Royal Secret: I'm a Princess!

NERO raised an eyebrow at Lewis who bowed his head as a greeting when he arrived at Blanco Palace. The fox boy was already waiting for him at the entrance. But although his greeting was considered respectful, Lewis' frown looked very blasphemous. "I know that you're not happy to see me," he said. "But at least control your expressions."

Lewis kept his blasphemous frown. "Rara didn't teach me how to act."

'Rara' would be Neoma, of course.

It was a code name that her "children" would use whenever they were in a situation where they couldn't mention her name freely. Although the crows were already aware of Neoma's existence, they couldn't act carelessly.

[If the crows could lure someone like Kyle Sprouse to their side, then we're pretty sure that there are servants that serve as spies for the crows.]

It was a miracle they managed to keep the royal secret for thirteen years.

"Well, from now on, I'll teach you how to act," Nero said with a shrug. "After all, we'll be stuck to each other for the whole day, every single day, seven days a week."

Lewis raised an eyebrow at him.

"I plan to enter the academy's dormitory, and I'll bring you with me," he explained to the fox boy. "Every student in the academy is allowed to bring one servant. Since you also trained as a butler before, I'm pretty sure you'll do a good job as both my knight and butler."

"Are you crazy?" Lewis snarled at him lowly. "Why would I follow you to the dormitory? If you want to live there, bring someone else."

"This crazy bastard," he said indifferently. "Do you want to die? How dare you defy the words of the Crown Prince?"

"You're only a Crown Prince by name," the fox boy retorted. "It was a position handed to you by someone else."

Wow.

Lewis sure knew how to insult someone without using curse words.

"You inherited Neoma's snark," Nero said, then he gently patted his shoulder. "My dear nephew."

Lewis glared at him.

Nero smirked. "I can dish it out, so don't think about getting smart with me."

Lewis continued glaring at him.

"Even if you glare at me like that, I won't change my mind," he said to the fox boy. "If you didn't show the entire empire that you're the Crown Prince's loyal dog, then I would have tossed you away from the start. But everyone knows that you're the Crown Prince's closest aide. Thus, I have no choice but to bring you with me."

"Do you really have to live in the dormitory?"

"Yes," he said firmly. "You can't change my mind, so stop arguing with me. Just get ready to leave the palace with me."

"Just kill me."

"What?"

"I'll fake my death," Lewis said stubbornly. "I didn't pledge my loyalty to you."

"This crazy bastard," he complained while looking at the fox boy in disbelief. "You rarely talk. But it seems like you have a lot to say when defying me."

"I'd rather die than get stuck with you."

"And now you're speaking rudely to the Crown Prince," he scolded him. "As your uncle, it's my job to discipline you."

"You're not my uncle," the fox boy growled at him. "Don't you have your own "children?" Why don't you call them here and pretend family with them instead of pissing me off?"

Nero was amused, but he tried to hide it.

[Lewis really talks a lot when he's annoyed, huh?]

"They'll be here soon," Nero said with a shrug. "But even if they arrive here, I'm still bringing you with me to the academy."

"I already said that I don't want to."

"I'm not asking for your permission."

The fox boy let out a frustrated sigh.

This was the first time Nero saw him in distress, and it was actually fun to see his "nephew" lose his composure.

[It makes me want to bully him even more.]

"Don't worry, Lewis," Nero said, patting both of Lewis' shoulders this time. "I'll tell your "mother" to praise you a lot for doing a good job as my personal knight-slash-butler."

If looks could kill, Lewis' death glare would have killed him already.

He had to swallow his laughter.

[This is really fun.]

"Prince Nero!"

His good mood was ruined as soon as he heard Calyx Dalton's voice.

Argh.

[He really followed me here, huh?]

Calyx Dalton, like an annoying pest that he was, soon showed up in front of him– standing next to an equally annoyed Lewis.

"I didn't mean to hear your conversation with His Majesty earlier, but is it true that you're thinking about signing up in our academy's dormitory system, Prince Nero?" Calyx Dalton asked excitedly. "You are, aren't you?"

