The Princess Imprint A Traitor - Chapter 33. A Toast to Sisterhood in the Belladonna's Poisoned Cup (7)

Only two weeks ago, she had stood barefoot on this very windowsill, causing a great commotion. Looking back now, it had been a truly pitiful act. The Scarlet Room and other notable chambers were on the second floor — high enough that a fall might injure, but not guarantee death.

‘Not that I had the presence of mind to think about that. When I first woke up, I was in too much shock.’

The collision of two lifetimes — tangled and overlapping — had shattered her soul into chaos.
On top of that, the flood of memories spanning seven and a half years was overwhelming and horrifying.
It was nearly impossible to accept that the abominable acts she once dismissed as mere nightmares were truly her own doing.

Unable to deny reality, she instead tried to deny herself. But the more she tried to separate her past self from her present, the more fragmented and unstable her mind became. The instability and suicidal behavior that had plagued her for about a week stemmed from that agonizing period of adjustment.

‘If I hadn’t pulled myself out of that state, I would have truly gone mad.’

Rosenitte had forced herself to acknowledge all the hatred, jealousy, obsession, and betrayal she had once harbored as her own. She fought relentlessly against her own intense emotions — the struggle was almost like a pilgrim undergoing harsh spiritual training in the wilderness.

Through that battle, her turbulent feelings were gradually worn down, and she regained some control over herself. Only then could Rosenitte begin to think clearly.

‘The future has changed.’

For reasons she could not fully comprehend, this life was veering away from the catastrophic course of her previous one. There was no sign of the rebellion by the homunculi, nor the collapse of the imperial family.

Mikaelis Agnito, once the leader of the rebellion, had achieved his heart’s desire and become Eve’s personal knight. Brigitte, whose ambition had triggered the rebellion, was rapidly losing her grip on the crown princess title under Eve’s pressure. At the center of every change stood Eve.

‘I thought something was odd when she suddenly declared she would appoint personal knights.’

The former Rosenitte might have missed it, but the regressed Rosenitte had gained enough insight to think critically. It was like suddenly having an answer sheet beside you for problems you couldn’t solve before.

Thanks to that insight, Rosenitte realized she was not the only one who had regressed. She could even guess who the first regressor was. And this realization brought her overwhelming despair.

‘To think my sister remembers everything…’

Her fingertips trembled again. Every time she recalled it, it felt as though the blood drained from her entire body. Even thinking it through with a calm and rational mind, the conclusion remained the same:
This life was doomed.

She had poisoned her half-sister out of jealousy, and now that sister was destined to ascend to the throne alongside the King of the Homunculi.
She had made enemies of the two strongest individuals in the world.
A fate even more miserable than her past life surely awaited her.

No matter how she looked at it, ending her life when she had lost her mind might have been the wisest choice.

But now that she had regained her sanity, she could no longer summon the courage to die.
To be honest, she didn’t want to die. Wasn’t the instinct for survival only natural for any living being?

‘I want to live.’

Fueled by that sheer will to survive, Rosenitte squeezed her mind to its limits. She tried every method she could think of. Of course, there were close calls along the way — one of them being the morning audience.

Seeing Mikael waiting in the corridor was still manageable. The desire to survive was stronger than the lingering dregs of emotion from her past life, so she managed to hold herself together.

But once she set foot inside the Emerald Hall, things became much harder. Despite preparing herself mentally hundreds of times, the moment her eyes met Eve’s, her heart clenched painfully. The surge of emotions left her breathless and trembling, making it almost impossible to maintain composure.

It was like that throughout the morning audience. Even now, she barely remembered how she had survived that ordeal.

Her ruby-red eyes deepened as she recalled that moment.

“Sister, it seems people really don’t change so easily after all.”

The malice and obsession that had driven her to ruin in her previous life — Eve remained the very existence that prevented Rosenitte from discarding them. Turning her gaze once more to the window, Rosenitte stared at the pure, cleansing moon.

‘Tomorrow.’

Tomorrow, the results of all her struggles would bear fruit. And using that, she intended to sever her cursed bond with her half-sister — to survive.

❇

Finally, the day of Eve’s birthday banquet arrived. The main palace’s grand banquet hall was lavishly decorated, resembling a reverse image of Rosenitte’s spring birthday banquet, but set in winter.

‘Déjà vu.’

Eve, the protagonist of the day, felt that way as she entered.

“Princess Evienrose Cholelle Hadelamid enters!”

“We greet the Seventh Princess!”

A spiral staircase led to a second-floor platform. As Eve appeared there, the nobles in the banquet hall paid their respects in unison. Eve also formally returned the greeting.

“I express my gratitude for your presence despite the cold season. I hope you have a thoroughly enjoyable time.”

Escorted by Mikael, Eve descended to the first floor and began to make her way around the banquet hall, as was customary. With each step, nobles flocked to her, eager to speak.

“Happy twentieth birthday, Seventh Princess!”

“Ah, to be so beautiful and intelligent already! You are dazzling.”

“We bless Your Highness to continue to grow in wisdom, intelligence, and beauty!”

Eve listened to similar congratulations dozens of times, never losing her smile as she mingled.

‘A banquet is work, after all.’

After about an hour of tiring herself out, Eve retreated to a curtained balcony. There, alone with Mikael, Eve quenched her thirst with a drink and expressed her feelings.

“They’re going to talk to me individually when they hand out the mousse cake anyway, so why do they bother?”

