There Is No Place For Fakes [EN]: Chapter 79

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* * *

Philomel decided to prepare most of the things needed for her birthday party herself.

‘I told them to come as much as they want, but how many will actually come?’

More than anything, she wanted to treat the people who genuinely cared for her with sincerity.

The venue for the party was decided to be the South Palace Garden.

For a light tea party, it would be fine, but for someone who wasn’t royalty to officially hold a banquet in the Imperial Palace, an application had to be made.

To rent the garden, Philomel visited the person in charge with the application form.

However, the person in charge waved her hands and told her to use it as she pleased.

“Oh my, if I fussed over such things with Lady Philomel, I would be scolded!”

Still, a procedure was a procedure, so she handed the application form to the person in charge.

Soon, permission to use the venue and permission to rent items were granted.

Philomel opened the South Palace’s warehouse and took out the necessary items. The number was small, so when she tried to move them herself, the palace staff of the South Palace rushed out to stop her. In the end, she received their help with preparing the items and cleaning.

However, she couldn’t possibly prepare the food herself. She had never even touched the cooking utensils.

‘I should learn later,’ she thought, and went to the kitchen.

Harrison, the former owner of and currently the head pastry chef of the Imperial Palace, greeted her.

When Philomel tried to pay and formally request refreshments for the banquet, Harrison jumped up.

“That’s out of the question! Who do you think I am working here thanks to!”

He, who looked neater than when she first saw him, said.

“I heard that Philomel-nim visited our store. Unfortunately, I don’t remember, but thanks to that, I didn’t end up on the streets and came to this position.”

At that time, she had borrowed Jeremiah’s necklace to change her appearance, so it was natural that he didn’t remember.

Harrison insisted on providing apple pies and various other desserts for free.

The situation was similar with other foods that would be served at the banquet.

No one would accept money from Philomel.

“Why is everyone refusing when I’m offering money……?”

Philomel, unable to pay for the services, trudged back to her residence.

Perhaps, was she being an enormous snob for readily accepting the things Eustis gave her?

In any case, she decided to write the invitations herself.

Philomel put the list of people to invite next to her and wrote letters one by one.

Melinda, Lady Etoile, Lady Godrif, and other ladies who expressed their intention to attend through them.

The total number of attendees was about ten.

And Nasar…….

“Should I invite him?”

She was worried that Nasar might feel uncomfortable since the other attendees were only ladies.

Still, among the young masters, there was no one Philomel was close enough to invite.

‘But not inviting Nasar would be……’

The face looking at her with moist puppy eyes kept appearing before her eyes.

Besides, he was the person she had been meeting more often than Melinda recently. He often visited the South Palace for various reasons, and Philomel didn’t dislike it at heart.

‘He would be disappointed if I didn’t invite him, right?’

In the end, she completed the invitation to be sent to the Averidean mansion.

There was also someone who expressed hope for a direct invitation.

“Don’t you have one for me?”

“……Are you going to attend, Le Guin?”

“I’ll bring a proper gift, so don’t worry.”

No, that wasn’t the problem.

After the dragon egg incident, Philomel ended up not receiving any gifts from him.

‘But well……’

It would be fine.

Philomel wrote an invitation for Le Guin, telling him to come after everyone else had left.

Thus, Philomel’s birthday party was finally just a day away.

Philomel busily hurried with the preparations for the event. She thought there wouldn’t be much to do, but when it came down to it, there were quite a few things to take care of.

By the time she finished decorating the table with flowers in the evening, there was nothing more to touch. Compared to the banquets she hosted when she was a princess, it was very humble, but it looked beautiful to Philomel.

“It’s finally over!”

Philomel, who looked at the prepared outdoor banquet hall with satisfaction, shouted.

Now, all that was left was to wait for tomorrow to come.

But that night. Mysterious shadows gathered in the West Palace garden.

Among them, a shadow with a sinister smile said.

“Are you ready?”

The other shadows nodded. Soon, their evil hands reached out to the outdoor banquet hall that Philomel had carefully prepared.

* * *

The day of the birthday party dawned.

Philomel ended up waking up a little later than scheduled. She must have been very tired from working so hard to prepare for the party yesterday.

After hurriedly getting ready, she entrusted the inspection of the banquet hall to Jeremiah and headed to the South Palace main gate to greet the guests.

“I prepared today’s banquet hall, so there might be many shortcomings.”

