There Is No Place For Fakes

Time passed and the season changed and it was already late spring. The high society is already in the midst of preparing for this year’s Debutante Ball. This year’s Debutante Ball is particularly special, so a lot of care was being put into it. All of this is because the newly found Imperial Princess is going to have her first official debut in high society. 

Invitations flowed everywhere and Philomel also received one as well. The Emperor however said that if it was inconvenient, she did not have to attend.

‘I can’t do that.’

As a State guest, Philomel couldn’t just hide and not appear in front of people and with her luck everyone will assume she has rotten plans. Even so, it was difficult to go and announce to the world that she was not an impersonator of the princess. When the Emperor said that it was not Philomel’s fault that Philomel and Elencia were reversed, a small ripple arose in her heart.

Yes. It wasn’t her fault that the two of them were switched, or that she was a fake princess. She suddenly felt embarrassed. Philomel finally was able to feel the resentment she’d had buried deep down out of fear. Why should she live in hiding because of a wrong she didn’t even commit? Even if she left the Empire, if she could not clear her name, she would have to live in the dark for the rest of her life. She didn’t like to live like that. Philomel wants to live alone and free of any dirt.

In order to do that, she had to show her confident side to people at least once. She wouldn’t hide. And there was also another, secondary purpose. ‘That person’ is probably also coming to the Debutante Ball for their debut.

‘I’m sure this time they moved to the capital and took their first steps in the central high social scene.’

Philomel stroked one of her cheeks. It was finally smooth and unscathed now. She looked around the room for something suitable and picked up a cushion on the sofa. Then she began to strike it with her right hand and put all of her strengths into it.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

“Hey, Phil…”

“Kyaaa!”

Philomel, who was so focused on hitting her cushions, nearly had a heart attack when she heard her name.Le Guin, who appeared out of nowhere, was looking at her with awe-inspiring eyes.

“…Please make a sound when moving around. You surprised me.” said Philomel, trying to calm her thumping heart.

“I will try harder next time. But why are you hitting the cushion…?”

Well, she couldn’t hide it from that person.

“I was practicing beforehand because there’s someone I want to slap.”

Philomel replied in a cold voice.

“…is it me?”

“No! Why would I slap Le Guin? Someone else.”

“Oh is that what it is? Then it’s okay as long as it’s not me.”

His reaction was too bland for someone who just heard of his daughter’s plans to hit someone.

“…Really?”

When she asked back in a puzzled voice, Le Guin answered immediately.

“Why not? If you want to slap someone, then you have to do it. I lived my life beating everyone I wanted to beat.”

Philomel didn’t know if her father is a back alley bully or the Mage Tower’s Master. she just shook her head, giving up.

“By the way, what happened to the book I entrusted you with?” she asked, looking at her father, who was lying on her sofa as soon as he arrived.

<Princess Ellencia> was still in his hands. And still nothing in particular was found.

“I am investigating. I’m back because it’ll take a bit more time to analyze the ingredients.”

“Okay…”

It would be nice if there were any new discoveries through research. For some reason, Philomel was lost in her thoughts as she fiddled with the cushion in her hand.

“Keep hitting the cushion. I’ll tell you how well you do it.”

“Ah, yes…” 

At Le Guin’s urging, Philomel, feeling embarrassed, started hitting her cushion again. Le Guin, who had been watching her closely, opened his mouth.

“You’re really not good at using your body.”

That was an accurate analysis. The strength drained from Philomel’s slender shoulders very soon.

“…Still, it’s important for me to slap that person myself. They still have to return the ring of red flame that they stole from me.”

Before the Emperor finds out that Philomel did not have the ring in her possession, she intended to retrieve it from Roseanne and return it to the imperial family. It’s a national level treasure, but it’s a custom made product, so it shouldn’t be like that originally – she thought it would be okay to pretend she didn’t know for a while.

In fact, there was nothing she couldn’t understand when Roseanne handed Philomel over to the police force. Even if there was someone other than Roseanne, if she was in the same situation, she would have reported the fake princess who had run away. However, she would never forgive being slapped on the cheek. She had to give back what she received to free her heart.

“Good. I will help you.”

A red magic circle formed in Le Guin’s hand who readily expressed his assistance to his daughter. The same magic circle then appeared at Philomel’s feet and started glowing. At the same time, power surged within her body.

“Ha!, ha…”

“Hit it again.”

Hesitantly, Philomel slammed the cushion weakly. She was obviously trying to hit it weakly. However, the cushion was ripped apart with a loud bang, louder than ever.

“…!”

The cushion feathers fluttered through the air. The Mage Tower’s Master laughed out loud.

“How is it? Are you satisfied with this?”

“Good! Perfect! A bit overkill, but much better than weak!”

The two of them smiled. Only Jeremiah, who heard the strange noise, made a strange expression.

