Royal Secret: I'm a Princess!

[DAEBAK! IT'S like magic!]

Wait.

That was definitely magic.

Neoma was amazed while watching everything unfold right before her pretty, ash-gray eyes as she stood on the balcony of her villa, aka her "retirement home."

The floating island was about to land.

At first, there was nothing but a barren land below. All she could see earlier was cracks all over the dry soil. But as the floating island got closer and closer to the ground, the barren land got greener and greener.

Before she knew it, the boring brown soil below had turned lush green.

And it didn't end there.

It began with a single pink flower that blossomed out of nowhere.

Then a white one appeared.

After that a purple flower.

Followed by the rainbow colors.

It didn't take a while before the entire green field was covered with colorful flowers. Even the smell around had changed. Now a sweet flower scent had been mixed in it.

"Whose idea is this?" Neoma asked, amazed. "This is beyond my expectations."

"We had a long brainstorming session before we came up with this idea, Princess Neoma," Paige, who was standing behind her, said. "But the magic isn't done yet. It will be complete once we finally land."

Her smile grew wider. "Well, I can't wait."

After a few moments, the floating island finally landed.

The island flattened to the ground and the villa landed in the middle of the flower field as if it had always been there. Even the villa's garden blended well with the flower field.

When Neoma and her children stepped out of the villa, it began to transform.

[Huh???]

She watched in amazement as the villa quickly turned into a small mountain.

Now the floating island had disappeared.

[Daebak indeed.]

Neoma slowly clapped her hands while looking at Paige, Juri, Jeno, Xion, and Greko who were all smiling warmly at her. "My dear children, I'm so proud of y'all," she said. "Fortunately, you didn't inherit my lack of creativity."

Yeah, she wasn't that creative.

Maybe it had something to do with her blunt personality. The only time she would turn creative was when it was time to curse the hell out of somebody.

"We all want the best for you, Princess Neoma," Juri said, then she grinned smugly. "That's why we worked hard to come up with the best fortress for our family." She pointed her hands to Paige politely. "But we can't do any of this without Paige's magic, of course."

Jeno, Xion, and Greko clapped towards Paige's direction.

Paige shook her head politely. "I could only do something like this because of everyone's input."

"Gosh, my children are so humble," she said. "Are you really my children?"

"We're only nice to you, Princess Neoma," Xion said bluntly. "We act like barbarians when you're not looking."

"Speak for yourself," Jeno said to Xion, but the marksman was looking at her. "We always conduct ourselves properly, Princess Neoma."

"Yeah, right," Xion said sarcastically. The assassin was talking to Jeno but just like the marksman, the former was looking at her. "A person who shoots first before asking questions sure is someone who conducts themselves "properly.""

Jeno glared at Xion.

"Jeno hyung, Xion hyung, please don't fight," Greko, the real peace lover and peacemaker of the family, said. "Eomma will be disappointed if you continue fighting."

She wanted to say that she enjoyed watching fights (especially since she knew that it was normal for siblings to bicker). But she didn't want to make Greko's job as the mediator difficult, so she just shut her mouth.

"You two should be embarrassed that our maknae is more mature than you," Juri said while ruffling Greko's hair. "Greko is the only decent son that you have, Princess Neoma. If Lewis was here, he would have bickered with Jeno and Xion, too."

Jeno and Xion both glared at Juri.

Neoma wanted to defend Lewis' honor as the oldest son, but nothing came out of her mouth since she could imagine Lewis bickering with Jeno and Xion.

[Yep, Greko is best boy. Sorry, Lewis.]

"It's good to see you kids getting along well," Neoma said to stop her children from bickering. "But it's time for us to leave. So, how do we get to the East Continent? We can't use a teleportation spell since it's too far. Plus, I heard that it's difficult to enter the East Continent illegally."

"We'll enter the East Continent through a luxury cruise ship, Princess Neoma," Juri said excitedly. "Since we no longer need to hide your identity as much as we did in the past, we thought you might want to travel comfortably."

Her ears perked up. "A luxury cruise ship?" she asked, smiling. Then she gave her children a double thumbs up. "Gosh, you all know me so well. Good job, kids."

A luxury cruise ship for traveling to the East Continent didn't sound bad.

Her children smiled proudly after getting complimented.

"Paige, have you contacted Lady Sienna?" Neoma asked. Paige was in charge of communicating with the Sun Priestess, after all. "Have you informed her that we'll be heading to their kingdom?"

