There Is No Place For Fakes [EN]: Chapter 84

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When young Nasar began to show promise in various fields, his parents were overjoyed.

Duke Averdeen, in particular, was pleased and said,

“That’s my son.”

Nasar liked those words.

He wanted to be praised more by his father, so he worked even harder in everything he did.

However, the more he worked hard, the more things he had to do, and conversely, the less time he had with the people he liked.

‘It’s hard.’

Nasar, at the tender age of seven, felt a growing weariness.

There seemed little point in working so hard.

But if he didn’t, the situation only worsened.

His father’s expectations had already risen, and there was no chance he could slack off and return to how things were before.

It was during this time that he first met the Princess. A cute girl, one year younger than him.

“Wow! Pretty! What’s your name? I’m Philomell. Will you be my friend?”

The girl said this as soon as she saw Nasar, showing him enthusiastic affection.

“Nasar, let’s get married!”

To be honest, he found it burdensome.

He was grateful for her affection, but the boy was already overwhelmed by people’s favor. He was too used to receiving attention to place a high value on one person’s kindness.

Still, the Duke was more pleased than ever to hear the news.

“The Princess likes you! That’s my son!”

Nasar became confused.

Wasn’t his father’s praise something he could only earn by working hard?

But he had done little to earn the Princess’s love.

He talked to her sometimes and was kind, but Nasar was like that to everyone.

When the engagement with the Princess was decided, the Duke’s satisfaction reached its peak.

“Of course! If not my son, then who else would be the next Emperor’s husband! I am proud of you.”

Again, Nasar had done nothing to bring about the engagement.

The engagement was an achievement the Princess had secured from the Emperor.

That’s how Nasar’s self-esteem was chipped away.

‘If my worth is determined only by being loved by the Princess, then what was all the effort I’ve made so far for?’

He didn’t want to admit it.

Most of the boy’s short life had been spent on that seemingly futile effort.

So Nasar continued to work hard without change. He believed that if he kept working hard, his father would one day value his efforts more highly.

Then one day, during playtime, the Princess said,

“Nasar, why are you doing such boring things? Don’t study, let’s play with me!”

Nasar felt that every moment spent with the Princess each week was a waste.

At home, he even cut back on sleep to study, but when he came to the Imperial Palace, he was forced to be idle.

The boy tried to use that idle time in his own way, attempting to teach the Princess. He could review while teaching, and the Princess could learn, which seemed like a good compromise.

However, the Princess seemed to think differently.

After persistently trying to persuade the Princess, who clearly didn’t enjoy it, she said with a nonchalant face.

“Why do I have to do it? I don’t have to. My father doesn’t care.”

It was as if the heavens and earth were being turned upside down for Nasar.

Until now, his father had imposed various duties on Nasar, saying that this was natural for someone who would become a Duke.

As one of the five Dukes of the Vellerov Empire and the one who bore the name of Averdeen, the Empire’s most prestigious family, he was expected to fulfill his given mission.

Nasar had firmly believed in those words.

Then what about the Emperor? Isn’t the Emperor a higher and more important position than the Duke? But why doesn’t the Princess, who will become the Emperor in the future, bear any special duties?

In fact, even if the Princess neglected her studies and did not observe etiquette, no one seemed to care much.

The Princess’s nanny nagged, but she didn’t seem to believe that the Princess would ever change.

Once, when Nasar confided these concerns to his father.

“That fellow, what on earth is he saying? Just let the Princess do as she pleases.”

“Yes? But isn’t it a vassal’s duty to give loyal advice and guide the lord who is straying down the wrong path back to the right one?”

The Duke sighed and said.

“This is too much. The teachers have instilled too many ideals in the child. It’s time for you to learn about reality now.”

And what followed was truly shocking.

“If the Princess can’t become a great Emperor, won’t you interfere in state affairs? If she tries to do everything herself like the current Emperor, we’ll all lose out.”

“…Yes?”

“Did you think I was paying attention to your education just to keep you as a simple Prince Consort [the husband of a reigning monarch]?”

The values and beliefs that Nasar had upheld were shaken to their roots.

