Royal Secret: I'm a Princess!

Chapter 1037: BATTLE REPRESENTATIVES

"HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY has arrived."

Neoma turned to the door, just in time to see Nero entering the dining hall with his entourage.

His twin brother’s stoic face beamed when he saw her.

"You’re already here, Neoma?" Nero asked, ignoring Rubin Drayton and the others who greeted him upon his arrival. "Mother and Father can’t join us for breakfast. They went home late last night, so they probably decided to sleep in today."

"I see," Neoma said, slightly distracted. And then she shook her head as a way to bring back her concentration. "Your Imperial Majesty, I changed my mind. I’m having breakfast with my kids. Let’s talk after your meeting with Duke Drayton."

Nero frowned, probably because Neoma had addressed him by his proper title. "You can’t even have breakfast with me now?"

Aigoo.

Thankfully, the people in the dining hall were people who were already aware of how close Neoma and Nero were.

So, nobody really reacted, seeing how clingy the emperor was to his twin sister.

Not that they can react without getting caught.

"Duke Drayton’s report is really important, Your Imperial Majesty," Neoma said, slightly in a hurry. "It’s connected to the mission that I assigned to one of my children. So, let’s talk after you discussed the issue with His Grace."

Nero didn’t look satisfied, but he sighed and nodded in the end. "Alright. But you must have lunch with me later, Neoma. I won’t take ’no’ for an answer."

Of course, you won’t.

It seemed like Nero’s mood had already turned sour just because Neoma refused to have breakfast with him.

She couldn’t leave while her twin brother was throwing a tantrum.

If he stays in a bad mood, he might ignore everything Rubin Drayton says later.

"Nero."

Yes, Neoma called Nero by his first name.

She heard a few people gasping in shock, but she ignored them.

Nero will take care of the gossip that may arise from this incident.

No, actually...

Melvin Luchessi will probably be the one cleaning up after this mess.

Oh, well.

The important thing to Neoma was that her twin brother’s face had finally lit up.

I’m glad it’s easy to placate Nero.

"I want steak and lobster for lunch," Neoma said, smiling at Nero. "You can prepare that for me, right?"

He likes it when I depend on him.

And her strategy worked like magic.

Nero smiled back and nodded, obviously in a good mood now. "You can look forward to our lunch later, Neoma."

***

NEOMA summoned three of her children to have a picnic with her.

Xion Redgrave.

Juri Wisteria.

Jeno Dankworth.

Lewis was still with the Silver Foxes.

On the other hand, Paige Avery and Greko Ramsay visited the Royal Mage Tower to confirm the theory that they had learned from the Cosmic Tree.

My kids are busy.

"Rubin Drayton said that all the weapons with Darkness attribute have been swept off the market," Neoma said while eating a sandwich, sitting on a huge picnic blanket and looking at the beautiful pond in front of them. "It’s the same case in the Black Market, as you reported, Xion."

Before she left for the Dead World, she asked Xion Redgrave to buy as many Darkness potions as he could— especially the illegal ones.

However...

"Yes, Princess Neoma. I was shocked when even the Black Market had a shortage of Darkness potions," Xion Redgrave said. "But when I tried to track down where the Darkness potions had gone, I failed. Whoever hoarded the potions was good at erasing their traces. Not even my own guild could follow their trail."

Xion Redgrave’s information guild was one of the best guilds on the entire continent.

If they can’t track down the hoarders, then no one else can.

"Jeno and I investigated the high nobles discreetly," Juri Wisteria said. "Unfortunately, we haven’t found anyone who suddenly developed an interest in matters related to the Darkness attribute."

"I also asked for my brother’s help to check on the nobles of our neighboring countries," Jeno Dankworth added. "Apparently, there’s also a shortage of all-things related to Darkness attribute in other countries."

Aish.

To be fair, items with Darkness attribute were already rare from the beginning.

There’s still the stigma that Darkness attribute is evil.

So, it was a surprise that there was a sudden shortage of it.

"I wonder how Rubin Drayton found out about it, though."

Neoma only realized that she had asked that out loud when Juri Wisteria responded.

"When Duke Rubin Drayton overthrew his father and inherited the duke title, he started cleaning up after the mess that the previous Duke Drayton had created. His father had been doing shady business with sketchy people, so maybe the young Duke Drayton could help us figure out who has been hoarding items related to Darkness attribute."

Right.

Good thing Rubin Drayton decided to report the matter to Nero.

Her twin brother may not like Rubin Drayton, but Rubin Drayton was still a duke— a high-ranking noble that not even the Imperial Family could completely ignore.

"I didn’t get the chance to ask before because Your Imperial Highness was about to leave for the Dead World at the time, but aside from buying the mouths of people to keep believing in the Imperial Family, why did you ask me to buy potions related to Darkness attribute?" Xion Redgrave asked curiously. "What did you want to do with them, Princess Neoma?"

