Royal Secret: I'm a Princess!

<"BECAUSE ANY child of Nikolai is my child, too,"> the baby girl said, smiling warmly at her. <"If I didn't meet a tragic end, you would have been my stepdaughter.">

Neoma felt her heart drop to the floor when she realized who the baby girl might be.

Her head was screaming it was impossible.

However, she followed the whisper in her heart.

[If I was going to be her stepmother, then she could have been my stepmother.]

Only one woman could have been her stepmother then.

"Empress Juliet?" Neoma asked nervously. "If your soul belongs to Her Majesty, then who is the Empress Juliet in the Royal Palace right now?"

Now Paige and Jeno looked shocked.

The two looked confused at first.

After all, only Neoma could hear the baby girl's voice in her head.

However, all her "children" were quick to catch on. Hence, they looked as shocked as she was at the moment.

<"I know that you have a lot of questions. I have, too. As far as I know, you're supposed to be a teenager already– not a baby,"> Empress Juliet said. <"However, this isn't the right place for us to talk. Little Neoma, can you help me find the Lion Tribe?">

The Lion Tribe?

Ah.

[Could it be…]

"Your Majesty, are you the lion's "pride?"" Neoma asked carefully. "The very precious treasure that the crows stole in order to control Kingston– the White Lion?"

<"That's right,"> Empress Juliet, in the body of a baby girl, confirmed. <"Based on what you said, is it safe to assume that you've already met them?">

"Yes, Your Majesty," she said politely. "We can head back to their hideout–"

She stopped talking when she felt the sudden shift in the air.

Then, when she looked up, she was greeted by a pair of glowing dark eyes.

"Trevor!" Neoma yelled, pointing at the ceiling. "Paige, stop him!"

The mage didn't have to be told twice.

Paige immediately pulled out her white parasol that immediately turned into a rapier. Then she jumped high and attacked Trevor who was suspended in the air.

However, Neoma didn't get the chance to watch the fight.

She was startled when she heard gunshots.

The next thing she knew, she was already watching Jeno open fire on Gin who had already returned to his black cat form.

[Tsk. They're really determined to kidnap me. Me and my irresistible charms!]

"I deeply apologize for the noise, Princess Neoma," Jeno said. The boy was holding her in one arm while shooting Gin with a gun in his free hand. "I need to use more guns, so please cover your ears in the meantime."

Covering her ears with her hands wouldn't really work.

However, she did as she was told to put her son at ease.

The next scene was interesting, so it was worth it.

A rifle appeared on top of Jeno's head, on his left side, and on his right side. The guns then shot bullets at Gin nonstop.

At first, she was worried that baby Empress Juliet might get accidentally shot.

However, she noticed that the bullets imbued with Jeno's Mana were only shooting at Gin.

[Wow, impressive control.]

She was so proud of her Marksman "son."

Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt the ground shake.

When she looked up, she saw Paige swinging her sword at Trevor who blocked the mage's attack with his horn that he was using as a weapon.

The white light from Paige's sword, and the black light from Trevor's horn collided.

Then it exploded.

Paige and Trevor were both pushed back.

That was when Neoma noticed that Paige had put a barrier around her, Jeno, and baby Empress Juliet to keep them safe.

She was touched, and incredibly proud of her "daughter."

[Paige, you're doing well.]

Now Neoma suddenly felt useless.

[If only I have my powers…]

<"Little Neoma, if you can tell me the exact location of where the Lion Tribe is hiding, then I can get us out of here right at this moment,"> Baby Empress Juliet said. Then the transparent egg that she was in moved until the baby empress was floating right in front of her already. <"All you have to do is let me know by touching the surface of this egg. Just think of the location clearly, and I'll bring us there in a jiffy.">

[I knew it.]

Neoma had always known that using teleportation was the best skill, but the "masters" around her had forbidden her from learning it.

[I should learn from Baby Empress Juliet in secret.]

"Okay, Your Majesty," Neoma said, then she put a hand on the surface of the transparent egg and closed her eyes while visualizing the hide-out in her head clearly. "This is where the lions are currently hidden."

***

A WHITE ROOM with floating white cubes that served as chairs.

[Yep, I was summoned by a divinity again.]

When Neoma opened her eyes, she was frustrated to death after realizing that she was still in her baby form.

To be honest, she thought that her baby form was just a temporary effect of Regina Crowell's unexpected and mysterious ability. After all, she didn't feel any side effects of the attack aside from the fact that she went back from 'beautiful' to 'cute.'

But now she was getting nervous.

