Revolutionary Princess Eve

Chapter 3

“What the hell happened here?”

Mikael’s voice echoed so heatedly that it seemed like a voice rumbling out of the underworld. All the knights and soldiers in the vicinity trembled as his furious tone struck them.

“How could this...”

After being gone less than half an hour, Mikael had returned to the Birdcage only to see an unthinkable sight.

Eve lay in front of him, a lifeless corpse. He had been speaking to her only moments ago.

Everything was finally going the way I wanted. Why this now?

Evienrose Chloelle Hadelamid, the seventh princess of the empire. Famous among Mikael’s kind, he had set his sights on her five years ago. Never, in the entire history of the empire, had there been a princess who demanded better treatment for the homunculi, who had refused to accept the deep-rooted vices of the imperial family, and who had allowed herself to become a laughingstock in the process.

Many homunculi had admired her and wanted to be her personal knight. Mikael was one of them. However, Eve did not allow any homunculi to have the position. Mikael himself had approached her on multiple occasions to change her thoughts on taking a personal knight, and tried to show her how much more powerful he was compared to the other homunculi. But she had stood firm in her decision.

Even after he gave up on the idea, he hadn’t been able to get Eve off his mind. His eyes followed her at every opportunity. Despite his distance, Mikael found himself moved to emotion whenever Eve was mistreated or mocked for refusing to follow the imperial family’s ways.

He couldn’t remember the point when even her unskilled, tactless ways started to become attractive to him. By the time he realized his feelings, they already ran too deep. He was stuck in a one-sided love with an insurmountable gap in social station. Mikael refused to accept this reality, however, and through years of careful planning, he brought down the imperial family.

His original intention was, over the course of several years, to take over the imperial palace through moderate means. But as Brigitte’s tyranny had been growing by the day, and Eve’s marriage of convenience was suddenly announced by an imperial decree, he’d had no choice but to take a faster, more violent approach.

Whether he liked the methods employed or not, his revolt had succeeded. Nothing stood in Mikael’s way now that he was emperor. All that remained was to have Eve take her spot by his side. And his goal was finally within reach... until now. Something had caused all his efforts to be in vain.

“...”

Mikael gazed down at Eve, bewildered. Her slim form was like a rag doll—no pulse and no breath. Mikael’s purple eyes burned with fury.

“I asked a question! What has happened here?”

“Y... your Majesty...”

Mikael’s furor was so palpable that the armed soldiers and even his closest vassals shrank away. However, one figure stepped forward, fearless in the face of Mikael’s rage. It was Rosenitte.

“My sister took her own life. She said she wanted to take responsibility as a member of the imperial family and atone for their crimes with her own death.”

“She committed suicide?”

“Yes. She drank poison made from a belladonna plant.”

“And how do you know this?”

“I watched her do it,” Rosenitte replied.

Her tone was soft and seductive. As she spoke, her fingers gently caressed his shoulder.

When Mikael’s eyes were turned toward her, she made sure to stroke the slight bulge in her belly with her other hand.

“Princess, did you give her the poison?”

“‘Princess?’ There you go again. I’m your empress now. I remember asking you to call me by my correct title,” Rosenitte pouted, not taking the question seriously.

Mikael was cold-hearted toward everyone except Rosenitte. This knowledge emboldened her to look into his enraged purple eyes without concern. She was so overconfident that she explained everything she had done.

“Hmph, don’t look at me like that... Ok fine, I’ll answer your question.”

“...”

“Yes. It’s true, Mikael. I helped my sister atone for her sins. It seems that you were unable to make a decision on her execution, so I made the right choice for you as your loyal companion.”

“...”

“A member of the imperial family who refuses to cooperate with you will only bring disaster. You know this as well as I do. Me by your side is all that you’ll ever need—it always has been, and always will be—”

“Shut your mouth, Princess.”

“Mi... Mikael?”

Mikael’s fury turned solely on Rosenitte. He had never looked so cold, so frightening. Bewildered, she stammered, “Mi... Mikael. Why... What’s wrong?”

“Don’t touch me,” Mikael said, slapping away her hand on his shoulder like it was a disgusting insect.

“...!”

It couldn’t have hurt her in the least, but Rosenitte reacted like she’d just been slapped in the face.

“Did you just...”

Her pink, almost ruby-like, eyes welled with tears. Rosenitte was acting like she was the most pitiable, tragic woman on the planet.

