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WHEN YVO heard from Killian that Gio was "gone," he honestly thought that his knight meant the child had escaped.

But when they arrived at the only villa built on the Blue Dream Island, what he found was Gio's corpse. Never in his wildest dreams had he thought that the younger brother that his noonim cherished was already dead.

[I'm glad that I headed out first.]

Gypsy, his noonim, was still sleeping on the ship while being guarded by Winston Volk. He didn't want to bring the captain of the White Bone Knights Brigade, but unfortunately, his noonim trusted that guy over Killian and the other members of his secret

And since Winston Volk was aware that Gypsy was just a replacement for Yvette, he had no reason to refuse his noonim when she said she wanted to bring the captain along.

[Tsk.]

Anyway, it was a good thing that he checked the villa first instead of bringing his noonim there right away.

[Noonim will break down once she sees the corpse of her younger brother.]

Gio's corpse had been turned into wood. Now that it was inanimate, it looked like nothing but a wooden puppet of a fifteen-year-old boy. Nobody would mistake it for a living person.

[Not unless it gets reanimated, of course.]

"I should have known that something like this has happened when Noonim said my former nanny is taking care of her younger brother," Yvo said coldly, then he turned to his side. "Molly Jacobs, how long has this child been dead?"

Molly Jacobs, a woman in her early fifties– short curly red hair, green eyes, petite frame. At one glance, she looked like an ordinary kind-hearted elderly. But this individual was a sinister person in reality.

Killian, who arrested the old woman who was kneeling on the floor, had to step on Molly Jacobs head just to force her to bow to him.

"Puppeteer," he said, remembering what kind of person his former nanny was. "A fancy title for a failure of a Necromancer."

There were only a handful of legitimate Necromancers in this world. The real deal could really bring a dead person back as long as the requirements for reviving a dead person were met. But since the Necromancers knew that their ability was wanted everywhere, they rarely showed themselves to the world.

However, there were also people like Molly Jacobs– people that lacked the skills to be a full-fledged Necromancer, but still had the talent to reanimate dead people. For this woman, she had the ability to turn the corpses into wooden puppets.

[Hence, Molly Jacobs is known as the 'Puppeteer.']

Molly Jacobs, who was offended at getting called a failure, did her best to raise her head just to glare at him. "I see that Young Master Yvo hasn't changed a bit."

"I should have killed you back then."

He was talking about the moment he caught Molly Jacobs trying to turn Yna Davies, his mother, into a wooden puppet. It happened after his mother finally succumbed to death.

Unfortunately, Evan Woolsey– his useless father– had interfered.

The late grand duke had exiled Molly Jacobs from their duchy instead of punishing the woman properly.

"My father is really obsessed with women with rare talents," he said while shaking his head. "I can't believe he commissioned you just because he refused to let go of the leash that he tied around my noonim's neck."

After all, if Gypsy found out that his younger brother was already dead, then the contract that his noonim signed with his father would finally lose its effect.

[Father probably thought Noonim would run away once she finds out that Gio is gone.]

"The Grand Duke did it for Young Master Yvo's sake," Molly Jacobs said desperately. "His Grace just wanted to make sure that your fake sister will do her job properly until Young Master Yvo is old enough to become the family head!"

"Shut up," he growled, his eyes glowing menacingly now. "I believe I asked you a different question, Molly Jacobs."

The Puppeteer lowered her gaze as if she was afraid to meet his eyes. "Gio, that sickly child, died two years ago due to his poor health. The late grand duke refused to spend a fortune on the child. So instead of getting him the correct yet expensive medicines for his disease, His Grace only ordered cheap, herbal medicines for the boy."

He clenched his hands tight.

But to be honest, he wasn't surprised.

[Father and the former grand duchess refused to give Noonim healing potions just because those things were expensive even though they clearly needed Noonim for their plan. So why would they spend a fortune on a boy they can't exploit?]

"The late duke commissioned me to revive the boy," Molly Jacobs continued with her explanation. "The thing that separates a legitimate Necromancer from a "failure" like me is their ability to summon the deceased person's soul back to their bodies."

He already knew that.

[That's exactly why the real Necromancers are rare.]

"I can't do that," Molly Jacobs said, frustrated. "However, I can reanimate a corpse by preserving it through my ability to turn human bodies into a wood. All I need is to save their Mana Core and their Life Force inside. As long as the deceased person's body contains their Life Force, this world still recognizes them as living people."

"Is that why the contract that Noonim signed with my father is still valid?"

The Puppeteer nodded. "Once Gio officially dies, the contract will finally get void."

[But once the contract gets void, then I can no longer control Noonim?]

"Young Master Yvo, please don't kill me," Molly Jacobs begged him, then she bowed until her forehead hit the floor. "I'll do anything the young master wants, so please spare me!"

"That's not for me to decide," Yvo said bluntly. "Your life is now in my Noonim's hands."

***

GYPSY already knew that something had gone wrong as soon as Yvo returned to the ship to pick her up.

The young master and his knights were quiet while they were on the way to the villa. Even Winston Volk noticed that something was wrong. But she refused to face reality, so she pretended that everything was fine. She didn't want to attract bad energy, after all.

"Noonim, we're here," Yvo said politely, then he opened the door for her. "Your brother Gio is here."

Gypsy smiled, although she would admit that she was nervous as hell now. "Thank you, Yvo."

She addressed him casually, since the knights were with them.

[Anyway…]

She took a deep breath before she entered the room. Her nervousness faded away when she saw Gio lying down on the bed. It was replaced by excitement, so she almost ran to her younger brother.

But when she was finally standing beside the bed, she realized that there was something wrong with Gio.

No, it wasn't her brother.

"Yvo," she called the young master, but her eyes remained glued to that… thing. "What is that wooden puppet doing here?"

The wooden puppet kind of looked like Gio.

But, of course, that was nothing but a block of wood modeled after a human.

"Noonim, that is your younger brother."

Gypsy turned to the young master with a confused look on her face. "What do you mean by that?"

"Noonim, we found out that your brother is already dead," Yvo informed him indifferently. "The Gio that you talk to is nothing more than a reanimated corpse of your brother."

***

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