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Neoma growled at Ruto because of the three mistakes he committed in one sentence.

First, he called her by her title.

Second, he used formal speech.

And third…

[YOU DON’T TELL A CRYING WOMAN TO ‘CALM DOWN’ BECAUSE IT WILL ONLY MAKE HER MORE HYSTERICAL.]

“I don’t want to calm down,” Neoma said stubbornly. “Let me get mad!”

“You’re not mad– you’re crying.”

Okay, at least he switched back to talking informally to her. That closed the distance between them a little bit.

.....

“I’m not crying,” she insisted even though she was aware she was being childish. “It’s raining, okay?”

He knitted his eyebrows. “Raining…?”

“If I said it’s raining, then it’s raining–”

She was forced to stop talking when “rain” suddenly poured.

Well, to be precise, the “rain” only poured on the spot where Neoma and Ruto were standing. In short, it was an artificial downpour.

And she could only think of one person who could do something like that.

“Trevor,” Neoma growled lowly. “Are you crazy?”

“You said you wanted it to rain,” Trevor, who suddenly appeared beside Ruto, complained. “I just did what you– ouch!”

The demon boy let out an agonizing groan when Ruto suddenly covered Trevor’s eyes with his hand.

Hmm?

Neoma was confused by Ruto’s action, especially when she realized that his face was red.

[And he can’t even look at me now…]

She was starting to get upset when Ruto momentarily removed his hand away from Trevor’s eyes to take off his cloak.

Then Ruto quickly draped the cloak over her shoulders before he covered Trevor’s eyes again. After that, he excused himself while dragging the demon boy with him. Trevor kept on complaining, but it seemed like Trevor didn’t have enough power to wiggle out of Ruto’s grasp.

The artificial rain finally stopped pouring when

[Just what happened here?]

She was confused until she looked at the front area of her soaked blouse.

Oh.

She was wearing a white lace blouse today. And after her top got soaked from the rain, it became transparent and exposed the bra she was wearing underneath.

That was probably why Ruto dragged Trevor away while covering the demon boy’s eyes.

[And why he couldn’t look at me earlier.]

“Gosh,” Neoma said in disbelief while pulling the lapels of the cloak closer to her body. Ruto’s body warmth still lingered on the cloak, and so was his scent. She smiled because it felt like Ruto was hugging her to keep her warm. “Okay, I’ll forgive you for making me cry today.”

She stayed there for a little longer because she wanted to savor that moment.

And, well, she didn’t want people to see her puffy eyes.

[But it’s getting colder. I need a warm bath.]

Neoma was about to leave when the door to the rooftop suddenly burst open, then Dahlia came running to her while holding a thick towel in her hands. She noticed the symbol of the Astello Temple embroidered on the towel.

[Ah, right. We’re borrowing the amenities of the temple while we’re here. I’ll take it as a payment since I purified the entire temple.]

“Princess Neoma, let’s hurry inside. You’ll catch a cold at this rate,” Dahlia said worriedly while wrapping the thick towel around Neoma’s body. “I’ll prepare a warm bath for you.”

“How did you know I was here? And to bring a towel for me?”

She already knew the answer, but she still wanted to confirm her hunch.

“I bumped into Lord Ruto earlier,” Dahlia explained. This time, she was using a small towel to dry Neoma’s soaked hair. “He told me to bring you a towel since you got soaked by the rain made by the stupid demon– I mean, Lord Trevor.”

Pfft.

[Did Ruto call Trevor a ‘stupid demon?’]

Ruto had always been the most mature among the boys around her, and it was obviously because he was already old inside.

Hence, it was funny to hear Ruto call Trevor names.

“Princess Neoma?”

Neoma shook her head and smiled at the Black Witch. “Dahlia, do you want to take a bath with me?”

For some reason, Dahlia’s face suddenly turned red.

***

“DAHLIA, I didn’t invite you to take a bath with me for you to serve me as if you’re my maid,” Neoma said while shaking her head. “You don’t have to do this for me.”

The Astello Temple’s bathroom was like an inner swimming pool.

Hence, she invited Dahlia to join her because it would be boring to take a dip in the tub alone. But instead of joining her, the Black Witch began serving her as if she was a maid.

[Just like what she’s doing now.]

While Neoma was in the tub big enough for ten adults to use, Dahlia sat on the small and low chair beside the tub while scrubbing her arm with a washcloth.

She was used to being served like this, but she still felt awkward.

[I mean, Dahlia isn’t a maid. She’s the freaking last Black Witch in the world. A VIP!]

And yet, such a person was serving Neoma.

“I wouldn’t dare join the royal princess in a bath,” Dahlia said shyly. “I’m honored to serve you, Princess Neoma.”

“I think that’s the problem,” Neoma said, a little light bulb popping up in her head. “Let’s be friends, Dahlia.”

Her eyes went wide. “I-I can’t be friends with Your Royal Highness… I’m just a Black Witch…”

“No, don’t say that,” she said gently. “You’re the last of your kind, Dahlia. The Black Witches did nothing wrong, so you should be proud of your bloodline.”

