

“I’ll be a good child. Please let me prove that I am a child of Vladijef.”

Those lonely nights when she prayed until her voice was hoarse scattered like foam in the warm embrace of the Star Deities that washed over her like waves.

To Tiya’s prayers that had only echoed with her own voice, finally, after a very long wait, an answer had come.

“The Star Deities were waiting for me…”

Tiya’s eyes finally turned red.

She pressed her lips together tightly as if trying to hold back tears, but whimpering sounds leaked through her teeth like a puppy unable to contain its excitement.

At that sight, Winter burst into laughter for the first time. It was a smile like spring sunlight settling on a frozen lake.

【What are you going to do if you’re already whimpering like that? It’s not over yet.】

“Mmph. Wh, what?”

Tiya’s question faded as two more meteors poured down in succession.

One, two, three.

A total of three stars fell and circled around Tiya before settling into her body.

The grace of the stars that settled on the back of her left hand, her eyes, and the top of her right foot warmly thawed her frozen body.

【Congratulations. You’ve been chosen by three constellations called the strongest.】

Winter overlapped hands with Tiya, offering congratulations that were unusually gentle.

【If you wish it, you can even fly through the sky now.】

Like navigating the vast ocean with stars as a guide, Tiya instinctively moved her hands following Winter.

As the light spreading from her fingertips drew constellations, the laws of the world surrounding Tiya were rearranged.

Her hair and clothes fluttered softly in the air as if submerged in water.

The very first miracle that all constellations bestow upon their baptized.

Magic that floats through the air like stars.

With a light kick off the ground, her feet swam through the air and landed at the entrance of the well.

A bone-chilling cold rose from the well that gaped like a black mouth.

Her eyes like morning stars looked down into the darkness of the well.

【Try throwing a stone to check the depth.】

Tiya, who had been looking for a pebble as Winter suggested, suddenly reached toward her chest.

Tiya looked at the spirit stone in her hand for a moment, then stretched her arm forward.

After taking a deep breath, she opened all her fingers holding the spirit stone.

Whoosh- clang.

From within the well that seemed endless, the sound of something hitting bottom echoed.

It seemed like the first answer the spirit stone was giving her.

Tiya finally smiled brightly and stepped forward without hesitation.

“Let’s go, Winter! To save my brother!”

* * *

In the middle of the night.

The Vladijef Estate in the Dominion, which would normally be dark, was brightly lit.

When Tiya couldn’t be found despite searching the vast manor thoroughly like hunting for lice, the entire estate was put on emergency alert.

The news of her disappearance reached even the gatekeeper guarding the entrance, and strict orders were given to immediately apprehend anyone suspicious.

While the gatekeeper was keeping his eyes peeled and surveying the surroundings.

A hired carriage stopped in front of the manor, and as soon as someone got out, it hurriedly departed as if it had seen a ghost.

Making his vigilance seem pointless, what emerged from the carriage was a young child in shabby clothes.

The gatekeeper clicked his tongue as he blocked the path of the child trudging toward the manor.

“Tsk tsk, running away from home at this age. Little one, hurry back home. Your parents are worried.”

Then the girl answered crisply.

“Running away from home? It’s not like that. I just went for a little walk without telling Father.”

“We’ve decided to call that running away from home,”

“Hmph, that’s why I came back home now.”

“Yes, hurry along then. No wait. Where is your home? It’s too late, so I’ll take you there.”

At the gatekeeper’s question, the girl’s finger pointed over his shoulder toward Vladijef Manor.

“Right there.”

“…Do your parents work here?”

“Father does.”

“What is your father’s name?”

“Shurkha.”

Huh? I’ve heard that name a lot somewhere.

‘More than that, why does this kid look familiar?’

Looking closely, she seemed to resemble someone quite a bit.

With that rare jet-black hair color and cold atmosphere, just like…

“…the Count?”

“That’s right! My father works as a count here. Ahem, it’s a job that pays a whopping 30 gold per hour, you know?”

Caught you, you little rascal!

“Ah, no! I shall escort you!”

The gatekeeper quickly lifted Tiya up and shouted.

* * *

Tiya was earnestly escorted with the gatekeeper holding both her armpits.

He planned to escort her all the way to the Count’s study, but they ran into the Count right in the middle of the manor corridor.

“Astiya Vladijef, just returned from a walk!”

Before the gatekeeper could explain the situation, Tiya snapped to attention and reported her survival.

Whatever had happened in just one day, her face was streaked with grime.

When Shurkha nodded, the gatekeeper set Tiya down and turned away.

Tiya tilted her head and asked.

“Father, why weren’t you sleeping yet? If you sleep late, you won’t grow tall-“

“Astiya Vladijef.”

A voice so cold it chilled her to the bone.

Tiya instinctively flinched and carefully observed Shurkha.

A mask-like expressionless face, devoid of any emotion whatsoever.

Perhaps it was because it was deep into the night, unlike their usual encounters.

His face, deeply shadowed by the lamplight, somehow looked more fierce than she remembered.

“…Father, are you angry?”

Angry?

A question arose in Shurkha’s mind. He couldn’t even remember when he had last felt such a meaningless emotion.

Now emotions were like fossils to Shurkha—no matter how much he scraped the bottom of his heart, only his fingernails would break and his skin would peel, unable to find even fragments of emotion.

“You ask useless things.”

However, unlike emotions, memories from the past would sometimes crash over him like unexpected storms.

Just like now.

When was it.

Right there where Tiya was standing, his wife Tatiana had once stood.

It was the fifth day after she had disappeared without revealing her destination, taking a large sum of cash with her.

Seeing his wife’s wretched state when she suddenly returned, he thought that perhaps what people were saying might be true.

That Tatiana had finally developed a mental illness from the heartbreak of her husband’s inexplicable transformation.

Otherwise, there was no way a patient who needed to take care of her body would wander outside like a madwoman.

One step—Shurkha walked toward the past.

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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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