There Is No Place For Fakes [EN]: Chapter 20

* * *

Silence blanketed the Emperor’s chambers.

Count Polan, the Emperor’s secretary, felt beads of sweat trickle down his temples in the heavy, awkward atmosphere.

“…….”

“…….”

The Emperor and the girl, sharing the same deep blue eyes, sat facing each other, enveloped in silence.

The Emperor, who had been staring intently at the girl’s face since she entered, finally spoke after Polan subtly prompted him.

Polan had witnessed the Emperor’s visible surprise when the girl answered ‘Elencia’ to the question of her name.

Then, after a prolonged silence, he inquired about her family name and the names of her parents.

Elencia Hesum.

There was no one with that surname among Isabella’s close relatives.

The girl stated she didn’t know her father, and her mother’s name was Katrin Hesum. It was an unfamiliar name, yet it sparked a faint sense of recognition.

‘It’s not an uncommon name, but someone with that name…’ Polan mused.

He pushed aside the fleeting memory and glanced at the Emperor’s face.

Justis had been unable to meet Elencia’s gaze directly since the beginning, his eyes fixed on a point diagonally downwards.

It was understandable, Polan thought. He himself felt a little unnerved, as if the late Isabella had miraculously returned. How much more intense must the feeling be for the Emperor?

The Emperor had even entertained the fleeting hope of finding a woman who resembled his wife when he was at the nadir of his grief.

“Um, are you His Majesty the Emperor?”

Elencia, who had been quietly observing, finally broke the silence.

Her boldness in speaking first, even knowing his imperial status, was admirable. From the moment she entered the room, the girl had seemed somewhat dazed, yet she displayed no signs of intimidation. Her expression was surprisingly bright, though it had gradually faded over time.

“…That is so,” Justis replied after a pause.

“This might sound very presumptuous…”

Her cute cheeks flushed a deeper shade of pink.

“Are you perhaps my dad?”

“…….”

“…….”

The unexpected question caused not only Justis but also Polan to gape in astonishment.

“As I said before, I don’t have a dad. My mom raised me alone. Whenever I asked about my dad, Mom said he was a very wonderful person. She said he had jet-black hair and deep blue eyes like mine…”

The girl looked up at Justis, her eyes filled with hopeful anticipation.

“Are you my dad, Your Majesty?”

Justis, after a moment of stunned silence, abruptly turned his head away from the girl.

“Your Majesty?”

Justis was staring fixedly at the wall.

“Just now, my power…” He seemed to be perceiving something beyond the solid stone.

“Your Majesty! Something terrible has happened!”

At that moment, Countess Delles burst into the room, her composure shattered. The knights assigned to guard her struggled to keep up.

“Madam, what’s going on…?” Polan began, but the distraught Countess cut him off.

“Princess Philomell…” She gasped, pausing to catch her breath as if she had been running a great distance.

“The Princess has disappeared!”

Justis immediately strode towards the Princess’s room, his pace so rapid that Polan and Elencia, who trailed behind, had to run to keep up.

Countess Delles, having exhausted herself running to the Emperor’s residence, arrived last.

Justis, surveying the dark room devoid of any warmth, turned to Countess Delles.

“What happened?”

Polan could sense the barely suppressed fury simmering beneath the Emperor’s controlled tone.

The Countess Delles, her voice choked with tears, recounted the events. When she returned with the ice water the Princess had requested, the room was empty. She waited, assuming the Princess had briefly stepped out, but the Princess did not return even after a considerable time had passed.

Growing increasingly uneasy, the Countess searched the room and discovered a letter on the desk. Only the words ‘To Father’ were written on the outside of the envelope.

If the Princess intended to give the letter to the Emperor, she wouldn’t have left it on the desk. Sensing something amiss, the Countess hesitated to open a letter addressed to the Emperor and left it untouched. She then inquired with the maids outside about the Princess’s whereabouts, but no one had seen her. A search was conducted, but the Princess was nowhere to be found. Finally, she ran to inform the Emperor.

Polan bit his lip. If the Countess’s account was accurate, time was of the essence. Whether the Princess had been kidnapped or had disappeared of her own volition, the chances of finding her diminished with each passing moment.

Moreover, the Princess possessed the Ring of Crimson Flame. If she were to use it, the search area would expand to encompass the entire continent.

The Emperor snatched the letter from the desk as soon as the Countess mentioned it. Tearing open the seal, he unfolded the stationery. The neat, elegant handwriting was instantly recognizable.

