Chapter 55
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Translator: Wjin
Chapter: 55
Chapter Title: No Place for the Fake
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Once she settled on the circular stone steps, Jeremiah had no choice but to sit beside her.
The play was in full swing, so both of them watched silently without a word.
While taking in the play, Philomel let her mind wander to other thoughts.
‘It’s not the right time yet. I’ll wait until Jeremiah opens up more.’
Up to this point, things were unfolding somewhat similarly to the story in the book.
Ellensia, a country girl, encounters the wizard Jeremiah in the forest one day.
At the time, Jeremiah was traveling the world after leaving the Magic Tower.
He rescues Ellensia from danger when she encounters a wolf in the woods, and in return, she takes him to see the market.
It just so happened that the largest market fair in the region near her village was being held.
Though Jeremiah wasn’t keen on it, he needed some items right away, so he went along—and there, he discovered a new kind of enjoyment.
He had always hated crowded places full of people and had never properly explored a market before, so this was a first for him.
Before long, he opened his heart wide to Ellensia and unwittingly revealed his darker side.
And then, crucially, he hears those words from her!
Philomel planned to say those words in her place.
‘Then, naturally, a sense of family—or something like it—might develop between us.’
Even if that didn’t happen, it was vital for him to hear what Ellensia was supposed to say from Philomel first.
Any experience leaves the deepest impression the first time. The second time around was bound to feel ordinary by comparison.
Philomel stealthily glanced at Jeremiah with a tense expression. He was completely absorbed in the play, oblivious to the world.
At that moment, a booming voice struck her eardrums.
“Oh! You there! Why do you not love this wretched me? In your indifference, once again today I drown in sorrow and perish!”
On stage, the female actress cried out in anguish. Only then did Philomel focus on the play’s content.
The drama unfolding in the circular amphitheater was a straightforward tragic love story. Two lovers start off happily together but are torn apart by family opposition, slander from those around them, and petty misunderstandings.
‘I heard it’s been hugely popular in the capital lately.’
She’d never seen it herself, but Philomel knew the rough plot from her maids.
The man is the first to lose interest, but he later realizes his mistake and regrets it—while the woman, after grieving, finds new love.
It was still early in the play: the scene where the woman clings desperately to her departing lover.
‘This feels a bit awkward to watch.’
She knew their roles would reverse later, but a woman begging a man like that stirred certain associations.
‘Katrin Hounds and the book’s Philomel did the same.’
She couldn’t fathom why they groveled so much to the likes of Emperor Justis and Nassar Averyden over some man.
‘I won’t end up like that,’ Philomel vowed to herself as she glanced at Jeremiah. For some reason, he looked rather gloomy.
‘Whoa, is it that boring? But then why’s he watching so intently?’
Suddenly, a memory flashed in her mind.
It was something Jeremiah had said about his mother in the book.
“My mother thought that once she bore his child, my father would love her. But he was the kind of man incapable of that.”
A story he let slip to Ellensia much later, after they’d known each other for a long time.
“Mother despaired. She realized far too late that her wish could never come true. And so she left. She abandoned the man she loved, leaving behind a child who took after him completely.”
Just as Philomel had recalled Katrin Hounds and the book’s ‘Philomel’ while watching the play, Jeremiah seemed to be thinking of his own mother.
Putting together the book’s details with what she knew, Jeremiah’s mother had loved Tower Master Rguin.
She had even participated in his experiments and borne a child for him, but when she couldn’t win his heart in the end, she left.
When Philomel didn’t know the full story, she’d vaguely thought, ‘They must’ve married for love, so his father was too much.’
But considering their relationship was purely contractual, she couldn’t blame Rguin alone. Jeremiah, left behind, was simply pitiable.
‘The world’s complicated, so very complicated.’
Philomel quietly sighed, then suddenly widened her eyes.
‘Wait, isn’t this an opportunity?’
Sorry as she felt for Jeremiah, Philomel had been waiting all along for him to show a moment of vulnerability. That way, she could deliver those words and comfort him.
Perhaps fate had guided him to watch this play by chance.
Exploiting someone’s wounds went against her conscience, pricking at her sharply, but she couldn’t pass up this stroke of luck.
At any rate, she had to prevent Jeremiah from falling for Ellensia.
Whether fortunate or not, Jeremiah’s mood remained low even after the play ended on a happy note.
Philomel brushed the dust from her clothes and stood.
“Well, shall we head somewhere else?”
“……Sure.”
Lost in thought, Jeremiah followed her without question.
