Royal Secret: I'm A Princess!

<A month before Neoma enters the Royal Moon Academy as a freshman…>

"LET IT go, let it go," Neoma sang as she glided in the ice rink while wearing the ice skate made of ice. While singing her heart out and dancing on the rink, pretending to be an ice skater, she didn't miss avoiding the imps the size of a fountain pen being thrown at her. "Can't hold it back anymore!"

She raised her "finger guns" and hit the imps with arrows made of ice. As soon as her ice arrows hit the imps, her targets froze. And when those things fell and hit the ice rink, they broke into tiny pieces.

"Let it go, let it go. Turn away and slam the door," she continued singing. Since the "attack" had stopped, she began making ice statues of herself in different cute poses. "I don't care what they're going to say!"

She spun like a ballerina until snow poured down on the ice rink. Since her "territory" was only around the ice rink, it was the only area affected by the change of weather. Outside the ice rink, it was still sunny.

"Let the storm rage on," she sang once more, then she stopped spinning around. "The cold never bothered me anyway."

"Are you done with your performance?"

She took a deep breath before turning around to face the owner of the grumpy voice.

And there he was.

William was sitting on the railing of the pavilion in the middle of the ice rink.

Ah, the ice rink was the frozen pond she would often visit when she was younger. Since Soju, her Water Spirit, didn't need to dwell on the pond anymore, she decided to freeze it and turn it into an ice rink.

"Must you always sing that strange song every time we do this?" William asked, annoyed. Then he opened his mouth and put an imp inside. Yes, an imp– a small goblin-like creature that was a menace to society. It was William's favorite snack. "You're not a talented singer, so stop," he said after he swallowed the imp. "And stop looking at me like you're about to puke."

"I can't help it, though," she complained, then she put her hands on her hips. "Must you really eat those imps in front of me, Master?"

He smirked at her. "I do it to annoy you, my precious student."

She took a deep breath to keep herself calm.

It had been three years since William became her master. Their relationship improved, but they still liked to get on each other's nerves. But at least they weren't after each other's throat now.

[And it's all thanks to my effort.]

"Must the two of you always fight?"

Neoma and William turned to the owner of the lazy voice.

[And there he is.]

A man that looked a little like Jack Frost from the movie 'R*se of the G*ardians.' White hair with blue strands, pale skin, green eyes– features that made him look like the flower boy type. His blue robe with a flower design also suited him.

"Yo, Delwyn," she greeted the Ice Spirit, aka her fake Soul Beast, cheerfully. "You woke up earlier than expected."

Delwyn yawned while stretching his arms before he responded. "You told me to wake up before you start attending school," he said in his usually lazy voice. In short, he spoke slowly, in a low tone. But his voice sounded soothing, so she enjoyed hearing him talk. "You said something about showing me off to your schoolmates or something."

She smirked proudly. "Yeah, about that–"

"Why the hell do you need to show off that sloth?" William snapped again. Gosh, this man's temper was really something. "You've been using your Ice Spirit as your fake Soul Beast for the past three years. Everyone in the empire already knows that the Crown Prince has ice attribute, so it won't be a problem once Nero returns."

She beamed at that. "Exactly," she said. "Nero will return in a few months. My contract with Delwyn will end by then, so I want to play with him as much as I could."

"Seizing our last remaining days together, huh?" Delwyn said, then he yawned again. "I don't mind. But how should we play this time?"

"I want to be the representative of the freshmen this year," she said. "To achieve that, a student must accomplish three things: First, get the best score in the entrance exam. Second, get the highest score after they gauge the students' Mana. Then finally, the match."

The match would happen between the two students who would get the top two scores in the entrance exam and the Mana-calculating test.

"I know about that match since I've been observing the de Moonasterios for a long time. As far as I know, ever since the Royal Moon Academy has been built, no de Moonasterio has ever lost in the last match to be the school's representative," William said bitterly. But he suddenly smirked while looking at her. "Oh, maybe you'll be the first de Moonasterio to lose the match."

"Shut up. I won't lose," she snapped at her master. "Nero wants to be the representative of the freshmen this year. He rarely asks for favors, so I don't want to disappoint him."

Even though Nero was still stuck in the Spirit World, he didn't stop studying. The two of them studied the same materials. Plus, her twin brother had the Queen of the Spirit World herself as his private tutor.

[I'm sure Nero won't have a hard time adapting once I transfer all my work to him later.]

"I'm gonna be a free woman soon," she said, while laughing like a villainess from a third-rate horror film. "My Papa Boss can't give me the duchess' title yet because of the existing law that we haven't changed yet. But at least I'm free to live as Neoma Ramsay in the meantime."

William rolled his eyes at her. "If you will not live as a de Moonasterio, then at least use your mother's last name instead of a made-up one."

