Chapter 18
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Translator: Wjin
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: No Place for the Fake
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"Hello."
"Oh, h-hello!"
Philomel greeted her, and Ellensia hurriedly returned the greeting.
She stealthily lifted her head and glanced at Philomel's attire.
"Um... You seem like quite the noble lady. What brings you to a place like this...? It's just a rural village with nothing to see. Ah! Was that a rude question? I'm sorry!"
Her guarded curiosity was endearing. Her clothes were those of an ordinary mountain girl, but an innate nobility shone through.
"It's fine. Is that your home?"
"...Yes. It's where my mother and I live."
Her long lashes fluttered anxiously.
Philomel asked politely.
"If it's not too much trouble, may I take a look around your house? I passed by and thought it was so lovely."
"Our house? Compared to your fine estate, it's nothing but a hovel."
She knew it was a lame excuse.
"Can't I?"
"It's not that you can't... I'm just a bit flustered. But if you wish it, of course I'll show you. This way, please."
Judging that refusing a noble's request would do no good, Ellensia led the way.
"Lady, please wait in the carriage."
She instructed Lady Deless, who was waiting a short distance away.
"But..."
"I'll be right back."
Brushing off the countess's objection, Philomel followed Ellensia.
"Mom! I'm home!"
As the front door opened, the aroma of cooking wafted out.
Philomel slowly looked around the interior.
The furnishings were modest but complete and spotless. It was a simple, cozy rural home.
"You little rascal! How long has it been since you went out, and you only come back now? Running around like a wild foal again? Lately, you've been giving me such heartache..."
The woman emerging from the kitchen mid-scold froze in place.
"There's someone I want to introduce. This young lady wanted to look around our house... Mom? What's wrong?"
The woman's eyes widened in shock upon seeing Philomel.
"Y-You...?"
She asked in a trembling voice.
"Hello. I was passing by and asked your daughter if I could see your home."
"See the house...? Please leave. We don't want to be a spectacle for nobles."
She turned away from Philomel.
"Shall we talk about something else, then?"
Philomel continued in the same even tone.
"Don't you recognize me?"
As she took one step, then another closer, the woman stifled a sharp gasp.
The woman's hazel eyes shook aimlessly as she stared at Philomel.
Philomel, meanwhile, observed the woman.
Her hair was dark brown. Though wrinkled beyond her years from hardship, she had once been a beauty—stubborn-looking, perhaps, in her youth.
Her features resembled Philomel's own.
The woman seemed to notice the same thing.
"Mom!"
Ellensia supported her mother as her legs gave way.
"Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
"...I'm fine. My head hurts, so don't yell."
"Shouldn't you lie down?"
"I said I'm fine."
They were clearly a close mother and daughter. To them, Philomel was the intruder.
The woman shook off her daughter's arm and stood.
Philomel addressed the bewildered Ellensia.
"I'm sorry, but could you give us some space? I need to speak with your mother."
"But..."
"Go upstairs."
At her mother's firm tone, Ellensia hesitated before climbing the stairs.
Philomel absently noted that Ellensia's room was upstairs, just as in the novel.
Now, only the two of them remained in the living room.
The woman fidgeted, clenching and unclenching her fists.
"You... you're..."
"Let me introduce myself. My name is Philomel. It's taken from the daylily that blooms only in this Yutina region."
Ellensia had gone upstairs, but just in case, Philomel whispered.
"Phi... Philomel..."
The woman covered her mouth with both hands and sobbed.
"Why... why have you come here? This isn't a place for someone as noble as you. Go back to where you belong."
"...You know better than anyone that there's no place for me."
Philomel replied calmly.
What a foolish woman.
Blinded by jealousy, she had upended two children's lives. Making her own daughter a princess because she couldn't become empress herself—it was absurd.
And having decided to raise the child as her own, she should have done it properly.
She was the one who mistreated Ellensia while dwelling on her own sins.
Yet she was also the one who eventually opened her heart to the persistently kind girl.
In a future yet to come—when her daughter turned seventeen, a year from now—she would reveal the secret of Ellensia's birth.
Even knowing full well what peril it would bring Philomel when the true princess sought her real father.
'A truly heartless woman. My birth mother.'
Philomel spoke quietly but firmly.
"Listen well. I'm taking your daughter to the emperor."
Katrin's pupils dilated.
"...No! How could you!"
"I'm letting a father and daughter, who have lived unaware of each other, meet."
"No!"
Philomel gazed coldly at the wailing Katrin.
"Why not?"
"Even if I didn't birth her, Ellen is my daughter!"
Daughter.
Philomel felt hollow.
The lovely Ellensia was loved even by parents not of her blood.
"Whether you're her real mother or not is for Ellensia to decide once she knows everything."
"No! She's already my daughter! After raising her all alone..."
Katrin finally began to weep.
Philomel sneered coldly.
"You never ask to the end."
"...What?"
"You're not curious at all about how I've lived."
Only then did the woman's face show she was caught off guard, her lips pressing shut.
"Th-That's... Of course you've been living in luxury in the imperial palace..."
Luxury? Had she justified herself with such words all these years?
"Just as you have no interest in me, I have none in your life."
Her eyes stung.
Philomel's voice trembled faintly. She realized she could never love this woman—just as the woman didn't love her.
"So if you want to live, run away now."
It was the only consideration she could offer the woman who had borne her.
"You know better than anyone that when the emperor learns the truth, neither you nor I will be safe."
In the novel, once Emperor Justis learned the truth, he sought out and killed Katrin immediately.
Not even Ellensia's pleas to spare her foster mother could sway his mercy.
"Then I'll take Ellensia."
Despair clouded Katrin's face. She seemed to realize there was no stopping it.
Philomel passed by Katrin and fetched Ellensia from the room.
"You have a place to go with me."
Ellensia tilted her head at the curt explanation.
"Mom?"
"...Go with her. It's nothing bad, so don't worry."
Katrin, seated at the dining table with her head bowed, spoke without looking at her daughter.
Ellensia followed Philomel out in bewilderment. It was, in effect, a parting between mother and daughter.
In the carriage heading back to the villa...
"Um... May I ask where we're going?"
Ellensia fidgeted uncomfortably with her fingers.
"We're on our way to Lake Yutina."
"Ah! Lake Yutina is such a beautiful place. I hear there are many nobles' villas nearby. Are you here on vacation, miss?"
Even in this situation, her bright smile betrayed a well-loved upbringing.
"So, um... What is your name?"
"Philomel."
Philomel omitted her surname, soon to lose meaning.
"I'm Ellensia. Wait! Ellensia, Philomel—they're both flower names!"
Both names were flowers native only to the area around Lake Yutina, the empire's pride.
"What a strange coincidence!"
"It is."
Not a coincidence.
They were names Empress Isabella, who loved flowers, had chosen for her daughters.
Somehow, the real and fake each ended up with one—quite the joke.
"Come to think of it, you share a name with the princess. I heard the emperor and princess stopped by Yutina too..."
Ellensia's expression darkened as she trailed off.
"Are you... the princess?"
"Who knows?"
At Philomel's ambiguous response, Ellensia looked plaintively at Lady Deless for confirmation.
But Lady Deless, lost in thought, didn't notice.
She had been like that since seating Ellensia beside her—realizing whose face it resembled.
No one who frequented the palace was ignorant of the late empress's portrait.
"...Why are you taking me?"
"Sorry, I can't tell you yet. You'll find out soon."
"...Okay."
With that, Ellensia fell silent.
A heavy quiet settled in the carriage. Philomel thought the now-silent Ellensia's face looked chillingly different from before.