The Crown Prince In Hiding

Casca had gone straight to Everton’s lobby, furious over the entire ordeal—how she’d slipped out of Diablo without a word, and how she’d instructed them to send Dominic, another servant, to accompany Fury on his journey.

But the result?

Fury had requested a switch—from Dominic to Freya—and Everton, despite the agreement, didn’t object.

He didn’t just not object. Everton had deliberately allowed Freya to be chosen… purely for his own amusement.

And now, the apocalypse had begun.

Casca’s hair flared upward, golden aura blazing so intensely it sent nearby wildlife scrambling in terror.

Meanwhile, Zeedee watched her unravel with a mocking gleam in her eye, a smug satisfaction blooming across her face. Casca’s carefully scripted romantic chase—the kind found in Indian romance films—had just gone up in flames.

“Gotta say, I should probably thank you~”

Zeedee struck a sultry pose, both hands cupping her chest before blowing a kiss toward Casca.

“To think I got blessed with such a bangin’ human body!”

“I sleep with His Highness every night, y’know. Just that should be enough info—hihi~”

The words were designed to detonate. Casca snapped—eyes glaring, jaw clenched, her lower eyelid twitching with barely contained fury.

“Nora.”

Dan turned, hand gently pushing the princess aside.

“Go back to your quarters.”

“It’s okay, Mr.Fury… I’d like to witness this.”

“Hey—!”

—Back to Casca and Zeedee—

“Out with it. Have you two done it? Yes or No?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know~”

Zeedee raised both arms behind her head, proudly flaunting her curves.

“What do you think?”

“!!!”

“I have something you don’t. The very thing you wished you had—don’t think I didn’t hear about you bribing that sculptor to bulk up your statue’s chest. Now imagine the prince seeing the real thing, right in front of him. You think he’d resist that?”

“T-That’s not true…”

Casca was breathing heavily now, fists clenched so tight they trembled.

“Too late, dumb ass bitch! It’s been months! Heh heh heh!”

CRACK!!

A bolt of golden lightning exploded out from Casca, so intense even Nora’s hair stood on end from the surge of holy energy.

“Freya. That’s enough.”

Dan stepped between them, gripping Zeedee with one hand and Casca with the other.

“If what you’re looking for is a mating update, then let me clarify: there’s nothing to report. Frankly, I figured you’d be confused about that sort of thing.”

Dan’s blunt delivery made Zeedee screeched.

“ DAMN YOUR HIGHNESS!! Why would you TELL HER that?!”

“She’s my wife!!!”

“Then tell her we bathe together naked!! Tell her we’ve already expressed our love!”

Dan looked back at Casca.

“She means basic Skinship”

“Oh…”

Suddenly Casca’s expression softened.

“…That’s way less damaging than I expected.”

Fury had never fully grasped the concept of kissing. To him, a kiss from Freya was about as intimate as a congratulatory pat on the back. Casca knew that. She was the one who taught him. So she cooled down—slightly.

“I know what’s what Casca. I am NO playboy.”

“Fury, you’re immune to this thing’s seduction attempts?”

“Of course. You’re my wife.”

“Awwww~”

“Your HIIIGHNEEESSS!!!”

Zeedee, who had been riding high, was now dethroned. Casca’s smirk returned, sharp and gleaming like a blade, her eyes narrowing with wicked triumph.

She spread her arms and shook her head.

“What’s this~? Even the hottest human meatbag alive can’t turn my husband’s head… Wonder why? Oh right—it’s because he only has eyes for me.”

Zeedee: “!”

“So don’t stress. Even if I left him with you for three months, six months, ten years, twenty years—nothing would ever happen. Outsiders stay outsiders.”

“Says the one who came storming over here red-eyed and hyperventilating! You’re just a golem. It’s pathetic.”

“Still less pathetic than a mangy bitch trying to steal a man who’s already taken. You’re like a brothel wench who lost her slot.”

“At least a brothel wench gets more glances than a sweaty laborer like you!”

“ BITCH PLEASE. You copied everything—my hair, my walk, my whole damn look! But your body? Synthetic! You stole everything from me… except one thing—brains.”

“Girl, how I’m supposed to steal somethin’ that was never there?”

“Oh we doin’ this now? You wanna throw hands?”

“You threatenin’ me?!”

“What the hell your sorry ass gonna do about it?”

“ aight bitch YOU the one who want smoke! Come on then! Let’s see if you can back all that bark!”

Two kaiju-sized egos were about to go down.

Dan had to push one away and hold the other back just in time.

Freya’s human form—now that Nora looked again—actually resembled Casca quite a bit. The wolf-cut hair, the above-average height… except Freya had upgraded the silhouette with busty proportions and a curvier rear. Give her rich melanin and fix hair color to white and—yeah. Practically twins.

“I know you two missed each other but could you tone it down? Aren’t you embarrassed in front of Nora?”

