There Is No Place For Fakes [EN]: Chapter 116

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The Emperor’s office.

As expected, the Emperor questioned Elencia about the mass purchase of Sansalcho [a medicinal herb].

“After interrogating them, they said you ordered the purchase of Sansalcho. Did you really speculate with the cure for the epidemic?”

Elencia protested, putting on the most aggrieved expression she could muster.

“No, Father! I never did that!”

“Then you’re saying their statements are false.”

“I don’t know why they said that, but I really don’t know anything about it. The only reason I met the head of the Escal Merchant Guild a few times was because he was Killian’s uncle; there was no other reason.”

“…….”

“How would I even know that Sansalcho is used as a cure for Martian disease in the first place?”

“The Chief Court Physician said you showed him Sansalcho, asking him to treat a maid.”

It was about when she visited the Imperial Medical Center with the fake Ellie. “

“W-Well, that was just in case; I wasn’t sure.”

“Really?”

“I wouldn’t do such a bad thing!”

The Emperor stared out the window for a moment, then said slowly.

“Can you take responsibility for that statement?”

“Of course, I can take responsibility.”

“If you tell me the truth now, I’ll let it end with you being confined for a while and thoroughly educated on what the duties of the Imperial Family are.”

Elencia felt a surge of anger inside.

“Father! Why don’t you believe me, your daughter? That’s too much!”

“I’m doing this because I want to believe you.”

Elencia avoided his gaze and stubbornly said.

“No matter what you say, Father, there is not a single lie in my words.”

Justis sighed deeply.

“……You won’t tell me the truth in the end.”

Then he spoke towards the door.

“Bring them in.”

Elencia was shocked to see the person entering the office.

‘Ellie!’

Not the fake Ellie who should be receiving treatment at the Imperial Medical Center, but the real Ellie.

Elencia’s hands trembled slightly.

‘What happened? I definitely sent Ellie out of the Imperial Palace!’

She sent Ellie out before the fake Ellie entered the palace, just in case the fact that there were two Ellies would be exposed.

Ellie bowed her head, trembling as she looked at the Princess.

‘I told you to hide quietly for a while!’

Elencia suppressed the urge to shout, conscious of the Emperor.

The Emperor said.

“We have finished verifying her identity by comparing her with the records in the palace register. Other palace staff also testified that she is the maid named ‘Ellie’ who was under you.”

“F-Father… How did that happen…?”

“But you introduced someone else to the Chief Court Physician as ‘Ellie’, right? You couldn’t have confused the face of the maid who has been assisting you for months.”

“Wait a minute! I’ll explain everything. This is a misunderstanding!”

Even as she spoke the excuses, Elencia felt it desperately.

This was irrefutable evidence, incomparable to Tibolt’s or Emily’s testimony.

If it was just testimony, she could just claim that they were framing her, but it was impossible to deny the fact that there were two Ellies, no matter what she did.

“Tibolt Escal testified. He said that at your request, he found a suitable person and brought her into the Imperial Palace.”

“Father!”

“If you have anything to say, say it.”

Justis looked at his daughter with a sad yet sharp gaze.

“The reason why you brought someone with an infectious disease into the Imperial Palace, even using dishonest methods…”

Elencia took a silent breath. She couldn’t think of a plausible excuse.

Faced with the silent Elencia, the Emperor said solemnly.

“I’m disappointed in you. Not only did you try to profit from the national crisis, but you even committed such an act when an epidemic might spread within the Imperial Palace.”

The reproachful tone, the disappointed eyes, were all familiar to her.

“It’s another lie. Why are you always like that?”

“Imitate your kind and diligent older sister a little.”

Those people always drove her like this.

Her heart pounded, and her hands sweated because of the memories of the past.

‘Why do I have to be treated like this? By data fragments that aren’t even my real parents!’

It was the limit. The dam of patience she had built up until now finally burst.

Elencia shouted at the top of her lungs.

“How can you do this to me, Father? It’s all because of you that I went astray!”

The Emperor’s words stopped.

“You abandoned me, Father!”

“When did I…….”

“When I was born, you could have fully investigated my mother’s death if you had wanted to. You could have also known that I was switched with Philomell.”

“…….”

