Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Mikael had never experienced a warmth such as this. It felt like an embrace that slowly wrapped around his whole body. Moved, Mikael murmured, “Your hand... it’s so warm.”

“Oh, that? It’s warming magic.”

“...”

“You were cold, weren’t you? Would you like me to make it warmer?”

“No, it’s fine.”

Mikael felt tricked, and for some reason, disappointed. But when Eve let go, his eyes continued to follow her hands longingly.

“I’ll start the ritual now.”

“We’re doing it here?”

“Yes. I’m a skilled alchemist, so I don’t need to prepare much.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Ah—I’m sorry this isn’t going to be some fancy ceremony like with other knights.”

“No, it’s fine. I hate big spectacles.”

An imprint ritual involved elements of both magic and alchemy. It’s a magical contract that is engraved upon a soul to form an unbreakable master-servant relationship, which necessitates a magical ritual. At the same time, because the target isn’t a biological human, but instead a homunculus created through alchemical means, it requires an alchemic element as well.

Alchemy takes up the larger part of the ritual. When it came to alchemy, the very first thing to do was to draw up an alchemy circle. Eve pulled out a small ink bottle. It was red magic ink made by grinding high-grade magic stone. She used it to begin drawing a circle on the palm of her left hand. She quickly completed the delicate design.

“Mikael—hand.”

It almost sounded like she was talking to a puppy, but Mikael understood that she was concentrating. He gave her his right hand without a word.

Eve overlaid her palm on his, pressing the circle she’d drawn onto his hand like a seal. She interlaced their fingers carefully without moving her palm.

“Your other hand.”

They were now standing face-to-face, hands intertwined. Mikael looked uncomfortable, so Eve gave him a reassuring smile. Now that he had accepted the ritual was actually happening, Mikael felt he should confess something to Eve before it started. He lowered his gaze slightly.

“I should tell you in advance that my mental consent won’t help you much. It wasn’t by my own will that I rejected the Emperor’s allegiance ritual.”

“Ah, I thought as much.”

Eve didn’t seem bothered by this. It was Mikael who seemed more worried.

“You’re a princess who hasn’t even reached adulthood. How can you be so sure that your measure of control is greater than that of the Emperor?”

“Well, to be honest, I can’t really be sure.”

“Then you should stop immediately if you aren’t certain you can do this! Attempting this ritual so carelessly is dangerous. If it fails, the backlash, it might kill...”

Mikael trailed off with an anxious note in his voice. Eve’s couldn’t stop herself from grinning playfully.

“Are you actually worried for me? I would never have expected that. Thank you.”

“What! Me, worried!?”

Mikael couldn’t let her believe that, of course.

His pride couldn’t handle it.

“Oh, you weren’t?”

“No, of course not. Why would I worry for an imperial princess? Don’t be silly.”

“Hmm, I see. It must be a quirk of yours, sounding worried when you’re not.”

“What?” asked Mikael, looking to prolong the conversation, but Eve changed the subject. She had a good reason—she was ready.

“Now then, it’s time to start.”

She closed her eyes, focusing her mental energy.

“Royal Imprint—activate.”

The magic words animated a strong breeze that blew around Eve and Mikael. The wind signified resistance.

This won’t be easy.

He truly was the homunculus who’d resisted even the Emperor—she could now sense just how strong his wall of resistance was. Mikael himself was more confused by the resistance as he was not actively trying to stop anything.

“Are you all right?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

Eve focused herself more. Beads of sweat formed on her face, and the gusts whirling around Eve and Mikael grew into a maelstrom. The floating prison began to swing and shake violently. It was getting hard to maintain her balance. Seeing that things were getting worse, Mikael tried to stop Eve.

“I think we should stop. The backlash from this will be too great! It will put you in danger.”

“Hush, I need to concentrate.”

“I’m talking so you won’t concentrate. Stop this immediately.”

“Can’t you just cheer me on instead?”

“How could I do that while watching you do something so reckless?”

“It’s fine, I told you. I have a secret weapon.”

“A secret weapon?”

It was at that moment that the sound of something exploding came from Eve’s hair, located somewhere in her elaborate hairdo of braids and pins.

