Chapter 679 - 679 MEETING OF THE QUEENS
“Who said I’m jealous?” Ruto asked indifferently. In fairness, he looked calmer this time. “Why would I be jealous in the first place?”
“Because you love me, duh.”
“...”
“Because you love me, duh.”
“You didn’t have to tell me twice.”
“Were you jealous because of my physical contact with Jasper oppa earlier?” she teased him again. “Then why don’t you offer your arm to me?”
Ruto paused as if he was considering it. But his hesitation only lasted for a few seconds. He eventually offered his arm to her. “I’m only doing this because you’re the royal princess of the Great Moonasterion Empire.”
“Sure,” Neoma said, laughing. But instead of linking her arm with his, she grabbed his hand and held it firmly. “Lovers hold hands.”
.....
He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t withdraw his hand.
Then much to her shock, Ruto entwined their hands together while avoiding her gaze as if he was shy.
“Aigoo,” she teased him again while bumping his shoulder. “You’re smooth like butter, Ruto oppa.”
“I thought I was your jagiya?”
She laughed because she couldn’t believe that Ruto was acting this way.
This time, she found him cute.
[He must be confused as to why he’s acting this way when he’s supposed to be indifferent to me.]
“Jasper oppa is just like a brother to me,” she said. “Even if you asked me to stay away from him, I won’t do it.”
“I have no reason to ask you to do that.”
“Then I’m glad,” she said. “You really have nothing to be jealous about that. Jasper oppa doesn’t see me as a woman.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Well, he probably just thinks that I’m seriously pretty, but that’s it,” she said, shrugging.
“It’s not like we’re doing anything wrong.”
“Alright.”
“You’re not jealous anymore?”
“I wasn’t jealous in the first place.”
She just laughed, then squeezed his hand.
“You know, don’t you?” Ruto asked in a teasing voice. “If I were an ordinary person, my hand would have been broken already.”
Neoma laughed softly. “That’s why I’m glad you weren’t an ordinary person.”
***
NEOMA sipped her tea while staring at Tara, the Queen of Spirit World.
Right now, she was in the drawing with Tara and Clarita— the elf queen. The two were the representatives of the fairies and the elves, respectively.
“I’m Neoma Roseheart de Moonasterio, Your Majesties,” Neoma introduced herself after the queens did. “I’m the daughter of Mona Roseheart and Nikolai de Moonasterio.”
Tara already met her before, but her memories were affected by the curse. It seemed like the Queen of the Spirit World looked confused while looking at her.
[It’s probably because Queen Tara feels like she has already met me.]
On the other hand, this was the first time she met the elf queen.
[Gosh, Queen Clarita is so pretty.]
The elf queen looked so soft and gentle, and the flowy green dress that she wore suited her so well.
“Queen Clarita, the elves are unharmed. They’re exhausted, though,” Neoma reported, and the elf queen looked relieved. Then she turned to the fairy queen. “Queen Tara, the fairies are in the same condition. Some of them are also helping our group heal the injured humans that we rescued.”
“That’s a relief to know,” Queen Tara said. “Thank you for letting us know about the children’s condition, Princess Neoma.”
She was pretty surprised when the queen acknowledged her as a princess.
The Queen of the Spirit World seemed to notice Neoma’s surprise because she explained. “As the Queen of the Spirit World, I can clearly see your Roseheart Blood and Moonglow.”
“That’s a relief, Your Majesty,” Neoma said. “Now I can just invite you to the Royal Palace and tell everyone that I’m Nero’s twin sister.”
She only said that jokingly, but the Queen of the Spirit World suddenly looked stiff.
[Ah, so Tara already chose Nero as her emperor.]
“Don’t worry, I won’t steal the throne from my baby brother.”
[Because he will hand it to me later.]
“I cannot promise you anything, Princess Neoma,” Tara said apologetically. “As the Queen of the Spirit World, I am not allowed to meddle with the affairs of the de Moonasterios.”
[Bullshit.]
Neoma smiled anyway. “I understand, Your Majesty,” she said, then she turned to Queen Clarita who looked nervous for some reason. “Your Majesty, I heard from the children that the elf king was hurt. Is he alright now?”
She only asked because she wanted to know how the young elves were kidnapped.
“The elf king is already in a stable condition,” Clarita said in a gentle yet nervous tone. “Thank you for asking, Princess Neoma.”
[Oh, my tactic didn’t work. Let’s just ask her directly.]
“Queen Clarita, may I know how the elves were kidnapped?” Neoma asked carefully. “There was even a prince among them.”
The elf queen suddenly looked like she wanted to cry. “One of the elf knights that we trusted turned out to be a traitot. He lured the children to a trap by kidnapping Yurian— Prince Auden’s pet unicorn.”
Neoma covered her mouth when she gasped softly. “Omg. The unicorn’s name is Yurian? It’s perfect. Does the unicorn have a gender, Your Majesty?”
