Reincarnated as an Energy with a System

Chapter 1946: Another Visit from the Prince

The sun had already disappeared beyond the ocean by the time President Morstell came to Ning’s room, and although the palace remained busy with diplomats, guards, servants, and officials preparing for the following morning, the corridors around the Conjoran wing had grown quieter as most of the delegation finally withdrew to rest.

Ning opened the door after hearing the knock and found the president standing outside with two members of her security detail, both of whom remained several steps behind her while she entered the room and looked around briefly, as though making certain that nothing else unusual had happened since the previous night.

"You look tired," Ning said as he stepped aside, allowing the president to enter.

The woman walked in and sat on the couch, placing the stack of documents in her hand beside her.

"I am. I hate how much work this requires," she said with a sigh before turning to Ning again.

"I came to make sure all the cases are still in order. Tomorrow is the reason we have spent months preparing all of this, and I would rather not discover at the summit that something important has gone missing."

Ning gave her a small smile.

"You don’t need to worry about any of that, because I’ve kept everything somewhere safe, and no one in this palace is going to find it unless I personally decide to bring it out."

President Morstell still did not appear entirely comfortable with the arrangement, especially since Ning had refused to explain where he had placed the cases, but she had trusted him with far more dangerous things during the previous months and knew that arguing would not make him reveal anything he did not wish to reveal.

"As long as everything is ready when we need it tomorrow, I’ll leave the matter to you."

"It will be."

That was enough for her.

The president remained only a little longer before leaving to deal with the other preparations awaiting her, and Ning returned to his room, expecting to finally be left alone for the evening.

Another knock came not long afterward.

This time, Prince Tarian stood outside with a folder tucked beneath one arm, and the tired expression on his face suggested that he had done a lot during the day and was still pushing himself for the sake of learning more.

Ning invited him inside.

The prince sat across from him and placed the folder on the table.

"We finished another detailed investigation into the woman who attacked you, but unfortunately, we still haven’t found anything that tells us who helped her, whether anyone inside the palace knew what she was doing, or how deeply her group may have infiltrated Veronoth before the summit."

The prince closed the folder with more force than necessary.

"She had been preparing for this for two months, perhaps longer, and somehow, none of us saw anything."

Ning nodded as he listened and then spoke up. "Don’t bother looking any further into her."

Tarian looked at him.

"What?"

"You can stop."

The prince frowned.

"I cannot do that. You must understand that it isn’t just you who was targeted by this. My family’s lives could be in danger too."

Ning paused for a moment and nodded. "I won’t stop you if that is what you believe, but I’ll just say that if you’re pushing yourself for me, then you don’t have to. I’ve already learned what I needed to."

Tarian’s expression changed.

"What do you mean?"

Ning had expected the question.

He did not intend to tell the prince that his own sister had entered the room earlier that day and openly admitted to working with Tritus, partly because revealing that now would create chaos inside the royal family only hours before the summit, and partly because Ning wanted to understand how deeply Elowen was involved before deciding what to do with that information.

"One of their people contacted me today," Ning said.

Tarian immediately looked toward him. "There’s another one?"

Ning nodded. "They didn’t contact me physically, but we did have a conversation. They didn’t tell me everything, but they made it very clear that tomorrow is important for reasons that have nothing to do with the summit itself."

Ning deliberately avoided mentioning Princess Elowen. Maybe there would have been some meaning in telling him that she was responsible for his assassination attempts, but he didn’t need the distraction right now.

Prince Tarian’s expression grew more serious.

"What did this person actually tell you about tomorrow?"

Ning considered whether he should tell the prince or not and decided that he should.

"They called it the promised day."

"The promised day? The day for what?"

"They refused to explain what that means, but the way they spoke about it made it obvious that something has been planned for a long time and that whatever happens tomorrow is important enough for them. To a point that Tritus himself is going to be involved."

"Tritus? He’s going to finally show himself?" he asked, his anger growing at the mere name.

"Have you had any incident with him?" Ning asked curiously.

Considering who Number 2 was and what she wanted, he expected the man to be intimately familiar with Tritus.

Tarian remained silent for several moments while his eyes moved toward the window, where the lights of Cape Mistam stretched beneath the palace and disappeared into the mist gathering along the coast.

"Yes," he said after a moment. "I’ve had many people try to kill me throughout my life. And most of them claimed themselves to have been sent by Tritus. I do not understand what grudge that thing has with me, but he’s been trying nonstop for some time."

The prince appeared deeply troubled as he considered everything.

Ning watched the prince and realized that the reason he had tried so hard to figure out Number 4 might not only have to do with his duty to provide an answer.

It was likely to weed out any further chances of assassination attempts against him too.