Royal Secret: I'm a Princess!

"HELSTOR and Callisto de Luca have joined forces," Nikolai said, clenching his hands tight. "Are they planning to drown the world in Absolute Darkness together?"

He found it hard to believe.

After all, Callisto de Luca's goal had always been to rule the continent that Yule governed.

"Callisto de Luca wouldn't let the world drown in Absolute Darkness," he said firmly. "He wouldn't cling to his worthless life this long just to let the entire world die."

He wasn't surprised to hear that Callisto de Luca was still alive.

[He never really died, anyway.]

As a half-god, Callisto de Luca would still survive even without a physical body as long as his Essence was intact. To kill him completely, one had to break his Essence and his physical body at the same time. Obviously, it wasn't an easy task.

When he raided the cult's previous headquarter, he crushed the physical body that the crows were creating to become Callisto de Luca's new shell.

[They probably created a new body for that blasted half-god.]

"Yoan–" Sienna, the Sun Priestess, began to say. But she stopped and shook her head before continuing. "Ruto suspects that Helstor and Callisto de Luca haven't been working together for that long, Your Majesty."

That made sense.

[If Helstor and Callisto de Luca have worked from the beginning, then the crows would have already found Neoma a long time ago.]

"How is Ruston Stroganoff?" he asked. He didn't want to admit this, but he was truly worried about the young man. After all, even now, he still wanted Ruston Stroganoff to be the commander of the White Lion Knights. "He nearly died."

Helstor was a full god.

Callisto de Luca, albeit his lack of a proper physical body, was still a half-god.

Even though Ruston Stroganoff was a strong individual, he could still imagine the young man struggling while facing Helstor and Callisto de Luca at the same time.

"Luckily, Ruto survived since he was immediately treated by Lady Yngrid," the Sun Priestess said. "Lady Yngrid has received the Sun Goddess' healing powers, so she was able to heal the damage caused by a god."

That was a relief to hear.

"Have you told Neoma about what happened to Ruston Stroganoff?"

"Yes, I have, Your Majesty."

It was a surprise that his daughter still went out even after hearing what happened to Ruston Stroganoff.

[Is it because of Hanna?]

Apparently, aside from Jasper Hawthorne, his daughter and Lewis would also meet up with Hanna Quinzel.

If he remembered it correctly, Hanna left the palace after she was summoned by her mother.

[Neoma would probably come back to the palace with Hanna later.]

He was glad to know that Neoma cared about Hanna more than she did about Ruston Stroganoff.

"Your Majesty, I have also come here to inform you about the current state of the Sun Goddess," the Sun Priestess said solemnly. "Her Divine Grace's vision was blocked by Darkness. Unfortunately, it means she couldn't provide us with her visions. In short, we're on our own until Her Divine Grace gets rid of the Darkness hunting her down."

"According to my children, Yule's fake eyes were also stolen. We're in the same boat as you," he said. "We can't rely on our gods' visions from now on. It seems like there's also a civil war among the gods at the moment."

The Sun Priestess nodded in agreement. "Your Majesty, now that we have proof that Darkness is becoming a threat to the world again, we must work closely together now. After all, you and your blood are the representatives of Lord Yule. And we, people of the Cyran Temple, are the representative of the Sun Goddess."

"That, I agree."

"But I have a request, Your Majesty."

"What is it?"

"Please don't overwork our Ruto," Sienna said– no, complained. "Your Majesty, do you know how hard our Ruto has been working just to help your little princess?"

He didn't like the Sun Priestess's tone.

But he didn't like her accusation against his daughter even more.

"If Ruston Stroganoff is overworking himself, then maybe you and the other representatives of the Sun Goddess aren't being much of a help to him," Nikolai scoffed, making the Sun Priestess flustered. But he wasn't done yet. How dare this young lady blame Ruston Stroganoff's suffering on his daughter? "And if there's someone overworking herself to death here, then it would be Neoma– unlike Ruston Stroganoff, my daughter didn't have a choice but to fight for her survival ever since she was born."

***

SIENNA wanted to scream out of frustration. Since she was already standing on the roof of the Light Temple (that she visited to check on the imprisoned Dark Elf), she thought it was the perfect opportunity to vent out.

She was frustrated because Emperor Nikolai was right about everything he had said earlier.

Although both Yoan and Neoma de Moonasterio were suffering because of their holy duties, the latter was never given a chance to run away.

[Moreover, she's a girl. Unlike Yoan who enjoys his male privilege, Neoma de Moonasterio has to fight as a royal princess who's not even registered to the Royal Household. For Neoma de Moonasterio, it's either die while fighting, or die while running away.]