Nero raised an eyebrow at him. "And what about it?"

The crow's face beamed. "Let's be roommates!"

"Why?" he asked, unimpressed. "So that you can kill me easily?"

"I already told you that I won't harm you in any way," Calyx Dalton said seriously. "I really want to get along with you."

"You know that I can't simply take your word for it, don't you?"

"Then how should I prove it to you, Prince Nero?"

"Well, I'm giving that to you as an assignment," Nero said, then he turned his back on Calyx Dalton. "Let's go, Lewis."

Lewis followed him silently.

"I'll prove it to you, Prince Nero!" Calyx Dalton yelled cheerfully, while he was walking away from him. "I'll prove to you that you can trust your big brother!"

Nero rolled his eyes in disgust, but everything was going according to his plan.

[I didn't expect to lure in the birdbrain this easily, though.]

***

"SAY IT again," Nikolai said, his jaw clenched. "What did you bring as a piece of evidence to prove that Juliet Dalton is the Empress Juliet that we lost many years ago?"

He was in disbelief.

Right now, he was in the conference room– sitting in the center seat, of course.

There was a long table in front of him. And behind it, there was a long sofa where the Daltons were seated.

Juliet Dalton was sitting between her "parents."

There was an ordinary-looking old man on Juliet's right side. The old man was Viscount Carter Dalton. And the old woman on Juliet's left side was Joane Dalton, the Viscountess.

"Your Majesty, we have a video of the time Juliet was giving birth to Calyx," Viscount Dalton said. The old man looked scared of him. But like any other noble, he still carried himself properly in front of the emperor. "We heard from our daughter, Juliet, that you have mistaken her as the late empress. To be honest, Juliet isn't our real daughter. She came into our lives when our one and only daughter passed away due to–"

"You knew that the lady you adopted was the then-Empress Juliet?" Nikolai asked, cutting off the viscount's sob story. Usually, he would listen to his subjects if necessary. But he knew that it didn't matter at the moment. "Then why didn't you report it to the palace?"

"It was my fault, Your Majesty," Viscountess Dalton said, already crying. "Juliet was the same as the daughter that we lost back then, so I begged my husband to adopt her when she came into our lives."

He clenched his jaw hard while trying to endure his anger. "Why would you even think of adopting the empress? Have you lost your mind?"

"J-Juliet doesn't remember anything when we found her, Your Majesty," the viscountess explained in a shaking voice, her gaze lowered to the floor as if she was afraid to meet his eyes. "Moreover, my husband and I thought that she couldn't be the empress since the entire empire knew that Her Majesty had already passed away during that time. However, we couldn't be quite sure if she was a different woman or not because some of the things that she had with her during the time were bearing the symbol of the late empress."

"We brought the things and clothes that Juliet wore during the day that we found her," the viscount added, then he politely pointed to the treasure box on the table. "We didn't touch those things ever since we kept them safe in the chest box, Your Majesty."

Nikolai turned to Geoffrey Kinsley who was standing beside him, then he signaled the Paladin to check the items.

The Paladin bowed to him before leaving his side.

Then Geoffrey Kinsley walked to the table and greeted the Daltons with a slight bow. After that, the Paladin opened the chest box and checked the items in silence. After a thorough inspection, the Paladin went back to his side and whispered.

"Your Majesty, they have Empress Juliet's Blood Moon Ring among the other accessories customized for Her Majesty during her coronation," Geoffrey Kinsley whispered in his ear while covering his mouth with his hand. "They also have Empress Juliet's main weapon: The Blue Moon Scepter. And the clothes in the box look like the clothes that Empress Juliet received from House Sloane during your wedding day."

Nikolai nodded, then he sighed.

[Those are the things that other people couldn't simply imitate.]

Juliet Dalton was indeed the Juliet that he knew.

"But why," Nikolai said coldly while looking at Viscount and Viscountess Dalton. "Why would you even think of recording an intimate moment such as a mother giving birth to her child?"

Anyone would agree that it was suspicious.

[If the crows were the ones who planned this, then it's frightening to know that they have been planning this moment for fifteen long years.]

***

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