There Is No Place For Fakes [EN]: Chapter 176

Thanks to Philomel’s efforts, Jeremiah was spared from showing his father and brothers his appearance in animal pajamas, which was a relief.

“Now, care to explain?”

But like climbing one mountain only to face another, another challenge awaited him.

“Why were you hiding in your younger sibling’s closet? And why did you pull out a sword when you were caught? How am I supposed to take this?”

Lexion nodded in agreement with Le Guin’s questioning.

“Quite suspicious.”

“Come on, suspicious? Maybe he was hungry and hiding there to steal Phil’s snacks?”

Kardin made a statement that was ambiguous, making it unclear whether he was defending or criticizing his younger brother.

“……”

Jeremiah, who was receiving all their attention, kept his mouth shut and then tossed out a word.

“Why do you need to know what I did?”

“What?”

Le Guin raised an eyebrow, but Jeremiah simply turned his head away.

“I don’t have to tell you the details. This is between Philomel and me. Philomel.”

“Yes?”

“Did I force my way into this room?”

“No.”

“Or did I sneak into that closet?”

“No, you didn’t.”

“Was my being there against your will?”

“Not at all.”

Jeremiah stretched his neck as if to say, ‘Look at that.’

“See? There’s no problem, right?”

A crooked smile appeared on his handsome face.

“If you still want to know why, just know this: I was avoiding running into those three.”

‘Indeed,’ Philomel thought, swallowing her admiration.

It was a frontal breakthrough that Philomel would never attempt. Moreover, it was quite impudent.

“You brat, how dare you be so rude!”

Le Guin frowned and glared at his third son.

“That’s what I should be saying! I don’t want to see your ugly face either!”

At least, he, who looked exactly like Jeremiah except for the eye color, shouldn’t be saying that.

“Phil! Leave that guy alone and let’s go to my room! Blondie! You come too!”

“Ah, let’s go together, Le Guin.”

Philomel, led by his hand, looked back at Jeremiah as she left the room.

She had a feeling that he had deliberately spoken more rudely than usual, anticipating Le Guin’s reaction.

Afterward, Philomel had to watch her father examine Nassar’s condition.

She wanted to return him to normal right away, but if she did, Le Guin might realize the truth.

Above all, she had to be careful since he had witnessed Jeremiah’s suspicious behavior.

But despite her efforts, Le Guin’s intuition was extraordinarily sharp, as if he hadn’t become the Master of the Magic Tower for nothing.

“Phil.”

Several hours later, when Philomel returned Nassar to his normal clothes after the system came back online, Le Guin seemed to be pondering something and called his daughter.

“What on earth was that outfit Jeremiah was wearing that he was so desperate to hide?”

“……Pardon?”

“Did you think I wouldn’t notice?”

The Master of the Magic Tower listed the reasons for his conclusion, counting on his long fingers.

“The Estellion [magical energy] I felt from Jeremiah at the time. Looking back, it felt a bit different from the power he usually has as my son.”

“……”

“And he also said he was appearing in that, what was it? That game. If you could change Blondie’s clothes, you could have intervened in Jeremiah’s outfit with the same principle.”

His lips formed a curve. It was his usual nasty smile.

“Most of all, Jeremiah was hiding in your closet when Blondie’s clothes had a problem. I can’t believe this is just a coincidence.”

He seemed intent on teasing his son, so Philomel had no choice but to deny it.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Jeremiah just didn’t want to run into Le Guin and the others.”

“Liar. Just tell me, Phil. You can do that much for me, right?”

“There’s nothing to tell.”

“If you tell me, I’ll give you something good? Huh?”

“I’m telling you, there’s really nothing like that.”

Her father wasn’t the only one trying to get information by tempting Philomel.

“Phil, please tell only me.”

“Why are you doing this too, Lexion?”

“Unlike Le Guin, I want to know for good reasons. To comfort my brother who has gone through a lot.”

“Sorry, but I don’t believe you at all.”

“Aren’t you being too harsh on me?”

As Lexion pretended to be hurt, Kardin, who happened to find them, approached.

“Tell me what? Is it a fun story? What is it? Let me in too!”

Only he seemed as thoughtless as ever.

However, if Kardin also found out that his younger brother was wearing a bunny pajama, he would surely burst out laughing, even without malice.

Therefore, Philomel firmly decided to take that secret to the grave.

Ah, so what happened to the other two besides Nassar and Jeremiah?

Immediately after freeing Jeremiah from the bunny pajamas, Philomel returned the other two to their normal clothes.

Then, she desperately hoped that nothing had happened to them in those few hours. But…….

“Wh-what did you say?”

