Royal Secret: I'm a Princess!

"PRINCE NERO, are you finally awake?"

"What do you think?" Nero snapped at Melvin Luchessi– his personal aide. Then he got up and looked around, realizing that he was back in his room. "Where is the Hazelden's Royal Family?"

"They're staying at the villa that Your Royal Highness prepared for them," Melvin answered indifferently. Obviously, his secretary was already used to his mood swings. "Should I summon them to the palace?"

That should be the obvious thing to do.

However, he still couldn't get over the "dream" that he had. It was so vivid that it felt stupid to call it a "dream."

[It's real– I definitely met that rude girl.]

What was her name again?

[Argh!]

Nero clutched his head with his hands and shut his eyes tight.

Why couldn't he remember her name? He was pretty sure he already figured out what it was. But all he got at the moment was a splitting headache.

"Prince Nero, should I call the royal physician?"

Nero took a deep breath and waited until he calmed down before he spoke again. "No," he said, then he opened his eyes. "What happened after I passed out? You didn't touch the Hazelden Royal Family, did you?"

"The Empress Dowager wanted to interrogate them at first, but they volunteered to be under house arrest until you woke up," Melvin answered politely. "Moreover, you weren't hurt. The royal physician said you fainted due to fatigue. Since there was no foul play, the Empress Dowager had no reason to antagonize the Griffiths."

And the Empress Dowager made the right decision.

[The Hazelden Kingdom might be a small nation, but it's full of resources that we can use to strengthen our military power.]

"It seems like the Empress Dowager let it slide because Her Majesty is being considerate of you, Prince Nero. After all, the Hazelden Royal Family is your guest," Melvin continued with his explanation. "Moreover, we have a big problem."

Nero knitted his eyebrows. "What happened?"

"I have two pieces of bad news for you, Prince Nero. The one involves the Black Witch, and the other involves the Crown Princess," his secretary said. "Which one should I report first?"

"What happened to Dahlia?"

"I sent Alucard to the Holy Land where our people have last seen the Black Witch, but just now, Alucard's presence disappeared."

Nero felt another headache coming.

If Alucard's presence suddenly disappeared, then the possibility that he had been caught by Dahlia was high.

He was annoyed, but not really worried.

[If Alucard was weak, I wouldn't have recruited him in the first place.]

To be honest, he couldn't really remember why he chose the people close to him. He just knew that he could trust them with his life.

"Alucard wouldn't die easily," Nero said, sighing. "If Lucien is already done with his business in the South, then tell him to rescue Alucard."

"As you command, Prince Nero."

"What happened to Hanna?"

"Lady Hanna was kidnapped by the Pirates of the South, Your Royal Highness."

"What?!" he asked, shocked. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?!"

"I gave Your Royal Highness two choices earlier, and Your Royal Highness chose to hear the news about the Black Witch first."

"You should have woken me up as soon as you learned Hanna was kidnapped!" he complained. "She's the Crown Princess!"

Melvin bowed his head in apology. "I'm sorry, but the condition of the Crown Prince is more important than the state of the Crown Princess."

Nero could only let out a sigh.

It wasn't like what Melvin said was wrong. For the people working in the palace, the Crown Princess was replaceable– but there was only one Crown Prince.

"What are the Quinzels doing?" Nero asked. "Have they found clues as to where Hanna was taken to?"

He didn't expect the Pirates of the South to go to the Royal Capital.

[But the fact that the pirates left the sea is bothering me. They wouldn't come here and kidnap Hanna for nothing.]

Clearly, the pirates abducted the Crown Princess to get Nero's attention.

"Duke and Duchess Quinzel are leading the search for Lady Hanna," Melvin explained. "Last I heard, the ducal couple is planning to return to their territory."

Ah, right.

The Southern Region of the empire was dominated by the Quinzels.

[And it just so happened that the Pirates are currently dominating the Southern Sea.]

"Prince Nero, actually, Duke Quinzel requested an audience once you're awake," Melvin said. "Should I summon the duke now?"

"Do that," Nero said, standing up. "Prepare the bath for me first."

***

[I SHOULD STOP here. Phoebe is still a child. I should be the bigger person since I'm older.]

"Fine. I admit your beauty is comparable to Lady Astrid's beauty," Phoebe said, smirking. "But what use does your beautiful has when Lord Ruto has already forgotten about his love for you?"

"It's okay," Neoma said, then she looked at Ruto. "I have Ruto's permission to seduce him anyway."

Phoebe looked stupefied. "What do you mean by that?"

Ruto, who also looked confused, knitted his eyebrows while looking at Neoma. "I gave you permission to seduce me?"

