There Is No Place For Fakes [EN]: Chapter 35

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“Your Highness, you’re really back!”

Countess Delles beamed as soon as she saw Philomel enter the room.

“It’s been a while, Countess.”

“Where have you been all this time? Not a word to me, after all this time we’ve spent together!”

“…I’m sorry. I couldn’t tell you.”

“No, no. It’s enough that you’re back. I was so worried something had happened to you, Your Highness…”

The Countess sniffled and hugged Philomel tightly.

“Welcome back. Really.”

The Countess’s body and voice were trembling. A welcome far more fervent than she had anticipated left Philomel slightly flustered, but she slowly patted the Countess’s back.

“I’m back.”

However, the Countess wasn’t the only one waiting for Philomel at this late hour.

“Your Highness, we missed you!”

“I knew you’d come back.”

“You’re not leaving again, are you? If you’re going to leave, you have to tell us.”

Philomel was sweating as she tried to calm down the maids who were all talking at once.

“You lot! I know you’re happy, but what are you doing, bothering someone who’s tired?”

“We’re, we’re sorry!”

The maids bowed their heads at the Countess’s scolding.

“Don’t be too hard on them.”

Philomel stopped the Countess, feeling not at all displeased.

She soaked in the bathwater they had prepared for her, and after changing into clean clothes, she felt very refreshed.

In the meantime, the maids had retreated, leaving only the Countess in the room.

“You should go and rest too, Countess.”

“No, I’m fine. I’ll spend tonight here. I even brought some needlework with me.”

The Countess, sitting in an armchair, held up her knitting. Philomel seemed to know why she was staying by her side, so she didn’t try to persuade her again.

Philomel sat in a chair in front of the fireplace, waiting for her wet hair to dry.

“Your Highness.”

Suddenly, Countess Delles spoke.

“…Yes?”

“I won’t ask why you left. I’m sure many others have already asked.”

“…”

“Instead, promise me just one thing. Promise me you won’t leave without a word again. At least let me know.”

“…Yes. I promise.”

Philomel hesitated for a moment before nodding in response.

She had been most concerned about her when she left, so she couldn’t help but make a promise, even though she knew it would be difficult to keep.

Frankly, Philomel was bewildered by the fact that the Countess and the maids were so worried and concerned about her.

She thought they might think of her from time to time, given the amount of time they had spent together, but not to this extent.

It was clear that those who had served Philomel most closely were in the most difficult position because of her disappearance.

What should she call this feeling of being sorry for them, yet also a little happy?

Meow.

At that moment, she was awakened from her thoughts by a sound from outside.

Meow, meow.

The crying didn’t stop at once, and she even heard the sound of scratching at the window.

“Did a stray cat sneak in or something?”

The Countess got up and opened the terrace door slightly.

Rustle.

Something like a small ball of fur instantly invaded the room.

“Oh my!”

“Meooow.”

It was a cat.

The cat passed the Countess, who was about to fall over in surprise, and approached Philomel.

“Pretty.”

Philomel exclaimed, looking at the fur that was unusually shiny, almost white.

The cat rubbed against Philomel’s legs in a friendly manner, so she mustered up the courage to stroke its head.

Unlike a child wandering the streets, its fur was very fine. It didn’t look dirty either.

“I don’t know how it got in here, but that one has an eye for beauty.”

“It doesn’t avoid people, so could it be a child with an owner?” [Meaning, could it be a pet cat with an owner.]

“Well, if it has an owner, they must be looking for it hard now. Judging by its condition, it seems to have been raised with a lot of love.”

“I’ve never seen a silver cat before.”

No matter how she looked at it, the cat’s fur was silver, neither gray nor white.

The Countess, who had been watching Philomel, unable to take her eyes off the cat for a long time, said,

“Shall we take care of it here until we find its owner?”

“I’d like to, but I don’t know when I’ll be leaving again…”

The Countess’s face clouded over.

“Are you really going to leave? Can’t you just stay here with us?”

“I’m not a princess. I can’t stay here forever.”

“But His Majesty the Emperor was so desperate to find you, Your Highness. He won’t mistreat you just because you’re not his biological daughter.”

“…His Majesty was desperate to find me?”

She knew he had been searching with his eyes wide open, but the expression ‘desperate’ didn’t seem to fit.

“Of course.”

However, Philomel found it difficult to pour cold water on the Countess’s unwavering answer.

“Well. He did say he wanted to adopt me.”

“Really? So what did you say?”

“I declined, but he told me to take my time to think about it…”

“Accept it!”

She shouted forcefully, then covered her mouth with both hands.

“…I’m sorry. It’s up to Your Highness to decide, but I was presumptuous.”

“Not at all. You said it because you were thinking of me.”

As a Countess, she would want Philomel to live comfortably with her rather than leave the Imperial Palace where she was born and raised.

“If I may offer my opinion, I think life here wouldn’t be so bad. I’m confident I can treat you really well from now on.”

“What you’ve done so far is enough.”

