18.
“Hello.”
“Ah, hello!”
As Philomel greeted her, Ellensia hurriedly returned the gesture. She tilted her head, stealing a cautious glance at Philomel’s attire.
“Um, you look like a noble. What brings you here…? It’s just a rural village with nothing much to see. Oh! Was that an impolite question? I’m sorry!”
Her mix of wariness and irrepressible curiosity was lovely. Though dressed as a simple village girl, she possessed an air of refinement that could not be entirely masked.
“It’s alright. Is that house yours?”
“……Yes. It’s where my mother and I live.”
Perhaps feeling exposed, her long eyelashes fluttered incessantly.
Philomel asked with studied politeness.
“If it wouldn’t be an intrusion, may I take a look at your house? I happened to pass by and thought it was truly beautiful.”
“Our house? It must look shabby compared to wherever you reside, my lady.”
She knew even as she spoke that it was a flimsy excuse.
“Is it not allowed?”
“It’s not that it isn’t allowed… I’m just a bit flustered. But if that is what you wish, of course. Please, come this way.”
Deciding there was little to gain by refusing a noble, Ellensia took the lead.
“Wait in the carriage, Countess.”
Philomel instructed Countess Deles, who stood a short distance away.
“But……”
“I’ll be back shortly.”
Philomel brushed off the Countess’s concern and followed Ellensia inside.
“Mom! I’m home!”
As she opened the front door, the scent of cooking wafted out. Philomel looked around the modest interior. It was clean and functional—a cozy, typical country home.
“You child! You’ve been gone for hours, why are you only now returning? Were you running around like a wild colt again? Why do you cause me such trouble lately……”
The woman, who had emerged from the kitchen mid-lecture, came to an abrupt halt.
“Mom, there’s someone I’d like to introduce. This lady wanted to see our house, so……” The woman’s eyes filled with sudden horror as they landed on Philomel. “Mom? What’s wrong?”
“Yo, you…?”
The woman asked, her voice trembling.
“Hello. I was passing by and asked your daughter if I might see the house.”
“See the house, you say…… Please, leave. I have no desire to be a spectacle for the high-born.”
She turned away from Philomel.
“Then shall we talk about something else?”
Philomel’s tone remained unnervingly level.
“Don’t you recognize me?”
With every step Philomel took to close the distance, the woman stifled a sharp, jagged gasp. The woman’s dark brown eyes wavered aimlessly, searching Philomel’s face.
Philomel, in turn, studied her.
Her hair was a deep, rich brown. Though she bore more lines than her age would suggest—the telltale marks of hardship—she remained a beautiful woman. In her youth, she must have possessed a sharp, striking beauty.
The facial features were hauntingly similar to her own.
It seemed the woman had reached the same conclusion.
“Mom!”
Ellensia supported the woman as her legs gave out, causing her to slump to the floor.
“Are you okay? Where does it hurt?”
“……I’m fine. My head is throbbing, so stop shouting.”
“Shouldn’t you lie down?”
“I said I’m fine.”
In every gesture, they were an affectionate mother and daughter. To them, Philomel was an uninvited intruder.
The woman shoved her daughter’s arm away and stood up straight. Philomel spoke to the bewildered Ellensia.
“Excuse me, but could you step aside for a moment? I have something to discuss with your mother.”
“But……”
“Go upstairs.”
At her mother’s sharp command, Ellensia hesitated before retreating up the stairs.
*So, just like in the novel, Ellensia’s room was upstairs,* Philomel thought to herself with a clinical detachment.
Only the two of them remained in the living room. The woman fidgeted, her hands clenching and unclenching rhythmically.
“You, you are……”
“Let me introduce myself. My name is Philomel. It’s a name taken from the ephemeral flowers that bloom only in this Utina region.”
Although Ellensia was out of earshot, Philomel lowered her voice, just in case.
“Phi, Philomel……”
The woman covered her mouth with both hands, a stifled sob escaping her.
“Why, why have you come here? This is no place for someone as noble as you. Return to the place where you belong.”
“……You should know better than anyone. That there is no place for me to belong.”
Philomel answered with icy calm.
She was a foolish woman. Blinded by jealousy, she had swapped the lives of two children. To turn her own daughter into a princess simply because she couldn’t be the Empress herself—it was pathetic. And even then, if she meant to raise her as her own, she should have at least done it with kindness. Instead, she had spent years mistreating Ellensia, paralyzed by the weight of her own sin.
