Royal Secret: I'm a Princess! C.876 THE CROWN PRINCESS’ SMILEOct 13, 2023

[I'LL DIE if I fight the Ancient Devil on my own.]

Hanna knew that she was no match against the Ancient Devil right now.

Well, she could always try and fight him to death, but it was not worth it.

[I won't die fighting an insignificant person like the Ancient Devil.]

Moreover…

[Neoma always says that there's no mission worth dying for.]

Hanna, as discreetly as she could, calculated the distance between her and Alucard (who was still unconscious on the floor). If she wanted to get out of there, she needed the vampire's help.

"Are you thinking of running away?" the Ancient Devil asked, laughing. "You can't."

Ah.

Hanna only glanced at Alucard for a moment, and yet the Ancient Devil noticed it and realized her plan right away.

She was just bluffing when she said she'd fight, but she was caught easily.

[I guess the Ancient Devil didn't live long for nothing.]

"Well, you leave me no choice but to kill your only way out, Crown Princess."

"Nathaira!"

Hanna summoned Nathaira, one of her Shadow Beasts, which was a giant serpent.

Nathaira immediately wrapped herself around the Ancient Devil while hissing, then she used her massive body and muscles to suffocate and crush the enemy.

As a result, the Ancient Devil was rendered immobilize.

Hanna used that moment to run to Alucard.

She immediately grabbed the vampire's hand when she saw the red bracelet around his wrist. It was the teleportation device that Alucard carried around.

All she had to do was break the bracelet for the device to be activated, and so she did.

Hanna quickly turned translucent like what happened to Alucard.

But as soon as she was engulfed in light, a rope made of dark matter wrapped itself around her waist and pulled her away from Alucard who was quickly vanishing.

Hanna, much to her shock, realized that her body had returned to normal.

To simply say, the teleportation device stopped working on her.

[No…!]

Alucard had completely vanished on the spot while Hanna was left behind in that place.

"Did you seriously think that a mere Shadow Beast can stop me, Crown Princess?"

Hanna raised her head and saw the Ancient Devil holding Nathaira's severed head.

[Ah. I didn't even hear Nathaira…]

Which meant the Ancient Devil killed Hanna's Shadow Beast quickly.

The body of the giant serpent that fell to the floor had already begun turning into dust.

[Nathaira is my strongest Shadow Beast and yet…]

Hanna didn't have time to mourn the death of her Shadow Beast.

She covered her hands with Mana and removed the rope around her waist. Of course, she had to put more force and more Mana when breaking the rope. But, fortunately, it snapped.

[It seems like it was only made to deactivate the teleportation device on me.]

"You're not easily shaken, huh?" the Ancient Devil asked, throwing away Nathaira's severed head to the floor like it was nothing. "I was told you were weak and soft-hearted. But you didn't even shed a tear after I killed your Shadow Beast."

Nathaira's severed head quickly turned into dust before it even hit the floor.

Hanna's face remained stoic despite her heart breaking into tiny pieces. "The female Silver Fox who came to ambush us also said the same thing. That she was told I had a weak constitution. I'm sure she heard it from the crows."

The fact that the Ancient Devil said the same thing could only mean one thing.

"Have you joined hands with the crows, good sir?"

"And what if I did, Crown Princess?"

"I've already treated you as an enemy the moment you appeared here and declared I cannot leave this place," she said. "I just needed to confirm it before I make an attack."

The Ancient Devil laughed. "You tried to run away earlier, so you clearly know you'll die if you fight me. And yet, here you are. Calm and collected."

"I was raised a proper noble lady in my childhood. Then I received education as the Crown Princess of the empire during my adolescence. Do you know what's the first thing they teach women of my status?"

"I can tell you're stalling time while gathering your Mana all over the place, but go on. I have plenty of time to waste here."

[So, his plan is really to keep me here.]

Hanna smiled at the Ancient Devil even though what she wanted was to sneer at his arrogance.

Despite her personal feelings, her smile still appeared perfect.

