"Whew!" Andrew let out a long breath, feeling a mix of relief, exhaustion, and a bit of lingering fear.
In Andrew's mind, it wasn't until the moment they successfully captured Catherine that the negotiations with the Royal Court truly ended.
"Who would have thought it would end this way..." Andrew murmured, his expression a bit complex.
The negotiations were won, and Catherine was now captured, but the surrounding snowstorm grew larger—perhaps due to the use of the "Ice Prison Gemstone", reawakening the power of the woman in the ice coffin deep beneath the snow mountain—soon there was nothing else to see but the wind, snow, and the portal's glow.
Since becoming the Water Magic Lord, Andrew rarely felt the "isolation of being in another world" that he often experienced upon first arriving; yet in this vast snowstorm, he felt a trace of long-lost loneliness.
Shaking his head, Andrew quickly cast aside this twinge of solitude.
Now was not the time to be sentimental.
