Royal Secret: I'm a Princess!

NEOMA was tired.

The meeting with Count and Countess Wisteria looked longer than expected. It seemed like her Papa Boss noticed she wasn't in a good mood, so he told her to attend to her other duties. But she didn't have any other schedule for today. Thus, she realized it was her father's way of telling her to rest.

[I guess it's fine since they don't need me there anymore.]

Her Papa Boss and Count Kyle Sprouse were the ones in charge of preparing the necessary documents, anyway. The Crown Prince didn't have the authority to build something like a hospital. It was still within the emperor's power to do so.

"Welcome back, Your Royal Highness."

She smiled and waved at Alphen, the head butler, who greeted her when she entered her office. Just because her schedule was clear today didn't mean she didn't have work left to do.

Since Alphen was already here and Stephanie would come later to serve refreshments for her, she dismissed the servants and the royal knights that accompanied her to her palace. Her personal knights (aka her children) were in a meeting of their own.

But…

"My office seems quiet," Neoma said when she sat behind her desk. "Where are my children?"

Her children asked for her permission earlier to visit Xion in the underground prison.

But that was hours ago. Lewis wouldn't leave her unprotected for too long even if they were in the palace. So the fact that Lewis wasn't here yet was making her worry.

"Your Royal Highness, I'm actually here to report the situation."

"What situation?"

"Your Royal Highness's personal knights blew up the underground prison earlier…"

She almost choked on her saliva when she heard Alphen's report. "Why in the world did those brats blow up the underground prison?" She gasped when a thought crossed her mind. "They didn't kill Mr. Xion, did they?"

"Thankfully, it wasn't like that," Alphen said while chuckling. "According to Sir Skelton's report, Lewis and Mr. Trevor fought."

Her eyes opened wide. "Trevor is here?"

[Why did that demon provoke my son again?]

"Yes, Your Royal Highness," the head butler said. "But Mr. Trevor disappeared when Sir Skelton and Dame Audley arrived at the basement prison."

[If it's Trevor, he'll appear later to see me.]

"What happened to the other children?"

"The other prisoners escaped when the underground prison blew up," Alphen explained. "Lewis, Young Lady Juri, and Young Lord Jeno helped Sir Skelton and Dame Audley to catch them. On the other hand, little Greko was summoned by Healing Sage Marcus because the patient, Lady Avery, woke up earlier."

"Oh. Lady Avery is already awake?"

"The young lady fell asleep again, Your Royal Highness."

"Ah, I see."

"Sir Skelton dropped by Your Royal Highness's office earlier to inform you he'd be bringing Lewis, Young Lady Juri, and Young Lord Jeno with him and Dame Audley to the other basement cell to transfer the prisoners as punishment," Alphen said. "Sir Skelton also said that this incident is big, so Your Royal Highness must punish the children."

She let out a sigh.

Her children weren't official knights yet. But Dion Skelton was correct. She must punish the kids for blowing up the underground prison or else they would accuse her of giving her children preferential treatment.

"Alright, I'll think of a punishment," she said.

But in her mind, she already decided to make the children do community service as punishment.

She was about to tell Alphen to summon Greko when she felt it.

"Alphen, go and tell Stephanie to prepare refreshments for another person," Neoma said, then she leaned against her chair and turned to the window. "You're here?"

Trevor, who was sneakily entering his office through the window, smiled at her. "I've missed you, my Moon Princess."

***

"DID SOMETHING happen to Nero?" Neoma asked Trevor while watching the demon sip his tea elegantly. She ignored the grotesque bookworm attached to his back. "You wouldn't have come here just to see my face, right?"

"Princess Neoma, don't underestimate my feelings for you," Trevor, who was sitting comfortably on the couch across from her, said while smiling. "I'll risk everything just to see you."

She just rolled her eyes.

Only the two of them were left in her office, and her office was protected by strong soundproof barrier magic so they could talk freely.

"Prince Nero is safe," the demon assured her. "He's treated like a king in the Spirit World, you know?"

"That's a relief to hear," she said, then she sipped her tea.

"Prince Nero sent me here to deliver a message to you," he said. "He recorded a video of himself."

She put her teacup down on the table quietly. "Then it must be important," she said seriously. "Nero wouldn't have sent you here personally if he just wanted to say he misses me."

"That's right."

She reached out a hand to him. "Give me."

"What?"

"Nero's recorded message."

"I don't want to?"

"Do you want to die?"

Trevor laughed as if he was having a good time pissing her off. "You're going to kick me back to the Spirit World as soon as I deliver Prince Nero's message to you, so I won't give it to yet."

"Are you crazy? If that's urgent–"

"It's not urgent."

