Royal Secret: I'm A Princess!

Neoma let go of Ruto’s collar because she was afraid she might accidentally hurt him. “Carry on.”

“Right now, the Ancient Devil already ate my attraction for you,” Ruto said, avoiding her gaze. “I can’t see or remember your face anymore. Hence, I don’t feel any physical attraction towards you.”

She clenched her hands tight until her nails dug deep into the skin of her palms. “What? You’re no longer attracted to me?”

“It doesn’t mean I don’t love you anymore,” Ruto said, looking at her with pleading eyes. “Neoma, I still feel the same for you.”

“But you’re not attracted to me,” she said weakly, then she pointed at her face. “What’s the use of my otherworldly beauty if the person I want to fall for this face isn’t and cannot be attracted to me?”

“I know that it’s a big deal to you, but please don’t be upset,” he said while trying to pacify her. “Even if I don’t feel attracted to your face anymore, nothing will change–”

<“Don’t give the princess false hopes, young man,”> the Ancient Devil said, rudely cutting off Ruto. <“It will only get worse from here. After I ate your feelings of attraction for Neoma de Moonasterio, next eat love her little by until you fall out with her.”>

What?

.....

Ruto tried to stop the Ancient Devil from talking, but Neoma put a finger on Ruto’s lips while looking at the damned shadow.

“Carry on,” she ordered the Ancient Devil. “I want to hear everything.”

<“Once the young lord falls out of love with you, I will then eat devotion he has for you. Little princess, you should be careful once lose his because that happens, no longer feel urge to serve or protect you,”> the Ancient Devil said playfully, like a child expressing how excited he was to eat his favorite fried chicken. <“But it doesn’t end there. I will next eat his loyalty. Now suggest you kill the young lord when that happens. After all, once he loses loyalty to you, could sell out enemies without batting an eye.”>

Ruto would betray her?

The thought never crossed her mind because she knew how deep his feelings for her were. But once the Ancient Devil ate all those feelings…

“You won’t forget me, but you’ll lose all your feelings for me,” Neoma said while looking at Ruto. “It’s worse than you forgetting all the memories that we shared together then and now.”

Ruto gently grabbed her hand to remove her finger pressed lightly against his lips. “Neoma, don’t worry,” he said. “I won’t let myself harm you–”

<“I already told you not to give the princess false hopes,”> the Ancient Devil chimed in again. <“I will eat all the remaining positive feelings you have for her, young lord. Amusement, interest, satisfaction– everything. Once I’m done with feelings, I then little negative he has until there’s nothing left in his heart.”>

“Is that the price of turning back time?” Neoma asked the Ancient Devil. “You’re not hiding anything else, are you?”

<“No, that’s everything that the boy owes from me.”>

“Can’t you change it?” she asked, then she put a hand over her chest. “I can give you anything and everything you want if you let me pay Ruto’s debt.”

“Neoma, you shouldn’t easily say that you’ll give someone anything and everything,” Ruto scolded her sternly. “And I won’t let you pay my debt.”

She turned to her with a glare. “But you turned back the time for me!”

“And it was worth it.”

“What?”

“It was worth it,” Ruto repeated firmly, then he put her hand on his cheek as if he wanted her to caress his face. “You are worth it, Neoma.”

“You won’t get away with this with that flattery, Ruston Solfrid Stroganoff.”

“Please don’t call me by my full name– it sounds scary.”

“You should really be scared,” she growled at him. “Do you think I will be happy if losing all your feelings for me is the price you have to pay for turning back the time?”

“Neoma, you don’t need me to be happy.”

“What?”

“You can throw me away like you did in your first life when I got in your way of destroying the world,” Ruto said indifferently. “Or live how you did when you were in Korea– a strong, independent woman who doesn’t need a man.”

“Yes, I don’t need you,” Neoma said, knitting her eyebrows. “But I WANT you, Ruto.”

Oh, he blushed.

She would have been happy to see Ruto’s red and embarrassed face, but she wasn’t in the mood to celebrate her victory.

<“I love tragic stories!”> the Ancient Devil exclaimed enthusiastically. <“Please love each other harder and deeper, so your tragic ending would be more devastating!”>

SNAP.

That was the sound of Neoma’s patience breaking.

“The only tragedy that you should look forward is your death,” Neoma said to the Ancient Devil coldly, then she turned to the shadow. “That’s right. If you die, then Ruto doesn’t need to pay his debt to you.”

<“How can you kill someone who’s already dead? I don’t even have a physical body,”> the Ancient Devil said, shrugging. <“Moreover, you’re being selfish. Are you really going to turn your beloved into a person who doesn’t know how pay his debts? Have forgotten that just like you, he has pride of noble and divine son uphold?”>

Okay, being called out like that made her flinch.

[The Ancient Devil isn’t wrong, but I still hate it!]

“Neoma, the Ancient Devil is right,” Ruto said gently. “We made a fair contract. He turned back the time. Hence, I ought to pay the price for it.”

“Is that easy for you to accept the fact that you’re going to lose all your feelings for me?”

“Do I look like that in your eyes?”

No.

Ruto looked as devastated as she was. He didn’t need to shed tears because the sadness and the yearning in his eyes were enough to break Neoma’s heart. After all, he was looking at her as if he was so scared to lose her, yet he couldn’t hold onto her either.

However, she refused to give up.

[I won’t give up on you, Ruto.]

