Royal Secret: I'm a Princess!

NEOMA felt dizzy.

She felt like she'd faint at any time, but her sheer willpower was enough to keep herself awake even though her little body was on fire.

[Why do I have to get sick right now?]

Being turned into a baby was such an inconvenience to her.

"Princess Neoma, is this the place you wanted to go to?" Paige asked worriedly. "There are only trees here."

"Yep," Neoma said in a rasped voice, nodding her head weakly. "This is where I need to be."

The Lion Tribe was hidden in the Underground City that they built to hide from the crows that turned Leoflor Island into their hideout.

To be precise, the Underground City was under the Lawless Jungle.

The animals that lived in the jungle had turned into monsters as a negative effect of the Darkness that swallowed them.

Right now, they were in the center of that dangerous jungle.

Juri and Jeno were taking care of the monsters at the moment. She couldn't see her "children," but she could hear Juri's frenzied laugh as she beat the monsters with her sledgehammer. On the other hand, she could also hear the soft gunshots from Jeno's weapons.

Xion and Greko were left in the care of the Lion Tribe. Xion still needed to rest, while Greko was too young to join them in an unplanned subjugation of the monsters.

She also asked Xion and Greko to stay by Baby Empress Juliet's side.

[Plus, Juri and Jeno are enough since the monsters here aren't that strong.]

Anyway, Neoma was in Paige's arms while wrapped like a baby burrito in a blanket with thermal magic.

"What does Your Royal Highness need to do here?" Paige asked worriedly. "It's dangerous in your current state to be exposed to Darkness right now."

Paige and her other children were still wearing the oxygen masks that she created for them.

They also forced Neoma to wear one.

But, to be honest, she knew that it wasn't needed. She only wore the mask because she didn't want her "children" to be worried about her.

"Paige, I lost Tteokbokki and my Spirits when my body turned into a baby. However…" Neoma said, then she removed the mask. It was too big for her anyway. In fact, Paige had to adjust its size with magic to fit her. "I didn't lose my ability to purify Darkness with my breath. In fact, I'm hungry right now."

"Hungry?" Paige asked worriedly. "Princess Neoma, are you saying that you're going to eat the entire Darkness that covered the Lawless Jungle?"

"Yes."

"Princess Neoma!"

Paige didn't raise her voice to scold her. It was obvious because the mage was worried about her. Out of all her "children," Paige was the calmest and the most logical.

[If Paige is freaking out now, then the other kids will react worse.]

"It's alright, Paige," she assured her "daughter." "I'm not pushing myself too hard. I know that this is something that I can achieve even when I'm in my baby form."

"Princess Neoma, must you really do this?"

"The babies are crying," she explained to the mage. "I can ignore most things. But I can't ignore babies, especially when they are crying for help."

Paige knitted her eyebrows. "You're the only baby I see here, Princess Neoma."

[Hehe.]

Neoma gestured at the trees around them. "Those trees are still considered babies," she said. "They can't endure the Darkness that's killing them, so they're asking for my help."

The trees around them almost looked charcoal black now because of the Darkness.

"You can hear them?" the mage asked, surprised. "Since when can Your Royal Highness hear the trees talk?"

"To be honest, just now," she said in a serious voice. "I don't know if it's my Roseheart Blood, or there's something else that triggered this ability to come out."

She didn't want to admit this, but she had a feeling Regina Crowell had something to do with her newfound ability.

[Is this why Neoma of the first timeline doesn't want me to kill Regina?]

"Princess Neoma, how do you plan to "eat" the Darkness that covered the Lawless Jungle?" Paige asked worriedly. "The size of the jungle is vast."

"Like this," Neoma said, then she opened her small mouth as wide as she could. [Nom, nom.]

***

"YOUR MAJESTY, how are you feeling?" Mona asked the queen who just gave birth to the new saint. "Does Your Majesty need anything else?"

Queen Brigitte, who was carrying the baby saint in her arms, shook her head and smiled softly. "I already have everything I need, Lady Roseheart."

After saying that, the queen turned to her son and husband with warm eyes.

Glenn, who was sitting beside the queen with his arm wrapped around Her Majesty's side, blushed as he smiled back at his wife.

[Aww… what a picture-perfect family.]

"I'm glad to hear that," Mona said, smiling. "Again, congratulations on giving birth to Prince Skylus safely."

'Skylus' was the name of the baby saint and the prince of Hazelden Kingdom.

Queen Brigitte smiled, but it was sad. "I feel sorry, though. Because you have to protect me and my baby, Miss Dahlia was kidnapped."

"It's not your fault, my queen," Glenn said, comforting his wife right away. "It was mine. If only I was strong enough to protect everyone…"

"Your Majesties, please stop blaming yourselves," Mona said to the royal couple. "The only people that we should blame for all of this are the crows. They were the ones who tried to harm the queen and the baby saint. None of this is our fault."

