Chapter 191: A will to live….2
“This is a bit unexpected… even though I was so sure I played it out really well,” Dorothy said with a soft chuckle, her voice tinged with irony.
We sat together underneath the ruins of the clock tower, debris scattered around us.
The tower’s once-grand structure was now barely holding together, and through the shattered roof, we could see the skies above.
The dark veil that had once covered the entire district was now nearly gone, and in its place, the sky was painted with the soft hues of dawn.
However, it wasn’t just the morning light that filled the air—multiple powerful mana signatures could be felt all around, looming on the horizon.
The principal and other high-ranking officials were probably inside the district by now, scouring the area, trying to make sense of the devastation.
But up here, in the ruins of this forgotten place, we remained hidden—at least for now.
“I truly didn’t expect to be discovered like this, you know,” Dorothy continued, her voice light despite her condition. “Especially not by you, junior Riley. Hehe…”
“If you hadn’t chosen the clock tower, maybe I wouldn’t have found you,” I replied, my tone matter-of-fact.
She turned her head slightly, raising an eyebrow. “Hehe, what does that even mean?”
“It means what it means.”
“You really are full of mysteries, junior… in a weird way, that is.”
“I hear that a lot.”
“I’m sure you do,” she said, smiling faintly, though her body betrayed her weakening state.
Our conversation flowed with an odd sense of ease, almost lighthearted, as if we weren’t surrounded by the aftermath of a fierce battle or sitting in the wreckage of what was once a grand clock tower.
We both ignored the obvious: Dorothy’s decaying body, the mana signatures closing in, the fact that time was running out for her.
Instead, we simply stared at the skies above, letting the quiet moments pass.
The tension of the world outside felt distant here, like we were in a bubble, untouched by the chaos that had just unfolded. It was almost peaceful.
But beneath the surface of our words, there was an unspoken weight.
“Riley, I’m sure you have a lot of questions, but… I’m sorry. I can’t afford to answer any of them right now,” Dorothy spoke, her voice soft but tinged with sadness. “And also… could you turn around for a bit?”
“Why?”
“I just want a moment of solitude. I don’t want to be seen crying…”
I raised an eyebrow at that, glancing at her. “Isn’t it a bit too late for that now?”
She paused, her lips twitching into a faint smile as she sighed. “Mennie~”
It was a small gesture, a playfulness she had even in her most vulnerable moment. Giving up on her own request, Dorothy let her eyes wander back to the sky, her expression softening.
“The sun’s morning grace sure is pretty,” she said after a long pause, her voice almost wistful.
“Yes,” I replied, following her gaze.
The soft morning light bathed the wreckage around us, casting gentle hues over the broken walls and debris.
It was oddly serene in contrast to the chaos that had unfolded here just moments ago.
“If there were two suns in the sky right now… would you still consider this scene to be pretty, junior?”
Her question caught me off guard. Where is she going with this?
“Probably,” I answered, unsure of what she was trying to say.
“Really?” Dorothy chuckled, but it was a sad kind of laughter. “I think the most definitive answer would be a ‘no,’ though. Hehe~” She took a deep breath, her gaze distant as if she were lost in thought.
“The sun, unlike the moon, is meant to shine alone in its waking grace, basking in the solitude of its great power. It’s supposed to be the ray of hope, the beacon of greatness. If there were two suns it would be too much… the world would burn. People wouldn’t be able to stand such a thing.”
I stayed silent for a moment, letting her words sink in. There was a strange melancholy to her voice, a weariness that seemed to seep into everything she said. But I didn’t quite agree with her.
“What you say may be true,” I began slowly, “but at the end of the day, having two suns in the sky would be beautiful, wouldn’t it?”
Dorothy stopped talking, her eyes widening as she turned to look at me.
For a moment, she was speechless, clearly caught off guard by my answer.
Then, suddenly, a burst of laughter escaped her lips—genuine and full of life. It echoed through the broken tower, cutting through the stillness of the morning.
“Yup, you really are weird, junior~” she said between laughs, her eyes glistening with tears, though this time they were from amusement rather than sadness.
Her laughter was contagious, and I found myself smiling, despite everything.
It was a strange moment—surreal, almost—but in its own way, it felt right.
For a fleeting second, we weren’t sitting in the ruins of a battle.
We weren’t on the edge of an uncertain end. We were just two people, sharing a moment of unexpected lightness amidst the looming darkness.
But as her laughter faded, the weight of reality slowly crept back in.
The sun continued to rise, its light growing stronger, and with it came the inevitable.
Dorothy’s body, fragile and worn, was still bound to the fate she couldn’t escape.
And as I sat there, beside her, I couldn’t help but feel the pull of time slipping away.
“You know, I always thought I’d go out in some grand way,” Dorothy murmured, her voice barely above a whisper, as if she was speaking more to herself than to me.
“Something flashy, something memorable. But maybe… disappearing quietly like this isn’t so bad either.”
Her words hung in the air, heavy with resignation.
I wasn’t sure how to respond, so I kept quiet, letting her talk.
There was a strange serenity to her now, an acceptance of the fate she had fought so hard against.
“Hey… junior, I know it’s a bit late now, just as you said,” she continued, her voice soft yet with a hint of playfulness. “But… can I let you in on a little secret of mine?”
I nodded, unsure of what to expect.
My eyes remained fixed on her as she spoke, and suddenly, something strange began to happen.
A soft, radiant light enveloped her, casting her in a warm, ethereal glow.
The darkness that clung to her like a shroud seemed to dissipate, evaporating into the air as if it was never there.
My gaze locked onto her hair—it was no longer the dull flaxen blonde that had been tainted by shadows.
Instead, it shimmered, transforming before my eyes into a vibrant, radiant gold.
Her hair, now gleaming like the first light of dawn, flowed softly in the breeze.
Even her eyes, which had been tired and dim, glowed with the same golden hue, bright and luminous like twin suns.
“This… this is no little secret at all, President…” I breathed, utterly astonished by the transformation unfolding before me.
She chuckled softly at my reaction, a weak but genuine laugh, before slumping back against the wall with a sigh.
Her golden hair cascaded down her shoulders as she gazed at it with a look of deep melancholy.
She touched it gently, almost reverently, as if she was seeing it for the first time in a long while.
“It’s funny, isn’t it?” she said, her voice tinged with sadness. “All this power, all this light… and yet, I never wanted any of it. I spent so long hiding in the shadows, trying to run away from who I really was. But now… now that it’s all about to end, I can’t help but wonder if maybe… I should have embraced it sooner.”
I didn’t know what to say.
Her words were filled with regret, a sorrow that ran deeper than anything I could truly understand.
For the first time, I saw the weight she had been carrying all this time—her burdens, her fears, the heavy chains of expectation and destiny that had been placed on her shoulders.
Dorothy was more than just a villain in some story. She was a person, flawed and broken, but still human. And now, in her final moments, she was showing me the truth she had hidden away.
With this revelation, the tiny pieces of the puzzle behind President Dorothy’s character were finally beginning to fall into place.
It was like unraveling a mystery that had lingered in the background, unaddressed, yet always present.
The question had plagued me for a while now: Why was President Dorothy assigned as the mid-boss for Act 2?
Why did she even become a boss in the first place?
In the game, there had been no clear explanation for her descent into darkness, no backstory that justified her role as an antagonist.
President Dorothy had always been portrayed as sincere and bright, a character whose natural disposition seemed far removed from the shadowy path she ended up taking.
