Royal Secret: I'm a Princess!

"I WILL destroy the empire's disgusting system for all the oppressed female de Moonasterio in history."

Nichole was quite taken aback by what Neoma said.

To be honest, she never thought of that before.

She wanted to destroy the empire to punish all the people that hurt him. But it wasn't really for the other female de Moonasterios that had been oppressed by the empire's system that heavily favored men.

Her biggest reason for putting Neoma on the throne was only to spite her twin brother who obviously cared more about Nero than his daughter. Of course, she genuinely cared for her niece and she didn't want Neoma to go through the terrible experience that she had.

And yet, she would admit that she only cared about revenge for herself and not for the other female de Moonasterio that probably had the same experience as her.

[Neoma is really a precious existence.]

"My dear niece, I still won't hesitate to kill the people that have hurt me in the past even if they happen to be your people now," Nichole said with a gentle smile. Yet, her voice was firm. "Therefore, please heed my advice: be wise when choosing your allies."

"Did I make a mistake, Aunt Nichole?" Neoma asked hesitantly, a tone that didn't suit a confident (borderline arrogant) girl that she was. "Did I make a mistake when I trusted Madam Hammock?"

"Only you can answer that," she said, then she bent her knees to meet her niece's eye level. "But you said earlier that Madam Hammock was good to you. I can't blame you for trusting her."

Maybe Madam Hammock had changed during her absence.

Perhaps, her death brought back the madam's empathy.

But to be honest, she didn't care anymore. She just took back what the madam had taken from her. Unlike what Neoma thought, it wasn't only her divine power that Madam Hammock had stolen from her in the past. But she would spare her niece the heartbreak.

[Neoma seems to be very fond of Madam Hammock. Although my resentment towards the madam is still strong, I still don't want my niece to know the whole truth. It's enough for Neoma to know that Madam Hammock betrayed and hurt me in the past.]

"Is there anyone else in the palace that I need to be wary with, Aunt Nichole?"

"Are you going to trust me if I give you names?"

"Not right away," her niece said. "I would still need to observe them and make my own conclusions."

Ah, her precious niece was so lovable that she couldn't help but smile.

[I can't believe that she's Nikolai's daughter.]

"I've already taken care of the suspicious people in the palace before," she told Neoma. "But there's one that I want you to keep in check, Neoma."

"Who is it, Aunt Nichole?"

"Count Kyle Sprouse."

Her niece clicked her tongue and now, she had an annoyed look on her face. "I knew it. Count Sprouse is mean to me, Aunt Nichole. Is he a traitor?"

"Kyle Sprouse is not a traitor," she said because after investigating the count, she came up with the conclusion that he was very loyal and faithful to Nikolai. But that was the problem. "Kyle Sprouse is too loyal and too faithful not just to my brother, but to the rotten system of the empire as well. Because of that, he developed a prejudice against female de Moonasterios." She gently caressed her niece's face. "Don't let your guard down around Kyle Sprouse. He may be loyal to your father. But I'm sure that he'd be the one to sacrifice you if he has to for the sake of the empire."

"You bet, Aunt Nichole," the royal princess said, then she paused for a moment before she spoke again. "I can trust Sir Glenn, can't I?"

She chuckled while nodding. "Don't worry about Sir Glenn. He's loyal to Nikolai but he is different from Kyle Sprouse. He has a kind heart."

After she was rescued by the White Lion Knights headed by Gavin Quinzel, only Sir Glenn cried and begged for her forgiveness for being too late.

But even before that, Sir Glenn had always been kind and gentle to her.

[In fact, Sir Glenn acted more of a brother to me than Nikolai ever did.]

Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt the presence of her despicable twin brother.

She wasn't the only one who felt it since Nikolai obviously announced his arrival by releasing his tremendous Mana. Neoma, Lewis Crevan, and Dominic all turned in his direction.

"As expected, you're here," Nikolai said while speaking directly at her. "Just what kind of unholy things are you teaching my daughter, Nichole?"

She smirked and stood up to face her twin brother. "Nothing much, Nikolai," she said. "I just taught my dear niece the "unholy things" that I experienced when I was abducted by the cult. After all, I don't want the same thing to happen to her."

Her twin brother had the audacity to glare at her.

"Are you ashamed?" she asked, mocking Nikolai on purpose. "Are you ashamed to have a filthy twin sister like me, Nikolai?"

Dominic gently held and squeezed her hand.

She squeezed his hand back.

[Don't worry, Dominic. I've long stopped thinking that about myself. I'm just saying this to taunt Nikolai.]

"Don't bring up the past, Nichole," Nikolai said coldly. "I'm not asking about that."