She glared at him. "You watched the video?"

"I helped Prince Nero record it," he said proudly. "Moreover, have you forgotten that I'm the Devil's Grimoire?" He jabbed a thumb to the bookworm. "This guy reads and copies the knowledge of the surrounding people, so Prince Nero can't keep a secret from me anyway."

"You can only do that because Nero isn't aware of how the bookworm works," she said with a huff. "Your bookworm can't read my mind now that I'm aware of how it works, right?"

[I'm telling Nero your ability as soon as I talk to my twin.]

"That, and because you've grown stronger," the demon said while clapping his hands. "Princess Neoma, I'm so proud of you. You turned your overflowing Mana into a barrier that doesn't deactivate even when you fall asleep or unconscious. Is that something that you learned from the former saint, too?"

"No, it's something that I came up with on my own," she said casually. "I thought it's a waste to just let my Mana overflow like that, so why not create something useful from it? Since I'm only using the excess Mana from my Core, it doesn't take a toll on my body."

"That's great."

"Not really?" she said with a shrug. "I mean, it's not that powerful compared to the barriers that Mr. Zavaroni taught me?" She gestured to her body. To be precise, she gestured to the thin layer of barrier around her. "This will break if someone in the level of a Paladin attacks me."

"My Moon Princess, for someone arrogant, you sometimes belittle yourself and your ability."

"It's not like that," she denied. "I'm saying this because I'm not satisfied with the barrier I created on my own. I intend to strengthen it in the future. If there's one thing I learned from all the anime and comics I consumed back in my second life, it's "a good defense is the best offense.""

The demon laughed. "That sounds great."

"I know, right?"

"So, what made you upset?"

"I'm not upset."

"Oh, come on," Trevor said while giving her a calculating gaze. "Your mind is all over the place, my Moon Princess. See? You didn't kill me for calling you 'Moon Princess.' Moreover, you didn't even ask why Lewis and I fought earlier. If you were your usual self, you would have punched me as soon as you saw me for fighting your son."

She clicked her tongue. "We rarely see each other, so how come you know me like the back of your hand?"

"Power of love?"

"Eww."

"Let me guess," Trevor said playfully. "Did the cheeky royal chef dump you?"

"I wasn't dumped!" she denied strongly, her eyes wide open and her fists clenched tight. "Why would I get dumped in the first place when my relationship with Ruto isn't like that, anyway? How did you even come up to that conclusion, huh?"

"Ah, I was here earlier when I was looking for you," the demon explained. "And you know they named the Bookworm like that because it enjoys reading, right? So, the Bookworm just happened to see an interesting letter in the trash can–"

She stood up and grabbed Trevor's collar. "You read Ruto's letter?"

"You shouldn't have thrown it if it was supposed to be a secret, my Moon Princess."

She couldn't refute that, so she just let go of his collar and sat back on her seat. "You're so annoying, Trevor."

He just laughed. "Did his letter upset you?"

"It wasn't from Ruto," she said firmly. "I'm sure he was just forced to write it or something. There's no way the Ruto I know will do that to me."

Too bad she couldn't contact Ruto to confront him.

[But I know he didn't write it from the bottom of his heart.]

"Princess Neoma, can I diss you?"

"Sure, if you want to die."

"The problem with you is you trust the people you like too much," Trevor said, ignoring her warning. "Of course, it's nice that you trust your allies. But you shouldn't have blind faith in them."

She wanted to snarl at Trevor but she couldn't.

[He… he has a point?]

"Just because someone is good to you doesn't mean they're good to other people as well," Trevor said seriously. "Of course, I'm not saying that you should easily believe what others say about the people you cherish. But it doesn't hurt to keep those opinions in mind."

She didn't want to admit this, but Trevor made sense.

"It especially applies to your relationship with that damned royal chef," the demon continued. This time, he sounded like he was whining. "You don't know him much, so why are you so firm in your belief that he won't dump you?"

"He didn't dump me, okay?"

"Whatever," he said with a shrug. "But Princess Neoma, you should have a conscience."

"What do you mean by that?"

"That damned royal chef is like, thirteen years old?" Trevor asked while grinning, then he tilted his head to one side. "You're mentally a grandma, so if you go after a minor, it makes you a pedo–"

"I'm not in that kind of relationship with Ruto, you blasted demon," Neoma said, then she stood up while cracking her knuckles. "Let's go to the training ground and spar, huh?"

***

"DID YOU finally kill Trevor?"

Neoma groaned at her Papa Boss' question, then she sat on the bed.

She was going to sleep in her father's room again because they had more important things to discuss. And aside from his office, her Papa Boss' bedroom was the safest place to openly talk.

