The flame frozen at the tip of the candle trembled softly.
Under the dim light, Tesetan asked in a low voice,
"Can't sleep?"
Instead of answering, Tie turned to the side and curled into herself.
Then she buried her face against his chest.
"Yeah. Because Grandpa Nordix came...... I was just really happy."
Tesetan slowly stroked her hair.
Nordix had quietly left right after the fire in the diocesan administration building was fully extinguished.
After that, Tesetan had sent the squad members back to their rooms.
To avoid drawing suspicion from the priests.
‘Actually, I should’ve gone back to the room next door too.’
Tesetan looked down at the curled-up Tie.
There were more thoughts than usual lingering in her eyes.
Even her expression seemed unusually downcast.
‘When a tiny thing like this makes a face like that, your feet just stop moving.’
Tesetan said,
"Life really is hard sometimes. Right, kiddo?"
Tie’s eyes widened.
Her large green eyes carefully searched both of his.
A moment later—
Tie sighed and nodded.
"Yeah. I guess people really aren’t wrong when they say life changes all the time......."
Tesetan let out a quiet laugh.
Where had she even learned expressions like that?
‘Probably from listening to the adults around the neighborhood back in Korea.’
His gaze blurred slightly with memory.
What exactly was the World Tree’s power?
Strictly speaking, he himself had never lived the life in Jongno.
And yet everything that had happened there remained vividly inside him.
The narrow alleys.
The buildings.
The people moving through them.
Ardiana, Valentis, and the rest of the family all carried memories from that other timeline as though they were their own as well.
"......Be careful tomorrow. Understand?"
Tesetan spoke in a subdued voice.
"I think you can still act fussy a little longer. Like last time—chew it and spit it out. That works too."
"Hek. But we already used that trick."
"Think about it. Did that girl Ayun from kindergarten only throw a fit about food once?"
Tie’s eyes rounded.
She shook her head vigorously.
"Exactly. She did it every single day, didn’t she? Barely skipped a day?"
"Yeah!"
"Kids who are picky about food usually keep doing it. So you can pretend to be fussy and spit it out a few more times too."
"So less Silencium gets inside Tie?"
"Right."
"And then I come back to the room and eat the food we brought?"
"Yeah. Though you’ll still be hungry......."
"No! Tie likes jerky!"
Tie suddenly bounced upright on the bed.
Moonlight spread softly behind her like a glowing halo.
"And Papa. Then if Tie only eats a tiny little bit of Silencium, Grandpa Nordix will bring the antidote, right?"
"Yeah."
"Then they won’t take Tie away because of the Silencium?"
"Mmhm. If that happens, we’ll have neutralized one of Luciano’s weapons, so things will become a little safer for now."
Tie nodded.
"And while we do that, we’ll look through the Main Temple’s whole plan too?"
"Yeah. Kkamani already investigated a lot, and Grandpa Nordix told us quite a bit today too."
"Right."
Tie’s heartbeat quickened.
While Papa kept Agavert tied down inside the Main Temple—
Agavert himself had also been quietly doing everything he could.
Namely, completely memorizing the structure of the Sercanos Main Temple.
"Uncle Allerik said he already memorized all of it. He even learned the escape route too. But there are still lots and lots of priests."
"That uncle really is smart."
"And Tie’s smart too?"
"Of course. Our daughter’s ten times smarter than any uncle."
Tie covered her mouth with both hands and giggled.
Tesetan watched her with satisfaction for a moment before patting the spot beside him.
"Alright, now lie down already. You’ve been sleeping too late lately. Sleep’s important."
Tie nodded.
After obediently lying back down, she quietly murmured,
"I want...... to dream about Mama."
Tesetan froze while pulling the blanket over her.
Tie squeezed her eyes shut and folded both hands over her chest.
"I think it’s different when someone was never there at all... and when they were there, but disappeared later."
A quiet wind swayed the window before passing by.
Tie opened her eyes and looked at Tesetan.
"Was it really, really hard for Papa too?"
