SAY GOODBYE NOW

THERE was a storm in Gypsy's head.

Gio was already dead? The Gio that she had been video-calling all this time was just a reanimated corpse? She couldn't understand.

She felt like going crazy.

"Yvo, I can't seem to understand what you're saying," Gypsy said, clutching her head tight. "Gio… is dead? But the Gio I talk to can't be an illusion. And if it's just a reanimated corpse, why didn't I notice it?" She pointed at the wooden puppet with both of her hands politely. "How can I not notice that my brother has turned into a wooden puppet if he looks like this?"

"Noonim, I believe it will be faster if we show you how a Puppeteer works," Yvo said, then he turned to his side. "Killian, bring that wench here."

Killian bowed to Yvo, then he disappeared for a moment.

When the knight returned to the room, he was no longer alone. Killian was dragging an old woman whose hands were tied behind her back.

"This is Molly Jacobs, my former nanny and the one who controls your brother's corpse," Yvo explained to her, then he turned to the old woman. "You. Show my noonim how your power as a Puppeteer works."

Molly Jacobs, who looked scared of Yvo, immediately nodded her head. Then the old woman turned to the wooden puppet on the bed. "Gio, it's time to wake up."

Gypsy wasn't adept at magic, but she could tell that the so-called 'Puppeteer' had some sort of enchantment mixed in her voice.

[What is it called again? Incantation?]

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a creaking sound. When she turned to the bed where the strange sound was coming from, it shocked her to see her brother, who was looking and smiling at her brightly.

[Gio?]

The wooden puppet that she saw earlier was gone.

It was replaced by the very much alive Gio that she recognized. This was the brother that she would often talk to and not the wooden puppet earlier.

"Noona," Gio greeted her cheerfully. "You're here?"

"Gio," Gypsy said, smiling. Then she sat beside her brother and held his hand. It was warm, and that made her smile. "Gio, your noona is here."

"I've missed you, noona," Gio said while squeezing her hand. "How are you?"

This was the first time that she met Gio in person.

But it seemed like the original owner of her body recognized her brother. All of a sudden, her chest was filled with longing and sadness.

[These feelings might be the original Gypsy's feelings.]

But as Baek Si-a, she could relate. After all, she already had a younger brother. Seeing Gio reminded her of her dongsaeng in Korea.

[Baek Si-woo, I miss you.]

She didn't know what to do with her feelings, so she just hugged Gio tight and closed her eyes while thinking of her real dongsaeng.

[Baek Si-woo, wait for me– I promise I will return home no matter how long it takes.]

"Molly Jacobs," Yvo said in a cold, commanding voice. "Deactivate it."

She was confused as to what Yvo meant by that at first, but she soon realized what the young master exactly meant by that.

[Why does Gio suddenly feel… different?]

Gypsy opened her eyes and knitted her eyebrows when she realized that Gio's body had turned cold and hard.

By then, she fully understood what was going on.

Still, she refused to accept reality. So instead of letting go of Gio, she just hugged him tighter while she buried her face against his unnaturally solid chest.

[No, no, no…]

"Noonim," Yvo said in a cold voice. "Once Molly Jacobs releases your brother completely, Gio will finally be able to rest in peace. And when that happens, your contract with my father would get void. That means my uncle, Count Eugenio Woolsey, can no longer use the contract to threaten you."

She heard the young master.

And she also knew that she'd be free once Gio was released from being a wooden puppet.

She knew all of that and yet…

"I don't want to," she said stubbornly in a cracked voice. "I don't mind if I get chained by that contract as long as Gio lives."

It was the original Gypsy's honest feelings, and she couldn't control it.

And she could understand the owner of her body.

[It won't be easy for me to accept my brother's death, too.]

"Noonim, please let your brother rest in peace," Yvo said in a gentler voice this time. "Gio has been dead for two years already. His corpse had already rotten, and that's exactly the reason why Molly Jacobs turned him into a wooden puppet."

Hearing the gruesome details behind Gio's death made her sob louder.

"Young Master Yvo, please be more sensitive," Winston Volk said carefully. "It's not the time to say those things to Her Ladyship."

"Captain Volk, you do not have the right to tell me what to do–"

Gypsy cried harder and louder.

The real owner of her body had taken over and was now mourning the death of her beloved younger brother.

She fully understood it.

[In the game, the real Gypsy signed a contract with the late Grand Duke Evan Woolsey in order to support Gio. I understand the real Gypsy's feelings, so I decided to endure for her. But in the end, I was betrayed. The evil grand duke didn't even let Gio rest in peace just to strengthen the leash around my neck.]

Baek Si-a cried her heart out for the poor original Gypsy and Gio.

***

[AH, NOONIM fainted.]

Yvo caught Gypsy in his arms when she fainted. He tried to carry her, but she wouldn't let go of Gio who had already turned back into being a wooden puppet.

[Why wouldn't Noonim let go of a corpse?]

His Noonim didn't even spend that much time with her younger brother, so why was she so attached to him?

He didn't like that.

"Noonim, please excuse me," Yvo said, then he used force to push the wooden puppet away from his noonim. The doll fell to the floor, unmoving. "Killian."

"Yes, Young Master?"

"Torture that wench until my noonim wakes up."

"No!" Molly Jacobs begged. "Young Master Yvo, please don't do this to me!"

He ignored the wench and went out of the room while carrying his noonim in his arms.

"You don't have to follow us," he said coldly to Winston Volk. "Captain."

"But it's my duty to protect Her Ladyship," Winston Volk argued. "Young Master Yvo–"

"I already said that I'll take care of my noonim," Yvo said, then he turned to Winston Volk with his deep blue jewel-like eyes glowing menacingly. "If you don't want me to tear your limbs apart, shut up and do as I say."

***

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