"You probably don't remember, but you hired me to seduce you once you've lost all your love for me, Ruto," Neoma said, smiling. Then she pulled out the precious contract from her Lynx Ring– aka her "inventory." She showed the important piece of paper to Ruto. "We made a LOVE CONTRACT because we both expected that your father will mess with your memories once you forget about your feelings for me, my dear jagiya."

Ruto looked even more confused now.

[Understandable.]

Neoma was ready to explain about the Love Contract, but the door suddenly burst open and Trevor entered the room.

"Moon Princess, Dion Skelton is awake," Trevor reported to her, ignoring Ruto. "And we have a problem."

[That comes first.]

Neoma returned the Love Contract in her inventory, then she stood up and faced Trevor. "Okay, let's go to Dion," she said, then she turned to Ruto. "Do you have business with the High Priest?"

After all, Ruto couldn't have gone to Astello Temple for her–

"I'm actually here for you, Princess Neoma."

Huh?

She was quite surprised to hear that.

However, she knew that Ruto wouldn't look for her for the reason that she was expecting from him.

[He doesn't remember that he loves me, after all.]

"I have business with you," Ruto said indifferently. "We, the masters of the Elemental Guardians, have something important to discuss."

Neoma pointed at herself. "I'm a master of an Elemental Guardian?"

"Kingston pledged his loyalty to you, not to the young princess he's guarding."

She had many questions about her new title, and as to why Ruto needed to gather the masters of the Elemental Guardians.

But that could wait, and he didn't look like he was in a hurry anyway.

"Okay, let's talk later," Neoma said. "I'll check on Dion Skelton first."

***

"PRINCESS NEOMA, welcome back."

"I should be the one saying that," Neoma said, smiling at Dion who finally returned to his senses. "Oh, you don't have to stand."

Dion Skelton tried to stand to probably give her a proper greeting.

Of course, she wouldn't want a patient to do that.

"Tell me," Neoma said as she sat down on the chair next to the bed. "I know a lot has happened, but let's talk about that later. For now, I want to hear about the problem that Trevor mentioned earlier."

Trevor, who was standing behind Neoma like a bodyguard, spoke. "Apparently, Calyx Dalton was here yesterday."

Ah, so she returned a little too late.

[But, thankfully, Dion didn't forget his old memories when he returned to his senses.]

Fortunately, it seemed like Trevor's counterspell worked on Dion.

[Trevor's counterspell is incomplete, but it works. The only problem is he can't use it on many people at the same time. But since Dion is the only person here who needs to remember me, Trevor's counterspell worked.]

"Calyx Dalton brought a child here yesterday, Princess Neoma," Dion reported to her with a worried look on his face. "He asked me to confirm that the child was a saint."

"Gosh, they found a fake saint."

"I'm sorry, Princess Neoma," Dion said, bowing his head in apology. "As the High Priest, I confirmed the child as the new saint by giving Calyx Dalton the Astello Temple's Insignia. With that, the empire would recognize the child as the new saint."

"Don't apologize, Dion," she scolded him lightly. "It wasn't your fault since you were not in your right mind."

"Even so…"

"It's alright," she assured him. "It's not too late to make Prince Skylus the real saint."

Dion raised his head. "Do you have a plan, Princess Neoma?"

"Of course," Neoma said confidently. "Prince Skylus' divine power was scattered into three pieces. Mama Boss got one of those, and I brought her here."

Five years ago, Nero was supposed to retrieve the second piece. But it obviously failed, and the crows managed to get their hands on that.

[That's probably what Calyx Dalton used to create the fake saint.]

But not all hopes were lost yet.

"According to Hanna, the third piece of Prince Skylus' missing divine power hasn't been found yet," Neoma said. "If we beat the crows to it, then it wouldn't be hard to prove that Prince Skylus is the real saint." She put a hand over her chest. "I'm the real First Star anyway."

***

"WERE YOU waiting for me?" Neoma teased Ruto when she found him waiting for her in front of Dion Skelton's room. "If you were here to talk about the business that involves the masters of the Elemental Guardians, then you should have brought Dahlia with you. But since you're alone…"

"You're right," Ruto said, nodding his head. "I'm here to tell you to forget about seducing me."

She would have been hurt if she wasn't prepared for this moment.

Fortunately, Neoma and Ruto already predicted that this would happen between them. Hence, they made all the necessary preparations to make their relationship work.

"It's not up to me," she said, shrugging. "My man was the one who hired me, and he told me he made sure his "stupid self" wouldn't be able to reject me."

"I can," he said, extending his hand to her. "Give me the contract."

"Fine~"

She pulled out the Love Contract from her Lynx Ring, then she handed it to Ruto.

As expected, he tried to tear it.

[Keyword: "tried."]

"Argh!"

Ruto didn't only fail to tear the Love Contract– but he also got electrocuted, causing him to collapse to the floor.

Neoma was also shookt.

[Ruto, my man, just what kind of spell did you cast on yourself?!]

***

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