There Is No Place For Fakes [EN]: Chapter 65

However, Nassar showed no sign of being smitten with Young Elencia.

“Oh my, that looks a bit dangerous. Where is Her Highness’s escort knight?”

He muttered nonchalantly.

In the meantime, the distance between the two and the tree became quite close—close enough to see the cat.

Feeling uneasy, Philomel shifted her gaze to the top of the tree.

And where Elencia reached out… there was a cat with silver fur.

‘Why are you coming out from there!’

She couldn’t believe it. There was no way he would climb a tree and then be unable to get down.

But Elencia seemed to have misunderstood the situation.

She spoke hopefully to the cat.

“Are you very scared? Just wait a little bit. I’ll give you delicious fish when you come down, so don’t be too scared!”

Regardless of the commotion below, Le Guin was engrossed in his cat grooming.

“What are you doing up there!”

Philomel rushed forward without thinking, driven by the firm belief that she had to retrieve that cat quickly.

“Philomel!”

Nassar followed her.

When Philomel reached the tree, Le Guin spotted her and jumped down.

The cat landed right into her arms—a successful catch.

“Ah! Ugh…….”

She staggered and tripped over a tree root, landing hard on her bottom.

But the misfortune didn’t end there.

“Your Highness!”

Elencia, who had been clinging to the tree, was falling—right on top of Philomel.

Philomel squeezed her eyes shut.

But the expected impact never came.

“Are you alright!”

Opening her eyes slightly, Philomel saw Nassar looking down at her with concern. He had caught Elencia with his arms wide open.

When there was no answer from Philomel, Nassar’s face darkened even more.

“Are you badly hurt?”

The answer to the question came from a completely different source.

Elencia shouted cheerfully.

“I’m fine!”

She landed on the ground and gracefully lifted her skirt.

“Hello. Thank you for saving me. May I ask your name?”

Philomel realized, with a sinking feeling, that this was the moment the two were supposed to fall for each other.

Philomel hurriedly got up and tried to get away from them.

Just then, Jeremiah, who had been far away, ran over in a single stride.

“You! Are you okay? You fell?”

“I’m fine. More than that, let’s quickly find a place to hide…….”

In fact, she didn’t intend to go far. Philomel had planned to observe the two from a distance. It was a good opportunity to see how Elencia would react.

But the situation unfolded in the opposite direction than expected.

A familiar voice called out from behind Philomel.

“Wait a minute!”

Nassar had followed Philomel. Elencia was still near the tree.

“Why did you come? What about Her Highness?”

“I asked Her Highness for her understanding, explaining that I had a prior engagement. We can properly introduce ourselves later.”

Nassar replied calmly to the flustered Philomel.

“More importantly, are you hurt anywhere? I’m sorry. If I had been a little more alert, Philomel wouldn’t have fallen.”

“I’m fine. But Nassar… do you feel strange right now?”

Philomel stared intently at Nassar’s face, trying to detect any signs of burgeoning love.

“Strange as in?”

“Like your heart is racing?”

“……A little bit.”

He avoided her gaze.

Is he in love after all?

“Shall we go to Princess Elencia?”

“……Do I have to go?”

Nassar, who asked the question, seemed somehow upset.

“You don’t have to.”

“Then I’ll stay here.”

Nassar answered, stepping one step closer to Philomel.

In the end, Philomel had no choice but to admit it.

Nassar had not fallen for Elencia. This reality was different from the events in .

* * *

Elencia appeared in front of Eustis as he was returning to the Imperial Palace after finishing a political affairs meeting.

Elencia, looking dejected, ran to him when she saw him.

“Daddy, Daddy!”

“What’s wrong?”

“I got hurt here.”

She held out her right ankle. There was a faint scratch on it. It wasn’t a serious injury and wouldn’t leave a scar, but she was sobbing, so it seemed quite painful.

“We need to treat it. I’ll send for a doctor.”

“Don’t you have anything else to say?”

“……?”

“Don’t you have any thoughts other than treating my wound when you see it?”

“Then what other thoughts do I need?”

Elencia’s face quickly contorted.

“Daddy, you’re so mean! How can you not even worry when your daughter is hurt?”

Then she got angry and ran off in another direction. Judging by the way she was running, it seemed she wasn’t seriously hurt after all.

Eustis said in a low voice.

“I don’t understand what that child is thinking at all.”

Count Polan, who was watching, carefully added a word.

“It’s just my guess, but perhaps Her Highness wanted a warmer reaction from Your Majesty.”

“A warm reaction?”

“Yes. The reaction Your Majesty showed was a bit businesslike.”

“Are you saying it’s wrong to tell her to get treatment because she’s hurt?”

“No, no. It’s not wrong, but wouldn’t Her Highness be happier if you greeted her more kindly?”

The Emperor, who had been lost in thought for a short time, opened his mouth.

“Then you do it.”

“Yes?”

“You have children, so you know. That warm reaction. I don’t have a clue, so show me an example.”

“Haha, why would you do something like that in this place…….”

“Hurry.”

“…….”

“If your child came back hurt, how would you react?”

Polan knew from his long experience of serving the Emperor that he was serious.

Also, if he gave a rough demonstration in front of such a lord, he would be punished.

‘If my daughter came back crying with scraped knees……’

Polan lowered his posture, imagining that child, who wouldn’t hurt even if he put her in his eyes, was here, and gave the best performance.

“Oh my. Our daughter, are you hurt? Oh my gosh, your legs are all scraped. Daddy will blow on it! Who dared to hurt our princess? What, a rock? Daddy will scold them very scary, so don’t worry! I’m going to pull out all the rocks in the neighborhood!”

He got too engrossed from the middle, because it really hurt when he imagined it realistically.

Eustis’s contemptuous gaze turned to Polan.

“……Do you really do that?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Don’t you have any dignity?”

“I do! But why should I care about dignity when it comes to expressing love to my child!”

At those words, Eustis’s steps, which had been about to go ahead of Polan, stopped.

“……Shouldn’t I care about dignity?”

“At least that’s what I think. If you’re too busy worrying about this and that and can’t say ‘I love you’ enough, what if your grown-up child leaves? It’s so sad.”

After a while, he murmured.

“……I see. I didn’t know. I thought all fathers were like that.”

Polan chose his words carefully at the lonely sight.

“It’s not too late to start now. No, even if it’s too late, you shouldn’t stop trying.”

“……I understand. I’ll try to do it like you too.”

“……Yes?”

“That warm reaction you showed me, I’ll do it too.”

“……Wouldn’t it be a little difficult to change so suddenly? Moreover, Princess Elencia is not a three-year-old like my daughter…….”

“The basic framework won’t be different. I’ve grasped the trick. You exaggerate the child’s injury, treat it, and then say you’ll remove the cause of the injury, right?”

The Count questioned, ‘Does it work like that?’ but he couldn’t actively stop the Emperor.

It was because he was afraid to say anything else, since he had actively encouraged his love for his children, saying something about approaching them.

But Polan’s hesitation brought about another situation.