Royal Secret: I'm a Princess!

402 SCAMMER TRIO ORIGINS (6)

"IS THE "Crown Prince" raised as a thief?"

Paige Avery maintained her polite smile while listening to the insulting words coming out of High Priest Dave Wellington's mouth.

She was Princess Neoma's Light Mage, so she had to be careful when dealing with the important figures in the empire. Unfortunately, the High Priest was one of the "VIPs" that she had to be patient with in order to help Her Royal Highness gain power.

[I must be patient. I must be patient. I must be patient.]

High Priest Dave Wellington wouldn't be in that position longer, anyway.

The thought that she had gathered some solid evidence to prove the High Priest's corruption was enough for her to calm down.

"And I can't believe cunning people like you are working for the Crown Prince," High Priest Wellington continued with his complaints while looking around the weaponry room.

To be precise, it was the hidden weaponry room in the prayer room that only the former saint Dominic Zavaroni could use. It looked like the stolen weapons were transferred to that room when the former saint disappeared.

[The High Priest probably thought we wouldn't dare to step foot in the former saint's room.]

But to her, Princess Neoma's order was absolute. She didn't care if she had to break the rules of Astello Temple. Moreover, the emperor himself was backing them up. So why would she be scared of the corrupted High Priest?

"You used the opportunity to raid the temple while me, along with the Holy Knights and the other priests, were still recovering from being poisoned by Darkness," the High Priest continued with his complaints. "You sent some of the weapons to the empire without my permission. And now you sealed the remaining weapons here!"

Everything the High Priest said was true.

Some of the weapons, the high-grade ones, were sent by Dion Skelton to the empire.

Then she sealed the remaining weapons using a spell she created. Only she and the people she allowed could unlock the glass case where the weapons were sealed.

"As the High Priest of Astello Temple, I won't allow the empire to trample on us like this!" His Eminence said angrily, his face now red from frustration. "I will file a formal complaint against His Majesty–"

"It seems like Your Eminence has recovered well," Paige said, cutting the High Priest off with a smile on her face. She couldn't stand being yelled at by the High Priest anymore, so she decided to speak up. But of course, she tried to keep her cool. "I won't stop Your Eminence from filing a complaint. But since you seem to be in good health now, I hope you don't mind answering my questions."

The High Priest didn't know yet, but she actually found some hidden "treasure" in the temple that they could use against His Eminence. Those treasures were hidden well.

Since Astello Temple was known to accept refugees of war, it had a huge underground shelter. Some of the rooms were used to hide Holy Relics– Holy Relics that shouldn't be in Valmento.

Ah, of course, they had to blow up the doors in order to open the rooms.

[But we promise to fix it since the shelter is important.]

"Are you saying you want to investigate me?" the High Priest asked in disbelief. "Who gave you the right to do that?"

"His Royal Highness Prince Nero, the Crown Prince of the Great Moonasterion Empire."

"We both know the current "Crown Prince" isn't the real one," the High Priest snapped at her.

"What does it matter?" she asked, still using polite tone. "A de Moonasterio is still a de Moonasterio."

The High Priest scoffed. "A female de Moonasterio holds no real power."

[Oh, dear.]

Her patience snapped, so her smile became "sweeter."

"If Your Eminence wants to talk about power, then let's talk about it," she said with a sickeningly sweet smile on her face. "Your Eminence, you're currently the most powerful man in Valmento since you're the temporary head of Astello Temple."

The High Priest had the audacity to look smug.

[I'm not praising you, old fool.]

"So, pray tell me, why is Your Eminence still greedy for more power?"

High Priest Wellington looked surprised by her question. "Whatever do you mean by that?"

"Your Eminence serves Lord Yule, the Moon God," she said. Although she was still smiling, the High Priest should notice the coldness in her eyes by now. "Your Eminence shouldn't concern yourself with Holy Relics that belong to another god."

The arrogant look on the High Priest's face disappeared, and it was actually replaced by nervousness.

"While looking for the stolen weapons that Your Eminence hid, we also accidentally found the Holy Relics that belong to the Cyran Temple of the East Continent," she said sternly. "We also found the contracts of the stolen weapons that you also sold to other parties. But instead of money, Your Eminence received Holy Relics as payment."

At this point, the High Priest looked pale as if he was about to faint anytime.

To be honest, Paige and her companions found the Holy Relics and the receipts quite too easily. It was as if someone else already arranged it for them to find the dirt that could give them the power to remove the High Priest from his position.

[It looks like the crows weren't lying when they said they're giving Valmento the the "Crown Prince" as a birthday present.]

"We already sent the report about this to His Majesty, along with the Holy Relics and the receipts," she continued. "But don't worry, we won't reveal it to the public yet."

The fact that the Astello Temple was almost swallowed up by Darkness was already enough to make the people angry. If the High Priest's corruption was revealed at the same time, the backlash that the empire would receive would increase tenfold.

[But of course, Princess Neoma gets to decide what to do next.]

"It's not a crime to collect Holy Relics," High Priest Wellington said in a weak voice. "And even if I got them in exchange of the weapons in our artillery, I don't see the problem. Like I've been saying from the start, we consider those weapons the compensation we got from the empire after Valmento was attacked by the rebels."