Freya and Zeedee were reluctantly pried apart, still glaring daggers at each other.

“What do you mean you’re not going back, Casca? I found you. We’re together again. Let’s just go home.”

“No way! The timeline’s all scrambled! We were supposed to meet after I saw the Pope!”

“That’s months from now! Maybe next year!”

“Exactly.”

Casca pointed.

“None of this would’ve happened if you brought Dominic!“

“So now it’s my fault?!”

“… So what are you guys planning to do now?”

Things had clearly veered off-script.

Nora gathered that Casca couldn’t return just yet because of unfinished business with the Pope. But she’d rushed out of hiding the moment she learned Fury had taken Freya with him—a ticking time bomb to her marriage. There was no way Casca was going to leave the two of them alone together.

“What are we gonna do next?”

Casca grabbed Dan’s hand, clutching it close like her most prized possession.

“We’re canceling the whole chase game. I’m done playing. I’ll take you around the human world myself. Come live with me.”

“With you? Where?”

“My private retreat in Mathema!”

“!”

“You’ve already packed—perfect timing. Let’s go. It’s got real food, drinkable water—so much better than roughing it out here. Come on!”

“Stop right there!!!”

Zeedee cut in.

“You’re telling us to live with you??”

“Us? Us?? Who said anything about taking you?”

“Excuse me?!”

“My house. My man. The plankton from the sea aren’t invited! GET LOST SKANK!!!”

“What about me?! I’m supposed to be his companion!”

“I already did your job for you. Thanks a bunch!”

“Waitwaitwait—WAIT!”

Zeedee was hyperventilating, hands clenching, visibly panicking.

“You can’t just steal him away and leave me stranded here like garbage!!!”

“Why not??? What’s wrong with a wife taking her husband home? Tell me! Somebody tell me!!”

Zeedee… had no answer.

“Princess Nora, am I wrong?”

“…N..n.. not really.”

“As expected of our brilliant princess. Spot on.”

Zeedee: “No, but—”

“But what?”

Silence.

“BUT WHAT?”

“…..”

“That’s what I thought.”

Casca turned to her fiancé.

“Fury, grab your bag.”

Dan subtly gestured for her to ease up.

“Casca, calm down. I can’t just abandon Freya.”

That hit home. Casca took a breath, calmed her fire. It wasn’t just a petty grudge—Freya had been with Fury for over twenty years, 2 times her years with Fury. She couldn’t simply be discarded that fact.

It was deeper than that. More complicated. There was no clear right or wrong anymore.

“I’m not letting this skank set foot inside my house. That rotting jelly-stench of hers is cursed.”

“Casca…come on man...”

“Oh right—I had a dog named Jody once. She died. Freya can sleep in Jody’s house. Curl up. You’ll get used to it. Final offer. No negotiations.”

“You’re putting Freya in the doghouse?!”

“It fits perfectly! Hahaha!”

Zeedee: “Grrrrrrr…”

Dan rubbed his forehead.

Nora could only stare, completely stunned. Everything she thought she knew about Casca Saint-Maximin had disintegrated.

The cursing… the power trips… the villainous laughter…

It was true. Even holy knights were human. And Freya had been right all along.

All of it?

Just marketing.

But then—something changed.

Zeedee’s demeanor shifted.

Casca noticed too. The air felt… different.

The game was about to flip.

“Fine. Go ahead. If you don’t want an ‘unholy being’ like me around, then suit yourself.”

Casca: “?!”

Dan: “?”

Nora: “???”

Zeedee turned away, calmly slinging her bag over her shoulder.

And suddenly… it was Casca who was sweating bullets.

Because after ten long years together, Casca knew one thing about this demon—

Freya NEVER gave up. If she started acting polite and agreeable?

That meant one of two things:

One—she was dying.

Two—she was about to play her trump card.

And 99.99% of the time… it was option two.

“What’re you staring at? Go on. Take him. Just the two of you. I’m not stopping you. Because tomorrow? This whole continent’s gonna BURN.”

Zeedee lifted something between her fingers—

A small piece of paper.

A photograph.

It showed Casca, full-on smooching Dan’s cheek, with full enthusiasm and zero deniability.

Everyone’s eyes went wide.

They’d never seen anything like it.

Was it a drawing? A spell?

How could it perfectly capture what had just happened?

Only Zeedee knew.

And the answer was already in her hands.

Dan recognized it.

A small rectangular box with a glass window…

The same one Freya once mentioned—an invention from Mathema. Something Tristina had stolen from her home and passed around like a toy.

”What was it?”

”A surprise.”

“If you’re gonna pull out a golem for a surprise twist, then allow me to play my own card, Your Highness.”

It was a prototype invention—known only among Mathema’s inventors.

A device that could capture light and reproduce it on paper, powered by a two-inch mana crystal.

The Mathema called it…

A camera.