The elf queen looked confused, but she still gave a response. “Yurian is a female unicorn.”
“Omg, a queen.”
Neoma felt bittersweet at the moment.
[So Yurian already has an owner. I would have traded Tteokbokki for her.]
[“Thug princess, you know I can hear your thoughts at the moment, right?”]
Of course, Neoma ignored Tteokbokki.
She was just messing with her Soul Beast.
“Elias, my husband and the elf king, tried to rescue the children but the teleportation spell had already been activated by then,” Clarita continued with her story. “He was almost burned to death when he touched the cage where the children were trapped.”
Neoma nodded politely. “I see. Thank you for telling me, Queen Clarita.”
After talking to the elf queen, she turned to Tara.
“The same thing happened to the tribe where the fairies were kidnapped,” Tara explained. “I was informed that the Fairy Chief was also harmed. Hence, I came here in her place. After all, I’m still the Fairy Queen.”
Neoma fell silent for a moment before she spoke again. “Queen Clarita, Queen Tara, you already know, don’t you?” she asked while elegantly putting the teacup down on the table. “You already know that the Darkness has begun moving again. This time, it seems like Lord Helstor himself has made a move.”
“Lord Helstor is still a god,” Tara said hesitantly. “It’s hard to accuse a god without evidence.”
“I guess that’s true,” Neoma agreed while nodding. “Everyone is innocent until proven guilty. So, all we have to do is gather pieces of evidence, right?”
The two queens looked surprised.
“Princess Neoma, Lord Helstor may already be a forgotten god,” Queen Clarita said. “But he’s still a god and you’re only human. Can you really fight a god?”
“Trust me— I don’t want to,” Neoma said dryly. “But if I don’t fuck him up, he’ll fuck us up first.”
The two queens looked shocked by her choice of colorful words.
“The other victims of this tragedy that Lord Helstor orchestrated are the precious citizens of the Great Moonasterion Empire. As the royal princess, personally, I won’t let it slide,” Neoma said firmly. “God or not, I won’t leave them alone after they touched MY people.”
Tara and Clarita suddenly looked like they were ashamed for hesitating earlier just because Helstor was a god.
Of course, she didn’t mean to humiliate the queens.
She just spoke her mind.
“I won’t ask you to fight with me, Your Majesties,” Neoma said, then she stood up because she was almost done here. “Just please don’t try to stop me with my revenge.”
***
.....
“JASPER HAWTHORNE, I choose you as my new master.”
Jasper just blinked while staring at Duckie who had transformed into his human form.
Right now, the two of them were in the garden of the lord’s castle in order to talk in private regarding the “bomb” that the duck dropped earlier.
“But before you give me an answer, let me tell you something first,” Duckie said in a serious tone, his eyes clear. “I killed my previous owner.”
Jasper was a little surprised, but he wasn’t scared.
Duckie’s eyes were clear and honest.
[He doesn’t regret it.]
Killing was bad, but he could make exceptions since there were really horrible people out there who deserved to die.
“If it’s alright with you, can you tell me more about it?” Jasper asked carefully. “I want to know more about your past, Lord Duckie.”
***
[WHO THE FUCK?]
Neoma was enraged when she felt a chill-inducing burst of dark energy nearby.
She was helping Dahlia and Ruto feed the people in the castle’s large dining hall when they all felt that energy.
“Stay here and protect the castle,” Neoma said, already running towards the open window. “I’ll kill that bastard.”
She jumped off the window.
Of course, she didn’t yeet herself.
Mochi’s wind carried her until she shot up in the sky.
Then Neoma summoned her wings made of red roses and flew as fast as she could in the direction where the dark energy was coming from.
It led her to the castle wall.
“Good evening, Neoma.”
Huh???
Neoma was suspended in the air, dumbfounded while looking down at the neat-looking man standing on top of the castle wall.
The man was looking up at her with a warm smile on his face, his purple hair fluttering with the soft breeze.
[A Solfrid...?]
The man didn’t look like Ruto, but the two had the same vibes.
Ruto, as a Solfrid, had a unique Mana just like the de Moonasterios. And this man had the same Mana that Ruto’s mother also possessed.
“It’s been a while, Neoma,” the man said while looking at her affectionately. “I’ve missed you so much.”
“Gosh, I know that I’m a sought-after bachelorette,” Neoma said when she finally snapped out of her trance. “But who the hell are you?”
“Me?” the man asked, then he tilted his head and grinned mischievously. “I’m the man who loves you to death.”
Crazy bastard.
[Should I kill him?]
“Don’t look at me like that, Neoma,” the man said, putting a hand over his chest. “The love that he has for you from the first timeline until the moment I stole it is now stored in here. Hence, I’m the man that you should love back this time.”
There was only one man whose love for Neoma was stolen away from.
Ruto.
And the bastard who stole her man’s love for her was...
“The Ancient Devil,” Neoma said in disgust. “How the hell did you get a physical body, you crazy bastard?”
***
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