Royal Secret: I'm a Princess!

"YOU GOT here faster than expected, Brother. You're really sharp, huh?"

"Ew. You're disgusting," Trevor commented after Dilan Crowell called him 'brother' despite his earlier warning not to do that. "Snap out of your delusion, dude. Even if you carry the same DNA as my biological father, I will never acknowledge you as my brother."

He found the sorcerer bastard on top of the Clock Tower in the plaza.

The plaza for the nobles, to be precise.

He could tell that Dilan Crowell just finished a huge and powerful spell all over the Royal Capital.

Trevor wasn't bothered, though.

"That's too bad," Dilan Crowell said in an obviously disinterested voice. "I would have been a good brother to you."

"Bullshit."

Dilan Crowell just shrugged. "You're late, Brother. Even if you kill me now, you can no longer stop the spell that I activated a moment ago."

"What spell did you activate this time?"

"We can't kill everyone here because we need people to rule," the sorcerer bastard explained. "Unfortunately, we can't repeat the spell that we used to make people forget about Princess Neoma's existenceâ€" especially not when almost everyone in the empire is already aware of her existence. However, we can always brainwash people to make them hate the royal princess."

"That's it?"

Dilan Crowell let out a frustrated sigh. "Brother, are you looking down on me? As a fellow sorcerer, you should know that the hardest spells to create are spells that affect human emotions."

"Uh-huh," he agreed with the sorcerer bastard. "That's why I'm pretty sure Calyx almost died back when he activated the spell that made people forget about Princess Neoma's existence."

It was a spell that was almost impossible to execute, after all.

"If you know that already, then why do you still look calm?" Dilan Crowell asked suspiciously. "Are you that confident that you could stop my spell?"

"The spell that you activated only affects people in the Royal Capital."

The sorcerer bastard scoffed. "Brother, the number of people living in the Royal Capital is enough to start a revolt against Princess Neoma."

Trevor laughed after confirming the things he needed.

First, he already knew what kind of spell Dilan Crowell activated this time.

Second, he also found out the range of the spell.

[This bastard really let his guard down after thinking that the spell he made was unstoppable.]

"You're laughing?" Dilan Crowell asked, obviously insulted. "Have you lost your mind?"

"Dude, I can't stop the spell you activated," Trevor said. Ah, after spending five years in Korea with Princess Neoma, the way the royal princess spoke had rubbed off on him. He wasn't complaining, though. "Moreover, I don't need to."

The sorcerer bastard's eyebrows knitted in confusion. "You don't "need" to?"

"It rained golden petals in the Royal Capital when Princess Neoma arrived, didn't it?" Trevor asked, smirking. "Those golden petals were a gift from the Cosmic Tree. You didn't think that they were just some pretty petals, did you?"

Dilan Crowell suddenly looked pale.

"That's right, you should be worried," Trevor said, laughing. "After all, the Cosmic Tree's blessing was embedded in each golden petal that poured like rain in the Royal Capital. And you know what's more amazing? It was Princess Neoma who chose the blessing. You see, my Moon Princess Neoma really knows how to make the people who owed her pay the proper compensation for her service."

Dilan Crowell's jaw clenched hard. "What blessing are you talking about?"

Trevor tilted his head to one side, acting cute to annoy the heck out of the sorcerer bastard. "A blessing to stop any kind of spell from activating, especially if the spell is meant to attack the people of the empire."

"That spell is too specific!" Dilan Crowell commented. "There's no way something like that exists!"

"Hey, are you looking down on the Cosmic Tree? If you're really a sorcerer, then you must know that you sound so dumb right now," Trevor said, clicking his tongue. "As sorcerers, I'm aware that our kind thinks we're better than mages, wizards, and witches. It's somehow true since we can create magic out of thin air, unlike the others that needed a medium. However, as sorcerers, we have high respect for Nature. After all, Nature provides the magic that we produce. So, how dare you look down on the Cosmic Tree who's a huge part of Nature?"

Dilan Crowell just glared at him.

"If you don't believe me, then why don't you check on the spell that you activated?" Trevor asked, smirking. "Because if you ask me, I believe your spell is already losing its effect."

That was exactly why Trevor was calm.

He could tell that the offensive spell that he felt a moment ago was already disappearing.

Dilan Crowell, who seemed to have felt his spell vanishing, glared at him harder. "Princess Neoma is more meticulous than she looks."

"I know, right? My Moon Princess claims she wants to be a true lady of leisure, but she works the hardest among all of us," Trevor said, then he teleported in front of Dilan Crowell. And before the sorcerer bastard could react, he already grabbed him by the neck. "Why are you using a spell to disguise your appearance?"

Dilan Crowell's face turned red as he couldn't breathe after getting strangled like that. The sorcerer bastard tried to attack Trevor, but it didn't work since Trevor already covered his entire body with an invisible shield.

[Princess Neoma taught me a thing or two about creating shields.]

"You're not using your own body right now, are you?" Trevor asked, then he grabbed Dilan Crowell's face with his other hand. "How dare you to use a cheap spell in front of the greatest Sorcerer of this generation? Did you think I wouldn't notice?"

Dilan Crowell screamed in agony as the "mask" that he wore quickly melted as Trevor's hand turned scalding hot.

