Revolutionary Princess Eve

Chapter 6

Eve finished her morning tea and cleansed her mouth with plain water. Sedella began to speak with a wary look.

“You know, my lady... There are many homunculi who would wish to serve the seventh princess, Evienrose.”

“They would become a personal knight for a princess like me, who has no backing to speak of? Nonsense. Maybe you really shouldn’t trust everything you read in the Hadellun Times.”

“No no, I am not talking about stuff from the Hadellun Times. This is from what I have observed and overheard. My lady is well-reputed amongst the homunculi.”

“Ah, you are such a loyal personal maid, Sedella. I worry that you think too highly of me.”

“But it’s all true...”

“I may not have the best resources, but I’ll do my best to take care of you, Sedella. If I become successful, I promise I’ll buy you a nice town house, secure you a high position in the palace, and find you a good husband. You trust me, right? Just be a little patient.”

“My lady, please, I’m being quite serious. I’m not joking about what I’ve said.”

“I’m being serious, too.”

Their conversation had suddenly turned to being at odds with each other. Sedella was frustrated and decided to speak her mind more directly.

“What I mean to say is, it would be great if you’d take on a personal knight yourself, my lady.”

“...”

“Oh! I...I apologize, my lady. I shouldn’t have said that...”

“It’s all right.” Eve shook her head reassuringly. She didn’t mean to get angry with Sedella, and not just because she’d resolved to be more flexible in her second life. Even in the first timeline, Eve would not have gotten angry with Sedella.

“I know that you truly care for me, Sedella. I’m sorry that I am so obstinate at times.”

“My lady...”

Truthfully, Sedella was very precious to Eve. She was the only person in the palace who’d refused to leave Eve’s side despite all the ordeals—mental and physical—that she’d been forced to suffer on Eve’s account.

Eve’s standing in the imperial family was profoundly low. The primary reason stemmed from her background. Eve’s mother had been a common alchemist who lived in quiet seclusion in the forest, training in the alchemic arts alone. She wasn’t even officially registered with the Imperial Alchemy Association, yet she made impressive progress studying by herself in the woods. She would have likely achieved the level of sage if the Emperor hadn’t noticed her while on an inspection tour and brought her in as his sixth empress consort.

The general aristocracy didn’t take kindly to an empress consort who came from a rustic background, was a commoner, and wasn’t even registered with the Imperial Alchemy Association. In the end, Eve’s mother failed to cope with the stifling life the imperial palace imposed on her, and passed away before Eve turned seven. In losing her only form of support at such a young age, Eve had to fend for herself ever since.

But if my lineage was the only issue, it ultimately could have been surmounted. That can’t have been the only problem going on.

Eve’s mother had been an alchemist who created golems, soulless creatures made from clay that had no thought or will. She had regarded all sentient beings as precious and thought they should be respected equally. Having grown up under her mother’s influence, Eve also believed that homunculi were in no way different from humans.

However, Eve’s morally correct reasoning didn’t do her any favors in the imperial family. Eve was not an especially gifted speaker or politician, but she argued for better treatment of the homunculi whenever the topic came up. She also refused to follow the notable imperial tradition of selecting a personal knight. All this antagonism made her a black sheep in the imperial palace.

Even the palace officials disdained her. Whenever budgets were allocated, Eve was assigned minimal funds to provide for her needs. She was only able to stay at the palace by being more frugal than most noblewoman.

Thinking back on everything now, I realize I truly have put Sedella through too much!

Sedella would likely have found Eve’s situation frustrating, and Eve’s contradictory nature only made matters worse. If Eve would have just accepted a personal knight and complied with imperial tradition, she would have been able to curry favor with the emperor, Desmond II, and receive proper treatment as a princess.

Many imperial family members had wanted Sedella to come work for them instead.

Successfully managing to almost singlehandedly support the infamous seventh princess, Sedella’s skill and ability was well known, and many princes and princesses had made offers to have her work for them. But she’d stayed with Eve to the very end. Eve had only been able to hang on in the palace because she’d had Sedella, who was always on her side.

But I won’t be doing all that again.

Eve had learned the hard way that to be right and to be wise are two different things. She had paid a high cost for her foolishness. How could she possibly repeat the same mistakes?

In her first life, she’d done nothing but cause Sedella pain and frustration. Eve never saw Sedella again after the imperial family fell and Eve was imprisoned. She had heard from one of her guards that Sedella had been sent out of the palace without being killed, but it was only a small consolation that Sedella had escaped death. To imagine the hardship Sedella must have faced after being cast out, alone and unsupported... It made Eve’s heart ache.

