Fakes Don’t Want To Be Real

FAKES DON’T WANT TO BE REAL~ 108 ~ ***Lillian has been in a bad mood lately. She needed to get acquainted with the people in the North so that she could make the stunt called ‘damsel in distress’ as her father said. “Marquis, if you have a moment-”“I’m afraid I am occupied.”“Baron-”“I have an urgent matter to attend to.” Alas, no one answered her plea. In fact, they weren’t busy, they were just inclined not to help Lillian. Thus, she blamed it all on Psychke. She assumed that before she even had the chance to get here, Psychke had already badmouthed her badly. ‘Why do you keep stealing my position?!’ As far as Lillian was concerned, Psychke’s greed knew no bounds. ‘Isn’t it enough that you lived as the Princess of Silkisia while I was gone?’ Shouldn’t Psychke be grateful that someone raised her while Lillian almost died? In her mind, Logan’s relationship with Ancestral Silkisia didn’t exist. So, only Psychke was ungrateful of Logan’s grace and kept being unruly and greedy. ‘There’s no way a fake is better than me!’ Lillian did everything she could to sabotage Psychke. She dolled herself better than her, spoke sweeter, and tried to seduce people with her looks. And even so. ‘Even the maids ignores me now!’ It’s a basic thing for maids to help when she stumbles on the ground but they never caught her or help her. If she called out to them, they’d just apologize and go on their ways. ‘I especially don’t like that maid, Miya or whatever she is. What’s wrong with her?’ “Oh, there’s some kind of invisible person here—“ The words echoed in her head from her encounter with the maiden named Miya. ‘Invisible person,’ she muttered like a song every time she saw Lillian. “That invisible person, may I ask what you are implying?”“Oh, Princess, it means that your presence was invisible – like a morning dew so small no one can even see you.” She smiles and walks away, looking like she’s given me a great compliment. Afterwards, Miya will wear a bright grin as if she had complimented Lillian greatly. She really wanted to slap that Miya! However, she was unable to do so because she did so much just to build the ‘Innocent Princess’ image she has now. ‘Gross… So disgusting!’ But there was no one to whom she could confide her feelings. What should she do? She bit her nails so hard that there was merely anything left. If she ever return with a futile attempt, her father will not let her off and Psychke will take over Silkisia. What should she do? “Are you not Princess Lillian?” As I stood there, shaking with a crushing sense of helplessness, someone spoke.Lillian jerked her head up at the tearfully welcoming voice. “Count!” Ultramarine-blue hair, yellow eyes. His blue hair moved with his motions, yellow eyes that contained her along with his cold visage – a feeling of a detached scholar. Eric Ruan was staring right down at her and her eyes twinkled in a way that would make a man’s heart flutter. “It’s been a long time, how are you feeling?” Unlike many other northern nobles, Ruan’s family had been supportive of Silkisia. She hadn’t seen him because of the bombing not to long ago but he must had gotten better. His brow furrowed while he spoke, appearing to be still unwell. “I… I am all right.” Lillian moved the muscles in her face, giving him a look of genuine sympathy. “I hear you’ve been hunting down the perpetrators of the bombing. Ah, what to do? It seemed it’s not going very well.”“Not much, Princess.”“I see. I was wondering if you’d like to take a walk if you don’t mind?” She wanted to vent her frustration at being run over by northern nobles. Confiding Melissa could only take that much. “Sure.” Eric agreed readily. Lillian led him to the greenhouse garden in the backyard of the castle to which he narrowed his eyes.“I thought this was created by the Duke for Princess Glorielle.”“It’s fine. Psychke told me I could always come over if I got bored.” Psychke never did and despite her efforts, she never agreed. Nonetheless, whatever Psychke said, Lillian never took her words seriously.Eric was reluctant, but he stepped into the greenhouse garden anyway. “I haven’t been able to sleep lately, I think I have insomnia.” Lillian mumbled and stroked the fragrant flower in front of her.She’d never seen anything so pretty, not even in her southern Silkisian homeland. Surprisingly enough, Psychke has it all here. t ‘So irking.’ She was very displeased, but with Eric beside her, she didn’t express it outwardly. “I see.” Eric didn’t seem concerned at the mention of insomnia. He just shrugged, not warmly. Lillian knew he was like this, so she didn’t mind. “I thought I’d be able to stay with Psychke when I came north, but I never get to see her.” She trailed off, as if she missed her busy sister. She blinked a few times, and clear tears pooled in her eyes. “I guess she’s too busy with the Duke.”“I suppose she is.”“I wish she could rest as I am afraid she’d collapse.”“I’ll tell him to take a break.”“Thanks… (sniff). I’m lucky to have someone like you by my side.”“I am flattered.” Eric’s reply was soulless. And yet, she assumed he had fallen for her due to his quick responses. And to drive the wedge between them, she tried to sound sweet to make his heart flutter. “Of course. You’re the only one I can talk to so freely, because everyone else hates me…”“That can’t be right.”“No. It’s just that no one really likes me except you, so I can’t… And I like the Count, too… Oh.” Lillian blushed, like someone who realized in hindsight that her words might come off as a confession. She timidly cupped her cheeks, seemingly who had just professed her attraction to someone. “I don’t mean that, I mean that the Count is such a wonderful man…. Ack!” Lillian stumbled. No, she pretended to stumble. She intended to crush many of the flowers inside this greenhouse. She fell into the flowerbed and amidst the fact that Eric was fast enough to catch her, the precious flowerbed was halfway fallen to the ground.Eric was genuinely embarrassed, knowing how much Psychke loved it.So, he asked Lilian how she was, a beat later. “… Are you okay?”“Yes, I’m fine.” She was more concerned with her ruined dress than the flowering trees of Psychke. Since she had to win Eric favor, she looked away from and faked her aggravation. “How in the world, how…. ouch!” She leaned into Eric, wincing slightly as if she had sprained her ankle while speaking in a pitiful voice that would make anyone feel sorry for her. “My, my ankle, I can’t walk.” For a moment, Eric’s eyes narrowed in annoyance. He looked like was trying to figure out how to clean this mess, but she was oblivious of than and no so far away, he discovered the glaring Verndia to his direction. “What the hell.” Verdia strode towards them ready to kill someone and beside him was Psychke. “Who told you to come in?” Startled, Lillian stammered. “I, uh. Psychke said I could come in if I got bored…”“When did I do that?” Lillian looked at Psychke in disbelief.She gave him a look that said, “If I said yes, who are you to say no?”, and a small tear rolled down her cheek. “Psychke….” Psychke ignored Lillian. She pushed past her and carefully tried to cling to the broken flowering tree.But all she managed to do was snap off a branch that was barely hanging on.As she watched, the two men’s eyes grew fierce.Verndia was the first to speak. “Trespassing and damaging a flower.” The fact that the bruised flower was blue, the color of Psychke’s eyes, made him feel utterly annoyed.Genuinely frightened by his momentum, Lillian stammered an apology. “I-I’m sorry.”“Does apologizing make a dead flower tree come back to life?”“That’s what…”“What are you going to do, then?”“….” She thought she’d be okay if she turned and ran, but she didn’t realize she’d be seen by Verndia. She felt a shiver run down through her spine, and Eric was looking sorrowfully at the flower branch Psychke had in her hand.He seemed to think about something for a moment, then made eye contact with Verndia, blinked, and gave some sort of signal.Then he stepped forward as if to protect Lillian. “I’m sorry I didn’t stop her from entering this place. Ruan, I, will compensate you.”“Count!” A flustered Lillian stared at him angrily. “Ha, compensate?” Verndia sighed, seeing the absurdity of it all then he crossed his arms and glared at Eric sourly. “How, specifically?” (TN: Not gonna lie, Miya was just a thumbs-up. Hahaha.)