Royal Secret: I'm a Princess!

JASPER was currently in a meeting with two of the Northern lords: Count Tyler Lucchesi, Count Larry Dawkins, Count Benjamin Russo, and Viscount Austin Morrisey.

He was the youngest person in the meeting room, but also the highest-ranking nobleman.

Hence, the lords of the North couldn't ignore a duke like him.

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince eliminated the demon worshippers that gathered in the North a few years ago," Count Lucchesi said. "Is it possible that the group who took over this village is the remnant of that cult?"

"It doesn't matter whether they're the remnants of the demon worshippers that the Crown Prince eliminated in the past," Jasper said in an indifferent yet firm voice. "The point is it happened in the North AGAIN."

The lords of the North flinched.

"I know how hard it is to manage a territory."

He should know because as a duke, his territory was bigger than the territories of the counts and the viscount.

"This village is the farthest from the lord's castle," Jasper said while looking at Viscount Austin Morrisey– the owner of that land. "Viscount Morrisey, this is practically a slave's village. There's no chief that oversees the village, and this place is so poor it's no surprise a cult was able to take over the entire place easily– without your knowledge."

Viscount Morrisey, who looked scared at the moment, bowed his head in apology. "I deeply apologize for my carelessness, Duke Hawthorne."

The three counts didn't look good while Viscount Morrisey was bowing his head to a noble way younger than them, but none of them protested. After all, Count Lucchesi, Count Dawkins, and Count Russo knew how serious the situation was.

"You shouldn't apologize to me since I'm a stranger here," Jasper said coldly. "Viscount Morrisey, you should bow your head to the people that you failed to protect."

Viscount Morrisey could only bow his head lower.

"Duke Hawthorne, have you informed the crown about this?" Count Russo asked carefully. "Since you said that your allies are already taking care of the cult, does it mean the crown has already sent a representative?"

Was Princess Neoma a representative of the crown?

[It feels wrong to say that since to me, Princess Neoma OWNS the crown already.]

"A direct member of the Royal Family is already here."

The lords of the North looked shocked and a bit frightened.

"Is it Prince Calyx?" Count Dawkins asked nervously. "Or perhaps, it's His Royal Highness the Crown Prince himself?"

"Neither."

Now the lords of the North looked even more confused.

"It can't be the Empress Dowager…?"

[She's not even the real Empress Juliet.]

Jasper frowned at Count Lucchesi's question. "You'll meet HER ROYAL HIGHNESS later."

Now the lords of the North were looking at him as if he had gone crazy.

Jasper didn't have time to waste with the confused lords as an important guest dropped by.

"Annyeong, Jasper hyung."

The lords of the North all stood up when Tteokbokki, Princess Neoma's Soul Beast in his human form, suddenly appeared out of thin air.

But Jasper stood calmly and stopped the lords from attacking.

"Lord Tteokbokki, you talk like Princess Neoma now," Jasper said, smiling at the Soul Beast who was dragging an unconscious woman by her leg. "I trust everyone has been resolved already?"

Princess Neoma.

Lord Ruto.

Miss Dahlia.

There was no way the three monsters wouldn't be able to solve the problem easily.

"The thug princess already killed the Hell Knights, so the Commander of Darkness couldn't be summoned anymore," Tteokbokki reported to him, throwing the woman away until the poor lady hit the wall. "That disgusting thing is the Crowell in charge of the operation. The thug princess said you'll know what to do with that filthy thing, hyung."

He was honored to know that Princess Neoma trusted him that much.

[And, well, as the youngest duke of the empire, this is also a part of my duty.]

"Thank you for bringing the enemy to me, Lord Tteokbokki," Jasper said, smiling. "Please tell Princess Neoma that I'll take care of the rest."

***

"RUTO, RUTO, put me down," Neoma said excitedly while patting Ruto's shoulder. "Hurry! Hurry~"

Ruto raised an eyebrow at her while putting her down carefully. "Now I'm only "Ruto?""