She knew that she shouldn't be comparing Yoan and Neoma de Moonasterio's situation, but she couldn't help it.

[Thus, even though I want to hate Neoma de Moonasterio for real, I can't.]

"You would never win an argument against a de Moonasterio, loser."

She didn't need to turn to know that it was Manu, the psycho, who appeared beside her.

This time, the Moon Priest was in his human form. The last time she saw the psycho, he was a jaguar. Although it was nice to see his handsome face, she didn't enjoy the warm feeling that she would get in her chest every time Manu would show off that face to her.

"Could you turn into your jaguar form if you want to talk to me?" Sienna complained without turning to the Moon Priest. "I feel the urge to scratch your face every time you're in your human form."

Manu scoffed. "Do you hate my face that much?"

No, it was the opposite.

But she'd rather die than admit it and boost his ego.

She was about to insult Manu (as a defense mechanism) when her knees buckled.

The Moon Priest caught her, wrapping his arm around her waist and letting her lean against him.

"You were able to heal the physical wounds caused by Neoma de Moonasterio's attack earlier, but the internal damage that it caused still burns your insides," Manu said, frowning. "Am I right?"

She nodded, since it was no use lying to him. "I know that Neoma de Moonasterio has grown stronger, but I didn't know that she's already this strong."

The lightning bolts that Neoma had returned to her earlier were engulfed with her Moonglow.

And although she had divine power herself, the Moonglow that entered her body when the lightning bolts struck her burned her insides. She had a feeling that Neoma de Moonasterio had no idea of how strong her attack was.

"Neoma de Moonasterio has gone through hell under William's training," the Moon Priest said. "Let me heal you. Since my divine power was a blessing from Lord Yule, the royal princess's Moonglow wouldn't reject it."

She didn't want to stay with Manu for too long, but she couldn't return to the East Continent in this state. "Fine, since you insist."

He just smirked at her.

She knitted her eyebrows when she realized that his usual annoying smirk didn't look annoying this time. "What's wrong? Who pissed you off?"

He looked surprised. "You noticed?"

She nodded, then she smoothened the wrinkle on his forehead with a finger. "What made you upset?"

"The de Moonasterios and their sheer arrogance."

"Understandable."

Manu let out a chuckle at her response, but he immediately turned serious. "They chose the thorny path instead of letting the new saint be born the natural way."

"Ah, that sucks," Sienna said sympathetically. "Should we have a drink together?"

***

"DID YOU have a lovers' quarrel with Ruston Stroganoff or something?"

"Jasper oppa, Ruto and I aren't lovers," Neoma said firmly, then she let out an angry puff. She called Ruto in Jasper oppa's office earlier, so the young duke heard everything. "But yes, we fought. That stubborn punk likes me too much."

Jasper Hawthorne, who was sitting behind the mahogany desk, laughed out loud.

He was free to act that way because at the moment, she and Jasper oppa was in his office, the one in the information guild that he owned. Of course, that space was safe for them to talk freely.

Jasper oppa looked relaxed, too. He wore casual clothes, but he still looked like the perfect noble that he was.

[Gosh, oppa is so handsome.]

The youngest duke in the empire was already eighteen-years-old, and he grew up really well. He was tall, lean, and very handsome. She didn't want to say this to someone younger than her (well, not physically, of course), but the young duke looked sexy as well.

[His tan skin is just... chef's kiss.]

"Princess Neoma, it seems like the feeling is mutual between you and Ruston Stroganoff," Jasper oppa said when he was done laughing. "It's a shame."

"Why is it a shame?"

Jasper oppa smiled at her playfully. "I was about to ask Miss Neoma Ramsay to marry me, you know?"

Neoma was aghast. "Jasper oppa, I'll call the FBI on you."

***

NOTE: Hi! It will be my birthday soon (May 23rd) and I launched a project where I will release side stories featuring how the characters here celebrated their birthday. Episode 1 features Neoma and Nero's fourth birthday.

Find out how Neoma used her scamming skills (at age 4!) to get Nero a birthday present.

Warning: Annoying Neoma who talks in the third person is back. Haha!

Link here: ko-fi.com/post/EPISODE-1-NEOMA-NEROS-4TH-BIRTHDAY-Q5Q2CRWRQ

If the link doesn't work or shows up because of censorship, please head over to ko-fi page and look for my account: sola_cola. Thank you!

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Hi. You may now send GIFTs to our Neoma. Thank you~

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