"NEOMA, baby, you should head back to your bedroom."
"You only have a few hours left before your day starts, Neoma Roseheart de Moonasterio."
Why???
Neoma was surprised when her Mama Boss and Papa Boss arrived, telling her to return to her room when she had a job to do.
Uncle Glenn and Manu (with the baby god) were already inside the room.
[I should have followed them quicker.
"I need to help extract the divine power from the other saint, then help Skylus absorb it," Neoma reasoned. "Hence, my presence is needed here, Mama Boss, Papa Boss."
"Your mother and I will do it," Papa Boss said sternly. "The two of us are enough to assist the Moon Priest."
Well, her father was right.
In the first place, it was Manu who would lead the extraction and absorption of the divine power.
However…
"I want to be here, Papa Boss, Mama Boss," Neoma insisted as politely as she could. "Please allow me to stay with the children."
She thought her mother would take pity on her.
So she was pretty surprised when her Mama Boss shook her head first.
"Neoma, baby, you don't see it, do you?" Mama Boss asked carefully, touching her shoulders. "Some of the blobs of Darkness scattered in the sky have descended and stuck to you. They're feeding on your sadness."
She wanted to ask how her Mama Boss knew that.
But then she saw that her mother's pale blue eyes had turned a deep shade of pink. They were almost red now.
"Mama Boss, did you borrow a god's eyes?"
Her mother nodded. "I borrowed Genevieve's eyes."
Genevieve was the name of the goddess that her Mama Boss would summon during a fight.
"Why did you borrow her eyes, Mama Boss?"
"I needed to make sure that the other saint didn't bring a trap with him," Mama Boss explained. "But I can't borrow her eyes for too long. Hence, I'm pretty sure the effect is already fading."
Ah, so that explained why her mother's eyes were a deep shade of pink and not completely red.
It came as a shock to her.
[Does it mean I could borrow a god's eyes better than Mama Boss could?]
She couldn't believe it because she thought her mother was the best Summoner in the entire world.
[Am I… am I stronger than Mama Boss now?]
"Neoma, go and rest before I asked my Paladins to drag you to your room," Papa Boss said sternly. "Or would you like it better if I put you on probation as well? Not taking care of yourself and worrying your parents to death is a sin, too."
Gosh.
Papa Boss and his ridiculous logic.
But the fact that Lewis didn't react to her father's light threats must mean Lewis agreed with Papa Boss.
[Lewis will probably drag me back to my room happily.]
"Baby, Helstor feeds on Darkness– and that includes negative emotions," Mama Boss reminded her gently. "Perhaps they sent the other saint here knowing that the child would die just to hurt you on purpose. Since we've already proved that Prince Skylus is the real saint, the crows probably threw the child away. And they made sure that you'd know in order to make you feel miserable."
Her mother brushed her hands gently on her shoulders as if she was dusting the blobs of Darkness off her.
[Those blobs of Darkness are feeding off my sadness, huh?]
Hesltor was worse than a capitalist pig then.
"But I can allow you to stay here if you really want to help, Neoma," Papa Boss said in a light voice. "We just have to cancel the Selection then."
Gosh.
[Papa Boss is an opportunist, indeed.]
Neoma rolled her eyes at her Papa Boss, then she bowed her head towards her imperial parents. "Good night, Mama Boss, Papa Boss."
***
OF COURSE, Neoma didn't really get enough sleep.
However, she still woke up as beautiful as ever.
Since today's activities included hunting monsters, she wore an appropriate attire: a fancy red jacket with gold epaulettes and chains draped over her shoulders, a little black dress underneath, and a pair of knee-length black boots.
She tied her hair in a high ponytail, and she made sure her makeup for today was fierce.
Neoma twirled around in front of Lewis. "How do I look?"
"Great," Lewis said in a sincere voice, without missing a heartbeat. "It wasn't obvious that you cried yourself to sleep last night, Princess Neoma."
Argh.
Neoma stopped twirling around and cleared her throat. "How did you know?"
Lewis tilted his head to one side. "I have a sharp hearing?"
Tsk.
She should have created a soundproof barrier.
[But if I did that, Lewis would panic.]
"I didn't cry," Neoma lied with a straight face, then she turned her back on Lewis. "Let's go."
She was informed earlier that the candidates had finished their breakfast.
