There Is No Place For Fakes

“Did the visit go well!”

A guard’s greeting could be heard through the open door. The door slammed shut with an ear-piercing, grinding sound. Catherine said in silence.

“Isn’t Le Guin going?”

Then Le Guin, who had been leaning crookedly against the wall until then, turned to her.

“I have something to tell you.”

“What is that?”

Catherine asked, trembling slightly. Seeing those golden eyes, more like a reptile than a human, her body shrank involuntarily. In fact, she was quite surprised to see a man who was very cooperative with Philomel. Although the time spent together for his experiments was short, Catherine was able to glimpse the man’s true nature. He was laughing at the time he mercilessly let even the monsters run away. That person was not a being who could put feelings in his heart. But why did he act like a cat with missing claws to Philodel? Just because she was his daughter? Or was there any other special reason?

“I mean. I don’t like it.”

He came over to Catherine, who was sitting on her stool, and grabbed her chin.

“Because you did useless things, I found out about Phil’s existence belatedly.”

“Sorry.”

“If you had informed me as soon as you gave birth, as per the contract, none of this trouble would have happened.”

The man’s eyes narrowed. 

‘I may die on the spot.‘

Catherine thought for a moment and closed her eyes. But contrary to her expectations, Le Guin obediently removed his hand.

“Well, okay. You’re the one who gave birth to Phil… and I’m just annoyed, but I don’t want to get rid of you. From now on, quietly cooperate with that child’s plan.”

Catherine rubbed her chin against her cold hand.

“…Why do you help Philomel even though you say it’s annoying?”

It took a lot of courage to ask just that one question. Le Guin, who was preparing to leave, answered her.

“I like her quite a bit.”

“Why? Any special reason?”

“Hmm? Well,” the man who didn’t even bother asking why, scratched her head. “It’s fun just watching. Emotions are varied… Of course, I don’t want her to cry, but anyway, I want to keep watching for a while.”

The man, who had an expression of understanding alone, disappeared with the brilliance. Catherine was somehow relieved. If she stayed with him, Philomel wouldn’t be in danger, she thought.

“Philomel.”

She remembered the child she had given birth to. She recalled her memories of the first time she decided to have the child.

“I’m looking for a woman to give birth to my child. Would you like to apply? The more applicants, the better.”

The wizard who saved himself from a group of monsters said so. At the time, Catherine was in great self-loathing. She felt like trash with no value whatsoever. Catherine’s family criticized her for kicking out the Empress’s maid of honor. She might have died at the hands of her brother, William, had it been discovered that, in fact, she had incurred the Emperor’s wrath and driven her away. At such a time, the one who appeared in front of Catherine was the owner of the mage tower. The greatest wizard in the world.

‘If it is the child of a great wizard, it will become a great being as well, right?’

Catherine wanted to have the man’s child. It seemed that if she gave birth to a great child, her value would rise as well. So she volunteered for the experiment. Rather than trying to become a person of value herself, she had a weak psychology, wanting to be satisfied through her children. Of course, even if this child became a great person, she did not become great. She only realized that after she got pregnant.

Catherine’s self-loathing intensified.

“Wow, long time no see! Catherine, I missed you!”

When Isabella appeared, her self-loathing was mixed with an inferiority complex. Why couldn’t she treat her friend as innocently as that child?

“A name for the child? I’m thinking between the two, but I think it will probably be Ellencia.”

Why was it that the woman he loved was Isabella and not herself? On the day in question, when she came to her senses, it was after she had switched her friend’s child with her own child. She, too, was an irredeemable piece of trash. Rather than mourn the death of her friend, she was blinded by her desires. Would it have been a kind of surrogate satisfaction for her desire to be loved by him instead of her own child?

 ‘The self-sufficiency… I also had something in mind as a child’s name…’

Catherine muttered in her low voice, recalling the face of the child who had been here a moment ago.

“But she won’t need it.”

Philomel. A child who didn’t need the name her cowardly mother thought of. A child who straightened her shoulders confidently even in the face of harsh trials. 

‘Ah, I’m so glad you don’t resemble me.’

* * *

Philomel, who had returned to the residence first, asked Le Guin, who had returned late.

“Did you have a good talk with Catherine?”

“Yeah. It wasn’t a big deal.”

It was only after she left the tower that she noticed that no cat was following her. If it was Le Guin, he would know with his movement magic and he would come back well, but the fact that he remained in the tower was unexpected.

‘Do you have anything to talk about with Catherine?’