The Ancient Devil raised an eyebrow at her. "What a kind smile you got there, Crown Princess. Are you sure I deserve that?"

"Of course, you don't, good sir," Hanna said politely, still smiling. "However, I was taught all my life to smile and remain calm even if I'm faced with a person I want to kill. I wasn't allowed to show negative emotions, especially not in front of an audience. Moreover…"

"Yes?"

"You do not have the right to see even a drop of my tears," Hanna said, stomping her feet on the ground. "Die, you lowlife."

Hundreds of swords made of shadows emerged from the ceiling, the walls, and the floor.

Of course, all of those swords only had one target: the Ancient Devil.

"What an adorable attack, Crown Princess!" the Ancient Devil said loudly, laughing while covering himself with a thick, black smog that was very similar to Darkness. "Are you so afraid to summon your Shadow Beasts after I killed your strongest one that you're relying on petty tricks now?"

Hanna ignored the Ancient Devil's taunting as she summoned Eve– her crossbow that was made of shadows.

"Are you not worried about hitting Princess Neoma accidentally?"

"Nero's ice and Commander Ruto's miasma won't easily break," Hanna said confidently. "And if Neoma was here, I'm sure she'd tell me to go all out without worrying about her."

So she did.

While the shadow swords that she sent at the Ancient Devil were busy breaking the barrier around the enemy, she fired the POISONED arrows continuously– in one spot. Her target was the Ancient Devil's heart, of course.

[Anyone, even the Ancient Devil himself, has his Core as his weakness, after all.]

But targeting the Ancient Devil's heart wasn't easy when his barrier hadn't been broken yet. Even so, she didn't stop.

[I just need one poisoned arrow to go through…]

CRACK.

Oh.

That was the sound of the Ancient Devil's barrier breaking.

Hanna ran towards the enemy, still firing her crossbow nonstop.

She was aware that a crossbow was meant to be a long-distance weapon. However, she trained hard enough to hit the target no matter what the distance. Her Mana was guiding the arrows that she was firing.

[Just a little more…]

There.

Hanna skidded her knees to the floor because she needed to shoot lower and hit the hole in the barrier that appeared around the Ancient Devil's leg.

WHOOSH.

The poisoned arrow swiftly and precisely hit the small hole in the barrier, effectively breaking through it and hitting the Ancient Devil in the leg.

As expected, the poison quickly took effect.

The Ancient Devil looked surprised when he was suddenly brought down to his knees.

[Now!]

Hanna quickly threw her crossbow while charging at the Ancient Devil, her hand open as she was waiting for her new "weapon" to materialize.

And as soon as it did, she grabbed it tight.

A long-stemmed rose.

To be precise, Hanna was now holding the poisonous long-stemmed BLUE rose that Empress Mona had gifted to her in the past.

[It's a deadly flower that only the Rosehearts can produce.]

Hence, she had to cover her hand with a thick layer of Mana and shadows so that she wouldn't get stabbed by the thorns accidentally.

[I just need to stab the Ancient Devil's heart with this.]

Hanna quickly closed the distance between her and the Ancient Devil who couldn't move at the moment. 𝙗𝒆𝒅𝒏𝙤𝒗𝒆𝙡．𝙤𝒓𝙜

Then she raised her arm to stab the Ancient Devil in the heart.

But, all of a sudden, the bastard disappeared.

[Where…]

Oh.

Hanna froze on the spot when not only did she feel the Ancient Devil's presence behind her, but she also realized that the long-stemmed blue rose was no longer in her hand.

She raised her chin instinctively when she a sharp object slightly grazed her throat.

It was the pointed end of the rose that she had just been holding a moment ago.

"This is the poisonous Blue Rose that only the Rosehearts can produce, isn't it?" the Ancient Devil asked in a playful tone. "Then I suppose you know what will happen if I stabbed you with this, Crown Princess."

Hanna swallowed hard, not daring to move an inch.

[Ah, I lost…]

***

ELOISE laughed at Lewis Crevan's futile effort to break the barrier that the Ancient Devil used to cover the entire mansion with.