“Anyway, Princess Elencia is your biological daughter, so she’ll be doing all the hard work, like successor education and work. So Your Highness can live comfortably from now on.”

“Thank you for your concern. But I’m really okay.”

It wouldn’t be easy to share Elencia’s position, but she was grateful for the Countess’s concern for her.

Suddenly, Philomel’s gaze turned to the cat, which was still nearby.

Its ears were perked up, as if it were listening to Philomel and the Countess’s conversation.

‘No way.’

Thinking it was a misunderstanding, Philomel dismissed it casually.

“I’m not going anywhere, so go and rest.”

While Philomel was roughly drying her hair and lying down on the bed, the Countess didn’t let go of her knitting.

“I’ll only be here until Your Highness falls asleep.”

It seemed like it would help her rest if she fell asleep quickly, so Philomel closed her eyes.

However, perhaps because she had slept so well in the Emperor’s bedroom, sleep didn’t come easily.

The cat, which had settled in front of the fireplace, also curled up and closed its eyes, as if preparing to sleep.

She decided to let the cat sleep here for today. Tomorrow, she would have to find its owner or someone to take care of it until its owner was found.

The Countess asked Philomel, who couldn’t fall asleep, in a low voice.

“Is there something bothering you?”

There were more than enough things to worry about. The future, the situations that were subtly different from the novel. And… Elencia’s suspicious attitude.

Even though it had only happened yesterday, her meeting with Le Guin and the secret of her birth felt like a distant past.

“I’m just a little confused.”

“I may not be of much help, but I’m happy to listen to anything you have to say. They say that just talking to someone else can make you feel better.”

She was grateful for her concern, but most of her worries were the kind she couldn’t talk about.

Philomel brought up the one that was okay to talk about.

“Um… It’s about His Majesty and Princess Elencia. Did anything happen between them when I wasn’t around?”

“Well, I don’t have many opportunities to see them up close. What kind of things are you talking about specifically?”

“I don’t know how to say it… I feel like they’re a little awkward with each other.”

To be exact, it was Eustis who was awkward, and Elencia was very affectionate.

“Of course.”

“Of course?”

“Yes. They’re father and daughter, but as people, they only met for the first time a few days ago. It would be strange if they were close.”

“…But isn’t there a strong bond between parents and children who are connected by blood that’s different from others?”

Yes. The bond that she and Eustis didn’t have.

She had lived in constant anxiety, as if the floor would collapse at any moment, and had always longed for a blood tie.

Katrin and Le Guin, who shared her blood, were people who couldn’t give her that.

The Countess stopped knitting and stared at Philomel.

“Your Highness. Or should I call you Philomel from now on?”

“Whatever you’re comfortable with.”

“Philomel, do you remember what I told you about my daughter before?”

“Ah, the one who went to study abroad and came back recently.”

If it was the Countess’s daughter, she seemed to have heard that she was studying politics at a university in Elita.

“Hehe. My daughter was a child who said she would marry her father when she grew up, but now she’s distant from her husband. They’re so awkward with each other. I don’t think they’ll say a word to each other if I’m not there.”

This was the first time she had heard in detail about her family.

“I think that the relationship between parents and children is not much different from other human relationships in essence. Both sides have to put in time and effort to maintain a healthy relationship. Just like my father and daughter are awkward because they’ve been apart for a while, the same is true for His Majesty the Emperor and Her Highness the Princess.”

Age was evident in the eyes of Countess Delles, who began to move her hands again.

“…Is that so?” Hearing the Countess’s story made it even more confusing.

‘In the book, the Emperor and Elencia became a special father and daughter as soon as they met.’

“Speaking of which. I’d like to introduce my family to Philomel. Everyone wants to meet Philomel after hearing about me.”

Countess Delles said, her eyes twinkling.

“Me?”

Philomel replied awkwardly.

“If you have to leave this place, why don’t you stay at our house for a while, even if it’s just for a while? I’m going to go down to the estate and take a good rest.”

“What about your maid duties?”

“I have to quit since Philomel is not here.”

“Instead, if you become Princess Elencia’s maid…”

“Oh my. Did you see me as someone who easily changes the person I serve? I’m a little sad.”

The Countess playfully retorted.

“My daughter is back, so I was about to go down to the estate anyway. Don’t worry about it, it’s not your fault.”

“…”

Philomel knew it was a lie for her sake. The Countess loved her job very much, and would originally become Elencia’s maid in the future.

“It’s a countryside, but it’s a quiet and generous place. I’m sure you’ll like it if you come.”

Philomel thought, using the voice that gently explained her hometown as a lullaby.

Maybe she had been building walls around herself for a long time.

Thinking that she was Elencia’s person anyway, she had tried not to get too close to her. She didn’t want to be a villain who was punished for coveting the protagonist’s things.

Was there anything else she had given up on out of fear, besides Countess Delles?

‘If there is, even now…’

Meow, it sounded like she heard the cat’s cry in her fading consciousness.