[To my dear Father,

Father, Elencia is your real daughter. During a recent outing, I visited a nearby village and happened to encounter Elencia on the street.

Her resemblance to Mother was so striking that I unconsciously followed her and met Elencia’s mother.

Her mother’s name is Katrin Hounds.

As you know, she was Mother’s friend and maid. When she saw my face, she broke down and confessed everything to me.

She was present when Mother gave birth in her hometown, and out of jealousy, she switched her child with the Princess.

Yes, I am not your real daughter. I am the child of Katrin and an unknown man.

I apologize for revealing this only now. I wanted to tell you immediately, but I didn’t know how to broach the subject.

The fake daughter departs because she cannot bear to face you. Thank you for raising me all this time.

I will repay the favors I have received as a Princess by doing everything in my power to aid the Vellerov Empire in the future.

I will definitely return the Ring of Crimson Flame, which I had to take, within a few months. I am sorry.

I hope you are healthy and happy with your real daughter.

-From Philomell]

That was all.

There was no indication of her destination.

Justis’s arm fell limply to his side, the letter crumpling in his grasp.

“Release the soldiers immediately. Mobilize all available personnel.”

His voice was dangerously low, but as he uttered the final words, he erupted like a volcano.

“Find my daughter!”

Polan and the knights bowed their heads in acknowledgement. They would find the Princess, even if it meant scouring the entire continent.

* * *

At that moment, Philomell was walking down a bustling street.

“A bag of freshly baked bread for only 2 Bell [currency]! Special discount because it’s almost closing time!”

“Have you seen the new dress that came into Jina’s Clothing Store? It’s a copy of the new design by the genius designer Margaret.”

The market street, bathed in the warm hues of the setting sun, pulsed with the energy of people and merchants.

She was currently in the city of Saengen, located in the northern part of the Empire, a large and prosperous city ranking among the top five in the Empire.

Ideally, she would have preferred to travel directly to her destination using magic, but the Ring of Crimson Flame only allowed the user to teleport to places they had previously visited.

For Philomell, who had never been to her destination, teleporting to the closest possible location was the best she could manage.

Her destination was the magic city of Angelium, situated in the northernmost reaches of the Empire. Just beyond the border of Angelium lay the Magic Tower.

That person resided in the Magic Tower.

Philomell’s biological father and the owner of the Magic Tower, the Archmage Le Guin.

As her thoughts turned to him, her grip tightened on the bundle she carried.

The first thing she wanted to do after leaving the Imperial Palace was to meet her biological father. On particularly lonely nights, Philomell would read and imagine the biological parents who had given birth to her.

What kind of people were they? What did they look like, how did they meet, and why did they give birth to Philomell?

Her mother, Katrin, appeared as Elencia’s adoptive mother from the beginning of the novel, so she had a considerable amount of information about her.

A cruel mother who tormented the kind and beautiful protagonist, Elencia. However, in the end, she was moved by Elencia’s goodness, repented of her sins, and confessed the secret of Elencia’s birth.

When Elencia met Justis and everything was revealed, Katrin paid for her sins with her death. But the sins and repentance she committed arbitrarily caused enormous damage to the life of her biological daughter, ‘Philomell’.

Philomell grew up as a fake princess due to her biological mother’s sins, and fell from princess to sinner overnight due to her repentance.

As a result, her vague hope naturally turned to her father, Le Guin.

Compared to Katrin, little was known about Le Guin, both in reality and in the book.

Even after asking Humphrey when she was young, Philomell continued to investigate in her own way, but she obtained little information.

A quirky person with immense power but who never appeared in public.

The ‘Philomell’ in the book, when she was in danger of being executed, escaped from prison and sought refuge with her biological father. That was the first mention of Le Guin.

However, when ‘Philomell’, unable to overcome her jealousy of Elencia, committed evil deeds using his power, he eventually abandoned his biological daughter.

The content in the book was all there was. From the beginning, the novel was told from the perspective of the protagonist Elencia, so how ‘Philomell’ lived in the Magic Tower was only briefly described.

The description was closer to ‘The villain I thought I had defeated stubbornly came back to life and committed evil deeds again.’

The Magic Tower Lord’s biological father also felt like a new weapon that the villain ‘Philomell’ had acquired.

‘Since there is so little known, I have no choice but to go and check it out myself,’ Philomell thought, shifting her gaze towards the border.