But Mikael turned his back to her outcry, uncaring.

“Eve...”

The cold fury in his eyes faded as he looked down at Eve again, crumpled on the floor. Mikael ran his hand over Eve’s pale cheek. Her body was still warm to the touch, but it would lose that warmth faster if it remained on the cold floor. Mikael picked up Eve’s corpse and gingerly cradled it in his arms.

“Mikael!”

Someone blocked his way.

“Are you ignoring me, Mikael? How could you treat me this way?”

“...”

“Don’t you dare ignore me! Remember who I am to you! Me, your spouse, Rosenitte!”

“Get out of the way, Princess.”

Mikael’s eyes flashed, his gaze sharp as a whetted blade. Rosenitte was the only person present who failed to fathom the threat in his eyes. One homunculus knight stepped forward, trying to intervene for her sake.

“My Empress, I believe His Majesty is troubled. I hardly think right now is a good time to—”

“Silence! How dare you speak up in my presence, slave! Know your station!”

The knight’s intervention was futile, of course. It only helped to expose the ugly personality beneath Rosenitte’s angelic mask. Over ten of Mikael’s closest homunculus advisors were present to witness this. They all stared at Rosenitte, eyes full of betrayal.

Rosenitte stood at the entrance of the cell, blocking the way with her arms outstretched. Her tone filled with malice.

“Mikael! If you keep treating me like this, I’ll make sure you regret it!”

“...Regret? You don’t think I’m already regretting choosing you?”

“Are you serious? Have you forgotten? I’m pregnant with your child!”

“...”

Rosenitte smiled inwardly as she watched Mikael go silent.

The baby wasn’t the result of normal physical intimacy, of course—it was a product of alchemy. To her, that didn’t change the fact that this baby was still a fruit of their love. Mikael loved the child in her womb just as much as herself. Up till yesterday, he’d checked on her and the precious baby every single day. His feelings couldn’t have changed that quickly.

It took only a moment for Mikael to shatter Rosenitte’s complacency.

“What child?” Mikael sneered.

His tone was mocking. Rosenitte stood, baffled, as Mikael continued in a mirthless tone, his expression cold.

“You mean the lump of cells transplanted into your womb with the help of the Philosopher’s Stone?”

“Wh... what? What do you mean lump?”

“It seems you are mistaking an experiment for an actual pregnancy, Princess.”

“An ex... experiment?”

“The Philosopher's Stone would allow me control over the homunculi, but it only reacts to those of imperial blood, so I planned to use you to birth a child whose blood would be half imperial, half homunculus. The child would have given me control of the stone.”

This unborn child was clearly not the symbol of love she’d imagined it to be. Rosenitte’s face became ghostly pale. But she refused to give in.

“Even... even so! That doesn’t change the fact that this child is yours and mine! It symbolizes the love between us!”

“Our child—”

Mikael’s stopped himself before he said more.

Mikael’s plan only required the child to be part homunculus, so there really was no need for the seed to even have been Mikael’s in the first place. It was a pity he couldn’t further crush her with this knowledge. But no need to share this information with such large audience around them. There were, however, plenty of other things he could say to upset her.

He opened his mouth, cruelty spilling from his lips.

“Calling it a child is generous. What sits in your stomach is nothing more than an untested alchemic experiment. There has never been a half-breed of this kind before. Who knows what could emerge—something not human, perhaps, a monster?”

“...!”

Rosenitte’s eyes couldn’t possibly grow any wider.

“A m... monster? How could you say such a thing... about our child, no less!”

“You should remember well what you royals always told us homunculi in upsetting situations: Life’s unfair. Deal with it.”

With those scornful words, Mikael turned away.

“Drag her out of here.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

“Mi... Mikael!”

At his command, homunculus knights brusquely pulled her out of the cell. This was treatment Rosenitte had never experienced before. She observed Mikael as he languidly walked away from her, his back a seeming iron wall of coldness she could only watch, glimpsing the edges of her now-dead half-sister held in his arms.

The thrill of victory that had come after successfully poisoning Eve had now evaporated. Rosenitte glared, her eyes burning with tears and resentment.

She screamed, “Stop! I said stop! How could you treat me like this?”

“...”

“What on earth could she mean to you to make you treat me so cruelly?”

“...”

All Rosenitte heard in response were footsteps fading away, her cries falling on deaf ears.