Moreover, the candidates had already finished their preparations for the next round.
"Good morning, Princess Neoma."
Dahlia, Juri, and Jeno greeted her in front of the balcony door.
[Paige and Greko are still treating Sharon Carter, and Xion hasn't returned from his away mission yet.]
Neoma felt bad because it was clear that her people hadn't gotten a proper sleep yet.
"Good morning," Neoma greeted back her people. "After the Second Round, we will all rest properly."
Her people's face lightened up.
But Neoma had a feeling that it wasn't because they would finally get the rest that they deserved.
[They're just probably happy that I'll take a break after this.]
Her people loved her too much, and that was quite troubling sometimes.
[They should love themselves more than they love me.]
Neoma's thoughts were interrupted when Jeno and Lewis opened the double doors of the balcony for her.
[Okay, let's get this shit over and done with.]
Neoma came out of the balcony and faced the one hundred plus candidates who passed the First Round.
Everyone, just like her, was dressed to kill.
[Literally, since we're about to go on a hunt.]
Anyway, this time, only Neoma greeted the candidates.
The emperor, the empress, the Crown Prince, and the Crown Princess were all busy of international affairs.
[After all, the news about the Darkness scattered in the sky have already spread.]
"As you already know, the Second Round of the Selection is hunting," Neoma said after her short (but impactful) opening speech. "The rule is simple: the top fifty candidates who get to hunt the most monsters would enter the final round. And the rarer the monster you hunt is, the more points you get. Once we reached the hunting ground, we will release the types of monsters you need to hunt and their equivalent points. Am I clear?"
"Yes, Princess Neoma."
Ohh.
The candidates all sounded energetic.
[Good.]
Neoma politely pointed her hands to Abigail Barlowe and the other royal mages waiting at the sideline. "Lady Barlowe, the Royal Archmage, and the mages from the Royal Tower would open a portal for us."
So far, everything was going well.
Too well for Neoma's liking.
[Why do I have a feeling that things would go downhill later?]
***
"THE USELESS SAINT is dead."
Regina wasn't surprised to hear what Dilan Crowell had said.
It was them who pushed Dustin to confront the real saint anyway, despite knowing that the other saint wouldn't succeed.
They needed to get rid of the trash, after all.
"We have no use of the child since Skylus Griffiths is already recognized as the one and only saint," Regina Crowell said. "I just don't understand why we didn't extract the divine power from that fake."
"It's because we don't have another disposable pawn to absorb the divine power," Dilan explained. "The saint's divine power is "alive," after all."
That was still a lame excuse.
"We should have at least just buried the child so the arrogant princess would have a hard time finding a piece of the saint's scattered divine power. It's such a waste that we gave the saint an opportunity to get complete faster."
Unfortunately, she was the only one who thought of that.
"We're the ones who are going to benefit once the saint is complete anyway."
This time, it wasn't Dilan who spoke.
It was Calyx who was sitting in his fancy seat.
Regina hated that Calyx took the center seat at the long dining table.
After all, the center seat was the symbol of power among the successors of the Crowells and the de Lucas.
That also meant Calyx stood on top of them all.
On the other hand, Dilan took the seat on Calyx's right side– which meant Dilan had the second-highest seat among them.
Regina took the seat on Calyx's left side.
[Which makes me the third.]
The third.
Only the third.
That hurt Regina's pride because she knew she was better than Calyx and Dilan.
"Let Neoma de Moonasterio bask in her "winning streak,"" Calyx said, laughing bitterly. "We'll drag her down to hell once she's at the highest point of her life."
That was rich coming from someone who had never won against Princess Neoma once.
[Oh, he did "win" once when Prince Nero forgot about Princess Neoma. But was it really considered a "win" when Princess Neoma and her parents ran away and hid safely for five years?]
To be honest, Regina wasn't happy with Lord Callisto's decision to work with Lord Helstor.
She also thought Calyx was too stupid while Dilan was too lazy to go against someone great like Princess Neoma.
[But no one listens to me just because I'm a woman.]
"I apologize for interrupting your conversation, Young Successors."
The butler entered the dining hall politely, then he bowed his head towards them before giving the report they had been waiting for.
"Princess Neoma and the candidates have entered the mountains."
"Alright," Calyx said, standing up. "It's time to go hunting."
***
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