Royal Secret: I'm a Princess!

OH.

Rufus noticed that the Ancient Devil's aura turned murderous after Hanna managed to escape with Gin.

It was a relief that his daughter was out of there now.

But he couldn't relax yet because Princess Neoma's frozen body was still there.

[I need to safely get Princess Neoma out of here even if it kills me.]

"You're the King of Hell, aren't you?" Rufus asked, then he added this to be polite: "Sir."

The King of Hell scoffed. "You can just call me 'Drystan.' I don't need a child to be overly polite to me."

[I'm not a child, though…]

He just kept it to himself because, for someone like the King of Hell, he knew he was nothing but a mere child. Moreover, it wasn't the right time to argue about that.

The Ancient Devil suddenly fell silent in the corner as if he was in deep thought.

Of course, none of them was foolish enough to attack the Ancient Devil because they wouldn't know if it was a trap or what.

[We just need to continue putting up our guard.]

Ah, there was more.

"Lord Drystan, I'm sorry, but I won't be fighting the Ancient Devil to death."

"Huh?"

Rufus smiled "innocently" at Drystan. "I'm saying I won't sacrifice my life to stop the Ancient Devil here. You see, I'm a father of two daughters."

"You only have one daughter, child."

"It may be impudent of me, but I consider Princess Neoma as my daughter," Rufus said. His meeting with the older Princess Neoma from the first timeline was still fresh in his mind, so he almost broke down crying. Fortunately, he was able to get a hold of his emotions. "Hence, my priority right now is to get Princess Neoma out of here. I hope you understand what I'm saying, sir."

Drystan sighed while shaking his head. "That's fine with me. I won't force a child to die with me here anyway. But I'm sorry. I can't help you get out from here since my power only allows me to create a portal to Hell, and not open a portal leading to the human world. After all, someone like me isn't allowed to come out of the surface."

"It's alright, sir," Rufus said. "I can use my power to send Princess Neoma out of here. While I'm trying to open a path for Princess Neoma, can I ask you to protect me? I need to be alive to send the Imperial Princess to the other side, after all."

"Well, of course, I'll try my best to do that," Drystan said, looking at the Ancient Devil. "Just pray to your god to give me strength to fight that monster alone."

"Not alone."

Hmm?

Rufus smiled widely when he saw the person who just become their sliver of hope at that very moment. "Lewis."

He almost forgot that Lewis Crevan was still there!

"Sir, I think my god just answered our prayer," Rufus said, smiling. Then he used his hands to politely point at Lewis. "We have Lewis here."

Drystan turned to Lewis with a dire look on his face. "What can a baby do?"

Lewis frowned. "Me not baby."

"Well, you're speaking like one."

Oops.

"Sir, Lewis is not speaking like a baby," Rufus said, laughing awkwardly. "He just tends to talk incoherently to people he doesn't like."

Drystan gave Rufus a look of disbelief. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

Uhm, no.

The awkward silence was interrupted when the Ancient Devil suddenly threw a ball of dark energy at them.

It was Lewis who moved first.

The fox boy jumped and kicked the ball of dark energy back at the Ancient Devil.

Then the Ancient Devil swatted the ball of dark energy with his hand casually.

The ball of dark energy was then sent flying, hitting the roof of the mansion. It then exploded, causing the roof to collapse on them.

It was Rufus' turn to move.

He created a Shadow Veil to protect himself and Princess Neoma's frozen body.

[Lewis and Drystan can take care of themselves.]

There was a strange miasma around the Imperial Princess' ice coffin, and Rufus had a feeling it was meant to protect her.

Even so, he didn't risk it and created a barrier for Princess Neoma.

He tried to extend the barrier to Lewis and Drystan, but the two immediately left his side to attack the Ancient Devil at the same time.

[Good luck, you two.]

Rufus didn't have the time or luxury to watch Lewis and Drystan fight since he had a more important thing to do.

He looked at the miasma surrounding the Imperial Princess' ice coffin.

Fortunately, it wasn't attacking him.

[I can feel Commander Ruto's Mana in this, so it won't attack me, right? The commander is strong enough to create a weapon that can differentiate the allies from the enemies.]

Rufus decided to test his luck and stepped forward.

Much to his relief, the miasma actually avoided him instead of attacking him as he feared.

[Commander Ruto really doesn't disappoint. I'll give him a chance to make it up to Princess Neoma. He earned it.]

Rufus, now relieved that the miasma wasn't going to attack him, approached the ice coffin more confidently now. Then he placed his hands on the huge block of ice, enduring the cold that was making his hands numb.

Then he closed his eyes to concentrate.

[I can't open a portal leading to the outside world, but I can send Princess Neoma to the Shadow Realm.]

The Shadow Realm was the dimension where the Quinzels' Shadow Beasts lived.

To be honest, only the chosen Quinzel Heirs could enter the Shadow Realm.

Of course, his Brother Gavin had already gone to that place before.

Rufus got his chance when he was named the new successor after his older brother disappeared.

And, recently, Hanna had gone to the Shadow Realm as well when she chose her main Shadow Beasts.

Unfortunately, his daughter was yet to get used to coming in and out of the Shadow Realm freely. That was probably why Hanna didn't think about sending Princess Neoma to the Shadow Realm. After all, if done wrong, the Imperial Princess could be sent to the wrong dimension.

Fortunately, Rufus had already mastered the Shadow Realm, and he could even bring other people there with him.

Hence, only one problem remained now.

[The Shadow Beasts are hostile to strangers entering the Shadow Realm. But Princess Neoma isn't a stranger since she also has Quinzel Blood in her.]

Moreover…

Rufus grinned to himself. "If our precious Princess Neoma succeeded in taming the cold-hearted Emperor Nikolai, I'm sure she can tame a few Shadow Beasts."

***

[SKEWER?]

"What's wrong, Nene?"

Neoma, who was following her ancestors to wherever they needed them to be, stopped walking and clutched her chest tight. "Skewer is trying to separate herself from my soul."

It was a weird feeling.

Skewer wasn't exactly hurting her, but she could tell that her weapon wanted to get out of her soul as if it were being summoned by another person.

[Who the hell dares to take my Skewer away from me, huh?]

"'Skewer' would be the Death Scythe," Primo explained to Gwen, his wife who was also the Demon Queen and whose power was used to create the Death Scythe. "Our dearest Neoma renamed her 'Skewer.'"

Gwen gasped as if she was shocked. "S-Skewer…?"

Neoma almost choked on her saliva, avoiding Gwen's gaze.

[Now I'm embarrassed because of my naming sense.]

"Our dear Nene also changed the Death Scythe's color," Yule added cheerfully. "You should see the new Death Scythe, my dear daughter-in-law."

[OH PLEASE STAHP.]

Neoma faced Gwen and was about to apologize when Skewer suddenly spoke in her mind.

Well, the Death Scythe didn't really "talk."

But Neoma still understood what Skewer wanted to do at that moment.

"Huh? You're going there?" Neoma asked, knitting her eyebrows. "What the fuck is Trevor doing right now?"

***

NOTE: Hiii! I'm sorry for the inconsistent updates. I'm sad and busy these days, but I'm feeling (a bit) better now. Here's a mass release as an apology. Aaand daily updates restart today (hopefully my "sad episode" goes away quickly so I can function as a normal adult again, lol).

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