性瘾者

Unfortunately, she still didn’t have solid proof that Calyx Dalton was a crow, so she couldn’t make a move yet. Plus, it wouldn’t be wise to be hostile to that boy since he gained the public’s favor by showing off his face (that looked like a de Moonasterio) and his abilities (that rivaled the Crown Prince’s).

Yes, the rumors that quickly spread already labelled Calyx Dalton as her rival.

If she attacked Calyx Dalton without a valid reason, she would just appear bitter. And she couldn’t afford to ruin her reputation. Not when Nero was about to return to his rightful place.

[I have to protect Nero’s place as the Crown Prince until he returns.]

“This penthouse is worth its price,” Neoma said while looking around the hotel’s penthouse that she booked for the entrance exam’s duration. “No wonder the Quinzels are so rich. They got the best location for a luxury hotel.”

Saros Hotel, the hotel near the Royal Moon Academy, was owned by the Quinzels.

.....

Even the standard rooms in that hotel already cost a fortune. The hotel was especially busy during the entrance exam season. After all, student applicants all over the world would travel to the Royal Capital to take the entrance exam. Most of the foreign applicants didn’t have a house to stay in the empire, so they had no choice but to book a hotel room.

For people with money and high status, Saros Hotel was the only choice for them.

It was difficult to book a room in the hotel, especially the penthouse.

[But of course, as the Crown Prince, Duke Rufus Quinzel easily gave me the hotel’s penthouse when I said I wanted to stay here.]

The de Moonasterios had a villa near the Royal Moon Academy. It was the residence used by the Royal Family members who would take the entrance exam. But she didn’t want to stay in the villa alone.

She chose Saros Hotel to hang out with Hanna.

But unfortunately, it was considered vulgar if the Crown Prince and the future Crown Princess stayed in the penthouse together. Thus, the Quinzels reserved the whole floor below the penthouse for Hanna and her guards.

[We can hang out in the restaurant or the lounge area later.]

Saros Hotel was just as luxurious as the expensive hotels back in Korea. It was just a shame that swimming pools weren’t a thing in the empire yet.

[Should I invest in Saros Hotels and suggest indoor swimming pools?]

“That’s a good idea,” she said to herself. “I should bring it up to Hanna later.”

“Lady Hanna isn’t here yet.”

She turned to Lewis, who was standing behind her.

Lewis didn’t accompany her to the Royal Moon Academy earlier because he went to Saros Hotel first to ensure that the penthouse was safe for her to use as a temporary residence.

There were also elite royal guards guarding the outside.

[Too bad my other “children” aren’t here yet. I would have loved for our family to spend a short vacation here.]

It was one of the reasons why she chose Saros Hotel over the royal villa.

“It’s already past nine in the evening,” she said worriedly. “The written exam should have ended at 7PM. And I heard the interview after the exam wouldn’t take that long.”

She had a bad feeling, and more often than not, her bad feelings were correct.

“Lewis.”

“Yes, Your Royal Highness?”

“Go to the academy and check on Hanna,” Neoma said seriously. “Don’t worry about me because I have Delwyn- and William will be here later.”

Lewis, surprisingly, agreed immediately. “I will bring Lady Hanna here safely.”

[You do you, my little rockstar.]

***

“IS THAT Sir Crevan?”

“You mean the Crown Prince’s personal knight?”

“Did he come here to fetch Lady Hanna?”

“But is Sir Crevan fighting Lord Calyx?”

Hanna was slightly alarmed to hear the students talk like Lewis was attacking Calyx Dalton.

[Calyx Dalton gained a favorable impression from the public for being as good-looking and competent as the Crown Prince, so we can’t afford to make them think we’re being hostile to the young lord.]

“Lewis, it’s alright. Lord Calyx isn’t a stranger,” Hanna said gently. “Prince Nero and Lord Calyx are acquaintances to each other, and he’s just giving his greetings to me.”

Lewis let go of Calyx Dalton’s hand, then he bowed his head as an apology to the young lord.

