Hao Ren finally found Willy and Scholar Auro at an inn in one part of the royal city. The two of them were the illegitimate son of a noble from a remote city-state and a down-and-out scholar, so naturally they had no right to stay in the king's castle. Willy was startled when he saw Hao Ren and the others again, especially when he saw Vivian. The excitable young man sprang straight up from his chair. "The Ice Witch!"
"You call me that too?" Vivian asked with a smile. "Everyone in the city was scared stiff by me."
"You are the Ice Witch," Willy said, instinctively hunching his neck. He cautiously glanced around as well. This was a cheap room in the inn, separated from the corridor outside by only a crude, flimsy wooden wall. He felt as if countless people were pressing their ears to the wall and listening to what was happening inside. He knew he was talking to the Ice Witch; perhaps the king's knights were already guarding the door. "I told you that when we first met, but you refused to admit it... And you never told me there was a Fire Witch in the world too."
Lily scratched her hair, looking utterly bewildered. "Actually, I was just trying to show off back then..."
"Are you still afraid of the Ice Witch now?" Hao Ren asked Willy with a laugh. "Look, we really do have the power to plunge this world into winter—we completely repaired the Ancestor's Great Furnace this time, and of course, we could just as easily destroy it completely."
"Afraid," Willy admitted honestly. Perhaps his greatest act of courage was admitting that he had no courage. "But I don't think the Ice Witch is a bad person. To be honest, I always thought