Tia’s Smooth Life After Regression - Chapter 34

—————
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 34

Only Anton, who followed behind them, shuddered at the gloomy atmosphere of the basement, the musty smell of mold, and the increasingly thick scent of blood.

“How long have you been here?”

Rodion asked as he stepped on the last stone step leading to the basement.

“About a month now.”

Once they reached the basement, Anton walked ahead.

The long corridor was lined with barred prison cells.

This place, which had been a massive wine storehouse, was transformed into this sinister location entirely after Shurkha became Count Valoz, the audit deputy.

After being excluded from Vladijef’s roster, when they replaced the manor’s personnel, so many spies had infiltrated that initially this underground prison was at full capacity every day.

As Rodion began managing internal affairs in earnest and carefully selecting people, the resident population density here gradually decreased, and now most of it was empty.

Except for just one place.

Standing in front of the occupied prison, Rodion called out the name of the woman inside.

“Erin.”

The woman who had been huddled in the corner flinched, then stared at Rodion with an expression of disbelief.

“Y-Young master?”

Light returned to Erin’s eyes, which had died black after losing all hope.

Young Master Rodion, who was kind and generous to everyone.

He might save me. Isn’t he remembering the name of a mere maid even now?

Thinking this was her last chance, Erin clung to the bars and pleaded desperately.

“Young master! Please believe me. I am definitely not a spy. Please believe me!”

Rodion looked at Anton as if asking for his opinion.

Anton nodded with an uncomfortable expression.

“She doesn’t seem to be a spy, but I can’t be certain. Interrogation and torture aren’t my areas of expertise.”

It couldn’t be helped. All this time, it had been Rodion’s job to root out and interrogate spies.

“That’s enough. The fact that she hasn’t opened her mouth for a month means she’s someone who wouldn’t open it even if confined for two months. Besides, if she really was just a simple thief, it would be pitiful.”

Though being a thief in the first place was also a problem.

Erin, who was convinced that Rodion was her lifeline, wailed even more desperately.

“Y-Young master. Please save me. Please, please have pity on me. I just wanted to treat my sick mother, and that greed blinded me…”

“I see. I understand that desperation well too.”

A bitter smile appeared on Rodion’s lips.

“Get some good sleep tonight and we’ll talk again tomorrow. If it’s proven tomorrow that you’re not a spy, you’ll be able to leave this place.”

Erin prostrated herself on the floor and sobbed. It was to hide her sneer.

“Th-thank you. Thank you, Young master.”

Stupid Vladijef. How could they be so careless!

It was a moment that made all her tension from hearing that no one had ever returned alive from Vladijef seem pointless.

‘Still, it’s a bit disappointing that I couldn’t get my hands on the spirit’s egg.’

When she discovered the spirit’s egg after secretly exploring the manor for months, she immediately realized it was an item that would change her life.

Unlike jewels, there would be no trace of it being stolen goods even if sold on the black market.

She had even made a complete plan to avoid being suspected as the culprit.

It was regrettable that she lost that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to a mere eight-year-old child, but it wasn’t more precious than her life.

Even returning to House of Count Montes like this, she could at least keep her lifeline going.

Wiping away tears that flowed freely without forcing them, Erin raised her head.

“Young master, I will never forget this kindness-“

At that moment. Goosebumps rose all over her body, and Erin couldn’t continue speaking due to the alarm bells her instincts were ringing.

‘Why?’

There was no threat around her.

Toward Erin, who was trembling without knowing why, Rodion spoke calmly.

“Noir. Very deep, you may bite and tear.”

Hissssss.

A chilling sound came from right behind her.

Erin turned around.

Not knowing when it had been there, a pure white snake as thick as Erin’s forearm was sinking its fangs into her leg.

“Huh?”

Strangely, there was no pain.

However, that was Erin’s last memory.

Thud.

Erin collapsed, and her chest rose and fell with her breathing.

Anton, who glanced at Erin’s complexion, clicked his tongue.

“…You’re quite angry.”

“Me?”

Rodion asked back in puzzlement.

“Isn’t this quite humane? It’s not like I tortured her cruelly. She’ll just have nightmares.”

Until she begs to die instead.

Anton swallowed the rest of his words.

Rodion offered one arm to the white snake crawling out of the prison.

The white snake that climbed up, coiling around its master’s arm, rubbed its head against Rodion’s cheek as if acting cute.

“Yes, yes. Well done, Noir.”

Rodion praised Noir while scratching its head with his fingertips.

Tonight was a full moon. It was a night when Noir was particularly docile and easy to handle.

Anton stood at a distance, keeping his body pulled back in case he accidentally got bitten by Noir.

Noir, Rodion’s spirit.

If bitten by Noir, a shadow spirit, one would fall asleep on the spot.

However, the frightening thing about Noir was that when its fangs contained poison, it would cause nightmares instead of simple sleep.

Everyone carries their own hell within them.

Noir’s nightmares fairly push that person into memories they never want to experience again.

What’s even more terrible is that real time and nightmare time don’t flow at the same rate.

Anton glanced at Erin again.

Had barely a minute passed?

Under the eyelids of the collapsed Erin, her eyeballs were trembling frantically.

Her painfully contorted face and limbs trembling as if having convulsions made one imagine how terrible a nightmare she must be wandering through.

In that brief moment, perhaps Erin had spent a horrific half-day that made her want to die instead.

“Noir. Very deep, you may bite and tear.”

Perhaps when Erin opened her eyes the next day, her mind might not be intact.

“Were you certain she was a spy?”

He asked this because Rodion’s methods had been particularly harsh compared to other times.

Rodion, who was turning around to leave the basement, shrugged and answered.

“Probably.”

“What? Weren’t you certain?”

“My intuition is generally right, but there were also personal feelings involved.”

Personal feelings.

‘It must be because of Miss Tiya.’

Even when the young lady suddenly collapsed, he cared for her enough to guard the door to her room until she woke up again.

Yet he never once entered the room to show familiarity, so Anton worried whether the young lady might misunderstand the young master.

It was when Anton’s expression darkened.

Having left the basement and standing under the bright full moon, Rodion turned to look at Anton and asked.

“Your complexion looks dark. Are you still suffering from insomnia?”

“Yes, well….”

“Should I ask Noir to bite you just lightly without any poison?”

“No. My insomnia just got cured. I sleep very well.”

“That’s a relief.”

Rodion’s shadow stretched long as he walked ahead.

Anton hurriedly followed behind him, finally voicing the words he had been hesitating to say.

“Young master, about Lady Valentina.”

Rodion only nodded without slowing his pace.

“There’s been a witness report of a suspicious bird visiting the lady’s room. It didn’t seem to be a messenger pigeon though.”

“Valentina is fine. More importantly, Anton.”

“Yes.”

Rodion turned around with the moon at his back. Deep shadows fell across his face, and for a moment everything was engulfed in darkness.

“Next week is the lunar eclipse.”

“Ah… it’s already that time.”

“Yes. I’m counting on you again this time.”

“Yes, don’t worry!”

Though he spoke as if to trust only him, Anton suddenly felt worried about Rodion.

He wondered if Rodion was carrying too many duties and burdens at such a young age.

Even so, Rodion smiled brightly without showing any sign of difficulty.

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