NEOMA felt bad while looking at the four busiest people in the palace at the moment.
And those poor employees were Melvin (Nero's secretary), Dahlia (Neoma's secretary), Sandie Morrisley (Hanna's secretary), Geoffrey Kinsley (Papa Boss' temporary secretary), and Jeanne Audley (Mama Boss' temporary secretary).
The four were in her office to report to her.
Since Neoma was busy all day with the Selection, she only had time to listen to the other affairs happening around her while having her dinner.
Yes, she was eating dinner at her office desk.
It would have been considered rude, so she asked the understanding of the secretaries first.
She didn't have time to have a proper meal, so she was only eating kimbap/gimbap that a certain chef candidate made for her.
Fortunately, these people were understanding of her situation.
[I would have skipped my meal, but Lewis would get upset if I did that.]
"Okay, so let's start with your report, Geoffrey," Neoma said, sipping water before she continued talking. "I bet Papa Boss' office is swamped with inquiries from all over the world."
"We've been receiving plenty of calls from different nations and kingdoms all over the continent, Princess Neoma," Geoffrey answered politely. "They wanted to have an urgent conference with His Majesty."
That was expected.
"I'm sure Papa Boss can deal with that," Neoma said. "Next. Jeanne, how's Mama Boss' day?"
"Her Majesty spent the entire day treating Dustin– the other saint, Princess Neoma," Jeanne answered politely. "Unfortunately, Her Majesty and Miss Dahlia could only lessen the child's pain and extend his life for a few days."
"Her Majesty would also like you to make a decision soon, Princess Neoma," Dahlia added. "Her Majesty said we need to extract the divine power from the child before it was too late."
Haaah.
Once they extracted the divine power from Dustin, then Dustin would die right away.
To be honest, Neoma had already accepted that horrible end. She couldn't save a person who had already been corrupted by deadly Darkness. It was already too late for the child.
[But Skylus would definitely have a hard time accepting that…]
"Jeanne, Geoffrey, please let Mama Boss and Papa Boss know that we'd extract the divine power from the saint tomorrow night," Neoma said firmly. "I just need to talk to Skylus first."
Geoffrey and Jeanne bowed their heads politely before leaving her office quietly.
"Next," Neoma said. "Sandie."
"Princess Hanna has already checked the articles that would be released tomorrow by all the major newspaper outlets all over the empire, Your Imperial Highness," Sandie reported to her in a lazy yet polite voice. "His Majesty also assigned Princess Hanna as the official representative of the Imperial Family during the conference happening tomorrow."
That conference would be a press conference.
The Imperial Family would have to release an official statement so that the public wouldn't panic over the fact that there were blobs of Darkness scattered in the empire's sky.
"Hanna has Darkness attribute, so she's the perfect representative to remind people that Darkness isn't inherently evil," Neoma said, nodding. Then she turned to Melvin. "So, did Nero behave today? I heard he was the one who brought Dustin here. But I haven't heard anything else after that."
Melvin laughed nervously. "Prince Nero… is on probation, Princess Neoma."
"Again?" Neoma asked in disbelief. "What did Nero do this time?"
Sandie tried to hide it, but it was obvious that she was displeased by what she heard.
[Ah, Nero. Your fiancée's close friend doesn't like you.]
"Prince Nero wanted to declare war against Lord Helstor, but Prince Nero failed to give His Majesty a proper reason for starting war," Melvin explained. "Hence, His Majesty put Prince Nero on probation again until Prince Nero realized the gravity of war."
She felt like Melvin omitted an important detail from his report, but it wasn't like she could force him to spill everything.
[Melvin is working for Nero and not for me, after all.]
"Tell Nero to get his shit together," Neoma said while shaking her head. "His haters would have a field day if they found out he's on probation again."
[Why would you even think of starting a war, Nero Roseheart de Moonasterio?]
"Prince Nero is already working on it, Princess Neoma," Melvin said hesitantly. "Prince Nero is currently begging for His Majesty's forgiveness."
Pfft.
Nero?
Begging Papa Boss for forgiveness when he wasn't sorry at all?
[That's funny~]
"I can see right through you, Nero," Neoma said, laughing. "That brat definitely needs something from Papa Boss."
***
NIKOLAI put Nero on probation again, but that didn't mean he didn't care about his son's feelings.
Hence, he went to Nero's room to have dinner with him after confronting the baby god.
[It was no use, though. I can't talk to the God of Death whose mind regressed to a child's.]
Nikolai left the baby god in Manu's scare since the Moon Priest was already babysitting the baby saint anyway.
[Glenn is already here, so the two will take care of the children.]
That was when he decided to have dinner with Nero.
He also invited Mona, but his wife was resting after spending the entire day treating the fake saint. So, he just let Mona catch up on some sleep first.
[I'll bring a warm meal to her later.]
"Father."
Nero kneeled in front of him.
[This prideful boy kneeled?]
"I was wrong," Nero said, his face and voice both remorseful. "Father, I won't bring up starting a war for a petty reason again. Please forgive my ignorance."
Hmm.
Nikolai heard from Nero's guards that only Hanna visited his son.
