There Is No Place For Fakes

People have their own place to be. For Philomel, the scaffold was the seat of the day and the last place to be.

A large crowd gathered at the execution site to see the last of the wicked woman. Philomel screamed at them, saying she didn’t want to die, but that was soon silenced by the merciless kicks of the guards who grabbed her by the arms.

Emperor Eustis gazed indifferently at the being who had once been his daughter from his highest seat, and next to him, Princess Ellencia, with a pale complexion, clung tightly to her father.

“Listen to the treacherous!”

The person presiding over her execution stood before her and began reciting Philomel’s crimes one by one. The crime of impersonating the princess for ten years in collusion with her mother. The crime of envying and slandering the princess even though she saved her life through her mercy. The crime of trying to cause a national crisis by alienating the relationship between the Mage Tower and the Empire. In addition, several minor crimes were listed one by one.

“Therefore, she deserves the death penalty!”

Almost as soon as the ruler finished speaking, harsh shouts and swearing erupted from all sides.

“Quickly kill her!”

“How dare you pretend to be a princess despite your low bloodline!”

“They should have executed you along with your mother!”

Eggs and stones thrown by the angry mob mercilessly hit Philomel.

After a long time, the ruler raised his hand to restrain the angry people.

“It was originally a right not granted to a sinner like you, but the merciful Princess Elencia gave you the opportunity to leave a will with grace. Do you have any last words?”

“Me?”

Then Philomel’s yellow eyes, which had been staring down without life, turned to the emperor.

“…Ah, Father.”

The Emperor’s eyebrows rose slightly at the sound of his voice.

“I did not impersonate the princess. In the meantime, I will not beg you to save me, just as if I were your daughter. If only you knew that one thing…”

Confined to a solitary cell with no sunlight, she thought about it all the time. Countless people’s heads fell just because they were even a little close to her, or because they showed sympathy for her devastated face. Then all the lingering feelings that had been holding her back until now felt useless. Why did she struggle so hard to be loved and did not want for anything to be taken away from her? Neither affection nor place belonged to her anyway.

But, just one thing.

It was unfair that the first and greatest sin among the line of crimes was not true. Other people may not know but she only wanted one person to know my innocence.

Her father. Emperor Eustis of the Belerov Empire.

The one who didn’t even show the slightest interest in her, even after ten or so years of knowing Philomel as her own daughter. She was the one who wanted to be loved and know that he was her only family though. Now that she had come too far, she couldn’t relieve his hatred, but she hoped that at least the truth would be known.

From the start, she said she had no intention of cheating on him. He said he knew that she wasn’t his real daughter until Elencia appeared. When you think about it, it was a very natural story. It was around the time they were just born that Philomel’s birth mother switched her daughter and the princess. After that, Philomel continued to live in the imperial palace as a princess, and Elencia lived as a commoner with her birth mother, so she never had a chance to meet her. But when did she meet her birth mother and conspire, and how did she deceive everyone?

Anyone could guess this simple fact, but everyone treated Philomel as an impostor. It was because of the notoriety that Philomel had accumulated. Still, she held out her hopes. Even if others didn’t believe her, a rational and wise emperor might discover the truth.

Of course, it was a vain hope.

“Enough. Get the thread right now and sew its mouth.”

The emperor’s order was like pouring cold water in her heart, she stopped but the turmoil was revived.

“That’s right!”

“Do as His Majesty commands!”

“Sew it! Sew!”

The attendants scrambled to find a thread enough to sew the sinner’s mouth, and Elensia’s expression worsened even more. Holding her father’s sleeve and talking to him, Elencia, who had beautiful blonde hair, unlike Philomel’s usual brown hair. She was the beloved daughter of the emperor, who resembles the deceased empress.

Philomel’s eyes were wet with despair.

‘What did I expect?’

She knew for sure it would turn out like that. It must have been because of the long torture.

‘Let’s just quietly accept death.’

That’s the only way to keep her ego alive. Yes. No matter what anyone said, she was once the princess of the Belerov Empire.

‘That’s the only thing… my only pride.’

“Your Majesty!”

It was clearly meant to be, but Philomel stood up without realizing it and called for the emperor. A strangely loud sound came out even though I had lived on bread crumbs for days and days.

As Eustis’ grim gaze met her, unexpected words spilled out of her mouth. Her tears also wet her cheeks incessantly.

