Philomel the Fake
Chapter 6

* * *

The World Tree fruit was truly impressive. After drinking the tea that Eustis had sent for her, Philomel quickly recovered most of her energy. Both her head and body felt much lighter than before.

When it came time for her literature class, she finished her assigned reading and closed the book, saying to her teacher, “I’m done. What should I read next?”

“You’re done already? Are you sure you didn’t just flip through the pages—”

“I read it all. If you don’t believe me, feel free to quiz me on what I read.”

Philomel answered all the questions that the teacher asked correctly. The nanny and her instructors were shocked by how seriously the princess was taking her studies after recovering from her cold. This was a huge departure from the old Philomel’s behavior—before she’d shown no interest in her lessons and spent all her time distracting herself with other things.

The elderly foreign language teacher was at a loss for words when Philomel put together a list of questions on topics she didn’t understand, without being asked to do so, and brought them along to their class together. More baffling still, the young princess began to spend her free time taking supplementary lessons or quietly reading a book.

This was true even during the time she spent with Nasar.

“Uh, Your Highness?”

“Oh, Lord Nasar. I have a question. When did the Battle of Scilia take place again?”

“One hundred and thirty-two, by the imperial calendar.”

“Oh, right. Thank you. You’re ever so smart, as always Nasar.”

He glanced at his fiancée, who was sitting opposite him, memorizing from a history textbook.

“Why don’t we spend our time today doing whatever each of us needs to do? From now on, bring something from home to occupy you, Lord Nasar. It’s only once a week, but you don’t want to waste any of your precious time.”

She’d said this the moment they’d met, then promptly opened a book and began to study, without even sparing a glance for her intended. Even during the very rare instances that she asked him a question, she kept her eyes trained on her book. Since he’d arrived at their meeting empty-handed today, he’d been given permission to borrow a book from the imperial library, but he had no desire to do so.

Nasar just sat and emptied teacup after teacup of tea. This was the first time he’d had so little to do, in all the time since he’d started coming to the palace to amuse the princess. Up until now, he’d always just done whatever Philomel wanted, and that had made the time fly by.

Could she be angry with me? Though he knew it was rude, he couldn’t keep himself from staring at her tiny face as she all but buried it in her book.

Philomel never acted angry toward him and always readily gifted him with her smiles, but he felt oddly distant from her now. It was awkward, almost like there was an invisible wall between them. Philomel had no interest in him now, and he was confused by it.

The young boy didn’t know why, but he was upset. In the past, he’d found himself hoping that she’d grow up a little, but he found now that she had, he wasn’t happy.

* * *

This wasn’t the only change. The princess now only rarely, if ever, grew angry with the servants.

Smash!

“Oh! I’m sorry, Your Highness!”

A maid had dropped a teacup, and the bluebird drawn on the cup was now split into three separate pieces. The cup had been a gift from Lord Nasar for her last birthday and was one of the princess’s favorites.

“P-please forgive me, Your Highness!” begged the maid, trembling with fear as she thought of all the ways that Philomel was likely to punish her.

The nanny was always able to prevent Philomel from doing any real harm to the servants, but this particular maid had recently displeased the nanny. She’d taken leave in order to visit her hometown but had forgotten to bring back a souvenir for the older woman.

Terrified, she waited for Philomel’s inevitable screaming. The young girl did nothing of the sort, however. “What are you doing? Clear away the broken pieces, please.”

“I’m sorry?”

“The tea will spread to the carpet otherwise. Clean it up, and then you can leave.”

“Oh, yes. Understood, Your Highness!” The maid hurriedly scrambled to pick up the pieces.

Philomel’s next words puzzled the maid. “Careful not to cut your hands. It’s people that matter, not teacups.”

The princess, who most certainly would have lost her temper in the past, now actually seemed to be showing concern for a lowly maid’s hands. After that incident, the maid began telling anyone and everyone who’d listen around the palace about the strange experience she’d had. Most people believed that the princess was going through a phase and that she’d return to normal before long.

“His Majesty must have scolded her harshly for making a scene when the Founding Day event was postponed.”

“It’s not going to last. She’ll be back to her old self within two days.”

