TSRL~CHAPTER 001

Chapter 001

The northernmost reaches of the empire.

What ruled there were biting winds, merciless cold, and the northern great house—the Vladijev family.

They were so afraid they would say, “The crying child will be taken by the Vladichevs!” It didn’t stop the tears; it only made children gasp in terror, afraid they might be snatched away.

By the time of the current duke, that fear had peaked.

A ruthless beast who had slaughtered every branch of the family and severed ties with his only son, seizing the castle without mercy even toward his own blood.

A predator without pity or tears, now prowling the snowy fields as if hunting for an after-dinner snack.

Small footprints, round as pebbles, like those of a snow hare.

They were the duke’s prey for today.

At last, in the distance, she spotted what she had been looking for.

A tiny child, black-haired, with bright yellow eyes sparkling like starlight.

The cape of a knightly uniform dragging behind her like a makeshift cloak made her resemble a fledgling crow that had tumbled from its nest.

“…Are you a lord?”

The child was speaking to someone.

The next moment, the duke’s figure sprang forward as if the very air had vanished beneath him when he saw who the child was talking to.

“Then… shall I be friends with Tiya?”

The innocence in the child’s voice barely reached the other before the duke, like lifting a kitten, snatched her by the nape of her neck, one hand swiping through the air.

And then—

Crash!

Like a bolt from a clear sky, lightning struck the bear standing in front of the child just moments ago.

The black-furred bear staggered, smoke rising from its charred crown—

Thud!

It collapsed, kicking up snow in a cloud.

Tiya blinked, stunned, and wriggled free from the duke’s grip, clinging to the fallen bear as if embracing it.

“Lo—Lord!”

But the bear did not move.

Tiya puffed her cheeks and looked up at the duke.

One of his eyebrows was cocked, and the scar streaking across his left eyelid in the shape of lightning only added to his overwhelming presence.

An ordinary child would have burst into tears.

But this tiny thing, as if it knew it was a Vladijev by blood, resisted fiercely.

“Grandma said you’d be mine! You promised to be friends with me!”

“You fainted. And that isn’t a spirit, it’s a bear. It has a physical form.”

“A… bear?”

Only then did Tiya seem to realise something was off. 

She released her hold on the bear, opening and closing her hands, sniffing the air with a scrunched-up face like a pickle.

“Smells!”

She plunged her hands deep into the snow, utterly unconcerned by the chaos that must have erupted in the Frost Fortress while he vanished without a word.

“Why did you come all the way out here alone?”

Despite the stern, interrogative tone, Tiya wasn’t scared. She answered boldly.

“They said there are lots of spirit eggs in the north, so I came to find them.”

Apparently, she had overheard the servants’ chatter.

A spirit egg—a condensed fragment of nature found only rarely in the wild.

It was said that one who could sense a spirit and hold a spirit egg could hatch it and become a spirit tamer, though the duke had never bothered seeking one.

The Vladijev were a great house blessed by the High Spirit.

Spirit ceremonies always chose a tamer, so every direct descendant became a spirit tamer naturally; they had no need for such things.

But to the granddaughter before him, it seemed to be her deepest wish.

Tiya, hands red from plunging into the snow, rolled her eyes and muttered suddenly.

“Grandma… Tiya isn’t a spirit tamer… That’s why Dad sent me to the north, right?”

The Vladijev who had not been chosen by a spirit.

The only non-spirit-tamer born into a family where becoming one was expected.

The duke first encountered Tiya at her mother’s funeral.

It was then that he realised that his son, whom he had thought lived peacefully with his family, was already lost.

“What are you going to do with a defective child even the spirits have forsaken?”

He had brought her along because he couldn’t leave the granddaughter to someone who would speak like that.

“Even if Dad abandoned me, Tiya wants to be Dad’s daughter. So I have to become a spirit tamer.”

At four years old, most children would cry with such intensity. 

Yet here she was, fists clenched, trying to appear brave.

“Astiya.”

The duke grabbed her by the nape again, lifting her to meet his gaze, correcting her misunderstanding.

“You’ve been mistaken all this time. You weren’t abandoned…”

“…?”

“You were… kidnapped. By this grandma.”

“…!”

Tiya’s face scrunched up like a withered plum, and soon tears, bright as egg yolks, began to fall.

“I hate you, Grandma!”

Her sobs burst forth, unstoppable, like a dam breaking.

“I want to go home! Send me to Mom and Dad! I want to see my brothers!”

The child’s long-suppressed feelings spilt out.

No matter how flawed the parents, to a four-year-old, they are the whole world.

The duke swallowed a truth he could not voice and gathered his granddaughter into his arms.

“You little cream puff, from now on, you will learn to be strong under this grandma. When your body and heart are as strong as a bear’s, then I will send you home. Can you do that?”

Through hiccups and gasping sobs, her voice was surprisingly fierce.

“I’m not… cream puff… I’m Tiya.”

