Royal Secret: I'm a Princess!

Chapter 476: THE SHADOW QUEEN

HARMING the Crown Prince was a grave sin punishable by death.

As the emperor, Nikolai felt the urge to stop the fight and punish Hanna for hurting his successor.

But as a father, he knew that Nero deserved it.

[Like Hanna said, she’s the precious daughter of House Quinzel. I wouldn’t like it if someone hurt Neoma, so I’m pretty sure Rufus and Amber wouldn’t forgive anyone who hurt their daughter, too- even if it was the Crown Prince.]

Thus, his heart as a father overwhelmed his mind as the emperor.

“Are you crazy?!”

It was Nero, and his son’s angry yell interrupted his thoughts.

.....

“How dare you attack the Crown Prince?!” Nero growled at Hanna. “You’re just the daughter of House Quinzel!”

“And you’re the disgrace of the Royal Family,” Hanna said in a calm yet clear voice, rendering Nero silent instantly. “How dare you look down on the daughter of House Quinzel when all you bring to the Royal Palace is an embarrassment?”

Nikolai was shocked. He had always thought that Hanna was a well-mannered yet meek child. So, he didn’t expect her to hear such vicious words from her.

[Hanna... is truly Neoma’s friend.]

She gestured to the corpses around her with her hands.

Nero, on the other hand, was still staring at Hanna in disbelief.

“Should you really be proud of calling yourself the Crown Prince after you killed all these people?” Hanna asked bitterly. “I don’t care if they were criminals. But you do not have the authority to punish them, do you? I’m afraid His Royal Highness would cause the Royal Family’s downfall with that kind of attitude.”

Nikolai nodded while crossing his arms over his chest, enjoying the show. [Son, at this point, you should just admit your mistake and beg for forgiveness.]

“Your Majesty.”

He turned to Hanna, who called him in a polite yet stern voice. “Yes?”

“I know it’s too late to ask, but can I hit Prince Nero again?” Hanna asked politely. It was amazing how she could make a vicious request sound gentle. “Since Prince Nero isn’t acting like himself, I believe it would be smarter to just knock him out in order to bring him back to the palace quietly, Your Majesty.”

He actually had to hold back his laughter.

[This is amusing.]

“I give you the permission to do whatever you deem necessary in order to bring Nero back to the palace, Hanna Quinzel.”

Hanna bowed her head towards him. “My utmost gratitude, Your Majesty.”

Nero, on the other hand, looked at him as if he had betrayed him. “Father!”

“That’s what you get for attacking an innocent person, Nero,” Nikolai said, then he turned his back on the children. “Try not to kill each other, children.”

As soon as he stepped out of the dark alley, he noticed that Hanna created a technique similar to Field Isolation.

[Hanna is really smart and capable.]

His thoughts were interrupted when Rufus Quinzel blocked his way.

Based on the anger he saw on his cousin’s face, it was safe to assume that he saw Nero attack Hanna earlier.

[Rufus is only holding back because I’m here.]

“I will make sure that Hanna will receive a proper and sincere apology from Nero,” he promised Rufus, and it seemed like his promise shocked his cousin because he calmed down instantly. “Our whole family will come and apologize to your family later.”

Rufus, who looked flustered, immediately shook his head. “You don’t have to go that far, Your Majesty. It’s true that I’m upset, but even so, I understand that Prince Nero is not in his sound mind at the moment...”

“Our precious son hurt your precious daughter,” he said apologetically. “It’s not something that we should brush off just because Nero is the Crown Prince. We are family, after all.”

“Your Majesty... I’m touched.”

He rolled his eyes at his cousin.

But he was glad to see that Rufus was back in his usual good mood.

[He looks like he wanted to kill Nero earlier.]

“I know that Nero’s current state of mind is not an excuse for attacking Hanna earlier,” he said carefully. “And I understand if you find it hard to forgive my son. Having said that, I hope you still consider that Nero didn’t recognize Hanna. If he did, I assure you that he wouldn’t hurt your daughter.”

