Royal Secret: I'm a Princess!

[Earlier…]

"I KNOW you're listening, so come here already."

Trevor undid the stealth magic that he covered himself with earlier. "So, you used Regina Crowell's power to save Princess Neoma in the first timeline?"

To be honest, he put a listening device in Ruto's hotel room because he knew Princess Neoma would come there as soon as they returned from the palace.

Yes, he was shamelessly eavesdropping on Ruto and Princess Neoma's conversation.

[In my defense, I heard about what Hanna Quinzel discovered about Regina Crowell's power. I know Princess Neoma and the damned chef would discuss it, but I also know that Princess Neoma might not share their conversation with me. Moreover, I need to hide the fact that Ruto has a slight idea about Princess Neoma's lifespan because of my big mouth.]

Trevor got his karma for eavesdropping, though.

[I didn't need to listen to Princess Neoma and that damned chef flirting with each other.]

"You listened to my conversation with Neoma, so I'm pretty sure you know I can't talk about it."

Trevor plopped down on the sofa uninvited. "Can you teach me how to use Regina Crowell's power, then?"

Ruto, who was sitting on the accent chair next to the sofa, looked at Trevor with an unfathomable look on his face. "How many years does she have left?"

"I asked first."

"I'm your "hyung," so be a good little brother and answer mine first."

Trevor didn't want to admit this, but the pressure leaking out of Ruto's powerful body was pretty heavy.

If he was an ordinary person, he would have been crushed by the pressure already. But since he was a great Sorcerer, he could sit there as if he was unaffected. He had cold sweats, though. Not that he'd admit that.

"Not much," Trevor said, then he cleared his throat when he realized that his voice sounded weak earlier. "I can't tell you the exact number, but it's not much."

"…"

"Why do you look like you're about to kill someone?" Trevor confronted Ruto. "If you have no intention of loving Princess Neoma back, then stop caring about her."

Ruto looked confused. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure," Trevor said, laughing bitterly. "I'll pretend you didn't look like your world crumbled after you confirmed that Princess Neoma only has a few years to live."

Ruto just looked at him indifferently.

[If looks could kill, I would have dropped dead already.]

Trevor slowly avoided the damned chef's gaze.

[Why is he so scary? The old Ruto wasn't this intimidating. Was he pretending to be nice and calm before because he wanted to look good in front of Princess Neoma?]

Sly bastard.

"To use Regina Crowell's power to turn back a person's time during the time they were still alive, you either have to sacrifice at least ten thousand people with Mana," Ruto explained. "Or a few strong individuals with strength equal to ten thousand Mana-users."

"…"

"Neoma is very strong, that's why you'd need that amount of lives sacrificed," Ruto continued with his explanation. "And you also need to sacrifice people with strong divine power since Neoma has it. Hence, you might need to sacrifice saints or at least High Priests."

"Or Prince Nero?"

The damned chef looked surprised, but he still nodded. "Yes, Prince Nero will be the perfect sacrifice since he also has Roseheart Blood in him."

"That's a relief."

"Are you going to sacrifice a few strong individuals then?"

"That will be hard because the strongest people in the world are by Princess Neoma's side," Trevor said, leaning against the chair. "On the other hand, it's easy to gather ten thousand Mana-users."

The crows should be at least a thousand people, right?

"What choice did you make back then?"

Ruto fell silent for a few moments before he answered. "I didn't have much time back then, so gathering a few strong individuals was easier."

Trevor smirked at the damned chef. "Come to think of it, Princess Neoma doesn't remember what happened to Emperor Nikolai during the first timeline. Moreover, she doesn't also remember Saint Dominic back then."

"…"

"Did the end justify the means?"

"…"

"Well, it's not like I'm one to talk," Trevor said, shrugging as Ruto continued to answer him in silence. "Whether the end justifies the means or not, I will still use Regina Crowell's power if I have to."

"Whatever choice you make, she'll still end up hating you."

"Is that the reason why you and Princess Neoma had a fall-out in the first timeline?" Trevor asked, smiling while shaking his head. "My Moon Princess probably belatedly realized that you sacrificed people to bring her back to life."

"Trevor Kesser, you're smart."

"I know?"

