There Is No Place For Fakes [EN]: Chapter 171

(End)

* * *

The next moment, Philomel opened her eyes in a place she had never seen before: a field full of blooming tulips. A woman was running through the flowers.

“Isabella! Isabella! Listen to this!”

Philomel was startled to recognize the woman’s flushed face.

‘It’s Katrin.’

Why was she here when she should be locked in the Imperial Palace tower?

She had heard that her situation had improved thanks to Elencia’s plea, but she shouldn’t be free yet.

‘Wait, Isabella?’

Could it be the dead Empress Isabella?

She tensed, wondering if it was another trick of the Evil God, but Katrin and Isabella were engrossed in their own conversation.

Katrin chattered away.

“I just saw a really handsome man. He was leading a bunch of subordinates, must be someone important.”

“Now that you mention it, Father said a distinguished guest is coming to the Imperial Palace today.”

“The Imperial Palace? Could he be royalty? Oh, but weren’t most of the royals killed when the current Emperor ascended the throne?”

“I wonder.”

Philomel soon noticed something strange. Both of them were young, much younger than they appeared in her dreams.

‘Moreover, judging from the content of their conversation now…’

The realization came quickly.

She had traveled to the past. Philomel listened to Katrin and Isabella’s conversation for a while to understand the situation.

“Katrin, don’t talk about things like that outside…”

“Why not? It’s just us here.”

It seemed they couldn’t see Philomel.

“Oh? Where did my handkerchief go?”

Katrin looked around and ran towards where Philomel was standing.

“I must have dropped it on the way. I’ll go look for it!”

Then she passed right through Philomel’s body.

‘Not only can they not see me, but they can’t touch me either.’

Now, only Isabella and the stranger, Philomel, remained in this place.

Philomel muttered to herself, where Isabella couldn’t hear.

“Why did the time-travel device suddenly activate?”

Could it be because she was the protagonist Miwa had chosen? Considering that time is in the realm of the gods, it was a plausible guess.

Just then,

“We have a guest.”

A low voice came from behind Philomel.

A familiar but somewhat unfamiliar face. It was the Emperor in his younger days.

Isabella and Justis locked eyes. Today was the first meeting of the two people who would later become husband and wife.

The moment Philomel recognized that fact, the space distorted.

“Where am I now?”

In the blink of an eye, Philomel was standing in a completely different place.

It seemed her time travel would be longer than expected.

* * *

Philomel moved through various places and saw many people.

The three young brothers bickering with each other, Le Guin engrossed in research, Countess Delles spending quality time with her family, Elencia writing in her diary.

Besides them, Count Polan, Killian, the nanny, and so on. All of them were people Philomel knew.

‘Can I only go to the pasts of those I have a connection with?’

The time periods varied greatly.

The nanny appeared in her younger days, taking care of Empress Isabella, but Count Polan, who had returned to the Imperial Palace after his recovery, and Killian, who had left on a journey to find his true self, were relatively recent.

Philomel had already begun to enjoy time travel.

Their pasts. The present created by those pasts. Even the future that was soon to come. She had protected all of this with her own hands.

That fact made her feel happy and rewarded.

Of course, there was also great joy in seeing different sides of the people she knew.

Among them, Nasar in his childhood melted Philomel’s heart with an indescribable cuteness.

‘Now that I think about it, today is the day Nasar is coming.’

Nasar was currently living a life going back and forth between the capital and the Magic Tower.

Le Guin still disliked his daughter’s lover, but he had officially allowed him to stay at the Magic Tower.

“Marriage is absolutely not allowed! Only dating!”

He added, though.

Of course, Philomel was planning to marry him when she came of age.

‘But when on earth will this time travel end?’

Would she be able to return to her original time?

As she was thinking that, the space distorted again.

“Who hasn’t come out yet…”

Almost all the faces that could appear had appeared. Now, among the people she knew, there was only one person left.

The prediction was correct. Elencia was collapsed by the forest pond. To be exact, it wasn’t Elencia, but the intruder.

It was a past that Philomel also remembered seeing through the Eyes of Truth. It was when the intruder first entered Elencia’s body.

It was a shame that she couldn’t take any action, knowing what this person would do in the future.

“Should I hit you a few times?”

There was one thing she realized while time-traveling. Philomel couldn’t touch people, but she could touch objects.

‘It’s too much to do for a long time because I have to concentrate.’

Philomel looked around for something that could be used as a club and was shocked.

There was something that shouldn’t be there next to the intruder: , the book.

