There Is No Place For Fakes

“Actually, you…”

“Meow.”

Finally, just as the Emperor was about to open his mouth, an intruder appeared. The cat came through the open door, jumped up, and sat on Philomel’s lap.

‘Why is this person like this again?’

Because of that, the Emperor’s confession was cut off.

“…Now, we’re eating, so go down.”

She picked his chubby body from her lap and put him down, but the cat jumped up again.

“Go down.”

She put it down once more. But she came up again. The cat, sitting on Philomel’s lap as if it were in place, waggled his tail.

‘Why would you do this?’

Having never been on her lap before. Philomel narrowed her eyes and looked down at the cat.

“Are you raising a cat?”

At the Emperor’s question, Philodel’s gaze shifted from the cat to him. Come to think of it, this was the first time the Emperor had seen Le Guin.

“I am.”

“Since when?”

“Since around the time I just returned to the imperial palace.”

“I didn’t know you liked animals. No actually, when you were little, you raised a koi in the pond of your palace.”

“… you remember?”

She didn’t expect that Eustis would still remember it.

“Yeah. Didn’t you prepare a meal for me with that carp?”

“The cooking was done by the chef, and I only served carp…”

“It looked good then. You said you would grow vegetables in the garden next time and make me a salad.”

…really? Even Philomel herself did not remember that. Come to think of it, when she asked to break off her marriage with Nassar, Eustis recalled a memory Philomel couldn’t remember. But she was a person with a strangely good memory though. 

‘So I made you a salad? I don’t remember that…’

Starting with the carp that Eustis mentioned, the conversation about bygone days continued like flowing water.

“You don’t know how surprised I was when His Majesty suddenly hugged me during the Foundation Day.”

“Is that so? I didn’t know that, I just acted without thinking.”

“Everyone present was equally shocked.”

It almost happened at a time when Philomel was actively seeking to be recognized as his successor. She was quite surprised even as she said it. Hadn’t she lived her life hiding herself wearing a mask? When she was young, she was happy whenever her plan was successful and she was recognized step by step by the Emperor. She also had a sense of accomplishment. But at night when she was alone, the fear of her future visited her as a child. Her daytime joy was washed away.

Quantitatively speaking, there were more painful memories than pleasant ones. And the painful memories always came to her mind before the pleasant ones. The negative side of anything was stronger than the positive side. But how could he smile and say it like it’s nothing at all? It was as if that fragmentary memory was true happiness.

“Aww!”

The friendly conversation was interrupted by a sudden sharp sound. The cat stood on the table with its front paws.

“Why are you like this? Seriously…!”

Philomel whispered into his pricked ear, but the cat only looked straight ahead of her. The eyes of the Emperor and the cat collided only in the air with the person sitting opposite. Human and animal glared at each other.

“Why are you all like this?”

In an unusual atmosphere, Philomel hurriedly lifted the cat and sent it out the door. The cat struggled to get back inside, but when she squinted her eyes, the silver cat stopped moving. When she returned to her seat, Philomel looked at the rest of the people.

‘Let’s say Le Guin is like that. Originally, he didn’t seem to like the Emperor very much.’

Even so, the personalities of the two were very different. Eustis was strict with himself as much as he was strict with others. As Philomel remembered, he was always at work. If it had not been for his painstaking efforts, the prince born under the careless Empress would not have been able to ascend the throne. Originally, he was on the side of concentrating his energy on reign, but after his wife died, he clung to work worthy of being evaluated as ‘married to the state’. In a word, he was a quiet hard worker. On the other hand, Le Guin threw away the mage tower and he didn’t have enough sense of responsibility to the extent that she was left alone here. Sometimes, when he had to go to the Mage Tower, he showed signs of being reluctantly dragged away by Lexion’s wiping. In his own words, after suddenly awakening his powers as a child, he became the most powerful wizard without much effort. To put it in one word, he is a lazy genius. Whether he was a cat or a human, he spent most of the day rolling around, there were times when he would nag and say things without realizing it. At such times, Le Guin would pout at her.

“Do you want me to be a boring human being like that Emperor?”

Philomel didn’t even mention the Emperor’s name. It was an incomprehensible sensitivity. She thought he just really hated the emperor.

