There Is No Place For Fakes [EN]: Chapter 110

Elencia, or rather, the being occupying Elencia’s body, stared with wide eyes in silence. After a moment, she spoke with a chilling tone.

“Fine. Have it your way. It seems you really dislike me…”

“That’s right. Just as you hate me, I hate you too.”

It seemed Philomell had decided to drop formalities altogether.

The Princess ground her teeth.

“Go out and tell anyone you like that another soul has taken over the Princess’s body. Who do you think will take you seriously?”

“One never knows.”

“Nonsense. Everyone will think you’re just trying to slander me to steal the Princess’s position for yourself.”

“……”

“Don’t regret not taking my hand here and now.”

Leaving those words behind, she stormed out.

“I am Elencia now, I am Elencia.”

Muttering compulsively, she returned to her chambers, where a mirror caught her eye. Reflected in the smooth surface was the face of a girl with a frightening expression.

“……Elencia’s face.”

Indeed, she was Elencia.

“Heh, hee… Hehehehaha!”

Laughter burst forth.

If she wasn’t Elencia, then what else could she be? Moreover, it was preferable that she was Elencia.

‘If I were the foolishly kind Elencia of the past, I wouldn’t have been able to properly deal with that fake.’

She would have foolishly stood by, watching Philomell take everything away.

Elencia spoke to the girl in the mirror.

“Don’t worry. I’ll get your dad and fiancé back for you.”

Then, she burst into laughter.

“……”

The nanny was watching that bizarre scene.

Knock, knock. Just then, a maid knocked on the door and entered. It was Emily.

“Sir Killian the Hero and Count Escal have arrived.”

“I’ll be there now. Before that…”

Elencia ordered Emily to summon another maid.

There was a separate instruction she had given to that maid, and it was about time she completed her task.

When Emily brought the other maid, Elencia asked.

“What about what I asked you to investigate?”

“Yes. As Your Highness said, there were some people in the Sandella region suffering from an unidentified disease.”

“Symptoms?”

“Their entire body turns blue, and their body temperature drops, but the unusual thing is that they experience hallucinations.”

As expected. Elencia wore a satisfied smile.

“Well done. I’ll give you a reward.”

She took out an emerald earring from her jewelry box and handed it to the maid.

“Thank you! Should I investigate the situation in the surrounding areas as well?”

Elencia grumbled inwardly, ‘So greedy,’ and shook her head.

Recently, Elencia had been practically showering the palace staff with gifts to gain their favor. Without a loudspeaker [a device for broadcasting information], this was the only way to raise her reputation.

However, the cost-effectiveness was not very good. Especially the maids, when they were among themselves, praised Philomell for knocking down Count Kelton’s son.

‘Tch, what’s so good about such obvious hypocrisy?’

Frowning, Elencia soon changed her mood and hummed.

‘Just wait a little longer. I’ll be praised even more than that thing.’

To that end, she had proposed today’s meeting, and to that end, she had ordered the maid to investigate.

When was in her hands for a brief moment yesterday, she saw it clearly: a way to instantly gain the fame she should have originally had.

Elencia was confident in her victory as she moved to the drawing-room.

* * *

Namgung, the State Guest House.

Philomell, having heard the information Emily had brought, was lost in thought.

Jeremiah, who had been pondering, said.

“There’s definitely something fishy going on. What could it be?”

Philomell, buried in a plush armchair, replied.

“Don’t worry. I have a rough idea of what she’s thinking.”

“What is it?”

Emily served tea to the guests, having overheard the conversation between Elencia and the Escal family.

‘She probably didn’t intend to thoroughly hide what she was going to do in the future.’

In the first place, it was a task that was difficult to carry out unnoticed: buying a large quantity of Sansal grass, which was one of the more famous medicinal herbs.

Sansal grass. The herb Philomell often brewed into tea to relieve Eustis’s hangovers when she was young.

‘Sansal grass has hidden amazing effects besides relieving hangovers.’

This was also written in . Elencia seemed to have seen that part yesterday.

“Still, I didn’t think she would do something like this…”

“Why, what is it?”

“I’ll explain the details later. More important than that right now is this.”

Philomell rolled a small stone in her hand. It was an object that Regin, in his cat form, had been carrying until just now.

When Philomell lightly pressed the magic stone, a voice flowed out.

“I didn’t want to come into this body either.”

“Go out and tell anyone you like that another soul has taken over the Princess’s body. Who do you think will take you seriously?”

These were the words Elencia had uttered in this very place a few hours ago.

After carefully checking the voice, Philomell said with satisfaction.

“The recording is clearer than I expected.”

Regin, who was sitting on the opposite side of Jeremiah with Philomell in between, asked.

“Do you like it?”

“I love it. It was worth listening to that person’s rambling nonsense with patience.”

The blue stone that Philomell had was a magic tool called a ‘recording stone.’ Normally, unauthorized magic tools would not work in the Imperial Palace due to the barrier.

