Chapter 666: Finding Clarity

"Having problems with laundry? With our all-new-"

As soon as the channel switched to advertisements, Leo instantly turned off the screen.

Aurora had already listened to all she needed to, turning her visage sickened.

Now, all that was left was to see how this changed protagonist would react to the truest turning point of her life.

’Even if she didn’t change, skipping the grace period is actually the best thing that could have happened to her.’

Originally, in the grace period that lasted for an entire year, the already tattered Hero of Light had only grown more tattered in her attempt to clear all the normal Gates that were left.

Normally, the City Council would have never handed her Enigma City’s number one income source.

However, knowing that Aurora would definitely stand in the way of their ’guests’, they didn’t hesitate to throw all of that away just to push her to her breaking point.

Unfortunately for them, however, in the end, their ten-year scheme would never really come to fruition.

That was the whole point of the story. No matter what the villains tried, as long as there was light, the world would still be saved.

As for the Hero that represented that light, she was just the necessary cost paid to make it happen.

’It’s not a cost that I can accept.’

Ironically enough, compared to Murim Supremacy, Leo’s goal wasn’t anything grand like liberating the world of Murim from the rule of a tyrant protagonist.

He didn’t have to save the world; this world was guaranteed to survive the apocalypse.

The one he had to save was...

"You knew?"

Rather than questioning the atrocity of the scheme she had fallen victim to, the first conclusion that the yellow-faced Aurora came to was a horrifying one.

"Indeed."

Now that the news report was over, it couldn’t be more obvious.

The reveal that should have been the most shocking event of her life was just an appetizer.

The true most shocking fact that she had come to realize was that Enigma City’s most-wanted was aware of all of this.

"I always knew that something was wrong about this city from the very beginning, but it’s something that I only managed to confirm a little bit more than a year ago."

It wasn’t like he was trying to hide it. From opening up the television to pointing out specific discussion timing... Leo had done everything to announce that fact aside from directly spelling it out.

Although he didn’t go into detail, he even told the truth about when he came to know that, citing the time of his arrival in this novel as the starting point.

The whole point behind that was proving to Aurora that he knew what he was talking about.

At least for the next week or so, Leo needed her to listen to him so he could properly control the variables at play.

He didn’t need her to be as obedient as Kara, but getting her to follow his major directives would be enough for Leo to give the finale his best shot.

However...

"Is that why you let them brand you as a villain?"

The lesson she learned was a totally different one.

Now that she was fully aware that Leo wasn’t the kind of person the propaganda claimed him to be, Aurora actually thought he pretended to be a villain to escape the City Council’s grasp and fight them from the shadows!

Considering everything she currently knew and looking back at everything he had done as the Lord of Shadows, it couldn’t make more sense.

"Ugh, I guess? There was a reason why I did my first evil deed, as they like to call it, but knowing the nature of this city, I found no point in refuting their claims."

Every event he interfered in was altered with the intention to thwart the City Council’s plans!

From the first Encroachment Gate to the second Encroachment Gate and even incapacitating her supposed ’teammates’...

"It’s not like it stopped me from doing what needed to be done."

He had always been there to save her!

Even if this was just the indirect result of bumping horns with the City Council, the fragmented emotions that Aurora had accumulated were piecing themselves together.

She felt grateful to be saved! She felt ashamed for having despised him for it!

She felt guilt, confusion, and bitterness!

Parts of her were denying the majority of these emotions. After all, how could she have known?

However, looking back once more, Aurora completely abandoned that line of thought as she found it even more obvious.

Even in the first time they met when he let her catch him, as she always suspected, the ambiguous words he said back then were no different from a subtle yet clear warning.

’Be careful, lest you climb up too high.’

How could she have known? More like how could she have been so blind?!

’I was my own self’s worst enemy.’

This was merely one of many important things that she had failed to recognize.

She failed to recognize being used and abused by her old teammates.

She failed to notice that the City Council was pulling her strings like a puppet that they always meant to throw into the roiling flame.

Even when she started to get a grasp on her twisted reality, she still handed her head to them on a silver plate, marching into the very campaign that they cooked to orchestrate her fall.

Truly, the one who victimized Aurora the most was none other than herself.

Meanwhile...

"I guess an explanation is in order, is it not? Let’s start with how I managed to confirm the smell of rot rising from this repugnant city."

Despite all the wrongs she committed in this misunderstood Hero’s right, he was still the one to save her when her time to be abandoned had come, attempting to explain the facts that she wasn’t completely clear on.

’I...’

Suddenly, the clarity that Aurora had reached was no longer helpful.

Among the storm of emotions that she was finally able to identify, one shaky yet warm stream remained completely foreign to her.

Strangely, once she turned her full focus back to Leo’s face in an attempt to build a more complete picture, this mystery string pulling at her heart was instantly soothed, bringing the calm she needed to face the uncertain future built upon the ruins left by her shortcomings.