Physically.

To be honest, he couldn’t tell if Nero was capable of loving another person other than Neoma. His son didn’t even care about him and Mona as much as he cared about his twin sister.

And therefore, he wasn’t sure if Nero was even aware of what romantic love was.

[Currently, if you make Nero choose among Neoma, Hanna, and Dahlia, he would no doubt choose his twin sister.]

“Your Majesty, you’ve really changed,” Rufus said, his eyes glowing with happiness. “You’ve become a good father now.”

It didn’t show on his face, but he was happy to hear that kind of compliment.

“I’m still learning,” he confessed. “I’ve actually tried to copy your parenting style, Rufus.”

“My parenting style?

“I used endearment on my children since I always hear you call Hanna ‘sweetie,'” Nikolai said, then he slowly avoided Rufus’s curious gaze. “I called Neoma ‘Muffin,’ and I called Nero ‘Pumpkin.'”

Rufus fell silent for a moment, then he burst out laughing.

[This punk...]

***

HANNA blended into the darkness.

After summoning Hebi, the Seven-headed Shadow Serpent, she covered herself with her own shadow. Now Nero wouldn’t be able to see and hear her movements. She tried to conceal her presence as much as she could.

But Nero had a sharp sense, so she wasn’t really confident that she managed to completely hide from him.

“You asked for a fight, and now you’re hiding?” Nero asked sarcastically after getting up. He was now moving his neck and shoulders as if he was exercising. “You’re a Quinzel, so you’re a Shadow Manipulation Technique user- argh!”

The Crown Prince groaned in pain when Hebi’s tail hit him in the stomach, sending him flying once again.

[Nero, let’s not talk in the middle of a fight.]

But although the Crown Prince was caught off-guard again, he quickly got back on his feet.

He wrapped his arms around Hebi’s tail as he was flying towards the fall. But he wasn’t just hugging the shadow serpent- he was turning it into an ice sculpture!

[No... Hebi!]

Nero cushioned his fall by gathering his Mana on his back. So he just bounced when he hit the wall, then he lifted the giant Seven-headed Shadow Serpent- now almost an ice sculpture- and throw the beast in her direction.

She was still surprised even though she already expected it.

[Nero can feel where I am even though he can’t see and hear me.]

It was scary how sharp his senses were.

She raised her hands to “catch” Hebi that Nero threw in her direction.

But even though she said she “caught” her Shadow Beast, it didn’t exactly happen the way one would imagine it by her choice of word.

When she raised her hands and opened her palms, a Shadow Hole appeared above her head. It swallowed Hebi, and it shall bring the serpent to her Shadow Realm. The realm that she created for her Shadow Beasts would melt the ice that Nero covered Hebi with in order to heal the serpent.

After all, she created the Shadow Real as the home for the beasts she was raising.

“Argh!” Hanna let out a painful groan when she felt sharp and strong fangs pierced through her tiny waist. When she looked down, she realized that she had been bitten by Nero’s Soul Beast- the giant wolf. “That... hurts...”

But even though it hurt, the wolf’s fangs didn’t completely crush her lower body. After all, she was wearing her own shadow as her robe. It protected her from the Soul Beast’s surprise attack.

Unfortunately, her momentarily distraction caused her camouflage to be exposed.

“You’re there, huh?”

When she looked up, she was greeted by Nero’s ice sword.

Ah, so he let go of the cheap sword he was carrying earlier in order to fight her with an ice sword made of his Mana.

She quickly pulled out a Shadow Dagger from the inside of her robe’s sleeve.

Then she used the dagger to block Nero’s sword while her other hand found the top of the ice wolf’s head. She didn’t want to hurt an animal, but she couldn’t let the Soul Beast break her in two.

And so, with a heavy heart, she gathered her Mana in her hand. Then she mixed it with the shadows that she collected in the area. Upon mixing the two, she created a Shadow Bomb.

She dropped it on top of the ice wolf’s head and boom!