‘He looks so down... I feel kinda bad.’
Hoping to cheer him up even a little, Philomel took him to an ice cream shop and handed him a generous double-scoop cone.
“……”
But seeing him eat it halfheartedly soured her appetite for her own.
‘No helping it. Time to say those words soon...’
Philomel led him around, searching for a suitable spot.
Atmosphere was key for a conversation. She needed a place where Jeremiah might feel like opening up.
When they reached the riverbank, an exclamation escaped her lips.
“Wow, it’s beautiful.”
Sunset had fallen before she knew it. The waves of the Climer River—known as the empire’s lifeline—were dyed a stunning crimson.
‘This seems perfect for bringing it up.’
The vast river’s scenery felt grand yet somehow lonely.
“Jeremiah, over here!”
Philomel called him to a quiet, picturesque spot.
With the sunset as his backdrop, gazing at the river, he looked like a painting. The melancholic air made him seem like a work of art.
As she approached, Philomel chose her words.
‘Should I start by asking if he has any worries?’
Or maybe share her own childhood first to naturally draw out old stories...
But for some reason...
Her mouth wouldn’t move.
Seeing his face, far lonelier than she’d imagined, Philomel panicked.
She needed to say it quickly, just like Ellensia had:
“I see the same loneliness in your eyes as in mine.”
“I understand your pain. I’ll be your friend.”
Something like that...
But in that instant, a sharp question pierced her.
Do I really understand his pain?
Even if she didn’t, she was supposed to say she did—but for some reason, the words wouldn’t come.
Reality differed starkly from the scenarios she’d imagined while planning.
It was too vivid. Jeremiah’s loneliness.
He wasn’t just a character made of ink on a page; he was a living, breathing person, and his pain was the raw trace of one man’s past.
Philomel paused to think.
‘I’ve been arrogant.’
Just because she’d read the book, she thought she understood Jeremiah. She’d been confident she could steer his heart as she wished.
If someone who’d “read about” her claimed to understand Philomel, she’d find it repulsive.
‘Yeah. Time to stop this.’
Philomel brightened her clouded expression and approached him.
“Jeremiah!”
“……What is it, mmph!”
She shoved her ice cream into his mouth.
“Eat mine too! Don’t worry, my lips haven’t touched it.”
“Why should I?!”
“To cheer you up. Why are you so down?”
Having forced the ice cream on him, Philomel walked briskly along the riverbank.
Watching her back, Jeremiah couldn’t help but laugh at the sheer absurdity. He had no idea what was going through her head.
Then it hit him.
‘Wait, why am I smiling?’
He realized he’d been caught up in frivolous antics all day, feeling unusually buoyant.
His expression turned grave in an instant.
Normally, he would have snapped—but here he was, grinning like a fool.
‘Matching her pace like this isn’t like me at all.’
At first, he’d only gone along to deal with the annoyance of Tower Master Rguin behind her, but at some point, he’d stopped thinking about his father altogether.
Petulance welled up inside him—a backlash, an inertia urging him back to his old self.
So he spat barbed words at her retreating figure.
“Don’t get cocky.”
Philomel turned.
“What did you just say?”
“You seem to be misunderstanding something.”
He flashed a sardonic smile.
“Tower Master Rguin isn’t blindly obeying you out of affection.”
“……”
“He may not love his children, but he does recognize us as his own. That’s why he’s a bit more lenient with us than with others.”
“And?”
“He’s lenient in other cases too. When something piques his interest. Sometimes it’s an object, an animal, a monster—or a person. And conveniently, you fit two of those categories.”
Philomel said nothing.
“So don’t blindly trust the favor he shows you. The moment his interest fades, he’ll turn away without hesitation. Abandon any delusion that you’re special to him.”
With no response, Jeremiah grew uneasy. He said more than he needed to.
“I know a woman like that well. Someone who deluded herself into thinking she was special to him, only to despair. If you’re going to end up like her...”
“That’s enough.”
“What?”
“I get what you’re trying to say, Jeremiah. You don’t need to struggle to explain more.”
Philomel smiled without warmth.
Jeremiah stared at her, speechless.
“And don’t worry. I’m not harboring any such expectations.”
A chill river breeze brushed past them. Her brown hair fluttered in the wind.
Philomel gazed toward the endless horizon across the river.
“I know full well that I’m nothing special to Tower Master Rguin or you three brothers.”
Jeremiah was stunned.
A vague doubt crept into his mind: had he just made an irreparable mistake?
Even without knowing exactly what kind of mistake, that’s what he thought.