There Is No Place For Fakes

“Uh… Um, is there a special reason you’re still in the Imperial Palace? If you refused to register, then Philomel wouldn’t be the Princess.”

Ellencia quickly adjusted her expression and asked with a smile.

Philomel felt that smile was somehow very forced.

“Is there any rule that says only Princesses can stay in the Palace?”

“But, as far as I know, only state guests can use the state guest House…”

“As you said, however, I was recognized for my contribution and became a state guest.”

Philomel boldly decided to announce. It looks like this way she might be able to learn more about Ellencia. 

“… Contribution ?”

“Yes, the contribution of bringing Princess Ellencia to His Majesty the Emperor. His Majesty was very grateful, saying that if it wasn’t for me, he wouldn’t have been able to meet the Princess.”

“… aha. That’s what you mean.”

“It is truly an honor that the Princess has been able to return to her original place with my little help.”

“Yes… I guess. Thank you.”

It was a short thank-you and a not long useless chatter.

A moment of silence fell between them.

The image of Ellencia talking nonstop throughout the dice game and the image of her so silent right now, was very contrarily. 

Philomel was about to say goodbye, when Ellencia spoke again in a small voice.  

“How long are you going to stay in the Southern Palace?”

“… Well, until I feel like it? I want to stay for as long as possible. That way I can meet with Princess Ellencia more often.”

“That’s great. I wanted to talk more with Phlomel, too.”

“It’s very reassuring that the Princess feels the same.”

It was a conversation that didn’t contain a grain of sincerity.

With this level of stimulation, Ellencia’s true face still could not be seen.

‘Shall I dig a little further?’

Philomel stared at Ellencia’s face and opened her mouth.

“Come to think of it, I met ‘Catherine Hounds’ who was imprisoned today.”

“Catherine?”

Ellencia, who asked reflexively, immediately added in an apologetic tone.

“Oh, my mother. When my mom lived with me, she used a different name… “

As far as Philomel knows, Catherine didn’t change her first name. 

“So, what about mom?”

“… She seemed to miss the Princess a lot. She was anxiously looking for you, calling you Ellen.”

Hearing that Ellencia put her hands together over her face and started to sniffle. 

“I also wanted to go to see my mom… but my dad wouldn’t let me. My heart aches when I think of how much my mother is suffering there.”

It seems Ellencia completely forgot about Catherine’s existence until Philomel brought it up. . 

“Is mom well? Did she look sick? Is she eating well?”

Ellencia’s eyes were watery as she mournfully asked for Catherine’s safety.

“She was haggard, but fortunately she didn’t seem to be in any serious pain.”

“Really? I’m glad then.”

“But she said some strange things.”

“What strange things? 

“What did she say…” Philomel pretended to recall Catherine’s words. 

“… ah she said that from a certain point on, Princess Ellencia suddenly became like a different person?”

“… What did you say?”

It was only for a moment, but Philomel witnessed it clearly. Ellencia’s perfect face painted with the act of filial piety was distorted.

Perhaps feeling Philomel’s gaze, Ellencia hurriedly closed her eyes and regained her composure. 

She tapped Philomel on the shoulder and said lightly.

“What are you talking about? What does she mean, someone else? It can’t be. She must have said nonsense because she is sick and can’t think clearly..”

What Philomel just had said about Catherine not being sick must not have been memorable enough. 

‘As expected… Suspicious.’

A corner of Philomel’s heart sank coldly.

“More than that, I’m very worried about my mom. What if I get in big trouble if I keep going like this? I think I need to get her out of prison quickly.”

Ellencia murmured quickly.

“Yes? Getting her out? That person’s sins are hard to forgive…”

It was then.

“I can ask my dad! Dad will forgive her if I earnestly ask for it.”

And before Philomel could stop her, she ran in the direction of the Emperor’s office. 

‘No!’

Philomel, realizing what Ellencia was about to do, ran after her.

Eustis hates Catherine. It’s a miracle that she’s still alive.

How ridiculous to Worry about Catherine in front of Eustis, even begging him to release her?

It was the same as begging Eustis to kill her. 

Even in <Princess Ellencia>, there are several scenes where Eustis grinds his teeth while looking at his daughter, who missed the dead Catherine.

“If I could, I’d like to get her out of her grave and kill her again.” 

The reason the Emperor couldn’t fulfill his wish was because there was no tomb for Catherine’s corpse that had become a crow’s meal.

“Wait a minute! Your Highness!!”

Philomel shouted loudly, but Ellencia, who arrived at the end of the hallway, did not look back.

Philomel gritted her teeth and ran down the hallway.

