There Is No Place For Fakes [EN]: Chapter 76

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* * *

The same day, at the West Palace Princess’s residence.

Maid Emily glanced at Princess Elencia, who was humming a tune. The Princess seemed to be in an unusually good mood today.

The nanny, lying in bed, said irritably,

“Your Highness, that melody is too frivolous! I’ve never heard it before; it’s just some commoner song, isn’t it? You shouldn’t hum like that, you’re a princess.”

“Okay, I got it!”

Elencia even lightly dismissed the nanny’s absurd nagging. Usually, she would smile but couldn’t hide her stress.

Emily bit her nails.

‘I should have been there yesterday!’

The Princess seemed to be telling something confidential to another maid the day before.

However, Emily had to leave her post because the nanny asked her to run an errand.

This won’t do.

‘I need to bring useful information to Philomell quickly!’

If she didn’t prove her worth, she didn’t know when she would be abandoned.

At first, Emily had also considered siding with Elencia. She even tried to tell the Princess the truth about being threatened by Philomell.

However, as she watched Elencia closely, doubts began to arise.

The Princess, whom she thought was only kind and innocent, had strange aspects.

The cold expression she occasionally revealed, or her actions that didn’t match her kind words, were examples.

It happened when the Princess offered to give the nanny a back massage.

“Aah! Your Highness, it hurts too much!”

“Oh no. Just bear with it a little. Someone said that if it hurts, you have to press harder. That’s how it gets better.”

Elencia’s voice was full of concern, but Emily, who was right next to her, clearly saw Elencia smiling as she listened to the nanny’s painful screams.

At that moment, she felt a chill down her spine.

The Princess was different on the inside and out.

Both Philomell and the Princess were scary opponents to Emily.

In that case, it was more beneficial to side with Philomell, who already held Emily’s weaknesses.

If she told Elencia everything, it would only increase the number of people who knew her weaknesses. Besides, for some reason, she trusted former Princess Philomell more.

It was at that moment when Emily was watching Elencia’s every move with her eyes wide open.

“Your Highness.”

The Princess’s tutors had arrived.

The history teacher placed a stack of textbooks on the desk.

“As I mentioned, we will begin full-fledged classes starting today.”

The grace period given to the Princess for adapting to palace life had ended. From today, Elencia would receive full-fledged heir education.

The history teacher looked at the textbooks and asked worriedly,

“But are you really able to start with the advanced course?”

The Princess confidently replied,

“Of course! I need to catch up with Philomell quickly. If Philomell could do it, so can I!”

“Ahem. Let’s begin.”

However, the Princess’s confident spirit didn’t last long.

Elencia rubbed her forehead irritably.

“…Is this really what Philomell studied?”

“Yes, it is.”

“…I don’t understand this part.”

“This is… um. Didn’t I briefly explain it during the previous class?”

“How can I remember all that?”

“Didn’t you review it afterward?”

The Princess was silent.

The history teacher, who sighed softly, whispered to himself as if talking to himself.

“Philomell thoroughly did her homework and review…”

Elencia jumped up and left the study. She seemed quite upset.

Because of that, she almost bumped into Emily, who was entering the room under the pretext of preparing refreshments.

Thinking this was an opportunity, Emily roughly put down the plate and followed the Princess.

“Your Highness! Where are you going?”

“Bathroom! Don’t follow me!”

The bathroom door slammed shut.

After a while, the door opened, and the Princess came out with her usual smile.

And then, an amazing thing happened.

The teacher, whose eyes widened like lanterns, exclaimed in surprise.

“Goodness! Her Highness must be a genius! Did you memorize this so quickly?”

“I do what I say I’ll do.”

Unlike the previous class where Elencia was stammering, she answered all the questions perfectly.

The greatly satisfied teacher left, saying that he would inform His Majesty the Emperor, and the Princess followed the teacher.

Only Emily remained in the room.

However, while cleaning up the scattered textbooks, something caught Emily’s eye. Something had fallen under the chair where Elencia was sitting.

* * *

“And this is the object that Emily found.”

Philomell placed a small bottle on the table with a thud.