‘Well, Le Guin is like that, but why did Eustis stare at the cat so much over there? No way… Did he discover Le Guin’s true identity?’

If so, it was very difficult. The Empire and the Mage Tower basically had a cooperative relationship, but invisible conflicts existed. Philomel thought of the Emperor who seemed to be in a bad mood whenever there was an issue related to the mage tower. There was a great concern that the magic tower master hiding his identity and secretly living in the imperial palace would turn into a big problem. In that case, she imagined the uproar that would happen, and her head started to hurt. 

She tried her luck to get Eustis’ intentions.

“Your Majesty, I apologize. My cat did a disservice. Please punish me it as its owner.”

The Emperor replied with a face that seemed lost in thought.

“No. But that cat…”

Did he get the real essence? It was Le Guin’s transformation technique that had never been discovered by anyone, but it seemed that the Emperor might recognize it with some special intuition.

“What about my cat…?”

“It’s a bit rude saying that in front of you…”

“I’m fine, so don’t be difficult and tell me without hesitation.”

“Since you say so, I will tell you. That cat earlier…”

What was he so lazy about? Philomel’s lips dried up as she waited for his answer. He opened his mouth slowly.

“It was so ugly.”

“It looks bad?”

“If you’re willing to keep another animal, then you’d better pick one that doesn’t look so uncomfortable.”

Was that all? Philomel brushed her drowsy chest. It really made people’s hearts tremble. By the way, the Emperor’s aesthetic sense also had an unusual corner. She was not saying this because of her own biological father, but Le Guin as a cat was objectively and subjectively very cute. Considering Empress Isabella’s beauty, his taste for human beauty seemed normal… Was it only for cats that was different?

Philomel just tilted her head.

* * *

At the same time, at the Imperial Palace, the  Court Magician Lexion was dealing with his father who barged into his laboratory. Le Guin, who sat across his son’s studies, dampened his irritation.

“Ah! I’m pissed off!”

Lexion looked at the documents he was looking at and replied indifferently.

“What are you doing?”

“The unlucky Emperor. Why is he pretending to be friendly with someone else’s daughter?”

“I’ve said it before, but he is the one who raised Phil for ten years…”

“He found his real daughter. Can’t he be satisfied with one daughter?”

“By that logic, someone with three sons should yield.”

“Why am I? No matter how much I argue, don’t I look more suitable as the father of the girl than he does?”

“Yes. I can see it.”

“Which side?”

“Emotionally, it’s hard to deeply sympathize with that child, and since you’re older, Phil might feel the three generations difference…”

“Don’t you know? Pearl once told me that my mental age was young.”

“…That is not a compliment. How are you so arrogant?”

Despite his advice, Le Guin did not care about what he said, choosing to listen to his own interests.

“To be jealous that I and Phil got along better.”

“…Your relationship definitely seems to have progressed more than before.”

“That’s right. But he keeps interfering…”

“It’s not Le Guin, but that kid and Guin Guin that get along better.”

“That’s me.”

“It’s different. You honestly feel it. The way Phil’s eyes look when she’s facing Le Guin’s real self and when she’s facing the cat’s are different.”

She didn’t seem to know herself, but Philomel gave the human Le Guin a rather cold look, while for the cat Guin Guin she was strangely warm. He also seemed to have felt it himself, but Le Guin couldn’t resist and he glared at Lexion.

“You’re the one who proposed to gain favor with cat form in the first place.”

“I meant it only at the beginning, but it didn’t mean to be a cat for 10 years like now.”

“…She likes the cat figure more, so what should I do?”

“Don’t be sad. But do you know? If you keep working hard as a cat, I wonder if Philomel’s father will be able to become a pet.”

“I want to be a father!”

“You have to work harder. It seems to me that the other side is slightly more dominant.”

“Whose side are you on?”

“I’m on Phil’s side.”

The mage lord clicked his tongue.

“My son doesn’t help at all.”

“Then go and complain to the other sons besides me.”

“They’re a bunch.”

If it was Jeremiah, he would ignore it altogether, and if it was Cardin, he would talk more, so he wasn’t a good conversation partner.