Tiya clutched her tear-stained fists and spoke clearly, her voice muffled through her sniffles.

“Tiya… can… do it… can do it.”

From that day on, Tiya’s greatest wish was to become a strong northerner, just like her grandmother.

“A healthy mind dwells in a healthy body. You must never neglect training of the heart or the body.”

Tiya swung her wooden sword until her small, soft hands had hardened with calluses.

“Strength isn’t proven by defeating others, but by refusing to give up. You must never remain idle.”

She learned to rise again no matter how many times she fell.

Thanks to this, Tiya had grown strong enough that even a hungry bear would receive a playful smack from her.

And so, on the day she celebrated her eighth birthday…

[On the occasion of the Feast of Consecration, Astiya Vladijev is invited to the consecration ceremony.]

An invitation arrived from the High Temple of the Empire.

***

The Feast of Consecration—a ceremony in which priests bless eight-year-old children, wishing them safety and well-being.

Being invited to the High Temple was a privilege reserved for only the highest-ranking nobles, yet the duke had no intention of sending his granddaughter to the Empire.

Then, a commotion arose outside the window.

“Ha-ha-ha! Everyone, look at this!”

Looking out, they saw the corpse of a bear strapped to a dog sledge.

And there was Tiya, standing proudly atop the bear’s head.

Every time the child laughed, her unusually sharp fangs glinted in the sunlight.

“Grandma!”

Spotting the duke at the second-floor window, Tiya raised her crossbow high.

“Look! I caught a bear!”

“Well, you’ve certainly become a proper northerner.”

Ah, that’s my granddaughter.

A faint, satisfied smile crossed his face.

“So now I want to go to Dad and my brothers!”

The duke crumpled the Archbishop’s invitation in his hand.

“…You’re not ready to go yet.”

Indeed, not yet.

If that fragile child went to the Empire now, she would be trampled, flattened, and bruised before she could even blink.

Having made his decision, he looked down again—but Tiya had vanished.

Where had this tiny spark rolled off to now?

The answer came from behind him.

Tiya had somehow run up the stairs and was now puffing her chest out, shouting.

“A northerner never goes back on their word! I can even catch bears now!”

“Catching a bear no bigger than a nose?”

“It’s not nose-sized! Then try putting this bear up your nose, Grandma!”

“Fine. I thought you couldn’t.”

He could almost imagine shoving the bear up her nose in retaliation.

Yet seeing the bear, far too large for such a feat, he realised the truth.

The one unprepared to send the child away wasn’t her—it was him.

Especially now, with a dangerous epidemic creeping up from the southern reaches of his lands.

It was wiser to keep his granddaughter safe, at least for a time.

And more importantly, she did not want to stay.

To hold her back now would be nothing but an old man’s selfishness.

In the end, the duke permitted Tiya’s journey to the Empire.

***

On the day Tiya left for the Empire, every servant and northern knight of Frost Fortress gathered to see her off.

Among those sniffing and dabbing at tears, only the duke’s face remained impassive.

“I’ll be back soon.”

As Tiya stepped down the carriage platform, glancing up at her grandmother with a sullen look, the duke spoke solemnly.

“Astiya.”

She turned to see him, his expression grave.

“I grant you permission for a heart attack.”

“Hmph! Could’ve warned me earlier!”

Tiya flung herself into her grandmother’s arms as if she’d been waiting for just that moment.

Her forehead pressed against the elder’s chest, and even the duke’s glacier-like heart softened at the display of affection.

He patted her back, a gesture he had perfected over four years together.

Even now, the child mumbled in her sleep, calling for her mother and father.

He had long accepted that he could never fully mend the hole in her heart.

Sniffing her grandmother’s familiar scent, Tiya lifted her head and grinned.

“Grandma… you miss Dad too, don’t you?”

The duke paused, his hand resting on her back.

“I know when you sneak into your father’s room.”

Just as he had watched over her with concern, Tiya had been quietly observing her grandmother all along.

Before she arrived, the halls had echoed not with her crow-like laughter, but with the voice of her father.

“Everyone, look at our Roddy! Our wife has borne an angel!”

When his first grandchild was born, he had paraded the infant around the fortress, beaming with pride.

“Mother, for Lev’s health, the sacred power of a high priest is required. I am leaving the north for the Empire.”

Until the day he left his homeland for the second grandchild, Frost Fortress had never lacked for laughter.

“When you meet Dad, tell him to reconcile with Grandma. Just trust Tiya to stay strong!”

“That one is hopeless.”

“Tch! Bad words forbidden!”

Tiya imitated her grandmother, tapping the back of the duke’s hand.

“But still, if I ever miss them terribly, you must come and kidnap me back!”

With that, the carriage carrying Tiya slowly disappeared from view.

Just like the day her father, mother, and siblings had left.

When would the children return?

The duke turned away, left with nothing but the waiting.

Tonight, he would likely find himself seeking out his granddaughter’s room instead of his son’s.