There Is No Place For Fakes

‘In the novel, I’m… No, It’s not me!’

She didn’t want to admit that she was the villainess who faced such a miserable end. Just the name was the same. The name ‘Philomel’ was not common, but it was not rare either. However, Philomel was a little uncomfortable because he had repeatedly felt that the ‘Pilomel’ in the novel was similar to herself.

For example, there was an anecdote from her childhood that was narrated to reveal the evil nature of ‘Philomel’.

‘Philomel’ lost the necklace her father gave her as a birthday present. Fearing to be hated by him, she tried to kill one of her maids for stealing it. In fact, there was a similar incident. But it wasn’t intentionally blaming her maid for her sins. Philomel really thought her maid had taken it. Her necklace was missing, which she misunderstood as it was the maid who last cleaned her room. Later, when her maid’s innocence was revealed, she was scolded by her nanny and even apologized to her properly. She didn’t even mean to kill her. Tracing her memory, she thought ‘I’m going to kill you!’ but it was purely out of anger.

It wasn’t a lie at all, but in the novel, ‘Philomel”s inner thoughts or back story were not revealed, so she looked like a complete villainess.

“No. It must have just been written on its own accord, based on what an unknown outsider had heard about it.”

Shaking her head, Philomel muttered as if to reassure herself.

“Princess, I’m going in.”

Suddenly, the voice of the nanny came from outside the door.

“Hey, wait a minute!”

She hurried to the desk and put the novel into a drawer. It was clear that she would be hit with a nagging bomb if she was found out reading a romance novel while she was on probation.

“You weren’t studying and you were doing something else, right?”

She didn’t even get permission to come in, but the nanny opened the door and entered, frowning and looking around.

“What the hell! I was studying properly.”

She pointed to the thick history books on her desk, but the suspicious nanny looked around her room a few more times before standing in front of Philomel.

“Please grow up a bit now. If the princess gets into trouble, we, who serve her, will be in trouble.”

“Yes…”

Soon, the nanny’s nagging started. Her nanny was the only one who could treat her badly, except for the emperor. She was also the empress’s nanny, and everyone referred to her as her nanny, even though she never gave milk to Philomel. It is said that the empress trusted and relied on her nanny, almost like her own mother, and brought her into the palace when she got married.

Eustis respected her wife’s will and made the nanny her daughter’s nanny, leaving full responsibility for her upbringing and education. As he was indifferent to her daughter, in fact rhe affairs with Philomel were left to her nanny alone.

“His Majesty has firmly instructed her to correct the princess’s habits this time.”

“Chi. Lies.”

Apart from saying that, Eustis was not a father who was interested in her daughter to this extent. However, the nanny knew that it worked well for her Philomel, and she used to sell the name of Eustis to try to control the princess.

She said, for example, that if she took a good etiquette class, she would let Eustis share her meal, or if she got a perfect score on her test, she would let her go to her office. Even so, when Philomel fulfilled the condition, she avoided the fulfillment of her promise, making excuses for each other. It was only after the nanny broke dozens of promises that Philomel realized she had been tricked. Her nanny blamed her for losing interest in her successor’s classes.

“What did you say now? What a lie! It’s a bad habit to start doubting what people say. Do I really have to listen to the rod of love?”

When her true feelings were revealed, the nanny made an exaggerated fuss. She said, “Okay. Be careful in the future, okay, I’ll do it.”

Philomel lowered her tail first. The nanny, though near her old age, was of good form and strong. She didn’t severely punish the princess even with a hawk, but it was terrifying enough for the little child.

“Please, please. I really want to know who she resembles. Lady Isabella was kind and…”

Even at her age she had been hammered by her nanny, because she was not like her mother, those words pierced her heart.

“Nanny…”

“Yes?”

“Uh?”

She didn’t look so much like her mother, Philomel asked cautiously about her.

“Yeah. It’s amazing. Lady Isabella was smart since she was young, mature, and at the same time innocent at times.”

Undermining Mel’s self-esteem was her nanny’s pleasure. Today, even her nanny’s daily nagging sounded like she’s not the real princess, as the stories in her book say, and her mood has subsided.

