Royal Secret: I'm a Princess!

DAHLIA, who was bundled up in a thick and warm blanket, sat on the floor while facing the fireplace in Prince Nero's temporary residence in Hazelden Kingdom's Royal Palace.

Oh, she also had a mug of hot chocolate in her hands.

The king had already returned to the main palace, but the Fletcher Twins remained guarding the prince. Thankfully, the intimidating twins gave them privacy and guarded outside.

"You're a Black Witch– can't you do something to keep yourself warm?" Prince Nero, who was sitting in a rocking chair behind her, scolded her. "I haven't met another Black Witch aside from you, but I'm sure they didn't get a cold as you did for staying in a cave unprepared."

Dahlia bit her lower lip to stop herself from crying. She was sensitive, and she really didn't enjoy getting scolded. But she also didn't want to cry in front of the prince again, so she held her tears back. "I didn't have a choice, Prince Nero," she said defensively while blowing on the hot surface of her drink. "I could only use the minimum of my power or else the Fletcher Twins would have noticed my presence."

"You're not a criminal, so why are you hiding from them?"

"Because I'm trying to procrastinate, Your Royal Highness," she confessed, then she carefully sipped her hot chocolate before she talked again. "I thought as long as you haven't found me yet, I could delay doing my job."

"And what job is that?"

"To nurse Your Royal Highness back to health–" she trailed off, then she gasped and gently slapped her big mouth. [Why did I say that?]

It became even more awkward when she didn't hear a response from Prince Nero.

[Did he fall asleep on me?]

She slowly turned around to see if the Crown Prince had fallen asleep because he suddenly went dead silent.

But she was surprised to see the huge wolf with two tails sleeping beside Prince Nero.

[It's so cute!]

She wanted to rub the wolf's belly, but she was afraid of its owner.

When she slowly raised her head to check on Prince Nero, she was quite surprised to meet his confused eyes.

"Uhm, the S-Stars would often give me a t-task that would help the de Moonasterios defeat the D-Darkness that's slowly turning into a threat again," she explained awkwardly. "I'm simply f-following the Stars' o-order, Prince Nero. It's not like I w-want to take c-care of you…"

Prince Nero glared at her. "What will you do if I tell you to go back?"

She flinched and slowly avoided his gaze. "I w-won't. I'll just h-hide again and come out if I figured you needed me."

He let out a frustrated sigh. "Dahlia, listen to me–"

"I'm not your wife, so why would I follow your order?"

Oh.

She shouldn't have snapped like that.

Now the Crown Prince looked shocked.

It was too late for her to stop, though. The way Prince Nero spoke like she must follow his every word reminded her of the awful memories she had with him in their past lives.

"Your Royal Highness also remembers his past life, so you must know that nothing good came out of you ordering me around all the time," she said, her hands clenched.

Since she was upset, she finally stopped stuttering.

She was crying internally, though. After all, she hated confrontations. She'd probably cry herself to sleep later. Like she said before, facing the de Moonasterios head-on was a scary thing– for real. It took her all the courage she got to talk back to Prince Nero.

"Your Royal Highness should listen to me this time," she said bravely, but her heart was beating fast and loud against her chest. And thank goodness she was sitting! If not, her knees would have already buckled because her body was trembling– from fear and not from the cold! "And stop giving meaning to my words and actions. Your Royal Highness is being too conscious of me because of your overthinking."

He looked offended by her implication. "Excuse me?"

Her cheeks burned from embarrassment, but she carried on with her rant. "I'm aware that Your Royal Highness is treating me bad because you wanted me to stay away from you," she said, then she patted her chest when she felt suffocated. "I wanted to stay away from you too, Prince Nero. Let's be real. Not everyone could put up with a de Moonasterio's awful personality."

Prince Nero looked like he couldn't believe her.

She shut her eyes tight and continued with her complaints. At least now, she could complain with all her might without having to see the Crown Prince's scary reaction.

[Here goes nothing…]

"I don't want to be your wife in this lifetime, so please be rest assured that I will never fall in love with you again!"

"Did you love me in your first life?"

What kind of question was that?

The "Crown Princess Dahlia" in her memories was so in love with Prince Nero that she gave up her bloodline to be with him.

It was Prince Nero who didn't reciprocate her feelings.

"I did, Your Royal Highness," she said, then she slowly opened her eyes. "But the Prince Nero in my memories didn't love me back. He just wanted to own me for my power. Thus, I was always crying then …"

"That's not true," the Crown Prince said firmly. "The Dahlia in my memories didn't love me back– and her cold treatment drove me insane."

Huh???

"I don't know what Your Royal Highness is talking about," Dahlia said, confused. "I'm pretty sure that the Dahlia in my memories was a neglected wife…"

"And the Nero in my memories was a weak bastard who went insane because of a broken heart," Prince Nero said, and he looked as confused as she was. "Dahlia, one of us must have false memories of the events that transpired in the past."