“Mostly young masters, I noticed. They’re trying to catch your eye even once, aren’t they?”

“Oh, really?”

“…You’re cruel to those of the opposite sex you’re not interested in, as always.”

“Ah!”

Mikael’s eyes took on a pitiful light, as if memories from his past life had surfaced. Eve was flustered and had to work hard to appease him. It was a small commotion just between them.

“When are you going out?”

“I’ll just stay here until the second part of the ceremony starts.”

“Then why don’t you go to the Pearl Clam Room and rest?”

“No. Unlike Rosie’s birthday, they’ve probably filled the area in front of the Clam Room with aphrodisiacs. Homunculi are vulnerable to aphrodisiacs, you know.”

If the devastatingly beautiful Mikael looked up at her with tearful eyes and clung to her, Eve, the star of the banquet, could end up missing until dawn. When Eve pointed that out, Mikael chuckled, his Adam’s apple bobbing.

“A shame, it would be an exciting situation.”

“I’m serious.”

Eve glared slightly, then changed the subject to lighten the mood.

“There’s another reason too. This is a good place to eavesdrop on the nobles’ conversations.”

“Always working, even while resting.”

Soon, the two fell silent. Just then, the nobles beyond the curtain were sharing information on an interesting topic.

“I heard that the price of goods is falling nationwide compared to gold coins recently.”

“That’s only natural. The South is heavily engaged in producing military supplies, so currency has become scarce.”

“But why is only gold increasing in value, and not silver?”

“Don’t you know? There’s that treaty. When gold coins were first created, they made it so that major metal resources could only be bought with gold coins to establish it as currency. Why else would they call the gold coins minted in the South ‘Mithril Gold Coins’?”

“Oh my, is the South still maintaining that? That must be inconvenient.”

They passed by, and another group came to the spot and began to converse. Following the domestic economy, the next topic was gossip from the Imperial Capital.

“Did you hear? ‘Tears of Alcyone’ is circulating in the black market auction houses.”

“That heavy necklace made of 181 diamonds? There was a huge uproar when it was stolen from the Livius Baronetcy. There was a lot of talk about it being a self-inflicted incident back then.”

“It seems it was smuggled in pieces. People recognized it this time when parts that had been made into earrings and bracelets were put up for auction in the black market.”

“The necklace was so big that even divided up, it must be enormous.”

They also chatted away and passed by. Eve and Mikael were still listening intently when a familiar voice was heard.

“Found you, Young Master Redmon! Easy to find with that red hair.”

“The same could be said for the Young Lady of the Amelos Marquisate, couldn’t it? And it’s Baron Linus, not Young Master Redmon. Please be careful with your titles.”

It was a pleasant coincidence. Eve and Mikael exchanged glances and immediately revealed themselves from behind the curtain.

“Yulia, Alvin.”

“Ah, Your Highness!”

Everyone exchanged greetings happily.

“The star of the day, hiding here?”

“We were listening to the rumors the nobles were spreading, Yulia.”

Alvin puffed out his chest proudly and interjected.

“Ahem, how was it?”

“I thought you handled the tasks I entrusted to you very well.”

“Hehe, right?”

The lord and vassal gave each other a thumbs-up like mirrors. Yulia also joined in on the sly atmosphere.

“Happy birthday again. I sent another birthday present yesterday.”

“What? You didn’t have to go that far…”

“Please don’t refuse. It’s those earrings you had your eye on.”

“…Ah.”

Eve, realizing something, smiled.

“Thank you. I knew you would be able to get them for me.”

“Of course. This is basic for the Amelos Jewelry Company.”

The four of them lowered their voices and discussed the situation in the banquet hall. Yulia spotted Brigitte and gestured with her eyes.

“The Third Princess is with her fiancé, Young Master Antonio Belteor. Marquis Belteor is… over there among the Southern nobles.”

Marquis Belteor was loudly making noise in the center of the banquet hall. Rather than socializing to advance into central politics, it seemed like he was forming a faction with the Southern nobles to show off their power. They were boasting about the military supply business as if they wanted everyone to hear.

“The Great Dragon War will showcase a variety of artifacts that have been improved from siege weapons. If we concentrate fire with a giant ballista imbued with magic, even a Lord-class dragon won’t be able to handle it.”

“The core is still pure silver. Among the three major metals, nothing has better magic conductivity than pure silver.”

“Haha. Count Pavliose must work hard on mining. There used to be pure silver mines in every territory, but now they’re all depleted, and only the Pavliose territory remains.”

“That’s why we’re researching technology to produce the same performance with black gold. It’s a material that’s less used in mass-produced weapons because it’s difficult to fine-tune, but if it’s improved well with alchemy, it will show performance exceeding pure silver.”

Yulia, who had been listening up to this point, said with dissatisfaction.

“The Southern nobles seem very close to each other.”

Eve nodded.

“That’s right. They jointly operate a kind of resource bank to efficiently exchange and manage resources. That’s why their bond is strong.”

“They’re all aiming to advance into central politics as a group right now. Do you think it’s alright?”

Worry was evident in Yulia’s voice and eyes. It seemed she was concerned that Brigitte might replenish her power through Belteor’s Southern Union after they had barely managed to push out Chansley. Eve smiled kindly and opened her mouth.

“It’s alright, Yulia. Trust me.”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

It was good to see the worry disappear from Yulia’s face. The two exchanged smiles.