There Is No Place For Fakes [EN]: Chapter 24

“Lord Le Guin.”

Lexion, who had gone behind the desk, knelt and spoke. Le Guin seemed to be sitting on the floor.

“Yeah? What is it?”

A dry voice came from beyond the desk.

“Someone claiming to be your daughter has come to see you.”

“What? Now, after all this time?”

“It is somewhat late, but her statements about her mother match the data we have. However, there is no record of her mother giving birth in the official records.”

“Probably, since there was no news, the person in charge at the time assumed she wasn’t pregnant or had a miscarriage.”

It was a story about Philomell, but Philomell knew nothing about it.

“She’s here now. Would you like to meet her?”

“I should see her at least once.”

Soon, a figure suddenly rose from behind the desk.

Philomell glanced at Le Guin’s face. Beneath his disheveled silver hair, golden eyes gleamed strangely.

Having seen Eustis and Nasar, she was confident that she wouldn’t be fazed by any handsome man, but even she was struck by his beauty.

And he was very young. She had vaguely imagined him to be old, but he looked to be in his early thirties at most.

What did Philomell have in common with him…? Perhaps the color of their eyes was somewhat similar? Hers was closer to daffodil yellow rather than his brilliant gold.

Suddenly, Philomell remembered that Lexion had a similar eye color.

She meant to just take another quick look, but she met Le Guin’s intense gaze.

At that moment, a strange sense of alienation ran down Philomell’s spine.

‘Something’s different.’

For some reason, this man felt fundamentally different from her and other people, like a different kind of creature.

‘What is it? This feeling.’

The silver-haired man looked at Philomell, erased his indifferent expression, and gave her a captivating smile.

“Hello? My name is Le Guin. What’s your name?”

“Phil… is.”

She couldn’t reveal her real name, so she used her nickname. Although she had never actually been called by her nickname.

“Okay, Phil. Sit here for now.”

Le Guin roughly cleared the clutter off the sofa to make room.

“Shall I leave?”

“Stay here; I have something to say after we’re done.”

“Understood.”

To Lexion’s question, Le Guin replied as if his business with Philomell would be over soon.

Philomell and Le Guin sat down, and Lexion stood nearby.

“Hand.”

He held out his hand to Philomell, who was stiff with tension and wondering how to start the conversation.

“Pardon?”

“Can I have your hand?”

Philomell hesitated and reached out her hand, which Le Guin grasped. A firm, large hand…

“Cough…!”

A sudden pain made it hard to breathe. It felt like something was entering her body and tearing it apart.

“Ugh…”

“No magic power. Well, a little bit. But it’s just an empty shell.”

Le Guin muttered, looking down impassively at the crouching Philomell.

“Are you alright?”

Lexion, who had approached, protested on Philomell’s behalf.

“Hey! You should ask for consent before doing something like that. It’s hard to endure if you’re not a mage.”

“Oh, sorry. I assumed you were a mage since you said you were my child.”

Philomell raised her upper body and looked back and forth between them.

“What was that just now…?”

Lexion explained.

“Lord Le Guin infused his magic power to check your magical abilities. He can tell if you’re really his child by your magic power. It’s just a little sting for mages trained in magic power manipulation, but it must have hurt you. I apologize on his behalf. He’s just that kind of person…”

Le Guin, cleanly ignoring Lexion’s subtle criticism, added.

“It’s ridiculously small, but it’s my magic power.”

“Then…?”

“That means you’re really my daughter.”

It was neither a touching nor a dramatic moment of reunion.

‘What is this?’

She had imagined the moment of meeting her biological father hundreds, thousands of times.

From a touching encounter that couldn’t be watched without tears to a development where she was coldly rejected, told that he couldn’t recognize someone like her as his daughter.

But the situation unfolding now was something she had never imagined.

Le Guin’s attitude was too businesslike, considering he had just met a daughter he didn’t even know existed.

‘There were so many things I wanted to ask him if we met…’

Why did you leave the pregnant Katrin behind?

Did you not know that I existed as your daughter?

With what heart did you accept ‘Philomell’ in the book?

And… do you have any affection for me at all?’

The questions she hadn’t been able to ask for years swirled in her heart.

Le Guin spoke first.

“You have a lot of questions on your face. Can I ask you something?”

Philomell moved her lips and spat out her first question.

“…Why did you leave my pregnant mother alone?”

“I don’t remember well, but your mother probably wanted to stay there. Otherwise, I would have recommended staying in the Magic Tower.”