[Anyway…]

After her spar with Trevor, she went to her palace to take a bath. Stephanie dressed her in pajamas, then the head maid and Alphen (along with some royal knights) escorted him to the Yule Palace.

"I didn't kill Trevor," Neoma said in a tired voice, then she lay down on her side, propped herself with an elbow, and placed her cheek on her palm while watching her father who was sitting on the other side of the bed. "We just sparred, Papa Boss. I wanted to beat him to a pulp, but as expected, I couldn't. He acts like a clown but he's strong."

She actually enjoyed her spar with Trevor.

The two of them decided to fight without using weapons and Mana. She thought she'd dominate the fight because of her natural physical strength. But much to her shock, Trevor could keep up with her stamina.

"Well, he was personally trained by the Devil himself," her Papa Boss said without even looking up at her because he was reading a book. "I already told you, didn't I? The real Devil turned out to be Arche de Moonasterio. He may have been known as an incompetent emperor. But as a de Moonasterio, he also possessed monstrous strength when he was still alive. He must have passed down some of his techniques to the demon boy."

"Uh-huh," she agreed, then she changed the topic. "Papa Boss, since our ancestor turns out to be the Devil…"

"Yeah?"

"Could it be the reason I have an affinity with the demons?" she asked carefully. "Is that the reason I have demonic power in me?"

"If that's the case, then Nero and I should have gotten the same power as you do," her father said, then he closed the book to turn to her. "Neoma, I believe you're special. But I'm actually afraid to dig deeper because if people find out that you have demonic power, forget about being accepted as the royal princess– the empire wouldn't accept you as a citizen."

"But it's not my fault that I'm born this way, Papa Boss," she said firmly. "It will be hard to conceal my demonic power since the Hellgate comes out every time I kill someone."

"Endure it in the meantime, Neoma," her father said apologetically. "I'm thinking of reconnecting to Nichole soon."

She beamed at that. "You'll reconcile with Aunt Nichole, Papa Boss?"

"I don't know about reconciliation," her Papa Boss said vaguely. "But I intend to work with Nichole for your sake."

She smiled, satisfied with that in the meantime. "Baby steps, Papa Boss."

Of course, her Papa Boss ignored her teasing. "How does it feel to kill a minor god?"

She let out a sigh while shaking her head. "It didn't feel good, Papa Boss. If only I could stop him by simply locking him up, it would be great. But at that moment, I had a feeling that he wouldn't stop until he literally took all my breath away."

"To kill or be killed," her father said while nodding his head. "Don't feel too bad, Neoma. It's normal in this world to kill before you get killed. I know that you've experienced living a peaceful life in the past. But now that you're back as a de Moonasterio, you can't live in peace as long as you have power."

"I know that, Papa Boss," she said. "That's why I intend to work hard now, then live like a lady of leisure later." She got up when she remembered something that she should have realized sooner. "Papa Boss, regarding our contract, you tricked me before!"

"I tricked you?"

"I forgot for a moment because it has been years since I lived like a lady of this world," she said. "Back when I asked you to fulfill my three wishes, you promised you'll give me a duchess title. But the empire doesn't allow women to inherit noble titles. You signed the contract because you know that one of my wishes is impossible to attain, don't you?"

"I know at the time that your wish to become a duchess is impossible," her Papa Boss admitted. "But I didn't correct you because even then, I already decided to change the law in order for women and commoners to receive noble titles."

"Really, Papa Boss?"

Her father nodded. "Maybe deep in my heart, despite losing some of my memories, I didn't forget my promise to Mona– the promise to protect our daughters. Back then, we still didn't know that Nero would be born a boy, so we worried that our daughter would live miserably as princesses in an empire that looks down on women."

She couldn't say anything as the emotions playing on her father's face at the moment overwhelmed her.

[Papa Boss still loves Mama Boss…]

"But even before that, we already worried about you, Neoma," her Papa Boss said. "After all, your mother received a vision where she saw your grim future."

"My grim future?"

"The gods plan to turn you into an Aether."

She gasped because that was exactly what Lord Redgrave, the minor god that she killed, said to her. But confusion quickly replaced her shock when she realized something. "Papa Boss, why do you talk like your missing memories have returned?"

"I retrieved them, indeed," her father said. "I remember most of them now, Neoma. From what went wrong with my relationship with Mona…" He paused for a moment before he continued. "Up to how Gavin Quinzel played a part in destroying it."

It shocked Neoma to hear that from her Papa Boss. "Appa destroyed your relationship with Mama Boss?"

"Yes, Gavin Quinzel did that," her Papa Boss said, then he smiled sadly at her. "But I guess it will be hard for you to believe me, Neoma."

***

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