Royal Secret: I'm A Princess!

"WHAT in the world are you saying, Brigitte Griffiths– you wench!" King Landon yelled, his veins popping out of his neck. "Are you implying we poisoned Prince Nero?!"

Neoma smiled, then she continued drinking the poisoned tea.

"What do you mean by 'we,' Your Majesty?" Princess Brigitte asked the king coldly. "Your Majesty and Prince Blake were the ones who ordered the chef to poison the Crown Prince of the empire."

The king turned pale, as if he was about to faint anytime.

"Brigitte!" Prince Blake yelled, his angry face the exact replica of the king's expression earlier. "Do you realize what you're doing right now?"

"I'm saving myself," the first princess said bluntly. "From now on, I'm disowning my family, so I'm not a member of the royal family anymore."

Prince Blake was left speechless.

Queen Emma, Princess Beatrice, and Princess Barbara didn't look surprised. But the three obviously looked scared.

[Ah, they know too.]

"Prince Nero, please stop drinking the tea," Princess Brigitte said worriedly. "The Wisteria Ladies should drink this antidote as well."

"Don't worry, Princess Brigitte," Neoma assured the first princess, then she finished her poisoned tea. "I'm immune to poisons."

Her father had fed her different poisons since she was five years old. Because of that, she had built immunity to poisons. That was why she didn't stop drinking the tea, even though she immediately noticed it was poisoned.

[But I'm not being reckless. I know my limits, and I've consumed stronger poisons than this.]

"You don't have to worry about as well, Princess Brigitte," Countess Jade said in her usual calm and soothing voice. "The Wisterias deal with medicine on a daily basis, and that applies to poisons as well. Just like Prince Nero, we're immune to poisons."

Princess Brigitte looked relieved to hear that.

"Prince Nero, I've acquired evidence of the king of the Hazelden Kingdom attempt to assassinate Your Royal Highness," Sera Wisteria said while putting the teacup she used earlier inside a transparent cube. "I'll analyze what kind of poison was used, and track where it came from. By doing so, I'm confident we'd get a piece of solid evidence to prove that the Griffiths indeed tried to poison the empire's Crown Prince."

"Very well," she said, then she stood up and offered her hand to Princess Brigitte. "Please stand up, Brigitte unnie."

Princess Brigitte looked surprised when she addressed her affectionately.

Before the first princess left the empire, she taught her that 'unnie' meant 'big sister' in the Solanian Language. Of course, it was a lie. She also didn't tell Princess Brigitte that only girls could call their big sisters (or older females) 'unnie.'

After all, Princess Brigitte wasn't aware of her royal secret.

"I apologize for not speaking out sooner, Prince Nero," Princess Brigitte said with a look of guilt on her face, then she accepted her hand and stood up gracefully. "I shouldn't have waited this long to open my mouth."

"It's alright, unnie," she assured the first princess. "I'm sure you're just trying to protect Sir Glenn."

She knew Sir Glenn stayed in the Hazelden Kingdom to protect Princess Brigitte, too.

[Ah, true love.]

"This is absurd!" King Landon exclaimed, his relatively handsome face looked like a villain's now. "Prince Nero, did you connive with that foolish daughter of mine to bring me down?!"

She smiled her business smile at the angry king. "Sire, I don't think I need to connive with Princess Brigitte to bring you down," she said politely. "You're already doing a good job of digging up your own grave."

"How impudent–"

"You have a contract with the Moonasterion Empire that states the Hazelden Kingdom would supply weapons to our knights exclusively," she reminded the arrogant king. "But we've gathered evidence that proves you're selling the same weapons to our allied nations." She crossed her arms over her chest. "That's the reason I'm here, Sire."

The king turned pale, his body trembling in fear now.

Prince Blake, who looked calmer than his father, turned to the queen and nodded. "Mother, go."

Queen Emma nodded at the Crown Prince, then she grabbed Princess Beatrice. Princess Beatrice then grabbed Princess Barbara. After that, the queen took out her fan, that suddenly turned into a magical scroll.