“Lord Calyx, you must have been startled,” she said to the young lord with an apologetic look on her face. “I apologize.”

“It’s alright, Lady Hanna. You don’t have to apologize,” Calyx said in an amiable tone. “His Royal Highness must care about you a lot if he sent his best knight to fetch you, my lady.”

She just smiled as a response.

[I have no obligation to confirm my relationship with Nero to anyone.]

“I have already given my greetings to you, so I will take my leave now,” Calyx said cheerfully, then he bowed. “Be careful around explosions, Lady Hanna.”

She felt a chill down her spines.

Calyx Dalton said the last sentence in a low voice that only reached her and Lewis’s ears.

Lewis growled low as a response, and the fox boy would have attacked Calyx Dalton had she not grabbed him by the arm. When Lewis turned to her, his glowing golden eyes asking her why she was stopping him, she just shook her head.

[We can’t make a scene here.]

Calyx Dalton’s chuckle interrupted her “eye-to-eye communication” with Lewis.

But when she turned to the young lord, he just bowed to her again and took his leave.

Much to her surprise, a man wearing an all-black outfit emerged from the darkness and joined Calyx Dalton. Then the two disappeared into the dark.

She got another chill down her spines.

[Calyx Dalton wasn’t alone when he was talking to me earlier, and yet I didn’t feel his companion’s presence?]

She suddenly felt disappointed in herself.

“It wasn’t only you, Lady Hanna.”

She turned to Lewis. “Hmm?”

Lewis knitted his eyebrows as if he was annoyed. “I also didn’t notice his companion’s presence until he emerged from the darkness.”

Then that only meant Calyx Dalton’s companion was really on a different level.

[That companion definitely isn’t an ordinary butler.]

“Lady Hanna.”

She and Lewis both turned to Jaxson Emmett, the vice-captain of the Black Hawk Knights, who approached them in a hurry.

“I apologize for arriving late, Lady Hanna,” Jaxson Emmett said while bowing deeply. “We encountered a minor problem when the carriage entered the academy’s premise.”

“What happened, Sir Emmett?”

“Crows.”

“Huh?”

Jaxson Emmett raised his head, his eyes dead serious. “A murder of crows attacked the coachman driving our carriage earlier, so we had to stop and drive the crows away.”

She wanted to believe that it was just a co-incidence.

But after the “warning” that she received from Calyx Dalton earlier, she would be a fool if she brushed the incident off as a co-incidence. The fact that Calyx Dalton looked like Nero and Neoma was already suspicious enough.

“Sir Emmett, I’ll go to the hotel with Lewis,” Hanna said in a low voice that only reach Lewis and Jaxson Emmett’s ears. “Please go to my father and report this incident to him personally.”

Jaxson Emmett, one of the few people serving her family that understood the threat of the crows, didn’t question her decision. He just bowed to her politely. “I received your order, Lady Hanna,” he said, then he turned to Lewis. “Lewis Crevan, I leave Lady Hanna in your capable hands.”

Lewis nodded firmly. “Lady Hanna is safe with me.”

***

“THEY’RE going to kill you during the match and make it look like an accident.”

Calyx just laughed at his Uncle Raven’s warning.

Right now, he and his uncle were in the carriage headed to the Saros Hotel, where they booked a room for the duration of the entrance exam.

“You gave away your identity pretty easily,” his Uncle Raven, who was sitting on the couch across from him, said while shaking his head. His uncle was in disguise, hiding his traits as a de Luca by changing his hair and eye color. Right now, his uncle had plain dark brown hair and chocolate eyes. His uncle’s Mana was also sealed, so no one would recognize him as a de Luca. “Unless the Crown Prince and Hanna Quinzel are stupid, then they have definitely figured out that you’re a crow.”

To be precise, he was a de Luca.

But the people outside their cult didn’t know that there were two factions in their group: the Crowells and the de Lucas. For people like the de Moonasterios, all of them were just the crows.

.....

Not that it bothered him.

[We’re all family, after all.]