“That’s why you should be calm on the day of the foundation day…”

Philomel, who had been listening to the nanny’s words with one ear and letting it out with the other, was wide awake at her disparate content.

“Foundation day?”

“You didn’t listen to me, did you?”

“Can I participate in the founding festival?

“Uh? Of course. Since it is a national event, it was talked about going out after a special break from probation on that day.”

Founding Day. A nine-year-old founding festival. It was a word she remembered seeing in the book!

After her nanny left, Philomel took out the novel, [The Princess Elencia], and scanned the front of it.

‘Frequently’

What she was looking for was the part where the main character, Elencia, was going to participate at an international event in her village when she was nine years old. Elencia was the same age as Philomel, so the foundation festival mentioned there was the one the nanny just mentioned. Elencia tried to go to the event, but she couldn’t go because the event itself was postponed due to heavy rain on the day.

She remembered laughing at the part where the foundation festival was postponed due to heavy rain because it made no sense.

Yeah, the founding festival was the most important festival of the Belerov Empire. It is customary to receive an oracle every year to set a date and it was confirmed that there would be no rain on that day. In addition, the founding festival, which was scheduled for three or four days, was postponed for a week due to the collapse of the high priest.

“That’s right. It was just a fiction after all.”

How could the high priest who protects the empire fail? She felt better. Now, all he had to do was check the sunny weather on the day of the foundation festival and relax. She would take that book to her father after the foundation festival finished and punish the cheerful writer.

Philomel smiled and closed the book.

* * *

It was definitely supposed to be that way… The well-dressed Pilomap looked down at it. Bewildered by the thick raindrops

“…Your Majesty, it seems we have to postpone the event to a later date.”

The secretary was at a loss for what to do with the unprecedented situation and fell ill with Eustis. They couldn’t even go to the outdoor event prepared in the front yard of the imperial palace, and were sheltering from the rain under the roof of a nearby memorial hall. The head of the event, who broke out in a cold sweat, explained that it was an unprecedented heavy rain.

“Okay. The event will be postponed. Set a date again and report back.”

At the emperor’s words, many members of the imperial family and nobles who had gathered to hear the commemorative speech prepared to leave.

‘Is it really being postponed like this? Like the contents of the novel?’

In an instant, her eyes went dark. A novel should be just a novel. It should never become a reality. If not, it meant that the other girl was really her father’s real daughter…

“No! It can’t be!”

Philomel screamed involuntarily and ran off the roof.

“Your Highness the Princess! No!”

People hurriedly tried to bring the princess back in the rain, but Philomel ran frantically and stood in front of Eustis. Then, looking up at him, she eagerly opened his mouth.

“Father.”

There was a fine crack between Eustis’ beautiful eyebrows.

“Please, please don’t postpone the founding festival. Yes? You can do it inside the memorial hall. So let’s proceed as planned.”

Embarrassed by the sudden behavior of the princess, everyone was busy paying attention to father and daughter.

“I beg of you. Please”

Philomel’s eyes were wet with water, whether it was rain or tears.

“… Princess, that can’t be the case. Please keep your cool.”

One of her maids who served Philomel came beside her and whispered. She knew. Philomel was well aware of the absurdity of having a commemorative speech indoors. Byeollerop was an empire founded under the protection of the Sun God. The founding festival was meaningful only when it was held under a sunny sky. It wasn’t just acting because of the inconvenience of outdoor activities.

She knew. But, but…

“Let’s go.”

The emperor’s gaze toward Philomel was soon withdrawn.

“Oh, Her Highness the Princess…”

The secretary, Count Pollan, hesitantly said so as he looked around at the rest of the audience.

“Does His Majesty have to listen to the child’s complaints one by one? That’s because she wants to see the festival and blocks the emperor’s way?”

Everyone held their breath at the anger lurking beneath the blue eyes. Many people were well aware of the fact that the emperor, unlike his beautiful appearance, could be as cruel as a demon. Suspicion that he assassinated the former emperor in order to ascend the throne was spread in the dark.

“Let’s go.”

Eustis relentlessly turned away. Starting with him, the attendees left one by one. Each of them glanced at the princess, who was still standing in the rain, but did not speak to her. There was nothing good about being involved with the princess, who was only hated by the emperor.