[Did I really become a baby again?]

Fucking hell.

"The gods are testing my patience," Neoma whispered to herself while looking at her baby hands. Even without a mirror, she could tell that her eyes were glowing red. "I swear if I don't return to my original body soon, I'll seriously declare war on the Upper World."

"That's a scary thought, my precious granddaughter."

Ah, it was Roxana– Yule's wife and her beautiful grandmother.

Neoma's anger melted upon seeing Roxana's gorgeous face. Her eyes were blessed, and she was healing already. That was how pretty faces affected her positively.

[I'm aware that I'm being shallow, okay? Leave me be. I deserve to heal this way!]

"Grandma, it's been a while," Neoma said happily. "I thought I'll never see you again, but I'm super happy right now."

Great.

Her voice sounded normal in this dimension.

Earlier, she could hear herself talk clearly. And it seemed like the people around her understood her just fine. However, she was aware that she sounded like a baby since her body had reverted back to the time that she was around three years ago.

"We got this precious opportunity to meet again because you've accomplished the mission that I gave you before," Roxana said cheerfully, then she picked baby Neoma up and put her in her arms carefully. "My little princess, thank you for finding that child for me."

At first, she was confused.

Then she remembered that her grandma asked her to find a child and adopt her.

[Grandma Roxana is saying that I already found that child, but the only baby that I met so far is…]

Neoma let out a gasp. "The child you wanted me to "adopt" is the child that the former Empress Juliet is possessing right now, Grandma?"

"Juliet isn't possessing that child, my precious granddaughter," Roxana denied gently while shaking her head. "Juliet has been reincarnated in that body."

Oh.

Of course, at the back of her mind, she already knew that the real Empress Juliet was already gone. But it was hard for her to wrap the fact around her head because there was another "Empress Juliet" living in the Royal Palace at the moment.

[How did that happen…?]

"A human is supposed to forget their past memories once they get reincarnated," Roxana explained. "Only a select few like you and Ruston Stroganoff could remember your past memories. However, you don't retrieve your entire memories. Some of them were concealed on purpose, while some were deleted according to your wish."

Ah.

It seemed like her grandmother had realized what she was talking about.

"Grandma, are you saying that Empress Juliet doesn't remember everything about her past life?"

"Juliet may not remember how she died and got revived," Roxana said. "I'm saying this in advance because I don't want you to have false hopes. Of course, Juliet's past memories can help you in some way. But please don't rely on them completely."

"I'm not going to do that, Grandma," she said, shaking her head. "I'm just afraid that the former empress remembers her painful past. I don't know what exactly happened, but I can already tell that she ended up that way because of the crows."

Her grandmother remained silent.

But she didn't need to hear anything from Roxana.

Her gut feeling had already told her everything she needed to know.

[The crows are really getting on my nerves now.]

"Little Neoma, I can feel your anger rising in your small body."

"I don't understand it, Grandma," she said, letting out a frustrated sigh. "I can't understand how the crows continue to exist for this long, even after committing so many horrible crimes. The more I get to know the impurities of this world, the more I understand why my past self had set the world on fire. I mean, that was a dick move but…" She gently slapped her mouth after saying a bad word in front of her grandmother. "What I'm saying is I'm not trying to justify my evil deed in the past. I know that I was horrible for setting the world on fire and killing many living things in the process. I'm just saying that I understand my past self."

Roxana smiled at her gently. "I understand what you're trying to say, Little Neoma. But I hope you don't end up setting the world on fire again." Her grandmother kissed her forehead. "Hence, Yule and I are doing our best to do the things that we failed to do for you in the past. Thankfully, this time, we succeeded in sending them to your world."

"'Them?'"

"The new saint has already been born in your world, my dear."

She gasped out loud. "Brigitte unnie already gave birth to the baby saint?"

"That's right, my dear," her grandmother said. "And now, you found the saintess."

"The saintess?" she asked, confused. But that confusion didn't last long. Soon, she was gasping again. "Empress Juliet reincarnated as a saintess?"

Roxana smiled and nodded. "The Moon Saint and the Light Saintess," she said while gently caressing her cheek. "They will be your representatives once you're gone."

Huh?

Her grandmother was smiling warmly at her as if she didn't raise her death flag with her vague words.

But Roxana's smile told her she didn't have any plan to explain.

Excuse me?

[You can't just raise my death flag and say nothing at all!]

"Once I'm gone?" Neoma asked, flabbergasted. "Why will I be gone?!"

***

Please ADD my story to your LIBRARY to be notified when an update is posted. Thank you! :>