"I'LL cut the ceremony short,

" Emperor Nikolai told her.

"As soon as you receive the Three Sacred Symbols, I will end the ceremony so you may leave and get a proper treatment.

"

Neoma blinked in surprise at what her Papa Boss said.

Is he being considerate?

Anyway, right now, they were still in the royal parlor.

The Quinzels already left with Madam Hammock to bring Hanna to the Healing Sage's infirmary. Ah, Duke Rufus Quinzel carried the unconscious Princess Brigitte in his arms. After all, the first princess of Hazelden Kingdom also needed a proper treatment.

On the other hand, Nero was secretly brought to the shrine in Yule Palace– her Papa Boss's residence– by Sir Glenn and Saint Zavaroni.

So yeah, right now, only she and Emperor Nikolai were left in the parlor room.

But they were only waiting for Alphen and Stephanie. Sir Glenn secretly summoned the head butler and head maid. Then, the knight asked them to bring new set of clothes for her.

"I appreciate that, Papa Boss,

" Neoma said after her brain

"buffered

" for a moment. Gosh, her system seemed to have slowed down for a bit due to exhaustion. But she still had something to be thankful for. When she saw her reflection in the mirror a while ago, she saw that the claw marks on her cheek disappeared. For some reason, the injury that she received from Big Lewis disappeared when she returned to her eight-year-old body.

"After the ceremony ends and Lewis hasn't returned yet, I will look for him back in hell.

"

"What are you saying?

" her Papa Boss asked in a disapproving tone.

"You're not going back to hell.

"

"Watch me then,

" she said stubbornly.

"Lewis sacrificed his life to fetch me from that hell hole. I won't abandon my son, Papa Boss. I'm not like you.

"

Oops.

She didn't mean to shade her father but she didn't like that he was

"forbidding

" her from saving Lewis.

"I'll go with you,

" her father said that shocked her.

"You're not coming back to hell alone.

"

"Papa Boss, are you for real?

" she asked in disbelief.

"Count Sprouse will lose his shi– I mean, his mind if he hears you.

"

"I won't repeat myself, Neoma.

"

To be honest, she was confused. But she didn't have the energy to argue with her father. She wanted to conserve as much energy as needed to save her son later. But to be honest, she knew in her heart that Lewis would come back to her no matter what.

But I also need to find Trevor. If the Devil managed to take Nero away from him, that only means they had a fight. He's still our biggest hope when it comes to curing Nero's curse so he can't die on us.

"I trust Lewis so I know that he'll return to me alive,

" she said.

"But I'm more worried about Trevor.

"

"The demon boy failed in protecting Nero,

" her Papa Boss said.

"We don't need him anymore.

"

"We do, Papa Boss,

" she insisted.

"We're not sure if the Yule's Tears or something will work on Nero. We can't be too complacent. Thus, we still need Trevor.

"

"You keep on worrying about other people when you yourself aren't fine,

" her father said while shaking his head.

"You won't even tell me what happened to you.

"

"Oh. Are you interested?

"

"Of course,

" he deadpanned.

"I need to know what happened to my child.

"

Woah.

She wanted to say that it was cringey of Papa Boss to say that. But to be honest, she didn't feel that way. Or was it because she was too tired to care?

"I was taken to Gin's territory. Oh, Gin is a bad demon black cat,

" she explained.

"In his territory, he made me sleep and gave me an endless nightmare.

"

"What kind of nightmare?

"

"I can't remember it anymore,

" she lied. The only thing she couldn't remember was Tteokbokki's

"real name.

" But she didn't want her father to know about the first life that she had. Still, blatantly lying like that when her Papa Boss seemed to care a tiny bit about her made her feel bad. And so, she told him something true in a vague manner.

"But I think my mother woke me up from that nightmare.

"

Her Papa Boss looked surprised by that.

"She has pinkish hair and eyes that resemble the blue sky,

" she added.

"Plus, she's very pretty like me.

"

She wasn't sure if it was only her imagination or her Papa Boss's eyes really turned glossy.

For a moment, she thought the emperor would cry.

"Did she talk to you?

" her Papa Boss asked softly, then he squatted down in front of her to meet her eye level.

Her father looked too hopeful for her to lie and say that she couldn't remember. So with clenched hands, she told him some of the things that her mother told her.

"Mama said she liked you for your face and body.

"

To be honest, she expected the emperor to be upset and say that it was inappropriate to say those things to a child.

But much to her shock, her Papa Boss's face softened up.

And then, a miracle happened: he smiled.

Emperor Nikolai de Moonasterio smiled sincerely. Well, it wasn't a full smile. The corner of his lips turned upwards for a moment. And it was the closest thing to a genuine smile that she had seen from her father.

Mama can still make Papa Boss smile like that, huh?

"That sounds like something that Mona would say,

" her Papa Boss said in a gentle tone.

"What else did she say to you?

"

"Mama told me to take care of you and Nero,

" she said, and it took her all that she got not to spill the tea about the other serious stuff that her mother told her to remember.

"Then, when she told me to wake up, I did.

"

"Mona saved you,

" he whispered, his voice filled with relief.

"Your mother saved you from that nightmare, Neoma.

"

"I'm grateful to Mama,

" she said while nodding.

"That's why I don't intend to die young, Papa Boss. I will cherish my life even more because my mother protected it. So even if I say that I plan to save Lewis, it doesn't mean I'm planning to die. I'm a child but I'm not weak.

