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Episode 16
The sickly pallor of her face was unmistakable.
Her platinum curls had lost their luster, left in disarray, and beneath the hem of her mud-stained skirt, one bare foot peeked out.
But her eyes.
Those strange, flame-tinged eyes that glimmered—did not belong to a madwoman at all.
Taking two steps, Shurka walked deeper into the past.
Tatiana spoke to him.
“I was late because I had to buy this. The Black Market was more heavily guarded than I thought…”
She was clutching something in her hand, though he couldn’t see it clearly.
It felt like she was speaking to him, but her words were muffled, distant.
He stepped further into the past.
At last, Tatiana’s voice rang clear.
“So listen carefully. If someday our child ever runs away from home like I did, without saying a word…”
“Dad?”
Shurka froze.
Right before him stood Tiya, gazing up blankly at him.
Looking into those golden eyes that carried the same mysterious flame as her mother, Shurka said:
“You’re grounded for a week.”
Tiya’s mouth dropped open in protest.
“B-but you said you weren’t mad!”
“I’m not mad. But you’re grounded.”
“Eh, that’s so unfair!”
“Make that two weeks.”
“You’re too much!”
“Three weeks.”
“You’re the best, Daddy…”
Her whining overlapped with the cheerful echo of his wife’s voice.
“You have to ground her hard, teach her a lesson. If she takes after me, it’ll be a disaster.”
Memories of the woman he once loved so deeply he would have gladly given his life.
Yet even her voice left no trace in the desert of his heart.
Lev remembered clearly the day he first gained a sibling.
“Her name is Astiya. Doesn’t she look just like her father?”
In his mother’s arms rested a baby as pale and delicate as a white pear blossom.
So tiny, so fragile, Lev was afraid she might crumble at a touch—he didn’t even dare reach out.
It was his father who guided his hesitant hand.
When his small finger touched, the baby’s tiny, petal-soft hand grasped it firmly.
At that moment, Lev understood.
“She grabbed my hand! Her hand feels like marshmallow!”
The boy who had always been the one needing protection now had someone to protect.
That day, when a dandelion seed drifted into the safe greenhouse of Lev’s world, he vowed—
Like Rodion had protected him, he too would protect this fragile little girl.
When she grew older, he would carry her on his shoulders, sneak her sweet treats, and fill her cheeks with them.
“Someday, when she calls me ‘big brother,’ I’ll treasure her more than anything.”
But Lev never got the chance.
While he fought his frail body and endless fevers, time left him behind and carried her forward.
“Lev-oppa!”
The dandelion seed that had once flown away returned, no longer the fragile child who needed him.
“Eh? Oppa, why’d you shrink?”
After her time in the North, Tiya had grown strong, kissed by the sun and wind—taller now even than Lev.
‘I’m her older brother.’
‘But I never once acted like it.’
‘I never even carried her on my shoulders.’
The frustration rose hot in his throat.
“You’re that Tiya? You got ugly.”
The words slipped out, untrue and cruel.
‘I’m the worst brother.’
He tried to gather himself, but it wasn’t easy.
“Oppa, can’t you show me your spirit?”
She didn’t understand. She didn’t know why he suffered.
“Someday, let’s go north together—”
‘How could I go north with this body?’
“You have to be kind to people!”
‘What good is kindness when I’ll just die and be forgotten?’
For Lev, death meant being left behind while everyone else moved on, until they all forgot him.
“In the end, I’ll be alone forever.”
Those were the words he whispered in his sleep.
Yet someone answered him.
“Oppa, I’m right here.”
Lev’s eyes flew open.
Under the bright moonlight, something dark loomed beside his bed, resting its chin in its hands, watching him.
He nearly screamed, as though he had seen a man-eating flower, but then he froze.
That face, though dirty as a puppy rolled in mud, was unmistakable.
“Astiya? Why do you look like a beggar?”
“I just came back from a walk! But listen, Oppa, let’s go north together someday!”
Again, that same wish.
Afraid he’d say something awful, Lev turned his head sharply away—only for Tiya to thrust something into his view.
“Ta-da! With this, Oppa will be invincible!”
Lev’s eyes widened at the blue, glowing orb in her hands.
“No way… is that—?”
Though he’d never seen one before, his innate spirit sensitivity told him what it was.
“Yeah! It’s an egg of a Frost Spirit.”
Something faint stirred inside it.
A spirit egg—of all things, a Frost Spirit’s egg.
At first Lev thought perhaps Tiya wanted to bind it herself. But when he saw the hopeful light in her eyes, he understood.
This was for him.
Belatedly, he realized her intent. But instead of rejoicing, his habit was to imagine the worst.
“…It’s impossible to bind two spirits.”
He pushed her hand away. She pushed back, forcing the egg into his palm.
“You can do it, Oppa!”
“Who says?”
“…M-me?”
“I can’t.”
“You can!”
“I said I can’t.”
“You’re a Vladizev of the North too! Why give up before you try? Do you have no grit at all?”
It wasn’t about grit.
Some miracles were simply impossible, no matter how desperately one wished. For Lev, that miracle was his health.
“I worked so hard to get this, you know? At least try it, for me? Please?”
“…No.”
“Whyyy not?!”
Why not?
His spirit mark burned faintly on his right shoulder blade.
Even so, he ground out each word with bitterness.
“I hate spirits. I never wanted one in the first place.”
But the one hurt by those words was not the spirit—it was Tiya. Seeing her crestfallen, Lev realized too late.
“No, I didn’t mean—”
“Got it. I love them though… I prayed every night for a spirit to find me, without missing a day. Because I wanted Dad to acknowledge me.”
Dad’s acknowledgment? Lev was about to ask what she meant when he stopped.
Her clenched left fist.
On the back of her hand, glowing faintly in the darkness, was a geometric sigil.
Lev knew what it was. He couldn’t believe it.
“You… you awakened mana?”
Proof of being chosen by the stars, the mark of a mage.
It didn’t matter how she had become one.
Tiya had to know—if blessed by the stars, no spirit would ever come. And still…
“Yup. Thanks to that, I was able to bring back this spirit egg.”
Her face was bright, free of shadows.
Something surged inside Lev.
Fury.
Fury at his sister’s foolishness burned through him.
“Why… why throw away something you want so desperately—for a hopeless chance like this?!”
