There Is No Place For Fakes [EN]: Chapter 57

Philomel interpreted their silence as agreement, which eased some of her worries. Only Jeremiah remained for a private word.

“Um, Jeremiah.”

Philomel cautiously called out to Jeremiah.

“What?”

“I’m sorry for locking you up yesterday, Jeremiah.”

“It’s fine. You already apologized.”

“I don’t care where you go anymore, Jeremiah. I had all the conversations I wanted with you while exploring the plaza today.”

“What conversations?”

“Just some things.”

In truth, she had completely abandoned her plan to win Jeremiah over to her side.

It would be a painful loss if Jeremiah later fell for Elencia and turned against Philomel.

However, she didn’t want to exploit the dark side of him she learned about through the book to gain his favor.

That was the last vestige of conscience from someone who had secretly peeked into the future through a book.

Also, it was a sense of solidarity felt as a comrade whose secrets were also revealed in the book.

Philomel had desperately hidden the book that said she was a fake princess, after all.

‘Even if he ends up hating me, he’s still my brother, so he wouldn’t do anything, right? Besides, I have Lewguin by my side.’

Since it was her last moment with Jeremiah, Philomel smiled brightly.

“Jeremiah, go wherever you want. Thank you for today.”

“…….”

But for some reason, Jeremiah, who had his head bowed, was silent. For some reason, his clenched fist trembled.

He suddenly raised his head and shouted.

“No!”

“……Excuse me?”

Philomel looked bewildered at the unexpected reaction.

“I guess you want me to leave, but I have no intention of doing so, so give up!”

His sky-blue eyes were filled with what looked like betrayal.

‘Yesterday, he said he would leave even if I stopped him. Why is he acting like this?’

Philomel was dumbfounded, but she had no way to solve the mystery.

Anyway… Jeremiah ended up staying in the Imperial Palace.

* * *

Several days passed since then.

Philomel vacated the room she had been using and moved her residence to the state guest house in the South Palace.

Now, the palace staff called Philomel ‘Lady Philomel’ or ‘Philomel-nim’ instead of ‘Princess Philomel’.

She wasn’t a noble, but she was treated as a quasi-noble because she was a state guest. No, her accommodations and treatment were no different from those of foreign royalty.

Lewguin, who was sprawled on the couch, suddenly asked a question.

“Shouldn’t we just reveal that you’re my daughter?”

It was after the workers who had unpacked and organized Philomel’s luggage in the state guest house had left.

Philomel checked to see if all her luggage had arrived safely and replied.

“I’m sorry. I’m not sure about that…”

“Don’t you want to acknowledge me as your dad?”

“…….”

That was the correct answer. Lewguin spoke coolly, not caring about Philomel’s silence.

“It’s okay. I know all my faults. I found out about your existence too late, and our first meeting wasn’t good either. It annoys me just thinking about it.”

“……I was the one who cried, so why are you annoyed, Lewguin?”

“Isn’t it? It’s something different from annoyance. Anyway, I don’t feel good.”

Philomel recalled what Lexion had told her in advance. Lexion had described Lewguin as a complex yet simple person.

“Lewguin’s emotions are largely divided into ‘feeling good’ and ‘feeling bad’.”

“He mainly feels good when his research is going well, when he has an interesting subject, and when someone he doesn’t like gets into trouble.”

“He feels bad when someone constantly bothers him… Well, you’re not Cardin or Jeremiah, so you won’t do that, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

“Even if he feels bad, he just gets annoyed, so just leave him alone. He’ll get over it over time.”

Lewguin continued to talk.

“Could this be a feeling of guilt? Huh? Phil, what do you think?”

“I don’t know. Think about how you usually feel when you do something wrong to someone else, Lewguin.”

“Wrong? What wrong?”

“For example, stepping on someone’s foot while passing by?”

“Is that wrong? Isn’t it the fault of the guy who put his foot there?”

That’s it. There’s no reasoning with him.

As expected, there was no way such a person would feel sorry or guilty towards her.

Philomel sighed softly and opened the jewelry box to check other luggage.

But….

“Huh?”

Philomel unconsciously made a sound.

“What’s wrong?”

“All the jewelry is gone.”

There was nothing inside the white porcelain jewelry box.

* * *

Philomel asked Countess Delles and the maids about the missing jewelry, but they didn’t know anything either.

Philomel barely calmed them down as they begged for forgiveness for not managing it properly, but insisted they weren’t the culprits.

Honestly, she didn’t suspect them at all.

Philomel realized anew that she trusted them quite a bit. She didn’t want to blame them for negligence.

‘Everyone must have been distracted by my disappearance.’

Many valuables, but an empty room without an owner.

The guards also frequently disappeared to be investigated because of Philomel’s disappearance. It would have been the perfect prey for a criminal.

In addition, there was a high possibility that the missing valuables would be blamed entirely on the missing Philomel even if it was discovered.

The fake princess took all the jewelry with her when she ran away. What a perfect picture.

At that time, Lexion appeared in front of Philomel, who was taking a walk in the South Palace garden.

“Phil, you called for me?”

“Thank you for coming, Lexion.”

“You’re welcome.”

