性瘾者

"MOTHER, I want to tell Neoma everything that I\'ve learned about your past," Nero said to his mother. "She should know what the gods intend to do to her."

"I would have told her about it if I could, my baby," his mother said in a sad voice. "But if you tell Neoma about it, the gods that are monitoring your baby sister would know that we\'re already aware of their plans. We need something as powerful as Gavin\'s Shadow Manipulation Technique to cover our movements."

"Duke Rufus Quinzel can also use the Shadow Manipulation Technique."

His mother shook her head. "Unfortunately, Rufus isn\'t as good as Gavin when it comes to using the Shadow Manipulation Technique. Rufus can\'t hide us from the gods because his ability is inferior to his older brother. Moreover, I heard from Gavin before that the true power of the Quinzels has the ability to choose its own master. Just because Rufus inherited the duke title doesn\'t mean that he also inherited the true Quinzel power."

"Mother, are you saying that the former commander still holds the true power of the Quinzels?"

"Yes, unless a more deserving successor is born."

He didn\'t know why, but Hanna\'s image suddenly entered his mind.

[A more deserving successor, huh?]

In the long dream that he had in the past, he was certain that one of the "Pillars" was a Shadow Manipulation Technique user. But in that past, \'Hanna Quinzel\' had died early. Since his memories were blurry, he couldn\'t remember if he had uncovered the true identity of the Shadow Manipulation Technique user.

[It must be Hanna, though. Even in my past life, she was the only child of Duke and Duchess Quinzel. Only someone with the Quinzel blood can inherit the Shadow Manipulation Technique after all.]

Although Hanna had a great uncle and a few male relatives from the father\'s side, he couldn\'t imagine someone else inheriting the true power of the Quinzels.

[Hanna is special, I can tell.]

"If Duke Rufus Quinzel didn\'t inherit the true power of the Quinzels even after inheriting the duke title, then Hanna could steal it from Gavin Quinzel."

"\'Hanna?\'"

"She\'s the only daughter of Duke and Duchess Quinzel, Mother," he explained. "Hanna is also the best candidate to become my Crown Princess."

His mother looked shocked by his revelation. "Nero! You\'re still a baby! How come your fiancée is already decided?!" She clenched her hands, and she looked really annoyed. "Did Nikolai force you to enter a political engagement to strengthen the Royal Family\'s power?"

"It\'s not like that, Mother," he said calmly. "Father isn\'t forcing me to get married for political reasons. It\'s my choice to keep Hanna by my side in that manner. As the Crown Prince, I need to choose my future wife wisely. After all, my future wife would become the future empress if ever Neoma gives up the throne."

Hanna was the perfect Crown Princess for him.

After learning that Hanna might also possess the power to keep the gods\' eyes away from his twin sister, there was no way that he would choose someone else to be his spouse.

So he didn\'t know why a certain name suddenly crossed his mind.

[\'Dahlia.\']

He wanted to click his tongue, but he refrained from doing so because he didn\'t want to be rude in front of his mother.

"Hanna Quinzel, huh?" his mother said as if amused. "She\'s the same age as you, so she\'s nine years old."

"Yes, Mother."

"Nero."

"Yes, Mother?"

"I hate to say this, but that child isn\'t destined to live long," his mother said in a sad voice. "I\'ve seen that child\'s future the last time I met Amber Quinzel."

He wasn\'t surprised to hear that.

Even in the memories that he saw in his dream, \'Hanna Quinzel\' was no longer alive. But the existence of a Pillar that could use the Shadow Manipulation Technique was clear.

"\'Hanna Quinzel\' might die," he said, not wanting to ignore his mother\'s vision. "But I have a feeling that even if that name disappears, she will return as the absolute successor of the true Quinzel power."

His mother looked relieved that her cruel words did not dishearten him. "You have that much faith in her, son?"

"Hanna is one of the first people that Neoma chose," he said while smiling. "I trust everyone that Neoma trusts."

[Except the boys, of course.]

Her mother fell silent for a while before she spoke again. "Then, let me tell you a way to test if Hanna Quinzel has really inherited the true power of the Quinzels," she said. "It\'s the method that I found out by observing Gavin whenever he would cover our tracks using his shadow in the past."

Nero smiled and nodded. "That will be helpful, Mother."

***

"HOW DID you enter the Black Ocean on your own, Nero Roseheart?"

Nero let out a frustrated sigh when William greeted him as soon as he arrived at the shore.

His mother sent him back to the shore safely.

Unfortunately, his mother couldn\'t follow him anymore, even in her Spirit form. She had to recuperate the strength that she used when she took the form of a dolphin to follow him. But his mother promised to see him again once she had enough strength to do so.

