There Is No Place For Fakes [EN]: Chapter 50

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“So, you’ll be staying at the Namgung place, or wherever it is now?”

After finishing dinner and lying down in bed, Le Guin, who had returned to his human form, suddenly asked.

“Yes. At the state guest house.”

Philomel pulled the blanket up to her neck and replied.

“Hmm. The southern building has weaker divine power than here, so that’s good for you.”

“Is that so?”

“But do you really need to dismiss the attendants? Well, it’s more convenient for me to move around, though.”

“Actually, that’s one of the reasons. We’ll be meeting often in the future, so…”

Philomel trailed off.

She felt strangely uneasy, as if she had forgotten something important.

“Why are you stopping mid-sentence?”

“Hmm… Am I missing something?”

“I don’t think so.”

An image of someone flashed through her mind as Le Guin raised one eyebrow nonchalantly.

At that moment, Philomel kicked off the blanket and got up.

“Ah! Jeremiah!”

She had completely forgotten about Jeremiah, who was trapped in the dark dimension.

* * *

Jeremiah emerged from the dark dimension still bound hand and foot.

“…J-Jeremiah?”

At Philomel’s call, his closed eyes snapped open.

He glared at them fiercely with his bright blue eyes. He seemed incredibly angry.

The original plan was to talk to Eustis and then release Jeremiah. However, Elencia’s intervention and the emergence of Katrin’s problem had made her forget all about Jeremiah.

This was not good. She was about to be hated before she could even gain his favor.

“O-quickly, release him…”

Philomel urged Le Guin, hiding behind his back.

“……”

Jeremiah, who she expected to lash out as soon as he was freed, was strangely quiet. However, he did not take his fierce gaze off Philomel.

“Can’t you open your eyes properly? You’re scaring Phil.”

“……”

As if rebelling against his father’s words, his eyes narrowed even more.

“Oh, you.”

“Don’t do that. It’s my fault.”

She mustered her courage and stepped forward, emboldened by her so-called ‘secret weapon’ in her hand.

“Jeremiah! I’m sorry for leaving you out there so late! Here’s a small gift as an apology. Will you accept it?”

Philomel held out a plate of cookies. Her room was always stocked with snacks to eat whenever she was hungry.

“Hmph.”

However, Jeremiah turned his head away, ignoring her.

“You must be very hungry since you didn’t have dinner? Have this to stave off your hunger.”

Still unmoved.

“…They’re quite delicious. And they’re packed with chocolate.”

Philomel muttered in a small voice.

“Aren’t you going to give me one?”

Le Guin frowned and asked from the side. He seemed displeased that she hadn’t offered him a cookie.

“Le Guin, I already took care of your dinner separately…”

Philomel felt strangely tired and rubbed her forehead with her fingers as she replied.

“That’s that, and this is this.”

This person was adding fuel to the fire instead of helping.

But an opportunity arose.

“I really can’t stand it. What are you two doing in front of a person, huh?”

In the gap where Jeremiah opened his tightly closed mouth, Philomel quickly shoved a cookie in.

“You…”

He frowned but diligently chewed the food that had entered his mouth.

Soon, his bright blue eyes lit up.

“…It’s not bad.”

“Eat more.”

“If you think I’ll fall for this with something like this, huh.”

Munch munch.

Only after swallowing all the cookies did he open his mouth again.

“That’s enough. You don’t have to give me any more, huh.”

This time, she shoved three in at once. His cheeks were full of cookies, making him look like a hamster.

“Are you thirsty? There’s water too.”

“Hmm…”

When she poured water into a cup and handed it to him, Jeremiah cleared his throat and accepted it.

‘Cookies always make you thirsty!’

And after several ‘huh’ and ‘pour’ sounds were repeated, he said after filling his hungry stomach.

“…Ahem. Stop doing such useless things and say what you have to say quickly.”

Contrary to his words, the angle of his eyebrows, which were raised upwards, became more gentle than before. His anger seemed to have subsided somewhat.

“He eats a lot.”

Le Guin complained from the side, looking at the clean, empty cookie plate.

However, Philomel, who was relieved, didn’t hear Le Guin’s voice at all.

