There Is No Place For Fakes [EN]: Chapter 103

Late at night on the same day.

Philomel, her hood pulled low, stood in a deserted part of the Imperial Palace. It was the place where the thieves were to meet the person who had commissioned their crime.

Jeremiah, likewise concealing his face with a hood, asked in a low voice,

“Do you think that woman will come herself?”

“That’s my guess. She’s already shown her face once, so there’s a high probability she’ll do it again this time. More than anything, she must be dying to see this by now.”

Philomel was holding .

“If someone else comes, hold out until the highest-ranking person arrives, saying you won’t hand over the book.”

This was a once-in-a-lifetime deal for the thieves as well, so it wouldn’t be strange if they wanted to see the Princess in person.

Kardin, who had been listening quietly, added a word.

“That’s so Phil-like. So smart.”

“Did you even understand what I said?”

“No.”

“Idiot.”

Philomel put her index finger to her lips.

“Both of you, be quiet.”

Currently, the three of them were disguised as thieves, waiting for Ellensia.

They were to hand her the book here.

Lexion had found out the information, and Regin had cast a transformation spell on them. The two were watching the place from a short distance away.

Philomel, with the hand not holding the book, gripped a round object in her pocket.

She felt a smooth bead the size of her palm.

‘The Eye of Truth.’

This sacred object, given by the World Tree, was said to show a portion of the memories of a being when used on it.

According to the World Tree, a priest who received a divine message to be wary of invaders from another world dared to question the god Belleron.

“How can I find those who have taken over the bodies of others and hidden within them?”

Then the god gave the priest the Eye of Truth.

Just before his death, the priest entrusted it to the World Tree, asking that it be given to the true hero who would defeat the invaders.

The World Tree explained the usage of the sacred object as follows:

“I’ve only heard about it, but if there’s a medium, you can glimpse the desired memories more accurately.”

“A medium?”

“It would be troublesome if you only glimpsed useless things from the vast memories a being has accumulated over a lifetime.”

“That’s true.”

“So, it’s best to prepare a medium that evokes the other world. That priest carried around a crude drawing he made based on what he heard from the god… Do you have anything special?”

“Something special…”

There was one thing.

The starting point of all these questions and the book thought to be from another world, .

If there was anything she wanted to see most in Ellensia’s memories, it was the content of that book. If things went well, Philomel would be able to get the answer she had been longing for today.

“They’re here.”

At the same time as Jeremiah’s whisper, two figures appeared.

Although their faces were covered by hoods, Philomel could tell. It was Ellensia and her escort knight.

Perhaps because it was a shady meeting, the Princess, who was always surrounded by many palace people, only brought one escort this time.

When else could she meet Ellensia secretly like this?

The escort, shining a lantern on Philomel’s group, reported to the Princess.

“Yes, these are the ones.”

Ellensia reached out her hand.

“Where’s the book you were supposed to bring?”

Philomel silently handed over in a polite manner.

As soon as Ellensia received it, she examined the cover of the book, relying on the lantern light.

“So, Philomel had it. I wondered what was going on…”

Turning the pages, she exclaimed, “Ah!”

“What! Why is it torn?”

The book was in the same state as when Philomel had torn out all the passages about herself in the past.

It was then. Jeremiah darted out and attacked Ellensia’s escort.

“Now!”

It was a signal to Philomel, who had been slowly approaching her from behind, taking advantage of Ellensia and her escort being distracted by the book.

Philomel raised the hand holding the Eye of Truth high.

Thwack!

Then, with all her might, she struck the bead against the back of her blonde head.

“Agh!”

That was the method the World Tree had taught her to activate the Eye of Truth.

The sacred object emitted a pure white light.

And Philomel’s consciousness was swallowed by the light.

* * *

There was a woman.

“Wow, my novel is finally published!”

The woman, holding up a paperback book, was purely delighted. It was an emotion that was vividly conveyed even to Philomel, who was just watching.

A strange city and strange streets filled with densely packed, tall buildings.

Even on her way home, the woman’s excitement did not easily subside.

Was that why? The reason she couldn’t avoid the object approaching fiercely from across the road.

‘It’s a truck.’

Perhaps because she was glimpsing Ellensia’s memories, Philomel identified the object she was seeing for the first time.

With a bang, the woman’s body floated into the air and fell to the ground.

‘It hurts… Am I going to die like this…’

She heard her bloodied inner thoughts.