“Something similar happened to Papa Boss and Mama Boss in the past,” Neoma said when she remembered her parents’ situation before. “Mama Boss took away Papa Boss’ ability to love her. And yet, Papa Boss broke the spell and fell in love with Mama Boss again.” She cupped Ruto’s face between her hands. “You just have to love me harder, Ruto.”

Ruto smiled faintly and nodded. “Loving you is as easy as breathing, Neoma. Hence, you don’t have to tell me to do something I’m already doing.”

Aww.

It was a little corny, but it melted her heart.

<“The spell of taking the ability to love someone can easily be broken since is something you relearn,”> the Ancient Devil said, obviously ruining their moment. <“However, losing your feelings for someone is the end. You cannot take back things that you already lost forever. Don’t get hopes up, children.”>

“Take your negativity somewhere else and fuck off,” Neoma snarled at the Ancient Devil, then she gently patted Ruto’s cheeks. “Don’t worry, Ruto– we’ll figure this out together.”

Ruto nodded and squeezed her hands. “Yes, together.”

***

“I’M GOING to kill the Ancient Devil,” Neoma declared. “Grandpa Arche, teach me how to kill a devil.”

Hanna almost choked on her tea.

Arche, on the other hand, looked at her as if she just lost her mind.

[Was I too blunt?]

When she returned to Hanna’s room, she found her cousin having tea with Arche.

“Does the Ancient Devil deserve to be killed, though?” Arche asked while giving her a dubious look. “Or are you just picking on him because of Lord Levi’s divine son?”

Well, she couldn’t really answer that, so she just changed the topic for now.

“Why aren’t my Soul Beast and Spirits back yet?” she asked worriedly. “I thought they were going to return as soon as I came back to normal.”

The ancient monarch let out a sigh. “I was about to teach you how to summon your Soul Beast back, but you said you wanted to show off your beauty to Lord Levi’s divine son.” He shook his head disapprovingly. “Your priority is messed up, child.”

“Neoma is usually level-headed, but all her reasons fly out of the window when it comes to Lord Ruto,” Hanna said calmly while stirring her tea in an elegant manner. Gosh, her cousin was indeed the personification of beauty and grace. “Lord Arche, please also teach our dear princess some self-control.”

“Young Lady Quinzel, you’re asking for the impossible,” Arche said, shaking his head. “Just one look at Neoma de Moonasterio and I can already tell she has everything except three things: sanity, humility, and patience.”

Hanna stifled her laughter.

Neoma, on the other hand, pouted. “Neoma version 1.0 used to be sane, meek, and patient one lifetime ago, Grandpa.”

***

“WHAT DID you and Juliet talk about before she left?” Mona asked William curiously. “Juliet summoned you privately, didn’t she?”

William averted his gaze from her. “The former empress just said her goodbye.”

[He’s lying.]

There was a strange tension between Juliet and William.

She wanted to probe more, but she couldn’t since they had already arrived at their destination: the Blood Sea.

To be precise, Mona and William were suspended in the air above it.

“There it is,” Mona said while looking at the violent whirlpool in the middle of the sea. “I can sense the new saint’s divine power in the middle of the whirlpool.”

It wouldn’t be easy to retrieve it even for her.

“Sea monsters,” William said while looking at the sea monsters that were emerging from the water one by one. “I’ll take care of the sea monsters, Mona.”

“Alright,” Mona said, then she opened her hands to summon Nydia– her weapon. “Let’s end this quickly.”

***

.....

[PERFECT.]

Nero was satisfied to see the bright full moon in the night sky.

[The brighter the moon is, the more power I can draw from it.]

“Your Royal Highness, we have arrived.”

Nero closed the window of the carriage, then he turned to the carriage door where the Fletcher Twins were waiting for him. “Are they here?”

Of course, he was talking about his knights.

Wyatt nodded politely at his question. “They’re here, Prince Nero.”

“Very well,” he said, then he moved and stepped out of the carriage.

And there they were– his loyal knights waiting for him.

Nero was glad to finally meet them in the flesh. “I hope you’re all ready to die for me this time again.”

***

“ARCHE is here,” Aruna, in her brother’s body, declared while she was having dinner with her “family.” “Abducting Neoma de Moonasterio has just become a suicide mission.”

Lewis, who obviously looked pleased with the news, smirked haughtily.

“Isn’t Arche de Moonasterio the most incompetent emperor in history?” Trevor asked casually, unbothered. “Even the records in your grimoire say so.”

“That’s not the problem,” she said vaguely.

“Then what is?” Nichole de Moonasterio asked curiously. “I thought you can deal with your brother easily since you’re superior to him in every aspect.”

Dominic Zavaroni nodded in agreement. “That’s what I heard, too.”

“The problem is the fact that Arche uses my body.”

“How is that a problem?” Gin, the black cat in his human form, asked. “You’re using his body anyway.”

Aruna let out a sigh. “HE’s going to go crazy once he finds out that “Aruna” is here.”

***

“YOUR EXCELLENCY, where do you think you’re going in that state?” Sydrion asked, sighing while looking at the pathetic state of Callisto de Luca at the moment. “Please stay here and receive your treatment properly.”

“She’s here,” Callisto de Luca hissed, clenching his chest tight even though he looked like a melting human-shaped candle at the moment. “How can I calm down when my beloved has finally appeared after hiding from me for decades?!”