All this bitter reminiscing caused her a wave of anguish. Eve grabbed Sedella’s hands tightly, her expression serious, and said, “I’ll do right by you this time, I swear.”

“My lady?”

“Truly. I swear it.”

“Oh... um... Thank you. Hmm... You know something, my lady?”

“Yes, Sedella?”

“I want you to know that doing right by yourself is also doing right by me.”

“...”

Here, Eve was trying to impress her gratitude onto Sedella, but Sedella had quickly turned it back on Eve.

Tears in her eyes, she smiled broadly and said, “You know what? You’re right. Let’s both flourish, Sedella.”

“Yes, my lady!”

And with that, their morning preparations began. Because Eve’s quarters had no separate powder room, she used a simple basin in the bedroom to wash her face. Before choosing her dress and accessories, she thought she should check with Sedella first.

“Who will be meeting my father this morning?”

Polygamy was customary for the emperor or empress of Hadelamid. the Emperor, being especially vigorous, already had 18 children by that time—10 princesses and eight princes. All 18 couldn’t be summoned at once for a family gathering, so they were instead split into groups of four or five and allowed time on weekday mornings to have an audience with the emperor.

Remembering today was the day she’d meet his majesty, Eve decided it was time to make her request. The morning greeting, as it was called, was the best possible opportunity to address him, as gaining a private audience with the emperor took quite a long time, even as an imperial princess.

Sedella replied, “It’s the third and eighth princesses as well as the fourth and fifth princes. You are also included, my lady.”

“That’s good... oh wait. The third and the eighth princesses?”

“Yes.”

The twin imperial princes were of no importance to Eve, but as for the other two... The third princess was Brigitte, who’d tipped the scales of the empire toward ruin by forming herself a homunculi harem the moment she was selected as crown princess. The eighth princess was none other than the “Belladonna of the Empire,” Rosenitte, who’d poisoned Eve. She did not want to face either of them.

Isn’t it unusual for me to see them both in one day? Oh, right. Today must be that day.

She’d just remembered. The morning greeting with the Emperor a week before Rosenitte’s 18th birthday was, in Eve’s memory, one of the worst morning greetings ever. The third princess Brigitte often went to extreme lengths to court the Emperor’s favor to ensure she would be selected as the crown princess.

This day Brigitte had led Eve into a political trap, using Eve as a foil to show off her own resourcefulness. At the time, the decreasing yield of magic stones from the mines was such a severe issue for the Emperor that he’d been getting frequent headaches from all the stress. Brigitte had brought up the subject and suggested stricter quotas for miners as a short-term solution. It was the low-grade homunculi—often referred to as “failures”—who were tasked with this back-breaking labor.

Eve couldn’t keep herself from protesting, knowing those homunculi were already overtaxed, and how unreasonable Brigitte’s suggestion would impact their workload. Tactless and blunt, Eve had rebutted Brigitte’s suggestion, expressing her own unpopular opinion that the homunculi needed better treatment.

Anticipating her response, Brigitte then twisted Eve’s words back on her, dressing her down as a princess with no respect for the imperial traditions. Rosenitte, one week away from selecting her own personal knight, had joined in with a hurt tone and some well-placed sniffles, asking, “Are you suggesting that I’m an evil person who exploits homunculi?” The atmosphere went downhill from there.

The Emperor, already suffering from a pounding headache, didn’t want to hear any more arguments. Plus, the tears shed by the precious White Rose of the Empire were more than enough to cast Eve as one of history’s greatest villains. The Emperor didn’t even give Eve a chance to defend herself before returning to her lodgings. She’d been kicked out. Not only had this been humiliating to Eve, it was also her first significant fall into her father’s disfavor. The incident also marked further erosion of the empire’s stability, as the Emperor had followed Brigitte’s advice, choosing a harsher policy to fix their problems.

Of course. If I came back to my past due to all the regrets in my past life, today would have to be the day I returned to. It’s clearly an important turning point.

This was no standard morning greeting. The rest of Eve’s and the empire’s life depended on it. Eve’s face grew somber, as a soldier looks when preparing for battle.

“Oh, how am I going to do this?”

“What do you mean by that, my lady?”

“Hmm?”

Sedella couldn’t understand why Eve suddenly looked so serious. She gave Eve a bright smile and held out her fanciest dress.

“Let’s start with the proper fittings.”