"Why do you think that Aunt Nichole is teaching me "unholy things," Papa Boss?" Neoma confronted Nikolai in a cold and stern voice. "While I'm aware of the evil things that my aunt committed while acting as the Devil's representative, I can't entirely blame here. Have you ever asked yourself why Aunt Nichole has become the person that she is now?"

"Don't be naïve, Neoma," Nikolai scolded his daughter sternly. "Not everyone who went through that same experience chooses to become a Devil's servant."

"Papa Boss!"

Hah.

Just what did she expect from her twin brother?

"Your Majesty, please be careful with your words," Dominic warned coldly. "Do you even know what exactly Princess Nichole went through?"

Nikolai turned to Dominic, briefly lowered his gaze to look at the former saint's hand holding hers, before raising his head once again. "Did you betray your god to hold Nichole's hand, Your Holiness?"

"Yes, I did, Your Majesty," Dominic said cheerfully. "Thus, you don't have to address me with the saint's title anymore."

"Then die, Dominic Zavaroni."

She was surprised by the quick yet strong ball of energy that Nikolai threw at Dominic.

[Nikolai, you really have a bad temper!]

She and Dominic moved to create a quick yet (hopefully) sturdy barrier but they soon realized that they didn't need to do that.

Neoma created one for them and it was strong enough to deflect Nikolai's attack.

[Impressive.]

"Go," Neoma said softly when she turned to her and Dominic. "Please be happy together, Aunt Nichole and Mr. Macaroni."

She was confused why her dear niece called Dominic "Mr. Macaroni."

But Dominic laughed merrily, so maybe it was a private joke between the two.

[I'll ask Dominic later.]

"Thank you, Neoma," Nichole said while starting a teleportation spell with Dominic. Since she worked with the former saint for quite some time, it was easy for them to be on the same wavelength. Thus, she didn't need to specifically say what kind of teleportation spell she was doing because he recognized it right away. "I don't regret taking the life of one of your people, but I do regret hurting you, my precious niece."

"I also apologize for hurting Lady Juri Wisteria," Dominic said to Neoma. "Please extend my apology to the young lady." He smiled sadly at the royal princess. "And I'm sorry for disappointing you, Princess Neoma."

"I have no moral ascendency over any of you," Neoma said with a sad smile on her face. "See you later in hell, Aunt Nichole and Mr. Macaroni."

***

"IT SEEMS like you've managed to suppress your Lunacy, Neoma," her Papa Boss said in a stern and disapproving voice. "But why are you acting like you've lost your mind? Why did you protect Nichole and the former saint?"

"Perhaps, I did lose my mind," Neoma said with a bitter smile on her face. "How do you expect me to stay sane after everything that I've learned in a single night, Papa Boss? The children in the camp aren't just physically and mentally abused– some of them were also sexually assaulted."

"Is that why you killed everyone related to the camp?"

Based on the tone that her Papa Boss used, it seemed like he didn't agree with her decision.

It was so different from when Ruto and her appa praised her. Although she knew that committing mass murder wasn't praiseworthy, she was consoled by the fact that Ruto and her appa didn't hate her.

But her Papa Boss would obviously scold her.

"You didn't have to taint your hands, Neoma," her Papa Boss scolded her as expected. "You could have apprehended the criminal and brought them to the capital first. They would have been sentenced to death anyway. So why did you have to open a new Hellgate just for those scums?"

"Because I thought killing them wasn't enough," she said firmly. "I opened a new Hellgate exclusively for those scums to make sure that they'd suffer even in the afterlife."

"That's not how a Crown Prince should behave, Neoma."

"But I'm not Nero and I'm not the Crown Prince of the empire!" she snapped at her father. "I told you, Papa Boss. I'm going to be the first empress regnant. From now on, I will fulfill my duty as the Crown Princess and not my twin brother's mere substitute."

"Neoma–"

"Papa Boss, do you know what happened to my Aunt Nichole?" she said, purposely and rudely cutting off her father mid-sentence.

"I will not discuss Nichole's history with you, Neoma."

She clenched her fists while glaring at her father's stoic face. It seemed like his mind wouldn't change. Therefore, she brought up another topic that she wanted to confront her father with. "Then, answer this instead, Papa Boss," she said, giving her father one last chance to redeem himself in her eyes. "Is it true that our Soul Beasts were humans before?"

The shocked look on her Papa Boss's face already confirmed her thoughts.

"To be precise, are the Soul Beasts created from the lives of the male Rosehearts that the de Moonasterios of the past killed to gain more power?"

His father's jaw clenched before he spoke. "Who told you that?"

"It's not important to know, is it?" she retorted. "Papa Boss, how could you turn a blind eye to the awful things that the Royal Family has tolerated all this time?"

"Because I'm the emperor, and it's my duty to carry all the sins of the Royal Family," he said sternly. "If you truly want to be the first empress regnant of the empire, then you must be prepared to carry the same burden as I do, Neoma."