"That's why I said "in the meantime,"" she said defensively. "Nero and Papa Boss promised they'll put my name in the family registry once everything is settled. I'm going to be Neoma Roseheart de Moonasterio soon."

"What about Mona? Is she going to be a part of your family, too?" the Grand Spirit asked seriously. "Manu and your Soul Beast will return soon. What does Nikolai de Moonasterio plan to do once Mona is free?"

She scratched her cheek while recalling how her Papa Boss was behaving these days.

["Neoma, when will your Soul Beast return?"]

["We can trust your Soul Beast, right?"]

["That damned Moon Priest better raised your Soul Beast properly or else I'll kill him."]

Those were the questions her Papa Boss often asked her these days.

Yep, her father had been anxious recently. Her Papa Boss couldn't wait for Tteokbokki to return, but it wasn't because he cared about her Soul Beast.

"I think Papa Boss is still in love with Mama Boss."

"So what?" William scoffed. "Your useless father was also in love with Mona in the past, but he didn't do shit to make her his wife."

She couldn't really defend her Papa Boss when William put it that way.

But…

"I believe Papa Boss will make things right this time," she said confidently. "I can tell he's determined to make our family complete soon."

William rolled his eyes again. "Whatever."

"Stop talking about your family drama– I'm getting bored here," Delwyn complained, then he yawned again while stretching his arms. "Neoma de Moonasterio, we should train again if you want to be the strongest student in the academy."

"Okay," she said cheerfully. "Can I sing and dance again while training–"

"No," Delwyn and William said sternly at the same time.

Gosh, look at their rapport.

[It's as if the three of us didn't try to kill each other three years ago.]

She couldn't help but laugh while remembering their three-way battle in the past. It was bloody, and the three of them blew up a huge portion of the Hazelden Kingdom. Even her Papa Boss said he had never seen such a mess before.

But look at them now.

"I can't say that the three of us are friends now, but we've come a long way if you think about our three-way battle," she said, making Delwyn and William smirk. "Do you know what Papa Boss calls the three of us these days?"

"Scammer trio," William said with a smirk. "I usually hate anything Nikolai de Moonasterio says, but I can't refute that one."

"I've been living for so long, but this is the first time I've been called a scammer," Delwyn said in an amused manner, then he turned to her and smirked. "It's your fault, little Neoma. Ever since I signed a contract with you, you've taught me nothing but bad things."

"Hey, you're already a bad person– I only taught you how to put your evilness to good use," Neoma said defensively, then she flipped her hair. "Anyway, let's go and scam more bad guys."

***

[THREE years earlier…]

"MY MOON Princess, you're finally awake."

"I've been awake for several days now, Trevor," Neoma said, then she tore her gaze away from the document in her hands to look up at Trevor. The demon boy was standing in front of her desk. "Why are you here? Did something happen to Nero?"

She was busy arranging her trip to the Hazelden Kingdom with her people.

But she couldn't ignore Trevor even if he dropped by unannounced. After all, Trevor was connected to Nero. She would always worry about her twin brother every time the demon boy appeared before her.

"No, Prince Nero is doing fine," Trevor said cheerfully. "He's sneakily learning from Queen Tara with the intention of stealing the Spirit World from her. Didn't you tell Prince Nero that you wanted the Spirit World? He's already on it."

Ah, right.

She told her brother that she wanted the Spirit World. But to be precise, she wanted him to keep an eye on it– especially the Queen of the Spirit World.

According to her Papa Boss, her Mama Boss doubted the Queen's intention after finding out the gods were interested to turn her into an Aether. After all, being an Aether didn't only mean giving pure air to the gods in the Upper World.

[The Spirit World and the Underworld would also benefit from the Aether.]

Gosh, everyone wanted a piece of her– literally.

She smiled, setting those thoughts aside in the meantime. "Nero really likes me, huh?"

"I think you like your twin brother as much as he likes you."

She smiled warmly at that remark. "It's a given since he's my one and only brother in the world. Plus, we suffered together during the time Papa Boss was acting like a scumbag. Thanks to that, we developed a bond that wouldn't break easily."

"I'm starting to feel jealous, Princess Neoma."

"Yes, yes. I'm a sinful woman," she said, already used to Trevor hitting on her. "So, what brings you here?"

His face beamed instantly. "I have a gift for you, Princess Neoma."

"I like gifts," she said. "So, where is it?"

Trevor smirked, then he snapped his fingers. "Here."

A black hole opened up on the ceiling, then something huge came out of it and fell to the floor with a loud thud.

"I'll kill you, you fucking demon!"

Trevor just shrugged.

Neoma, on the other hand, knitted her eyebrows while looking at the man who just stood up while glaring at her. "Oh, if it isn't Uncle Scumbag."

***

NOTE:  The timeline hereon will switch between past and present. I hope you don't get confused~

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