40.
She thought for a moment, then asked with a blunt edge to her voice.
“More than that, why are you here? And in the form of a cat, no less.”
“Is there a problem with coming to see my daughter? I naturally came to take you with me.”
Leguin crossed his arms, answering in a tone that implied the answer was self-evident.
“……Take me with you?”
Philomel asked, her expression bewildered.
“Let’s return to the Magic Tower together.”
She looked at the hand Leguin held out for a moment, then jerked her head away.
“I don’t know why you’re doing this now.”
Hadn’t he clearly acted as if he didn’t need her? And now, he wanted her to accompany him back to the Magic Tower.
Because his arrival was so sudden, she had briefly forgotten, but her first meeting with her biological father had not gone well.
“I don’t need it. Whether it’s money or anything else, if it’s from you, I don’t need it.”
“We are nothing but strangers who happen to share blood.”
“I won’t appear before you again, so live well.”
Even after learning the truth of her birth from Lexion, the disappointment she felt back then had not faded.
He might be better than a man who toyed with women and then abandoned them, but the fact remained: he had irresponsibly brought a child into the world and failed to fulfill any parental duty.
Upbringing, affection, interest—things like that.
Of course, he had provided money for Katherine. But as for money, the Emperor had given her more than enough as well.
‘Although I barely spent it and rarely accepted it, just to manage my reputation.’
If she had indulged in extravagance like the ‘Philomel’ in the book, wouldn’t that amount be enough to buy a few islands by now?
“I just felt like I needed to see you again. I thought if I saw your face, I would know the reason, but……”
“So, do you know now?”
Philomel and Leguin locked eyes.
“I still don’t know.”
Leguin remained expressionless, his emotions as unreadable as ever.
“Are you perhaps sorry to me?”
Philomel hesitated before asking. The man, propping his chin on his hand, frowned slightly and shook his head.
“I’m not sure. I’ve never felt sorry toward anyone.”
“You told me you were sorry before.”
“Ah, that. Since they said you were my child, I naturally assumed you were a mage.”
“Sorry. I really don’t know.”
Philomel recalled their conversation at the Magic Tower and blurted out.
“That was just…… other people usually say they’re sorry in such situations, so I followed suit.”
Leguin answered lightly, as if it didn’t matter at all.
‘As I thought.’
He hadn’t looked sorry then, either.
“Then, do you pity me?”
“Hmm. I don’t know about that, either. I’ve never found anyone else pitiful.”
“…….”
The words, *What exactly do you know?*, rose to her throat, but she swallowed them back.
Lexion’s observation that Leguin was a person devoid of emotion hit home, though it stung. She didn’t know if it was even biologically possible to have absolutely no emotions, but at the very least, he existed in a different category from normal people.
She could clearly feel the uncrossable river flowing between them. Even if he had raised Philomel like other parents, he would have been incapable of giving her affection.
‘Why covet something that was never mine to begin with?’
Philomel neatly folded away the feeling of sadness and tucked it aside.
Leguin urged her, “So, you’re not going to the Magic Tower?”
“……I didn’t say I wasn’t going.”
In truth, she wasn’t particularly keen on living in the Magic Tower.
The reason she had intended to go there originally was that it was a place the Empire’s influence couldn’t reach. But the Emperor had told Philomel yesterday that he had no intention of holding her accountable for her crimes. He had even offered to send her wherever she wanted.
If she took him at his word, her reason for going to the Magic Tower—she, who couldn’t use a single spell—had effectively vanished.
‘Honestly, I want to go somewhere where no one knows me and start a new life.’
What she had said to Katherine in the prison was the truth.
Still, this was a good opportunity. If she were with him, she could escape the Imperial Palace without the burden of the three-month residency condition.
‘And as a bonus, if I go to Angelium, which is right next to the Magic Tower, I can also retrieve .’
She felt it would be better to contemplate her next steps only after she had left this place. It was a complete farewell to the Imperial Palace where she had lived until now.
“Then it’s simple. We’re going to the Magic Tower.”