She recognized what kind of scroll it was.

[It's a teleportation scroll– the queen and the two princesses are trying to escape.]

But she didn't have to tell any of her allies to stop the queen and the princesses from running away.

As soon as the queen took out the teleportation scroll, several vines sprouted from the ground. Then the vines snatched the scroll from the queen, who screamed in shock. It didn't end there, of course.

The vines then wrapped themselves around the queen and the two princesses until the three were squashed together. Her Majesty screamed and demanded to be released. Princess Beatrice cried, while Princess Barbara yelled the empire would regret treating them this way.

[Wow, the audacity…]

"Who told you that you could run away while our dear Prince Nero is still talking?" Juri, the one who controlled the vines, asked in a cold voice. Ah, it seemed like her "daughter" was pissed, huh? "Do me a favor and be good girls, okay?"

"Juri, dear, you're being rude," Countess Jade Wisteria, Juri's mother, scolded her daughter gently. "They may be traitors, but they're still the royal family of a relatively small kingdom."

"Yes, Mother."

Relatively small kingdom?

Neoma snorted. [Gosh, Juri's mom is so savage.]

Now the whole Griffiths family, save for Princess Brigitte, looked embarrassed.

"Father, we could no longer talk it out with the empire's Crown Prince," Prince Blake said to the king, then he took out two black orbs that looked like Mana bombs from his pockets. "We have no choice but to do it ourselves."

Prince Blake dropped the Mana bombs on the ground.

It created something similar to a magnetic field that covered the entire vast garden.

Then she felt her Mana weaken. It looked like she wasn't the only one who experienced that. When she looked around at her allies, she was greeted by their frowning faces.

"Interesting," she said to Prince Blake. "You were able to create something similar to Mana bombs, but have an opposite effect. Instead of an explosion, those bombs actually prevent Mana-users from using their Mana."

Prince Blake smirked arrogantly. "The reason the empire is powerful is that the royals and the nobles in the empire were born with powerful Mana. Unfortunately, our "relatively small kingdom" doesn't thrive in Mana. But that didn't mean we'd allow you to trample on us because of that weakness."

"I like your idea," she said, then she gave the Crown Prince a thumbs up. "Had you sold those Mana-suppressing bombs to the empire, we would have bought it. But since you poisoned me, I'll just take them as compensation. I won't say 'no' to free stuff."

"Sure," Prince Blake said arrogantly. "If you come out here alive, Prince Nero."

After saying that, the arrogant Crown Prince used his fingers to whistle.

Several assassins came out of nowhere. But as soon as those black figures appeared, she heard continuous gunshots. The next thing she knew, the assassins who were about to attack her and her group all drop dead on the ground– literally.

Neoma smiled proudly. "That's my Marksman."

[Good job, Jeno Dankworth.]

Prince Blake looked surprised. "H-How…"

"We don't need Mana to fight," she said with a shrug. Then her gaze went past the Crown Prince. "And you should seriously worry about yourself."

Prince Blake seemed surprised when the queen and the princesses dropped to the ground, unconscious. The three ladies weren't bleeding anywhere visible. But a blunt force obviously knocked them out in the head.

Then King Landon groaned loudly.

Neoma's smile widened when she saw Xion behind the king while holding a knife against King Landon's neck.

"How dare you?!" Prince Blake yelled angrily at Xion. "Let go of my father!"

"How about no?" Xion asked while laughing. It was a laugh to taunt the enemy Crown Prince, of course. "You're not my boss, so don't order me around."

Prince Blake tried to take a step forward, but he immediately stopped when a bullet almost hit him on the foot.

It was definitely a warning shot from Jeno.

"Prince Nero, are you really sure about threatening the Griffiths family like this?" King Landon threatened her. "If you make an enemy out of our kingdom, we're not the only one you'll be facing."

Prince Blake sneered at her. "The empire will regret this, Prince Nero."

