Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Mikael sheathed his longsword, though the blade was severely damaged. It had been five days now since he’d come to the palace. Eve had encouraged Mikael to train, and as a result he had fought over 10 golems the past several days. His longsword was barely serviceable anymore.

“You should have protected the blade with sword energy. A steel longsword is much weaker than the material mithril golems are made of,” Sylvestian said.

“I haven’t been free of my mana suppressors for very long,” Mikael replied. “I have only mastered that technique today. I’ll be taking better care of my blade once I am granted a new sword by the seventh princess.”

“Oh, right, I do suppose she’ll give you a sword...” Sylvestian muttered. There was a quick glitter of envy in his eyes that was suppressed almost immediately. But Mikael did not miss it.

Mikael held out his right hand for a handshake.

“We haven’t introduced ourselves. Though you already seem to be aware, I am the seventh princess’s personal knight, Mikaelis Agnito. And yourself?”

“Sylvestian Millard, of the Imperial Guard.”

“You are not a personal knight, then?”

“No, not yet, but I will be soon.”

“Ah, so you’re the knight selected by the eighth princess.”

“Yes... It is an honor...” Sylvestian trailed off, lowering his blue eyes to the ground. He hardly looked proud of this “honor.” This actually introduced a sensitive topic that Sylvestian had been wanting to discuss with Mikael. He said cautiously, “Mikaelis, there is actually something I’ve been wanting to ask you about.”

“What would that be?”

“I’m told that you change the moment you are imprinted by a member of the imperial family. Is that true?”

Sylvestian seemed troubled by his upcoming imprint ritual. Mikael could fully empathize with what he was going through, and answered him openly.

“Well, it has only been five days since my own imprinting, so I can’t say anything for certain, but it does appear to be the case. I had felt nothing for her before, but after I was imprinted I found myself naturally making her my highest priority—it’s truly an odd experience. It’s difficult to describe, but it was like my will had aligned with hers.”

“So after I’m imprinted, I’ll be wholly devoted to the eighth princess?”

“It’s likely.”

“I see. Perhaps that will make things easier...”

Sylvestian looked almost relieved by the idea of forced complacency from the imprint ritual.

This one wants a different princess as his mistress, thought Mikael, seeing straight through Sylvestian.

All of the royal family is the same. Why would you...

Mikael suddenly recalled the brief look of envy on Sylvestian’s face when he’d mentioned that he would be receiving a sword from Eve. A desire to be spiteful came over Mikael unexpectedly.

With a note of challenge he spat out, “Or perhaps not.”

“What?”

“Being imprinted did not affect my dislikes. I still felt like the same person after the ritual. It was just that the repulsion I felt for certain things had lessened.”

“You just said that I’d find my heart naturally moved for the imprinter. Why are you changing your words?”

“I simply stated a possibility, not a certainty.”

“Do you take me for a fool?”

Sylvestian said, glaring at Mikael. This only inflamed Mikael’s impish attitude further.

“You were trained to be loyal to all members of the imperial family, were you not? To try and choose your master is hardly an example of that loyalty, Sir Millard.”

“To think I’d hear you say that, of all people!”

Sylvestian exclaimed with a laugh. He did not seem to be offended. He was obviously not an average, brainwashed homunculus—he wasn’t moved to defensiveness or anger when his lack of loyalty was pointed out. Mikael assumed a more serious tone.

“Don’t take this the wrong way. It’s better to retain control of your own feelings, even if it is painful. Homunculi are mere consumables to the imperial family. If we gave up all of our free will to be turned into blind sycophants, the inevitable abandonment will be all the more painful.”

“I think you may be right,” Sylvestian said in quiet agreement. He paused to think for a moment. Then he asked a question that caught Mikael by surprise.

“Mikaelis, do you then assume that the seventh princess will one day abandon you?”

“...”

It was an easy enough question to answer, but Mikael found himself startlingly tongue-tied. Mikael had very low expectations of the imperial house in general, and as Eve was also part of that house, there should have been no doubt or hesitation to his reply. However, he found that he could give no such answer. The mere thought of it filled him with a strange disquiet.

Mikael’s eyes grew very dark. Noticing this, Sylvestian quickly apologized.

“It was wrong of me to ask you. I don’t think it’s a possibility you need to consider. The seventh princess will do no such thing.”

“Right,” Mikael replied, his expression returning to normal.

