There Is No Place For Fakes

“Your Highness, do you need anything else? Please just say anything. And again, if you tell me even the approximate destination, I can help somehow…”

Philomel cautiously opened her mouth.

“Could you lend me some money?”

“…”

Philomel’s face flushed a little with embarrassment.

‘I’m too hesitant to say this to my ex-fiancé!’

However, the face was ideal, and a slimmer wallet was a reality.

Philomel had lived as frugally as possible for the past few days, but there weren’t many gold coins left. She didn’t know that maybe she didn’t have enough money to rent a communication stone.

“Ah, you are talking about money. That… because I don’t have any money right now.”

Nasar fumbled in his arms, it was unlike him.

I understand, Traditionally, aristocrats often left the trivial tasks of exchanging small amounts of money to attendants.

“I’ll borrow it from someone else and give it to you. Sir Aaron, give me all the money. When I return, I’ll return it several times.”

“You don’t have to go that far!”

Philomel politely dissuaded Nassar from trying to rip off another knight next to him.

I’m afraid I’ve shown you that I’m incapacitated, forgave me”

Perhaps embarrassed, Nassar went red up to his neck.

 ‘Is this your original personality?’

This is a fact that I did not know before when we were polite and exchanged routine conversations. It’s no use trying to find out now.

if, really if.

‘If we had been open to each other a little longer, would we have been able to become friends?’

Philomel looked blankly at Nassar and thought.

At that time, a man who appeared to be Avrydon’s knight rushed out of the hotel.

“Little Duke! We’re in trouble!”

“What’s going on?”

“The Emperor is here!”

Philomel doubted her ears.

Wait, wait, wait. What the hell is he saying?

The blue-faced knight rambled.

“He suddenly appeared a while ago, but strangely, there is no attendant… However, it certainly is His Majesty the Emperor. Guys like us have only met from afar, but that’s for sure!”

Before she could understand the knight’s words, a large figure caught her eye.

“Philomel.”

It looks like a dot in the bright morning sky with black paint, but the presence of the whole world as if it were turning into the night with one black dot.

It was Eustis.

The Emperor, dressed in acupuncture like a man who had just jumped out of sleep, grabbed Philomel by the shoulder.

“Where… where the hell have you been? Do you know how long I’ve been looking for you?”

It was an unrealistic sight, and Philomel’s thoughts stopped.

‘How could the Emperor be here?’

Even if the letter from Nassar had arrived early, he arrived at Saint-Gen as soon as it was received.

How far is it from the capital to Saint-Gen, that would be impossible…

No. There is one way. The method used by Philomel to escape.

It was movement magic.

I had never heard of the Emperor being able to use movement magic, but he was the one who breathed divine power into the ring of red flames. There was nothing strange about him using it.

My heart was beating so hard that I couldn’t control it. I could feel the blood draining from my face.

It’s a real dead end now. I can’t see any more holes to get out of. The execution was repeated thousands of times, tens of thousands of times in my head.

I’ll die.

“… Philomel? What’s wrong? You don’t look well.”

“Your Highness? Where are you sick…” 

It’s strange.

Eustis and Nassar’s voices grew quieter. It turned into a hum and seemed to be saying something, but I couldn’t understand it.

The view was also whitened from the corner. My body was as heavy as wet cotton, so I shivered regardless of my limbs.

I have to run away quickly.

Soon the world turned upside down. No, Philomel’s body was leaning.

“Your Highness”

“Philomel!”

Instead of the surface of the hard and cold floor, a hard but warm feeling wrapped around the whole body.

Finally, Philomel’s consciousness fell into darkness.

* * *

“Philomel!”

The Emperor embraced the body as it collapsed. The face in his arms was pitifully pale.

“Philomel, Philomel! Wake up!”

The emperor continued to call out her name and brushed Philomel’s face, but her eyes would not open.

Nassar’s heart felt like it was racing.

“I’ll call the doctor!”

He realized the obvious fact that he had to call a doctor at such times after hearing the knight cry.

Before the knight even stepped forward, a dazzling light flowed from the Emperor and enveloped Philomel as well as him.

And in the place where the two of them were, nothing was left. Just like when the Emperor appeared and disappeared with the movement magic.

Nassar stared blankly at his hand.

The hands sticking out of the Emperor’s arms were too white, like her face. I wanted to hold that hand, but I couldn’t. I felt guilty that I dared to touch it.

Eventually, the unreachable warmth vanished in vain.

Nassar clenched his fist so hard that his fingernails dug into his skin.

It was obvious where the Emperor would take his fiancée.

“Uh, I’m sure they were here.”

I looked around for the knight that brought a resident doctor to the hotel.

“They’re gone.”

Out of his reach.

“We are heading to the capital.”

“Right now?”

“Yes. Are there any wizards from Avrydon whom we brought that can use movement magic right now?”

It was last night that the wizards, who had exhausted their mana in the process of moving to their former lives, rested at a hotel.

“Quickly pack up… No, I will leave first, so you guys should come later.”

It would be impossible to fully recover in one night, but only Nassar would be able to move it.

“That’s… Actually…”

“What’s going on?”

“The wizards all left early this morning. The Duke sent a message that he needed them for other work, so…”

“Damn it.”

His father, the Duke of Avrydon, was skeptical about finding the missing princess from the beginning.

Even if he didn’t oppose it outright, he was dissatisfied with his son’s actions.

“Don’t waste your time and focus on your work.”

The day she disappeared, another princess appeared.

The Duke, who was attending a political meeting and witnessed a girl who suddenly appeared, seemed convinced that the girl was real. She looked a lot like the dead empress.

Still, Nassar did not believe it. Because the princess he served was only one.

“Shall we ask other wizards in the city? As soon as the wizard guild opens the door, I’ll come running…”

“All right, I’m going to the Mage Tower. There are more capable wizards in the tower.”

You can’t be idle. You need someone who can take not only yourself but also others and go to the capital at one time.

“Bring a new horse instead of a horse that runs all night. The fastest one.”

“How do you eat breakfast? You spent the night in the carriage, too?”

“It’s okay.”

I felt like I couldn’t stand it without seeing the face of the person who was fine right away.

Nassar mounted his horse and took the reins.