Royal Secret: I'm a Princess!

"YOU CREATED the cult, Lord Yule?" Neoma asked, now wary of the god. "Are you saying that you're the one who started the cruel tradition of killing off the female royals born in our family? Right in front of my salad?"

Yule looked confused by her last statement. But like what his father would often do every time she would speak 'nonsense,' the god decided to ignore it. "The cult didn't start as a cult, Ne-Ne."

Okay, that calmed her down a little. "Carry on, my lord."

The god let out a deep sigh before he continued. "I used to be an obnoxious god who was so proud of his bloodline, Ne-Ne."

"Uh-huh," she said while nodding her head. "Let me guess. You also used to be a misogynistic pig. Thus, the group that you built has no respect for princesses."

"I can't deny that," he said, embarrassed after being called out bluntly. "But when I built the Crown, it was never my intention to kill off the royal princesses born in the Royal Family."

"The 'Crown?'"

"That used to be the name of the cult that you know now," he explained. "The Crown is a group of the Royal Faction that used to support the Royal Family in the shadows."

"In the shadows?"  she asked with a raised brow. "Does it mean that the Crown was a group that did the dirty works for the Royal Family in the past?"

"That's correct," the god said while nodding his head thoughtfully. "Assassination, invasion of other lands, purging of nobles who opposed the Royal Family– they did all of that, and many more unspeakable acts. Back then, I believed that the Crown was just doing that to make the Royal Family the strongest in the whole continent. After all, Altalune is mine."

'Altalune' was the name of their continent.

She almost forgot about it because they rarely mentioned the continent's name. Plus, the names of the continents in her head right now were the seven continents from her second life.

I think I almost never think of the official name of the Royal Capital. Is it Auberon?

"But the Crown's main job was to choose the best heir to the throne," the god continued. "They would raise the Crown Prince and guide him until he becomes an emperor."

Ah, right.

The law of the empire states that only male heirs could succeed the throne.

"But one day, a very strong and competent royal princess was born," Yule continued in a sad, bitter voice. But the bitterness seemed to be directed at himself and not the royal princess in his story. "Her name was Aruna de Moonasterio."

"Aruna?" she asked with furrowed brows. "I have memorized all the names of the past emperors, royal princes, and royal princesses in the history of our family. But I'm pretty sure that there's no 'Aruna de Moonasterio' in the history books that I've read, my lord."

"The late Princess Aruna was purposely erased from the history books," the god said seriously. "Princess Aruna was the twin sister of Emperor Arche."

"Oh. I know Emperor Arche," she said. "He's dubbed as the 'worst monarch' in history. And it wasn't because he was bad or violent. Apparently, he was just really incompetent as a ruler. No wonder his reign only lasted for five years."

"Emperor Arche was also incompetent as a Crown Prince," the god said while shaking his head as if he was frustrated. "During his time as a prince, his incompetence was even more obvious because of his bright and brilliant twin sister. Thus, the wise and just Emperor Armando, decided to declare Princess Aruna the Crown Princess."

She gasped when she heard that. "Did Emperor Armando try to change the laws, Lord Yule?"

"That, he did," he confirmed. "Emperor Armando loved Empress Leticia very much. Thanks to his wife's good influence, he became a decent man who would treat women equally. Thus, he easily acknowledged Princess Aruna's skills and potential. But the Crown didn't like that." He smiled a heartbroken smile. "They killed Emperor Armando, Empress Leticia, and Princess Aruna to give the throne to the then-Prince Arche."

She opened her eyes wide at the god. "And you allowed that to happen?"

"Whether you believed it or not, I did everything I could to stop Callisto de Luca from murdering the current Royal Family of that time."

"Callisto de Luca?" she asked, remembering where she heard that name before. "There's a Callisto Hall in the Royal Palace…"

"The Callisto Hall was named after Callisto de Luca," he explained. "And Callisto de Luca was the first head of the Crown." He paused before he continued. "He was also my half-brother."

She almost choked on her saliva after hearing that.

"Callisto was my father's son with a mortal woman," Yule said. "He was half-immortal. Thus, he lived a long life and raised several Crown Princes when he was still alive."

She clicked her tongue in annoyance. "And killed a lot of royal princesses?"