Even though she said that, the two still looked guilty.

And she couldn't blame the king and the queen. After all, both were kind people. Moreover, they genuinely cared for Dahlia.

"Don't worry, Your Majesties," she assured the two. "I attached a tracking spell to Calyx Dalton and Callisto de Luca. Nero is already preparing to go after her. As soon as Calyx Dalton and the fallen god settled to wherever they were hiding, the spell will get activated."

Now the royal couple looked relieved.

"Lady Roseheart, please let me know if we can help you with anything," Glenn said seriously. "We will spare no resources for you."

Queen Brigitte nodded, her eyes burning with determination. "We can also lend you the treasure of the Hazelden Kingdom if needed."

The "treasure" that the queen mentioned was the reason why Delwyn settled in the Hazelden Kingdom recently.

And it was the "treasure" that even Neoma was excited about.

Mona opened her mouth to speak, but she was interrupted when the door suddenly burst open and Nero entered the room in a hurry. She frowned at her son's rudeness. "Nero, you're in the presence of the king and the queen of Hazelden."

"I apologize, Mother, Your Majesties," Nero said indifferently, his face blank. However, there was panic in his eyes as he made eye contact with her. "We have an emergency, Mother. I believe we should return to the empire as soon as we can."

Nero was in a haste to follow Dahlia earlier.

But if her son was saying that they needed to return to the empire right now, as if he had already forgotten that Dahlia was kidnapped, then it only meant one thing.

"What happened to Neoma?" Mona asked worriedly. "Is she alright?"

"The Soul Beasts that Father and I own sent us an alarming message," Nero said, then he gulped before he continued. "Apparently, Neoma's Soul Beast disappeared as if he was no longer in this world."

"And that's not only the strange thing that happened."

Mona was surprised when William and Delwyn suddenly appeared in the room.

She asked the two to track where the baby saint's divine power was scattered. Hence, she was surprised that they suddenly appeared without warning. Delwyn apologized to Queen Brigitte and Glenn for their appearance, but the royal couple said it was fine.

"What happened, William?" Mona asked, her heart thumping hard and loud against her chest. "Did you contact Neoma?"

William shook his head. "I mentored Neoma de Moonasterio for three years. And during those times, I got acquainted with her Spirits. And as the Grand Spirit, I can detect the Spirits that I have contact with wherever they are. But, all of a sudden, Neoma de Moonasterio's Spirits disappeared as if they no longer exist in this world."

Mona's heart almost fell to the floor.

Nero and the royal couple also had the same worried and shocked look on their faces.

"The fact that Neoma de Moonasterio's Soul Beast and Spirits suddenly disappeared is unsettling," Delwyn said. "She's not the type to neglect them."

The Spirits were right.

Moreover, the Soul Beast was an existence that would only disappear from this world once their masters died.

Mona suddenly turned cold. "Neoma…"

"Mother, don't worry," Nero assured her, then he got down on one knee and held her hands tight while looking up at her with a determined look on his face. Surprisingly, his ash-gray eyes remained calm. "Neoma is still alive– I can feel it."

That was the only assurance that she needed to hear.

Nero and Neoma were connected to each other in a special way. If her son said that her daughter was still alive, then it must be true.

After hearing that, she finally calmed down.

"Let's head back to the empire, Nero," Mona said in a serious voice. "Your father must be worried about Neoma, too."

***

"IT SEEMS like Neoma de Moonasterio is the hope of the not-so Great Moonasterion Empire."

Paige gasped when she heard an unfamiliar voice of an old man behind her.

When she turned around, she was even more shocked to see the old man that they saw at the inn before– the one selling overpriced masks.

[He's the old man that Princess Neoma almost adopted as soon as we arrived here!]

But how did the old man get near her without her noticing his presence?

[He even slipped through Juri and Jeno's defense easily!]

Moreover…

[That boy…]

"Duke Jasper Hawthorne?" Paige asked, knitting her eyebrows when she recognized the unconscious young lord that the old man was holding by the collar. Then she hugged the sleeping Princess Neoma in her arms tightly as she stepped away from the old man slowly. "Who are you?"

She was anxious.

[Why did the old man have to appear when Princess Neoma fainted after absorbing the Darkness on this island?]

Yes, that was what had happened.

The Darkness that covered the Lawless Jungle had finally disappeared. Hence, the sky and the air were both clear and clean now, respectively.

"I won't hurt you," the old man said. "Especially not that child."

Paige was about to cast an attack spell when she felt a small and warm hand on her shoulder.

It was Princess Neoma, and the royal princess was already awake.

"He's not a dangerous person, Paige," Neoma said, her glowing red eyes focused on the old man. "But Grandpa, kindly explain why my Jasper oppa is in that state first."

['Grandpa…?']

***

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