Ronin suddenly remembered something else.
When he had transmigrated, the manga had already reached chapter 410. Chapter 401 had dropped a critical piece of information.
Beyond Netero had left more than a few illegitimate children in Kakin. One of them had even slipped into the ranks of the fourteen princes.
The key that made it possible was a single ironclad rule of the Kakin royal family: lèse-majesté.
Any act that showed contempt for the royal bloodline was punishable by death. In earlier centuries even a low-ranking official offering unsolicited advice, or a commoner daring to look a royal in the eye, could be executed. Even after the country adopted the outward trappings of democracy, anything connected to the royal family—contraception, abortion, paternity testing—was still treated as a direct attack on the prosperity of the bloodline. The sentence remained the same: immediate death.
That law had given Beyond the perfect opening to place one of his own children among the princes.
So who had given birth to Beyond's child, and which of the fourteen was it?
From pure appearance, Ronin still leaned toward the Fourth Prince. The First and Ninth looked like carbon copies of Unma, while the Fourth's features and raw talent carried a strong resemblance to the Netero line.
But was it really that clean?
What if the Ninth Prince was Beyond's child—and Unma's as well?
The possibilities were getting interesting.
The idea of Beyond walking into another man's house, sleeping with his wife right under his nose, then dropping the resulting child into the succession fight for the family fortune was almost admirable in its sheer audacity. According to the original timeline, Beyond had gone even further. He had left behind several cursed beings specifically to tilt the Succession Contest in his child's favor.
The man had turned the concept of "bloodline" into a long-term weapons program.
If every piece of the plan succeeded, the Hui Guo Rou family would hand Kakin over to the Netero line without ever realizing it. A perfect, multi-decade usurpation.
But Ronin was here now. If he simply killed the Fourth Prince, would the entire scheme collapse? By face and by talent, the Fourth still felt like the strongest match for Netero blood.
Then again, the Ninth had already shown remarkable ability, and the power he would awaken during the Contest was anything but ordinary.
None of this future knowledge could be shared with Kurapika. Ronin had to reason it out alone, and the deeper he went the more the political waters of Kakin felt thick and poisoned.
The Phantom Troupe matter was set aside for the moment. According to Kurapika, even if the Troupe was present, tracking them would still take time.
The assassination attempts stopped.
Kakin tightened security across the board. The princes sharply reduced their public movements. The capital settled into a tense, watchful quiet, as if the entire city was waiting for the next strike before it would allow itself to breathe again.
Ronin used the pause to take Shizuku and Neon around the city. They sampled local specialties, walked the scenic districts, and bought whatever caught their eye. During those days he also picked up a piece of secondary news.
Kakin was actively recruiting biology specialists. The official reason was a survey and cataloguing of certain dangerous species inside the country's borders.
Ronin thought of Kite.
Kite had taken exactly that kind of job and eventually discovered the Camping Tigers. Ronin, however, was no biologist and had zero experience tracking large fauna. He left the work alone.
The easy days lasted a little more than a week.
Kakin poured manpower into identifying the assassin. Later they even hired professional Hunters. Nothing turned up. The attacker had vanished as cleanly as if he had never existed.
A little over a month later the public tension finally eased. The princes resumed limited activity. The outer atmosphere relaxed, but the inner security remained tight. They were clearly waiting for the killer to reappear.
Ronin was watching the new composition of the princes' escorts.
More ability users had been added. Some came from the royal army—exactly the same directed, sensing-type specialists he had already encountered. Others were professional Hunters.
Ronin decided to become one of the latter.
He walked in with his legitimate Hunter License and applied for a bodyguard position under the Third Prince.
Jolai was still alive.
He retained no memory of actually dying—only the knowledge that an assassination attempt had occurred. Before Ronin was allowed near him, a new sensing-type specialist delivered a clear warning: Nen was not to be mentioned or demonstrated in the prince's presence.
Ronin agreed without argument. He was operating under his official Hunter identity; reckless moves would only create unnecessary trouble.
He already had a plan, though. He intended to force Jolai to notice Nen despite the tight cordon around him, then watch how the specialists responded once the secret was compromised.
The Fourth Prince had not hired any professional Hunters. His security detail had simply grown larger—probably because he had been the first target.
Ronin confirmed that detail with a shadow clone. The clone did not attack and did not wear Deidara's face. It simply walked into the Fourth Prince's hotel in plain sight, took a seat in the lobby, and waited. At the proper hour the prince appeared. Hotel security immediately locked onto the uninvited guest, which also meant the prince's personal detail already knew he was there.
When the clone spotted the new sensing-type standing near Tserriednich, the man only glanced at him for a second before looking away.
The number of Nen users around the Fourth Prince had clearly increased.
One of them stood out.
A man covered in large tattoos. He was only using Ten, yet the pressure he gave off was sharp and predatory. When his eyes settled on the clone, the gaze felt less like a person evaluating another person and more like a merchant examining merchandise. There was no recognition of life in that stare—only indifference and faint distaste.
The Dongba face Ronin had chosen for the clone clearly failed to impress him.