She just smiled sheepishly…

… and ran towards the beautiful unicorn as soon as her feet landed on the floor.

The sleeping creature was imprisoned inside a glass cage. Darkness, in the form of gas, was wrapped around the unicorn's legs like shackles.

Tsk.

Neoma punched the glass cage.

The glass was thick and obviously laced with a protective spell. But her bare hand was enough to break it. Her hand, now bleeding, was bruised and cut. Even so, she didn't have the time to worry about it.

As soon as the glass cage broke, the Darkness immediately attacked her.

She didn't have to lift a finger, though.

The Darkness was purified before it even touched her.

"You could have covered your hand with Mana," Ruto said, standing next to her. "In the first place, you didn't have to use your bare hand to break the glass cage."

Wow.

Neoma was suddenly reminded that Ruto received the blessing of the Sun Goddess. The warmth of his body alone was enough to purify Darkness. And standing next close to him "saved" her from being attacked earlier.

[My man is strong, huh?]

Ruto knitted his eyebrows. "Why are you suddenly sizing me up?"

"My bad. I automatically size up anyone who seems to be as strong as me," Neoma explained. "And Ruto, I don't want to sound ungrateful. But if it's not life-threatening, you don't have to save me from Darkness. I enjoy eating it, so I feel like you stole my lunch from me just now."

Fortunately, he didn't seem to be offended as he nodded. "I see. I apologize for stealing your "lunch." But I hope you don't get hurt on purpose next time."

"Are you worried about me?"

"It's just annoying to see strong people get hurt on purpose when they can easily avoid it."

[Gosh, he became a tsundere.]

"My small injuries can heal on their own," Neoma said, then she turned to the beautiful creature in front of them. A smile automatically spread on her face. "Ruto, it's a unicorn. And it's so pretty!"

It was a white unicorn the size of an average healthy adult horse, and the span of its wings was proportional to its body.

Of course, a unicorn wouldn't be a unicorn without the horn on its forehead.

"Gosh," Neoma gushed, clasping her hands together as if she was praying. "It's so beautiful and it looks so mythical, Ruto."

She wanted to hug the unicorn.

No, a handshake(?) would be enough.

But the unicorn was unconscious, so she didn't dare touch it. She was contented looking at the beautiful creature.

[I hope the unicorn lets me hug them later.]

"I can't believe I finally saw a unicorn," Neoma gushed. "I can die happy now."

"If you died just because you saw a unicorn, your "children" would hunt down all the unicorns in the world and annihilate them."

She pouted, but she couldn't deny what Ruto said.

[I can totally see my "children" doing that.]

"I'm just saying that the unicorn is the most magical creature out there."

"You have a dragon, Neoma," Ruto reminded her in disbelief. "Dragons are considered the most legendary creature in the world."

"You can find a dragon in every fantasy book out there, Ruto."

"Your Soul Beast would cry if he heard you."

"My love for unicorns and my love for Tteokbokki are two incomparable things."

"Is that so?"

Neoma nodded and smiled. "I wish Papa Boss was here."

"Why?"

"Papa Boss loves unicorns, too."

She suddenly felt sad.

Of course, there was never a day when she didn't miss her Papa Boss and Mama Boss.

But seeing a unicorn made her miss her parents more– especially Papa Boss.

[Don't worry, Papa Boss. I will admire this beautiful unicorn for the two of us.]

"I find it hard to believe," Ruto said, surprise obvious in his voice. "I can't imagine Emperor Nikolai loving anything else aside from Lady Roseheart. It's already a miracle that His Majesty learned to love you and Prince Nero."

"I know, right?" she agreed. "But who can resist the charm of a unicorn? Definitely not me."

"Who do you like more?" Ruto asked abruptly. "Me or that unicorn?"

"…"

"?"

"You," Neoma said, smiling when she turned to Ruto. "Of course, I like you more, babe."

Ruto raised an eyebrow at her. "Then what's with the pause?"

"That was just your imagination, babe."

"Are you gaslighting me now?"

"Ruto-ya~"

"I'm older than you."