"You're smart, so you should know better than provoking me," Ruto said in an eerily calm manner. "I held back before because you're Neoma's precious friend. But I don't care about that anymore. If you annoy me more than you already had, I'll send you back to the hell you came from. This time, I'll make sure not even Neoma could set you free."

"…"

That was scarier than death, hence Trevor was left speechless.

[Princess Neoma, you've been deceived. Ruto isn't the good and thoughtful person you thought he was. He was only nice to your people in the past because he didn't want you to hate him. But now that his feelings for you have changed, he's already showing his true colors.]

In reality, Ruston 'Ruto' Solfrid Stroganoff was a vicious bastard.

[Well, that's how he should be as the God Slayer.]

"Hyung, you shouldn't be bullying your adorable little brother."

"Then act like an adorable little brother and stop cursing me with your gaze."

Trevor covered his eyes with his hands. "I'm not cursing you with my gaze."

Ruto just let out a sigh.

And then the two of them both stood up and talked at the same time, saying the same words. "The Darkness is moving."

[Here's the thing: we're both sensitive to Darkness.]

Ruto, as the God Slayer, was keeping a close eye on the Darkness to avoid the repeat of the Absolute Darkness that almost swallowed up the world during the Ancient Period.

On the other hand, it was Trevor's job to make sure that the Darkness wouldn't emerge from the Underworld as the unofficial heir of the Devil, Aruna de Moonasterio.

[Ah, right. I'm now the unofficial heir of the Devil now that Princess Nichole is no longer the Devil.]

He had no intention of accepting the position, but he was too scared of Aruna de Moonasterio to reject her offer. Hence, he said he would "think about it." But he didn't say how long he'd consider it, though.

"It's Helstor."

Trevor turned to Ruto, and he realized the damned chef had a semi-transparent scroll floating in front of his face.

[It's a type of communication device similar to an old phone that could only send and receive text messages.]

"I sent my subordinates to Helstor's lair since I feel weird recently," Ruto explained when he turned to Trevor. "They said Helstor left his lair for the first time in years."

Trevor was wondering why Helstor suddenly went out of his lair when it happened.

Prince Skylus' weak divine power spiked out of nowhere.

"Ouch," Trevor said, wincing. "The baby saint must be in so much pain right now. The remaining divine power in his body is trying to leave him."

There were only a few reasons why the baby saint was suffering, and all of them were bad.

"Neoma is probably with the new saint. Go and assist her," Ruto ordered Trevor in a hurry while his body was disappearing quickly. "I'll just grab a drunkard first."

And just like that, the scary hyung was gone.

"Ruto also knows how to use long-distance teleportation?" Trevor asked in disbelief, as teleportation– especially the long-distance ones– was one of the hardest skills to obtain. "Tsk. The gods must really love that punk a lot."

***

[MY DIVINE power is getting absorbed…]

Neoma had safely transferred Skylus' divine power back to him. Hence, the child had already fallen asleep.

And that was when the new problem began.

Skylus was now trying to absorb her Moonglow aka her divine power. It was as if the new saint's divine power was trying to fill the void in Skylus' soul because it was incomplete.

[Argh!]

She was trying to pull her hands away from Skylus' chest, but she couldn't since the strong force inside the child's body was sucking in her divine power.

"Please excuse me for a moment, my Moon Princess."

It was Trevor.

The demon boy appeared behind her and wrapped an arm around her waist. It was done in a respectful manner, of course.

"I'm going to inject some Darkness in Prince Skylus' body."

Neoma wanted to glare at Trevor but she couldn't move at the moment. "Are you crazy? Both of you are going to get hurt."

"We won't."

After saying that, Trevor placed really put a small amount of Darkness in Skylus' body. At the same time that he did, he pulled her away.

Much to Neoma's surprise, she was able to remove her hands from the baby saint's chest.

It was probably because Skylus' divine power moved and worked to purify the Darkness that tried to enter the new saint's body.

"Ah," Neoma said when she realized Trevor's method worked. "I didn't think about using that method."

"It's because you would never try to harm your people in any way," Trevor said while removing his arm around her waist. "Are you alright, Princess Neoma?"

"Yeah, but I'm worried about Skylus," she said, then she looked at the baby saint. The boy was sleeping peacefully, but it wasn't over yet. "I was only taught how to transfer his divine power back to him, but I don't know how to help him stabilize his divine power."