‘It’s no wonder Elencia was careless and spouted her story.’

‘She just didn’t realize it: the fact that Philomell was hiding her Archmage father.’

Like Jeremiah’s transformation magic necklace, Regin had worked on the recording stone.

‘The only downside is…’

Regin also found it difficult to mass-produce such magic tools. The process of making magic tools requires rare materials and considerable effort.

‘Well, if the Archmage could do that, the Magic Tower would have already ruled the world.’

Jeremiah looked at the recording stone.

“Are you going to release the content recorded there?”

“I don’t know if I’ll release it, but I have to use it. But this alone is not enough.”

There were plenty of loopholes for the fake Elencia to escape.

For example, she could claim that the recorded voice only resembled her voice. Or she could insist that she was just jokingly going along with Philomell’s words.

‘If she comes out like that, there will be suspicious aspects left, but there will be no more grounds to push her further.’

In any case, this was just a recording, and the opponent was a princess who had received a middle name from God. Exposing such a princess’s unconventional identity required utmost caution.

“Do you have any other plans in mind?”

At Regin’s question, Philomell answered without hesitation.

“We need to drive that woman into a more psychologically cornered state.”

The fake Elencia was consumed with anxiety because Philomell had taken away the Star Shop’s products. Unlike before, flaws began to appear in her facial expressions.

When Philomell mentioned the loudspeaker, she showed a noticeably flustered appearance.

“I don’t trust anything you say. If you didn’t have any ill feelings towards me, why did you spread bad rumors about me with the loudspeaker?”

“Th, that’s…”

Thanks to that, the half-doubtful guess solidified into truth. And when Philomell pointed out the great contradiction that she had…

“Don’t bring up that child’s circumstances only when it’s advantageous to you.”

“……!”

The mask that the fake Elencia had been wearing until now shattered.

Unable to contain her anger, she went back, forgetting even the original purpose of getting the item from Philomell. It was evidence that she was losing her ability to make rational judgments.

Emily also reported that the princess’s condition was a bit strange after visiting this place.

“She laughs like a crazy person and frowns all the time. The nanny is so scared of her that she’s become a mute.”

Now was the right time to push Elencia.

‘The more cornered she is, the more flaws she will reveal.’

And when she was completely defenseless, she had to find out: the secrets of that had not yet been fully revealed.

Jeremiah asked.

“Specifically, how are you going to corner her?”

“It seems like we can take advantage of what Elencia is trying to do with Count Escal this time. Perhaps they are…”

Just as Philomell was about to explain in detail, Nancy’s voice was heard from outside the door.

“Lady Philomell, a guest has arrived from the Hounds Merchant Guild.”

* * *

A little later.

Mitchell, the temporary owner of the Hounds Merchant Guild, was sitting in the drawing-room of Namgung.

“Hello! I’m here to see you again.”

Mitchell greeted politely. Even though the trial was still in progress, she steadily visited the State Guest House. It was to inform Philomell about the various trends of the guild.

When she found Katrin again last time, Philomell told her biological mother about the guild.

When asked what she wanted to do with the guild, she shook her head.

“Hey, what can I do in this confined situation? If you want, you can have the guild.”

However, she seemed a little pleased to learn that her father had left half of his property to her.

“I was ashamed and thought I was a daughter who didn’t exist…”

Feeling that parent-child relationships were truly complicated, Philomell came down from the tower.

Anyway, as long as the heir, Katrin, was unable to move, the practical owner of the guild was Philomell, the agent of her mother.

‘Come to think of it, the Hounds Merchant Guild was struggling with financial difficulties.’

Thanks to Philomell’s halo, it didn’t go bankrupt, but there was no way its finances would be intact after experiencing such a thing.

Philomell, having come up with a good idea, opened her mouth.

“Mitchell, are you familiar with the Escal Merchant Guild?”

“Of course, I know them since they are a competitor. Isn’t it the guild run by Count Escal’s younger brother?”

“That’s right. According to the information I have obtained, the Escal Merchant Guild will soon buy a large quantity of Sansal grass, to the point of monopolizing it.”

Mitchell’s eyes changed at the word ‘monopoly.’ It was the eye of a merchant.

Philomell thought that Mitchell was indeed the right person for the guild leader and said.

“To be direct, can the Hounds Merchant Guild secure Sansal grass more quickly?”

Mitchell replied without delay.

“We can. Originally, medicinal herbs are items that we handle more than they do. We have established relationships with more trading partners. Also…”

Pride overflowed in her answer.

“I am confident that Hounds has more know-how than the newly established guild that has grown rapidly in recent years with Count Escal on its back.”

Philomell paused for a moment before saying something else.

“Maybe my choice was wrong. If so, the guild will suffer irreversible damage.”

“……”

“Even so, can you trust me and follow my instructions?”

“Of course! It’s a guild that would have already gone bankrupt if it weren’t for Lady Philomell.”

Philomell smiled and told Mitchell what they had to do.