Leguin held out his hand once again.
“Alright.”
But Philomel’s hand, which was about to meet his, stopped in mid-air.
“…….”
“…….”
Huh?
For some reason, Philomel couldn’t readily take that hand. Various faces flashed before her eyes.
“Instead, please promise me one thing. That you will never leave without a word again. At least to me…… let me know before you go.”
First, Countess Deles.
“Regardless of Your Majesty’s will, I wish to continue serving you, Your Highness.”
Next, Count Polan.
“……I am sorry.”
The way Eustis said he was sorry, which had sounded so awkward.
“You’ve been strange for months. You aren’t the El who I knew.”
“Thank you for visiting me one last time.”
And even the things Katherine had said.
‘Why are these memories coming up at this very moment?’
Her lips wouldn’t part, as if someone had sealed them with glue.
As Philomel hesitated, the faint smile on Leguin’s face slowly faded.
‘No, I must seize the opportunity before he changes his mind.’
Afraid that he might retract his offer, Philomel opened her mouth in a rush.
“Um……!”
Just as she finally pried her heavy lips open, he interrupted.
“Right. Even from watching you for a moment, I can see you’ve lived a stifling life so far.”
Leguin muttered to himself and nodded.
“I can imagine your life must have been exhausting. I can fully grasp how you’re feeling right now.”
Leguin kept nodding to himself, saying, “I know, I know.”
‘You know my heart even when I don’t? How? By any chance, because you’re my father……?’
He continued in a confident tone.
“You want to screw over the people here, don’t you?”
“…….”
Not at all.
“I understand. I have a personality that can’t let things slide after being wronged, either. In that regard, you take after me.”
She didn’t take after him at all.
Leguin seemed to have deeply misunderstood her silence. She wished he wouldn’t arbitrarily manufacture similarities.
Before Philomel could reply, the mage slumped onto the sofa and declared.
“Then I’ll stay here, too.”
“Ehhhhhh?”
What kind of nonsense was that?
“I’ll stay here until you decide to go to the Magic Tower. I’ll help with your revenge while I’m at it.”
“No…… what about the Magic Tower? As the Tower Master, shouldn’t you have a mountain of work to handle?”
Philomel replied with her mouth wide open. Then, Leguin grinned and offered a justification that defied all of Philomel’s common sense.
“You didn’t know? I don’t really work.”
“How can that be? Work pours into the Magic Tower from across the continent every single day. If the Tower Master, who oversees the Magic Tower, doesn’t do it, who handles that work?”
“Just make others do things like that. Phil, remember this: in life, working less and earning more is the best way to go.”
Leguin said it as if he were imparting a profound life lesson. A sigh escaped Philomel’s lips.
‘The Magic Tower, is it really okay like this?’
Because it was the epicenter of magic for the entire world, the problems of the Magic Tower were not limited to the tower alone.
Worried about the future of the Belerov Empire and, by extension, this continent, Philomel swallowed her question.
Leguin clapped his hands, saying, “Ah.”
“I forgot, but I also have a reason why I can’t leave right away.”
“What is it?”
“Our paths might cross.”
“Did you promise to meet someone?”
“Well, it’s like……”
He opened his mouth, then closed it again with a listless expression.
“Why don’t you finish your sentence?”
“I’ve become too lazy to explain in detail. There’s something like that. You’ll know soon enough.”
He had been talking well enough without her asking earlier!
Philomel felt like she wanted to scream, but she held it back. There was still a reason why she shouldn’t provoke him.
Thinking of , Philomel asked in an anxious voice.
“Then, could you at least move me to Angelium? I left my luggage there. And as for before…… I was just slow to answer. I don’t have any thoughts of revenge or anything like that.”
“If it’s your luggage, I’ve already retrieved it, so don’t worry. It should be on its way here by now.”
The Tower Master ignored Philomel’s latter words and only answered the former.
‘My luggage is coming?’
Did her luggage grow feet? To be on its way here?
Philomel tilted her head in confusion at his incomprehensible remark.