Trevor then threw Dilan Crowell away after he successfully melted his "mask."

Dilan Crowell tried to cover his face with his hands, but it was already too late.

[What the hell?]

That annoyingly handsome and perfect face...

"Rubin Drayton?" Trevor asked in disbelief. "Dilan Crowell, you've been using Rubin Drayton's body as a vessel all this time?"

***

DARKNESS.

Since Paige was a Light Mage, she was sensitive to Darkness.

Hence, she was probably the only person outside the courthouse who could see that a huge amount of Darkness was slowly creeping its way to swallow the entire courthouse.

She wasn't that worried since she knew Princess Neoma and the others would be safe inside.

However, that wasn't the case for the innocent people outside the courthouse.

"Kids, we must move the people away from the courthouse!" Paige, who was flying above the people gathered around the courthouse, yelled at her "siblings" who were riding Jeno's cloud. "The crows are here, and they're using Darkness to swallow up the courthouse! Go and protect the peopleâ€" I will purify the Darkness first!"

***

WOW.

This was the first time Neoma was hurt because of flame.

Since she had the fire attribute, she was practically immune to any kind of fire. If she was immune to the Red Dragon's fire, there was no way ordinary flame could hurt her.

But the Black Phoenix's black flame was hot as hell.

[Is this the preview of what my afterlife would be like in hell?]

To be fair, the black flame wasn't burning her to ashes.

It just felt hotter than Tteokbokki's red flame.

Moreover, she could feel the black flame burning the needle-like thing flowing through her veins. And it was painful as hell.

Fuck, she wanted to lose control and wreak havoc.

[I know you warned me that it would hurt, Aunt Nichole. But I didn't expect it to be THIS painful...]

"I'm sorry, Princess Neoma," Vespera, in his human form, stood beside her and whispered. "The thing inside your body has already secured a few of your Beads. I have to burn it thoroughly so that it would die inside without taking your Beads out of your body. Hence, my flame is hotter than normal."

"It's alright, Vespera," Neoma said. It wasn't really alright, but she was good at acting calm as if she wasn't being burned alive. "As long as my future babies are safe, I can endure it. Plus, I look cool walking while I'm literally burning."

Vespera laughed softly. "I like that you're optimistic, Princess Neoma. No wonder Nichole is so fond of you."

[I know, right?]

Neoma wanted to talk to Vespera more, but she had a job to do. "Everyone, you've heard it from Calyx's mouthâ€" this is how they steal the Seeds and Beads of other people in order to conceive children mixed with their cult's disgusting blood." She raised her arms to show the people the melting shackles around her wrists. "Calyx used this as a way to discreetly inject my body with a device that has the purpose to steal my Beads. But don't worry because Vespera is already destroying the device inside my body. Hence, I'm engulfed in flame."

She refused to look at her Mama Boss and Papa Boss as she explained because she didn't want to see her parents worried.

Plus, she was scared to see Nero's reaction.

[I'll be heartbroken if I saw Nero indifferent while looking at me in this state.]

"The cult that Calyx and the fake Empress Juliet belong to has been performing cruel experiments on the royal princess of the Great Moonasterion Empire for centuries now," Neoma continued with her revelation. "One of their experiments is thisâ€" stealing Beads from the royal princesses to conceive children from different races." She turned to Calyx who looked emotionless at the moment. "And that was probably how Calyx was born a de Moonasterio. But, as you can already tell, that bastard isn't my father's sonâ€" Calyx is no prince."

Of course, the reaction of the nobles inside the courtroom was rage.

The empire was deceived, after all.

[Compared to this, the fact that I pretended as Nero seems trivial now. But our family still owes our people an apology... what the fuck is that stench?]

Neoma's thoughts were rudely interrupted by the rotten smell that reached her nose.

And it seemed like she was the only one who caught the horrible stench.

She looked around and found the source of it: the fake Empress Dowager. Her mouth was slightly parted, and Neoma could see black smoke coming out of it...

... and it was headed to Hanna who was still keeping an eye on Calyx.

"Hanna!" Neoma yelled while running towards Hanna. "Look out!"

She couldn't close the gap between her and Hanna as quickly as she wanted, and not even Dahlia, Vespera, and Lewis were fast enough to save her cousin.

The quiet fake Empress Dowager moved so fast none of them was able to stop her from hugging Hanna from behind. And as soon as the fake old hag got a hold of Hanna, a smoke of Darkness forced its way inside Hanna's mouth.

Neoma let out an angry growl, but then Calyx suddenly blocked her way.

[His arms and legs are already healed...?!]

"Fine, you win the trial," Calyx said, smirking at her. "But I'm taking the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess with me."

Neoma gave Calyx the middle finger. "I think the fuck not."

***

NERO was about to run towards Hanna, but he was literally stopped when pillars of Darkness suddenly emerged from the ground.

Then hundreds of snake-like Darkness in liquid form wrapped themselves around his body.

Nero growled angrily, and he was about to summon his Soul Beasts when he realized he didn't have to.

[What...?]

His mother and father both looked angry in his stead as they purified the Darkness that grabbed him.

Nero felt touched for some reason.

[Do they care about me genuinely?]

***

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