Eve looked around the chaotic village from end to end. Before any conversation, there was something that needed to be dealt with.
"First, we'll need to get the village in order."
Morien, the jiju (支柱), had difficulty moving, so someone else handled the role of village chief in practice.
"I am Morien-nim's daughter, Helione, Savior."
"Good to meet you. And rather than 'Savior,' I'd prefer 'Imperial Princess.'"
"Yes, Imperial Princess."
Working together with Helione, Eve set Dandelion's residents and the knight orders in motion.
The village that had been invaded by the monster army was in total disarray. They hurriedly rebuilt the palisade and cleared away the rubble from collapsed buildings.
Near the palisade, there were quite a few houses that had been completely destroyed, so they prepared temporary shelters as well.
'The front is heavily damaged, but the rear has comparatively little.'
Eve walked the site herself, giving instructions.
"The Savior is rebuilding the palisade for us."
"Thank you, Savior."
It wasn't what she intended, but it was effective in solidifying her position as a "savior."
Most important was the issue of managing supplies.
Dandelion was a place that lacked supplies even on ordinary days, and now that it had gone through a battle, it was no different from a refugee camp.
Eve released most of the supplies she had brought into Dandelion.
She handed over medicinal herbs so they could treat the injured, and she combined the expedition force's rations with the village's meager stored food to establish a distribution plan.
'As for drinking water—thankfully, during the rainy season they filled the tree reservoirs with rainwater. And they've got a proper filtration system with stones and charcoal, too. This should hold for a while.'
Now she wasn't just giving orders—she was handing out provisions—so the residents could only grow more moved.
"These are the medicinal herbs the Savior brought..."
"To give something this precious to us..."
Even when she did charity work in the capital for merit, she hadn't gotten reactions like this.
'Th-This is… kind of burdensome.'
Eve wasn't the type like Alben who enjoyed attention, so excessive worship made her embarrassed.
As much as possible, she had Mikael relay instructions, and she stood there quietly, letting people see only that.
Once she started checking supplies and planning how to use them, Eve couldn't leave the site.
Because they had rushed inside the gate with only the knight orders, they lacked personnel suited for management.
'If only there were a trustworthy aide I could rely on...'
Feeling that regret, she headed to the food storehouse—only to find Helione already there, speaking with someone who had brought a wagon.
The other person was peering around inside the storehouse, speaking briskly.
"Jerky, sausages... Mostly meat that's been dried or preserved, huh."
"Yes. Since hunting is the main thing..."
"If we combine both sides' food and make a thin stew, we should be able to cover about two meals. Let me taste this sausage for a moment. Mm... The flavor's good, but for preserved meat it's kind of bland. The stew will taste watery."
"W-We don't have salt, so we substitute a plant with preservative effects as the curing agent..."
"Ah-ha! I guess our Imperial Princess saw this coming. She told us to pack a lot of spices."
"You must be someone who serves close to the Savior—no, the Imperial Princess."
"Yes. I'm one of her close aides—within the top ten fingers."
The face that spoke proudly while writing down a cooking recipe was extremely familiar. Eve's eyes blinked rapidly, as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
"Peony?"
"Ah, Your Highness!"
"Why are you here?"
"I hid in the rations wagon and came in."
She looked pleased, like she'd successfully completed some grand infiltration mission. Eve was left speechless.
"Your Highness?"
"Ha… I can't live."
Somehow, Peony felt even more like a troublesome younger sister than Rosenitte did.
Eve scolded Peony harshly for doing something so dangerous. But when she saw Peony's shoulders droop, Eve felt bad and quickly softened her expression, coaxing her instead.
"If you ever do something dangerous again, I'll send you to Her Highness Filinelli and ask her to give you special training for a month."
"I don't want to go a whole month without seeing Your Highness. I'll never do it again."
Still, thanks to Peony sneaking in, Eve gained an excellent management-type talent.
Even if she was young, she was quick and courteous, and she was someone who'd been with Eve even back at the Galamut magic-ore village—someone Eve could entrust work to.
"Since you came in anyway, you'll have to work hard, Peony.
While we're staying in Dandelion, you're my aide. Look after the village's condition and take charge of managing supplies."
"Yes, Your Highness!"
To give weight to Peony's position, Eve declared it to the knight orders and to Helione as well.
"When I'm not present, I want you to go through my aide."
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Yes, Imperial Princess."
People were assigned to every field that needed hands. At last, Eve was able to sit down and speak with Dandelion's jiju, Morien.
Helione guided Eve.
"Please come this way, Imperial Princess."
The instant Eve took a step, Mikael peeled away from Jingbeol and returned to his escort duty.
"You must not go into my blind spot in an unfamiliar place, Your Highness."
"I don't think the jiju and the village chief are going to harm me."
"Even if there is no actual threat, my heart feels threatened."
"Uh… okay. I'll be careful."
Imprints really were convenient. Even if he said something embarrassingly sweet in front of others, no one took issue with it.
Where Morien waited was a house located in the rear of the village—intact, without damage.
Eve examined the interior carefully. The first thing she noticed was that the walls and ceiling were all wood. There were no rotten sections, but it was old and shabby, and the construction itself was crude and sloppy.
In her mind, Eve made a quick estimate.
'Tear it all down and rebuild.'
The monster army had already destroyed over half the village, so there was a justification for demolition.
They could clear the front completely, reclaim the forest in front to expand the village's area, and then build new structures.
As for the rear—where damage was relatively low—she decided to leave it intact.