“Why is this here…?”

As far as Philomel knew, the intruder didn’t have the book. If he had remembered all the contents of the book, he wouldn’t have been so easily defeated by her.

In other words, it would be quite troublesome if the book fell into this person’s hands.

“Hmm.”

The intruder stirred.

Philomel’s heart grew impatient. She had to hide the book quickly before the person woke up.

She concentrated and picked up the book. She was about to hide it in the nearby bushes when the space distorted again.

‘Again?’

There was really no one left to come out this time.

Anyway, it was good. was still in her hand. She didn’t know, but it seemed that if Philomel crossed time with an object in her hand, the object would come with her.

“If I hide it in another time, you’ll never find it.”

Philomel’s face, which had been wearing a satisfied smile, soon hardened.

The place she had moved to this time was a place Philomel knew very well.

The Imperial Palace garden. She used to walk here often when she was young.

‘Ah, I see. So that’s what it was.’

Several realizations came at once. Philomel finally understood what the Sun God had said.

“It wouldn’t be fun if I told you in advance.”

Soon, someone appeared in the garden.

The only person Philomel hadn’t met while traveling in the past.

“Sigh, when will my confinement be lifted?”

Philomel, herself.

Nine-year-old Philomel walked through the garden with slumped shoulders.

Sixteen-year-old Philomel dropped the book she was holding at her feet.

With a thud, the little Philomel quickly approached.

“Oh, what’s this?”

Philomel crouched down and met the eyes of her younger self. But of course, this child couldn’t see her.

“A book? Princess Elencia?”

The small child stared at the brown cover of the book.

“Philomel.”

She began to tell a story that no one was listening to.

“You’re going to have a lot of trouble because of that book.”

But without the book, she would be helpless against the intruder’s schemes.

“You’ll also learn shocking truths, and you’ll cry a lot.”

The girl knelt on the ground and opened the book.

“But you’ll meet a lot of good people. You’ll also have the chance to face people you haven’t been able to connect with honestly.”

The child’s brown hair fluttered in the gentle breeze.

“Of course, there will be bad guys and hardships. It’s going to be quite difficult. You’ll get angry, and you’ll want to give up in the middle. But…”

Philomel, not the child, smiled brightly.

“You can do it.”

The words she wanted to convey the most.

“Many people will help you and support you. I’ll support you too.”

She tried to stroke the child’s hair. But her hand didn’t reach her hair and only lingered in the air.

The space distorted. She could tell instinctively.

She was going back.

To the place where sixteen-year-old Philomel should be.

She looked at the child engrossed in the book and said her last words.

“Someday you’ll have it too. A place for you. A place where you can be. I’ll be there first, goodbye.”

Soon, the time traveler completely disappeared.

“What…?”

The young Philomel tilted her head. It felt like someone had gently stroked her hair.

* * *

When she returned, the Magic Tower Lord’s office was a complete mess.

“I’m telling you, let’s just break that clock!”

“You idiot! What if Philomel can’t come back forever!”

“It’s my fault for making such a device, so Phil…”

“Lord Le Guin, now is not the time to regret it!”

Nasar was the first to recognize Philomel, who had suddenly appeared.

“Lady Philomel… Lady Philomel is back!”

He shouted with emotion.

“Yes, I’m back.”

Philomel said, wiping the tears from her lover’s eyes with her hand.

After that, everyone was in an uproar. They pressed her, asking what had happened.

As she was struggling to answer, Nasar came into Philomel’s view with something in his hand.

A game board, dice, and pieces.

She had promised Nasar to play a dice game today. This time, with all her family.

“Okay, let’s talk about the story slowly in the garden.”

Philomel pushed the men’s backs. They headed to her garden, where the Magic Tower Lord had cast a spell to make roses bloom all year round for his daughter.

“Did something good happen?”

Nasar asked quietly, watching Philomel’s expression.

At that moment, a red bar appeared above his head.

‘100%’

It had become very faint compared to before. The frequency of its appearance had also decreased significantly.

In fact, the products in the Starlight Shop were also gradually losing their power.

It seemed that Miwa had decided to leave this world as just a dream.

Philomel would soon no longer be able to handle mysterious tools or see Nasar’s love with her own eyes.

But so what? That’s what ordinary people are like.

“Yes, something good.”

“What is it?”

“The fact that we can all be together like this is a good thing.”

She gave a bright smile without a trace of shadow.

She had a feeling that today would be another happy day.

-The End-