[AM I dreaming?]
When Gypsy opened her eyes, she found herself in a pretty garden filled with colorful flowers. But the strangest thing was the fact that the original Gypsy and Gio were standing in front of her while holding each other's hands.
Moreover, the original Gypsy and Gio were both smiling at her.
The original Gypsy smiled and bowed to her. "Hello, Baek Si-a."
Oh?
[She called me by my Korean name.]
Then Si-a was definitely dreaming right now.
"Gypsy noona, Si-a noona took good care of me these past few years," Gio said to his real sister cheerfully. "I'm really grateful that a good person like her has taken over your body."
Ah, there was no doubt that this was a dream.
"Baek Si-a, thank you for sacrificing yourself to protect my brother," the real Gypsy said. "Thank you for enduring everything all this time."
Si-a smiled and shook her head. "I only did what I had to do to survive, so please don't give me too much credit," she said shyly. "Plus, I also have a younger brother. Gio reminds me of Si-woo, so you can say that what I'm doing is only a form of self-gratification."
The real Gypsy and Gio turned to each other, then they both smiled before the siblings turned to her.
[Hmm?]
"Si-a, we know that you're a good person," the real Gypsy said. "You crossed this world in place of Baek Si-woo, and when you arrived here, you did everything you could to protect my brother in my place."
Huh?
Now she was confused.
Si-a pointed a finger at herself. "I came to this world in place of my brother?"
She didn't remember that.
"Si-a noona, I'm sorry, but we do not have the time to explain," Gio said in an urgent voice. "Don't worry, the Spirits of this world will soon get in touch with you. For now, you must free yourself from the contract first."
But being free from the contract meant…
Si-a turned to the real Gypsy with a look that asked if it was alright to do that.
"Please give my brother a proper burial, Si-a. I didn't want you to let go of Gio at first because I thought I can't be reunited with my brother anymore. But, by some miracle, we finally met here in the afterlife," Gypsy explained with a serene smile on her face. "Now the Spirits have explained to us that Gio and I can leave this world together after you send him off properly."
She was confused, and she had a lot of questions, but she didn't have the time to voice her thoughts.
Gio bowed to her. "Si-a noona, thank you for saving us."
"I'm just glad that the two of you have finally reunited," Si-a said, teary-eyed. She was genuinely happy that Gypsy and Gio were together now. But a part of her envied the two because she wanted to see her real younger brother, too. "Gypsy, Gio, please be happy now."
When Gypsy and Gio finally disappeared, only then did Si-a realize one important thing: now that the soul of the owner of the body that she possessed was gone…
[Does it mean I'm stuck here as Gypsy Woolsey from now on?!]
***
"NOONIM, you're awake?"
Gypsy, who could barely open her swollen eyes, smiled and nodded at Yvo's question. "Yeah, Young Master Yvo."
Oh, her voice was hoarse.
It was probably because she kept crying and crying until she fainted.
Looking around, she concluded that she must be in one of the guest rooms in the villa. After all, the room she was in looked luxurious.
"Noonim, I'm sorry to say this, but we can't stay here for too long," Yvo, who was sitting on the chair beside the bed, said carefully. "We're both the heir to the Winterbone Duchy, so we can't leave the territory for too long. Noonim must decide now."
Ah, he must be talking about the matter concerning Gio.
The "dream" that she saw earlier couldn't be a dream completely. She talked to Gypsy and Gio properly. The siblings even called her by her Korean name.
[They said the Spirits of this world will get in touch with me soon.]
"Young Master Yvo, let's send off my brother properly," she said, smiling sadly. "You're right– I should let him rest in peace now."
That was what both Gypsy and Gio wanted her to do.
"Alright, Noonim," Yvo said while nodding. "I'll prepare everything, so just stay here and rest."
She just nodded, then she smiled awkwardly. "Young Master Yvo, once we bury Gio, the contract that I made with your father will lose its effect. I'm actually depending on that contract to gain your trust. But now that you can't use it to make sure that I won't betray you…"
"Why is that a problem?" he asked, tilting his head to one side. "We can just make another contract."
"Ah," she said, nodding. "That's right."
Her purpose for trying to transfer the contract under Yvo's name was to protect Gio. But now that her brother was gone, she could make a direct contract with the young master and put up her own conditions.
[Now that Gypsy won't be coming back to reclaim this body, it's safe to assume that I'll be her from now on. Until I find a way home, I need to protect my life since this body already belongs to me.]
She needed an ally.
"Noonim, why are you looking at me like that?"
"Young Master Yvo, from the scale of one to ten, how much do you trust me now?"
He tilted his head to one side while looking at her as if he was observing her. "Seven."
Oh, that was pretty high compared to what she expected.
"Young Master Yvo, can you promise me one thing?"
"What is it?"
"If you find me suspicious, don't kill me right away," she pleaded with him while smiling in order to suck up to him. "Please give me a chance to explain."
He raised an eyebrow at her, amused. "Well, that depends on Noonim," he said, then he gently brushed off the strand of hair that stuck to her cheek with his hand. "If Noonim is good to me, then I'll be good to you, too."
She smiled awkwardly at him. After all, he still made her nervous. How could she relax around the person who could kill her anytime? "W-When was I not good to Young Master Yvo?"
[I'm always buttering you up, you know?]
"Noonim, from the scale of one to ten, how much do you trust me now?"
She didn't want to lie to him, but she couldn't also look him in the eye while being honest, so she lowered her gaze. "Five."
The young master let out a chuckle.
It was rare for Yvo to laugh, so she got curious about how he looked when laughing (and not smirking or sneering) so she gathered up the courage to raise her gaze slowly.
Ah.
[The young master is really handsome.]
"You see it now, Noonim? I'm the one on the losing side here," Yvo said, then he twirled his finger around the strand of her hair. "After all, I like Noomim more than Noonim likes me."
What was she supposed to say to that?
She didn't think Yvo was being sincere. He just liked messing with her because he knew that she was scared of him. Ah, was that it? Was the young master testing her loyalty to him?
That must be it.
[This is a test.]
"Young Master Yvo, I like you a lot," Gypsy said firmly, then she put a hand over her chest. "This noona thinks that Young Master Yvo is the cutest dongsaeng in the entire world."
"Noonim," Yvo said, smiling. His smile looked menacing, though. "I'm not and will never be your dongsaeng."
***
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