Royal Secret: I'm a Princess!

"I WON'T tell you anything about my former master."

Nero clicked his tongue at Zeru, the ice phoenix.

The Soul Beast was back in his human form, and he was acting like a little shi…

[No, I shouldn't curse.]

He would rather pull out his sword and cut the throat of the person annoying him than cuss. But it wasn't like he could kill his own Soul Beast.

"Zeru, Arche de Moonasterio is known as the most incompetent emperor in history," Nero said while swinging the sword he made from Zeru's ice. But since his body hadn't completely healed yet, he was taking it easy by simply practicing his swings. It was like a good exercise on his part. "Are you okay with that? Don't you want to change how the empire sees your beloved former master?

"My former master would never wish to change what is written in the history books."

"Why not?"

"Because if the truth gets revealed, Master Arche's brightness would dull Princess Aruna's."

"Princess Aruna is known as the brighter twin," he said. "Was that not the case?"

"Well, Princess Aruna was a great person. Smart, strong, morally upright. She could be immature sometimes, but she was young back then, so I guess that was normal to act stupid," Zeru said while tilting his head to one side as if he was reminiscing the past. "But my Master Arche was on a different level. He was always one step ahead of his twin sister. Princess Aruna knew that very well, so she became more competitive. Thanks to that, she eventually saw Master Arche as an enemy instead of her twin brother."

"Tell me more about it," he said, then he stopped swinging his ice sword to face Zeru properly. "What's the real history between Arche and Aruna de Moonasterio?"

Zeru shook his head. "I'm not telling you."

He gripped his ice sword tighter as his eyes turned glowing red. Needless to say, he was tempted to slash his Soul Beast's neck. Just like any other de Moonasterio, he had a nasty temper. And his first solution to any minor inconveniences was violence.

But he couldn't kill his Soul Beast.

After all, Neoma liked pretty things.

[Neoma is mesmerized by Zeru in his ice phoenix form. If I kill him, my twin sister would be sad. I must hold back for Neoma's sake.]

"Prince Nero, you're looking at me like you want to kill me," the Soul Beast said in a teasing voice. "Look, your eyes have even turned red."

"Yes, I want to cut your throat so badly."

"All because I didn't want to answer your question?"

"I believe you need some beating to get it into your head that I'm your new master now, so you'd stop yapping about my dead ancestor," he said indifferently, then he tilted his head to one side. "Luckily for you, my sister took a liking to your bird form. She likes pretty things, so I won't kill you. But…"

Zeru raised an eyebrow at him. "But what?"

He smiled the smile that he had been practicing all this time.

It was the same smile that Neoma would give to their subjects. His precious twin sister created an amiable image as a Crown Prince, so he would practice smiling in front of the mirror if he had free time.

"Zeru, I can't kill you, but I can cut your tongue off," he warned his Soul Beast, smiling. "You're not using your tongue to tell me the things I want to hear, so I should just cut it off since it's useless, right?"

"Are you serious?"

He just smiled at his Soul Beast.

But unlike Neoma's smile, that was warm and comforting, it seemed like his smile appeared as cold and threatening.

After all, Zeru took a step back with a frightened expression.

"You're crazy," Zeru said, his body turning into an ice sculpture. "You're only nice to your twin sister!"

When Zeru's human form turned into a complete ice statue, it suddenly melted and turned into a puddle of water.

The Soul Beast escaped, but it didn't matter to him.

[Hmm… so aside from ice, I could control water as well if I train Zeru well.]

He could probably make Zeru share all his skills with him, since it was the Soul Beast's job to share his power with him. But he had a feeling he couldn't make Zeru talk regarding the true history between Arche and Aruna de Moonasterio.

Not without violence, at least.

[It seems like Arche de Moonasterio romanticized the part of history related to Aruna de Moonasterio in order to make his twin sister shine more than him.]

He was curious about it, so...

"I should just leave it to Neoma," Nero whispered to himself. "She could probably scam Zeru and make him talk without shedding blood."

