"Would it really be okay like that?" Lady Cirila asked, her voice still carrying a hint of worry.

Riley nodded, though his expression stayed thoughtful.

"I’m hoping so, Mom. It’s not the most ideal setup, but if we don’t make it look like we’re hiding them, we can shut down a lot of the rumors before they even take root."

It wasn’t perfect.

But it was better than letting people speculate freely.

And with visitors coming in, the children would at least have something to distract them. That would give the adults some breathing room to deal with everything else.

Like the red dragon.

Honestly, an elephant in the room would’ve been the preferred alternative, because dealing with a rampaging red dragon who had attacked the MBE and terrorized a number of people required a great deal of finesse.

From keeping him alive to navigating all the parties who would try to eliminate him using the incident as justification, Riley could already see the problems piling up.

Not to mention, framing the situation one way or another would force accountability onto either Kael or Lord Karion.

It didn’t matter that everything had been orchestrated by the now-deceased Chancellor. At the end of the day, people would still complain about the Dravaryn’s failure to uncover Malrik’s crimes.

So unless they could drag everyone involved into the mud with them, this was bound to cause serious trouble and a massive headache.

And while letting it go would’ve been the easier option, that just wasn’t possible for them. Not when they had a few interesting theories involving the children.

Oh, and yes, as embarrassing as it was, that was partly why it was best for the kids to rest until they had a better handle on the situation.

Only until then. Because really, they weren’t planning to hide whatever they found. Not when the children deserved to know something that could possibly affect them.

But this wasn’t something they could rush either.

Every detail had to be handled carefully.

After all, this wasn’t just about a single incident anymore. Everyone tied to it would end up representing Riley’s month-long struggle to uncover multiple conspiracies.

"Mom," the black dragon said after a moment, his tone quieter, "the red dragon they caught... is there really a chance it’s him?"

Lady Cirila paused, similarly concerned.

"Ah... that," she said slowly. "Karion and Kael are looking into it right now."

She exhaled lightly before continuing.

"But personally? I think so."

Riley tilted his head slightly. "Really? Did he feel familiar to you?"

"Not exactly," she admitted. "We haven’t interacted as much as I would’ve liked."

Her hand came up, rubbing her arm as she looked away, her thoughts clearly elsewhere.

"But it would explain a lot of things."

She fell silent for a moment before speaking again.

"Based on what his employees mentioned earlier... I can understand why someone trying to protect his family would just disappear like that. If anything, he—well, we—were all just unfortunate victims of something far more sinister."

"So, if we’re right," she added, "then that’s actually good news."

A pause.

"I just don’t know how we’re going to tell Orien."

That was the problem.

They couldn’t say anything yet.

Not without confirmation.

Dropping something like that without certainty would do more harm than good, especially with everything the child had already gone through.

Riley thought about the issue but figured it wasn’t impossible.

"Mom, I think Orien will be able to handle it if we’re right."

The little duckling may be unpredictable at times but when Riley was in the middle of accepting the existence of even more family members, it was that little one who offered a different perspective.

They may argue and Orien may end up throwing the tantrum of a century at one point in time, but a child like that would end up understanding in the end.

"The real issue," he continued, "is making sure we can keep that dragon alive until then."

"Keep the dragon?" she echoed, slightly confused.

Riley nodded.

"Yes, Mom. Because coincidentally, one of the easiest methods to confirm our suspicion just so happens to be a little deadly for that guy."

"Sorry, what?"

"Those dragons who dared pull something like this?" Riley said, his tone steady. "If anyone else had a hand in his disappearance, then the moment they realize Kael isn’t planning to execute him, they’ll come running."

He didn’t hesitate.

Moreover, the idea that someone else might be after that red dragon wasn’t purely speculation. From what they’d gathered, the red dragons hadn’t even bothered looking for Orien’s father when he disappeared.

Of course, most dragons preferred to live in peace and isolation, but even they took pride in the strength of their clans.

They could detest one another all they wanted, but at the end of the day, most clans would fight tooth and nail to at least locate their own, if only to bolster their collective power and influence.

After all, not everyone was like the Dravaryn clan, who didn’t need numbers to compensate for a lack of firepower.

And yet, the dragons of that clan hadn’t even bothered to send out a search party.