"Ruto oppa~" Neoma said, linking her arm with Ruto's arm. "Your jealous side is cute, too."

"I'm not jealous, though?"

"Sure," she said, then she turned to the beautiful unicorn again. "Babe, is the unicorn alright? Is it just sleeping?"

"It is unconscious," Ruto said. "We may need to purify the Darkness that it absorbed for it to gain consciousness."

"Then can I do it?"

"Let me do it," he said. "You have other things to take care of, Neoma."

"Hmm?"

"There are kidnapped fairies, elves, and mermaids in this building," Ruto reminded her. "I think you're the best person to rescue them. They're afraid of me, after all."

"Why would they be afraid of you?"

"They naturally fear the person who has the license to kill them."

"As the God Slayer, you also have the license to kill the children of Nature?"

"Yeah," he said while nodding. "I also have the license to kill the creatures from the Underworld. The only beings I cannot punish are humans."

"But you killed me in the first timeline?"

"…"

"Was I no longer human back then?"

"…"

"As expected of myself, I probably turned into a god back then," she said while nodding. "God Neoma has a nice ring to it."

"I'll save the unicorn," Ruto said. Then his hand moved to pat her head. "Go and save the children of Nature."

"Okie-dokie," Neoma said cheerfully. "Work hard for our future, babe."

***

DAHLIA looked at the black orb in the center of the room where the victims were slowly dying in their sleep.

The black orb was releasing strange red little lights that were getting absorbed by the sleeping victims' bodies. And in return, the sleeping victims were releasing Darkness that the black orb was absorbing.

Hence, the black orb was almost full.

"It's the device that's causing the victims to slowly die in their sleep," Duckie, now in the form of a brunette child with brown eyes, said while pointing at the black orb. She followed the Fourth Elemental Guardian who led her to where the victims were while Princess Neoma and Lord Ruto were dealing with other stuff. "I don't know what kind of device that thing is, though."

"I know what it is," Dahlia said while clenching her hands tight. "It's a device that could give humans nightmares. Usually, the nightmare involves making the victims experience the worst moment of their lives again and again until they feel despair. Sometimes, it involves putting the victims in an endless loop of death."

No wonder the sleeping victims were producing Darkness.

[When a person experiences too much despair, their life force turns into Darkness. Hence, they die slowly.]

"Is that so?" Duckie asked, tilting his head to one side. "But how did you know that, child?"

"That device is called the 'Nightmare Catcher,'" Dahlia said, her nails digging deep into her palms, making her bleed. "It belongs to the Black Witches."

How did it fall into the hands of the crows?

***

[SHORT EXTRA: DAHLIA'S OBSERVATION DIARY]

When Dahlia worked with Lord Ruto for the past few years, she realized that he was a born leader.

Commanding people came naturally to the young lord.

Hence, she couldn't believe what she was seeing at the moment.

"I know this is cliché, but is there something on my face?" Lord Ruto asked while the two of them were dismounting their Elemental Guardians. Princess Neoma already left the scene to deal with the summoner of the Hell Knights. "Or do you have something to say to me, Miss Dahlia?"

"I'm just wondering why you're letting Princess Neoma lead us, Lord Ruto," Dahlia said nervously. "I'm not complaining since I made the resolve to follow Princess Neoma no matter what. But I'm just curious. I thought the two of you would clash against each other a lot, since both of you have strong personalities."

"…"

"Y-You don't have to answer, Lord Ruto…"

"Neoma… is a wild child."

"???"

"I just have a feeling that I'll never know peace again if I get on her bad side," Lord Ruto said while avoiding Dahlia's gaze. "And looking at her back makes me feel… safe?"

She nodded in agreement.

"I know what you're talking about, Lord Ruto," Dahlia said, smiling. "Whenever Princess Neoma is right in front of me, I feel like everything will be alright."

"And that might be a problem in the near future," Lord Ruto said while walking away from her. "We can't depend on a single person because if that person disappears one day, then everything will collapse."

***

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