Half an hour later, on the rooftop of the apartment.

"Commander, is this really okay?" Veronica, blindfolded, reached out tentatively in front of her. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

"It’s fine, even if something goes wrong, I can immediately take control of the situation," Aiden said softly. "Face this way, take off the blindfold. The moon is quite beautiful tonight."

He had already expanded his domain, with "Return" and "Punish" ready at any moment, so even if Veronica turned into a werewolf upon seeing the moon, he could suppress her rampage instantly.

That’s when Veronica untied the ribbon from her face but still kept her eyes closed.

After a while, she carefully lifted her head and slowly opened her eyes a little.

The silver full moon immediately entered her field of view.

For an instant, she felt fear, a reflex urge to close her eyes again. The teachings from her childhood and her own self-discipline had always portrayed the full moon as a flood and a ferocious beast.

But she soon realized that the full moon didn’t make her feel dizzy as it had before.

With surprise, she reopened her eyes wider to gaze at the moon and found herself still calm.

Minutes earlier, at Aiden’s suggestion, she had imposed a rule on herself to fully autonomously control her ability to transform, in order to test the powers bestowed upon her.

"You’ve succeeded," Aiden clapped his hands.

Veronica stared blankly at the sky, for the first time in her life watching the full moon with peace of mind.

"Commander," Veronica spoke.

"What is it?"

"The moonlight, it’s really beautiful," Veronica said softly with a laugh.

"Indeed," Aiden nodded, quietly observing Veronica as she looked up at the sky.

If he had known that seeing the full moon would make her so happy, he would have let her witness it when he got the Wordless Code, Aiden thought to himself.

Merely eliminating the effects of lycanthropy was enough to satisfy her; the power of authority was indeed valuable.

If he could extend this power to a dominator level, maybe he could resolve most of the mortal troubles by himself. But just as the Visionaries describe, after becoming a dominator, everything from his past mortal life would become trivial.

According to the Visionaries’ prediction, if he took control of the authority, he too would, like them, discard morals and self-discipline, by any means necessary for his own pleasure.

"That wouldn’t be so bad," a voice rose up from within Aiden.

No, that’s not right—his reason quickly overruled that voice, while he was surprised to find such a thought hidden in the recesses of his mind.

Whether to stray away from all that is mortal should be his own decision, rather than dictated by that goddess of conspiracies who only knows how to manipulate others.

In responding to Veronica, Aiden had in effect also answered his own future—after dealing with Mr. Crimson, freeing himself from the shackles of the goddess of conspiracies, he still wanted to continue living as "Aiden Galahad."

As the endgame approached, it was time to make a decision, he contemplated.

"Veronica," Aiden called out.

"Commander?" Veronica turned back.

"I’ll take you back," Aiden said indifferently, "and there are some things I want to discuss with you."

Veronica blinked and smiled, "Alright."

...

Two days later, an "old friend" paid a personal visit to Aiden.

"Your visit is quite sudden, Earl," Aiden said as he poured tea into the cups on the table, looking across at his guest.

"The schedule was arranged on short notice, and I didn’t have time to inform you, my apologies," Heinz Hoffman accepted the teacup.

"The job of Director of the Secret Police must be busy, right?" Aiden made small talk.

"I am now the Deputy Commander of the Gendarmerie," Heinz said impassively.

"Promoted? It seems you have been making smooth progress."

"Thanks to you," Heinz said calmly, "we set up early in Sunset City and took care of the affairs regarding that base. Now the Kingdom’s Intelligence Bureau owes us a favor, and we have something on them. The Royal Secret Police’s position has surpassed the Intelligence Bureau’s, so naturally, I had more opportunities to climb higher."

"So, your rush to come here this time is for what?" Aiden smiled, thinking that this man truly was sly. Initially, he was unwilling to oppose his own country’s intelligence bureau, but in the end, he managed to utilize the external forces’ attack on the Sunset City base to his political advantage and eventually brought the entire nation’s espionage network under his control.

"I came to inform you that we are preparing to extradite Sera the week after next," Heinz said, looking into Aiden’s eyes, "the paperwork is already being prepared."

"That soon?" Aiden was a little surprised.

At the same time, he realized that Heinz’s sudden visit might mean that the decision to extradite Sera had also been hastily brought forward.

"Some preparations were originally necessary, but due to the situation," Heinz said.

"What’s happening in the Kingdom?" Aiden asked casually.

"There’s nothing happening on the Kingdom’s side; the issue is on your side, Warden," Heinz said pointedly.

"I see, it’s for ensuring the princess’s safety," Aiden understood.

"The Revival Society in the south has vanished, but in the north, the Blood Moon Cult has started becoming active," Heinz said earnestly, "The enemies you face this time have ties to the ’Cursed Lands,’ and I must consider the possibility of this prison being attacked."

"A justifiable choice," Aiden nodded in understanding.

He had always used the Royal Secret Police to gather intelligence and shared some of that intelligence with them.

So Heinz knew that Mr. Bloodshirt had reorganized the Blood Moon Cult and gotten involved with a dangerous entity in the Cursed Lands within Gistas’ borders, and was preparing to target Aiden.

The possibility of Mr. Bloodshirt taking action against Rose Iron Prison was high, and he was concerned that Sera might be affected as a result. Now, the security of Rose Iron Prison was not as reliable as within the Kingdom’s own borders.

"We might as well stop beating around the bush," Aiden spoke bluntly, "If you’re moving the princess so swiftly, am I right to assume... that I won’t receive your intelligence support anymore?"

"We will still share some known intelligence with you," Heinz said evasively.

Aiden understood the implied message—that the Royal Secret Police would probably only provide existing information from now on, and not actively seek out new intelligence for him. After all, once Princess Sera left the prison, Heinz would have no further need of Aiden.

"Quite pragmatic," Aiden laughed bitterly, "But this issue is not entirely unrelated to your Kingdom. Cutting off our cooperation so soon, I don’t think it’s a particularly wise decision."