I don’t understand what that man is saying.

Even though she knew the conversation wasn’t connecting, Philomell focused more on something else.

“…You don’t remember?”

“It’s been over ten years.”

Philomell was speechless at Le Guin’s matter-of-fact attitude.

Katrin and Le Guin were truly just a one-night encounter.

“My mother’s name is Katrin Hounds. She looks a lot like me. Does my face not bring back any memories?”

Le Guin brought his face closer to Philomell’s and pointed to her hair with his finger.

“Dyed.”

“Ah.”

Come to think of it, she had dyed it this morning. She should have washed it out before coming.

Le Guin snapped his fingers, and a cool energy spread through her hair. In the blink of an eye, Philomell’s hair regained its original color.

“Hmm. I feel like something might come to mind…”

The man, who had been pondering with his arms crossed, smiled brightly.

“Sorry. I don’t really know.”

“…How, how can you not even remember?”

“Is there a reason I should remember?”

Philomell’s eyes grew hot as she looked at the man who asked back so confidently.

“More than that, what do you want? The reason you came to find me so late must be because you want something, right? You don’t have much magic power, so becoming a mage is impossible. Is it money after all?”

The back of her hand became wet.

Philomell realized a little late that the moisture wetting the back of her hand was her tears.

“I’ll give you the amount your mother didn’t take, so you won’t be disappointed…”

She had forgotten tears for a long time. The world didn’t comfort Philomell when she cried.

“Why are you crying?”

The man’s eyes widened. He seemed genuinely unaware of the reason.

“I don’t need it. I don’t need anything, money or anything else, that you give me.”

“Why?”

“Because we’re no different from strangers, just connected by blood. Excuse me. I shouldn’t have come.”

Philomell packed her few belongings and headed for the door.

“I won’t appear again, so live well.”

Philomell, who was about to leave, turned around and said her last words to the man who had brought her into the world.

“…Why is she so angry?”

Le Guin stared blankly at the spot where Philomell had been standing.

“Oh, really! You could have said it nicely, but you’re just…”

Lexion clicked his tongue and hurried out of the room.

Philomell ran aimlessly, not even knowing the way back. As if her tear glands had broken, something hot kept flowing down.

She thought she wasn’t expecting anything, but that wasn’t true. In a corner of her heart, she had been craving the affection of her biological father. Foolishly.

“Wait a minute!”

Lexion, who had followed her, called out.

Philomell roughly wiped the moisture from her eyes with her sleeve and turned her head.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’ll guide you to the exit. Could you listen to my story in the meantime?”

Philomell accepted his offer because she had no other way to get out of the Magic Tower.

As they descended on the floating stone as they had come, Lexion began to speak.

“I suspected as much, but you don’t seem to know much about your own birth. Didn’t your mother tell you?”

“What don’t I know? No, there are many things I don’t know. But I’ve come to know this one thing very well: the fact that my biological father is a shameless man who can’t even remember the woman who had his child.”

Sharp words came out even though it wasn’t Lexion’s fault.

Lexion scratched his cheek.

“That’s true, but…”

“I’m sorry. I’m taking it out on you for no reason. Lexion is someone who has nothing to do with it.”

“That’s not true. I do have something to do with it.”

“Yes?”

“If you want to be precise, I’m your half-brother.”

Philomell gasped at the unexpected words.

“I see…”

“You’re not very surprised.”

She had thought that not only his eye color but also his facial features seemed similar to Le Guin’s.

“I heard he wasn’t married, so he’s a shameless man who has fathered two illegitimate children.”

“Four. There are two more brothers besides me.”

“…”

“For reference, all three of our mothers are different.”

One shocking fact was piled on top of another.

What kind of household is this?

My head is throbbing.

Lexion continued.

“I won’t deny your assessment of Lord Le Guin… but don’t you want to know the secrets surrounding your birth?”

When Philomell nodded weakly, he began to explain.

“Lord Le Guin is a man who doesn’t understand love. To be precise, he doesn’t understand most of the emotions that people have. The affection, interest, and things like that you wanted from him as a parent—he won’t understand even a speck of it.”

“…But he had children with several women. Was it just desire?”

“That’s the misunderstanding. He has never had an intimate relationship with any woman.”

“Then how did he have children?”

“It’s an experiment.”

…An experiment? Lexion explained further to Philomell, who didn’t understand.

“In other words, we are children born through experiments.”