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Chapter 15
The final silence.
Strength drained from her clenched hands. To hold back the sigh that wanted to burst out like a sob, Tiya held her breath and looked at Winter.
“Wi–Winter—”
Shh.
Winter lifted his index finger to his lips.
When Tiya, rolling her eyes curiously, followed the gesture upward, she saw the night sky. Among the countless stars sailing through the vast universe, the brightest one suddenly trembled.
Soon, a strand of starlight slipped down across the Milky Way and fell before Tiya.
“H-huh…?”
Like catching drifting petals, the stardust gently settled into her outstretched hand.
“Wow…”
It shone brilliantly, yet gave no heat.
Tiya, flustered, looked between Winter and the fallen star.
“Winter, look! A star came to me! It must have heard my prayer!”
I told you. You would be chosen.
At those words, something swelled up from the parched corners of her heart.
“Great Spirit, please send me a spirit.”
“I’ll be a good child. Please let me prove I am Vladijev’s daughter.”
Night after night she had prayed until her voice grew hoarse. Those lonely prayers returned now like crashing waves, dissolving in the warmth of the star’s answer.
At long last, after so much waiting, her voice had been heard.
“The star was waiting for me all along…”
Her eyes turned red. Though she pressed her lips tight to hold back tears, little whimpering sounds leaked through, like a puppy unable to contain its joy.
For the first time, Winter laughed. His smile was like spring sunlight settling over a frozen lake.
If you’re already whining like that, what will you do? It’s not over yet.
“Wh-what do you mean?”
Her question was silenced as two more meteors streaked across the sky.
One, two, three.
Three stars in total descended, circling her before merging into her body.
The blessings that settled in her left hand, her eyes, and the top of her right foot warmed her chilled body in gentle comfort.
Congratulations. You’ve been chosen by the three strongest Constellations.
With rare tenderness, Winter overlapped his hand with hers.
As long as you wish it, even the sky is yours to fly now.
Following his lead instinctively, Tiya traced glowing shapes with her fingertips, sketching constellations in the air. The laws of the world shifted around her. Her hair and clothes drifted weightlessly, as though submerged in water.
It was the first miracle every Constellation bestows upon its chosen one—
The magic of floating like a star.
Pushing lightly off the ground, her feet swam through the air until she landed at the well’s edge.
From its gaping black mouth, a chilling aura rose.
Her starlit eyes gazed down into the darkness.
Throw a stone, see how deep it is.
Searching for a pebble, Tiya suddenly paused and reached to her chest instead.
She held her spirit stone for a moment, then extended her arm.
After a deep breath, she opened her fingers.
Whish—clatter.
From the endless dark of the well came the faint sound of something touching bottom.
It was like the spirit stone had given its first answer.
Beaming, Tiya stepped forward without hesitation.
“Let’s go, Winter! Let’s save my brother!”
Late at night.
The Vladijev mansion, normally shrouded in darkness, blazed with light.
Even after scouring the estate from end to end, Tiya was nowhere to be found. A state of emergency was declared.
The gatekeepers were ordered to seize any suspicious person immediately.
One guard scanned the night with sharp eyes when suddenly, a hired carriage stopped at the front gates. Its passenger stepped down—and the driver fled as though seeing a ghost.
Instead of danger, however, a ragged little girl trudged toward the mansion.
The guard blocked her path with a click of his tongue.
“Tsk, tsk. Running away at your age? Go home, child. Your parents must be worried.”
The girl retorted smartly:
“Running away? Not at all. I just went for a walk without telling my dad.”
“That’s what we call running away.”
“Well, I’m home now, aren’t I?”
“Go along then. No, wait—it’s too late. I’ll take you.”
When asked her address, the girl pointed beyond his shoulder—at the Vladijev mansion itself.
“Over there.”
“…Do your parents work here?”
“My dad does.”
“And his name?”
“Shurka.”
The guard blinked. That name… it was familiar.
And now that he looked closely—the girl looked familiar too.
That rare pitch-black hair, that chilling aura…
“…The Count?”
“That’s right! My dad’s the Count here. He even gets paid 30 gold an hour!”
Caught red-handed.
“Ah—! Forgive me! I’ll escort you inside at once!”
The guard scooped her up in his arms like precious cargo.
Tiya was carried with utmost care, escorted toward the Count’s office. But in the middle of the hallway, she ran straight into her father.
“Astiya Vladijev, reporting back from my walk, sir!”
Before the guard could explain, Tiya snapped to attention and saluted.
Her face was streaked with grime.
At a mere tilt of Shurka’s head, the guard set her down and retreated.
Tiya tilted her head.
“Dad, why are you still awake? You’ll stunt your growth if you don’t sleep—”
“Astiya Vladijev.”
His voice was so cold it made her shoulders flinch. Carefully, she studied his expression.
Blank, emotionless, like a mask.
The late hour and the flickering lamplight only deepened the shadows, making his face harsher than usual.
“…Dad, are you angry?”
Angry?
Shurka wondered. He couldn’t even recall the last time he had felt such a useless thing.
To him now, emotions were like fossils—no matter how he clawed at the bedrock of his heart, he could only break his nails, strip his skin, and find nothing.
“Pointless question.”
But unlike emotions, memories sometimes rose up like storms.
Just as now.
Once before, in this very spot, his wife Tatiana had stood.
It was the fifth day after she had disappeared with a fortune in cash and no word of her destination.
When she finally returned, disheveled and frail, he thought perhaps the rumors were true.
That her husband’s inexplicable cruelty had driven her into madness.
Why else would a woman who needed care wander the streets like a lunatic?
Taking a step forward, Shurka walked into the past.
