Royal Secret: I'm A Princess!

Chapter 380 – [Bonus ] 5-SECOND RULE

It didn't scare him, though. He was used to receiving punishments. And so, he just stood there while watching the "prince."

[Humans blind. She not look prince. Princess pretty.]

"You're not listening to me, are you?" Princess Neoma asked while smiling. "What, are you distracted by my pretty face?"

Lewis nodded. "Princess pretty."

The princess laughed, while the knight who rescued him cleared his throat loudly.

"Lewis, be polite," Glenn, the vice-commander of the White Lion Knights, said. "And please address His Royal Highness properly. Didn't I tell you that the "prince" being a girl is a royal secret?"

He just ignored the knight because he liked looking at the princess's face.

[Beautiful. Like moon. Me like moon.]

"Don't be too strict, Sir Glenn," the princess said. "My room and my office are both protected by a soundproof barrier."

"We still need to be extra careful, Your Royal Highness," the knight said.

"I understand," the princess said, then she looked at him. "Lewis, be extra careful from now on. Address me properly when there are other people around."

Lewis just nodded as a response.

"And for your punishment…"

Lewis didn't want to, but his body flinched at the mention of "punishment." Just because he was used to it didn't mean that it no longer scared him. Perhaps, it was what trauma meant.

"I want you to take a bath and wear the butler's uniform properly," the princess said in a light voice. It seemed like she was acting tough. But her gaze and her voice were warm and soft. "Then, I want you to eat three meals a day. Ah, you also have to join me in my afternoon tea. And I will scold you if you miss a meal, okay? I don't like kids who waste food."

He tilted his head to one side, confusion. [This. Punishment?]

"That's why I want you to only get the amount of food that you can finish," the princess said. "I need to fatten you up so don't waste food, understood?"

He was too stunned to react.

The princess's punishment didn't sound like punishment at all.

"Lewis, His Royal Highness asked you a question," Glenn said to him patiently. "Don't make the royal prince wait for a response."

That snapped him out of his trance.

Lewis looked at the princess and nodded. "Me understood, princess."

Princess Neoma smiled warmly at him. "I'm glad that Lewis is such a good boy."

***

LEWIS did as what Princess Neoma told him to do: he took a bath properly and wore the butler's uniform neatly.

And now, he was on his way to the dining hall reserved for the employees of the princess's palace. Alphen, the palace's head butler, brought him to the dining hall. But he had to leave to attend to the princess's needs. Thus, he was left alone.

He hated mingling with other people– especially with people who were obviously hostile to him.

But he needed to fulfill his punishment.

[Eat. Me must eat. No wasting food.]

He ignored the glare from the maids and the butlers in the dining hall, and went straight to the buffet with a plate in his hand. Princess Neoma told him to only get the amount of food that he could finish. And so, he put three pieces of steak on his plate.

No vegetables since he hated those.

Princess Neoma said that she needed to fatten him up. So, he needed to eat meat–

An older and bigger butler bumped into his shoulder quite forcefully. Normally, such a simple movement wouldn't have made him budge from his spot. But the butler used enough Mana to push him until he fell to the floor.

Unfortunately, he dropped the plate as well.

[Food… waste…]

"How dare a mere slave to mingle with us?" the older butler scoffed. "We may be servants for the royals. But outside the palace, we are nobles."

"A slave should know his place."

"Just because you were chosen to be His Royal Highness's butler doesn't mean you're on the same level as we do."

Lewis ignored the piercing words of the people around him.

[No wasting food…]

He picked up the steak on the floor and began to eat the meat. It didn't matter that it fell on the floor. He was used to eating dirty food anyway.

[Princess said she no like wasting food.]

"Disgusting!"

"Is he even human?"

"Of course, a fox like him is an animal through and through!"

"In the end, a slave is still a slave."

"Is it Lewis's fault that he became a slave?"

Lewis stopped eating when he heard Princess Neoma's voice. When he raised his head, he saw the people create a path for the princess, and the knight called Glenn. He also saw Alphen and the head maid behind the princess.

After his eyes met the princess's gaze, he immediately resumed eating.

[Princess no like wasting food. Must eat. Fast.]

He wanted to finish the meat as fast as he could but he was forced to stop once again when the princess squatted down in front of him.