Pop!

One of the pomegranate-colored gems in her hairpins suddenly glowed red like a hot metal before shattering into a thousand pieces. The powder was scattered into the air, some of it touching Mikael’s cheek. Feeling it on his skin allowed Mikael to immediately recognize what it was.

“A magic stone?”

“An amplifying alchemical stone, to be exact.”

The gems were artifacts made from magic stones processed with an amplifying alchemy circle and were used to enhance the results of alchemic rituals. Only a sage-level alchemist could craft such a thing, and its use was strictly forbidden in the empire because its amplifying effect was similar in function to the Philosopher’s Stone, which was the symbol of the Emperor. Artifacts like this, which contained such a high concentration of alchemical essence, were prohibited from use or distribution. They were extremely valuable, not to mention rare.

“Don’t tell me all those pins on your head...”

“Yes.”

“Good god.”

It was reasonable for Mikael to be so shocked. No one could have imagined that the seventh princess would have the nerve to disguise over a dozen forbidden, sage-level artifacts as hairpins, and then to smuggle them into the homunculus training center, of all places! Anyone would have been curious to know how Eve had gotten her hands on such items.

Eve saw the question in Mikael’s eyes.

“They’re relics from my mother.”

“Ah,” said Mikael, remembering something. Though Eve’s mother wasn’t part of the Imperial Alchemy Association, and thus not well known, she had been a very powerful alchemist who had reached the level of sage.

Pop!

Another gem shattered, this time a butterfly-shaped one that had looked especially elegant on Eve’s lime-blond hair. One after another they burst, serving as sacrifices for the sake of the ritual. It didn’t take long for her to burn through nearly half of her twenty-or-so ornaments.

“Are you out of your mind?!”

Though he now understood how she had gained these precious items, Mikael was still shocked at her brashness.

Alchemy, as a rule, did not require much mana. Alchemical stones fashioned from magic stones were extremely valuable because their vast stores of energy could be used almost indefinitely. And here Eve was burning through these stones like they were cheap disposables, just to try and imprint Mikael.

“You shouldn’t be so surprised. It’s a basic tenet of alchemy—you can make up for any gaps in skill with resources.”

It was one of the first lessons learned in the art of alchemy: quality ingredients could replace a lack of talent, to an extent. One of the best traits an alchemist could have was the skill to make split-second decisions on whether an ingredient should be burned for use or not. No ordinary member of the imperial family would be willing to pay such a price for a single homunculus. But Eve didn’t seem to think any of this was a waste.

“You truly are determined to imprint me, aren’t you?”

“Of course.”

“Is my value really this great?”

“Mikaelis Agnito, you have incredible value.”

Her high evaluation was heartfelt, having the knowledge she did from her previous life. The Hadelamid Empire was built on the exploitation of the homunculi, and the Emperor was required to have a high degree of magical control over all of them. As such, if she had Mikael—King of the Homunculi—serving her, she could displace her father’s control and become an unmatched contender for the throne. With her second chance at life, her goal was to take the throne, and she would use all her resources to do so.

“I must have you.”

There were only three of the alchemical hairpins left. Suddenly there was a burst of white light. The circles drawn on their palms were absorbed into their bodies.

“Did... did it work?” Eve asked, astonished.

Then came a huge shockwave, powerful enough that they could feel it reverberate through their chests. It erupted from Eve and Mikael, different from the whirlwinds that had blown around them all this while. It was like an inward ripple that came to a central point and then exploded outward.

“Ahh!”

The floating prison was like a frail birdcage swinging back and forth on a single chain. It swung wildly at the shockwave, feeling like a tiny fishing boat that was being beaten by crashing waves. Eve’s grip on Mikael’s hand was broken and she lost her balance.

Eve, being the studious alchemist who was often teased for seldom leaving her room or being away from her desk, had very poor reflexes. Instead of having the sense to wrap a magical protective barrier around herself, she just closed her eyes in anticipation of the fall. Eve’s body slipped to one side, falling toward the cage bars, on course for a painful collision. But then a pair of sturdy arms caught her around the waist.