[Mother warned me that William might have tracked my traces, and she wasn\'t wrong.]

"Am I obliged to give you an answer?" Nero asked sourly. "Since when did I have to report to you?"

"Hah!" William said, then he crossed his arms over his chest. "It was Mona, wasn\'t it? Even though her physical body is trapped inside the block of ice, I\'m pretty sure that she can still move in her Spirit form if she wanted to."

He just walked past the Grand Spirit.

"What did Mona tell you?"

He stopped walking and faced William. "You\'re a pretty useless Spirit Guardian, William," he said bluntly. "You let your anger for the de Moonasterios get the better of you. Come to think of it, if you were by my mother\'s side the moment she was betrayed by Gavin Quinzel, then she might not have ended trapped in that block of ice. Ah, no." He paused before shaking his head. "You were supposed to be the leader of the Spirit Guardians. Had you paid enough attention to your job, you would have noticed that the Ice Spirit wasn\'t loyal to my mother."

Anger crossed the Grand Spirit\'s eyes as expected. "Are you blaming me now, Nero?"

"No," he said with a shrug. "It was my mother and my father\'s fault that they both have been fooled by Gavin Quinzel. I\'m just saying that you shouldn\'t make the same mistakes that you did in the past, William." He approached the Grand Spirit, then he gently punched his stomach. "If you have chosen me as your new master, then you better listen to me carefully. I\'m not as soft-hearted as my mother."

William smirked at him. "You? My new master? Aren\'t you being too arrogant?"

"I don\'t think I said anything wrong," he said, then he tilted his head to one side when he remembered that the Grand Spirit could be useful to him at the moment. "William, can you help me show up in Hanna\'s dream?"

"Who\'s that?"

"Hanna Quinzel."

"Ah, I remember now. That was the girl that I switched the filthy– I mean, Neoma de Moonasterio\'s physical condition with," the Grand Spirit said. "Why do you need me to connect you to that girl?"

"Call her \'young lady,\'" he said firmly. "Hanna Quinzel is the future Crown Princess."

"Huh? You already have a fiancée? Aren\'t you just nine years old?"

"Royals and nobles could get engaged as early as twelve years old," he said casually. "But my engagement with Hanna Quinzel isn\'t official yet."

William made a disgusted face. "Argh," he complained. "Don\'t tell me you miss your unofficial fiancée so much that you want to appear in her dream?"

"You could say that," Nero said indifferently. He didn\'t owe William the truth, and he also didn\'t care about the Grand Spirit\'s wrong assumption, so he didn\'t correct him. "Arrange it tonight," he said, then he turned his back on William. "Keep it a secret from Queen Tara."

***

APPARENTLY, a fire broke out in the Belle\'s House dormitory where the court ladies-in-training lived.

All the young ladies were saved except for one.

Regina Crowell\'s burnt body had been recovered. The mages that checked the remains confirmed that the body indeed belonged to Regina Crowell.

"Bullshit," Neoma said after reading the formal report from Geoffrey Kinsley. "I don\'t believe this shit."

"Neither do I," her Papa Boss said, then he sipped his tea calmly. "Does it make sense that Regina Crowell died after I dispatched my Paladins to monitor her and the Draytons?"

"Of course, it doesn\'t," she said, then she fell silent while thinking.

Right now, only her Papa Boss and Lewis were in her father\'s office.

The Paladins couldn\'t be involved in their meeting because the Paladins weren\'t aware of her past life. Thus, only the people who knew that she had the memories of her past life were allowed in the office.

Anyway…

To be honest, she almost forgot the deal that she made with Yule before. But after hearing the news about Regina Crowell, she suddenly remembered the condition that the Moon God asked her.

[I need to find Lord Yule\'s eyes for him.]

"Papa Boss, do you think the damned crows have Lord Yule\'s eyes?"

Her father looked shocked by her question. "I don\'t think so," he said after recovering. "If the crows have Yule\'s eyes, then they would have already found you a long time ago." He paused before he tilted his head to one side. "But come to think of it, Nichole said that she\'s been covering your tracks ever since you were born. I don\'t know how she did that though."

"I want to talk to Aunt Nichole again."

"We can\'t do that for now," her Papa Boss said firmly. "All eyes are on you ever since Yule practically declared that you\'ll act as Dominic Zavaroni\'s replacement until the new saint is born. If people find out that you have affinity to the Devil, it won\'t be good for us."

Argh.

Yes, there was that.