"Lewis, do you know the "5-second rule?""

Lewis looked at the princess and shook his head.

"The 5-second rule says food is okay to eat if you pick it up in 5 seconds or less," Princess Neoma explained. "Did you pick it up in 5 seconds?"

If he calculated the time from when the plate fell to the floor up to when he moved to pick the steak up, that would be at least ten seconds.

"Ten," Lewis said. "Me pick meat ten seconds."

"Then, you can't eat it."

"But prince said no wasting food…"

"Yes, I don't like wasting food," the princess said gently. "But your health is more important, Lewis. If you understand what I'm saying, then drop the steak. I'll give you a yummier steak later."

Lewis nodded, then he dropped the food to the floor. "Sorry, meat."

The princess laughed softly, then she stood up. "Stand up," she told him. "My butler should only eat yummy and clean food from now on."

He just nodded again before he stood up in front of the princess.

"Ah, I have something to say to you," the princess said, then she smiled at him. "Lewis, it's not your fault that you used to be a slave. Slaves did nothing wrong."

Lewis just blinked, confused.

He could feel that the people around him began to feel uncomfortable. But the princess's fierce gaze didn't leave his face.

And he found it endearing.

This was the first time in his life that another human looked at him properly, and treated him as equal.

"Those proud nobles should be the ones who feel ashamed of themselves because it's their fellow nobles who create slaves anyway," Princess Neoma said in a majestic voice. "And as a member of the royal family, I feel ashamed as well. It is our royal duty to protect the weak, but the fact that slaves still exist in the empire is proof we haven't done enough yet."

Much to everyone's shock, the princess bowed her head in apology.

"Your Royal Highness!" Glenn, Stephanie, and Alphen all screamed in horror at the same time.

But the princess didn't raise her head.

"I know this isn't enough to make it up for all the sufferings that you've gone through because of our failure to protect the weak," Princess Neoma said. "But for now, please accept my apology, Lewis."

That was the first time in his life that Lewis felt he was a human like anyone else.

***

LEWIS immediately turned in Princess Neoma's direction when he heard a soft thud.

He saw the princess bend down and hurriedly pick up the donut that she dropped to the floor. Then she cutely wiped the part of the donut that touched the floor with her hand.

"Don't look at me like that, Lewis Crevan," Princess Neoma said while pouting. Then she divided the donut into two and offered him the other half. This time, she smiled at him. "5-second rule, remember?"

Lewis nodded, then he received the half-donut from his princess. "5-second rule."

He ate the half-donut while observing the princess.

For someone who claimed to be an 'adult,' Princess Neoma could act like a child sometimes.

Moreover, there were also times she didn't act like a royal.

But that was the thing he liked about her.

"Why are you looking at me like that, Lewis?" the princess asked. "You're silently judging me, aren't you?"

He tilted his head to one side. "Judge?"

"Yeah," she said with a pout. "Be honest. What do you think of me?"

"Princess arrogant. Vain. Childish."

"Whatever," she said while rolling her eyes at him. "You still have to be good to me because I'm pretty."

"Princess superficial."

Having said that, he still believed that Princess Neoma wasn't a bad person.

Not every person had to have depth all the time. The princess's 'shallowness' didn't hurt anyone, anyway. Princess Neoma was just obsessed with herself.

[Me can handle crazy]

"Yes, yes, I'm superficial, but that's just a part of my charm," Princess Neoma said with a shrug. "Right?"

Lewis copied Neoma and shrugged his shoulders, too. "Maybe."

***

[A few years later…]

"I THOUGHT I could handle some crazy," Lewis said randomly while looking at Princess Neoma. The princess who would die and live for was currently laughing like a villainess while in the middle of her three-way battle against William and Delwyn. "But Princess Neoma turned out to be a complete nutcase, huh?"

How could he find someone as crazy as Princess Neoma so endearing?

***

NOTE: Hi! I posted this on my Patreon a few weeks ago, but I realized I should post it here instead. So here we go.

If it's okay with you, I'd like to create bonus chapters featuring the people around Neoma. The chapters may or may not be related to the main story. Sometimes I just want to write some fluff. LOL.

Would that be okay? Please let me know. Thank you~