FREEZE THE LAKE

GYPSY covered her mouth while clutching her stomach after the "ride."

[I wanna throw up…]

When Prince Cyrus activated the teleportation spell, he had warned them that the "ride" would be a "little shaky." But it wasn't just a "little" shaky. She felt like she was riding on a plane going through severe turbulence!

She closed her eyes the whole "trip." It only took a few minutes. But the experience was worse than the time she tried the famous Disco Pang Pang back in Korea. The Disco Pang Pang was a large circular amusement ride that would spin and bounce up and down.

[But you sit at the edge of the circle with no seatbelts, so you gotta hold on to the railings for your dear life.]

Her soul almost left her body back then.

But her experience with the teleportation spell was worse than that. She felt like her soul and her physical body were broken into tiny pieces while they were traveling.

"Noonim, are you alright?" Yvo asked worriedly, then he gently rubbed her back. "Do you need to throw up?"

Gypsy took a deep breath, then she shook her head. "No, I'm fine now. Thank you for worrying about me."

"I'm sorry, noona," Prince Cyrus said, then he politely offered a small vial to her. "Please drink this potion. It will help you get better."

She didn't want to turn down the Crown Prince's offer, so she politely accepted the vial. "Thank you…"

Oh?

She trailed off when she finally got a clear view of the surroundings. It was dark since it was already late at night. But now that she had calmed down, she finally realized where they were.

They weren't at Count Eugenio Woolsey's estate.

The Crown Prince actually brought them to the count's secret "lake house."

Like its name suggested, the lake house was a house built above the lake.

[More like 'mansion,' though.]

But it was a place that Yvo only discovered in the game after meeting Xavier Lagun– the merfolk that became the Crown Wolf's bitter enemy. In short, that place was hidden well.

[But Prince Cyrus brought us here as if he had already found about this place a long time ago…]

She gave the Crown Prince a suspicious look.

[Just who in the world are you, Prince Cyrus?]

The Crown Prince, on the other, smiled and tilted his head to one side. It was as if he could read his mind, and he was amused by what he had 'read.'

"Noonim?"

She was about to turn to Yvo when, all of a sudden, the ground shook hard from the explosion coming from the mansion above the lake.

"Noonim!"

Yvo pulled her and hugged her to protect her when the water from the lake created a tsunami because of the strong earthquake.

Pierce Willard tried to stand in front of Prince Cyrus protectively. But the Crown Prince grabbed the knight by the back of his collar, then he pulled the latter and "threw" Pierce Willard behind him. So now, the position was reversed.

It was the Crown Prince who protected their group when he raised his hands and created a transparent barrier shaped like a cube. And they were inside that clear yet sturdy barrier. that stopped the slightly huge wave of a tsunami from hitting them.

[Wow.]

"Yvo hyung!" Prince Cyrus yelled without looking back at them. "It's your turn!"

"I know," Yvo said as he slowly let go of Gypsy. "You don't have to tell me what to do to protect my noonim."

Gypsy raised her head to see what Yvo was about to do.

Much to her astonishment, the young master ran past Prince Cyrus until he was out of the barrier. Then he raised his hands that were now covered with a light blue light. And just like that, the second wave of tsunami that was about to hit them had turned into ice.

[Oh, right.]

She almost forgot that the Woolsey's Guardian was Edur– the Ice Dragon.

Thus, the Woolseys were blessed with the ability to control ice.

[So cool.]

Come to think of it, Yvette's Mana Core was very cold. She felt dumb for only realizing now that the reason it was cold was because Yvette could wield ice.

"Noonim, are you alright?"

She was surprised when Yvo quickly walked back to her side as if he just didn't freeze a pretty tremendous wave of a tsunami.

[I'm pretty sure doing something like that required a large amount of Mana…]

But the young master didn't even break a sweat after freezing the ENTIRE LAKE.

[Daebak.]

"You're not hurt, are you?" Yvo asked worriedly, then he put his hands on her shoulders while examining her from head to toe. "Are you alright? Do you want to go home now?"

She blinked, surprised that the young master was showing this much concern for her.

[Does Yvo finally see me as his true noonim?]

That was nice.

"I'm alright, Yvo," Gypsy said to calm him down. "How can I be hurt when all I did was stand behind you and His Royal Highness?"

"I'm not only talking about physical injuries," the young master said. "I'm worried Noonim might be shocked because of what happened."

She shook her head, still in disbelief as to why Yvo was acting this way. "My mentality is pretty strong, so…"

And she wasn't bragging.

If her mentality wasn't strong, she would have already gone insane these past five years.

Her resolve to go home was solid, and it was probably the reason why she had remained sane until now. She didn't know if she was still alive in the other world, or if she could still return to Korea. Even so, she was determined to be reunited with Baek Si-woo– her precious younger brother.

"That's a relief," Yvo said, then he let go of her shoulders. "Stay close to me, Noonim."

Gypsy smiled and nodded, pleased with Yvo's change of attitude. "Okay."

Perhaps this fake younger brother of hers had finally acknowledged her as an older sister figure because of how she buttered him up all this time.

[I raised the young master well.]

***

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