"Oh. Remember Yurian, the unicorn that the crows tried to turn into a fake Elemental Guardian?"

All her kids nodded politely.

"The crows collected Darkness to turn Yurian into a fake Elemental Guardian, so I was trying to prevent something like that from happening again. Although I admit that it was short-sighted of me to try and hoard Darkness portions for that."

In her defense, she was in a hurry back then because she was about to leave for the Dead World.

But it led us to this discovery, so I’d say I failed successfully.

"Anyway, let’s broaden our perspective. We suspected the nobles first because they have the money and resources to procure and hoard Darkness potions. But merchants and rich people without noble titles could do that, too. Moreover, the Black Market doesn’t record people who purchase items from their stores, so we can’t exclude the poor and the commoners either," Neoma said, sighing while shaking her head. "In short, we need to investigate everyone."

***

NEOMA still had two hours left before her lunch ’date’ with Nero, so she visited Lewis.

Well, she couldn’t come near the palace wing that the Silver Foxes were using as their living quarters. She was afraid that her presence might agitate them.

Hence, she ended up meeting her ’son’ in her personal training ground.

"How are the Silver Foxes?" Neoma asked while she was creating little ’bubbles’ from the palms of her hands. Those ’bubbles’ were made of pure Mana. Of course, it was expandable. But she wanted to know how many of those bubbles she could create. And, now, the entire field was almost filled with bubbles. "Have they come to their senses?"

"They’ve calmed down, Princess Neoma," Lewis answered politely while standing behind her. "But they refused to talk to me."

"I heard they summoned Dahlia, though?"

Dahlia was under Nero’s wing, so Neoma couldn’t really interfere.

But she still had eyes and ears everywhere in the palace.

So, I hear stuff about Dahlia, even if I don’t directly ask for it.

"It was Miss Dahlia who showed them my memories, so they probably wanted to make sure that Miss Dahlia didn’t deceive them," Lewis explained. "But the Silver Foxes seem to be friendly with Miss Dahlia, so she should be fine."

"Even if the Silver Foxes attack her, I think she’s more than capable of protecting herself," Neoma said, and then she turned around to face Lewis. "I’m not looking down on your fellow Silver Foxes. I’m just saying that I’m not worried about Dahlia being hurt by them."

"I know, Princess Neoma."

"Good."

Hmm.

Neoma stared at Lewis while deep in thought.

Honestly, she summoned her ’son’ there because she wanted to officially choose him to be one of her Representatives in the upcoming war.

However, her heart wavered when she found out about the Silver Foxes.

I’m sure he’d want to spend more time with his clan.

"I choose you, Princess Neoma."

Am I a Pokemon?

"What are you talking about?"

"I can tell that you’re hesitating," Lewis explained, shrugging. "If you want to send me to a mission, but you’re hesitating because you don’t want me to be apart from my clan again, then please don’t. Yes, it’s true that I’m happy and grateful to meet my fellow Silver Foxes. I’m relieved that I’m not the only Silver Fox left in the world. But that doesn’t mean my loyalty suddenly shifted toward them."

"If the Silver Foxes still refuse to accept the de Moonasterios and choose to leave the empire..."

"Then I’ll send them off properly."

"You’re not going to follow them?"

"No," Lewis said while shaking his head. "You are my family now, Princess Neoma."

Aww.

"So, please don’t feel guilty," Lewis said firmly. "You can ask me to do anything and everything, even if it means I have to be apart from the Silver Fox clan again, Princess Neoma. I’m fine, and I’m not just saying it to ease you of guilt."

"I can tell." Neoma suddenly burst out laughing. "It’s rare for you to speak this much, after all."

Lewis just nodded this time.

I guess it’s time to drop the ’bomb.’

"Fight for me, Lewis."

"I will, Princess Neoma."

"Hey, you should at least pretend to think about it," Neoma said, sighing while shaking her head. "The upcoming war has a rule that states three people from the two opposing parties should fight first before Helstor and I fight the last round."

She had already mentioned that before.

But she was explaining the rules to Lewis again because she wanted to scare him.

I need to remind him that this isn’t a fight that we can win easily.

"Lewis, you were my first choice."

"I would have been hurt if I weren’t, Princess Neoma."

Aigoo.

"But I can’t guarantee our victory this time," Neoma said in a serious tone. "You can die in this war, Lewis. It’s not because I don’t trust you— it’s because that is how grave the upcoming battle is."

"I know, Princess Neoma."

"And you’ll still fight for me?"

"Yes."

Haaah.

Neoma looked at Lewis intently, and Lewis looked back at her with unwavering eyes.

No words needed to be exchanged anymore.

This kid will really live and die for me.

"Don’t die, Lewis," Neoma said indifferently. Not because she wasn’t worried, but because she didn’t want her emotions to get in the way of her decisions. "I’ll kill myself if you die."

***

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