[First, I have to be Nero\'s substitute. And now, I have to act like the former saint\'s proxy. Just when can I live as a lady of leisure?]

"Neoma."

"Hmm?"

"Don\'t worry about the matter regarding Regina Crowell," her father said. "I\'ll make sure that we will find her as soon as possible. You can leave it to me."

Maybe it was better to leave it to her father.

She couldn\'t move as Neoma de Moonasterio anyway. And she had other duties as the Crown Prince.

"Okay, Papa Boss," she said. "But once you find Regina Crowell…"

Her Papa Boss smirked. "I\'ll hand that girl to you."

She smiled, satisfied by her father\'s answer. "Thanks, Papa Boss."

Her father stared at her as if he was debating with himself.

"What is it, Papa Boss?"

"I\'m just thinking whether it\'s the right time for you to leave the palace to continue your mission," her Papa Boss said. "I don\'t think the matter with the Hisa Tree is important right now."

Hisa Tree.

She was suddenly reminded of Madam Hammock.

It was her mission to harvest the Hisa Tree with the late Healing Sage. But it didn\'t happen because of what occurred at the Death Camp.

[But life goes on.]

"It seems to be important, Papa Boss," she said when she remembered how stressed her father was these days. "Didn\'t House Wisteria even volunteer to take Madam Hammock\'s place and help with the harvest?" She smirked before she sipped her tea. "I wonder why House Wisteria is very interested in a tree that\'s supposedly monopolized by the Royal Family?"

"Go and find out," her Papa Boss said, smirking back at her. "Lady Sera Wisteria will take Madam Hammock\'s vacated place."

"Fufufu," Neoma laughed evilly. "I will gobble House Wisteria up if I have to."

Lewis, who was quiet the entire time, couldn\'t help but think that Neoma and Emperor Nikolai were really father-and-daughter because of how similar their evil smirk looked.

***

"HEY."

Hanna was surprised when she woke up in a strange.

She was still on her bed, but it seemed like she was in a garden. Because it couldn\'t happen in real life, she realized right away that she must be dreaming.

Especially since Nero was standing in front of me.

[But Nero has the Roseheart Blood. And the Rosehearts can use their soul as if it\'s their physical body.]

Hanna smiled at Nero. "Good evening," she greeted him. "What can I do for you, Nero?"

The Crown Prince wasn\'t the type to visit her dream just because he wanted to see her. He was too cold for things like that. Knowing him, he must have appeared in her dream because he needed her as a Quinzel and not as his potential fiancée.

"There\'s only one thing that I need from you, Hanna," Nero said while smiling. Ah, that smile. It was the smile of a crafty prince. "I want you to inherit the true power of the Quinzels."

The true power of the Quinzels?

Was it the power that her father couldn\'t inherit because it chose her Uncle Gavin?

[If Father couldn\'t inherit it, then could I do it?]

But looking at Nero gave her the courage. He didn\'t ask her if she \'could\' inherit it. Nero had faith that she could and therefore, he asked her to get the true power of the Quinzels.

Hanna smiled and bowed to her prince. "I won\'t disappoint you, Nero."

***

"PRINCE NERO!"

Neoma flinched when she heard Rubin Drayton\'s loud voice when she was just on her way to meet the young lord in the garden of her palace.

Much to her confusion, she saw the brat approaching her with hostility. She also noticed that he was alone. Rubin Drayton must have run and left his knights and servants to get to her as soon as he could.

Oh, would you look at that?

Rubin Drayton\'s eyes were red and puffy, as if he spent the entire night crying.

[Ah, he must have already heard about what happened to Regina Crowell.]

"It\'s your fault!" Rubin Drayton cried while coming at her. "If His Royal Highness didn\'t send Regina to be a court lady-in-training, she wouldn\'t have died!"

She didn\'t move from her spot, even when Rubin Drayton came close.

Why would she need to?

Lewis, in an instant, subdued the angry Rubin Drayton. It happened so fast that the next thing she knew, Rubin Drayton was already on the ground, with his arms on his back. Of course, Lewis was holding Rubin\'s arms with one hand, while the other hand was smashing the young lord\'s face on the ground.

[The silent ones are really dangerous, huh?]

"Did I set the fire that killed Regina Crowell?" Neoma asked coldly, then she squatted down to meet Rubin Drayton\'s eye level. The young lord glared at her, but she remained indifferent. If she were her old self, it would hurt her to see how much Rubin Drayton cared for Regina Crowell. But right now, she was just simply amused. "Rubin Drayton, in the first place, are you sure that Regina Crowell is already dead?"

[Let\'s use this dummy this time.]

***

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