In that regard, the dragons were almost too straightforward. If humans could resist dragon fear to any degree, they might’ve been able to wrap these creatures around their fingers with a bit of finesse. Then again, dragons likely saw no need for subtlety when brute force was far more convenient.

Ah, but that kind of thinking was probably how someone like Malrik managed to slip under everyone’s noses.

It was frustrating, and Riley still couldn’t help rolling his eyes every time he thought of him, but there was no rewriting the past. Instead, they should just focus on undoing as much of his mess. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

And fortunately, if the ex-human’s read on the other culprits proved accurate, then—

"They’ll either demand we hand him over, say he should be disciplined by his clan first, or they’ll push Kael to deal with him immediately as the dragon lord."

In short, they would likely make it a point to permanently silence him, especially after learning of Malrik’s disposal.

Riley let out a quiet breath. By now, those guys would have started panicking about the situation.

"And once they feel threatened by any delay, they’d probably start using public sentiment."

Hmm...

"But who says they’re the only ones allowed to play that game?"

"Riley, if they do that then—" Lady Cirila started.

"Mom, I think it’s fine," Riley said, cutting in gently. "The more they insist, the better it wil be for us. That would just give us a reason to pull them into the investigation."

His gaze sharpened.

"And if we dig deeper into the Nest and Malrik’s dealings, I have a feeling we’ll find something that ties them together."

"Malrik?" Lady Cirila frowned. "Do you think he had something to do with Orryn’s disappearance?"

"I’m not entirely sure because I’m aware I may be biased," Riley admitted. "But don’t you find Malrik’s allegedly coincidental involvement in all this odd?"

While it was possible that the crazed lizard fish was out for an entirely different reason, the skeptical pessimist in Riley doubted that Malrik would have anything legal to do with the MBE.

In fact, while the Chancellor ended up targeting the children, that had only been possible because they’d chosen to leave them at the MBE while they infiltrated the Nest. As such, unless he’d devised such a mind-numbing plan, the only explanation was that Malrik had been after something—or someone—else.

Now, that hydra was obviously insane, but to keep up with such a ruse for a long time? Riley would like to think that the Chancellor had more than one functioning brain cell.

Then again, it would’ve been much harder to connect the dots had it not been for the testimonies they received from that red dragon’s employees.

Yep, they actually testified to seeing a similar attacker to the one that managed to injure Orien.

So now, all their speculations suddenly held greater weight. What could’ve passed as a simple coincidence was suddenly impossible to ignore.

With the attendant attacking the red dragon at his human home, how could they not tie this incident to Malrik?

Riley clenched his jaw at Lady Cirila’s question because he too didn’t like the undesirable answer of "no" but that was currently the truth.

"Not yet," he said quietly. "It’s like he vanished."

He looked away for a moment.

"Not yet, Mom. It was as if he vanished from the scene. And the only reason we could attest that there were two assailants was because of all the eyewitnesses as well as Orien’s insistence that it was actually the missing assailant that got to his leg and not Malrik."

Lady Cirila’s expression grew serious.

"But Riley... since that Chancellor is dead, then wouldn’t that mean the attendant could already be dead as well?"

Riley nodded slowly.

"...That’s likely."

Thyrran’s report had already pointed to that. The marked attendants at the Nest had died when Malrik did. It seemed they couldn’t escape the sigil after all.

Still—

The reason why Riley thought it was a shame that the attendant with Malrik ended up dead was because someone bound by that kind of unquestionable loyalty to their owner couldn’t have possibly abandoned their master like that.

Both were in the same scene and Riley dealt with the Chancellor for long enough. And yet the attendant hadn’t shown himself even once after successfully injuring Orien.

The ex-mortal could only come up with a few theories that would bypass the sigil’s typical priorities...

He could’ve died earlier than Malrik’s torture.

He could’ve been taken against the sigil’s will.

Or—

He could’ve been ordered to go somewhere else.

None of those possibilities were good, and Riley knew they had to deal with it as soon as possible. And he swore he was going to do just that...

But first, he needed a hug from his mate.

Then, once he could breathe again, he’d go and unleash hell on all of them.

It was going to be a long night. And as petty as he was, if he had to lose sleep for who knows how long, then all of those villains would have to suffer the same thing.