There Is No Place For Fakes [EN]: Chapter 17

* * *

Late at night.

Philomell sat blankly at her desk, the face of the man who kept giving her gifts flickering in her mind’s eye.

‘Was he not confident enough to sincerely commemorate his wife’s death anniversary?’ she wondered.

“It’s none of my business. Mind your own,” Philomell muttered, crumpling the letter she was writing with a touch of irritation. Unsatisfied, she tore it into small pieces and tossed them into the trash can.

The letter was intended to be her last to the Emperor. By the time Eustis saw it tomorrow, Philomell would be gone.

The pen, poised over the cliché opening, ‘Dear,’ faltered on the letterhead. After a moment, she pressed down hard on each stroke of the words ‘To Father.’

“It’s the last time anyway……” Philomell muttered, as if making an excuse.

The next day, an envoy from Elita arrived at the detached palace in the morning.

The Emperor made a brief appearance to greet the delegation and then withdrew. Still, it was a significant improvement from previous years when he wouldn’t even leave his chambers for a week surrounding his wife’s death anniversary.

Philomell represented the imperial family, welcoming the envoys and attending the meal. However, she received no instructions to attend the political affairs meeting. It seemed Poland was allowing her to rest on her birthday.

Following the political affairs meeting, Philomell’s birthday banquet was scheduled. There were roughly four hours until the banquet—ample time to execute her plan.

The young ladies approached, suggesting they spend time together, but Philomell firmly declined.

“Countess Delles, shall we go for a carriage ride?” one asked.

“I’d love to, but are you sure you don’t need to rest? There’s a banquet this evening,” Philomell replied.

“We’ll be back soon. It’s a shame to stay indoors on such a beautiful day.”

“The sunshine is lovely today.”

She boarded the carriage with Countess Delles, a guard, and a coachman. It was a freedom she could never have dreamed of in the Imperial Palace, but everything was relaxed in the detached palace.

The maids offered to pack food, since she wouldn’t be out for long, but she declined.

She instructed the coachman to drive to the village she had visited previously.

“Your Highness truly cares about the lives of the people. You’ll become a great ruler in the future,” Countess Delles said cheerfully from across the carriage.

She accepted Philomell’s excuse for visiting the village at face value.

Of course, even she had been shocked when Philomell first suggested going out into the streets in plain clothes.

“You’re not going out into the streets again, are you……”

“Don’t worry. Not today,” Philomell reassured the Countess, looking out the carriage window.

The spring breeze, carrying the scent of flowers, drifted in through the slightly opened window. The carriage rattled along the winding road.

After some time, the scenery of a small village came into view. The story of a woman came to her mind, contrasting with the tranquil landscape.

A foolish woman, blinded by jealousy, who switched her child with the princess. It was Elencia and Philomell’s biological mother who would be living in that village.

* * *

The biological mother’s name, as learned through , was Katrin Hounds.

She had been a close friend of Empress Isabella.

Katrin and Isabella were from the same hometown. Isabella was the daughter of the lord, and Katrin was the daughter of a wealthy merchant.

Katrin met Isabella while accompanying her father, who delivered goods to the lord’s castle when she was young, and the two became friends.

Despite the difference in status, they shared a close friendship. Isabella’s unpretentious character was evident in her willingness to associate with commoners without reservation.

However, as the young Emperor appeared, a rift began to form between them.

At the time, Eustis, who had just ascended the throne, was actively engaged in wars of conquest.

A ruthless tyrant of blood, devoid of mercy—that was the common perception of Eustis.

Then, Eustis met Isabella in a rural territory he visited concerning troop deployment.

The two quickly fell in love.

Eustis was captivated by the gentle woman, and Isabella, in turn, came to love the man who seemed so lonely. Thus, the Emperor overcame all opposition and welcomed the daughter of a humble family as the Empress of the Empire.

Katrin entered the Imperial Palace as Isabella’s maid. Katrin, only the daughter of a rural merchant (albeit wealthy), becoming the Empress’s maid—a position difficult even for nobles to attain—was all thanks to her friend.

As a commoner who became the Empress’s maid, she should have been satisfied, but Katrin harbored excessive greed. She came to desire the Emperor’s love.

In fact, she had harbored feelings for the Emperor since their first meeting.

“Even a mere mistress is fine. I want to be your woman,” she confessed.

Katrin, who had mustered the courage to convey her feelings, was met with the anger and contempt of the man she loved.

From Eustis’s perspective, it was intolerable that his wife’s friend had betrayed her.

Philomell couldn’t understand what Katrin had been thinking to make such a bold confession.

Watching Eustis, who became a gentle sheep in front of his wife, she could only guess that Katrin had overlooked his tyrannical side.