She didn’t know that maybe he also had inner affairs to solve. Even if they are not a couple, weren’t they the parents of one person?

‘But no matter how I looked at it, it didn’t seem like a relationship beyond the experimenter and the subject…’

When Philomel flirted with Le Guin, he asked in a rather cautious manner.

“Phil, are you disappointed that Catherine and I aren’t dating?”

“Yes?”

He pointed in the direction of Philomel’s study.

“Looking at the books you have, it seems that a woman and a man always meet and fall into the irrational feeling of ‘love’, and then marry each other and have children.”

“What book did you read?”

“The title is so… ‘Fateful love’, ‘The secret of the perfect Count’, ‘The secret between the Grand Duke and the maid’…”

“Aaaagh! Stop!”

Philomel groaned and covered Le Guin’s mouth.

“If you said those embarrassing titles a second time,” she says. “I’ll never see your face again in my life.”

Seeing that resolute gaze, Le Guin nodded his head several times. After freeing his mouth, Philomel covered her face with the palms of her hands.

“How did you see that? I must have hidden it!”

As expected, it must have been too complacent to hide such books in the corner of the bookshelf covered with objects. At least she should have ripped off the colorful cover and visited the camouflage… No. She should have just burned it after seeing it all. However, another thought popped up in Philomel’s mind, which was stained with shame.

‘Why am I ashamed? I just bought those books to research <Princess Ellencia>!’

It was. At first, it was definitely because of <Princess Ellencia>. She wondered if another <Princess Ellencia> was circulating on the market. There was no law anywhere that the only book Philomel had was <Princess Ellencia>. Fortunately, another princess, Ellencia, was not found after a long investigation. All romance novels in which the princess or the princess were the main characters were all cooks, but there was nothing similar to them. Later, she expanded the scope to novels in which a noble lady was the main character, but the novels such as <Princess Ellencia> were the only novels she had.

Philomel was relieved only after having a maid search through out-of-print books. She thought that she wouldn’t be in danger of being found out by others for being a fake princess, but the problem was that she became a terrible romance novel maniac in the process. It was embarrassing to show those books, which were also mixed with vulgar content, to others, but she couldn’t bear to throw them away because her heart hurts.

“That’s why I hid them…”

Philomel’s hands trembled. She was so embarrassed to be caught by someone else! And that, of course, to her father!

Le Guin asked even more carefully.

“Is it a decoy?”

What? There was nothing wrong with him reading the book, but Philodel answered with clenched teeth.

“Yes… You can see them… But don’t go wrong with them. (No. You can. But don’t do that next time.)” [Note to Aoko: in the original this dialogue was like that, probably because the author wanted to explain Philomel words to us, I should delete it but… I kept it so you could see it]

“Yes…”

Philomel asked after taking a deep breath to calm her mind.

“So what were you talking about?”

“Are you disappointed that I and Catherine are not lovers?”

“Right. That was it.”

Philomel readily shook her head.

“I’m not disappointed. Yes, I was a bit disappointed when I first found out, but that’s an old story.”

“Really?”

“Really. Whether you two are in love or not, what’s the matter? It’s not like I’m changing myself now.”

It was a fact that Philomel had come to realize after returning to her palace and feeling a little happiness among many people. She told Le Guin that it was no big deal, but in fact she was devastated when she first learned the truth about her birth. 

A test subject born without parental love. 

She was envious of Ellencia. How beautifully the love between the Emperor and the Empress was portrayed in the book.

‘Because she was born as the fruit of such a beautiful and sorrowful love, Ellencia must have been destined to be loved by everyone.’ 

Philomel thought so subtly. And she naturally thought she didn’t deserve it. Because she’s just a failed experiment. Born out of practical interests, not love. However, many people liked Philomel.

Despite knowing that she was a fake princess, there was the Countess of Deles, Count Pollan, and her maid of honor, Melinda. The other ladies… and Nasar, Le Guin and her three brothers were more friendly to Philomel than expected. If it wasn’t for her, would they have dared to follow her here?

Thanks to them, she realized that Philomel was someone she could be happy enough with.

‘I don’t envy Elencia anymore…’

Whether Le Guin and Catherine were lovers or experimenter and test subject, Philomel was still only Philomel.

Philodel uttered the same words in a confident voice.

“I’m not disappointed.”

Le Guin’s face brightened a little.

“Then I’m glad.”

“But why do you ask that?”

“Just curious.”

Philomel was puzzled, but she asked no more. She had her immediate work to do. It was time for her to get Ellencia’s diary in her hands.