“Even so…”

“I’m not even an official royal princess,” she said, shrugging. “If you put it that way, then doesn’t it make me a commoner, too?”

Dahlia turned to her, then she chuckled. “How can you say that when you have royal blood flowing in your veins, Princess Neoma?”

She laughed with her. “Let’s just say I’m desperate to be your friend. But I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable, so I’ll stop here for today.”

After all, Neoma knew that friendship wasn’t forced– it was something that would come naturally.

[I’ll wait until Dahlia is comfortable enough with me.]

“Princess Neoma, may I ask something personal?”

“Sure, fire away.”

“Did you fight with Lord Ruto?”

“Oh, are my eyes still puffy?”

“A little bit,” Dahlia said, then she paused for a moment before speaking again. “And I saw how Lord Ruto looked earlier.”

“How did he look like?”

“Like he wanted to punch himself.”

Ah, Ruto must have felt guilty for making her cry.

But Neoma wouldn’t dare assume he felt remorseful because he had feelings for her. She was perfectly aware that Ruto was a good person. Hence, he wouldn’t want anyone to cry because of him.

After all, right now, Neoma was just another face in the crowd.

“Ruto asked me if I’d still bother him if he falls in love with another girl.”

Dahlia gasped, dropping the washcloth into the water. “Oh, dear.”

“I know, right?” Neoma asked, laughing bitterly. “I cried like a baby after I realized Ruto could now love another girl after he lost all his feelings for me. I feel stupid for crying over a man again.”

The Black Witch fell silent for a moment as if she was thinking hard.

[No, she’s hesitating.]

.....

“It’s okay, Dahlia,” Neoma encouraged her. “Speak your mind.”

“Don’t get me wrong, Princess Neoma. I absolutely hate the fact that you cried,” Dahlia said carefully. “But I don’t think the reason you cried was stupid. Lord Ruto deserves your tears, Princess Neoma.”

Oh.

“I didn’t think of it that way,” Neoma said, admitting her mistake. “My arrogance often clouds my judgment.”

But now that Dahlia mentioned it, she realized that the Black Witch was right.

[Ruto deserves my tears, indeed. He didn’t mean to hurt me. All of this was out of his control, so I shouldn’t resent him for anything.]

To simply put, Neoma was humbled by Dahlia’s words.

“Princess Neoma, actually, I know how Lord Ruto lost all his feelings for you completely.”

Ah, that was right.

[According to Hanna, Dahlia was rescued by a man she believed to be Ruto. Hence, Dahlia spent the past few years with my man.]

“How?” Neoma asked curiously. “How did the Ancient Devil end up swallowing Ruto’s feelings for me?”

“A few years ago, the gods slowly retrieved their memories of you,” Dahlia told her. “The spell that the crows cast to make everyone forget about Your Royal Highness didn’t last its effect on the gods. Hence, the gods who wanted to use you as the next Aether planned to force a door to the other world open.”

She gasped, surprised. “Those fuckers…”

The Black Witch blushed when Neoma cursed, but she continued with her explanation. “To stop the gods from looking for you, Lord Ruto ascended to the Upper World again. But he didn’t have the power to fight and kill all the gods up there. So he just restored and improved the curse that the crows used.”

“To make the gods forget about me again?”

[Wow, Ruto is really OP.]

Dahlia shook her head. “It was hard for Lord Ruto to do that since he had already used a huge portion of his power to protect the memories of Your Royal Highness’ people,” she explained. “Hence, Lord Ruto could only erase a portion of the gods’ memories– so he made them forget about Princess Neoma being an Aether.”

Ah, so that was how she lived in peace for the last five years.

[And that’s also probably the reason why the gods haven’t bothered me yet even though I’ve already returned to this world.]

“Seriously,” Neoma whispered to herself. “How can I let go of Ruto now?”

***

“RUTO, I have something to tell you.”

That was the first thing Neoma said to Ruto when she bumped into him while she was on her way to the kitchen.

Ruto stopped walking, then he looked at her as if he was listening to her intently.

“It’s okay if you fall in love with someone else,” Neoma declared boldly, even though it broke her heart to say those things. “But I have a condition. I mean, I know I don’t have the right to do this to you, but I have to for the sake of our Love Contract.”

Ruto let out a sigh. “What are your conditions?”

“You can’t fall in love with the Goddess of Beauty because she’s too old for you, and you can’t also choose Phoebe Willows because she’s too young for you.”

She knew it was childish and petty of her to tell Ruto whom NOT to fall in love with.

But Neoma decided to be a wicked woman and forget about her moral compass this time.

[It was Ruto who told me to be flexible about these things anyway.]

“Then who am I supposed to fall in love with?”

Neoma pointed at her face. “It has to be someone who’s more beautiful than me.”

Ruto looked at her in disbelief, then he chuckled. “Are you telling me to be a bachelor forever then?”

***

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