Royal Secret: I'm a Princess!

Chapter 1036: FIRST LOVE

IT’S BEEN a while since I’ve come here.

By ’here,’ Hanna was talking about the plaza— the one for the common people, not the plaza for the elite.

To be precise, she and Lewis were roaming around the busy street lined with food stalls.

Of course, the two of them were both wearing hooded cloaks as a disguise.

"Are you sure you don’t want to go to a restaurant to eat, my lady?" Lewis whispered, obviously avoiding calling Hanna by her name. Although he was speaking in a low voice, it wouldn’t hurt to be extra careful. "There’s a decent place nearby."

"Oh, I’m fine," Hanna said while munching on the fifth meat skewer that she had bought. "I’m enjoying the street food that we’ve been eating so far. But do you want to eat at the restaurant you mentioned?"

Lewis shook his head. "I’m just thinking about you, my lady."

"Don’t worry about me. I’ve learned how to eat street food from your ’mother.’"

"Hmm."

"You’re not going to say your catchphrase?"

"Catchphrase?"

Hanna whispered in a really quiet voice that she knew Lewis would pick up since the fox had sharp ears. ""Princess Neoma" isn’t my mother.""

"Ah."

"You’ve been saying that since we were kids. But I haven’t heard you say your catchphrase for quite some time now."

Lewis looked up at the sky as if he were deep in thought, and then he tilted his head to one side before looking at Hanna. "Maybe I’m starting to accept that Princess Neoma is, indeed, my ’mother.’ She was the first person who treated me like a human being, and she raised me as her ’son’ when everyone else only saw me as a disposable killing tool."

Aww.

Hanna smiled while watching Lewis’ face light up while talking about Neoma.

Their bond is really deep.

"Ah, that made me realize..."

Hanna smiled wider, encouraging Lewis to talk more. "You realized what?"

"Princess Neoma is my first love."

Hanna covered her mouth with her hand when she gasped softly.

She didn’t expect Lewis to bring up his romantic love for Neoma again.

But just because the fox said it casually didn’t mean that he wasn’t sincere.

Hanna could see the love in Lewis’ eyes.

And she was relieved.

I’m sure he’s still hurting because Neoma is already with Commander Solfrid, but it seems like he has started moving on.

Hanna remembered the moment she consoled Lewis after Neoma rejected him properly.

At the time, the fox was in too much pain.

However, right now, Lewis was overflowing with his pure love for Neoma.

Ah.

He has made peace with the fact that his first love will remain unrequited forever.

"Are you okay now, Lewis?"

"I am," Lewis said, nodding slowly as if he were thinking about what to say next. "I mean, I’ll never accept Commander Solfrid as my ’father,’ but I’m okay with him being with Princess Neoma. As long as my ’mother’ is happy, then I won’t complain. Not like my opinion matters."

"No, you’re wrong about that," Hanna said while shaking her head. "If you throw a tantrum and tell Neoma to break up with Commander Solfrid, I’m sure she’ll consider it. After all, your opinion matters to her more than you think."

"Really?"

"Yes. Should we play a prank on her?"

Lewis paused for a moment, and then he shook his head. "I don’t want to put Princess Neoma in such a predicament, even as a prank. But if the commander makes a mistake again, I won’t hesitate to throw a tantrum and ask Princess Neoma to break up with him."

Hanna laughed softly. "Yes, you do that."

"What if Princess Neoma still sides with the commander after I throw a tantrum?"

"Then it will be my turn to throw a tantrum and take your side, Lewis. I’ll even mop the floor with my back if I have to."

Hanna said it lightly, but she really meant it.

However, she didn’t expect Lewis to smile in response.

It was a full-blown smile— the kind that showed his complete set of teeth, even showing the dimples that rarely appeared because the fox rarely smiled like that.

She had seen Lewis smile a few times already.

But Hanna was still stunned and mesmerized as if it were the first time.

Lewis is really beautiful.

"I can’t imagine Lady Hanna throwing a tantrum and mopping the floor with your back. You’re too dignified for that," Lewis said. He was no longer smiling, but his face remained bright. "Thank you, Lady Hanna."

"For what?"

"For making me feel better."

"I didn’t do anything, though," Hanna said, slightly confused. "It was your idea to feed me delicious food, so I should be the one thanking you for making me feel better."

"Then let’s just say that we have the same goal and that we accomplished it together."

"Yes, that sounds about right."

"Should we head back to the palace, my lady?" Lewis asked politely. "You need to rest."

Hanna nodded, and then she looked around.

She saw nothing suspicious, but she couldn’t help but wonder.

Is it just me, or did someone glance at us for a moment?

It wasn’t a bad feeling, so Hanna just let it go.

***

LEWIS and Hanna?

Mona, with her glowing eyes, spotted Lewis and Hanna in the middle of the busy street in the plaza— the one meant for the commoners.

Just the two of them?