***

"DAHLIA, you did well," Mona said after tasting the tea that Dahlia brewed using the flowers that she provided. "The Frozen Flowers that I received from the snow fairies are usually harmful to humans. If consumed raw, your insides would literally freeze. Only people like us could brew these flowers safely."

By "people like them," she meant people accepted by Nature.

Black Witches weren't inherently evil. It was only the de Moonasterios who accused their coven of ridiculous crimes. But, unfortunately, those accusations led to a bloodbath. When the Black Witches fought back, the de Moonasterios and the clans supporting the Royal Family at the time worked together to hunt the Black Witches down.

A few households, including the Rosehearts, provided support for the Black Witches.

But that part of history was erased, so not even Mona knew exactly what happened back then. Her predecessors never talked about the Black Witches in order to protect the coven. Their household acted like the Black Witches never existed, so the de Moonasterios wouldn't look for them anymore.

"Thank you, Lady Roseheart," Dahlia said shyly, her cheeks red. "Thank you for teaching me how to brew rare flowers."

Mona and Dahlia were in the tearoom of the villa the queen and the king of Hazelden provided for Nero.

The Black Witch wasn't allowed to stay in the villa alone with the Crown Prince. Thus, Dahlia was given a room in the queen's palace. However, since Mona was in the villa now, the Black Witch was allowed to step foot in there.

Moreover, she needed to teach the young lady some things that could help her look after Queen Brigitte better.

"It's nothing, Dahlia," she said while smiling at the young Black Witch. "You learn quick, so it wasn't hard for me to teach you." Her smile soon turned apologetic. "I feel sorry. To be honest, I wanted to stay here until the queen delivers her child."

But she couldn't say no to Nero's request.

"Now that Nero and I are leaving, I don't have a choice but entrust Queen Brigitte to you," she said to Dahlia. "I'm sorry for pushing all the work to you, Dahlia."

The young Black Witch immediately shook her head. "It's fine, Lady Roseheart. Please don't apologize," she said bashfully. "To be honest, I have a different goal when I arrived at Hazelden at first. But when Princess Neoma changed Queen Brigitte's destiny, my role here has changed as well." She put her clasped hands together over her chest. "The Stars have asked me to look after the queen until she gives birth to the new saint."

As expected, the young Black Witch was being guided by the Stars.

[The Stars have always supported the Black Witches.]

And their reason?

Nothing much.

[The Stars just hate the de Moonasterios with a passion.]

"I'm sure you'll do a good job," she said to Dahlia. "But if you need help, don't hesitate to reach out to me. Since we're both children of Nature, we can easily reach out to each other."

Dahlia smiled and nodded. "Yes, Lady Roseheart."

"To be honest, I wanted to get to know more about you, Dahlia," she said softly. "The Black Witches, even though I haven't met one before you, have a soft spot in my heart. It's probably because I feel close to your coven." She smiled sadly at the young Black Witch. "After all, we were both shunned by the de Moonasterios of the past just because we have the power to kill them."

The Black Witch smiled back at her with a smile that mirrored her sadness. "Lady Roseheart, I also want to get to know you better. I… I've always been curious about something. But it's too personal…"

"What is it?" Mona asked, curious. "You can ask me anything, even if it's personal, Dahlia."

"How…" Dahlia asked, but she paused as if she hesitated. Then she took a deep breath before she got the courage to ask: "Lady Roseheart, how did you fall in love with a man from the family that destroyed yours?"

Oh.

[Could it be that Dahlia… has feelings for Nero?]

***

[I MUST BE crazy!]

Dahlia couldn't believe that she asked Lady Roseheart about how she fell in love with a de Moonasterio.

It sounded like she was asking for love advice!

Moreover, the lady's expression earlier…

[Lady Roseheart definitely thinks I have feelings for Prince Nero!]

She must have really lost her mind.

"That was really embarrassing," Dahlia whispered to herself while sitting on the staircase of the front porch, staring mindlessly at the two ice pretty statues of the beautiful Princess Neoma. Yes, those were the ice statues that she and Prince Nero made when they "fought." "Should I just drown myself?"

