Chapter 650 - 650 PLEDGE OF LOYALTY

650 PLEDGE OF LOYALTY

“I, KINGSTON of the Land, greet the First Star, Neoma Roseheart de Moonasterio, my new master,” Kingston, the White Lion, lowered his head towards Neoma. “I, your humble servant, swear my loyalty to you for the rest of your life.”

Kingston looked for Neoma before dinner.

She knew why the White Lion wanted to talk to her, so she brought him to the balcony of her bedroom.

It was a shame that the dark clouds were hiding the moon at the moment.

Even so, the night was still beautiful because Neoma existed in that world.

[Heh~]

“Gosh, you’re being too formal, Grandpa Kingston,” Neoma said, then she put her hands on her stomach before she bowed politely to the White Lion. And yes, she decided that Kingston was now her grandfather. “Please take care of me from now on, Grandpa. Of course, I’ll do the same to you.”

“Ah,” the White Lion muttered in disbelief as he raised his head. “This is the first time I saw a de Moonasterio bow her head towards a mere servant. Not even my previous master, Nero Roseheart, bowed his head to me in the past.”

She raised her and shook her head. “You’re not my servant, Grandpa. We will be working together from now on, so that makes us colleagues. Let’s respect each other and live in harmony.” She put a hand over her chest. “I’m a pacifist, after all.”

.....

[“Peace lover, my ass.”]

It was Tteokbokki, of course.

She frowned after hearing the Soul Beast’s crude remark.

[Gosh, just where did Tteokbokki learn to use foul words? He must have been influenced by the Kdramas he binge-watched back in Korea.]

“That’s what I wish for as well, Princess Neoma,” Kingston said. “To live in peace with everyone.”

She smiled and nodded in agreement. “Grandpa, thank you for looking after Monik and the Griffiths family for the past five years.”

“It’s nothing, Your Royal Highness,” Kingston said, smiling. “I only returned the kindness that the Griffiths have shown me all these years.”

Neoma laughed softly. “They’re kind, aren’t they?”

***

“SAINTESS MONIK, Saint Skylus, it’s an honor to meet you again after five long years,” Neoma said, politely addressing the babies with their proper titles. Well, it would happen in the future. But she was already claiming it for the children. “I, Princess Neoma Roseheart de Moonasterio, am reporting for duty.”

Monik and Skylus looked up at her with sparkling eyes.

She only summoned the two because Claude, the two babies’ younger brother, was sleeping.

[And Paige, Claude’s previous nanny, was babysitting the second prince.]

“Neoma unnie, you’re prettier in person!” Monik exclaimed. “No wonder the Goddess of Beauty is picking a fight with you!”

Skylus clasped his hands together. “Noona is so pretty!”

Hehe.

Of course, it was her who taught Skylus and Monik to call her ‘noona’ and ‘unnie’ respectively. She wanted to be a big sister to the future saint and saintess, and not as a royal princess. That was how much she treasured the royal babies.

“Thank you, babies,” Neoma said, sitting down on the sofa and patting her legs. Of course, she was only addressing the royal babies casually when they didn’t have an audience. She was the royal princess of the empire. Hence, she must address the prince and princess of a foreign nation properly. “Come here.”

Skylus and Monik immediately understood what she meant by that.

The saint and the saintess sat on her lap, facing each other with their knees touching.

Monik was big for an eight-year-old child, and Skylus was also bigger than average five-year-old boys.

But it wasn’t a problem for Neoma.

“Monik, thank you for looking after Grandpa Kingston,” Neoma said to the saintess. “And thank you for letting him go in order to serve me.”

“Grandpa Kingston wishes to serve you, unnie,” Monik said cheerfully. “I’m grateful to Grandpa Kingston for protecting me and my family, but I know Grandpa Kingston isn’t someone meant to serve the Light Goddess.”

Oh, right.

Monik was walking the path of a saintess in order to revive the temple of the Light Goddess.

On the other hand, Kingston was an Elemental Guardian. As far as Neoma knew, the Elemental Guardians were beings who refused to serve gods.

[That’s why Elemental Guardians choose masters who don’t serve any god.]

Well, even though Neoma was a descendant of the Moon God, it didn’t necessarily mean that she was serving him.

[Lord Yule is my grandpa, not my god.]

“Thank you for being understanding, Monik,” Neoma said, then she turned to Skylus. “Baby Skylus, I haven’t forgotten my promise to you when you were born.”

Skylus just looked at her innocently.

“I’m going to make you the new Moon Saint.”

Five years ago, they suffered a great loss which forced them to leave this world.

