Reincarnated as an Energy with a System

Chapter 1960: Talking to Elowen

Prince Tarian approached Ning not long after he finished speaking with President Morstell, moving through the damaged summit hall with several royal guards following behind him while Void remained farther away.

There was nothing the man could say, as he had lost the confrontation with Ning. Besides, he wasn’t in his own place, so he did not have the authority to try and capture Ning anymore. So, he watched the situation unfold from beneath the darkness of his hood.

The prince looked exhausted after everything that had happened throughout the day, but there was still enough determination in his expression to make it clear that he had come to Ning with something he fully intended to see through.

"Blackfang, I need you to surrender yourself for questioning," the man said.

Ning paused for a moment. "Why?"

The prince was taken aback. "Why? You killed someone. You openly threatened to kill another foreign representative in front of nearly every important leader gathered here today. Are you expecting us to simply pretend none of that took place?"

Ning shook his head. "No. I don’t really intend to get interrogated. I’ll come visit you later when I’m free. You can ask me your questions then."

Tarian’s expression tightened, although the refusal did not seem to surprise him.

"It would be better for everyone if you cooperated, because right now there are representatives from several nations demanding explanations for what happened on that stage, and the fact that you disappeared immediately afterward only makes the situation look worse."

"I had somewhere more important to be, and as for Leamor, nothing has changed," Ning said as his eyes briefly moved toward the Faedrian delegation gathered farther across the damaged hall. "I’m still going to kill him sooner or later."

The prince stared at Ning with obvious frustration, but before he could continue arguing, Ning noticed Princess Elowen standing some distance away with several members of the royal guard around her. She had not moved much since Ning returned, and judging from the expression on her face, the news of Tritus’ death had affected her far more deeply than she wanted anyone else to notice.

Ning began walking toward her.

Tarian immediately stepped into his path.

Ning shifted slightly to the side, intending to walk around him rather than waste more time, but the moment the prince moved to block him again, something strange happened.

Tarian disappeared.

One instant he stood directly in front of Ning, and the next he appeared almost twenty meters away near a broken section of the summit hall, stumbling slightly as he looked around in complete confusion.

The surrounding guards reacted at once, several of them turning toward Ning as though they assumed he had done something, while Void’s hood shifted toward Tarian, and even President Morstell looked over from across the hall.

Ning remained where he was, a little surprised.

He raised his hands immediately. "That wasn’t me."

"It’s fine," the prince said after some thought. Tarian seemed to realize the same thing almost immediately, because he looked down at his own hands and then back toward the place where he had been standing, surprise giving way to a much deeper confusion as he tried to understand how he had suddenly crossed the room without making any conscious attempt to move.

Ning narrowed his eyes for a moment.

That was interesting. He wondered for a second if perhaps this was the power the prince had. Though the confusion didn’t make a lot of sense if that were the case.

Ning considered asking the System about it, but the question could wait. He had other matters to attend to.

He walked up to Princess Elowen, who was surrounded by her guards as they saw Ning approach. They pointed their spears toward Ning, though that could hardly do anything at that moment.

"It’s fine," the princess said. "Let him approach."

Maelis was by her side, whispering something into her ear, but the princess dismissed it.

"Leave me be, and move away," she said, pushing on one of the guards.

The guards were very hesitant to leave, but they could only follow her orders.

As they left Ning and Elowen alone, Ning found the surrounding sound die all of a sudden. He looked around for a moment, confused. He could see all of their stares, and yet not a single sound came.

"Is this your doing?" Ning asked the princess.

"One of my guards has a power to mute all sounds coming in or going out," Elowen said. "It’s rather handy when you don’t want information leaking out."

Ning let out a dry chuckle. "You must have noticed that Tritus is dead."

Elowen’s eyes shifted, but she wasn’t surprised.

For several seconds, she appeared unwilling to answer, as though saying the words aloud would somehow make what she already knew impossible to deny.

"I don’t want to believe it, but whatever connection I had before is gone, so I suppose there is no point pretending otherwise."

Ning nodded.

"Did you kill him?" she asked.

"Yes."

"How?"

Ning shrugged. "Does that matter?"

The woman remained silent. "Are you going to kill me now?" she asked.

Ning could feel the fear emanating off of her. Without Tritus, there was nothing protecting her, and she knew for a fact that someone who could kill Tritus would not be so easily stopped by anyone else.

"You have two choices now," Ning said. "First, you give up on what you are doing."

The woman’s eyes narrowed sharply, though she remained silent.

"Whatever protection or promise Tritus gave you is long gone now. You can try fighting everyone by yourself and continue forcing your way toward the throne through murder, but I doubt you can succeed. If you do try that, I will just tell everyone the truth anyway."

She remained focused on his words.

"Or... you can accept what everyone else is planning for the moment and figure out a different way forward."

The princess’s eyes narrowed.

Ning smiled a little at her reaction and continued.