“You like the Wing of Healing, don’t you? Don’t worry and just wait. Once I settle things with Lord Sigmund, I’ll take care of your one-sided love too.”
Without waiting for Julios’s reply, Heinz vanished smoothly. The stiff expression on Julios’s face cracked visibly.
“Lord Heinz! Wait a moment! What do you mean, I have a one-sided love? How could you—no, that’s not even true…”
Julios’s voice trailed off. He sank into a chair, staring helplessly at the now-empty room.
“How in the world does Lord Heinz know about that?”
Julios’s face turned a deep shade of red. He hadn’t confided his feelings to anyone, yet Heinz somehow knew. It was enough to drive him mad.
“First Dietrian and Lehira tried to pry into my heart, and now Lord Heinz? Could it be related to Lord Sigmund?”
Dietrian and Lehira both bore the power of Gilead, a gift Sigmund had bestowed upon humanity. Heinz was Sigmund’s contractor. Suspicion was inevitable.
“This is driving me insane.”
Julios buried his head in his arms. Even though he was alone in the room, he felt an odd sense of embarrassment, as if someone were watching him.
“Fine, let Dietrian and Lehira have their curiosity. But what about Lord Heinz?”
Dietrian and Lehira, being family, might simply be curious about his choices, but they wouldn’t act overly inquisitive. It had been mortifying to have his secret discovered by his niece, Lehira, but such embarrassment was bearable for someone who had harbored unspoken love for years.
Heinz, however, was a different matter entirely. Considering what he had done to Banessa and Callisto, Heinz was a walking disaster. The last thing Julios wanted was for his feelings to be exposed to others because of Heinz’s meddling.
Especially if that “other” turned out to be Kailas.
He couldn’t even bear to imagine it.
‘Please, Lord Sigmund, resolve this well.’
Julios didn’t know why Heinz wanted to meet Sigmund again, but Heinz wouldn’t stay in Genos forever. Once he’d gotten what he wanted from Sigmund, he’d surely return to the realm of transcendents.
By then, an insignificant human like Julios would be forgotten.
…Or so it should have been.
—
“Meowww!”
“Hey, why are you so angry! I did it all for Lord Sig’s sake! Ow! Stop biting my nose—it hurts!”
Heinz flailed his arms, trying to push away the black cat. The cat, elegant and agile, pounced on Heinz, its soft, jelly-like pink paw pads clutching his hair while its sharp teeth nipped at his nose. Heinz let out a frustrated yell.
“You crazy lizard! You’re going to tear my nose off!”
“Reeeowww!”
—
The ordeal between Heinz and the crazed “lizard”—actually, the cat—began a few hours earlier.
Right after parting ways with Julios, Heinz had confidently assumed he’d find the cat he was looking for in no time.
Having encountered countless cats during his travels in the human world, Heinz headed to the market with high hopes.
But what was this? Despite searching the market thoroughly, the black cat he sought was nowhere to be found.
“Are black cats really this rare? Why can’t I find one?”
Heinz glared irritably at a cheese-colored cat munching on his jerky. The treat had been intended to lure a black cat, yet this random cat had swooped in and snatched it. Heinz fumed as he reached out to reclaim his stolen snack.
“Give that back! That jerky isn’t for you!”
It was truly a strange thing. He had been about to snatch back the jerky, but somehow, his fingertips were stroking the cat’s head instead. The cat wagged its tail contentedly, while Heinz, grinding his teeth, raised his other hand.
“Why are you rubbing your head against my hand? I said, give me back the jerky!”
Before he realized it, his other hand was also stroking the cat’s back.
The cheese-colored cat, which had stolen his jerky and stuffed it into its belly, stretched luxuriously and lay on its side. It was utterly relaxed, using the great archmage as a mere grooming tool. Heinz was beside himself with frustration.
‘If I’d known this would happen, I’d have raised a cat when I was still in the mortal world!’
Long ago, after exhausting all his magic to turn back time, he had lived as a cat. Back then, he hadn’t realized how soft cat fur was. Stroking his own body had been pointless, and Sigmund couldn’t pet him for obvious reasons.
Now that he finally understood the allure of soft fur, it was infuriating. If only he’d known sooner, he’d have raised cats instead of those dreary black-robed wizards back in the tower.
But now, it was too late to become a cat’s caretaker. Mortal cats couldn’t survive in the realm of transcendents.
“Meow.”
“Myaong.”
“Reeow.”
While he was lamenting the past, cats began appearing one by one. It seemed word had spread about a potential grooming-savvy servant.
“Do you think this jerky was prepared for you? It belongs to someone else! Bring me a black cat! Its eyes must be golden! Are you even listening? If you want jerky, earn your keep. Bring me the cat the Wing of Prophecy spoke of!”
Though he grumbled, Heinz distributed all the jerky from his pocket and petted their fur, fearing they might leave. He even conjured a brush.
Then he snapped out of it.
“Wait, what am I doing?”
He was supposed to be searching for the cat from the Wing of Prophecy’s dream!
Heinz frantically looked around. Surrounded by seven cats—including two impossibly cute kittens that made him want to chew his own fist—he still hadn’t found a single black one.
Looking down at the brush tangled with fur of all colors, a chilling sense of danger crawled down his spine. At this rate, he’d end up as a permanent servant here, forsaking his hard-earned ticket to the realm of transcendents.