“Have I, have I ever been your daughter? Have I ever been a little bit like your daughter?”

In the meantime,she  kept asking him.

She wanted to.

Not since Elencia appeared, even when she thought she was his real daughter. Why did he always look at her with such cold eyes? She was his child, right? Even if he couldn’t love her, couldn’t he treat her as a child?

Fearing the answer that would come back, she hadn’t bothered to ask. However, in the face of her death, a strange courage sprang up.

“…”

“Dad, stop it…”

The emperor, who was about to answer, looked away when her daughter whined.

For the kind-hearted Elencia it was hard to see Philomel’s execution, no matter how much she tried to harm her.

The emperor affectionately embraced the shoulder of his lovely daughter who begged him to leave that place quickly, instructed them to proceed with the execution, and then left the execution ground. Philomel was left behind, cleanly ignored.

“…You can just give me an answer and go.”

Philomel spat out her last will. Just like that, Philomel, a rare villain, died without anyone sympathizing with her. Fortunately, her mouth was not stitched up because the emperor was quick to take care of it. It was the last good fortune given to the wicked.

Although she died a long and painful death not by the guillotine, but by the executioner’s blunt blade, because they could not give her an easy death.

Her only innocence was overshadowed by so many evil deeds that she was buried without ever seeing the light of day. Indeed, she was fit for a villain…

“Kiaaaaaagh!”

She screamed and Philomel tossed the book she was reading.

“What is this! Why am I the Philomel in the book?”

Even if the girl stomped her feet with her little body and pounded her chest, it didn’t change the contents of her book.

The nine-year-old princess regretted looking at the suspicious books she picked up in the garden.

At some point, she wondered if someone had written a novel about the background of the real imperial family. From the very beginning, they put forward an unheard of commoner woman and said that she was the emperor’s own daughter, and that this Philomel was fake.

“I’m going to tell my father right away and I won’t let the guy who wrote this go.”

It was a book that had a lot of potential for blaspheming the imperial family. How dare anybody fake the sole heir of the Belerov Empire! That was not enough, and she was beaten in the cruel end. If the author hadn’t killed her, she would have given him a life sentence, but if it wasn’t the death penalty, her anger wouldn’t be resolved.

“Phew.”

Acting like she was about to run out at any moment, Philomel sat down on the floor where her power rug was bare. If her nanny saw it, she’d nag her for ungodly behavior, but it didn’t matter, since she was alone after her probation.

In the first place, the reason she read this absurd and insulting novel, <Princess Elencia> almost to the end was because she was filthy bored. Twice a day she had to be confined to her room except for a walk in the garden. She didn’t know if she would be able to meet her father even if her probation was lifted. Eustis was an indifferent father who had no interest in her daughter at all. There were very few times when he talked to her face to face.

The times they had tea or a meal together could be counted with a hand, and they were always silent. When Philomel visited him randomly, she was regarded as a nuisance and she was kicked out of the room.

The reason she was put on probation yesterday was because Philomel burst into the emperor’s office and made a noise because she was so upset that she wouldn’t meet him.

“Put that away right now.”

Seeing her daughter crying, asking why he didn’t come to see her, the emperor ordered his attendants with his extremely cold face.

In the end, Philomel had no choice but to be dragged back to her room. As the emperor’s cold attitude continued for nearly a decade, others began to look down on the princess. Rumors that the emperor’s nephew, rather than Philomel, would inherit the throne after the emperor further fueled their arrogance.

The emperor, who loved her beautiful empress dearly, resented his daughter for her birth that caused her mother’s death. Everybody knew that. Moreover, the princess didn’t resemble her mother at all, and since she didn’t stand out anywhere and only caused trouble, it’s natural that he didn’t care.

Drooping, Philomele staggered toward the mirror hanging on the wall.

“Doesn’t it look like that?”

In the mirror, Philomel was impeccably sharp, with her brown hair and yellow eyes. She was lingeringly young, but she didn’t resemble her mother, whom she only saw in portraits, nor her father. The emperor has black hair, and the empress has blonde hair and green eyes. Even if she simply compared the color of them, it did not work. When Philomel was young, the color of her hair looked like a merge. She prayed every night that her hair would become a bit lighter and golden, but as she grew up, it became a rather dark brown color. 

Well, even if her hair color resembles her grandmother’s grandmother, where did the bright yellow eyes come from?

The girl felt depressed because she didn’t really feel like her parents’ real child.