It exploded, throwing the Soul Beast away from her.

[I’m so sorry, Sev!]

Nero growled at her as he pushed his ice sword against her Shadow Dagger harder.

.....

She was pushed back, unfortunately.

[I can’t win against a de Moonasterio when it comes to physical strength alone!]

And so, she created another Shadow Bomb and threw it at Nero’s face while praying.

[Please don’t let Nero’s face get burned or else Neoma will kill me...]

She wasn’t worried about herself when the Shadow Bomb exploded in Nero’s face since she was protected by her robe.

Nero, on the other hand, let out a painful groan while moving away from her.

But as the Crown Prince jumped backwards, Sev growled and rushed in her direction while baring its fangs at her. She could see that gathered ice Mana inside the wolf’s mouth. It was obviously going to release a Mana wave at her.

She didn’t have time to deal with the Soul Beast, so she stomped her feet on the ground to open a Shadow Hole in the space between her and the wolf.

Then her second Shadow Beast appeared.

It was a Griffin, a creature with the body, tail, and back legs of a lion; the head and wings of an eagle; and talons of an eagle as its front feet.

“Mallan,” she said, calling the Griffin by the name she gave it. “Deal with Sev.”

She heard the two animals make angry sounds against each other before clashing.

But she couldn’t focus on them because Nero had gotten back to his feet already, and he was approaching her with no weapon. But that didn’t make him less intimidating. After all, a de Moonasterio’s greatest weapon was their body.

[His face...]

She felt a pang in her heart when she saw the burn marks on his face. In fact, his face was still emitting smoke.

But the scary part?

Nero looked calm.

[Eerily calm, that is.]

She would rather hear and see Nero yell angrily at her for burning his face.

But the fact that he looked calm while his glowing red eyes became clearer was scary. The violent aura around him also calmed down. Now the Crown Prince looked like a predator going for the kill.

[He’s serious.]

Nero wasn’t summoning the ice phoenix. It was probably because the ice phoenix didn’t exist in his life during the first timeline. But even though he only summoned the ice wolf, he still looked intimidating.

To be honest, she was scared. Who wouldn’t be scared in front of an already crazy de Moonasterio who had gone crazier because of his Lunacy? Still...

Hanna smiled, then she blended into the darkness once again.

This time, she blended into the shadows on the ground.

Nero quickly created an ice sword to stab her shadow while freezing the floor with his ice.

But when she finally got her hands on her target, the Crown Prince literally froze in his track. Even his ice stopped spreading on the ground immediately.

“I got it,” she said, then she picked up Nero’s shadow from the floor as if it was a piece of clothing as she stood up.

The Crown Prince’s eyes went wide, but he couldn’t do anything else because she was now controlling his shadow.

“This technique is one of the most basic moves of the Shadow Manipulation Technique- but it’s still the most effective when you want to immobilize your opponent,” Hanna said, smiling. Then she whacked the “head” of Nero’s shadow. “Good night, my prince.”

Nero just stared blankly at her.

Then his glowing eyes slowly turned back to their original ash-gray color.

[Oh... he’s back to his usual self.]

“Hanna,” Nero whispered, recognition finally crossed his eyes. Then he smiled warmly at her. “The Shadow Queen.”

She ran towards Nero to catch him because he fainted after giving her a pretty nickname.

Thankfully, she managed to catch him by wrapping her arms around his body. Since the Crown Prince had lost a lot of weight, he wasn’t as heavy as she thought he would be. But since the prince was lanky, she still stumbled.

She didn’t fall on her but, fortunately.

After all, both Sev and Mallan supported her from the back.

“Thank you, gentlemen,” Hanna said, then she patted Nero’s head whose face was now buried against her neck. “Nero, thank you for being my sparring partner for tonight.”

This may be arrogant of her, but she didn’t fight using her full strength.

After all, Nero wasn’t in his right state of mind. And her goal was to knock him out, not to defeat him. So, she held back.

[I will show you what a true Shadow Queen is during the match, Nero.]

***

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