And for the first time since transmigrating, that silence felt like freedom rather than abandonment.
[Maybe this is it,] Lily thought as exhaustion pulled her back toward sleep. [Maybe the mission was never about being a villain or completing some predetermined arc. Maybe it was just about choosing—choosing love over escape, choosing to fight rather than run, choosing to build something real in an unreal situation.]
[If that's the case, then I choose this. I choose him. I choose us.]
[I choose to stay.]
And with that thought bringing her peace, Lily drifted back into healing sleep.
____
Cross Group Headquarters - Conference Room - 2:00 PM
The press conference room was packed beyond capacity.
Reporters jostled for position, cameras flashing, microphones thrust forward like weapons.