The story about the mission as an aristocrat was all just a matter of saving face. Disappointment and disillusionment with his respected father welled up.

The boy fell into a terrible confusion.

Perhaps he deliberately treated her more coldly to hide this confusion, especially to the Princess, who was once again begging him to play with her.

“Then Your Highness can play alone. I will study.”

The Princess was flustered by Nasar’s coldness, which he showed for the first time.

When she called him several times without getting a response, the Princess finally burst into tears.

“Duke! What if Nasar doesn’t like me?”

“Surely that can’t be the case. I’ll talk to him.”

Nasar never forgot the sharpness that his father, who smiled kindly at the Princess, showed him that day.

It was the first time he had been scolded so harshly in his life.

One sad thing was that he still loved his disappointing father and his mother, who only watched him.

And Nasar was a child who couldn’t live without their approval.

So he turned the direction of his resentment. All the questions and confusion started with meeting the Princess.

He resented the Princess for causing this confusion. It was resentment that stemmed partly from envy.

The indifference the Emperor showed to the Princess at the time was what Nasar desperately wanted from his parents.

Still, Nasar didn’t hate the Princess.

The boy was basically good, so he couldn’t sincerely hate someone who liked him.

Also, he felt sorry for the Princess.

She was a lonely person. When he looked at her, he wanted to be her strength.

However, Nasar did not deeply sympathize with her loneliness. He was too surrounded by too many people to truly feel lonely himself.

The feelings Nasar had for the Princess were complex.

There were times when he liked her, and times when he didn’t. There were times when he was happy with her favor, and times when he felt burdened.

The only certain fact was that Nasar was an existence prepared for the Princess.

The disappointment towards his father remained, but his rebelliousness gradually diminished. He had resigned himself to it.

If he couldn’t change his parents, it was easier that way.

So time passed.

Even as the Princess began to use honorifics with him, and Nasar grew taller, nothing changed.

No, he believed that nothing would change.

But then an anomaly occurred. When he was ten years old and the Princess was nine.

The Princess changed in an instant. It was a very sudden change.

Nasar tried to find the cause in his own way, but eventually failed.

He had a hunch about the reason, but it didn’t seem like a trigger that would bring about this much change.

Watching the decreasing playtime with the Princess, the boy became afraid.

‘What if Her Highness doesn’t need me?’

Nasar’s reason for existence would disappear entirely.

One day, he knelt before the Princess and begged her to tell him if he had done anything wrong.

And that day, the boy had a strange experience.

“Just repeat what I say once.”

The Princess cleared her throat and said the following: I am a precious person. I am not born for someone else. I will live as my heart desires.

At first, he had no choice but to follow because the Princess told him to, but as he repeated the same words, he felt strangely uplifted.

Words have power.

That incident did not dramatically change his life, but it ignited the dying embers of his rebelliousness.

He gradually changed, like clothes getting wet in a drizzle.

He didn’t directly rebel against his father, the Duke, but he didn’t hang on his praise or recognition as before.

He could listen to scolding with one ear and let it out the other. Sometimes he acted contrary to the instructions given.

The Duke lamented that his son had grown up and become arrogant, but he couldn’t do anything about it.

Nasar was still outwardly an enviable and filial son, and a worthy heir to inherit the family.

Nasar wasn’t the only one who had changed. The Princess gradually began to transform into a perfect successor.

The Duke clicked his tongue, saying that the Princess had become difficult to handle. Nasar also strangely did not welcome the Princess’s change.

Clearly, he used to want her to become a respectable Emperor.

The incident that day was only a moment, and the gap between him and the Princess widened again.

Nasar wanted to narrow the gap somehow, but there was no way. The more he approached, the more the Princess moved away.

Her interest seemed to be in her relationship with the Emperor, not with Nasar.

On the surface, it was a model engagement relationship where they respected each other.

But inside, there was only awkwardness, no different from strangers.

Until then, he had not realized his own feelings.

He thought that his feelings for the Princess were just camaraderie as someone who carried a similarly heavy burden.

Perhaps it was because he had seen her without much thought since he was too young that he was slow to notice.

The place where Nasar realized his feelings was Senjen.