"Yes, Princess Neoma," Page answered. "I've also relayed your message for Chef Ruto."

The message that Neoma left for Ruto was simple: ["If you run or hide away from me, you're dead."]

Short but sweet, right?

***

"LORD RUBIN, we can board the cruise ship in a few minutes."

Rubin, who was sitting on the uncomfortable couch of a rental carriage, didn't even bother to look up at the attendant who informed him that they could board the cruise ship soon. He was busy reading the map in his hands. "I told you to inform me once we're ready to board the ship," he said. "I don't need a reminder."

"I'm just worried, my lord…"

He finally raised his head to look at Albert– the butler that served him ever since he was a toddler. Albert was the only person who brought with him today.

After all, his trip to the East Continent was a secret from his father.

"My lord, His Royal Highness the Crown Princess is about to attend the Royal Academy tomorrow," Albert, who was sitting on the couch across from him, said worriedly. "Duke Drayton said that it was imperative for my lord to greet the Crown Prince. His Grace also wanted my lord to get close to Lord Calyx Dalton."

He scoffed after hearing that.

His father was truly a greedy person.

The other nobles had already withdrawn their support for Prince Nero because most of them believed that Calyx Dalton, the emperor's apparent son with Empress Juliet who suddenly returned alive, would soon become the new Crown Prince.

But his father considered the fact that His Majesty was fond of Prince Nero. After all, Prince Nero was the emperor's son with Lady Mona Roseheart– and everyone in the empire knew that Lady Roseheart was the only woman that His Majesty loved in his whole life.

[Thus, Father wants to hold onto both Prince Nero and Calyx Dalton in the meantime.]

And most of all…

"My lord, I heard that His Grace has also sent his elite knights to look for the hidden royal princess," Albert added. "It seems like His Grace wanted you to get engaged with the hidden royal princess again."

He crumbled the map in his hands.

"Father's greed knows no bound," he snarled. "He wanted to use me to get the royal princess to become a part of our family after that strange rumor spread."

"The rumor about the royal princess being protected by the Cosmic Tree all this time?"

He nodded bitterly. "Father thinks that we can control the Cosmic Tree once I get married to the royal princess."

"My lord, forgive me for what I'm about to say," Albert said, then he gulped before he spoke again. "To be honest, I believe that Duke Drayton is being wise. The royal princess might not be worth that much if she's just a princess, since female de Moonasterios don't possess real power in the palace. However, if the royal princess is indeed connected to the Cosmic Tree, then it's a different story–"

"Shut up," he said, cutting off Albert because he couldn't listen to his gibberish anymore. "I don't care about the royal princess. As soon as find Regina, I will marry her."

He hadn't given up on Regina yet.

The people he had hired years ago to find his beloved had finally found a trace that might help him find Regina.

Thus, he took a leave of absence from the academy and headed out to the East Continent.

"My lord, you're only fifteen. You can't get married yet…"

"The law on the East Continent is different," he said. "There are countries in the East that allow people as young as fifteen to get married."

Albert let out a sigh. "My lord, your father will kill you if he finds out about this."

"Father has been killing me little by little ever since I was born," Rubin said bitterly. "If I'm going to die, then I'd rather choose my death while having the freedom to do what my heart desires."

And his only desire was to be with Regina, of course.

***

NOTE: Sorry, I failed the WIN-WIN after the promise I made. There was an emergency. It's kinda embarrassing, though. Haha!

Actually, I saw my income for Royal Secret this month. I panicked because it was the lowest that I've ever received ever since I began writing RS. As you know, I gave up my day job in order to continue writing here. But the income I received this month isn't sustainable (my mother is sick, and the meds are expensive). Plus, my brother is about to graduate so there's an additional bill to pay for.

So, I ended up picking up a project again. Since I picked up a project with such short notice, I also had to finish it as quickly as I could. Thus, I've been busy these days. (The updates for my other ongoing stories were already written weeks ago).

I'm really sorry for failing WIN-WIN this month, and for not being able to update these past few days.

I need to work to survive, but I also love writing so I won't stop even if I go completely broke (but I hope it doesn't happen haha). >.<

Once I finish my project, I will post more.

Let's hope that my situation gets better next month. I'll try my best to fulfill my promise of two updates daily for August.

Thank you for waiting. <3

***

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