“I guess we can enjoy the peace and quiet around the palace for a few days, at least.”

The princess’s usual behavior was imprinted very clearly in their minds—to them, she was a very picky, fussy child, and a troublemaker who had no interest in her duties as princess, only in fun and games. But when this new change only continued, everyone was forced to revise their assessment.

The troublemaker princess had finally grown up, or so everyone thought. In truth, Philomel’s desperate attempt to ensure her own survival merely seemed like the onset of maturity to any observers.

“I guess it was worth it, doing my best to educate you, Your Highness. I would have regretted it if I’d given up and retired because of my back pain,” said the nanny, taking credit for Philomel’s new attitude because she considered herself to be such a great educator.

“It’s amazing, ma’am.”

“How wonderful.”

Philomel ignored the nanny’s boasting and the maids’ flattery. The emperor seemed to have caught wind that something was going on since he summoned his daughter to lunch a few days later. They sat at opposite ends of a long table, on which they were served all kinds of expensive food. The emperor’s sharp gaze made her so tense she could hardly taste any of it, but she did her best to stay calm.

Why did he ask to see me? It was highly unlikely he’d just wanted to have a nice meal alone with his daughter.

The emperor began in a heavy voice, “I heard that you’ve been focusing on your studies more of late. That’s a good change.”

Thanks to his indifferent tone, it took her a few long moments to realize that he was actually complimenting her. A meal with her father, and a compliment for her coming from his lips—both were firsts. Both were things that she’d wanted for so long—only being given to her now that they’d lost all meaning.

Philomel chose to just respond politely. “Thank you... But I have a long way yet to go.”

“Your teachers have been praising you to the moon and back.”

“All thanks to you, Your Majesty, for assigning me such excellent teachers.”

Your Majesty? Hearing her address him in this way felt odd, and Eustis frowned. Everyone called him this, but not Philomel. She’d always called him Father.

“Your way of speaking has grown... more mature.”

“I realized that as someone born into the imperial family, I should do my best to be deserving of the title.”

She smiled just widely enough that her teeth didn’t show, only her lips curving up slightly on either side. It was an aristocratic smile, and the emperor stared silently seeing it for the first time on her face. If he’d known his daughter even a little, he would have known that the recent change in her was extremely unnatural. But Eustis didn’t know her, and other than finding her behavior a little odd, he felt nothing else.

“All right. I encourage you to continue in this new direction.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t change course.”

“Come to think of it, how are you feeling? Have you recovered from your cold?”

Philomel froze momentarily, fork poised midair. She hadn’t expected Eustis to ask such a question. “I recovered fully after taking the medicine you sent me, Your Majesty.”

The emperor almost sounded sincerely worried, leaving her feeling strange. No. I can’t cave any time he throws me a bone.

She mentally built up her walls again. Once it came out that she was not his real daughter—and if she continued acting the way she had—this man would one day kill her.

“That’s a relief. Your mother was often ill.”

“Ah, yes...”

Just as the emperor was not her father, the empress was not her mother—despite Philomel considering her to be so for almost ten years now.

Eustis briefly stared into the distance before turning his attention to her again. “Since you’ve been studying so hard, I wish to give you a gift as a reward. Tell me, is there anything you want? I’ll do what I can to give it to you.”

First a compliment, then the worried look, and now this? Philomel swallowed. This was everything she’d ever wanted. The emperor was fair to everyone, doling out punishment to those who underperformed, and rewards to those who excelled. Therefore, she’d expected that the emperor would make such an offer. But it was considered bad form to answer this question on the spot. Philomel would keep what she wanted to herself for the time being.

“There’s nothing I desire, really. It’s enough to hear you complimenting me.”

He brought his wine glass lazily to his mouth. “How modest. But you will be the emperor one day, so it’s best that you show a little greed.”

He’s pushing quite a lot just to learn what I want. I guess I can tell him now. Philomel pretended to think for a moment, then said. “I’m not sure if this is the kind of request you’re expecting to receive... But there is something I want.”

“What is it?”

Philomel told him her wish, the one she’d been biding her time before requesting. She hoped that her first attempt at acting would come across as both natural and as sincere as possible.