Chapter 9
Truthfully, Tiya had heard some harsh words from Schurka over the past days.
Each time, she smiled bravely as if nothing had happened, but the moment she turned away, she’d mutter, “My poor Dad… He’s still a little baby,” with an awkward little chuckle.
It’s obvious he gets hurt. Pretending to be strong…
Lost in thought, Tiya asked Winter one day.
“Winter, I’ve been thinking. Maybe we need more allies besides Dad.”
Well, look at you thinking ahead for once.
Winter, coincidentally, had also been considering potential new allies.
(For example?)
Tiya answered eagerly, as if she’d been waiting for the question.
“Lev oppa and Rodion oppa.”
After returning home, Tiya realized something she hadn’t noticed before.
Her mother had died of illness, and her father, having lost his emotions, focused solely on work, abandoning the family.
Lev oppa barely ever left his room.
Rodion oppa, claiming to extend his stay at the academy, hadn’t even shown his face at home.
Our house is a complete mess.
The family should have banded together to face Vladijev’s crisis, yet they didn’t even see each other’s faces.
“Lev oppa and Rodion oppa have to be on our side, too. We need to prepare together!”
<Rodion is probably useful. Lev, though… not so much.
“Why? Do you think I can’t bring Lev oppa to our side because we’d have to fight him?”
A week earlier, Tiya’s new personal maid, Mia, had reported that Lev’s condition had improved.
Excited, Tiya dashed to Lev’s room and finally saw the brother she had longed to meet.
“Lev oppa!”
“Tiya…?”
His platinum hair, tangled like grapevines, and honey-coloured eyes, with a face as lovely as the angel statues adorning temple entrances, were just as she remembered.
What struck her most was how eerily identical he was to her memories, almost smaller than she recalled.
“Oh, oppa, why did you shrink? ”
The words slipped out before she could stop them.
Was that a mistake?
Lev furrowed his brows and replied coldly.
“You’re the Tiya, huh? You’ve gotten ugly.”
“I don’t talk to ugly people. Scram.”
And so, their reunion after four years ended.
From then on, Tiya repeatedly visited his room—
“Oppa, could you show me your spirit?”
“Do you think I’m some kind of clown? Go away, you nuisance.”
—and was promptly kicked out.
“Later, if you come with me to the North, I’ll show you Sasha! Sasha’s my companion….”
“Gross. I hate animals shedding fur. Go away.”
Kicked out again.
“Oppa!”
“Go away.”
“I haven’t even said anything yet…”
Yet, despite being chased away over and over, Tiya would forget it all the next day and knock on Lev’s door again.
“Ah! I get it. My oppa’s just a mouldy corner hermit!”
<That’s true, but…>
Lev, who wouldn’t even set foot outside his room—or bed—wasn’t likely to be much help.
But even so, Winter didn’t oppose including him.
“Then why not?”
Tiya asked as she knocked on Lev’s door.
Winter simply stared at her and tilted her fingers against her crossed arms, as if measuring something.
Finally, as if making a decision, she opened her mouth.
<Because he’ll die soon—
“Say that again. What did you say about your sister?”
Lev’s icy voice swallowed Winter’s words before they could be spoken.
Tiya froze mid-knock, slipping behind the door. Something about the room felt ominous.
Inside, Lev’s maid and servants hadn’t noticed her arrival and gathered by his bed.
Tiya quietly slipped in to observe.
The maid stammered an explanation.
“I-I was reminded of my younger brother… He had a long illness but miraculously recovered. Surely, Master will also… squeal!”
Clang!
In an instant, a glass hurled by Lev shattered, narrowly missing the maid.
“Clinging to hope like that. If your little sister miraculously dies tomorrow, you won’t be able to complain.”
At that moment, Tiya felt something snap inside her.
Before she knew it, she leapt onto the bed like a hungry black bear, grabbing Lev by the collar and shaking him.
“Being a man, and doing harm to a lady?! Oppa, even in the North, you can’t do this!”
Lev’s initial surprise gave way to irritation.
“Won’t let go? Don’t climb on my bed with shoes on! Barbarian! ”
“You’re the barbarian! Throwing things is wrong! You have to be kind to people!”
“Why?”
“Uh…?”
His brazen reply left Tiya speechless.
“I’ll probably die before becoming an adult anyway, so what’s the point of being kind to people?”
Tiya blinked.
Die?
“Why would you say that?”
Lev didn’t answer, and neither did anyone else in the room.
Feeling the air tighten to a parched dryness, Tiya, now half-afraid, asked.
“Oppa… does it hurt a lot? ”
Lev’s face briefly flashed regret.
Clicking his tongue, he didn’t even look at her and said:
“Melody. Get her out.”
“Oppa, wait!”
Tiya grabbed his sleeve, refusing to let go. Lev shook her hand off with all his might.
“Annoying. Just leave me alone!”
Thunk!
“Waaah!”
Her elbow swung wildly and struck something.
Only then did Lev realise it had hit Tiya’s face.
Blood trickled through her fingers.
“Hey… your nosebleed—”
But that wasn’t the real problem.
Blinking, Tiya suddenly spat something into her palm.
A small, pure-white object, like a peeled corn kernel.
Lev’s face went pale.
“You… that can’t be—”
“My baby tooth…”
<It’s a baby tooth.>
Tiya stared at the fallen tooth and said,
“It’s gone.”
She tried to say it normally, but her speech was muffled.
Blood soon welled up from the empty gap.
“Mel… Melody! G-get a doctor… no, a priest!”
Lev jumped from the bed, his face ashen, shouting.
“Open wide.”
“Aaah.”
The doctor inspected every corner of Tiya’s mouth, visibly relieved.
“It’s a baby tooth. Cleanly removed.”
“Oppa, did you hear that? Cleanly removed! You must be talented at losing baby teeth.”
Tiya, having claimed the bed for herself, smiled cheekily at the anxious Lev.
The gap in his front tooth made her giggle.
The kid’s dumb enough already. Now he looks ridiculous smiling too.
Winter clicked her tongue, while Lev let out a light laugh.
But suddenly, he furrowed his brows, wiped the smile away, and said sharply:
“You can leave now.”