However, they also bagged a win.

[Mama Boss successfully retrieved a piece of the new saint’s divine power.]

Neoma was going to use that to fulfill her duty as the REAL First Star of the empire.

“Baby Skylus, you and your noona mentioned the existence of an unnatural divine energy, didn’t you?”

The royal babies nodded at the same time.

“Yes, noona!”

“Yes, unnie!”

“It’s probably Calyx Dalton creating a fake saint to bring to the Astello Temple,” Neoma explained to the royal babies. “I have to compete with that crazy crow soon for the position of the empire’s real First Star.” She looked at Skylus and Monik back and forth. “Will you help me beat the fake basta– bad guy?”

Skylus and Monik nodded again and spoke in unison– addressing her by her formal title this time.

“As you command, Princess Neoma!”

***

NEOMA frowned after seeing Trevor’s condition.

“Is he dead?”

It was Lewis, and her “son” asked that question in a very indifferent tone.

[Gosh, why is Lewis bullying Trevor when the demon boy is already looking like that?]

By “that,” Neoma meant Trevor lying down on the floor with dried blood around his mouth, neck, and chest.

Obviously, the demon boy coughed up blood.

“Trevor, get up.”

Trevor kept his eyes shut, but not his mouth. “I’ll wake up if you give me a kiss, my Moon Princess.”

Lewis turned to Neoma with a blank look on his face. “Princess Neoma, Trevor will die later.”

Pfft.

Lewis was practically saying he’d kill Trevor for the demon boy’s remark.

“Thank you for the advance notice, but we need Trevor alive,” Neoma said, then she squatted down and extended her hand to Trevor. “I can’t and don’t want to give you a kiss, but I’ll let you hold my hand.”

Trevor opened his eyes, then his trembling hand grabbed hers.

[He’s not faking it.]

Trevor was really weak at the moment.

That wasn’t surprising since the demon boy worked hard to free Brigitte unnie and Uncle Glenn from the crows’ spell.

[This is why Trevor can’t retrieve everyone’s memories at the same time.]

The demon boy would die if he did that.

[Hence, we chose to approach our allies one by one.]

“Princess Neoma?”

It was Lewis, and he was probably wondering how Neoma could HEAL Trevor’s internal injury by simply holding the demon boy’s hand.

[Yep, I’m healing Trevor. Why else would I hold his hand voluntarily?]

“It’s one of the techniques I inherited from Grandma Aruna. I’m using my Moonglow to fix Trevor’s damaged organs,” Neoma explained briefly. “I can’t heal life-threatening injuries, though.”

Lewis looked impressed. “Wow.”

Her thoughts were interrupted when Trevor suddenly entwined their fingers together.

[This bastard…]

Trevor grinned at her. “I thought I’d heal faster if I did this.”

.....

“Trevor, I’m already emotionally unavailable so you’ll only hurt yourself if you keep doing this,” Neoma said, clicking her tongue at him. Then she FROZE his hand. “And this is for being cheeky.”

Lewis gasped. “Ice…”

[Ah, right. Lewis doesn’t know.]

The demon boy just laughed even though his entire arm was literally frozen in ice.

She just rolled her eyes at Trevor before letting go of his hand.

[He’s a genius Sorcerer, so he can melt the ice.]

Neoma stood up and faced Lewis who still looked shocked. Hence, she explained. “Grandpa Arche was the former master of Nero’s ice phoenix. And Grandpa Arche taught me the technique to control ice.”

Lewis clapped his hands, and he looked genuinely impressed. “You can control ice even though your main attribute is fire?”

She put a hand over her chest. “You can call me ‘T*doroki.'”

Trevor laughed at her reference. “Shotooo!”

It was her turn to laugh.

[Right, I turned Trevor into an otaku.]

Lewis looked confused. “Huh?”

“Nothing,” Neoma said, keeping her weeb-ness in check. “I’m going to meet Brigitte unnie and Uncle Glenn now.”

***

NEOMA decided to call Brigitte unnie ‘Aunt Brigitte’ now because it was the queen’s wish.

[After all, I call her husband ‘uncle.’]

And yes, Aunt Brigitte and Uncle Glenn had finally retrieved their memories now thanks to Trevor’s hard work.

After a tearful reunion, they immediately went straight to business.

“First things first,” Neoma said in a serious voice while having tea with the royal couple. “Aunt Brigitte, Uncle Glenn, please allow me to bring Prince Skylus to the empire with me. I intend to introduce the prince as the new saint.”

