Royal Secret: I'm a Princess!

<In the neighborhood of the Hazelden Kingdom's common people…>

***

THE PEOPLE of the Hazelden Kingdom were strongly advised by Princess Brigitte to stay at home while Prince Nero purified the Royal Capital.

But most of them, the common people, in particular, couldn't help but open their windows to watch and talk among themselves. After all, their curiosity about the handsome young Crown Prince of the empire outweighed their fear.

"Will the empire's young Crown Prince really bury the Royal Capital in snow?" a mother asked while poking her head outside the window, just like her neighbors. "Are we going to be safe?"

"I'm worried, too," an old man, who was sticking his head outside the window too, said. "The empire's Crown Prince is still a foreigner. Moreover, the Royal Family of our kingdom betrayed the empire. How would we know we're not being punished?"

"What if the empire's Crown Prince is lying about the Darkness that supposedly corrupted our kingdom?" a young man, brave enough to actually stand outside his house, asked.

That got people talking aloud.

Princess Brigitte announced a few days ago that King Landon and their kingdom's Crown Prince worked with dangerous people who brought Darkness to the kingdom. Apparently, the Darkness almost killed all the living things in the snowy mountain.

Aside from that, the Darkness was said to also latch onto some areas in the Royal Capital. Thus, the empire's young Crown Prince needed to purify it.

"If we can't trust the empire's Crown Prince, then let's trust our own Princess Brigitte," a young lady, who was sitting on the windowsill while looking up at the sky. This girl was known in the kingdom as Princess Brigitte's admirer. "We all know Princess Brigitte is more deserving than Prince Blake to inherit the throne."

The older folks gasped and scolded the young lady.

But the younger generation nodded and agreed with her. Thus, a small argument among the common people began.

It was stopped when the ground suddenly shook hard.

Then a loud roar in the sky followed.

Everyone immediately looked up at the sky to see what was happening, and everyone was shocked when they saw the avalanche. A mass of snow, ice, and rocks fell rapidly down the mountainside. But the people soon realized something wasn't right.

It was true that the avalanche was happening.

But the fallen mass of snow, ice, and rocks soon floated in the sky as if they were being carried by a strong gush of wind.

Now a huge shadow cast over them.

If that amount of avalanche was dropped abruptly, the Royal Capital would definitely be buried under it. Half of Hazelden Kingdom would disappear from the map, and thousands of people would die for sure.

Of course, that scared everyone who saw the avalanche floating right above them.

<"Everyone, how are you?">

It was the voice of a young boy amplified by magic in order to be heard loud and clear.

Perhaps…

A collective gasp was heard when the floating avalanche was split, as if giving way to a very important person.

And there he was.

The people of Hazelden Kingdom were in awe when they saw the young Crown Prince riding on a huge wolf with two tails. And the wolf was "walking" in the air.

"That's the empire's Crown Prince?"

"His Royal Highness is the most beautiful child I've ever seen in my life…"

"Even the young Crown Prince's wolf looks majestic!"

Upon the appearance of the empire's young Crown Prince, the people of Hazelden had temporarily forgotten their fear. Everyone was now focused on the beautiful prince riding on a majestic wolf walking in the air.

It wasn't like the people of Hazelden all had sharp eyes.

They could clearly see the young Crown Prince because of the transparent tablet floating in the sky. It was a video recording device focused on the young prince. Thus, the people could watch his movements even without using a magical device to see things from afar.

<"Hi! I am Nero de Moonasterio, the empire's Crown Prince,"> the young prince introduced himself causally and cheerfully, as if he was talking to his friends. But he didn't sound rude. He actually sounded warm and friendly– a far cry from how the Royal Family of their kingdom, aside from Princess Brigitte, talked to their people. <"I know that everything is scaring you at the moment, so I feel bad that I have to ask everyone to please hang in there.">

A collective gasp was once again heard.

The empire's Crown Prince apologized to people of a foreign country?

That was unbelievable.

The Moonasterion Empire was the biggest and the strongest territory in the whole West Continent. And the Crown Prince of that empire just apologized to them!