"Don't worry about that," the demon boy said casually. "We have Lord Levi's divine son here. He knows more about divine power than we do."

"Even the Bookworm doesn't know about divine power that much?"

He nodded. "The gods don't want any of their weaknesses leaked, so they have always been wary of the Bookworm."

She was about to ask something else, but the sudden shift in the air made her stop.

"I'm late."

It was Ruto who entered the room with Dahlia…

… while dragging Manu by the neck.

The Moon Priest looked pale as if he was afraid.

Neoma nodded in approval while giving Ruto a double thumbs up. "As expected of my man."

***

"HELPING PRINCE Skylus stabilize his newly retrieved divine power will take a while, so please take a rest while waiting."

Neoma stared at Manu who was sitting on the chair next to the bed while holding Skylus' hand. The Moon Priest was obviously avoiding her gaze. "Lord Manu, I'm disappointed in you."

Manu flinched, and he didn't say a thing.

"As the Moon Priest, it's your duty to stay by Skylus' side until he's big enough to stand on his own two feet," she said in an indifferent voice. "But alcohol poisoning? Really?"

It wasn't her hobby to scold sick people.

But she could tell that Manu was already fine, hence she couldn't stop herself from getting upset. Having said that, she was still aware that it wasn't the right time to do that.

"We'll talk again later, Lord Manu," Neoma said sternly. "And we'll have a long talk."

Manu flinched again, but he nodded politely this time. "I understand, Princess Neoma."

She just let out a long sigh.

Then Neoma turned to Dahlia. "Will you be staying here, Miss Dahlia?"

Dahlia nodded awkwardly. "I'm actually not sure how I can help, Princess Neoma. But Lord Ruto said I can be of help…"

The Black Witch then turned to Ruto.

"Prince Skylus' divine power is "alive," so it should recognize a Black Witch when it sees one," Ruto explained. "Divine powers don't work on Black Witches, hence Prince Skylus' divine power should know better than acting up in the presence of a Black Witch."

Neoma tilted her head. "So, Miss Dahlia is here to scare Skylus' divine power?"

[Like a scarecrow?]

"That and because among us, Miss Dahlia has the highest chance of catching the divine power if ever it escaped."

Dahlia's face turned red as if she was shy. "I-I'll do my best to keep an eye on Prince Skylus' divine power."

"Okay," Neoma said while nodding approvingly. "Since I can't help with stabilizing Skylus' divine power, then I leave it to your capable hands."

Dahlia smiled and nodded. "Thank you for the trust, Princess Neoma."

Manu cleared his throat before speaking. "I'll also do a good job, so don't be too harsh on me later."

Neoma didn't respond to the Moon Priest.

"You should rest," Ruto said while looking at her. "I'll stay here and help Lord Manu stabilize Prince Skylus' divine power."

"Let's talk later, too," Neoma said while turning her back on her man. "We also have a lot of things to talk about, Ruto."

She was headed towards the door while Trevor was walking quietly behind her.

And then it happened.

Neoma's world suddenly spun.

Huh?

[I can't faint– I have so many things to do!]

***

NOTE: In Ruto's defense, he's not a bad person. Haha! It's not like what he has shown Neoma before was all fake. He's just a grown man, a jaded one at that, who has already learned the art of detaching himself from other people. After all, as a God Slayer, he doesn't have the luxury to get too close to someone else as his job requires him to be neutral.

Of course, Neoma is the exception. And he knows Neoma cares about her people a lot, hence he treats Neoma's people well.

But, yeah... Ruto is originally indifferent. But his indifference is a little different from Lewis.

Lewis just has a poker face, and although his world revolves around Neoma, he's still caring about other people (like Hanna and his "siblings").

Ruto is indifferent in a way that he can cut you off when he needs to. He's that jaded since he has a lot of responsibility as the God Slayer and Lord Levi's divine son. He's just tired most of the time. Hehe.

Sorry for the long rant.

I've always wanted to talk about Ruto, but I'm afraid to do so since I know Ruto isn't a fan favorite. But I feel like discussing his personality right now because it's fascinating to me. LOL.

Thanks for reading my essay. :>

***

Please ADD my story to your LIBRARY to be notified when an update is posted. Thank you! :>