There Is No Place For Fakes

“Le Guin.”

Lexion, who went behind the desk, knelt and said. Le Guin seemed to be sitting on the floor.

“Uh. Why?”

A dry voice came from across the desk.

Someone who claims to be your daughter has come to see you.

“What? Now?”

 It may be a bit late, but the statement about the mother is consistent with the data. However, there is no record that the mother gave birth to a child in the data.”

“Since there was no news, the person in charge at the time must have judged that she was not pregnant or had a miscarriage.”

It was about Philomel, but Philomel knew nothing about it.

“She’s here right now. Would you like to meet her?”

“I’ll have to see it at least once.”

Before long, a figure suddenly rose from the back of the desk.

Philomel looked sideways at Le Guin’s face. Golden eyes shone strangely under the tousled silver hair.

Having seen Eustis and Nassar, I was confident that I wouldn’t budge on a tolerable handsome man, but her eyes widened.

It was so beautiful that it burned.

And he was very young. I vaguely imagined him to be old, but at most he looked only in his early thirties. The corner that resembles Philomel is… Do they have similar eye colors? Although her own is not a brilliant golden color like his, it is closer to the color of Forsythia.

Suddenly, Philomel recalled that Lexion’s eyes are similar.

Just looking around a little more, she met Le Guin’s sharp gaze.

At that moment, a strange sense of alienation came down Philomel’s body.

‘Something different

Somehow this man felt like a creature fundamentally different from herself and the rest of us.

“What is this? This feeling.”

The silver-haired man erased his sullen face when he saw Philomel and smiled seductively.

“Hello? My name is Le Guin. What will your name be?”

“It’s Phil …”

I couldn’t reveal my real name, so I gave it a nickname. She was never called by a nickname, though.

“Yes, Phil. Sit here for now.”

Le Guin prepared a place by roughly cleaning out the clutter that occupied the sofa.

“Shall I leave?

“I have something to say after this, so stay here.”

“All right.”

To Lexion’s question, Le Guin answered as if his business with Philomel would be over soon.

Philomel and Le Guin sat down and Lexion stood nearby.

“Hand.”

He reached out his hand to Philomel, who was stiff with tension and wondering how to start talking.

“Yes?”

“Can you give me your hand?”

Philomel hesitantly held out her hand, and Le Guin grabbed it. Hard, big hands…

“Heuk…!”

The sudden pain made it difficult to breathe. It was the feeling of something entering her body and tearing through her body.

“Ugh…”

“There’s no magic. No, there’s a bit of it, but it’s kind of like an empty shell.”

Le Guin murmured, looking down at the squatting Philomel.

“Are you okay?”

Lexion approached and protested instead of Philomel.

“This man! You should do this after asking for permission. It’s hard to bear if you’re not a wizard.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I thought you were a wizard because you said you were my child.”

Philomel raised her upper body and looked at them alternately.

“What the hell is this…?”

Lexion explained.

“He checked your mana by injecting his mana. Mana tells us whether you’re his daughter or not. It’s a bit stinging for magicians, but it must have hurt you. I apologize for that. That’s the kind of person he is…”

Le Guin added, ignoring Lexion’s subtle criticism.

“It’s ridiculously small, but the mana is there.”

“Then…?”

“She’s my real daughter.”

It was a moment of reunion that was neither touching nor dramatic.

“What’s this?”

In the meantime, I have pictured the moment I met my biological father hundreds or thousands of times.

From a touching encounter that cannot be seen without tears, to a development where you are coldly kicked out saying that you cannot be recognized as a daughter.

But the situation that had now unfolded was of a kind that she had never imagined.

Le Guin’s attitude was too businesslike to meet a daughter he didn’t even know existed.

‘There were many things I wanted to ask when we met… 

Why did you leave pregnant Catherine behind? Didn’t he know that he had a daughter named me?

How did you accept the ‘Philomel’ in the book?

And… Do you have any affection for me?’

Questions that had not been asked for years floated in my heart.

Le Guin spoke first.

“You have a lot of questions, you can ask.”

Philomele opened her mouth and asked the first question.

“…why did you leave your pregnant mother alone?”

“I don’t remember, but your mother would have wanted to stay there. Other than that, I recommended staying in the tower.”