"

Emperor Nikolai looked at her as if he was trying to decipher her. In the end, he nodded firmly.

"I understand,

" he said.

"But I will still go with you. Nero will kill me if I let you go alone. You know that, don't you?

"

Neoma let out a deep sigh.

"Fine,

" she said, conceding.

"But don't be a dead weight, Papa Boss.

"

***

NIKOLAI stepped out of the royal parlor to let Stephanie, the head maid change Neoma's clothes. Alphen was also there a while ago. But he asked the head butler to secretly deliver a message to Kyle.

He decided to return to the hall to

"entertain

" the guests while Neoma wasn't done changing yet. But before that, he had something else to do first.

"Come out, Gale,

" Nikolai said. He could feel the Wind Spirit's Mana nearby.

"I know you're there.

"

A few seconds later, the Wind Spirit in the form of a white bunny appeared floating before him. As expected, Gale looked exhausted. He could feel the remnants of her Mana all over the hallway. She must have absorbed the leaking Mana from the fight a while ago so that the guests wouldn't know what was going on.

"Is Princess Neoma alright?

" Gale asked.

"I saw her get pierced by a spear a while ago.

"

"The Devil healed her,

" Nikolai said, then he got straight the point.

"Did Mona leave a piece of her soul to you?

"

He noticed that Gale only appeared when Neoma returned.

That meant the Wind Spirit must have been with his daughter in hell. If Neoma was woken up by Mona from the nightmare that she mentioned, then it must be the work of Gale.

"This is the first time that you asked me something about my former master. Are you ready to talk about Mona now?

" Gale asked in a sarcastic tone. When he didn't comment, she continued speaking.

"It's true. Mona left a piece of her soul to me.

"

"Did you use it to save Neoma from the nightmare that she mentioned?

" he asked.

"She said her mother woke her up and saved her.

"

"I wasn't able to enter Princess Neoma's nightmare,

" the Wind Spirit said.

"All I could do was to use Mona's piece of soul to wake her up. But I don't know how it went. You know that a piece of soul, when out of their vault, could only last for a few minutes, don't you?

"

"I know that,

" he said.

"I just wanted to confirm if Neoma really talked to Mona's soul or not. And I'm glad that the mother that she saw was real.

"

"What does it matter to you, Nikolai?

" Gale asked him in a taunting voice.

"You wanted Mona dead, didn't you?

"

"It's none of your business,

" Nikolai said, then he turned his back on Gale.

"My utmost gratitude to you for saving my daughter, Gale of the Wind Tribe.

"

***

"LOOK WHO we have here,

" Trevor, upon landing on the dry soil of Gin's territory, said as he stood in front of Lewis Crevan. He had to literally look down at the child because now that he was in his adult form, he towered over the fox boy.

"If it isn't my son.

"

Lewis Crevan looked at him coldly.

"I'm not your son.

"

"You are,

" he said playfully.

"You're Neoma's son and since I'm her fiancé, that makes you my son, Lewis. I'm a cool guy so I'll adopt you once Neoma and I get married.

"

The fox boy ignored him as if he was telling him that he wasn't worth his time.

He laughed at Lewis Crevan's snotty attitude.

"I see that your two cute tails. Congratulations on awakening your power as a nine-tailed fox, my son. The more you get stronger, the more fox tails you'd grow.

"

"I'm not your son,

" the fox boy insisted again.

"And get out of my sight. I still need to kill the black cat.

"

"He's already dead though?

"

Lewis Crevan looked shocked by his remark.

"Oh. Is my attack too fast for you to see?

" he asked, then he stepped aside to show Gin's remains to the fox boy.

"Look,

" he said, then he pointed at what was left of the black cat.

"That's Gin.

"

He chopped Gin's body off into many pieces.

But his technique had a unique way of transforming a chopped limb into a black dice. But you could see the image of the cut body part plastered on each side of the dice. So right now, hundreds of dice are scattered on the ground. Of course, each cube displayed a different body part.

The biggest dice had Gin's head, of course.

"How…?

" his (adoptive) son asked in disbelief when he turned to him.

"I didn't see you attack him.

"

Ah, right.

"You don't see the monster behind me, do you?

" he asked the fox boy.

"That means you're still too weak to see it.

"

His (adoptive) son looked offended by that remark.

"Hey, don't be offended,

" he said, not wanting to upset his fiancée's son.

"Once you grow stronger, you'll get to see the monster behind me. And it's not like you're missing out on something great. Trust me, it's ugly.

"

"Like you.

"

"Hey, I'm not ugly,

" he said defensively, then he smirked.

"Don't you know that Neoma is obsessed with my face?

" He gestured to himself.

"Especially in this form.

"

Lewis Crevan just silently turned his back on him.

"Hey, help me first,

" he said, then he grabbed his son by the collar of his knights' uniform.

"Help me put my piercings before my monster goes on a rampage. And I can't leave hell if I don't seal my demonic power back.

" When Lewis Crevan still tried to walk away from him, he gently pulled him back to his side.

"Don't treat your father this way, Lewis Crevan.

"

Lewis Crevan turned to him to give him a cold look.

"You're not my father.

"

"Not yet,

" Trevor corrected him with a smirk.

"Now, help me so that I can meet your beautiful mother again.

"

"No.

"

***

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