There Is No Place For Fakes [EN]: Chapter 40

She paused, then asked in a clipped tone.

“More to the point, why did you come? And why as a cat?”

“Is it so strange for me to visit my daughter? Naturally, I came to take you with me.”

Le Guin answered, arms crossed, his tone dismissive.

“……Take me?”

Philomela asked, bewildered.

“Let’s return to the Magic Tower together.”

She glanced at Le Guin’s outstretched hand, then looked away.

“I don’t understand why you’re doing this now.”

He had clearly acted as if he didn’t need her. Now he wants her to go to the Magic Tower with him?

His sudden appearance had momentarily made her forget, but her first meeting with her biological father had not gone well.

“I don’t need it. I don’t need anything you offer, be it money or anything else.”

“Because we’re nothing more than strangers who share blood.”

“Don’t ever appear again, and live well.”

Even after Lexion revealed the secret of her birth, the disappointment she felt then hadn’t faded.

Perhaps it was better that he didn’t philander and abandon his children, but the fact remained that he had arbitrarily fathered children and failed to take responsibility as a parent.

Nurturing, affection, attention—things like that.

Of course, he gave Katrin money. But the Emperor provided her with more than enough.

‘Though I didn’t spend much and avoided receiving it, to protect my reputation.’

If she had indulged in extravagance like the ‘Philomela’ in the book, she could have bought several islands by now.

“I simply felt compelled to see you again. I thought I might understand the reason if I saw your face……”

“And, do you understand now?”

Philomela and Le Guin stared at each other.

“I still don’t.”

Le Guin’s face remained unreadable, expressionless.

“Are you perhaps… apologizing to me?”

Philomela hesitated before asking. The man, who had been resting his chin on his hand, frowned briefly and shook his head.

“I don’t know. I’ve never felt sorry for anyone.”

“You apologized to me before.”

“Ah, sorry. I simply assumed you were a magician because you’re my child.”

“Sorry. I don’t know.”

Philomela repeated the words, recalling their conversation in the Magic Tower.

“That’s just… I was just going along with what people usually say in that situation.”

Le Guin answered casually, as if he didn’t care at all.

‘As expected.’

He hadn’t seemed sorry back then either.

“Then, do you pity me?”

“Hmm. I don’t know about that either. I’ve never felt pity for anyone.”

“……”

‘What do you even know?’

The words rose to her throat but she swallowed them back.

Lexion’s description of Le Guin as an emotionless person resonated with her. She didn’t know if it was possible for a living being to have no emotions at all, but he was clearly different from ordinary people.

She felt a vast, unbridgeable gulf between them. Even if he had raised Philomela like other parents, he wouldn’t have been able to give her affection.

‘What’s the point of wanting something I could never have?’

Philomela suppressed her disappointment and filed it away.

Le Guin pressed her.

“So, are you not going to the Magic Tower?”

“……I didn’t say I wasn’t going.”

In truth, she didn’t particularly want to live in the Magic Tower.

The main reason she was considering it was that it was beyond the Empire’s reach. But yesterday, the Emperor had said he had no intention of blaming Philomela. He even offered to send her wherever she wished.

If she took his words at face value, her reason for going to the Magic Tower—as someone who couldn’t even use magic—vanished.

‘Honestly, I want to go somewhere no one knows me and start a new life.’

The words she had spoken to Katrin in prison were sincere.

Still, this was a good opportunity. Being with him would allow her to leave the Imperial Palace without enduring the three-month residency requirement.

‘As a bonus, if I go to Angelium, the town next to the Magic Tower, I can retrieve .’

It seemed best to decide what to do after leaving this place. This would be a complete farewell to the Imperial Palace, where she had lived for so long.

“Then it’s settled. We’re going to the Magic Tower.”

Le Guin reached out his hand again.

“Okay.”

However, Philomela’s hand, which had been reaching for his, stopped in mid-air.

“……”

“……”

Huh?

For some reason, Philomela couldn’t bring herself to take his hand. Several faces flashed before her eyes.

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

First, Countess Delles.

“Regardless of His Majesty’s wishes, I wish to continue serving Your Highness.”

Next, Count Polan.

“……I’m sorry.”

Justice’s awkward apology.

“She’s been strange these past few months. She’s not the Ellen I knew.”

“Thank you for coming to see me one last time.”

And even Katrin’s words.

‘Why are these memories surfacing now?’

Her mouth felt glued shut.

As Philomela hesitated, the smile on Le Guin’s face slowly faded.

‘No, I have to seize this opportunity before he changes his mind.’

Philomela opened her mouth urgently, anxious that he might withdraw his offer.

“Um……!”

Just as she managed to force the words out.

“Yeah. Just watching you for a moment, I can see you’ve had a tough life.”

Le Guin nodded to himself, muttering.

“I guess your life has been hard too. I can fully understand what you’re feeling right now.”

Le Guin kept repeating, “I know, I know,” agreeing with himself.

‘He understands my feelings, even ones I don’t know myself? How? Could it be because he’s my father……?’

He said with a confident air.

“You want to screw over these humans here, right?”

“……”

Not at all.

“I understand. I’m not one to let things go either. In that respect, you take after me.”

Not at all.

He seemed to have misinterpreted Philomela’s silence. She wished he wouldn’t invent similarities as he pleased.

Before Philomela could say anything, the magician flopped onto the sofa and declared.

“Then I’ll stay here too.”

“H-huh?”

What was he talking about now?

“I’ll stay here until you decide to go to the Magic Tower. And I’ll help you with your revenge as a bonus.”

“No…… what about the Magic Tower? You’re the Magic Tower Lord, you must have a mountain of work to do.”

Philomela replied, dumbfounded. Le Guin smiled and gave a reason that defied Philomela’s common sense.

“Didn’t you know? I don’t really work in the first place.”

“How can that be? Work pours into the Magic Tower from all over the continent every day. If the Magic Tower Lord doesn’t oversee it, who will handle it?”

“You can just make those other guys do it. Phil, remember: the best thing in life is to work less and earn a lot of money.”

Le Guin spoke as if imparting a great wisdom. Philomela gasped.

‘Magic Tower, is it really okay like this?’

As the center of magic in the world, the Magic Tower’s problems affected more than just the Tower itself.

Philomela swallowed her question, worrying about the future of the Belleroph Empire, and even the entire continent.

Le Guin clapped his hands. “Ah.”

“I almost forgot, but there was a reason why it was difficult for me to leave right now.”

“What is it?”

“Well, that’s……”

He started to speak, then stopped, his expression nonchalant.

“Why don’t you finish your sentence?”

“I’m too lazy to explain in detail. There’s something like that. You’ll find out soon enough.”

He had been rambling on without being asked just a moment ago!

Philomela wanted to shout, but barely restrained herself. She still needed to avoid provoking him.

Philomela, thinking of , asked anxiously.

“Then, could you at least move just me to Angelium? I left my luggage there. And just now… I was just slow to answer. I don’t have any thoughts of revenge or anything like that.”

“I’ve already retrieved your luggage, so don’t worry. It’s probably arriving here by now.”

The Magic Tower Lord ignored Philomela’s last words, only answering her first request.

‘My luggage is coming?’ Does luggage have legs or something?

It’s coming here.

Philomela tilted her head, puzzled by his incomprehensible words.