Yet, she was also the woman who, in the end, would open her heart to the child who kept reaching out.
Even if it meant knowing that once the real princess appeared and found her biological father, Philomel would be discarded.
*Truly a heartless person. My mother.*
Philomel spoke in a quiet, firm tone.
“Listen well. I am going to take your daughter to the Emperor.”
Katherine’s pupils dilated.
“……That! How could you!”
“I intend to let the father and daughter, who have lived as strangers, finally meet.”
“No!”
Philomel looked coldly at the wailing woman.
“Why?”
“Even if I didn’t give birth to her, Ell is my daughter!”
Daughter.
Philomel felt a wave of desolation. The lovely Ellensia was loved even by a parent with whom she shared no blood.
“Whether you are her true mother or not is for Ellensia to judge after she learns the truth.”
“No! That child is already my daughter! Do you have any idea how I raised Ell alone…!”
Katherine finally broke down in tears.
Philomel offered a cold, mocking smile.
“You still won’t ask until the very end.”
“……What?”
“It seems you aren’t even slightly curious about how I lived.”
Only then did the woman close her mouth, a look of profound realization crossing her face, as if struck by a physical blow.
“Th, that is……! Surely you were living in luxury at the Imperial Palace……”
Luxury? Was that the word she used to rationalize her existence?
“Just as you have no interest in me, I have no interest in the life you have led.”
Her eyes stung. Philomel’s voice trembled slightly; she could not love this woman. Just as the woman had never loved her.
“So, if you want to survive, run away right now.”
That was the only mercy she could offer the woman who had given her life.
“You know better than anyone that if the Emperor finds out the truth, neither you nor I will be safe.”
In the novel, as soon as Eustis learned the truth, he hunted Katherine down and ended her. Not even Ellensia’s pleas could summon the Emperor’s mercy.
“Now, I will be taking Ellensia.”
A look of absolute despair settled over Katherine’s face. She realized, at last, that nothing she did could stop the gears of fate.
Philomel brushed past Katherine and brought Ellensia out from her room.
“There is somewhere you must come with me.”
At the brief explanation, Ellensia tilted her head.
“Mom?”
“……Follow her. It’s not a bad thing, so don’t worry.”
Katherine, slumped on a chair with her head bowed, spoke without looking at her daughter.
Ellensia followed Philomel, looking perplexed. For all intents and purposes, it was a final farewell.
* * *
Back in the carriage, heading toward the palace.
“Um…… might I ask where we are going now?”
Ellensia fidgeted with her fingers, visibly uncomfortable.
“We are heading to Lake Utina.”
“Ah! It’s a truly beautiful place. I heard there are many villas belonging to nobles nearby, so I suppose you came for sightseeing, my lady.”
The fact that she could still smile in this situation proved she had been raised with warmth.
“So, um…… what is your name?”
“It’s Philomel.”
Philomel omitted the surname that would soon lose all meaning.
“I’m Ellensia. Wait! Both Ellensia and Philomel are flower names!”
Ellensia and Philomel were flowers that grew only in the vicinity of Lake Utina, the pride of the Empire.
“What a curious coincidence!”
“Indeed.”
It was no coincidence.
These were the names Isabella, who loved flowers, had chosen for her daughter long ago. It was a cruel irony that the real one and the fake one had ended up with one name each.
“Come to think of it, your name is the same as the Princess’s. I heard that His Majesty the Emperor and the Princess had visited Utina as well……”
Ellensia’s expression darkened as she said that.
“By any chance, are you the Princess……?”
“Well, what do you think?”
At Philomel’s ambiguous reply, Ellensia looked as though she might cry, glancing toward the Countess for confirmation.
However, Countess Deles was lost in her own thoughts. She had been in that dazed state ever since they brought Ellensia aboard, seemingly struck by the uncanny resemblance between the girl and the portraits of the late Empress.
“……Why are you taking me?”
“I’m sorry, but I cannot tell you right now. You will know soon.”
“……Yes.”
With that, Ellensia fell silent. A heavy tension descended inside the carriage. Philomel watched the silent girl, struck by how much colder her expression had grown, as if she were becoming an entirely different person.