There Is No Place For Fakes [EN]: Chapter 73

However, upon arriving in front of the Emperor’s office, a loud voice could be heard from inside.

“…Then why are you letting that woman get away with it!”

It was Elencia’s voice.

“That’s none of your concern.”

And the other party was, of course, Eustis.

“But you know how that woman ruined my first tea party!”

“I heard. Have another tea party then. Don’t worry. That woman will pay dearly for making you angry.”

“I want you to get rid of her right now! And why did you ask her to dance, anyway?”

“I’ve told you countless times, I didn’t.”

“I don’t know! I’m really upset with you, Daddy!”

Bang, the door opened. Philomel made eye contact with Elencia, who was coming out of the room.

“…Greetings, Princess.”

Philomel was flustered but greeted Elencia without showing it.

However, unlike usual, Elencia passed by Philomel without a word. Her face, as she brushed past, was full of anger.

Philomel stepped into the office.

The Emperor, sitting at his desk, looked somewhat tired.

“Welcome. Do you have business with me?”

“I’m… I’m sorry to say that I accidentally broke a national treasure-level porcelain in the state guest house.”

Philomel spoke in a cautious tone.

“Which porcelain?”

“The one gifted by Elita, with His Majesty’s portrait painted on the surface.”

As expected, Eustis didn’t seem to care at all.

“Ah, that. I put it in the South Palace on purpose because I didn’t want to see it.”

“Is there a particular reason you dislike seeing it?”

“I hate my face.”

Why would he hate that handsome face?

Well, whatever the reason, it wasn’t Philomel’s problem to worry about.

“Thank you for your leniency. Then, I’ll be on my way…”

It was the moment Philomel, having finished her business, was about to leave.

“Wait.”

Eustis stopped Philomel and took out a bundle of papers from his desk drawer.

“I happened to have something to discuss with you. Come here and look at this.”

“…Yes? Yes.”

Philomel received the bundle of papers from him with a bewildered expression.

Upon closer inspection, it was a list of assets. Mansions in the capital, villas in various regions, mines, gold bars, land, artworks, and more were listed.

“What is this?”

“It’s yours.”

“Mine?”

“Yes. You can entrust the management to someone else, but it’s good for you to have a general understanding of what you have.”

After a moment, Philomel understood the meaning and exclaimed in surprise.

“I can’t accept it! How much is all this worth!”

“I’m not giving it to you without reason. Aren’t you the benefactor who found Elencia? This much is a small token.”

No matter how much she had found the Emperor’s daughter, this scale was not a small token at all. Moreover, if it became known that she was inheriting so much, everyone would point fingers at her.

“Above all, isn’t this imperial property? Please use it for the people rather than for me.”

“It’s my private property.”

…Looking at the list in detail, it seemed that way.

Philomel firmly placed the bundle of papers on the desk.

Even if this was a fitting reward for the benefactor who found the Emperor’s daughter, she didn’t deserve to receive these things.

Philomel didn’t bring Elencia out of goodwill.

Since Elencia would come someday anyway, she thought it was better to control the timing and form to create an environment where it would be easy to escape.

‘If it were true goodwill, I would have shown this person when I was nine years old and told him about his real daughter.’

Therefore, this was too much of a reward.

If she accepted it, it would become a burden on Philomel’s heart for the rest of her life. Maybe if Eustis told her not to leave, she wouldn’t be able to leave.

Philomel decided not to accept the Emperor’s gift. She was going to declare confidently that she wouldn’t accept it.

That’s what she was going to do…

Philomel’s hand, against her will, grabbed the pen on the desk.

After seriously considering the list, she drew lines through several items with the pen. And she showed the results to the Emperor.

“Everything is too much… Should I only accept this much?”

Yes. It was too precious of a gift to simply refuse.

Eustis looked at the list and took the pen from Philomel’s hand. And he marked a few of the lined items.

“Too little. Take at least this much.”

“No, no. This is too much. I especially can’t take these. Oh, and this too.”

Philomel took the pen back from Eustis and marked the paper again.

“No way. I absolutely can’t take this out.”

This time, Eustis took the pen back.

“I’m the one who can’t.”

The pen went back to Philomel’s hand again.

“What are you going to do with just that much?”

Then it returned to Eustis’s grasp.

After a long time of passing the pen back and forth, the two finally found a compromise.

Philomel couldn’t control the corners of her mouth from rising as she read the list.

‘With just this, I’m already rich! I can live comfortably for the rest of my life without working!’

It was enough wealth that she could live comfortably for the rest of her life without ever working again.

It was too much money to ignore.

The Emperor still looked displeased, but when Philomel insisted, he yielded in the direction she wanted.

‘With this amount, I can protect my conscience and get wealth!’

Philomel cheered inwardly. At times like this, the fact that her conscience wasn’t too firm was helpful.

Anyway, thanks to compromising a little with her conscience, she gained immense wealth.

Philomel looked at the remaining papers she received from Eustis with a proud look. It was a document with detailed explanations of each asset.

“Huh?”

But the hand that was turning the documents stopped. A foreign piece of paper was inserted between the documents.

It was a letter starting with the salutation ‘To my dear Father.’

It was the letter she had left for Eustis before she ran away.

‘Why is this here?’

Judging from the crumpled traces, the letter seemed to have been crumpled once and then flattened by being pressed against something hard.

“Give it to me.”

At that moment, the Emperor reached out and took the letter Philomel was holding.

His face was full of embarrassment.

“It seems to have been mixed in by mistake. Don’t worry about it.”

Philomel asked in a slightly subdued voice.

“Why… do you still have that?”

He could have just torn it up.

Philomel was embarrassed by the very existence of the letter.

There was also the point that she had written insincere flattery, saying that she would help the Empire and repay the favor…

More than that, she wanted to erase the phrase ‘To my Father,’ which she had written while immersed in the emotions of the time, from the world forever.

‘Who am I to him?’

Anyway, this person will live happily ever after with his real daughter.

Eustis paused for a moment before answering Philomel’s question.

“But isn’t it the first letter you ever wrote to me?”

Philomel blinked.

‘Huh? Was it?’

Well, until she ran away, they saw each other at least once or twice a week, so there was no need to send a letter.

Awkwardness filled the air.

He kept it because it was the first letter she ever wrote to him, that was like…

Eustis met Philomel’s gaze. His eyes seemed to have made a big decision.

“Philomel. There’s something I need to confess to you.”

He continued with difficulty.

“I should have told you a long time ago, but I was afraid to. Actually, I’m…”

Knock knock knock!

The words were cut off by a loud knocking on the door.

“Daddy! Daddy!”

It was Elencia’s voice.

“Daddy! I’m sorry for being rude earlier. I came to apologize!”

Eustis let out a faint sigh and looked at Philomel.

Philomel nodded in agreement. She didn’t know what he was going to say, but it didn’t seem like something to come out in this atmosphere.

“Come in.”

As permission was granted, the door opened and Elencia peeked her head in.

“I knocked as you told me, Daddy. Did I do well?”

Seeing Philomel, she tilted her head and said, “Oh?”

“Philomel, you’re still here.”

“Yes. The story got longer than I thought. It’s over now, so I’ll be on my way, Your Majesty.”

Philomel greeted Eustis.

“…Okay. See you later.”

The Emperor accepted the greeting with a face that seemed to have a lot to say.