CHAPTER 840 194.5 - PATH

The night was quiet as I walked through the academy grounds, the remnants of the party fading into silence behind me. The air was cool, crisp, carrying the faint scent of the trees lining the pathways. My steps were steady, unhurried, yet my mind was far from still.

Lilia.

I hadn't meant to analyze her this much, but it was inevitable.

She was one of the main cast. In the game, she had been Ethan's ally—a force in her own right, yet never fully in the spotlight. She was important, but not in the way party members were. She wasn't like Ethan, or Irina, or Julia.

She was something different.

An asset, not a constant.

And the reason for that was simple.

The developers hadn't designed her to be a frontline warrior, nor had they given her a role that would demand she be present in every battle. She wasn't a Hunter in the way Ethan was, in the way I was.

She was political.

A strong-willed businesswoman. A strategist. Someone who moved things from the outside.

And in that role, she thrived.

But not because she was great at it.

Because there was no one better.

That was the truth about Lilia. She wasn't incompetent—far from it. But she wasn't exceptional either. Not in management. Not in politics.

She was simply good enough to survive in that world.

Good enough to keep up.

Good enough to carve out her place.

But the thing about being "good enough" was that it wasn't secure.

It wasn't a guarantee.

Lilia wasn't a natural manipulator like

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