‘No! I don’t want to die!’

A life in which she had never even felt any real happiness. It was just boring and annoying.

The book came into the woman’s eyes as she screamed. She struggled to reach out to the book she had written. All her ideals were contained within it.

‘I want to be like Ellensia too…’

Her hand touched the book, but eventually, she closed her eyes.

And when she opened her eyes again, she was lying on a strangely shaped rock. Surprisingly, she felt no pain in her body.

Looking at her face in a clear pond nearby, she was startled.

“It’s Ellensia!”

After frantically touching her face, she looked around. Before long, her newly acquired face was filled with shock and joy.

“Here, this is… !” That was it.

Philomel’s body was thrown away. But there was no impact as she had expected.

“Are you okay?”

It was thanks to Kardin, who had jumped and caught her. Philomel answered in a dazed voice.

“…Yes? Ah, yes. I’m fine.”

Turning her head, she saw a brilliant light enveloping Ellensia’s body. It was the power that had thrown Philomel away, her divine power.

“Don’t pry into my memories!”

Ellensia roared like an attacked beast.

“Philomel! It was you!”

Perhaps because she had taken the brunt of her divine power, the transformation magic Regin had cast was undone.

Philomel paused for a moment to sort out the memories she had seen in her head and then opened her mouth.

“Are you the author of this book?”

was already in Philomel’s hand. It seemed she had reflexively grabbed anything when her body was thrown out.

Ellensia shouted.

“My book! Give me back my book!”

Stopping Kardin and Jeremiah, who were raising their magic power to counter her momentum, Philomel asked.

“I’ll ask you one more time. Are you the author of this book?”

Ellensia closed her mouth for a moment, as if she was speechless, and then suddenly started laughing.

“Yes! Since I’ve been caught, I’ll tell you. I wrote that book, and I’m the creator of this world! You are just creatures born from my hands!”

Philomel narrowed her eyes.

“Are you really the creator of this world?”

“…What?”

“I know you’re the author of .”

The possibility that the Eye of Truth showed a lie was slim. The sacred power dwelling in this bead was undoubtedly real.

“But that doesn’t mean you’re the creator of this world.”

“…!”

The confident opponent wore a look of being caught off guard.

With that expression, a certain speculation of Philomel’s, which had only been a suspicion until now, became a certainty.

There is still an undiscovered truth in .

But suddenly, the surroundings became noisy.

“What is this light?”

“It seems to be coming from over there.”

The light emitted by Ellensia’s divine power was so intense that people were gathering.

Ellensia clicked her tongue and shouted at her escort knight.

“Let’s go!”

The two disappeared in a hurry. It seemed they didn’t want to let others know about this situation.

Philomel, too, was led away from the spot by her brothers.

As soon as their group returned to the state guesthouse, Regin asked.

“Phil, are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

After carefully examining his daughter’s condition, he asked another question.

“But did you see something with that bead earlier? What’s this story about the creator?”

“That’s…”

Philomel looked at the others, not knowing what to say. All four of them seemed curious about the conversation she and Ellensia had.

It was something she had seen herself, but it was difficult to express in words. Philomel hesitated and headed towards the terrace.

“I’m sorry, but it’s too early to draw a conclusion yet.”

“Why?”

“There’s one more thing I need to check before that.”

“What is it?”

“The Shooting Star Rock.”

Namgung Garden, Philomel and the five others stood in front of the star-shaped rock.

‘The rock Ellensia, or that woman, was lying on when she first came to this world.’

Philomel lay down on it as she had done before when she experienced the strange phenomenon, but nothing happened. Stroking it or hugging it yielded the same result.

Regin stepped forward in front of Philomel, who was tilting her head.

“Step aside. Maybe there will be a reaction if I inject magic power into it.”

As Philomel stepped slightly to the side, light emanated from his hand touching the rock. And…

Crackle!

A tremendous spark occurred.

“Ugh!”

Regin was pushed back by the unexpected reaction. Her brothers also stepped back a few steps. Only Philomel remained in place without being greatly affected by the sudden force.

Whoosh!

The pink light emitted by the rock swallowed Philomel. This time, it wasn’t just her consciousness, but her entire body.

“Phil!”

Listening to Regin’s cry, Philomel disappeared. And she opened her eyes in a completely different place.

“…Huh?”

From some point on, Philomel was in a fog.