Philomel didn’t want Catherine to die.

It wasn’t just because she was her mother, however, Philomel’s conscience wouldn’t be at ease if she died because of what she said.

Philomel still had many questions to ask her. How has Ellencia changed, and what secrets is Ellencia hiding?

Catherine was an absolutely necessary informant for Philomel to dig further in Ellencia’s past. 

“Why is she so fast?”

After a while, Philomel gasped and barely reached the office.

Through the door that Ellencia had partially left open, she could see two figures. Ellencia was already clinging to her father.

“Dad! Please! Please release my mother from prison!”

‘I’m doomed.‘

As Philomel tried to open the door completely and enter, her arms fell helplessly to the floor.

She couldn’t stop it at all.

She felt guilty that she had provoked Ellencia too hastily.

“…is that really what you want?”

The Emperor looked down at his daughter with meaningful eyes. He looked complicated and, in a way, worried.

“Yes! I love my mother… I know my father hates her, but to me, she is more like a mother than my real mother who gave birth to me.”

‘Oh my god.’

Philomel bit her lip.

‘There’s something one should say and other things that one shouldn’t say. At this rate, why don’t you simply ask him to kill Catherine?’

How much Eustis loved the former empress was a story known to the entire empire. Why would you say something like that there?

Also, didn’t Catherine swap Ellencia and Philomel?

The figure of Catherine on the scaffold flickered in front of Philomel’s eyes. 

“I will ask you one last time. Is that really what you want?” 

“That’s right!”

Eustis closed his eyes and fell silent. He felt deep anguish.

Then, he found Philomel standing in front of the door.

“What’s going on? Do you still have something to say?”

“… no. While I was talking with Her Highness, Her Highness suddenly ran away, so I followed her because I was worried that she might be sick.”

“Not really. Anyway, you came at the right time.”

In time? What do you mean?

“Sit down, Ellencia, you too.”

Philomel and Ellencia looked at each other in bewilderment and then sat down at the table.

“Polan, are you there?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Eustis gave a separate order to Count Polan, who was waiting outside the door, and soon about ten people came to the office.

They ranged from knights to maids. All in common were those who worked in the palace. Among them was the prison guard Philomel met this morning. He was the one in charge of Catherine.

The last to enter the office was Count Pollan.

“I couldn’t bring the nanny because she is currently unable to move.”

“It can’t be helped. Ellencia, take responsibility for delivering it. She is the one who keeps being under your middle name.”

Philomel was surprised.

‘You gave your middle name to keep the nanny in the palace?’

The middle name of the royal family was not ordinary, but a name given by God.

It is said that when the founding Emperor received a revelation from God to establish the country, he was given a new name by God.

Since then, his descendants prayed to God when a child was born and attached the name that came down as an oracle as a middle name for the new born. 

These days, oracles have become more rare, so the middle name of royal descendants are instead chosen from a list with appropriate names recommended by the government. But the symbolism and power the middle name of the royal family holds is enormous, even now. 

It meant that Ellencia did not only bet on the honor of a member of the imperial family, but also on the grace bestowed by God.

Since each and every member of the royal family is a descendant of a god, even the Emperor could not afford to mention his middle name recklessly. 

Of course, middle names were not all-powerful. There were some cases where the middle name was bet on dishonest and wrong things, and as a result they lost their divine power. 

Philomel, who had no divine power since birth, heard rumors about those cases, but to think  that the royal family lost their divine power due to such disgraceful incidents? 

‘It’s over as a royal Princess. Plus the social burial.’

The nanny was not worth it for Ellencia to bet her middle name on. 

‘Moreover, Ellencia’s middle name is really cool!’

According to <Princess Ellensia>, at dawn on the day Ellencia first appeared, the High Priestess received God in a dream and heard a certain name.

When the High Priestess later heard that the real princess had appeared, she then realized that the name was the middle name of the princess.

Presumably, even though Philomel brought her appearance a year earlier, the High Priestess seemed to have been revealed with the same middle name.

In other words, Ellencia was wasting the grace of a true god, which was rare.

‘If you’re going to waste it like that, why not just give it to me!’

Philomel shouted in her heart.

Philomel’s middle name is just an appropriate name for Emperor Meitias, who first ascended the throne as a woman.

So, when Philomel was young, there was a time when she envied a real middle name to the point of asking if there was anything entrusted to her whenever she met a high priest or priestess. 

“Dad, why did you call them?”

The sound of Ellencia looking around and asking, awakened Philomel from her flashback.

The Emperor answered his daughter’s question. 

“I’m trying to grant your wish.”