There Is No Place For Fakes

There was only silence in the Emperor’s quarters.

The Emperor’s secretary, Count Pollan, was sweating from the awkwardness.

“…”

“…” 

A man and a girl with eyes of the same color sat face to face and remained silent.

Even after entering the room, the Emperor, who had been staring at the girl’s face in dismay, spoke only after Pollan warned him.

Pollan witnessed the Emperor’s surprise when the girl answered “Ellencia” when asked what her name was.

Then, after another long silence, he asked for her family name and parents’ names.

Ellencia Hounds.

None of Isabella’s close relatives had such a surname.

The girl did not know her father and said her mother was Catherine Hounds. It was a name I didn’t know. But I think I’ve heard it too.

‘It’s not an uncommon name, but someone with a name like that… ?’

Pollan put aside his fading memories and glanced sideways at the Emperor’s eyes.

Eustis had been unable to look straight at the girl named Ellencia from earlier.

The gaze is directed obliquely downward.

It’s not unreasonable. It’s a little creepy that Isabella, who died, seems to have come back alive, but he’s scared.

When the Emperor couldn’t get out of the grief of losing his wife, he wondered if there was a woman who miraculously resembled her.

“Hey. You’re the Emperor, aren’t you?”

Ellencia, who had been quiet, opened her mouth.

It was admirable that she dared to speak to him first, even though she knew he was the Emperor.

From the moment she first entered this place, the girl seemed bewildered, but she didn’t seem intimidated.

Her expression was also on the bright side, so it was amazing. It gradually faded as time went on, but that’s all.

“… Yes.”

After some time, Eustis answered.

“This may sound very arrogant, but…”

The two cute cheeks became even rosier.

“Are you my father?”

“…”

“…”

Not only Eustis but also Pollan were surprised to the point that their eyes popped out at the sudden remark.

“As I already said, I didn’t have a father, so my mother raised me alone. When I asked about my dad, she said he was a very nice person. You have dark hair and deep blue eyes like me…”

The girl looked up at Eustis with expectant eyes.

“Is Your Majesty my father by any chance?”

However, Eustis was silent at the bold question and suddenly turned his head.

“Your Majesty?”

There was only a wall on the side Eustis was staring at.

“My strength just… “

He seemed to see somewhere beyond the wall.

“Your Majesty! It’s a big deal!”

Just then, Countess Deles burst open the door, and entered. It was uncharacteristic of her always polite behavior.

The knights stopping her also followed.

“Madam, what’s going on…”

The distraught Countess cut off Pollan’s words.

“Princess Philomel…”

She cried out after taking a moment to catch her breath.

“The princess has disappeared!”

Eustis immediately burst into the room where the princess was staying. They were walking, but their pace was so fast that Pollan and Ellencia had to run after the Emperor.

Countess Deles, exhausted from running to the Emperor’s room, arrived last.

Eustis, who was looking at the dark room where not a single ray of warmth remained, asked Countess Deles.

“What happened?”

Pollan felt the emotions boiling in that short word. Here is what Countess Deles said, half-crying.

When I returned with the ice water the princess had requested, no one was already in the room.

I waited in the room, wondering where she had gone for a while, but the owner of the room did not come back for a long time.

Anxious, she wandered around the room and found this letter on the desk.

On the outside of the letter envelope, only ‘Dear Father’ was written.

If the princess had a letter she wanted to deliver to the Emperor, she wouldn’t have left it on the desk.

She felt strange, but she couldn’t bear to open the letter she had written to the Emperor and put it back.

After leaving the room, she asked the maids outside the room for the whereabouts of the princess.

No one knew

She searched for the princess with a few people, but couldn’t find her anywhere.

Then she ran to the Emperor and informed him of this fact.

Pollan bit his lip. If the Countess’ words were true, it was too late. Whether she was kidnapped or voluntarily disappeared, the probability of finding her was as much as the previous time was inversely proportional.

Moreover, the princess had a ring of red flames. If used, the search range would expand to the entire continent.

The Emperor picked up the letter from the desk as soon as the countess mentioned it.

When the seal was opened, a piece of the letter came out. The straight and elegant handwriting was familiar to the eye.