***

<"YOU CAN'T save her!">

<"Your princess is destined to live and die for us– again and again!">

<"It's a cycle that not even you could break, so stop wasting your time fighting us!">

<"You already lost her once, it would be easier this time, so just let go of her!">

<"Your princess is just paying the price for her ancestors' mistake– they are the reason why the air in our world has been corrupted!">

"Shut up," Ruto, who was standing in the middle of a room where the walls, the ceiling, and even the floor were "decorated" by hundreds of glowing red eyes glaring at him, said. Then he clenched his hands tight. "Shut up and let me save her this time!"

His Mana exploded when he yelled.

The powerful force that shot up from different parts of his body hit some of the glowing red eyes on the ceiling, the floor, and the walls until those orbs were crying blood.

It was followed by the wailing of the gods, who continued cursing him literally.

"Ruto!"

Ruto opened his eyes and got up while clutching his chest and catching his breath.

It was another nightmare– the nightmare that began when he fell into a deep slumber three years ago. Since his mind, soul, and body were in a weakened state back then, the gods who cursed him found their way to torture him mentally by appearing in his dreams.

He fought them again and again, and it went on for years.

Even now that he was already awake, the memories of the hellish days still haunted him. Thus, he hadn't gotten a decent sleep yet ever since he opened his eyes.

That was the reason why he never let Neoma enter his dreams.

[I don't want Neoma to see those holy pests.]

"Did you have a bad dream again?"

He raised his head to see Sienna, the Sun Priestess in her human form, handing him a glass of water.

"Thank you," Ruto said, then he drank the water. "And thank you for waking me up."

Sienna let out a frustrated sigh. "You should return to Cyran Temple and stay there until the Sun Goddess gets rid of your nightmares."

"I don't have the luxury to do that, Sienna."

Frustrated crossed the Sun Priestess's eyes. "The crow that you're hunting down this time is dangerous, Ruto."

"I know, but I can handle it."

"Ruto–"

"I need to go," he said, then he stood up. "I'm meeting the Devil today."

"The fake Arche de Moonasterio?" Sienna asked with furrowed eyebrows. "I thought you two already agreed to not meet each other again?"

"It's not actually the Devil that I'm meeting," Ruto confessed, then he let out a sigh. To be honest, he dreaded the confrontation that he was about to have with that person later. "I really don't want to ask Princess Nichole about the time she might have given birth to the Masterpiece."

***

<"HOW WAS school, my dear Masterpiece?">

"I made awesome friends, Your Excellency," Calyx said excitedly while sitting on the railing of the balcony of his bedroom. His Excellency, in the form of a crow with a metallic voice, was beside him. "The fake Crown Prince and Hanna Quinzel are both interesting."

<"I'm glad that you made friends,"> His Excellency said. <"They didn't bully you, did they?">

"We just teased each other a little," he said, grinning. "I can't wait to play with them again."

<"Before you play with the fake Crown Prince and Hanna Quinzel again, you have to play hide-and-seek with an uninvited guest first.">

His eyes widened with excitement. "I have a new playmate?"

<"Yes, my dear Masterpiece. Apparently, this uninvited guest has trespassed into one of our territories– and it just happens to be near our current hideout.">

He laughed and clapped his hands. "He must be good at playing hide-and-seek!"

<"You actually know him, too.">

"Really?" he asked excitedly. "Who is it then?"

<"The boy with purple hair,"> His Excellency said. <"The one who cut off Regina's hand.">

That monster…

Calyx's smile instantly vanished, his fake eye color turning into glowing red when anger rose in his chest. "I'll kill him," he declared coldly. "I will never forgive anyone who hurts my precious family members."

***

NEOMA would need to apologize to her Papa Boss later.

After all, her father's beautiful garden blew up after she threw the dragon egg toward it.

In her defense, she didn't have a choice.

While she was having a funny conversation with her father about the 'Muffin Thing,' the dragon egg suddenly vibrated while the cracks spread fast all over the shell. She just knew right away that it was time for the egg to hatch…

… and Tteokbokki would come out with a bang– literally.

She contained the explosion by putting a Dome over the entire garden. Thus, no innocent people were hurt. But the garden was wrecked. But she hadn't seen the full damage yet because when the egg exploded, a thick smoke covered it.

[I can feel Tteokbokki's aura now, and I can also see his silhouette behind the thick smoke...]

And god, her Soul Beast was making angry dragon noises!

"I'm sorry for the damage, Papa Boss," Neoma said to her father, who was standing behind her. "I didn't expect that there would be an explosion once the egg hatched."

"Don't worry about the garden, Neoma– you must worry about your own Dome first," her Papa Boss said sternly. But her father didn't sound mad. She could detect the concern in his voice, in fact. "Is your Dome stretchable?"

She was confused by her father's question at first.

But when the smoke that obscured her vision earlier disappeared, she finally got a clear view of her Soul Beast.

Tteokbokki was slowly getting bigger and bigger…

"Eottoke," Neoma said worriedly when Tteokbokki's "growth spurt" didn't show any sign of stopping. "I didn't expect an adult dragon to be this big..."

[Can I tame Tteokbokki in that form?]

***

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***

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