Ailia’s expression froze for a moment.
A flash of killing intent appeared in her eyes, but she quickly hid it deep within and restored her calm.
“Since he is my servant, should he not be in North City?”
“Lord Leon, please stop disturbing me while I pray for the King of the North.”
Outside the door, Airigo knocked on the room door and stood at the entrance.
“Close the door. I have matters to discuss with the Witch.”
Leon smiled. Now that Airigo was guarding the door, he felt somewhat at ease.
Presumably Ailia would need to be more cautious when considering killing him and would not dare to act rashly.
Thus, through what Airigo had recounted that morning about the Witch’s servant’s recent movements, she spoke a name.
“Leibang Ed. Are you really going to ignore him?”
Ailia’s breathing stopped for several breaths. Her mind raced rapidly.
The Leon before her was clearly an impostor, yet why would a fake Leon know about Ed?
Is she trying to trick me?!
Ailia turned her head to the side. She made no effort to hide the disgust in her eyes.
“I do not know him. Please leave the room, or I will use magic to blast you out.”
Leon was in no hurry. He raised his hand to signal her to wait.
Even though Ailia’s expression and performance were flawless, he believed in his own deduction.
“Witch, why not listen to why I know your servant is Leibang Ed.”
“On your first day arriving in the Northern Territory, you brought a servant with you. Everyone knows the World-Ender Witch has always been alone. Suddenly having a servant by your side was already very suspicious.”
“Of course, that alone was not enough for me to conclude the servant was Ed.”
“The next morning, Princess Osha captured your servant outside the city and brought him back to the castle. She even allowed him into her room alone late at night, where he stayed for an entire evening. Everyone knows Princess Osha’s fiancé is Leibang Ed. And probably only Princess Osha could have discovered that the servant who had gone to great lengths to disguise himself was the person she had come to the Northern Territory to find.”
“In fact, one could already see clues from Princess Osha’s behavior alone. It was quite easy to guess, was it not, Witch?”
Ailia did not speak. In truth, she also knew very well that Osha must have discovered something, which was why she had imprisoned Zhe Zilin in the room.
The fake Leon before her was more troublesome than she had imagined. It was now impossible to continue pretending she knew nothing.
“You want to threaten me with Ed? He is merely one of my servants. Moreover, he is with Osha now. No one can harm him.”
Ailia believed that Osha, like herself, would not allow Zhe Zilin to suffer the slightest harm.
Leon nodded in agreement. “Worthy of you, Witch. If it were anyone else, they would probably have panicked long ago and begged me to let him go.”
“I indeed cannot touch Leibang Ed, but he will actively become my bargaining chip.”
Leon stood up and moved several steps away from Ailia.
“I believe Leon’s death and Snow’s death are both related to Leibang Ed, correct?”
“Of course, regarding Snow, her death makes me very happy. I might even thank Ed for it.”
Ailia frowned. The killing intent in her eyes could no longer be hidden and slowly overflowed, plain for all to see.
“Do not be so quick to kill me. Let me finish speaking first.”
Leon continued his deduction.
“Killing Leon and Snow, releasing the half-orcs to escape, and pinning the deaths on the half-orcs. You may not know this, but those five half-orcs seemed quite convinced by the person who released them.”
“It could not have been Princess Osha’s people. The royal guards captured them and then released them; there is no reason. The people of the Northern Territory have heavy killing intent and love slaughter; that is even more impossible. I think only that rumored playboy would do something like this.”
“That he could make the cunning half-orcs believe him proves that the rumors claiming Leibang Ed was good for nothing except his looks were fabricated by people jealous of him.”
Leon stroked his chin, putting on a thoughtful expression.
“At first I did not know why Leon died. Clearly when he left my place he was still full of vigor. It was only when he left that he said he was going to make a move against the Witch. Yet he died that very night.”
“Probably, Ed witnessed you killing Snow and Leon, and only then pinned the blame on the half-orcs to clear your suspicion.”
“Leon” knew better than anyone why the real Leon had left that night. Because it was she, Tana, who had made Leon find a way to deal with the Witch.
This deduction was the result Tana found hardest to accept, yet also the most reasonable.
Of course, she had not come here to show Ailia that she possessed detective talent.
“Witch Ailia, Ed cares about you very much. He is willing to take risks and do many things for you.”
“I wonder what he would do if I told him all this and then threatened him by announcing to the public the fact that you killed Snow?”
“Probably at that time, he would actively become a bargaining chip I can use.”
Leon walked over to the food and pushed the tray toward Ailia.
“I know you also care about him and do not want him to do anything foolish.”
Ailia raised her eyes and met the gaze of this fake yet cunning Leon.
“The World-Ender Witch has no weaknesses.”
Leon smiled. It was not mockery. She saw her former self in Ailia’s eyes. It was a familiar feeling.
“Ailia, your eyes have already betrayed you. These cold eyes of yours clearly become incomparably soft whenever you speak of Leibang Ed.”
“I know you love him to the point of misery, do you not?”
Ailia withdrew her gaze and pondered carefully.
Now all initiative seemed to be in the other party’s hands.
She remained in a passive position.
Leon saw through Ailia’s thoughts. His tone carried a trace of sorrow.
“If you were still the former World-Ender Witch who had no scruples, of course I could not threaten you. But once a person has a weakness, they have more concerns when acting.”
She looked again at the food on the tray and explained, “It will only prevent you from using magic for a month. I do not intend to put you to death.”
“Every one of us has our own hardships. Many things must be done whether we wish to or not.”
Ailia gazed at the tray before her and extended her hand, grasping one corner of the plate.
She recalled last night. Zhe Zilin had said everything he did was for her.
She had indeed felt through the Contract Ring that the other party had been rushing about all night.
From the fake Leon’s mouth, she learned why Zhe Zilin had killed Leon. Leon had intended to deal with her, so Zhe Zilin had killed Leon without the slightest hesitation.
Ailia did not know why Zhe Zilin had known Leon wanted to kill her, but she remembered Zhe Zilin’s eyes that night — decisive and resolute.
Thus, she picked up the food.
Everything started because of me. I cannot drag Ed into this anymore.
Ailia looked at the food before her. She grasped the fork.
Leon watched quietly from the side.
“Ed will certainly be deeply moved when he learns everything you have done for him.”
Just as the food was about to enter her mouth, Ailia’s body trembled and she stopped her movement.
No. If Ed were here, he would not let me do this!
Ailia smashed the tray to pieces and immediately stood up.
“Ed will not compromise!”