[Dear father

Father, Ellencia is your biological daughter. On my last outing, I visited a nearby village and accidentally found Ellencia on the street. I inadvertently followed her because she looked so much like my mother and met Ellencia’s mother. 

Her mother’s name is Catherine Hounds.

As you know, she was my mother’s friend and maid of honor. Seeing my face, she cried and confessed everything to me.

When my mother gave birth in her hometown, she was there, and she switched her child and the princess out of jealousy.

Yes, I wasn’t your biological daughter. I was the child of Catherine and a man whose name I don’t know.

Sorry to inform you now. I wanted to tell you right away, but I didn’t know how to say it.

The fake daughter is leaving because there is no way to see you. Thank you for raising me.

I will repay the various favors I have received as the princess up to this point by doing things that will be of utmost help to the Belerov Empire.

Please stay healthy and be happy with your daughter.

— Philomel Dream]

That was it.

There was no indication of where she was going.

Eustis’ arm fell helplessly. The letter in his hand was crumpled.

“Release the soldiers right now. Use all available personnel.”

The voice was infinitely low. But when he said his last words, he exploded like a volcano.

“Find my daughter!”

Pollan and the knights bowed down and obeyed, searching the whole continent for the princess.

* * *

At that time. Philomel was walking on a street crowded with people.

“A bag of bread baked today is only 2 bells! The shop is closing soon, it’s a special discount!”

“Did you see the new dress that came into Gina’s dressing room? A transaction that copied the identity of the genius designer, Mrs. Margaret.”

The market streets dyed in the glow of the sunset were full of life with people and merchants.

She is now in Saint-Jen, a city in the northern part of the Empire. It was one of the five largest and most prosperous cities in the empire.

If possible, she wanted to move to the destination at once with magic, but the ring of red flame could only move the user to a place he had been to.

It was best to move to the closest area to Philomel, which had never been to that place.

The destination is Angelium, a magical city located in the northernmost part of the empire. Crossing the border from Angelium and going a little further will bring you to the Magic Tower.

There is that person in the Magic Tower.

Archmage Le Guin, Philomel’s father and owner of the Mage Tower.

Her thoughts drove her crazy, and her arms tightened around her bundle.

The first thing she wanted to do after leaving the imperial palace was to meet her biological father. On particularly sad nights, Philomel read <Princess Ellencia> and imagined her real parents who gave birth to her.

What kind of people are they? What did he look like, how did they meet, and why did she give birth to Philomel?

Her mother, Catherine, is Ellencia’s adoptive mother, and since she appeared at the beginning of the novel, she knew a lot of information.

A mean mother who mistreats the kind and pretty protagonist, Ellencia. However, in the end, being influenced by Ellencia, she repents her sins and confesses the secret of her birth.

Then Ellencia meets Eustis and when everything is revealed, she pays for her sins by dying. However, her sins and self-reflection cause enormous damage to the life of her daughter, Philomel.

Philomel grew up as a fake princess because of her mother’s sins, and after a night of self-reflection, she fell from a princess to a criminal.

As a result, her vague hopes naturally focused on her father, Le Guin.

Compared to Catherine, little information was known about Le Guin, both in real life and in books.

Even after asking Humphrey when she was young, Philomel continued to investigate in his way, but there was little information obtained.

A geek who has great power but never goes public.

In the book, when ‘Philomel’ is in danger of being executed for the first time, she runs away from prison and entrusts herself to her real father. That was the first mention of Le Guin.

However, when ‘Philomel’, who couldn’t abandon her jealousy of Ellencia, borrowed his power to commit evil, he also gave up on his daughter later.

That was all there was to it in the book. Since the novel progresses from the point of view of Ellencia, the main character, only a brief description of how ‘Philomel’ lived in the Magic Tower is given.

The description was close to ‘the villain who was thought to have been defeated, persisted and committed evil again’.

The father also felt that the villain ‘Philomel’ was a new weapon.

‘Since nothing is known like this, I have no choice but to go and check it myself.’

Anyway, since Le Guin made an effort to protect ‘Philomel’, he might have some affection for his daughter.

Philomel thought as she moved her gaze toward the border.