Chapter 485: So It Was You!

Arabella Donovan’s expression changed drastically. “You mean to say The Providence is behind all of this? But why? What does it get out of it? No, wait, that’s not the point. The point is…”

In her efforts to protect her family and prevent innocent people from being harmed by those bizarre villains, she had eliminated so many of The Providence’s chosen ones…

‘No wonder that thing called me an outsider. As an anomaly myself, I’ve probably pissed it off big time.’

But she didn’t regret it.

A cold glint flashed in Arabella Donovan’s eyes. ‘A Providence like this… isn’t it just begging people to defy their fate?’

Having raised the girl for the better part of a decade, he knew what she was thinking the moment she looked up.

“Scared now? It’s too late for that. Have you ever wondered why your head was suddenly filled with all that information the moment you came down from the mountain?”

Arabella Donovan froze. Then, as if a realization dawned on her, she looked aggrieved. “So after all this time, I’m just another piece in your game?”

Her master said, “…Be serious. We’re talking about important matters!”

“So, what exactly is going on?”

The man across from her was silent for a long time before finally coming up with a relatively simple and easy-to-understand analogy. “You can think of it like this: a company is in turmoil. The original CEO was caught off guard, tripped up, and has been temporarily benched, his position unstable. A new, ambitious boss was brought in out of nowhere and immediately launched a series of new initiatives that are running the employees ragged. The whole company is on the verge of collapse at any moment.”

Arabella Donovan was speechless. ‘What an abstract, yet surprisingly clear, analogy.’

“So you’re saying there are two Providences now. One is the old, relatively normal Providence. The other is this new one—the one that wrote all the countless scripts in my library, the one that’s toying with everyone, that seems completely unhinged, and has a totally warped sense of morality. The one affecting Summer Vance is this New Providence, and it’s forcing everyone to follow its pre-written scripts.”

“That’s one way to put it.” The old man gazed at Arabella Donovan, his eyes filled with a complex emotion she couldn’t decipher.

“As the saying goes, ‘Nothing can be accomplished without rules.’ The Providence is meant to be the rules that govern everything in this world. These rules have existed for eons, teaching humanity about good and evil, beauty and ugliness, yin and yang, existence and non-existence. It seems ethereal and illusory, yet it is omnipresent. In principle, the order of The Providence respects the spirit in all things and follows the course of nature, rarely interfering in worldly affairs. But now, because of *its* arrival, everything has changed.”

It was like something that was once just a mascot suddenly gaining power and methods far beyond its station, shattering the balance of the world.

“You recently experienced firsthand just how destructive a spoiled brat can be, so you should understand better than anyone. Right now, it’s like a spoiled child with no scruples and no adult supervision. It sees the world as its plaything, to be molded and crushed according to its whims. Fortunately, compared to the previous Providence, it’s still fledgling and inexperienced. It’s constrained by the rules left by its predecessor, which prevents it from acquiring more fortune and truly doing whatever it wants. And that is the origin of the library in your mind.”

A flash of insight struck Arabella, and she immediately seized on the key point. “It wants to use these stories to steal fortune?”

“Exactly. You’ve probably noticed that many of the male and female protagonists in the books are… well, they’re hardly decent people. They are all tools it has carefully selected to steal the fortune of others. As for those unfortunate enough to have their fortune stolen…”

Arabella Donovan’s eyes flashed. “They’re the supporting characters and cannon fodder!”

‘No wonder… No wonder she always felt there was something off about the books in the library. They were filled with selfish, despicable acts—thievery and debauchery—yet these were celebrated as epic romances and paragons of virtue. It was as if normal, decent people were the real outsiders. The more you thought about it, the more terrifying it became.’

‘Even those chosen as protagonists, like her fourth cousin and his wife, were fated to suffer both physically and emotionally. They couldn’t even guarantee their own child’s health. They were worse off than some background character. The word ‘miserable’ didn’t even begin to cover it.’

‘So, it turns out that all those so-called protagonists who were thriving, who climbed to the top over the bodies of countless others, were just the best of the trash, hand-picked from a dumpster for recycling.’

‘Meanwhile, the persecuted supporting characters and cannon fodder were the ones who truly possessed great fortune. They were the brilliant individuals who should have been at the pinnacle of their fields, but they were stripped of their fortune and their spotlight, left destitute and miserable, or even dead.’

‘It’s like they say: a thug isn’t scary, but an educated thug is terrifying. Mortals fighting The Providence is already like an ant trying to shake a tree. But for it to pull a stunt like this… it’s murder without a trace. Who could possibly stand a chance?’

Arabella Donovan sucked in a sharp breath, forcing down the panic and worry rising in her heart. She feigned a relaxed tone. “Master, how do you know all this in such detail? Don’t tell me you’re…”

“Don’t let your imagination run wild. Your master isn’t as incredible as you think.”

Arabella Donovan let out a long sigh, unsure if she was relieved or disappointed. “That’s true. As your apprentice, I have a pretty good idea of what you’re capable of.”

Master: “???” ‘What’s that supposed to mean? Are you looking down on me, your master? Argh, you’re testing my patience!’

The old master felt the sting of his apprentice’s jab, but before he could retort, she cut him off.

“Then why didn’t you tell me any of this sooner?”

The man across from her froze, then said, looking slightly guilty, “To avoid tipping our hand.”

The Providence roams between heaven and earth; it is omnipresent. You, Arabella Donovan, are a chosen one. If you had made too much of a scene and it had taken notice of you, this high-stakes gamble with the entire world on the line would have been lost before we even sat down at the table.

Therefore, we could only proceed slowly and deliberately. All the arrangements made up to this point—the library, your ability to hear thoughts—were for this very moment.

Arabella Donovan’s eyes flickered as she began to understand their intentions.

“So, with Summer Vance ending up like this… does that mean it’s found out?”

“Yes. The script involving them is the last scenario it has planned for this world.”

The demise of the old often signals the birth of the new. The same is true for The Providence.

The best way to establish a new order is to overthrow the old one. But this New Providence, which spawned from who-knows-where, isn’t trying to overthrow the old order. It’s trying to rebuild it in its own image.

“Without you, it would have been a hopeless situation from the very beginning. Your parents, your siblings, and you yourself—all would have died before the great calamity. Your third brother, as a key figure who could influence the final outcome, would have been brutally targeted and suppressed by a collective force. You could say that all the suffering your family has endured up to this point stems from The Providence’s fear of him and its attempts to neutralize him.”

Arabella Donovan was speechless. ‘I was careless. I kept wondering why the heavens seemed to have it out for the Donovan family. Turns out, we were all dragged into this because of you, third brother!’

At that very moment, Aurora Donovan, having just donned a hazmat suit and preparing to enter the lab to work overtime, suddenly felt his nose itch. He couldn’t hold it back and let out a massive sneeze, splattering the inside of his face shield.