Royal Secret: I'm a Princess!

THE GODDESS of Life was supposed to head towards the Imperial Palace where the God of Death was already waiting for her.

Of course, Neoma and Commander Ruto were there.

But, as soon as she reached the empire…

[What's this suffocating stench?!]

The thick smell of death lingered in the air.

As the Goddess of Life, her weakness would be death, and the mere stench of it was enough to make it hard for her to breathe.

"It's been a while, my lady."

Ah.

It was Helstor, and the God of Eternal Darkness wasn't alone.

The Goddess of Life squinted her eyes at the goddess next to Helstor. "Lady Doom."

Hair as black as night, eyes as red as blood, a red dress under a black robe.

Pale skin.

Long and sharp black nails.

A dark mark on her cheeks that looked like permanent tears.

Moreover, the black energy wrapped around the Goddess of Misfortune's neck and shoulders like a shawl made of all the disasters in the world.

[But worst of all…]

Just looking at the Goddess of Misfortune would give anyone an impending sense of doom.

[Hence, the moniker 'Lady Doom.']

"It's been a while, Vera."

The Goddess of Life was surprised to hear her name come out of Helstor's mouth. "Your arrogance knows no bounds, Helstor."

"It's nothing compared to Princess Neoma's arrogance, though," Helstor said, smiling. "I didn't expect you to gather your broken pieces of soul so soon, Vera. If you were here, then the God of Death must have also been reborn right away."

The Goddess of Life remained silent because she didn't feel the need to respond to Helstor.

[A child who's not worth my time, that is who Helstor is.]

"Lady Vera, it's been a while."

The Goddess of Life acknowledged the Goddess of Misfortune. "It feels like it really has been long because the last time we saw each other, I remember you as the God of Misfortune."

"I got tired of living as a male god," the Goddess of Misfortune said, shrugging. "Moreover, humans often confused me for a lady anyway because of my androgynous appearance. They call me 'Lady Doom,' hence I decided to humor them and change my assigned sex. Not that it really matters to us."

That was interesting.

[I'm sure Neoma would be delighted to hear about it.]

"Is that the only reason why you changed your assigned sex?" the Goddess of Life asked, smiling whimsically. "When a god changes their assigned sex, it's always for the purpose of childbirth."

The body of a female god, or a goddess as humans called them, was stronger than a male god when it came to giving birth to a new divinity.

But it was rare for gods to change their assigned sex.

Only androgynous beings could change it like they were only changing clothes since they didn't have an assigned sex at birth.

[Contrary to what most humans believe, gods couldn't be whatever they wanted to be freely. Assigned sex among the divinity is important because Lord Levi wanted to control our population. He even banned powerful gods from conceiving children together.]

"I'd love to chitchat with you, my lady, but I don't suppose we have time for that," the now-Lady Doom said. "It's unfortunate, but I don't think Helstor would keep you alive this time. Since I am here, Helstor's chances of killing you increase."

"You heard the Lady Doom, Vera," Helstor said, his red eyes glowing. "I'm really sorry about this, but I have to kill you again–"

"Well, not under our watch."

The Goddess of Life wasn't really expecting someone to rescue her.

However, she was relieved to see Aruna and Arche de Moonasterio.

The Ancient Twins didn't come alone.

A son of the God of Booze, a half elf-half fairy, and a woman from the Snake Tribe were also there.

[Neoma's ancestors and Yoan's people…]

"So, Callisto hasn't lost his mind," Helstor said while looking at Aruna de Moonasterio. "You're really back, Princess Aruna."

"Is that dumb bastard still pretending to be confused?" Aruna de Moonasterio asked while laughing, then she patted Arche de Moonasterio's back. "Tell Callisto de Luca that the person he fell madly in love with was my brother and not me. Homosexuality isn't a bad thing, so we won't judge him."

Arche de Moonasterio smiled. "That's right. No one would blame Callisto de Luca for falling for my deadly charms, so tell him he has nothing to be embarrassed about."

Then Aruna and Arche de Moonasterio laughed in a very insulting manner.

The Goddess of Life couldn't help but smile while shaking her head.

[Aruna and Arche remind me of Neoma and Nero's evil playfulness…]

"My lady, please allow us to protect and escort you to the Imperial Palace," the Snake Woman said politely. "Aspen and Faust will create a barrier while I make a portal."

The Goddess of Life smiled and nodded. "Thank you."

"It's too early to thank them, Vera," Helstor said. "Didn't I already say you wouldn't survive this night?"

The Goddess of Life looked at Helstor with cold eyes.

"This fuckface who doesn't know his place talks like he's the shit, huh?"

Hmm?

Only one princess in the empire had such a foul mouth…

Everyone there looked up and saw Neoma suspended in the air while looking down at Helstor.

[Yoan is here, too.]

The expression on Neoma's face made it look like she was looking down on the God of Eternal Darkness.

[As expected, the arrogance of a de Moonasterio is on a different level.]

"Helstor, do you need me to humble you again?" Neoma scoffed. "Don't talk shit around me because you can't beat me in my own game."

"Princess Neoma, your ego grows bigger day by day," Helstor said, smiling. Then he pointed his hands to the Lady Doom. "But I'll have you know that I have my trump card here with me, so I don't think I'd be eating humble pie tonight."

"I'll shove it down to your throat then," Neoma said, then she turned to the Lady Doom and looked at the goddess intently. "Unnie, you remind me of the gothic queens from where I came from. Too bad you chose the wrong side~"

"The wrong side?" the Lady Doom asked, smiling. "Child, let me serve you some "humble pie.""

Argh.

The Goddess of Life, along with the others who swore to protect her, clutched their chests tightly when the impending sense of doom overwhelmed their system.

Even Aruna, Arche, and Yoan clearly broke out in a cold sweat.

That was what the impending sense of doom could do to a person, after all.

It could make anyone feel like something bad would happen, like the world ending.

Everyone felt that way…

… except for Neoma.

Oh.

[Neoma isn't affected?]

"You," the Lady Doom growled at Neoma, the Goddess of Misfortune clearly in disbelief. "Did you receive protection from that Goddess of Luck?!"

"The Goddess of Luck? I haven't met that unnie yet, not even in my first life," Neoma said bitterly. "Are you wondering why I wasn't affected by the impending sense of doom that you just released?"

"No one, except for the Goddess of Luck, is immune to my ability to make anyone feel like something terrible was about to happen."

"Well, I was born unlucky. Maybe that's why I'm immune to your ability."

"Ridiculous," the Lady of Doom said. "If you were born unlucky, then you should have been more likely to be hit by the impending sense of doom."

"People who have so much shit going on in their lives have lived with an impending sense of doom," Neoma said nonchalantly, her beautiful ash-gray eyes turning glowing red. "I've gone through so much shit in all my lives that living with the impending sense of doom in my chest has become the norm for me, Gothic Unnie."

***

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'M SO SORRY FOR THE SUDDEN HIATUS.

February hasn't been kind to me.

I was scammed at work, I had to fight my bank to return my money, and five out of our six puppies passed away from parvo, and I recently sprained my wrist (thankfully, the left one and not my dominant hand).

The loss of our puppies hit me pretty hard, so I got into a slump. I'm so sorry for wasting your coins.

The only stories I was able to update this month were <My First Life as an S-Class Guide> and <Let's Not Divorce> because of the MGS. I'm so sorry about that. BTW, <Let's Not Divorce> is about to end, and it has some minor spoilers about how Royal Princess ends. You may want to check it out.

Anyway, I'm hoping for your kind understanding.

I'll make it up to you. :(

---sola_cola

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