"If you want to die, just tell me and I'll help you."

Of course, it was Prince Nero.

[Did he have to be sarcastic as soon as we see each other?]

She stood up and bowed to the Crown Prince. "Greetings to the Lesser Moon–"

"Drop it," he said, cutting her off. "I'm just here to say goodbye to you."

She raised her head and stared at the Crown Prince.

He was still a little skinny, but he looked better and healthier now than he did when he first arrived at Hazelden.

[It seems like the health potion that Lady Roseheart made for him was effective.]

"Take care, Prince Nero," she said politely. "Please say 'hi' to Princess Neoma for me."

"Sure," he said, then he pointed at the ice statues with his finger. "Can I have the ice statue that you created? I plan to bring them to the palace."

"To the… palace?"

"I'll put them in my room, to be precise," the Crown Prince explained. "It won't melt since the ice we used to create the ice statues was made from our Mana. And I plan to ask my Soul Beast to create a transparent glass case to protect them."

That wasn't really her point.

She was just actually shocked that Prince Nero was serious about bringing the ice statues of Princess Neoma back to the palace.

[He's really obsessed with his twin sister…]

"I don't mind, Prince Nero," she said politely. "You may bring the ice statue that I made with you."

"Thank you."

Oh.

It was a surprise that Prince Nero thanked her.

"Dahlia."

"Yes, Your Royal Highness?"

"I heard from my mother that you're in charge of Queen Brigitte until she gives birth to the new saint."

"Yes, Your Royal Highness."

"Since you'll be busy, I will postpone it in the meantime."

She tilted her head to one side. "Postpone what?"

"You're not the only one I recruited to become a part of my Knight Order," Prince Nero said. "The other people I recruited are just waiting for me to summon them. Would you like to meet your future colleagues?"

Ah, she felt strange.

She had been working alone since she could remember. Only the Stars were there to guide her. But now, she had people she could call colleagues.

Dahlia smiled, pleased by that thought. "I'd like to meet them, Prince Nero."

***

"NERO and Lady Roseheart are about to arrive?" Hanna, who had just finished her training, asked. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

Lewis, who came to her personal training room to inform her of Nero and Lady Roseheart's arrival, raised an eyebrow at her. "You just opened your room, Lady Hanna."

Ah, right.

She locked herself up in the training room because she didn't want to hurt anyone accidentally as she released her Shadow Beast. If she didn't schedule a lunch date with Neoma, she would have stayed there the whole day to train.

But aside from her appointment, there was another reason she had to come out of the training room: she could no longer use it.

After all, it was a mess now.

Behind her, all could be seen were the debris from the broken walls, floors, and the part of the ceiling that collapsed.

"Oh, right," she said, then she looked down at her clothes. "I need to take a bath and change into proper clothes."

She was wearing her training clothes: a long-sleeved shirt, trousers, combat boots.

"Do I have enough time to doll up?" she whispered to herself, worriedly. "I can't let my future mother-in-law see me in this terrible state. I'm not pretty like this."

"You're still pretty, even if you look like a mess."

She raised her head to look at Lewis, then she laughed softly. "I know that every kind person to you is beautiful, Lewis. I appreciate it."

Neoma told her that Lewis called Regina Crowell 'ugly.'

She hated Regina Crowell with all her heart, but she wouldn't deny the fact that the crow was physically beautiful. Even the royal princess agreed with her.

Thus, she and Neoma concluded that to Lewis, every bad person was ugly.

"That's not what I mean," Lewis said nonchalantly, but his eyes looked serious. "I'm saying Lady Hanna is objectively pretty."

Oh.

His words actually made her blush.

[I didn't expect Lewis to call another girl aside from Neoma 'pretty.']

To be called 'pretty' by a boy who was used to seeing Neoma, the most beautiful face in the empire, was good for her ego.

"Thank you, Lewis," Hanna said, grinning. "That gave me the confidence I need."

Lewis just gave her a thumbs up.

[Aww… Neoma's signature gesture has rubbed off on Lewis.]

***

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***

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