He smiled bitterly before he spoke again. "Callisto was a cunning man. He just didn't kill Princess Aruna. He also made sure to change the public's opinion about accepting a Crown Princess."

"What did he do?"

"He was the one who created the 'prophecy' that a woman would lead the empire to ruins."

"What a scumbag."

"Callisto also managed to get away from killing Princess Aruna by exposing Empress Leticia's hidden bloodline," he said. "Empress Leticia came from the lineage of a notorious black witch of that time. Thus, it was easy for Callisto to make Princess Aruna's supporters turn their backs on her and support Prince Arche instead."

"But they were twins," she insisted, confused. "If Princess Aruna had the blood of a black witch, then Prince Arche would have inherited it as well."

"Apparently, only female children inherit the blood of a black witch."

She let out a frustrated sigh.

"Before Callisto killed Princess Aruna, the royal princess cursed him," the god said. "I wasn't there so I didn't know what Princess Aruna's exact words back then. But according to Callisto, Princess Aruna swore that a female de Moonasterion princess would be born someday to destroy the empire that the Crown glorifies so much."

She smiled, liking Princess Aruna's curse. "That sounds good."

He just smiled at her. "That was how the 'prophecy' spread."

"You didn't punish Callisto de Luca the first time he killed a royal princess, Lord Yule?"

Yule suddenly looked embarrassed for getting called out. "I turned a blind eye to Callisto's unspeakable act against Princess Aruna and her parents after my brother promised that he'd change."

"But he didn't change, did he?"

"He didn't," he said, then he looked down at the tea in his hand. "I'm ashamed to admit this but it took me a while before I came back to my senses. After losing someone very important to me because of Callisto's cruelty again, only then did I finally wake up. It was too late though. Callisto betrayed me and tried to kill me first using a sword that could slay gods."

"How did he get a hold of a weapon like that?"

He frowned. "It was personally given to him by our father."

Once again, she clicked her tongue. "You have a dysfunctional family, my lord. Not that I have the right to criticize you since my family is just as crazy."

"Well, you have my blood."

"Ah, that's true."

He just smiled before he continued with his story. "When I was on the verge of dying, Callisto stole my eyes."

Morbid.

"But before he could escape, I managed to kill him," he said. "Unfortunately, Callisto's successor got away with my eyes."

She clicked her tongue again.

"After killing my own brother with my hands, I cried for a long time," Yule said with a bitter smile on his face. "Anyway, when I calmed down during that time, my father summoned me back to the Upper World. He punished me for killing his beloved mortal son."

"Huh? You were the one who was punished even though that bastard Callisto de Luca deserved it?"

"My father has his favorites."

She wanted to curse but she was interrupted when the god spoke again.

"My father locked me up and forced me to enter a deep slumber for a long time," he continued with his story again. "I just awakened when Nichole and Nikolai were born. That was also when I found out that the Crown is still active. But it was no longer known as the 'Crown.' By the time that I woke up, it has already become a cult led by the 'Crow.' When they killed Princess Nichole, I found out that the leader of the Crow was a de Luca, a direct descendant of Callisto. My brother had several children back then that I failed to kill because my father forced me to return to the Upper World."

"'Was?'"

"Nikolai killed the leader of the Crow that killed Nichole," he explained. "And apparently, the whole cult was wiped out. Thus, I was surprised when you mentioned the cult before."

"Lord Yule, I thought you know that this already my third life."

"Oh, I know that," he said casually. "But I don't know what happened during your first and second life. If we didn't meet back then, I wouldn't have memories of your past lives. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the Yule in your first life is another version of myself in that world."

That sounded like the concept of parallel worlds.

"Anyway, now that you've heard my story, I want to know if you're going to accept my terms," Yule said seriously. "I will return you to your normal state if you do three things for me: steal back my eyes, destroy the cult, and become an empress."

"Then, I will ask for two more things," she said. "You already heard my first condition: I will only become an empress for a limited time." She raised two fingers. "My second condition is for you to bless Nero. I don't want him to be controlled by the devil again."

"I can do that before I go back to sleep," Yule said while nodding thoughtfully. "And your last condition?"

Neoma smiled sweetly at him. "Please give me a holy weapon."

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