“What are you going to do if you don’t want to give your child a reinforcing horse that you only use when going to hunt higher level monsters…”

Her sighs were buried in the popping sound of the cushions. In Le Guin’s hands, other magic circles began to be created one after another.

“At this point, I’ll also cast an automatic defense spell on you.”

Automatic magic was magic that was activated regardless of anyone’s will. In other words, automatic defense magic was magic that automatically activated when the Person or the subject it was cast on was in danger.

“Isn’t that dangerous to people around you?”

Philomel was also well aware of the existence of automatic defence magic, but gave up because there were many things to be careful about. In order for the magic to be activated automatically, an objective factor was needed to act as a criterion. If it was vaguely based on the physical damage the target received, the magic would be activated even with a weak blow. In an extreme case, it happened in an annoying situation where the magic was activated even if the target was only slightly bumped.

Le Guin replied casually.

“There is a possibility that it will result in unintended sacrifices, but it cannot be done.”

“No, you can’t do that. What if a person passes by and our shoulder bumps slightly, and they die?

“Okay. I’ll set it to when the other person contacts you with the intention of harming you.”

“Can you do that too?”

“It’s a bit annoying, but it’s possible. If someone tries to harm you, they’ll die painfully in front of your eyes.”

“…That’s a little distasteful.”

If she witnessed such a scene, she would be stunned for the rest of her life. 

“You’re picky.”

“It’s nothing tricky, just plain old.”

After arguing like that, finally the completed magic circles emerged at Philomel’s feet one by one. As a result, Philomel acquired several layers of magic from the Master of the Mage Tower, which is said to be difficult to receive even after spending a large amount of money. She felt so full that she could strain the food. That day, while testing her magic performance, she broke several more things.

* * *

Ellencia burst into exclamations when she saw the visitor.

“Are you Miss Margaret?”

Margaret stooped, thrilled once again that the princess knew her.

“Greeting Her Highness, the Princess. This is Margaret Goat.”

Margaret Goat. She was a well-known tailor in Elida, but she hadn’t made a name for herself in the Empire yet. It was only natural since she had just returned from studying abroad. However, she was more confident in her skills than anyone else. She had a strong belief that in just one year, she would become a tailor recognized by the whole country. It was a week before the Debutante Ball when the miraculous news of the Princess’ wish came to Margaret, who was full of thoughts of gradually widening her feet from now on. The new Princess wanted Margaret’s dress!

It was such happy news that she could even dance in the square right away. All the way to this place in the carriage sent from her palace, Margaret was swollen with her dreams.

‘What is a year! I’ll be the best tailor in the empire in a month!’

The newly appeared Princess was the empire’s greatest concern. What if such a person made her first appearance in a dress Margaret has designed? Just thinking about it made her cheeks go up. Margaret held out a sketch of her own design before her princess.

“If there is a dress you like, please choose it.”

“Wow! All of them are pretty! Can I choose several?”

“It doesn’t matter. I only need to make the urgent debutante dress first and then slowly make the other things.”

She had already heard the emperor’s message that if the princess wanted, she could make as many dresses as she wanted and offer them. The princess, who said she had lived on a flat surface until now, excitedly passed over her sketch. Margaret was delighted as she examined her dresses, which her princess took a particularly long time to look at.

‘These are all expensive dresses.’

She found none of Margaret’s dresses cheap, but the princess recognized the splendid and expensive ones among them. That was one of the differences she had from Princess Philomel before her. Thanks to Princess Philomel, who was wary of her extravagance, a trend of thrift prevailed in the social world for a while. It wasn’t that noble ladies were looking for cheap dresses, but as they made them less flashy, the prices of dresses naturally went down. It could be said that it was a dark age for the tailors of Belerov. However, looking at Princess Ellencia, it seems that the time has come for such a dark dawn to come to an end. However, when she looked at her sketch for a while, the princess’s face became blurred.

Margaret asked anxiously.

“Isn’t there a dress you like?”

It couldn’t be. Wasn’t there a lot of excitement until just now?

“No. I like all of them and they are pretty. But… there’s not a single one that attracts me to choose as my debutante dress. It’s an important day, so I want to wear the prettiest dress…”

‘It’s tricky.’ 

Margaret did not lose her sociable smile.

“If your Highness tells me your taste, I will create anything.”

“Hmm… I don’t know much about dresses, but is there a style like this?”

The Princess diligently explained the dress she wanted, even drawing a picture herself. As Margaret listened to the explanation, a strange sense of deja vu bloomed in her.

‘This is that dress!’

It was very similar to the dress she had vaguely envisioned. It was a dress she was confident that if she made it one day, it would be her greatest masterpiece. The princess’s drawing was poor, but her idea was clear. Rather, it was as if the details that Margaret had been struggling with became clearer as the Princess’ real name. As if she had seen it from the future.