About half of the yellow liquid remained in the bottle, sloshing around.

Inside her room, the four brothers, who had gathered after a long time, stood around the table.

Lexion, who picked up the bottle and examined it closely, said,

“She was a more useful maid than I thought.”

Philomell agreed.

To boldly steal the Princess’s belongings, Emily showed more usefulness than expected.

Just like when she stole Philomell’s jewels, she seemed to have a talent for that.

Jeremiah tapped the table.

“Based on the stories we’ve heard, this must be a drug that enhances intelligence. Or maybe memory?”

Lexion offered his opinion.

“That’s highly likely, but it’s too early to draw conclusions. Above all, I roughly know about intelligence-enhancing potions, but I’ve never seen this color before.”

Philomell said,

“I smelled it earlier, and it smelled like lemon.”

At those words, Cardin was shocked.

“Why did you smell it? You have to be careful with all magic potions!”

“Really? I just smelled it…”

“When I was young, I sneaked into Le Guin’s lab and drank a delicious-looking magic potion, and my body turned into a frog. Phil, you have to be careful too.”

Lexion also fell into reminiscence.

“That also happened. Surely Jeremiah almost stepped on Cardin seventeen times back then, right?”

Cardin put his arm around Jeremiah’s shoulder in a friendly manner.

“Haha! This guy is surprisingly clumsy.”

“Get lost. I’ll kill you.”

Watching Jeremiah coldly push away Cardin’s arm, Philomell was convinced.

‘That was definitely not a mistake.’

Then, she became concerned about Le Guin, who had been silent until then.

“Le Guin, what’s wrong? Is there anything bothering you?”

He opened his mouth, staring at the glass bottle for a long time.

“I feel Estellion [Le Guin’s unique magic power] from there.”

At those words, the three brothers’ eyes changed.

Lexion pressed his father.

“Are you sure?”

“Uh-huh. Am I sure? It’s similar, but if you ask if I’m sure, well…”

“Could it be a potion that Le Guin made in the past? A magician’s magic power often resides in their creations.”

“I’ve never made anything like that.”

“Didn’t you make it and forget about it? Think hard.”

“Am I senile?”

Jeremiah frowned.

“We need to handle it more carefully.”

Then Philomell raised her hand and asked.

“Um, is there no way to find out what effect this drug has?”

Lexion, who was holding his chin, replied.

“If it’s a drug that helps with intelligence, there’s a limit to finding out through animal testing… The best way is for someone to take it and say how they feel.”

Le Guin said something scary.

“Let’s just grab a passerby and feed it to them.”

“We can’t. What if it’s a dangerous drug? What did that person do wrong?”

Everyone looked slightly disappointed at Philomell’s words.

Suddenly, Le Guin pointed at Cardin.

“Hey, you drink it. You like to eat.”

“I don’t like drugs that Le Guin might have made!”

The other two seemed to agree.

Eventually, Philomell took the glass bottle back.

“I’ll just drink it.”

“What? No way!”

Everyone opposed in unison.

“Phil was the one who said it could be dangerous.”

“Maybe you’ll turn into something worse than a frog!”

“Philomell, just let Cardin drink it.”

Philomell reassured the three brothers who were trying to stop her.

“It’s okay. Surely Elencia wouldn’t have taken a problematic drug herself. And this is something I started. You guys are just helping me. I have to do it.”

*Pop.*

And the moment she pulled the stopper to drink it.

“Give it here.”

Le Guin snatched the medicine bottle from Philomell’s hand.

‘Is he perhaps going to drink it instead?’

However, the emotion that was about to arise quickly disappeared.

Instead of eating it himself, Le Guin shoved the bottle into Cardin’s mouth.

“Ughhhhh!”

Cardin struggled, but the contents of the bottle quickly entered his mouth.

The ruthless father showed thoroughness by grabbing his son’s hair and not letting go until he had poured every last drop.

“Oh dear. That’s too bad.”

Lexion said that, but he didn’t even pretend to stop his father.

“You should have eaten it when I told you to.”

Jeremiah grinned openly.

‘……These are scary people.’

Philomell decided not to get too close to them if possible.