She laughed at the father-and-son duo. "Juri, Lewis, I guess you're bored with all this talk," she said without turning to Juri and Lewis. "How about you go and destroy all the palaces here? It would be nice if you could suppress the royal knights of the kingdom, too. And oh, make sure no one could leave and enter the palace while you're at it."

"As you wish, Prince Nero," Juri said cheerfully. "Lewis, let's play a game. Let's see who'll destroy more palaces than the other. The winner will get to be Princess Neoma's only escort for an entire month."

Lewis glared at Juri. "I won't lose."

After Juri and Lewis excused themselves to her politely, the two disappeared in the blink of an eye.

See?

Her "children" had inhuman speed even with their Mana suppressed.

"Is this a game to you, Prince Nero?" Prince Blake asked bitterly. "Like my father said, by doing this to us, you're making enemies of other nations and kingdoms, too!"

"Father, did you hear that?" Neoma said, then she touched the black ear stud in her right ear. Of course, she wasn't talking to herself. She was using the communication device to talk to her Papa Boss that she had to address formally in front of other people. "It seems like the Hazelden Kingdom has really connived with other nations and kingdoms to bring the empire down."

***

"I'VE HEARD it loud and clear, Prince Nero," Nikolai said, addressing his child and the "Crown Prince" formally in front of an audience. "I wonder who among the nations and kingdoms that pledged their loyalty to the empire has betrayed us, along with the Hazelden Kingdom."

After saying that, he addressed each person he was talking to with a sharp look.

Right now, he was sitting on his throne while having a virtual conference with the leaders of the nations and kingdoms that were supposed to be allies to the empire, just like the Hazelden Kingdom.

He could see the faces of the leaders through the translucent pillars in front of him.

Those translucent pillars that allowed him to see and talk to the leaders virtually were made of an advanced communication device. Only the royals and the higher nobles could afford that communication device at the moment.

He didn't regret spending a fortune in purchasing that communication device.

How else could see the arrogant leaders tremble in fear if he didn't have that?

"My son, Prince Nero, has gathered some solid evidence that proves the Hazelden Kingdom smuggles weapons to the enemy nations despite having an exclusive contract with the empire," he said, then he smirked when he saw how the leaders seemed to shrink at his presence. "And now, King Landon and Prince Blake claim that they have allies among you."

He almost laughed when the leaders suddenly claimed they had nothing to do with the Hazelden Kingdom one by one.

[Ah, this is why Neoma asked me to hold a conference with these imbeciles.]

Yes, that was his daughter's other request.

"You don't have to try so hard to prove your innocence right now," Nikolai said, then he smirked. "I've already sent people to your nations and kingdoms for investigation."

Well, that was actually the job he assigned to Kyle Sprouse.

[Work hard, Kyle.]

***

PAIGE clenched her hands, hoping that High Priest Dave Wellington didn't notice her nervousness.

[This situation isn't looking good for us…]

"Aside from the former Saint Zavaroni, I'm the only person in the Astello Temple who knows about the royal secret– the secret that Princess Neoma is currently pretending as Prince Nero at the moment," High Priest Wellington said with an annoying smile on his face. "But that's not the only secret I know."

Paige calmed herself down by sipping her tea, then she smiled. "Oh, dear. It seems like His Eminence is more knowledgeable than I expected."

She could be cheeky because only the two of them were in the tearoom.

[I hope Duke Hawthorne is safe.]

The High Priest just smiled at her sarcasm. "The prophecy that Princess Neoma received about finding the next saint doesn't apply to her."

She lost her smile.

After all, it was supposed their card to retrieve the weapons from the temple without waging war on the High Priest.

[Princess Neoma says the temple will do as she says because of the prophecy…]

"The prophecy said the First Star of the empire would bring the next saint to the temple in the near future," High Priest Wellington said, then he smiled "gently" at her. "But the real First Star is Prince Nero, not Princess Neoma."

Paige let out a soft laugh to hide the hostility she suddenly developed towards the High Priest.

[Should I just kill the High Priest and steal the weapons?]

***

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