Philomel said awkwardly as she guided the guests to the back garden.

Fortunately, everyone said they were looking forward to it.

She entered the back garden with half joy and half embarrassment.

“Well, this is where today’s party will be held……”

Philomel’s words were cut off in the middle. The yellow eyes that checked the state of the banquet hall widened in surprise.

The guests were also surprised and gasped.

Because the outdoor banquet hall that Philomel had prepared herself……

“Oh my, it’s so beautiful!”

“Did Philomel-nim decorate this place herself?”

It had been transformed into something so beautiful and splendid that their eyes widened!

‘What happened!’

Philomel had no idea.

From the entrance of the back garden, delicately carved ice sculptures greeted the guests.

“It’s real ice!”

“How can it be maintained without melting in the summer?”

“Could it be magic? Anyway, it’s cool.”

There weren’t just one or two ice sculptures. Sculptures in various forms such as angels, animals, and abstract figures decorated various parts of the back garden. The summer heat was cooled by the cold air emitted by the sculptures.

Not only that. Flowers were in full bloom in the back garden.

The ladies admired the flower clusters surrounding the banquet hall.

“Chrysanthemums are blooming beautifully.”

“Oh, but aren’t chrysanthemums flowers that bloom in autumn?”

“That’s right, why are chrysanthemums blooming in the middle of summer?”

“Everyone, there are azaleas, which are spring flowers, here too!”

The flowers were going crazy, forgetting the sense of the season.

It was suspicious to anyone.

Philomel decided to trace the origin of the ice sculptures one by one.

‘Ice……’

It was easy to guess who was behind it.

“Where is that human?”

She looked around quickly to find Jeremiah, but the culprit was nowhere to be seen.

He was definitely waiting nearby to protect Philomel, but he seemed to be hiding remarkably well.

‘He’s probably being pretentious in a high place like a tree again.’

As Philomel carefully looked at the trees, she heard Nasar’s exclamation.

“It’s incredibly beautiful.”

He was standing in front of the ice sculpture located in the center of the back garden.

Philomel, who saw the sculpture, was shocked.

‘Jeremiah, even so, this is too much!’

Philomel’s figure was looking down on all things like a goddess. It was the only one that took a human form, and it was the sculpture that seemed to have been made with the most effort.

To put something like this in the most conspicuous place. Surely everyone would think of her as a terrible narcissist.

Nasar, who saw Philomel, said.

“Of course, it can’t compare to the real Philomel-nim.”

“Haha……. Thank you for seeing it so favorably.”

Is he blind?

‘Anyone can see that it’s prettier than me.’

But Nasar Averidean was the one who made even such a cliché compliment into a heavenly praise. His jewel-like red eyes were full of conviction.

Philomel blushed slightly on both cheeks because she was embarrassed.

“Meow.”

At that time, a cat intervened between the two.

The ladies’ attention was focused on the cat at the sound of its cry.

“How pretty! I’ve never seen such a pretty and cute cat!”

“The silver fur is so beautiful.”

“But what is the cat holding in its mouth?”

It was the invitation that Philomel had written for Le Guin.

“It came with an invitation like us.”

“It’s so cute!”

A melting smile spread among the ladies.

“Everyone, please enjoy yourselves. I’ll be back after going somewhere for a while.”

Philomel quickly picked up the cat and slipped behind the building.

After confirming that there was no one around, she spoke to the cat.

“Le Guin! What on earth is going on?”

The cat avoided her gaze and scratched its cheek with its hind paw. When she kept glaring at it, it tilted its head, pretending not to know.

Philomel sighed at the brazen behavior.

‘I can’t help it. What’s done is done.’

The guests were surprised, but everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Besides, when she looked closely at the banquet hall, it was true that it had become more splendid, but the basic framework was the same as what she had created.

Philomel tapped the cat’s forehead with her finger.

“You did this to make me happy, right? Thank you. But please give me a heads up next time. I was so surprised.”

“Meow.”

At that time, the cat, which seemed happy, pointed to the sky with its chin.

Philomel, who looked up at the sky accordingly, was so surprised that she almost fainted. A huge cloud in the shape of letters was floating in the blue sky.

‘Phil, happy birthday.’

Shaking Le Guin, she shouted.

“That’s too much! Erase it quickly before anyone sees it!”

As expected, this family’s birthday celebrations were too much.