Her tiny hand had already wrapped tightly around his index finger.
"Tie was only with Mama for a few days, but I {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} already miss her so much. But Papa......."
"......."
"And Papa lived with Grandma for a really, really long time, and then something sad happened."
Tesetan couldn’t answer.
Tie squirmed closer and pressed herself against him.
Her short little arms wrapped around him.
"Grandma’s in heaven now and became a magpie."
Tesetan fell silent.
"A magpie?"
"Yeah! Tie heard that good people go to heaven after they die and get reborn into something even better than humans."
A smile finally appeared on Tesetan’s lips.
He remembered that Chae Boksu from Room 107 had been Buddhist, while Jeong Myeongcha from Room 203 had been Christian.
"I see. But does Tie really think magpies are better than people?"
"Yeah!"
"Why?"
"Because magpies can fly. So they can play in trees, and play above the clouds, and also......."
"And also?"
"In stories, they repay kindness too. They’re really kind birds. And also."
Tie suddenly looked at Tesetan carefully.
"If things get scary, they can flap their wings and fly away."
Tesetan stilled.
"......Are you jealous that magpies can fly far away?"
Tie shrugged.
"Nah. Not jealous exactly. I just think it sounds nice."
With a little giggle, the girl hugged Tesetan tighter.
"That’s why Tie likes unicorns, bald eagles, and sparrows. And penguins too."
"......Who else do you like?"
"Squirrels, and hedgehogs, and mice, and fish, and winged cats......."
Tie began listing animals one after another.
Some of them didn’t even exist in reality.
She had invented them herself.
Tesetan listened quietly to her voice for a while.
Then suddenly, something deep inside his chest twisted painfully.
When he lost his mother.
When he watched his family collapse beneath grief.
He had felt the same thing then too.
And at some point, he had started feeling it every time he looked at Astie.
‘Guilt.’
The child’s voice gradually softened.
Tesetan didn’t even realize when he had clenched his fist.
Melted wax dripped down from the pale candle tip.
The flame slowly dimmed.
Tesetan gently patted the drowsy girl on the back.
The night quietly embraced the soft rhythm of that motion.
Something warm brushed past Tie’s fingertips.
Tie slowly opened her eyes.
‘That’s weird. I was talking to Papa just now.......’
When she looked around, she found herself standing in an endless green field.
At its center stood an enormous tree that seemed to stretch all the way to the edge of the heavens.
"Hek, this place......."
It felt strangely familiar.
As though she were asleep, yet not asleep.
A foreign space that somehow still felt known to her.
Tie slowly rose to her feet.
At once, leaves gathered through the air, forming the silhouette of a person.
"It’s been a while."
Golden eyes shining like stars looked down at Tie.
"You opened the door yourself this time. Have you finally realized what truly matters?"
Tie swallowed.
Right before falling asleep—
Half-conscious, she had briefly thought of something.
She had wanted to meet the World Tree again.
The one she had once seen inside her subconscious.
Because now, she absolutely needed to talk to it properly.
Tie spoke seriously.
"World Tree."
The World Tree stilled.
"Tie thought really hard about it. You said it before, didn’t you? That you wanted to eat Tie."
The World Tree’s floating silhouette scattered briefly into leaves and trembled, as though letting out a short sigh.
"......You have a talent for saying horrifying things. I said I wanted to become one with you, not devour you."
"That’s basically the same thing."
The World Tree fell silent.
With a serious expression, Tie stepped closer.
‘Last time was really scary. But now it isn’t.’
After their previous meeting, Tie had spent a long time thinking about the World Tree’s words.
But no matter how much she thought about it, Tie wasn’t the one at fault.
The World Tree was the one that had barged into her body on its own.
That meant Tie was the homeowner, and the World Tree was the illegal trespasser.
‘Yeah. Not scary at all.’
Tie opened her mouth.
"Instead of fighting, how about we both compromise a little?"
The World Tree frowned.
But Tie didn’t lose confidence and continued,
"Tie has a really good idea."