"I won't carry the sins of the Royal Family," she said firmly. "I will atone for it."

Her father scoffed. "You should worry about how you'll steal the throne from your brother first."

Why was her father so detestable tonight?

The things coming out of Papa Boss were either hurtful or frustrating.

"Papa Boss, I've gone through a lot tonight," she said in a hurt voice that seemed to have taken her father aback. "Is it too much for you to ask me how I've been first? Can't you act like a decent father for once? Can't you be more like–"

"Like your "appa?""

This time, it was her turn to be shocked.

"I met Gavin Quinzel a while ago," her Papa Boss said. "It was already a huge shock to see that bastard still alive. But then, he suddenly claimed that you're his daughter and he's your "appa." Apparently, that strange word means 'father' in a language that doesn't seem to exist on this land."

She was rendered speechless and confused.

[Appa, why would you reveal that to Papa Boss?]

"Cat got your tongue, Neoma?" her father asked while approaching her. "It's my turn to ask questions," he said in a chilly tone. Then, he stood in front of her while glaring at her with his glowing red eyes. "How did Gavin Quinzel become your "appa?""

For the first time in a long while, she feared her father.

It wasn't like she was afraid that he'd hurt or kill her. But the emperor's tremendous Mana scared her. It was as if his Mana was telling her that she didn't deserve to breathe the same air as her father. That compared to His Majesty, she was nothing but an insignificant existence.

[I can't breathe…]

She was distracted when she heard a hissing sound behind her.

Ah, she almost forgot that Lewis was with her at that moment.

She was only reminded by that fact when all of a sudden, Lewis appeared in front of her in a protective stance while hissing at her Papa Boss.

Neoma wanted to stop Lewis because she knew that her father would lash out on her son.

But she just had to faint at that moment.

[Goddammit.]

***

NIKOLAI knocked the impudent young fox unconscious as he walked past him to catch Neoma, who suddenly lost consciousness, hit the ground.

He didn't mean to knock her daughter out with the uncontrolled ooze of his Mana.

Although he didn't want to admit this, he would always lose his control when it comes to Gavin Quinzel. Moreover, the confusion as to how Neoma was related to the former commander made him feel agitated.

[I'm sorry, Neoma.]

He pulled his daughter closer to her as he stood up.

[I should have taken care of you first before scolding you.]

Ah, no.

He shouldn't have scolded her in the first place.

Nero, when he was only a toddler, had killed several people in the palace. But instead of scolding his son, he even praised him. And yet, why did he react differently when he heard that Neoma committed mass murder?

[It's normal for royal family members to abuse their authority, especially if needed.]

But why didn't he want Neoma to taint her hands with blood?

Now, because of that, he once again earned his daughter's wrath.

[I should have said I'm proud of you for staying sane despite of everything that has happened tonight. I should have said that I'm proud of her for sticking to her own brand of justice. I should have said I'm proud of her…]

But if he said it now, Neoma wouldn't believe him because it would sound as if he just wanted to pacify her.

He lost the chance to make his daughter realize that he was proud to be his father.

Nikolai took a deep breath, then he closed his eyes and hugged Neoma closer to his body. "I've fucked up again," he whispered under his breath. He rarely cursed because of his strict upbringing. But right now, those were the only right words to describe his misery. "Please don't hate me, Neoma…"

***

"I DIDN'T expect you to bring home your man, Nichole."

Nichole smiled at the Devil's light teasing.

They had returned home after the long and tiring night that they spent "on the surface."

Right now, she and the Devil were in the balcony of the mansion. The view wasn't that much appealing because all they could see was a garden of black and poisonous flowers. The sky was eternally red, and so was the moon.

On the other hand, Dominic Zavaroni was being escorted by Gin to a guest room that he may use. There were a lot of things that she and the former saint needed to figure out first. But for now, they needed a good rest.

[But the Devil summoned me here.]

"I can't leave Dominic alone. Not after he turned his back on his god for me," Nichole said softly. "Please let him stay with us."

"I'm not saying that I'm going to kick him out," the Devil said. "I'm just happy that you finally had the courage to bring him to your new world."

"I actually didn't want to," she complained lightly. But of course, deep in her heart, she was happy to be with Dominic finally. "Dominic is a person of light and I belong to the darkness now. But he still chose to be with me."

Yes, she was being too cheesy.

But she was happy so she didn't care anymore.

"Congratulations, Nichole," the Devil greeted her cheerfully. "You beat his god."

She couldn't help but laugh softly.

Then, she turned serious.

"I wish you find your true happiness soon," Nichole said softly. "How long do you intend to use your twin brother's appearance, Princess Aruna de Moonasterio?"

***

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