Royal Secret: I'm A Princess!

He could tell that Stephanie and Alphen had that reaction because of the woman in his arms.

"Please allow me to carry Miss Dahlia back to her room."

Nero had no reason to turn down Alphen's request, so he carefully handed Dahlia to him.

"Your Imperial Majesty, if something like this happens again, please call for us," Stephanie said in a polite yet firm tone. "We can't have the other servants see Your Imperial Majesty carrying a woman, who's not your betrothed, around the palace."

Only Stephanie had the guts to scold Nero since Stephanie practically raised him.

Although Nero could tell that Stephanie and Alphen were still nervous about them, he was glad that they didn't hesitate to do their jobs well.

Hence, he decided to let it slide even though he hated being nagged.

[They're so cautious of the rumors circulating about how I should step down, so they probably don't want me to get into another scandal.]

"I understand," Nero said, sighing. "Just bring Dahlia to her room safely."

Alphen bowed to him politely. "As you command, sire."

"Neoma is already awake."

Stephanie and Alphen looked pleasantly surprised by the good news.

"Inform my mother and father about Neoma's condition," Nero said quietly. "As discreetly as possible, of course."

"As Your Imperial Majesty commands."

After that, Stephanie and Alphen quickly left to do their tasks.

Nero was about to return to Neoma's bed chamber when Melvin caught him this time.

[Tsk.]

"Sire, you left right away when I was not yet done with my report."

Nero just rolled his eyes at Melvin's nagging. "What is it?"

"The fake church released another bad omen," Melvin reported in a frustrated voice. "They're really hell-bent on stopping your coronation."

Haaah.

He couldn't believe the crows were still delaying his coronation when it was nothing but for formality's sake only.

[I'm already the emperor anyway.]

"Prepare the conference hall and send a word to Mother and Father," Nero said while heading back to Neoma's room. "Tell them we're going to have an emergency meeting."

Melvin looked flustered, but he immediately nodded. "As you command, sire."

He stopped when he remembered that his secretary made a mistake.

"Melvin Luchessi, why didn't you tell me Hanna was in Neoma's room? I got myself into an awkward situation because of you."

"Your Imperial Majesty, you didn't let me finish my report," Melvin said while patting his chest as if he would die if he didn't do that. "Sire, it's pathetic to blame others for your careless mistakes."

Only Melvin would call the emperor "pathetic" in front of his face.

[Melvin is usually a crybaby, but he's always brutally honest with me.]

"You're annoying," Nero said, scoffing, before he turned his back on Melvin. "Go and do your job."

Then his secretary, now a count, quickly left to do the task he gave him.

When Nero reached Neoma's room, he was fully prepared to meet Hanna again and apologized.

But the young duchess was already gone.

"Hanna is busy," Neoma said, getting up from her seat. "Nero, I know that you and Hanna already broke up. But that doesn't mean you can go around the palace carrying another woman in your arms right away. I'm aware that you don't have that kind of relationship with Dahlia, but the others don't."

Nero clenched his jaw and his hands tight.

No matter how much he loved and adored Neoma, it was still quite annoying to be lectured by his twin sister.

And he hated it more when she was correct.

"The society is harsh to women who got their engagements called off," Neoma continued with her lecture. "Don't give those people a new reason to gossip about Hanna, okay?"

Ah.

Of course.

[As expected, Neoma is always right.]

"I'll be careful from now on," Nero promised, sighing. "Get ready, Neoma– we have an emergency meeting."

***

WHEN NERO decided to gather his family and the people he trusted, he didn't expect to find the answers related to the natural disasters continuously hitting the empire from the two people he didn't even invite them.

Commander Ruto and Trevor Kesser– the two men who didn't have a concept of using the door when crashing an important gathering.

"You were cursed, Emperor Nero."

That was the first thing that Trevor Kesser said to him.

[Are you sure you're not the one cursing me, Trevor Kesser?]

"The curse is etched quite deeply on your soul, Emperor Nero," Trevor said while looking at Nero with glowing eyes. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. It's a curse that got activated after you took the throne. They got you, Your Imperial Majesty."

Nero knitted his eyebrows. Only then did it finally hit him that Trevor Kesser wasn't messing around. "I'm cursed?"

"It's the curse that summons natural disasters as long as you're sitting on the throne, Your Imperial Majesty," Commander Ruto added, his other eye glowing red while looking at Nero. "And it's a curse from the Goddess of Misfortune."

"Fuck," Neoma commented, her voice sounded exasperated already. "Another evil god again?"

Haaah.

Now Nero was convinced that Calyx, during the last time they saw each other, did something to him, even though the crow bastard didn't even touch him back then.

There were many other ways to curse someone, after all.

"Alright. Let's assume that I was cursed by the Goddess of Misfortune," Nero said. He hated to admit this, but he knew he could trust Trevor Kesser and Commander Ruto because those two would never betray Neoma. "Does the curse trigger the natural disasters to hit the empire one after the other?"

"That seems to be the case," Trevor Kesser said, already back to talking informally. "The Goddess of Misfortune has a neutral evil personality."

Nero knitted his eyebrows.

Annoyingly, he was the only one who looked confused among his family.

Hence, he realized that the term Trevor Kesser used was from the world they had lived in for a few years.

"Neutral evil represents a character's lack of morals, and people with this type of personality are destructive, corrupt, and only care about themselves," Neoma explained to Nero and the others who were left confused. "To be fair, it suits the Goddess of Misfortune since based on what I remember from my past life, the Goddess of Misfortune brings chaos and bad luck wherever she goes."

"That's why she's also called 'Lady Doom,'" Commander Ruto. "Unfortunately, it seems like the crows have summoned the Goddess of Misfortune and helped her settle here. After all, natural disasters always follow Lady Doom."

Hmm.

To be honest, it didn't matter to Nero if the Goddess of Misfortune caused the natural disasters that hit the empire.

After all, he already had a plan.

"They're using the natural disasters to make me look unfit to sit on the throne," Nero said, leaning against his seat while crossing his arms over his chest. "Neoma."

"Yes, Your Imperial Majesty~"

He smirked when he saw the expectant look on his twin sister's face.

Ah.

It seemed like they were thinking about the same solution.

"The crows are using natural disasters to ruin my reputation. Although those disasters are "natural," it doesn't change the fact that they're deciving our people so that they'll hate me," Nero said, raising an eyebrow at his twin sister. "Neoma, you're a better scammer than them, aren't you?"

"I'm insulted that you had to ask, Nero," Neoma said, pointing a finger at her temple. "Let's do it– let's scam the scammers."

***

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