I can’t understand the meaning of what that man is saying.

Even knowing that the conversations didn’t mesh, Philomel focused more on other things.

“…you don’t remember?”

“Because it’s been over ten years.”

I was speechless at Le Guin’s natural attitude.

Catherine and Le Guin had a one-night stand.

“My mother’s name is Catherine Hounds. She looks a lot like me. Don’t you remember anything when you see my face?”

Le Guin put his face close to Philomel and pointed his finger at her hair.

“Dyeing.”

“Ah.”

Come to think of it, I dyed my hair in the morning. I thought I would erase it.

When Le Guin snapped his finger, a cool energy spread through her head. In the blink of an eye, Philomel’s hair returned to its original color.

“Well, I feel like I’m going to think of something…”

The man who crossed his arms and searched for memories smiled brightly.

“Sorry, I don’t know.”

“…how, how could you not remember?”

“Do you have any reason to remember?”

Philomel’s eyes grew hot when she saw a man proudly asking back.

“What do you want more than that? The reason you came to me even late is that you want something, right? It’s impossible to become a wizard because you don’t have enough magical power, but is it money?”

The back of my hand got wet.

Philomel realized a little later that the water on the back of her hand was her tears.

“I’ll add up the amount your mother didn’t take and give it to you so you won’t be disappointed…” 

I’ve forgotten my tears for a long time. Because the world didn’t appease Philomel for crying.

“Why are you crying?”

The man’s eyes widened as if he didn’t know why.

“I don’t need it. I don’t need money or anything from you.”

“Why?”

“We’re just like strangers. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come to you.”

Philomel gathered her belongings and headed for the door.

“You’ll never see me again, so take care.”

As she was about to leave, Philomel turned around and gave her last words to the man who brought her into the world.

“… Why are you so angry?”

Le Guin looked stunned at the spot where Philomel had left.

“Oh! You could have said it nicely, but you are a human being…”

Lexion got annoyed and hurriedly left the room.

Not knowing the way back, Philomel ran aimlessly. Hot tears continued to flow down as if the tear glands were broken.

I thought I didn’t expect anything, but. In one corner of my heart, I was longing for the affection of my biological father. Like a fool

“Wait!”

Lexion, who had followed up, called and stopped her.

Philomel wiped the moisture from her eyes with her sleeve and turned her head.

“What happened?”

“I will guide you to the exit. Could you please listen to me in the meantime?”

There was no other way to get out of the Magic Tower, so Philomel accepted his offer.

Lexion opened his mouth as they rode down the floating stone as they had come.

“Just in case, you don’t seem to know much about your birth. Didn’t your mother tell you?”

“What do you mean, I don’t know? No, there’s a lot I don’t know. But I got to know this one thing well. The fact that my biological father is a shameless person who doesn’t even remember a woman with his child.”

Even though it wasn’t Lexion’s fault, the sharp words came out.

Lexion scratched his cheek.

“That’s true, but… ”

“I’m sorry. I took out my anger for no reason. Lexion has nothing to do with it.”

Philomel bit her lip and said.

“No, it doesn’t matter.”

 “Yes?”

“Because I’m your half-brother, after all.”

Philomele gasped at the unexpected words.

“I see…”

“I’m not surprised.”

I thought that not only the color of his eyes, but also his facial lines, seemed to resemble Le Guin.

“I heard that he never married, so he is an unscrupulous person who gave birth to two illegitimate children.”

“Four people. You have two more brothers beside me.”

“…”

“By the way, all three of our mothers are different.”

The shocking fact added to the shocking fact.

What kind of house is this?

My head is pounding.

Lexion continued.

“I won’t deny your assessment of Le Guin… but don’t you want to know the secret behind your birth?”

Philomel nodded helplessly as he began to explain.

“Le Guin is a man who doesn’t know love. He doesn’t exactly know most human emotions. He won’t understand the slightest bit of parental love, attention, or whatever you want from him.”

“… But he had children with several women. Was it just that desire?”

“That’s part of the misunderstanding. He has never had an intimate relationship with any woman.”

“Then how did he have so many children?”

“It was an experiment.”

… Experiment?

To Philomel, who did not understand, Lexion explained further.

“In other words, we are children born through experiments.”