[Nero wouldn't beg for my forgiveness. He's the type to wait for my anger to subside before he approached me. But if he's kneeling like this, then it must be because of Hanna's influence.]
His daughter-in-law was quite cunning, huh?
[Aside from Neoma, Hanna is the only person who could manipulate Nero like this.]
"You and I both know that your apology isn't sincere, so just drop it."
"Are you saying you forgive me now, Father?"
"That depends on your answer," Nikolai said, crossing his arms over his chest. "What do you want from me, son?"
Nero's eyes sparkled. "The Holy Knights, Father."
As expected, this clever son of his had something in mind.
"Stop kneeling– you'll just bruise your knees and your mother wouldn't like that," Nikolai said, then he sat on the chair. "The Holy Knights are just starting to return to their normal selves. What do you want to do with them?"
Nero sat on the sofa across from him before responding. "Helstor revived his religion to spread among people. We need the Astello Temple and the Holy Knights to be more visible in the empire to oppose Helstor's church, Father. And since I'm the Crown Prince, aren't I technically the commander of the Holy Knights?"
His son wasn't wrong.
The Crown Prince had always wielded authority over the Astello Temple.
[It was a power that I once wielded during my reign as the Crown Prince.]
"The Holy Knights have divine energy, so they have the ability to purify Darkness," Nero said confidently, combing his fingers through his hair. And then his hair changed from white to pink. "I thought I should train the Holy Knights to be at least on the level I approve of. Dion Skelton already quit as the High Priest, but I thought I could use him as my aide if you let me borrow him, Father."
Oho?
If Nero could change his hair color according to his wishes, then he might already have a good grasp of his power as a Roseheart.
[I guess William didn't stay by his side all this time for nothing.]
"Alright, let's hear your plan," Nikolai said, sighing. "I will only lift your probation if your plan sounds plausible."
***
"ACCORDING to our investigation, the 'Young Master Shane Carter' we met is actually 'Young Miss Sharon' from the fallen baron House of Carter."
Neoma listened to Dahlia's report while they were headed to the underground prison cell.
Of course, Lewis was following behind them silently.
"Xion has already begun his search for the real Young Master Shane," Dahlia continued with her report. "Xion said that he saw Prince Nero's knights investigating the slums, too. And according to him, Duke Quinzel also strengthened the security around the Royal Capital."
"Very well," Neoma said. "How's Miss Sharon?"
"Paige and Greko are taking turns looking after Miss Sharon and Dustin," Dahlia answered politely. "Her Majesty is taking a nap to replenish her energy, so Paige volunteered to look after Dustin."
[Aww… Mama Boss is probably exhausted.]
"How are the candidates?" Neoma asked. "I hope none of them is creating a problem."
"The candidates just finished having dinner in the hall," Dahlia answered. "The palace staff are now guiding them to their rooms. I'm sure they won't be causing any trouble after you display your strength, Princess Neoma."
She smirked. "Heh~"
To be honest, she wasn't worried since Trevor was there anyway.
[He'll deal with the unruly candidates, if there's any.]
"You're here, Princess Neoma."
Oh.
Neoma was pretty startled when she saw Juri and Jeno both covered in blood. "Please tell me that's not your blood, Juri, Jeno."
"This isn't our blood, Princess Neoma," Juri assured her, then she let out a sigh. "As Your Imperial Highness suspected, there were assassins who tried to go after the commoner who ran away earlier. We caught them and brought them here for interrogation. And we made sure they couldn't commit suicide. But, all of a sudden, they exploded."
"Oh, fuck," Neoma said, clicking her tongue. "What about the commoner who tried to run away?"
"He exploded, too, Princess Neoma," Jeno said, then he sighed. "I tried to bring him to the infirmary where the other injured candidates were taking a rest. But as soon as we got there, he exploded. Fortunately, the Royal Archmage was there to protect the doctors and the other staff. Hence, there were no casualties other than that one who exploded."
Neoma clenched her hands, and she wanted to scream just to let it out.
However, she knew that getting angry wouldn't get her anywhere.
"I should have purified him first."
"It wasn't your fault, Princess Neoma," Dahlia said firmly. "Please don't blame yourself for what happened."
Juri and Jeno nodded firmly in agreement with Dahlia.
[Ah, they'll be upset if I don't drop it.]
"Alright. Thank you," Neoma said, smiling at the three. "Anyway, Jeno, Juri, wash up and rest." She turned to Dahlia and Lewis. "I'm going to visit Skylus."
Dahlia looked surprised by what she said. "Princess Neoma, you have an early schedule tomorrow morning. If you don't rest now, you won't be able to have enough sleep…"
"Nah, I'll be fine."
Neoma was about to leave the basement prison when Lewis blocked her way literally.
[Aigoo.]
"Please rest first, Princess Neoma," Lewis pleaded. "You can talk to Prince Skylus during breakfast."
[Gosh, why does it look like he'll cry if I don't sleep?]
"Fine," Neoma said, covering her mouth when she yawned. "I'm gonna head back to my bedroom."
[I'll just sneak out later~]
Hehe.
***
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