Someday, when people were fed and warm, they would start wanting cultural value again, wouldn't they?
Around then, Morien spoke.
"Thanks to the Imperial Princess opening the gate at the right moment and drawing the monsters' attention, we were able to reduce the loss of life.
Damage to buildings can be repaired as many times as needed, but life cannot be restored. As the jiju, I thank you."
"You say that, but in such a harsh environment, restoring the village will come with great difficulty, won't it?"
When Eve opened the topic, Morien did not refuse—she began to pour out her grievances.
"Yes.... Dandelion lacks not only resources, but manpower and technology as well.
We barely manage to secure food each day—if we also try to rebuild the village at the same time, the burden is enormous."
"As I thought."
"To return to how things used to be may take five years… perhaps ten."
As if the residents' difficult future were vividly playing before her eyes, the old woman's gaze grew murky and sank.
Eve hurried to ease her worries.
"Outside the gate, my retainer who leads a builders' guild is standing by. Officially, they're manpower for expanding the military supply warehouse and strengthening supply routes, but they'll also support village reconstruction in every way—so please be at ease."
"Is that truly so? Ah… thank you, Imperial Princess."
Now, in a far more relaxed atmosphere, they could talk properly.
"Then I will speak first, Jiju."
Eve told her about the situation outside.
That they were preparing a subjugation war against the Demon Dragon Ambroksa to solve the problem of depleted magic stones, and that four members of the Imperial Family had been dispatched to scout the outpost base.
But only half had entered Dandelion now, and the remaining half would enter in three days.
She laid it out calmly, as cleanly and without unnecessary embellishment as possible.
Helione asked back, startled. Perhaps the subjugation of Ambroksa felt too unreal—her focus landed on something else entirely.
"Four Imperial royals came to Dandelion?"
"That's right. For reference, none of them are on good terms with me.
Especially the Third Unnie in the later group—I'm openly hostile with her, staking everything."
"Didn't you say there's also a younger sister in the advance party?"
"She fainted after getting drenched in troll blood. She's the Belladon—no, the White Rose of the Empire; she has a name in high society, but she was raised delicately, so she won't be much help."
"Even so, it's fortunate that she seems to be someone who has loyalty toward you, Imperial Princess."
"What?"
Eve and Mikael both thought they'd misheard. Then Helione continued with a transcendent interpretation.
"Isn't the fact that she came in with the advance party proof that she decided to share life and death with you? I thought she was someone with sisterly affection."
Since the Night Rose scandal that had heated up the rainy season, this was the first time Eve had heard something this spine-chilling.
"Absolutely, absolutely not. There were just… complicated circumstances."
Eve explained the whole story. As she spoke about bringing Rosenitte as collateral, it naturally led into her political conflict with Brigitte as well.
It was around then that Morien—who had been quiet for a while—spoke again.
"You are competing for the throne. You will be victorious. Imperial Princess, you are the Savior spoken of in the revelation, and the King of humans and homunculi."
"Ah, right. Savior. King of humans and homunculi. That's what you've been calling me, but I want to hear in detail how that came to be."
If nothing else, she had to clarify the part about the King of homunculi—meaning the part connected to Mikael.
"Do you know how Dandelion came to exist, Imperial Princess?"
"I know it was a place to shelter the victims of witch-hunts."
"The victims at that time were people with outstanding talent in alchemy. They were all gathered in one place, so in Dandelion, with each generation, the talent in the bloodline grew stronger and stronger.
Among them, there arose those who could commune with the world's truth and receive revelations. I am one of them."
It was an astonishing story, almost impossible to believe, yet the jiju herself was presenting herself as the witness. Eve drew in a breath and listened on.
"A revelation is encountered around the time one undergoes the coming-of-age ceremony. Everyone received the same revelation. I was the same.
It said that the King of humans and homunculi would save Dandelion."
"Then it must have been a belief widely spread in Dandelion. That's why I was welcomed."
"Yes. Imperial Princess—because you are the Savior."
Returning again to the grand premise, Morien looked at Eve with eyes full of yearning.
At this point, Eve voiced her question.
"Could it be that the King of humans and the King of homunculi were separate individuals?"
"Are you asking if it was two people? In my revelation, it was one person, but..."
Perhaps because the sudden question was strange, Morien and Helione studied Eve carefully.
But Eve didn't notice. At that moment, her mind was already overflowing with worry.
'Do I have to interpret "King of humans and homunculi" as Mikael—who became Emperor in my previous life? Since the revelation was received before the regression, I guess that could make sense? But this feels like I'm forcing it.'
With a scholar's nature, once a question bloomed in her mind, Eve dug into it.
Eve's visible anguish over Dandelion's revelation seemed to trigger a sense of crisis in Morien. She hurriedly spoke.
"I know it must be burdensome to be called Savior so suddenly. However, please take pity on Dandelion's residents. There is no one but you.
Only you can help Dandelion, Imperial Princess."
Morien pleaded desperately, bowing so deeply she looked like she might strike her forehead against the wooden table.
When Eve wavered, Morien pressed a little further. And in that process, she became honest.
"Even if you are not the Savior spoken of by the revelation, that is fine.
Salvation is not something only gods can do. It can be done by human will, too.
Dandelion, which has endured nothing but hope-torture until now, needs real hope. Imperial Princess, you are the right person."
"...Ah."
In that instant, Eve realized it.
The reason that uncomfortable, unresolved feeling had been bothering her all along.
Eve said,
"The revelation was false."