She just smiled and nodded. "Your Eminence can say those things to the Crown Prince later," she said, then she bowed to him before she walked towards the door.

Ah, right.

She remembered something important, so she stopped and turned around to face the still pale High Priest.

"Your Eminence, this may be impudent of me, but allow me to give you a piece of advice."

High Priest Wellington knitted his eyebrows, but kept his mouth shut.

"Be careful of counterfeits," Paige said gently, her smile as sweet as ever. "The real Holy Relics from the East Continent were stolen by a little thief more than fifty years ago."

She should know.

After all, Paige Avery was the "little thief" who stole the Divine Items and the Holy Relics from the East Continent's Cyran Temple.

***

JASPER HAWTHORNE, as the youngest duke of the Moonasterion Empire, was officially tasked by Emperor Nikolai to investigate the Holy Knight called 'Bram' that turned out to be a crow executive.

Because Bram de Luca infiltrated the Holy Knights, he had requested an "interview" with Henrik Benedict as soon as the captain of the Holy Knights recovered.

["Sir Bram passed all the requirements needed to become a Holy Knight. Despite his poor background, we accepted him because of the impressive amount of divine energy," Henrik Benedict said in his statement. ["But since he was still the lowest in rank, we would often send him to help the priests with their errands. One of Sir Bram's previous tasks was helping the priests purify the water we drink."]

Water.

That was how Bram managed to poison everyone in Astello Temple with Darkness.

He didn't know how Bram de Luca did it, but he mixed liquified Darkness with drinking water used by the people in the temple. Despite being people blessed with divine energy, everyone in the temple was still poisoned. It was a huge feat.

[And a big embarrassment for the temple.]

"That ends my report, Your Majesty," Jasper, who was alone in the temporary office he was using in the temple, said. He was talking to the emperor using the communication device in his ear. It was a device made by Paige Avery, so he was confident that the line was safe. "How should we proceed?"

<"It seems like the Holy Knights were also deceived by Bram de Luca,"> Emperor Nikolai said, who was speaking on the other line, said. <"But we can't let our guard down. Investigate each one of them to make sure Bram de Luca didn't have an accomplice left in the temple.">

"As you wish, Your Majesty."

<"Have Neoma arrived safely at Valmento?">

"Yes, Your Majesty. But…"

<"But what?"> Emperor Nikolai asked impatiently. <"Did something happen, Jasper Hawthorne?">

"Nothing major happened, Your Majesty," Jasper said hesitantly, then he gathered the courage to speak his mind. "It's just that Princess Neoma is very exhausted, and she's chugging an unhealthy amount of energy potions ever since she arrived here."

***

FOR NEOMA, "adopting" Paige Avery as her child was one of the best decisions she made in her life.

Her Light Mage had done several wonderful stuff for her, but the energy potion was the best so far. She was a de Moonasterio, so she was born with a strong stamina. Thus, she had never felt so weak that she needed to take energy potions.

[Not until now, that is.]

She only asked Paige to make her an energy potion that tasted okay. But the Mage went beyond her expectations.

"This tastes like grape juice, and grape juice is my favorite," Neoma said after slurping her 13th vial of energy potion. She was sitting (actually, she was almost lying down) on the sofa. After she arrived at Valmento, Paige brought her to the tea room. "You're the best, Paige."

Paige, who was sitting on the chair across from her, smiled awkwardly. "Princess Neoma, please take it easy," she said. She was free to address her that way because the room was protected by her soundproof magic. "Your Royal Highness seems to be low in divine energy, which is unusual since you're always overflowing with Moonglow."

"Ah, I must have spent a huge amount of my Moonglow after I purified a huge part of Hazelden's Royal Capital."

Paige looked at her with eyes filled of worry. "I wish Sir Skelton was here so I could transfer some of his divine energy to you, Princess Neoma."

"Nah, I'll be fine," she assured the Mage. Then she turned to Lewis who was quietly standing next to her. "Lewis, you must be tired as well. Have some energy potions, too."

"I have some left," Paige offered immediately. "What flavor do you want, Lewis?"

"I'm fine–"

"You're not fine," she said, cutting off her "son." "Lewis, have some energy potions. That's an order."

Lewis was left with no choice but to nod politely, then he turned to Paige. "Lady Avery, I'll take any flavor but grapes since Princess Neoma likes it."

Oh.

That was kinda touching.

Paige smiled warmly at Lewis. "You really care about Princess Neoma, Lewis."

Lewis avoided the mage's gaze, but they already saw his face turn red.

She laughed softly at her "son's" reaction, but something came up.

Then she sat up straight when she sensed a familiar hostility directed at her. "I feel a great disturbance in the force."

"You're speaking nonsense again, Neoma de Moonasterio."

It was William.

The Grand Spirit appeared in front of her– easily breaking the barrier that Paige created. The mage, as well as Lewis, didn't look pleased about it.

[Well, it can't be helped since William is stronger than them.]

"Follow me," William told her, his body turning translucent. "We'll create a miracle, Neoma de Moonasterio."

Neoma stood up and nodded. "Sure, Uncle Scumbag."