In fact, she was feeling a wave of emotion at the fact that sweet food worked well on the prickly Jeremiah.

Jeremiah, the ice prince.

He was crazy about sweet treats. Although he himself denied it.

This was information from [the novel’s title].’

She had seen a story in the book where Elencia broke down Jeremiah’s solid wall of heart with sweet desserts.

Since the male protagonist was Nasar, Jeremiah’s importance was not high, but whenever he appeared, he always had something sweet in his mouth, showing his ardent love for desserts.

‘Good. If I use this well, I might be able to make Jeremiah my ally!’

A brilliant plan popped into Philomel’s head.

“Are you listening? Why did you lock me up?”

She bowed her head once more to Jeremiah, who was spitting out dissatisfied complaints.

“I’m really sorry. Were you very uncomfortable? It was all my fault for leaving Jeremiah like that.”

“No, well… I’m not just blaming you. In the end, Le Guin was the one who put me in…”

This was also as it was in the book.

Jeremiah was not cruel to those who knew their mistakes and repented. Even if Elencia made a mistake, he accepted her if she apologized properly.

“Still, I’m sorry.”

“So why did you do that?”

Jeremiah’s eyebrows were now perfectly in place.

“That’s…”

Philomel carefully opened her mouth.

* * *

The next morning dawned.

“Philomel, good morning.”

The Countess of Delles, who woke Philomel up and looked around the bedroom, widened her eyes and asked.

“Where did the cat go?”

Philomel yawned and replied.

“It went out the window. I guess it’s more comfortable sleeping outside.”

“Well, it was originally a stray cat, so that might be the case.”

In fact, Le Guin had been grabbed by the scruff of his neck by Jeremiah last night and dragged outside.

Philomel asked Jeremiah to stay here for just one more day.

“What? So the reason you locked me up was because you wanted to talk to me more?”

Jeremiah retorted in disbelief after hearing the reason Philomel had made up.

But he didn’t get angry or anything anymore.

“…If that’s the case, just say it. It’s not like I can’t listen for just one day.”

His reaction, sighing and lightly scolding, was quite unexpected.

‘I see. He listens even if I just say it.’

Philomel blinked and thought.

She had unconsciously thought that it couldn’t be possible because Jeremiah was so hostile to ‘Philomel’ in the book.

“Anyway, it’s late at night, so let’s talk in detail tomorrow.”

With those words, Jeremiah turned into a cat and picked up his father, who was heading to the fireplace.

“Where are you going? You have to be with me. Isn’t there a spare room in this vast palace where we can hide?”

The cat glared at Jeremiah, but when Philomel urged him to do so, he eventually disappeared out the terrace window.

She was relieved. Even if it was in cat form, sharing a bedroom with her newly discovered biological father was very uncomfortable.

Furthermore….

“You talk in your sleep very clearly, you know?”

She became even more uncomfortable because of what Le Guin had said in passing yesterday.

She didn’t know she still had such a sleeping habit.

When she was young, her nanny used to nag her for not sleeping quietly, but she hadn’t heard it since then, so she thought her sleeping habits had disappeared.

Looking back, it was just that she had always slept alone since she had grown up to some extent, so no one had the chance to notice her sleeping habits.

‘My true feelings are coming out without me knowing… I don’t like it.’

She didn’t want to let anyone know. Not anyone.

“The weather is really nice. What should we do today?”

At that time, the Countess of Delles cheerfully opened the window and asked.

Philomel stared at her warm face for a moment before answering.

“I think I’ll just rest quietly all day today. I don’t think I’ve recovered from my fatigue yet.”

“In that case, I will make sure that no one disturbs Philomel’s rest. Should I instruct them to leave the meals in front of the door?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“Get some rest.”

The quick-witted countess quickly retreated.

The countess was a really good person. She always cared about her and took care of her.

‘But….’

The people Philomel didn’t want to reveal her inner thoughts to included the countess as well.

It wasn’t that she was dissatisfied with the countess. It was just that she couldn’t be completely honest even with her.

Kind to everyone, but not close to anyone.

That was the way Philomel had lived her life so far.

‘…Can someone like me change now?’

Philomel sighed softly.