“His Excellency said he doesn’t mind if I reveal my identity right away,” Calyx said cheerfully. “Moreover, we’re not in the wrong. So why do we need to hide? I’m sick of them treating us like the bad guys when we just want the best for the empire.”

“I understand your sentiment, but I still want you to be careful,” his uncle said. “The Crown Prince...” He trailed off, then he shook his head. “The royal princess posing as Nero de Moonasterio is sharp. She wouldn’t leave you alone now that she figured out you’re a crow.”

“That’s fine with me,” he said nonchalantly. “I also want to know how the royal princess figured out Regina is a crow when we’ve protected her identity well. I can’t help but think that the royal princess already knows who Regina is from the start.”

“If that’s the case, then why didn’t the royal princess kill Regina right away?”

He tilted his head to one side. “That’s what I can’t figure out, Uncle. But I guess we’ll find out once the royal princess falls into our hands.”

His uncle nodded in agreement, then he knitted his eyebrows. “Did you really have to confront Hanna Quinzel?”

He smiled sheepishly. “Oh, I acted on impulse. I have a personal grudge against Hanna Quinzel, after all.”

“Personal grudge?”

He nodded, then he pouted. “Hanna Quinzel’s place belongs to Regina. But because she lived, our poor Regina was punished by the family.” He clenched his hands tight. “Uncle, Hanna Quinzel must die this time. I promised Regina that I’ll give her life in the capital back to her.”

“Killing Hanna Quinzel isn’t our top priority at the moment, Calyx.”

“Then let’s do it this way- I want a reward,” he said stubbornly. “If I beat the fake Crown Prince in the match, because I’m pretty sure we’ll be facing each other on the last day of the exam, then you’ll give me Hanna Quinzel’s head as a reward, Uncle.”

His Uncle Raven let out a sigh. “Fine, I’ll kill Hanna Quinzel if you win against the fake Crown Prince in the match.”

Calyx cheered and clapped his hands. “You’re the best uncle in the world, Uncle Raven!”

***

“YOUR ROYAL Highness!”

Neoma wanted to ignore Calyx Dalton and pretend that she didn’t hear him.

But their eyes already met.

[Goddammit.]

She was alone in the hotel’s reception area, disguised as an ordinary young lord by hiding her face and hair color using a hooded robe, when Calyx Dalton arrived.

[He’s also staying here?]

Thank goodness the other guests in the reception area were a little farther from them, so they didn’t hear Calyx Dalton call her by her title. But the young lord still approached her joyfully, even though she was already giving her the cold look.

[This dense punk...]

“Shh,” Neoma warned Calyx Dalton, who was now standing in front of her, then she put a finger on her nose. “Can’t you see I’m in disguise?”

Calyx Dalton’s eyes widened in surprise, then he covered his mouth with his hands. “I’m so sorry, Your Royal-” he whispered. But he immediately stopped talking when she glared at him. Panic crossed his eyes then. “How should I address you...?”

“Just ignore me,” she said while shooing him away with her hand.

“But I can’t leave you alone,” he said in a low and “concerned” voice. “It’s dangerous for you to be alone, without a single guard. What will you do if someone recognizes you and attacks you suddenly?”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Well, I think your butler is pretty competent to “protect” me if that happens.”

The fake worried look on Calyx Dalton’s face was replaced by genuine shock.

“Oh, should I pretend I didn’t notice your butler?” she asked “innocently,” then her gaze went past Calyx Dalton.

She couldn’t see the person behind him because that person was in “invisible mode.”

But she could tell that the “butler” was keeping an eye on her intently.

“Thank you, Your Royal Highness.”

She was surprised by what Calyx Dalton said, so she turned to him. “Thank you for what?”

“Thank you for not being boring,” Calyx Dalton said, his grin wide and his eyes crazed. He was looking at her as if she was an interesting plaything that would ease him from boredom. “Please keep me entertained for a long time, Your Royal Highness.”

[Great,] Neoma thought to herself sarcastically while looking at the crazy look on Calyx Dalton’s face. [I met another psycho.]

***

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