"Did you see something strange, my love?"

Mona immediately tore her gaze away from Lewis and Hanna.

Both of them have sharp senses, so staring at them for too long would have gotten me caught.

"I just saw Lewis and Hanna," Mona said when she turned around and faced Nikolai. Her husband was busy stabbing red eyes on the roof of the shabby building they were standing on— with a sword that wasn’t Calypso. "I can’t believe you can kill gods with an ordinary sword."

Calypso, the Holy Sword that previously belonged to Nikolai, was now in the possession of Nero— the new emperor.

It was a tradition to pass Calypso to the new reigning monarch.

Calypso is the symbol of the emperor’s power, after all.

Unfortunately, Nero wasn’t really interested in the Holy Sword— he let his twin sister use it whenever she wanted.

I think I saw Neoma using Calypso to bully minor gods before she went to the Dead World.

Anyway, Nikolai’s sword wasn’t really an ’ordinary’ sword per se.

It was also a holy sword, but it wasn’t as great as Calypso.

Having said that, my husband makes the ordinary holy sword look more glorious than it truly is.

"You don’t need Calypso to kill minor gods like these ones," Nikolai said casually while pulling out the holy sword from the last red eye that he had stabbed. The blade of the sword was now covered in purple blood. "I can’t even call these weak beings ’minor gods.’"

Mona tilted her head to one side. "Doesn’t it make you wonder, my love? The number of minor gods appearing recently isn’t normal. There can’t be too many minor gods."

"You’re right, my love. Moreover, the minor gods that I just killed didn’t actually feel like gods."

"Could they be artificial gods?"

"I wanted to say it was impossible to create artificial gods, but..." Nikolai sighed, and then he shook his head. "If those crow bastards could create artificial Elemental Guardians, I wouldn’t put it past them to create artificial gods."

Mona frowned, not liking the idea that they had just stumbled upon. "Such existence goes against Nature."

"I don’t think they care about Nature, my love."

Right.

"We need to find what kind of gods these beings are," Mona said, opening her hand. In just the blink of an eye, Nydia— her rosegold staff— materialized into thin air. She grabbed it while looking past Nikolai’s shoulder, a huge pair of red eyes staring back at her. "My love, let’s at least keep one of those pests alive for interrogation."

***

NEOMA slept late last night, but she still woke up before the sun even rose.

Yes, she was busy.

But there was another reason as to why she woke up that early.

I need more time to do my daily skin care routine.

She also spent hours in the bath.

It was worth it, of course.

When Neoma stepped out of her room with her ladies-in-waiting— led by Stephanie, her nanny since she was a child— she was flawless from head to toe.

She looked good (duh).

She smelled good (naturally).

And she was dressed really well (of course).

It would have been a fine morning.

But when she arrived at the dining hall to have breakfast with Nero...

"Good morning, Princess Neoma."

Wow.

Neoma almost closed her eyes because of the blinding beauty that the person who greeted him possessed.

Only one person in the world had visuals enough to shock her.

"Rubin Drayton."

Yes, it was Rubin Drayton— the most handsome man in the empire.

"Ah, I apologize," Neoma said when she realized that she had addressed Rubin Drayton without his title. "It should be Duke Drayton now."

Before she left for the Dead World, Rubin Drayton staged a coup to overthrow his father.

That’s one of the first things he did after he came to his senses.

When Dilan Crowell had finally left Rubin Drayton, the young duke gained his sanity.

But no thanks to that incident...

Rubin Drayton remembers the first timeline.

"It’s alright, Princess Neoma," Rubin Drayton said, giving Neoma a small smile. "Your Imperial Highness can call me by my name."

"I wouldn’t be so rude as to do such a thing, Your Grace," Neoma declined politely, and then she changed the topic. "Do you have an audience with the emperor?"

"Yes, I do," Rubin Drayton said. It was obvious that he was disappointed when Neoma addressed him by his title, but he easily got over it and answered politely. "His Imperial Majesty said now is the only free time he has today, so he invited me for breakfast."

"I see."

But Nero wasn’t there yet.

"May I know why you want to talk to the emperor?" Neoma asked curiously. "It’s okay if you can’t tell me, of course."

I’m just making small talk because it’s awkward.

Although Nero would have told Neoma not to join him for breakfast if Rubin Drayton’s report wasn’t something she was supposed to know.

Maybe Nero is being late on purpose?

"I have something important to report to His Imperial Majesty. Since Your Imperial Highness is a part of the Imperial Family, I have no reason to keep this from you," Rubin Drayton said politely, pausing for a moment before sharing the news with Neoma. "Your Imperial Highness, someone swept off all weapons with Darkness attribute from the market."

Tsk.

It was almost identical to the report that Neoma had heard from Xion Redgrave.

Now she was sure.

Helstor is planning something sinister again.

***

Please ADD my story to your LIBRARY to be notified when an update is posted. Thank you! :>