Ning could already understand where Alya fit into the situation.

If she belonged to the old family, or even to a branch closely related to it, marrying her would allow a noble to satisfy both sides.

Those who wanted a new ruler could support the husband, while those who wanted the old bloodline could accept the children born from the marriage.

"The surviving princesses are being searched for," Ning said.

Ning’s expression darkened.

It explained why Leamor had searched for Alya for so long and why he had spoken as though she had never possessed a choice.

To him, she was nothing more than a missing piece of a political plan.

"So Leamor wanted to marry Alya because she was one of those princesses."

"Then why didn’t he take her anyway?" Ning asked. "Sure, there was a child, but he was ready to kill him anyway. He could’ve hidden the fact that she had ever married Valen."

Leamor had already crossed multiple countries to find her and had killed the only people who could easily reveal what had happened inside the house.

Had he taken Alya afterward, there would have been little physical evidence that she had ever lived in Conjora at all.

The people in Faedria might have believed whatever lie he chose to tell them.

Ning slowed down slightly.

"Accepted belief?"

Ning finally understood.

Alya’s importance had not come from her alone.

Leamor had needed a child from her.

A marriage to someone of royal blood could improve his standing, but without an heir carrying both bloodlines, his claim would remain temporary and far less convincing.

Alya had already given birth to Valen’s son.

Whether she could truly have another child did not matter if every influential High-Elf believed she could not.

"So, once Leamor saw the boy, Alya became useless to him."

Ning’s hands tightened.

That was why the change in Leamor had been so sudden.

The moment he saw the child, he no longer saw Alya as the woman through whom he could become king. He saw her as someone who had destroyed years of his plans by choosing to live her own life.

The explanation made sense.

It only served to make Ning angrier.

"Where is Leamor now?"

"He is actually close to becoming King?"

Ning stared through the glass of the shop without paying attention to the objects displayed inside.

Leamor had murdered Alya and her child six years ago, then returned to Faedria and continued pursuing the same throne he had hoped to gain through her.

He had lost one route toward becoming King, but had clearly found others.

"What will decide which of them becomes King?"

Ning blinked.

"The summit?"

Ning remained silent for a few seconds.

The global summit was still more than a few months away, and President Helen Morstell had already spoken about how important it would be for Conjora.

She wanted to use the inventions recovered from the Numbers to show the other countries that Conjora was not weak, while also selling limited quantities of those inventions to improve the nation’s finances and international standing.

"Will Leamor attend the summit?"

A slow smile formed on Ning’s face, although there was no amusement behind it.

He had believed he would need to travel across the ocean and search through Faedria for the man.

Instead, Leamor was going to come to the summit on his own, hoping to convince the rest of the world that he was worthy of becoming King.

Ning did not yet know whether the summit would take place in Conjora or another country, and he did not know whether President Morstell had already decided to bring him.

Neither issue seemed particularly difficult to solve.

As a Rank 9 hero who had helped recover the inventions Conjora intended to present, Ning already possessed more than enough reason to attend.

Even if he was not invited, there was little in this world capable of preventing him from arriving anyway.

Ning transformed into a bat and immediately took flight, finally drawing the attention of the people still walking through the city late in the evening.

He flew onward, ignoring everything below him.

The anger inside him had not disappeared, but it had changed.

Before, it had been immediate and directionless, demanding that he teleport to Faedria and kill Leamor before the man could take another breath.

Now, it had somewhere to go.

And Ning would be there.

He did not yet know what he would do when they met.

Killing Leamor immediately would be easy, but easy was not how he wanted that man to die.

And it was not only Leamor.

There could be others who had helped him locate Alya, conceal his movements through multiple countries, and erase whatever evidence remained outside the house.

Ning wanted all of them.