性瘾者

"I WOULDN\'T say that those are my own memories," Nero said to Tara. "It\'s more like I was watching Neoma\'s first life through her eyes."

"When did you begin to remember your past life, Nero?" Tara asked him. "What is it from the moment that you were born?"

"You can say that. I\'ve always had \'dreams\' about Neoma. Every night for the past eight years of my life, I dream of a piece of her memory," he said while nodding his head thoughtfully. "I was taught that the children of the Royal Family were born more mature than average children. But I believe that my mind has fully developed faster than what\'s expected of a royal child like me because I saw Neoma\'s memories." He paused to sip tea before he continued. "I didn\'t think that it was real though. I\'ve always thought that they were visions of the future. But since the "future" that I saw was different from what\'s happening in real life, I didn\'t think much of it. After all, I don\'t believe in pre-determined fate. I\'m a believer that our actions could change the future. Thus, I only saw those dreams as a guide to our future."

"I can\'t blame you for thinking that way," the queen said. "Mona saw visions through her dreams."

He wouldn\'t know because Neoma didn\'t have memories of their mother.

In fact, his twin sister\'s memories revolved around her miserable life as \'Neoma Quinzel.\' Moreover, in that lifetime, Neoma was betrayed by Rubin Drayton and a certain Regina Crowell.

I didn\'t care about it at first because Neoma met Rubin Drayton when she was eighteen. I thought she wouldn\'t meet that bastard early. I was planning on getting rid of Rubin Drayton and his woman but I was suddenly cursed. And that has been the case until now.

"I only realized that those memories were from Neoma\'s first life when the late Princess Nichole, who\'s now the Devil, woke me up from my comatose state," he continued with his story. "When she woke me up, she showed me a memory that was apparently mine. To be precise, a piece of memory from my first life."

"And what did the late Princess Royale show you?"

"My aunt showed me what happened after Neoma \'died,\'" he said seriously. "The memories of my twin sister that I saw through my dreams ended when I killed her with my own hands."

He felt a pang in his chest when he remembered that he killed Neoma in her first life.

Since he only saw it through his twin sister\'s memories, he had no idea why he killed his precious Neoma in her first life.

All I know is that in the past, Nero must have been a psycho bastard.

He swore to himself that he wouldn\'t end up like that in this lifetime.

"But the Devil showed me an interesting piece of my memory," he said, then he sipped his tea. "Neoma, in her first life, was revived by five people. Unfortunately, I don\'t remember what they look like. They\'re blurry in my memories. I only remember a few of their features."

"Five and not four?"

He raised a brow at the queen\'s question. "Why were you expecting four?"

"Because before Neoma was born, Mona had a vision," Tara said seriously. "Apparently, the descendants of the \'Four Great Pillars\' of the Moonasterion Empire would appear once her daughter was born. Your mother believed that those pillars would be your twin sister\'s sword and shield."

"The Four Great Pillars?"

"The Heart, the Fangs, the Shadow, and the Contractor."

His brows furrowed in confusion. "Only the Quinzels could control shadows in the whole continent so the \'Shadow Pillar\' must be a Quinzel descendant. But in Neoma\'s memories, Hanna died early…"

But then again, Neoma was a naïve and sheltered noble lady in her first life.

He shook his head, trying to hold himself together. "I should regain my own memories."

"Nero, do you want me to help you find Mona?"

He wasn\'t surprised by the queen\'s question.

Even though her mother was dead already, she was a Roseheart. The possibility that his mother\'s Spirit was still \'alive\' somewhere was high.

"I don\'t trust my mother," he said firmly. "She\'s practically a stranger to me."

As soon as he said that, the ground shook and the Spirits around them hissed.

Even the queen didn\'t look happy with what he said.

"Nero, your mother sacrificed a lot for you and Neoma to be alive. I\'m sure that she\'s looking after you even now," Tara reminded him sternly. Only after the queen spoke did the ground stops shaking. Even the Spirits fell silent. "Please don\'t speak ill of Mona like that."

"Then, where was Mother during Neoma\'s first life?"

"Nero–"

"Neoma\'s Roseheart Blood is sealed by our mother, isn\'t it?"

The guilty look on the queen\'s face answered his question.

"I thought so," he said while nodding thoughtfully. "For that reason, I can\'t trust our mother yet."

The queen fell silent for a while before she talked again. "I understand where you\'re coming from, Nero," she said, her face lighting up again. "If you want to get to know your mother until you understand why she did the things that you\'re upset about, then why don\'t you stay here in the Spirit World? I won\'t ask you for anything else. Like what you told William, it is indeed your birthright to be taken care of this world."

That offer didn\'t sound so bad.

Moreover, he\'d rather stay in the Spirit World than spend time locked up in Trevor\'s territory with that noisy demon.

"Alright, I\'ll stay here," he said, then he sipped his tea. "I will stay here and train until I surpass my mother as a Roseheart."

"I think Mona will be happy to have her son as a rival because she likes friendly competition," Tara said, then she became serious. "By the way, what do you remember about the mystery guy that you want to find?"

"Dark purple hair," Nero said, remembering the back of a man who stood closely beside Neoma in his memory. The face, unfortunately, was blurred. "At first, I thought his hair was black," he added. "But when the moonlight hit his hair, it turned into a deep shade of purple."

***

"I CALL everyone \'mine,\'" Neoma said while walking a little faster than normal. It was quite amusing that Ruto, who was walking beside her with some decent space between them, could match her pace effortlessly. Plus, his footsteps were as light as Lewis\'s. "Don\'t think anything about me calling you \'my\' Ruto."

"I\'m not thinking of anything weird," Ruto said casually. "Did you think a child like you could make my heart flutter?"

