Revolutionary Princess Eve

Chapter 4

❇

Mikael carried Eve’s corpse to the Emperor’s Chamber.

Light shimmered bewitchingly from the center of the hall where a giant obelisk made of a unique red mineral ore stood. The Philosopher’s Stone—an all-powerful, alchemic artifact that responded only to Hadelamid blood. As a man in desperate need of a miracle, Mikael was drawn almost instinctively to the stone.

He laid Eve down softly and rested her head upon his thigh. The ripples of red light wavered over them like underwater plants. To a simple observer, Mikael and Eve could have been taken as lovers resting in the midst of a sunny, red-tinted glade.

Mikael spoke in a hollow tone.

“Not once did you grant me the ability to be by your side...”

For three days, Mikael refused all food and water, never leaving the Emperor’s Chamber. One of his devoted retainers requested a private audience with him in the chamber, worried for his health.

The magic in the chamber had stopped the flow of time, preventing any decomposition of Eve’s body. Mikael still held Eve in his arms when the head of the Privy Council came to see him. She looked like she could have still been alive. But before the man could speak, Mikael gave him a command.

“Gather all mages and alchemists in the empire. Someone must revive Eve. Money is no object. I don’t care what it takes or how long.”

“B... but Your Majesty, it’s not possible to revive—”

“The Philosopher's Stone makes the impossible possible, does it not? Oh, and of course... We’ll need imperial blood to use its power. Have Rosenitte brought to me immediately. I’ll lop off her head and collect every last drop of her blood.”

“Y... your Majesty!”

Mikael’s purple eyes gleamed with something akin to madness. The head of the Privy Council looked appalled.

“Pray, desist, Your Majesty! The eighth princess is the last living member of the Hadelamid family. Did you not plan to keep her alive until you had full control of the Philosopher’s Stone?”

“Why must I do that?”

“Why...?”

“Eve is dead. What use to me is the Philosopher's Stone—or even the entire empire—with her no longer here?”

“...!”

Mikael was serious.

The man realized that his liege’s obsession with Eve ran far deeper than anyone could have imagined. It occurred to him then that perhaps it had been this unruly princess, Evienrose, that had motivated Mikael to revolt in the first place.

“You heard my orders.”

Rosenitte was soon brought to the Emperor’s Chamber, trapped in a cage made for an animal. She was so filthy and disheveled that it was hard to remember her high station.

She was crying as they brought her in.

“This is all Evienrose’s fault! That girl took everything I had! She ruined my chance at happiness! This is so unfair!” she sobbed.

Rosenitte, the heartless murderer who’d poisoned her own sister, cried not out of remorse, but instead out of self-pity. Her tearful eyes flashed with a sudden venom as she noticed Eve’s body.

“Mikael! Mikaelis Agnito! How... how could you? You dare to hold her like that while in my presence?”

“...”

She screamed at him, “Get that woman out of my sight and beg me for mercy on your knees! Do you realize how big of a mistake you’re making? Who do you think made it possible for you to become emperor? And whose child do you think is in my womb?”

But there was actually nothing in Rosenitte’s womb anymore. After having been dragged out of Eve’s prison cell, she’d thrown a fit, rampaging about uncontrollably for Mikael’s attention until she fell and hurt herself. This fall has caused the homunculus seed inside her to be destroyed. Rosenitte, so lost in her resentment, was the only one ignorant of this.

Her voice growing hoarse, she cried, “I have your child in my belly! I am pregnant with your child, not her!”

“...”

Mikael refused to answer. There was no warmth in his eyes.

Rosenitte was gagged and thrown aside into a corner of the chamber. The Emperor’s Chamber fell silent, now occupied by the homunculus emperor, an unrotting corpse, and an ex-imperial princess driven out of her mind by jealousy.

❇

Within the hour, notices were put up throughout the kingdom, recruiting all skilled mages and alchemists. They came in droves, rushing at the opportunity to attempt the impossible—bringing someone back from the dead.

Most had ulterior motives, such as stealing the imperial stores of alchemic and magical knowledge, or accessing the power of the Philosopher’s Stone, which the imperial family had exercised tight control over. The only person who seemed genuine in their attempts was a mysterious alchemist with an eagle-owl mask that obscured most of her face. She referred to herself as the “Sage of Spruce Forest.”

Mikael spoke with her. “I’ve been told you know of a way to bring Eve back.”

“Your Majesty, at the risk of incurring your displeasure I must inform you that bringing back the dead isn’t what you imagine—at best you’ll have a doll that breathes. The soul of the seventh princess has already been separated from her body and fragmented. It is outside the realm of magic and alchemy to gather those fragments and bind them back to her body. The resurrection that you hope to achieve, Your Majesty, is effectively impossible.”

“So you offer nothing different from the other idiots who have come to see me. Are you here merely to waste my time?”

“No, Your Majesty. I would like to suggest a different option.”

“And what would that be?”

“To turn back time.”

The mention of a new option brought the light back into Mikael’s deadened eyes.

“Is it possible?”

“Of course. But the cost is great. It will consume half of the Philosopher’s Stone.”

“I don’t care what it costs,” Mikael said firmly.

The alchemist bowed her head.

“I shall begin my preparations then, Your Majesty.”

The Sage of Spruce Forest took a whole week to draw up her alchemy circle inside the Emperor’s Chamber. She first filled the floor with her designs, then the walls, and then eventually even the ceiling. When it was finally complete, the ritual was ready to be performed.

“Oh, Your Majesty,” the alchemist said suddenly, pausing with one hand resting on the Philosopher’s Stone.

“I neglected to inform you of an aspect of this ritual. As you know, the magic and alchemy about to be performed will offer half the Philosopher’s Stone as a sacrifice. Because this stone is bound to the blood of the Hadelamid house, the seventh princess’s timeline must be the central axis of this manipulation—not yours.”

“...!”

One should never trust an individual who hides their face behind a mask. To mention only now that Eve alone would be sent back in time... This alchemist had tricked him.

Mikael, being hit by this information, just before the ritual was to start, looked thunderstruck. But he worked to regain his composure and said calmly,

“So, you mean I won’t be able to follow her back in time, but she will still be able to find and meet me along her timeline?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“With this second opportunity, will she refuse me again, driving me to despair and foolish decisions?”

“That’s not for me to say, Your Majesty.”

Mikael soon came to a decision.

“I don’t care. Proceed with the ceremony.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Mikael held Eve tightly in his arms while the alchemist chanted the spells to activate her alchemy circle. He knew that this could be the last time he ever held her in his arms, his heart aching at the thought.

Mikael brought his lips so close to Eve’s that they nearly touched. He whispered, “Eve, when you’re alive again, either choose me or kill me—I can’t live any other life.”

As he spoke his last words, a red haze of light filled his vision. This was the miraculous power of the Philosopher's Stone, lapis philosophorum.