Tia’s Smooth Life After Regression - Chapter 83
—————
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 83
“It’s Mother’s room. After Mother passed away, I inherited Mother’s palace.”
Ah. A look of awkwardness crossed Tiya’s face.
The family tree of the current Royal Court that Winter had hastily taught her unfolded in her mind.
The Emperor and Empress. And the imperial consorts from the Kingdom of Harman and the Duchy of Elba.
Born between the 1st and 2nd imperial consorts whom the Emperor took as second wives were Prince Karsein and Princess Anaël respectively.
Anaël said as she guided Tiya to the room that had lost its owner.
“Those paintings are all landscapes of the Duchy of Elba, Mother’s homeland. Mother suffered from homesickness.”
“It looks like the North. This lake in this painting looks like Kazan Lake in the Vladijef Lands!”
“…That painting depicts a lake? I thought it was wasteland.”
Anaël looked closely at the painting Tiya pointed to for the first time in a very long while.
The Dominion rarely has snow even in winter, and even when it does snow, it doesn’t accumulate and melts quickly.
Therefore, Anaël, who had never left the palace, had never seen a frozen lake, let alone a small frozen pond.
“It’s a completely frozen lake. In the North, when it freezes like that, we put on shoes with blades and race while running.”
“Shoes with blades?”
“We grind animal bones and attach them to the bottom of shoes, then glide smoothly on the ice. It’s so exciting!”
The more Anaël listened to Tiya’s words, the more bewildered her expression became.
She tried to imagine it but couldn’t do it well.
‘I should have asked Mother when she was alive.’
When she was young, she deliberately didn’t ask Mother about the Duchy of Elba. She was afraid that if she asked carelessly, Mother’s longing would deepen and she might abandon her and leave.
But seeing Tiya enthusiastically explaining about the Vladijef Lands with sparkling eyes, she felt a small but belated courage.
“Then what’s the beast pulling the roofless carriage in this painting?”
“Sled dogs.”
“This is… a dog?”
“Yes! I don’t know what sled dogs are called in the Duchy of Elba, but in the Vladijef Lands there are Lug’nir’s Wolfhounds – incredibly large, white wolf-like dogs. They run well through snowy forests and are much faster than horses. They’re also incredibly smart, so they’re the pride of our Vladijef!”
Ah, she knew about Lug’nir’s Wolfhounds.
She had heard that her brother’s most cherished hunting dog Kar was of that breed.
‘So Lug’nir’s Wolfhounds were a northern breed.’
The two children had moved to the study before they knew it and began sharing stories about the North and the Duchy of Elba.
Winter, who had been anxiously watching the situation, was now completely at ease and moved far enough from Tiya to escape, examining the interior of the study.
From then on, Tiya’s ‘beauty that topples nations strategy’ began in earnest.
‘First, I’ll make Princess sister want to live in the Imperial Palace for life without leaving the empire!’
“Your Highness, the Imperial Palace is so beautiful! If it were me, I wouldn’t want to marry and would want to call all my family, friends, and relatives to settle down in the Imperial Palace together for life.”
“…Huh?”
Oh! Did I make some mistake?
It was when Tiya was nervously watching Anaël’s expression, which seemed surprised.
But Princess sister asked something unexpected.
“Have you… ever met relatives?”
Why would she ask such a thing.
Though puzzled, she answered honestly.
“No. Grandmother sent all my relatives to foreign countries, so I’ve never met them even once.”
“…That foreign country probably isn’t the foreign country I’m thinking of.”
Anaël muttered with a pale complexion.
Winter caught Tiya’s eye as she wondered what this meant.
Come to think of it, there was a relative she had met. No, to be precise, a relative she ‘would meet.’
“Ah, there’s a relative who didn’t go to a foreign country and remained in the North! Someone my age.”
“In the North? Are you… sure about that?”
“Yes!”
Anaël’s expression became even more troubled.
Finally, she paced restlessly with an anxious face, then very carefully opened her mouth.
“Make sure to confirm again whether they’re really your relative. Maybe that… person might be lying.”