Philomel stammered, holding the communication stone [a magical device for communication].

“Oh? Is the connection bad?”

Soon, Elencia’s answer came back.

“Anyway, something very strange happened to Dad a while ago!”

What she feared had come. Philomel swallowed hard.

“Oh, what happened……?”

“Wouldn’t you know it, Dad’s clothes suddenly changed while he was calling a few people for a meeting!”

Just as she expected.

“Isn’t that really strange? As you know, magic can’t be used in the Imperial Palace! Even if there was someone who could, there’s no reason to change Dad’s clothes with that power, right?”

“……”

“Believe me, Philomel. I was there as part of my successor training, and I saw it with my own two eyes.”

“I believe you. Of course, I do.”

Because the cause is right here.

“What on earth is going on? According to Dad, he couldn’t even take off those clothes.”

“……Um, Elencia.”

“Yes?”

“This is just a simple question. Could you tell me what clothes His Majesty the Emperor was wearing at that time?”

In fact, Philomel was so curious about it that she had been losing sleep for the past few days.

On that day when she made a painful mistake, the window that reappeared after a few hours read:

-Yustis: Emperor of the Night

It wasn’t even the name of the clothes, it just said that, so she couldn’t figure out what it meant.

Still, Philomel tried to think as positively as possible. The modifier ‘of the night’ was concerning, but at least the word that followed was ‘Emperor,’ so she hoped it was an outfit befitting an emperor.

“Oh, it was a bathrobe.”

However, Elencia’s eyewitness account shattered such shallow expectations.

“It was the first time I saw Dad wearing such light and cool-looking clothes.”

It meant that Yustis would never wear such clothes under normal circumstances.

“I see. He must have been very angry…….”

“Well, he couldn’t say it properly, but he did seem flustered and angry.”

“Couldn’t say it properly?”

“Actually, he had a rose in his mouth. And he couldn’t take it out as he pleased.”

“……”

Philomel bit her lip tightly. ‘I’m sorry, Your Majesty,’ she kept repeating to herself.

Fortunately, Elencia told her that Yustis had thoroughly silenced his officials, so the events of that day had not leaked out.

Well, he had no choice but to do so.

“Still, I’m glad I contacted Elencia just in case…….”

After the communication ended, Philomel murmured quietly. Previously, when she contacted Count Polan, the Emperor’s secretary, he had kept the fact a secret.

“I understand. It’s for the honor of his lord.”

But for Philomel, it was more comfortable to know the damage others had suffered due to her mistake than not knowing. Apart from the guilt.

“I need to find out about Killian’s news too.”

As soon as she made up her mind, Philomel contacted various people to ask about Killian Escal’s whereabouts. The answer came from an unexpected source.

“Ah, that Hero Candidate?”

The World Tree, who had been contacting Philomel and making frivolous small talk since their first contact, recognized him.

“Do you know him?”

“Of course, I know him. He’s been hanging around me these days. Something about being reborn as a true hero.”

Indeed, many great figures in history had attained enlightenment while training under the World Tree.

“How, how is he doing these days?”

“How am I doing?”

“I was wondering if anything bad had happened to him.”

“Bad? Well, something huge did happen.”

“Something huge?”

“A few days ago, guess what he did……!”

Philomel recalled the words written next to Killian’s name at that time.

-Killian: Juliet’s Dress

Then she heard the voice of the World Tree.

“He cross-dressed!”

Philomel clenched her fist as her mind went blank.

“Cr-cross-dressed?”

“Yeah! He said he was being reborn, but I didn’t know he’d be reborn that way……. There have been cases where people find their true selves during training, but still.”

“……What did Killian say?”

“He was just making strange excuses, saying that it suddenly happened and that it wasn’t his will? He told me to fix it. What a strange guy. He needs to make sense.”

“That wasn’t an excuse, it was the truth.”

“Come on, there’s no way-”

“It’s true.”

Philomel strongly asserted his innocence and then hung up. Then, she looked out the window for a moment and quietly said to herself.

“Okay, I’ve decided.”

About ten minutes later, she went to Nassar’s room and made a proposal.

“A trip?”

“Yes, I’m planning to go for at least a month. Would you like to come with me if you’re up for it, Nassar?”

“Where are you going?”

“The Imperial Palace of the Velerop Empire and the Central Plains.”

She had thought about it, and it seemed like this was an issue that needed to be apologized for in person rather than discussed over the communication stone.

Nassar looked puzzled at the two rather distant destinations, but soon a beautiful smile spread across his lips.

“If it’s with you, I’d be happy to.”

Philomel felt the same way.

-Side Story 1 End-