"I should be the one asking that," she said while glaring at Ruto. "I\'m at least forty years older than you emotionally and mentally, you know?"

He just turned to her and nodded. "Sure."

She just rolled her eyes at him.

He obviously didn\'t believe her.

"Ah, I have a question."

She turned to the chef. "What is it?"

"Don\'t the female employees in the palace have a separate quarter from the male employees?" the young chef asked. "I don\'t think it\'s appropriate for a young lady like you to be sharing a room with boys."

She was confused with Ruto\'s question.

Then, she remembered the time Lewis made his presence known while she was on the \'phone\' with Ruto. She lied to the young chef and said that she was sharing a room with Lewis.

"My friend just sneaked in my room that night to talk," she lied again. "I have a room of my own, and the ladies\' quarter is separate from the gentlemen\'s."

"Ah," he said while nodding his head. "That\'s a relief."

"Rara."

\'Rara?\'

She raised her brow when Lewis suddenly appeared in front of them and called her \'Rara.\' Just where did my son get that name?

But since Ruto was there, she acted like she was \'Rara.\'

And she gave her son a nickname as well.

"Hi, Lulu," she greeted him cheerfully. In her first life, Nero gave Lewis \'Lu\' as a nickname. She didn\'t want to copy her twin brother so she called her son \'Lulu.\' "Did you come to pick me up?"

"Of course," Lewis said, then he stood beside her. "It\'s already late."

"I see," she said, then she turned to Ruto who seemed to be observing them with a curious look on his face. "Ruto, this is \'Lulu.\' My son–"

Lewis suddenly cleared his throat loudly.

"My chingu," she said, changing her statement a while ago. \'Chingu\' meant \'friend\' in the Korean language. "He\'s my best friend."

Lewis seemed to be satisfied with that.

Gosh.

"Anyway, Lulu, this is Ruto," she said. "He\'s my personal food delivery service."

Ruto raised a brow at that.

"That\'s a compliment," she insisted. "I don\'t eat just anyone\'s food, you know? I\'m a very precious person. I eat your food because they\'re yummy."

"Alright," Ruto said, then he gently flicked her forehead with his fingers. "Good night, Moonshine."

She didn\'t hate the \'endearment\' but she disliked the warm feeling in her chest that it brought. Still, it wasn\'t like she could hate Ruto. "Good night, Ruto."

Ruto just nodded, then he turned to Lewis. "Thank you for fetching Miss Ramsay. Take care of her and have a safe trip back to the palace, Sir Crevan."

She was surprised to hear Ruto address Lewis by his title.

Did Ruto and Lewis already meet without me knowing?

Lewis just gave Ruto a curt nod.

Gosh, my son can sometimes be so cold to people he just met.

Thankfully, Ruto didn\'t seem to mind Lewis\'s poor attitude. After saying goodbye to them, the young chef left.

"Lewis, where did you, Mochi, and Soju went?" she asked her son while they were walking back to the palace. "You suddenly disappeared."

She was shocked to wake up alone with Ruto earlier.

"Miss Mochi said that we should hide when Ruto arrived," Lewis said with a pout. It was obvious that he was just forced to follow Mochi\'s order. "Apparently, it will be weird for the Crown Prince\'s servants to be hanging around with a court lady apprentice that you pretend to be, Princess Neoma."

"Oh, that\'s smart," she said while nodding her head. "So, where are Mochi and Soju?"

"They said they will wait for you at your room when I insisted to fetch you."

"I see," she said. "So, where did \'Rara\' come from?"

Her son suddenly blushed for some reason. "I can\'t call you by your first name only, Princess Neoma. But most of all, I know that you didn\'t tell Ruto Stroganoff your real name. And honestly, I don\'t want him to know your real name. Thus, I came up with a nickname for you. I got the \'Ra\' from \'Ramsay.\' I just repeated it to sound cute." He averted his gaze while scratching his cheek. "Do you hate it, Princess Neoma?"

"Nope, I love it. It\'s as cute as me," she said without missing a beat. "And I like it when you talk a lot, Lulu. Your voice cleanses my soul."

Lewis turned to her and gave her a half-smile.

Gosh, someone is shy.

Neoma covered her mouth when she yawned. "I\'m so tired."

***

"HANNA Quinzel is still alive but she\'s in a comatose state, and her legs were amputated."

Regina Crowell smiled when she heard the report from the crow with blue eyes.

Right now, she was on the balcony of her room while the crow was standing on the railing. It was already late at night, and her room was protected so she wasn\'t worried about being seen or heard by the other servants of House Drayton.

"Amber Quinzel hasn\'t left the mansion ever since her daughter was taken home, while Rufus Quinzel is venting out on the rebels that he and his squad caught," the crow reported to her. "Shall we pay Hanna Quinzel a visit and finish her?"

"No, that would be unnecessary," Regina said with a smile while looking at the full moon. "Hanna Quinzel is barely alive. Moreover, her legs were amputated. There\'s no way she\'d be fit to be the heiress of House Quinzel."

"Would it be smart to keep her alive just because of that? the crow asked. "What if there\'s a way to bring her legs back?"

"If Saint Zavaroni himself wasn\'t able to do it, who do you think has the power to create a miracle like that?"

"Ah, that makes sense."

"I want to keep Hanna Quinzel alive in that pitiful state," she said with a smile. "I will use this chance to get close to the Quinzels and show them that I am fit to be their heiress instead of an amputee like Hanna Quinzel."

"Very well," the blue-eyed crow said. "I will relay your decision to His Excellency."

"Thank you," Regina said, then she turned her back on the crow to return to her room. But then, she stopped and turned to it again when she remembered something. "Tell His Excellency that I will also begin my move to get close to Prince Nero."

***

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