Aunt Brigitte and Uncle Glenn turned to each other and nodded subtly before facing her again.

“We leave Skylus in your hand, Princess Neoma,” Aunt Brigitte said in a serious tone. “We’d love to come with you, but we must hurry back to Hazelden as soon as possible. We can’t just leave everything to Nowell and Delwyn.”

Nowell Elwood was Aunt Brigitte’s cousin who was in charge of the kingdom’s administration while the royal couple was gone.

Delwyn was the Ice Spirit in charge of protecting the Hazelden Kingdom from the crows.

“We will bring Monik and Claude back home with us,” Aunt Brigitte added. “Let’s keep in touch, Princess Neoma.”

She nodded. “Of course, Auntie.”

To be honest, she was glad that Aunt Brigitte and Uncle Glenn decided to not go to the empire with them.

[Aunt Brigitte is vulnerable since she’s pregnant. I don’t want her to get stressed out.]

“I’m really glad that you’re back, Princess Neoma,” Aunt Brigitte said, her eyes brimming with tears again. “And I’m grateful that you and Trevor helped us break free from the damned crows’ curse.”

She laughed softly. “I’m glad to see that you’re still as energetic as I remember, my queen.”

Aunt Brigitte laughed with her.

“Princess Neoma, how are Emperor Nikolai and Lady Roseheart?” Uncle Glenn asked worriedly after Neoma and Aunt Brigitte were done having a small yet meaningful talk. “Are they going to return to the empire later?”

“Of course,” Neoma said, smiling at Uncle Glenn. “Papa Boss has to crown me and Nero himself, Uncle Glenn– and Mama Boss has to be there, too.”

***

JASPER had always known Princess Neoma was beautiful.

Her beauty wasn’t really subjective— it was like an absolute truth that nobody could deny. The royal princess had a face that would probably be considered attractive everywhere.

But, of course, he didn’t pay attention to it before since Princess Neoma was just a child.

That was five years ago, though.

Although he had seen Princess Neoma through the communication device for the past few years, this was the first time that he had seen her in person.

The little royal princess had turned into a beautiful young lady in just the blink of an eye.

[Princess Neoma’s face is… distracting.]

It was to the point where he couldn’t appreciate the stunning pink sand of the shore they were walking on because Princess Neoma’s face was the most beautiful thing in his sight.

“Thank you very much, Jasper oppa.”

Jasper was confused because of what Princess Neoma said. “Hmm?”

“Your eyes are telling me I’m pretty,” Princess Neoma said playfully. “I’d like to thank you for being tall, oppa.”

[That came out of nowhere.]

He was confused, but he still couldn’t stop himself from laughing softly. “You’re grateful that I’m tall?”

The royal princess pouted. “I’m taller than most boys my age back in Korea. It’s lame, but I’m kind of insecure about my height. But since you’re taller than me, I feel comfortable walking next to you.”

“I won’t invalidate your feelings, but please remember that tall or not, you’re still a beloved existence,” he said, playfully ruffling the royal princess’ hair despite her light complaint. “Many people will be sad if they find out that you feel bad for being tall. After all, doesn’t being tall only mean there’s more of you to adore?”

She blinked while fixing her messy hair as if she didn’t expect to hear that from him, then she laughed.

And dammit.

[Princess Neoma looks prettier when she’s smiling and laughing.]

He must be crazy for thinking that way towards his little sister!

“Thank you for making me feel better, oppa.”

“Uh, it’s nothing,” he said, avoiding her gaze while touching his nape. “Anyway, why did you want to talk to me in private?”

Princess Neoma nodded, then she turned serious. “Oppa, I have a favor to ask of you regarding the Fourth Elemental Guardian.”

That caught his interest.

And that was also a good distraction.

Jasper faced Princess Neoma again. “What about Duckie, Your Royal Highness?”

***

Hi! I launched a dream project recently, and that dream is to write a story with a male protagonist.

I posted a new story titled ‘FISHING FOR DISASTERS,’ and the first three chapters are up. You can search it by typing the title on the app or website if it doesn’t appear on my account yet.

Here’s the summary:

[FISHING FOR DISASTERS]

<You better catch all the Disasters if you want to know ending of One P*ece!>

That’s the reward for saving this world from Sea Monsters and Dungeons that would emerge soon?!

Then Zirkus, who died while stalking a famous Kpop idol and got transmigrated as a minor villain in a dungeon-themed novel, would do his best to catch all the Disasters-in-the-making!

All for the sake of saving the world, of course.

Ahem.

It’s time for a nerd to become a hero!

***

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