<"I believe Princess Brigitte already explained to you that there were areas in the Royal Capital corrupted by Darkness,"> the young prince continued talking to them in a warm yet clear voice– a voice commanding them to give all their attention to the speaker. <"Darkness isn't inherently evil. But once Darkness is instilled with malice that threatens the safety of innocent people, then we must purify it. And that's exactly what I'm about to do.">

At that point, everyone was already calm.

There was something about the young Crown Prince's soothing voice that put everyone at ease. Even though the young prince was a foreigner, the people of Hazelden Kingdom felt like they could put their faith in him.

The concern in the Crown Prince's ash-gray eyes seemed to be genuine.

<"In a few moments, the Mana bombs that we installed all over the Royal Capital will explode,"> the young prince said carefully. He was talking about something scary, and yet, he remained calm. Thus, the people listening to him also remained collected. <"We needed to bomb the areas infected by Darkness in order to make the substance come out. But don't worry too much. We created a device that would silence the explosion, so you may all stay at home comfortably. We have to apologize in advance, though. We couldn't do anything about the earthquake that would follow the explosions.">

Aside from the young Crown Prince's soothing voice, the people of Hazelden Kingdom also noticed that he kept saying 'we.'

The young prince wasn't taking all the credit for himself.

Now the respect that the people of Hazelden Kingdom had for the young Crown Prince increased tenfold.

<"The explosions will definitely damage a lot of properties, but I swear on my life that none of you would get hurt. So once again, please hang in there for a little while,"> the young Crown Prince promised, and everyone easily placed their trust in him. <"Once all of this is over, I will treat you all to a barbecue party.">

Barbecue party?

What did it mean?

Now everyone was confused– confused but curious, to be precise.

The smile on the young Crown Prince's pretty face was so bright everyone got excited even though they weren't sure what a "barbecue party" was. But the excitement of the young prince's face was enough to make the people of Hazelden Kingdom look forward to it.

<"Everyone, we will get through this together,"> Prince Nero encouraged them brightly. Then he raised a fist in the air. <"Fighting!">

It was a strange word said in an unfamiliar accent.

Nobody understood what Prince Nero meant by "fighting," but everyone cheered for the empire's young but gallant Crown Prince, anyway.

"Long live, Prince Nero!"

***

NEOMA smirked when she realized most of the explosions came from the high-end area of the Royal Capital.

It was where the nobles lived.

Some parts of the slum also exploded, though. But her people assured her that they had evacuated the citizens of the affected areas safely. There were also Hazelden Knights (those who were loyal to Princess Brigitte) roaming around with proper defense magic to make sure no one was lurking into the areas deemed as 'danger zones' for that operation.

"It's coming out," Delwyn, in the form of an ice wolf, said after the "live broadcast" ended. He was now free to talk after she turned off the communication device she used earlier. "The Darkness is emerging from the areas we bombed."

"Let's purify it now before it scatters," Neoma said seriously, then she moved her shoulders. Just like that, her purple rose wings appeared on her back. "Let it snow!"

The avalanche floating above fell down to the areas where the Darkness substance came out.

Of course, that avalanche– with the help of Delwyn and the Snow Spirit's power– contained purifying magic that could cleanse the Darkness buried under it.

But it wasn't enough, since the substance already began to scatter in the air.

Thus, Neoma ordered the Snow Spirit to make it snow. Then she mixed her Roseheart Blood with the falling snow in order to strengthen its purification element. As a result, the snow that covered the entire kingdom that way was red.

It didn't look gory, though.

<For the people of Hazelden Kingdom, the image of the young Crown Prince using his blood as the purple roses in his wings faded one by one would be forever etched in their minds. The young prince purified the Darkness that almost swallowed up the kingdom. And, as His Royal Highness promised, none of the innocent citizens was hurt in the process.>

***

WILLIAM smiled bitterly when he finally arrived at the place he didn't want to see again, but he had to in order to make a contract with Neoma de Moonasterio.

[I'm back, brothers.]

By 'brother,' he meant the male Rosehearts that were killed by the de Moonasterios in order to turn them into Soul Beasts.

After all, he was in their graveyard.

And the bones of the male Rosehearts who died that time were scattered around him.

"I apologize in advance, brothers," William said as he clenched his hands tight. "I need to use your remains in order to create a miracle for a de Moonasterio."

***

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