“I have interrupted your training for too long. It has been nice speaking to you, Mikaelis.”

“Same. I haven’t had a proper conversation with others in a long while.”

“Well perhaps we can converse with our swords when we next meet.”

“I’ll look forward to that.”

The two homunculus knights shook hands and parted ways.

❇

More people had joined Eve in her quarters. She sat on the reception room sofa as two young women and a man greeted her.

“My greetings, Seventh Princess. I am Lianne Diaz.”

“Happy to meet you, Seventh Princess. My name is Peony Graniche.”

“I-I am Hugh, the third son of the House of Balzamique! It is an honor to serve you!”

As expected, the third empress consort had shown excellent judgment in the selection of the servants. Though they all had differing personalities, the servants looked honest and hardworking. Eve felt good about each of them.

“Welcome to my home. I ask that you support Sedella in assisting me.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Sedella, Eve’s personal maid, began their training immediately.

Eve was relieved by the fact that Sedella would no longer be burdened to care for her needs single-handedly. The new servants had originally served under the third empress consort, Filinelli, so they were well acquainted with how things were done in the palace. After their short training ended and each assumed their duties, Eve summoned Sedella to her bedroom. She had an urgent task for her.

“Sedella, I need you to go to the blacksmiths' workshop district outside the palace.”

“Ah, you wish to have a sword made for Sir Agnito?”

“Yes. Here is the commission for the work. You are to find an establishment by the name of Livlo’s Forge. A man named Balbo Livlo runs the forge. It’s not one of the famous ones, so it might be a bit difficult to locate.”

Balbo Livlo was a little-known blacksmith whose insistence on the purity and tradition of his art had prevented him from gaining popularity. Eve knew he would only be discovered five years from now by Marquess Chansley, who funded Brigitte’s political efforts, and had finally launched the blacksmith into prominence. His equipment was beloved by many a noble, but the unfair contracts Livlo always ended up with left him impoverished.

I can’t sit by and let that happen.

Eve was determined to help this future master blacksmith be discovered earlier. As it happened, Mikael’s favorite sword in her previous life had been crafted by Balbo. Wanting to gift him a sword that most closely resembled the one from Mikael’s past, she’d probed her memory and sketched in as many details as she could regarding the original sword and sheath in the commission. Art was a required subject taught to every princess, so her drawing was quite good.

Eve had more to request, however.

“Also, try and find an alchemy workshop we could buy. I would like it to be small, perhaps big enough for only three people. It should be available for immediate use, and deal in potion alchemy.”

“An alchemy workshop... my lady?”

“Yes. There are more mouths to feed now, and we’ll need a bigger budget. I’d like to try running a small business using my main subject of study, and an alchemy workshop will be an essential element for this business.”

“I understand, my lady.”

“Go ask at the workshop guilds—they should refer you to an appropriate shop. If you find a shop that seems suitable, draw up a contract right away. Here’s my seal. It won’t do us any favors for people to know a princess is buying the shop, so use my middle name, but be sure to mark the contract with this seal. That’s the only way to ensure a magical contract is valid.”

“I am not at all familiar with alchemy. Are you sure it will be all right for me to finalize this purchase?”

“Absolutely,” Eve said, nodding without hesitation.

Sedella would be handling more affairs of this sort in the future and would need to develop more experience with such things.

“I will not fault you for any mistakes or failures. Just do as best as you can, Sedella.”

“Yes, my lady. Is there anything else you have for me?”

Eve thought for a moment.

“Let’s see... Oh, would you visit the district south of Ravello River and see if you can find any good townhouses? I, um, have a feeling that the house values there might go up soon. It would be a good place to invest our money. I won’t be able to buy a townhouse outright at the moment, but just try and find one to your liking.”

“Yes, Your Highness,” replied Sedella, though she didn’t fully understand the reasoning for this last request.

After Sedella had left, Eve made a gesture in the air. A bundle of documents she’d hidden in the ornamental canopy above her bed magically fluttered down into her hand. These documents contained the information she’d collected and organized over the last five days for her return to high society.

This should be plenty of information about the people I need to speak to at Rosie’s birthday celebration. What I need to do now is think up a reliable way to create revenue with the alchemy workshop as well as look for information on magic stone mines.

Opening up multiple books she’d borrowed from the imperial library, Eve began taking notes.