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Episode 10
Tiya wasn’t the only one startled by the sudden change; even Winter turned to look at Lev.
He was smiling just a moment ago. I saw it.
And she still hadn’t been able to ask what he meant by “dying before becoming an adult.”
So, unlike usual, Tiya decided to hold her ground.
“Can’t I stay here just a little longer?”
“Uh, no. You can’t.”
“Ugh, fine…”
Dragging her feet as much as she could, Tiya moved reluctantly.
But Lev, standing with a stiff expression, couldn’t wait any longer and impatiently grabbed her hand.
“Hurry, just… go.”
His hand felt strangely hot.
And then, without warning, Lev’s body swayed—and collapsed right on top of Tiya.
“Gah, heavy! O-Oppa, let me get up!”
Struggling under his weight, Tiya quickly realized something was wrong.
“Uh… Oppa?”
Lev’s ragged breathing sounded ominous. His limp body had no strength, and he was burning up like fire.
The household staff, realizing too late that Lev was half-unconscious, rushed in.
“Young Master!”
“Bring ice—every bit of it you can find!”
They moved with a calmness that spoke of experience—this wasn’t the first time something like this had happened.
“Miss, please return to your room for now.”
Without giving her any explanation, they pushed Tiya outside. Or maybe they simply didn’t have the time to explain.
The hallway turned noisy.
On the faces of the servants carrying ice, Tiya saw a familiar fear.
She suddenly remembered the night her mother died.
That same fear—unspoken, paralyzing—had weighed on everyone’s shoulders.
Against her better judgment, Tiya peeked through the door, left slightly ajar.
Faintly, she could hear Lev’s voice, weak and feverish.
“Mel… sorry for being such a jerk. I didn’t mean it. I… was wrong.”
“It’s all right, Young Master. You’re just saying that because you’re sick. I get cranky too when I’m ill.”
Melody comforted him gently.
“Please get better soon so you can greet Lady Astiya again tomorrow.”
“Forget it… tell her not to come to my room anymore.”
“Why are you saying that? You’ve been waiting so long for her return. So why—”
Tiya couldn’t bear to listen anymore. She stumbled back, then ran to her room as if fleeing something.
Her breath caught in her throat.
Once she confirmed no one else was around, she clutched Winter’s sleeve and whispered hoarsely:
“Wi-Winter… Oppa’s got it wrong, right? Right?”
Oppa dying before becoming an adult? Why?
Winter had said it herself:
A plague will spread. Barbarians will invade. Our whole family will die. Winter becomes the head of the house…
Wait—what?
A chilling sense of wrongness crawled up her spine like a bug.
Until now, Tiya had assumed her family would die in the war with the barbarians.
So she believed their deaths would come much later—after the plague, after the dark scheme was stopped.
She believed that if she handled all that, she could save everyone.
But thinking again, something didn’t add up.
“Why would Lev, who’s so frail, get dragged into the northern war when neither Father nor Rodion would?”
Her doubts spread through her body in tremors.
And right before she had entered Lev’s room… Winter had been about to say—
Because he’s going to die soon—
Tiya forced the words out, almost choking.
“Lev Oppa… he dies in the war, right?”
When did I ever say he dies because of the war?
Winter’s voice was so calm it was unnerving.
She counted on her fingers before continuing in a dry tone.
That boy probably won’t see next summer. That’s why we can’t rely on Lev as an ally.
Next summer. Even accounting for the capital’s unusually long spring, that was barely half a year away.
“Why…? What’s the reason? Why is he going to die?”
Tiya shook her head frantically.
“No. No, he won’t die. Now that I know, I’ll stop it—”
That child has unbelievably high Spirit Sensitivity, doesn’t he?
Spirit Sensitivity.
The power to resonate with and house a spirit within oneself—passed down through bloodlines.
The first head of House Vladichev, who had once summoned a Great Spirit, possessed unparalleled sensitivity.
That power was faithfully inherited by his descendants.
Thus, Vladichev children summoned their bonded spirits during the Spirit Rite at age four.
Lev, due to poor health, had his Rite postponed.
Yet his extraordinary sensitivity drew spirits to him constantly.
When he was seven, he finally responded to a spirit’s call.
A flame spirit settled in his body, marking his right shoulder blade with a tiny feather-shaped sigil.
But what should have been proof of his gift became a curse.
His Spirit Sensitivity is too high. Lev’s frail body can’t withstand the heat of the flame spirit. He’ll suffer high fevers until he dies—before the summer of his tenth year.
Winter spoke of Lev’s death with the detachment of someone reading a report.
Tiya couldn’t believe her.
“Why… why didn’t you tell me?”
Because knowing doesn’t mean you can fix it. Just because we know the future doesn’t mean we can change everything. Lev Vladichev isn’t going to die from an accident or illness. He’s destined to die like this.
Winter’s voice softened, like speaking to a sulking child—expecting Tiya to understand.
Even if, by some miracle, you save him… how would that help us?
The destruction of House Vladichev meant the fall of the North.
Winter had seen it clearly—blood flooding the land, countless lives snuffed out.
She had seen her beloved snowy landscapes.
The kind people who had once taken her in.
Her final refuge, her home—all turning to ash.
She couldn’t watch it happen again.
So the moment she crash-landed into this past, Winter had drawn up a new, rational plan.
And in that plan—
Unlike Shurka, Lev’s frail. He’s useless to us. Saving him would be a waste of time.
Lev’s survival had never been part of it.
Tiya stood trembling, her shoulders quivering with rage.
But Winter only folded her arms, daring her to try.
When Tiya finally screamed:
“Y-you cold-neko!”
Winter blinked.
…Did you mean to say ‘cold-blooded’?
“Yeah, that! You’re a cold-neko!”
Cold-blooded.
“Cold-neko!”
Cold. Blood. Ed.
“Cold-ne… cold-re… cold… uh, cold…!”
Her missing tooth made her words whistle.
Frustrated, Tiya yelled:
“What matters is you’re a cold-neko, nyaaa!”
“….”
The tension snapped.
From Winter’s lips came the faintest sound of air escaping—like a suppressed laugh.
Tiya’s face burned red.
“D-don’t laugh! I’m mad!”
She stomped her foot hard.
“You said I’m the key to saving Vladichev. That only I can do it…”
Tears welled in her eyes—not from sadness, but sheer anger.
“If I can’t even save my own Oppa, how am I supposed to save Vladichev?”