The Emperor spared Katrin’s life for the sake of his wife, concerned about the shock Isabella would suffer upon learning of her friend’s betrayal.

Moreover, Isabella was not one to wish for Katrin’s death, even if she knew everything.

“Never appear before us again. If you do, I will kill you,” he warned.

In the end, Katrin fled to her hometown in tears.

Some time later, Isabella, pregnant and nearing her due date, became homesick.

At his wife’s earnest wish to give birth to the child in her hometown, Eustis reluctantly agreed.

The Emperor sent the Empire’s most capable doctors, wizards, and midwives, promising to join her when her due date approached.

The first news Isabella received upon returning to the lord’s castle, which had been transformed into a palace, was that her friend, whom she thought had gone far away, was in her hometown.

Katrin was also pregnant.

This part is the most curious, as the book doesn’t detail how Philomell’s biological mother and father met.

It only mentioned a fleeting relationship with a certain wizard and the subsequent birth of a child.

‘Is it okay because they’re not the main character’s parents?’

Anyway, back to the main point.

Isabella, unaware of what had transpired between her husband and friend, went to see Katrin with a happy heart.

Isabella sincerely welcomed her friend, but jealousy had taken root in Katrin’s heart.

The two were pregnant around the same time, but their circumstances were vastly different.

Isabella, giving birth under everyone’s utmost care, and Katrin, giving birth alone.

Moreover, Katrin had not yet forgotten Eustis.

It was a frustrating story for Philomell, because Philomell’s biological father was actually the Master of the Magic Tower.

‘If you were involved with such a great man, you should have thought about living a new life. Why couldn’t you forget someone else’s husband!’

Philomell, glaring at the innocent scenery, sighed deeply.

‘Well, there might have been a reason……’

The biological father left the pregnant woman, and the biological mother couldn’t let go of her lingering feelings for another man. In other words, from the beginning, it was highly likely that their encounter was just a one-night stand.

Philomell soothed her mood, which was on the verge of becoming depressed.

It didn’t matter whether her biological parents loved each other or not.

What was important was that Katrin switched Elencia and Philomell, placing her in a precarious situation.

Katrin gave birth first.

The day after giving birth, Isabella, heavily pregnant, went to see her friend’s house in person, despite everyone’s dissuasion.

But that’s when it happened.

The Empress, with only a few days left until her due date, suddenly went into labor and fainted.

The attendants decided to deliver the baby there rather than forcibly moving the Empress back to the lord’s castle.

Katrin had to move out of the bed in a daze.

After several hours of labor, the child was born safely, but Isabella, having lost too much blood during childbirth, became critical.

Even the many doctors and wizards couldn’t save Isabella in the end.

The moment the Empress passed away.

That moment when everyone there, except for one person, closed their eyes to pray for the Empress’s eternal rest.

Whether it was coincidence or fate, Katrin was near the crib where the two children were lying.

It took only a moment for her to switch their places.

Fortunately for Katrin, there was no significant difference in appearance between the two newborns.

At that time, Philomell’s hair color was close to blonde.

Neither of them had opened their eyes yet, so there was no way to know their eye color.

Later, when all the people who had followed the Empress died, those who knew the detailed circumstances of the birth disappeared.

It was the work of Eustis, who had gone mad after hearing the news of his wife’s death in the capital.

Amidst the chaotic surroundings, Katrin quietly left her hometown and moved to a secluded village, raising Elencia as her daughter.

No one questioned the birth of a widow’s daughter in a remote valley. In that way, Katrin’s crime seemed to be buried forever.

“Your Highness, we have arrived at the place you mentioned,” Philomell was brought back to reality by the coachman’s voice.

The sound of hooves stopped, and the guard Martin opened the door. Philomell stepped out of the carriage.

“If it’s a green-roofed house on a hill in this village, that’s the only one.”

A small house with a green roof was visible where Martin’s finger pointed.

A two-story house with a green roof.

Even the roughly patched holes in the roof matched the description in the novel.

“The carriage can’t go up from here, so you’ll have to walk. Shall I send someone to call the people living in that house?” Martin asked carefully.

“I’ll go myself,” Philomell shook her head.

As they neared the top of the hill…

“Excuse me……”

A small but clear voice was heard.

Philomell turned very slowly in the direction of the voice.

“Do you have business at our house?”

The first thing that caught her eye was the blonde hair, as pretty as sunshine. Next were the familiar blue eyes, and even the reddish cheeks reminiscent of peaches.

Except for the eye color, a face that looked exactly like the face of Empress Isabella, which she had seen in portraits.

It was Elencia.