The South Palace was a place where guests of the imperial family stayed, and geographically belonged to the outer palace, which was outside the Imperial Palace. Thanks to this, it was easy for him, a court wizard, to sneak in secretly. The workplaces and accommodations of the court wizards were also in the outer palace.

‘It’s only relatively easy, though.’

Lexion, who had heard the situation, adjusted his glasses.

“So that’s what happened. The fact that you’re telling me this means… you’re not going to formally accuse the culprit through official channels, right?”

As expected, Lexion was easy to talk to.

“That’s right. If I accuse them, the culprit will be punished, but I won’t have custody of them.”

“You want custody of that person.”

“Can I ask you for a favor? Lewguin said Lexion is perfect for this kind of thing.”

“Coincidentally, I have some acquaintances in the capital, so I can grant Phil’s wish. But do you want them to be unharmed?”

“If possible, just scare them. It can’t be helped if they resist too much.”

“I see.”

The two looked at each other and smiled knowingly. It was the moment Philomel learned a new side of her first brother, whom she had only known as an elite magician.

“…What are you two doing?”

Jeremiah, who was behind Philomel, looked disgusted.

“Jeremiah… How long are you going to freeload off Phil?”

Lexion said in a pathetic tone.

“It’s none of your business what I do.”

Jeremiah frowned and retorted.

“I’ll create a position in the court wizardry, so get a job.”

“No thanks.”

Lexion shook his head.

Philomel smiled awkwardly and spoke cautiously.

“I’m okay. I share a room with Lewguin anyway.”

“It’s understandable for Lewguin-nim [formal suffix] since he can transform into animals, but Jeremiah, you can’t just hide forever.”

“Hmph!”

* * *

Some time later, Lexion found the culprit and brought them in. It was a face Philomel knew.

“What were you doing here?”

“Princess! No, um, that’s… I’m sorry!”

It was Emily, the maid who had been awkwardly standing outside the room when Philomel met Nasar. She was also Elencia’s maid, who had been monitoring Nasar’s movements on her orders.

Emily fell to the floor, trembling and screaming.

“I’m a maid of Princess Elencia! Even if you’re Philomel-nim, you can’t treat me like this!”

Philomel said in a low voice.

“You’ve been caught selling my jewelry to black market dealers, and you still don’t understand the situation?”

Then Emily made a sound like air escaping, ‘Hiek!’

Stealing in the Imperial Palace, especially stealing the belongings of royalty, was a serious crime that could lead to at least life imprisonment, or even the death penalty.

Emily’s face turned pale and then white as she imagined the future that awaited her.

“You’re not a real princess anyway! So it’s not Philomel-nim’s stuff!”

“Either way, it’s the same as stealing something I bought as royalty. It will clearly be recorded as belonging to royalty in the ledger.”

“Doesn’t it all automatically become Elencia-nim’s property!”

Cornered, Emily began to shout.

“…….”

“Don’t you have anything to say? Then send me to Elencia-nim! I will accept her punishment!”

Then Jeremiah, who was leaning against the wall, looked at Lexion and sneered.

“You said you were going to scare her. Did you do your job properly?”

“…I have no excuse. I’m not good at that kind of thing.”

Lexion replied with a cold smile.

Emily trembled, but looked up and alternated between the two people talking.

“W-Who are these people? What are you doing, colluding with suspicious people!”

It’s noisy.

As Philomel had requested, the Emperor had forbidden palace staff from approaching the state guest house except at designated times.

So no matter how much Emily shouted, no one would hear, but it was still noisy.

“…Emily, shut up before I report you right now.”

Philomel sighed softly and said.

“E-Elencia-nim would forgive me…”

“Even if Her Highness wanted to, she wouldn’t be able to protect you to the end if I formally accuse you.”

Philomel raised only one corner of her mouth and sneered.

“Besides, Her Highness has a nanny by her side. Even if Her Highness forgives you, the nanny will never forgive you.”

Emily froze.

“The nanny has a similar record, but people tend to be lenient only towards themselves. Rather, she will treat you more harshly in order to give the impression that she has become clean. It’s so obvious that I can predict it.”

Emily’s heart seemed to shrink when she thought of the nanny.

Even though she hadn’t been at Princess Elencia’s residence for long, all the maids hated her.

She would lie down comfortably and tell others to do this and that. Perhaps because she couldn’t move around, she always tried to control others severely.

She was truly skilled at driving people crazy.

It was so bad that even the foolishly kind Princess Elencia sometimes frowned when she saw the nanny.

‘If the nanny finds out, I’m done for!’

And there was one more presence that pressured Emily. That was Philomel.

The former princess she knew and the woman in front of her were too different.

Princess Philomel was someone who laughed off the mistakes of the palace staff, was generous when giving rewards, and even offered small greetings.

Many palace staff liked the princess, but as there are always those who take kindness for granted, there were some among the palace staff who followed Princess Philomel’s orders half-heartedly.

Emily was one of those people.

So she thought that if she denied it outright, they wouldn’t be able to say anything….

She bowed her head to the floor.

“I have committed a crime worthy of death! If you forgive me just once, I will do anything for Philomel-nim! Please have mercy!”

Finally, Emily had barely found the only way for her to survive.

Philomel nodded in satisfaction.

“Really? Then….”