Lying? Why?
Tiya asked with her eyes.
It was when Anaël was about to answer with her eyes tightly shut.
“The current Duke has purge—”
“Your Highness Princess, I have urgent matters to discuss.”
A maid who had been waiting outside the study to avoid interrupting their conversation hurriedly entered.
When the maid whispered something in the Princess’s ear, Anaël hastily rose from her seat.
“Wait a moment, a guest has come to see me, so I’ll step away briefly.”
After the Princess left hurriedly, Tiya, left alone, muttered.
“The current Duke has purge…?”
Tiya tried substituting all the words she knew that started with ‘purge’ and headed toward Winter.
Winter was carefully examining something in front of the study’s bookshelf.
“What are you looking at?”
Tiya stood beside Winter and looked at what she had been viewing. The bookshelf was filled with types of books Tiya had never opened – embroidery patterns, flower arranging, and such.
Winter pointed to the bottom of the bookshelf with her finger and answered.
【Lower your gaze a bit more.】
When she lowered her gaze as Winter suggested, she saw books on completely different subjects.
Political science and taxation, geography and history books.
Those thick volumes placed on the bottom shelf had fingerprints on them. Tiya pulled out one of them and opened it.
Each page was densely filled with annotations about the book’s content. It had definitely been read many times repeatedly.
【At least she doesn’t seem completely uninterested in politics. Luring the Princess out might not be as difficult as I thought.】
One corner of Winter’s mouth rose crookedly.
“Winter, you look like a villain right now.”
【What’s with this reaction. You’re the one who’ll actually be seducing the Princess.】
“That’s true…”
Tiya put the book back in its place while tilting her head.
“If Princess sister is interested in the throne, why didn’t she do anything in the future Winter lived through?”
Though they had only briefly conversed, she could tell.
Anaël truly loved this country.
Yet she would leave her homeland to marry royalty from a distant foreign country.
The 2nd Imperial Consort who had filled one wall of her room with paintings of her homeland’s scenery.
Somehow that seemed like Princess sister’s future.
【Well. It would be better to ask the person directly about such things.】
As soon as Winter finished speaking, Anaël’s voice was heard from behind.
She asked Tiya with a troubled-looking face.
“I’ve been invited to tea time, and that person said they’d like you to join if you’re okay with it. Would that be alright?”
A friend’s friend is my friend!
Tiya nodded as if there was no problem at all.
“I’m fine with it! But who is the guest?”
“The, the Empress…”
It wasn’t a friend’s friend, but a friend’s mother.
Tiya became completely alert.
* * *
The Empress’s Palace was incomparably more beautifully maintained than the Princess’s Palace.
Thanks to this, Tiya’s head turned so busily that her neck was on the verge of getting a crick.
“That statue has rubies embedded in its eyes!”
“Is this gold? Is it real gold? Did they really lay gold on the floor?”
【…zzbl zzungheu heu.】
Tiya stopped every three steps to burst into admiration, making their progress very slow, but neither the Princess nor the maids from the Empress’s Palace who had come to escort them criticized Tiya.
Winter’s gaze, who had been sighing deeply in embarrassment at Tiya’s behavior, turned toward the maids from the Empress’s Palace.
They all waited for her to finish sightseeing with pleased expressions, as if they found Tiya adorable.
After all, you can tell what the superior is like by looking at their subordinates.
It seemed the gentle nature of the Empress that people praised wasn’t entirely false.
“Your Highness, Young Lady. This way. Her Majesty is waiting.”
After Tiya’s exclamations had echoed dozens of times, they finally reached their destination.
Only then did Tiya come to her senses and straighten up with discipline.
On the carriage ride from the Princess’s Palace to the Empress’s Palace, she had heard about the Empress from Winter.
【She’s called a model of good rulership along with the current Emperor. During the North’s blockade period, she continuously sent medicinal supplies using her personal funds.】
【But a good ruler isn’t necessarily a good parent.】
Winter’s meaningful words had been weighing on her mind because the Princess had looked very anxious throughout the entire journey to the Empress’s Palace.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————