“Miya—”
And at that very moment, the most dangerous presence dropped a bombshell. A gray kitten, trailing behind its mother, had appeared. Fearless of humans, it kneaded Heinz with its soft pink jelly-like paws.
“…!”
Heinz’s face twisted horribly. For the first time in ages, he felt his dark wizard instincts awaken.
The kitten was so unbearably cute that he wanted to blow up the empire’s market right then and there.
‘No! If I do that, Lord Sig will actually kill me!’
If that happened, he wouldn’t be able to bring special treats, receive kneads, or touch cat fur ever again.
Heinz, suppressing his overwhelming urge to nibble the kitten’s paws, made a decision.
He would turn Sigmund into a cat.
—
“…So this isn’t my fault! It was beyond my control! I couldn’t help it!”
“Reeowww!”
“You’re saying I should’ve used a tracking spell? But then Lord Sig would’ve figured it out immediately!”
The Wing of Prophecy had shown a black cat. Searching for it, Heinz ended up being “chosen” by seven cats. The looming threat of becoming a permanent servant in the mortal world haunted him. Yet he couldn’t use tracking magic either.
So he turned Sigmund into a cat.
At this madness, Sigmund decided that today would be the day he got rid of Heinz for good. To make matters worse, the lunatic mage had transformed him into a kitten—a choice clearly tailored to Heinz’s preferences. A crazy wizard like this deserved to lose his nose. Sigmund immediately grabbed Heinz’s nose with his pink jelly-like paws and bit down hard.
“Reeowww!”
“Aaah! My nose!”
The method Heinz used to turn Sigmund into a cat was simple. It was the very same method he’d once used on Leticia—he gave Sigmund a potion that transformed him into a cat.
Normally, Sigmund would have never fallen for it. However, he was momentarily distracted by the bliss of his second honeymoon.
When Heinz arrived, Sigmund had been learning how to bake bread from a patissier Dietrian had hired. Specifically, they were making a red velvet cake with an extravagant name and allure.
<This is a red velvet cake. It’s a cake that delights both the eyes and the palate. Ladies especially adore it. I’m sure Lady Romiya will love it as well.>
<Not bad.>
While admiring the sample cake brought by the patissier, Sigmund suddenly remembered the ruby he had stored in his subspace. It seemed like the perfect gift to present alongside the cake.
Excited, Sigmund retrieved the ruby. It was so massive that it could easily serve as a platter for an entire cake.
<What do you think about placing the cake on this ruby? Doesn’t the size match perfectly?>
<A-Are you suggesting using this enormous ruby as a plate?>
The patissier was utterly terrified. A gem of such monumental size would be unimaginably expensive. Just imagining accidentally cracking the ruby while placing the cake on it—and subsequently shattering his life into pieces—filled him with dread. Sigmund, perplexed by the patissier’s sudden pallor, tilted his head.
It was at this moment that Heinz appeared.
<What brings you here, you rascal?>
Although his tone wasn’t welcoming, Sigmund didn’t immediately drive Heinz away. This was the perfect chance to show off his wealth—and his cake. Shooing the trembling patissier to a corner, Sigmund began boasting about his treasures. Heinz, unusually subdued, listened attentively. His unusually serious demeanor lulled Sigmund into a false sense of security, and ultimately… this happened.
“Reeowww!” (*When did you manage to spike my cake with the potion?!*)
“That’s a trade secret, so don’t ask! And for heaven’s sake, stop kneading me! Your paws are ruining my memories!”
—
After narrowly avoiding having his nose ripped off at least twenty times, Heinz finally managed to convey his purpose to Sigmund—or tried to. The words stuck in his throat, refusing to come out.
‘I shouldn’t have turned Lord Sigmund into a cat!’
How could he only realize this now? From the start, he hadn’t come here because of cats. His true intention had been to renegotiate a contract with Sigmund through persuasion.
But instead, he had turned Sigmund into a cat without permission. There was no way Sigmund would agree to a new contract now. In fact, Heinz would be lucky if Sigmund didn’t kill him the moment he reverted to his original form.
‘It’s all because of that damned jerky!’
What was it about that jerky that had such a fatal allure? If the cats hadn’t appeared one after another, rolling onto their backs, Heinz might have retained his judgment.
He vowed to settle the score with those cats who had derailed his plans.
But to do that, he’d need to find them again, and for that, he’d require an even stronger lure. Something like a special premium treat. Perhaps even a cat tower would help…
“Reeowww! Why are you staring blankly at the sky mid-sentence?”
“Ah, uhh? You can talk?”
Snapped out of his daydream about designing a twelve-story cat tower, Heinz turned to look at Sigmund in shock. The furious Sigmund wanted to grab Heinz by the scruff of the neck, but alas, his cat paws wouldn’t allow it.
“Reeowww! Stop with the nonsense and explain why you did this!”
The only relief was that Sigmund had focused all his magic on managing human speech. However, the strain was so intense that he couldn’t sustain long conversations.
Heinz hesitated before speaking.
“…It was all for your sake, Lord Sigmund.”
“Reeowww!”
“Ah! Please hear me out before attacking! I have a brilliant plan. It’s related to Lady Romiya!”
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