“But you just left me alone. You only cared about the sadness that had befallen you, and you didn’t care about your daughter.”

After a long time, Justis, who had lowered his head, admitted.

“Yes. It’s my fault. I’ll have to atone to you for the rest of my life.”

But he soon looked at his daughter with stern eyes again.

“But what does that have to do with what’s happening now?”

“You ignored me back then, Father, so I wanted to be recognized…….”

“Don’t blame others. This situation is the result of your choices.”

The Emperor rose from his seat.

“I am now convinced. I have a duty to lead you on the right path. I’ve been too lenient with you because I felt sorry for you.”

His expression was resolute.

“The assets in your name are frozen. And you will be confined to your residence until I say it’s okay.”

“You can’t do that……!”

“In addition, I will formally address your faults soon.”

Elencia asked in surprise.

“W-What? What will happen to my reputation as the heir to the throne if you do that? Think about the authority of the Emperor!”

“If you have the proper qualities, you will overcome any hardship and become an authoritative Emperor.”

“Father! I admit I did wrong, but this is ridiculous!”

But Justis was unyielding.

Elencia was furious and huffed and puffed for a long time before finally giving up.

Then, as a last resort, she blurted out a word.

“I hate you so much, Father.”

The Emperor was silent for a moment before speaking in a self-deprecating voice.

“Now you’re finally revealing your true feelings.”

“……Yes?”

“Didn’t you always hate me? But you pretended to like me on the outside, so I didn’t know how to treat you.”

Elencia’s face contorted. She was ashamed that her true feelings had been read by a mere game character.

“I hate you so much. If my mother in heaven sees you doing this to me, she will hate you too.”

With those words, Elencia stormed out of the Emperor’s office.

Returning to her residence, she burst into screams.

“Aaaaaaah!”

Nothing goes her way. She couldn’t tolerate herself struggling in this damn game.

“Get out, all of you!”

At the Princess’s fierce cry, the maids quickly left the room.

Unable to contain her anger, Elencia swept her arm across the vanity.

Clang!

Knick-knacks fell to the floor, and a glass bottle shattered among them. Still not relieved, she was smashing other things when…

“Get away, you evil spirit!”

A strange cry was heard near the bed.

“……Nanny.”

The nanny, holding onto the bedpost and raising herself up, was holding a small statue. It was a statue of the god Belleron [a fictional deity].

Holding the statue towards Elencia, the nanny shouted.

“Why aren’t you coming out of the Princess’s body?”

Elencia was so dumbfounded that she laughed.

There was no way the nanny had noticed the possession, and she seemed to have judged that Elencia’s condition was different from usual these days, so she arbitrarily decided that an evil spirit had possessed her.

“……Even these shabby humans are ignoring me now.”

“It was an evil spirit after all! The kind Princess Elencia would never say such a thing.”

The nanny said with conviction.

“You are not Princess Elencia!”

“……Shut up. Be quiet. I am Elencia.”

Philomell, the Emperor, and the nanny—all of them were annoying.

At that moment, a suspicion arose in Elencia’s mind: Philomell must have planted a spy next to her.

‘Could that spy be the nanny?’

Looking back, the nanny had settled in her room at Philomell’s suggestion.

If she had thought a little deeper, she would have felt that the suspicion was strange, but she was currently in a highly agitated state.

To Elencia, the nanny was already a traitor who had been deceiving her all along. The Princess’s whole body trembled with anger.

‘How dare you repay my kindness with evil?’

She imagined the nanny laughing with Philomell behind her back.

That was why—the reason why she couldn’t act rationally at the nanny’s repeated cries.

“Give back Princess Elencia!”

“I told you to shut up!”

Elencia grabbed anything she could get her hands on and swung it at the nanny.

“Ugh!”

The nanny, hit in the head with it, let out a short scream.

The old woman’s body collapsed powerlessly.

Elencia belatedly realized what she had thrown. It was a heavy marble paperweight.

“……N-Nanny?”

The nanny’s body convulsed for a while before stopping completely.

“Why, what’s wrong? Does it hurt a lot?”

The blood flowing from her head soaked the floor.

Elencia, putting her trembling hand under the nanny’s nose, lost strength in her legs and collapsed.

The nanny was dead.