[How can a mere fox break the Ancient Devil's barrier?]

In short, her future male partner couldn't enter the mansion to save either Hanna Quinzel or Princess Neoma.

[But it's fun to see him struggle.]

"Do you want me to help you enter the mansion?" Eloise asked, but Lewis only ignored her. "I will help you if you give me your Seed, Lewis Crevan."

Lewis stopped punching the barrier, then he slowly turned around to face her.

[Oh, he's tempted!]

Eloise smiled seductively at the male fox. "I'll tell you the Ancient Devil's weakness if you put a child in my womb~"

"Shut up, you disgusting pervert," Lewis said in a voice full of disgust while looking at Eloise as if she was an insignificant, lowly thing. "What you're saying and doing to me is sexual harassment, and I'll have you know that I'm going to tattle on Princess Neoma about this."

To say that Eloise was surprised would be an understatement.

[They told me Lewis Crevan rarely speaks, and even if he does, he often speaks in broken sentences!]

But Lewis just insulted Eloise fluently!

[Why does it feel more offending that he insulted me in perfect grammar than what I would have felt had he talked to me in broken sentences…?]

***

NIKOLAI stiffened when he saw Alucard Dionisio's condition when he returned to the palace using the emergency portal connected to his office.

He was expecting the vampire to appear.

But he didn't expect Alucard Dionisio to come back ALONE.

[He failed to bring back Hanna…]

"I-I'm sorry, Your Imperial Majesty," Alucard, who had just regained consciousness, said weakly. The vampire was bleeding from head to toe, and it was a miracle that he didn't die on the spot. "The Ancient Devil attacked me saying he can't let Princess Hanna return to the palace…"

The Ancient Devil?

[Hanna is no match against the Ancient Devil!]

He wasn't underestimating the Crown Princess– he was merely stating a fact.

"The Ancient Devil seems to have joined hands with the crows, Your Imperial Majesty," Alucard continued with his report despite his terrible state. "His goal is to stop Princess Hanna from returning to the palace. I tried to return to the Underworld earlier, but all the routes I know have already been blocked…"

All the routes were blocked?

[So, they won't let us save Hanna.]

As if he'd let those bastards do as they pleased.

"We will rescue Hanna," Nikolai said in an urgent voice. "Summon Trevor Kesser and tell him to return to the palace immediately!"

He was aware that Trevor was busy gathering the ingredients needed for Neoma's revival.

However, Nikolai knew that his daughter wouldn't forgive him if he didn't do everything in his power to rescue Hanna.

But most of all…

[I personally want to save my daughter-in-law, too.]

***

HANNA knew that the Ancient Devil wouldn't hesitate to kill her.

She would lie if she said she wasn't afraid.

Even so, she knew that panicking wouldn't help. Hence, she tried to stay as calm as she could while thinking of ways to save herself.

[I can't die here.]

"You're really calm, huh?" the Ancient Devil commented in an amused voice. "You're making me want to destroy you, child. I want to see you cry."

Hanna knew that she couldn't be reckless, but she couldn't stop herself from scoffing. "I'd rather die than cry in front of you. As I said earlier, you don't deserve to see my tears– not even a drop."

"You say that, but I'm pretty sure the pain from getting poisoned by the Blue Rose will make you cry," the Ancient Devil said, quickly moving his hand to stab Hanna in the throat. "Let's see– argh!"

Hmm?

Hanna, who was in the middle of covering her entire body with her Shadow Veil as a means to protect herself, was shocked when she found herself separated from the Ancient Devil.

Someone moved her to another spot magically.

And that 'someone' was the person standing in front of her protectively.

[But who…?]

"Why don't you pick on someone your own size, you pathetic old bastard?"

"Drystan?" the Ancient Devil, who seemed to have been frozen on the spot against his will, scoffed when he recognized the person who saved Hanna. "What is the King of Hell doing here?"

Hanna's eyes widened in surprise upon learning who her savior was.

[But why did the King of Hell save me?]

***

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