Chapter 75

"Father..."

Kate tentatively called out to her father, Galon.

"When I was little, Father used to dote on me. But after I became a candidate for the queen, our interactions decreased. Was it to gauge whether I had the qualities to be a queen?"

"…That’s right. It’s easy for me to be by your side and arrange things for you, but if you rely on me forever, you would be unfit as a queen."

"…In other words, it was to care for and train me. I thought you had given up on me… I was so sure…"

Kate sighed. Her expression seemed to relax, as if the tension she had been holding in had finally eased, and it was a mix of a relieved and a wry smile.

She must have thought that Galon, with his cold attitude, had abandoned her. Now, knowing that the decrease in interaction was not out of indifference but out of love, she seemed relieved.

"…I feel bad for you. I distanced myself from you to encourage your growth, but if I judged that you lacked the qualities to be a queen, I would have removed you from the candidacy without hesitation."

Galon spoke frankly, without hiding his true feelings. He loved his daughter, but as the head of the duchy, he also thought about the country. He might be clumsy but was sincere. I couldn’t really criticize him, as I had also been at odds with my own father for many years.

"Thank you for explaining your thoughts, Father. …From your perspective, am I fit to be a candidate for the queen now?"

"…I can’t say for certain."

Galon turned his gaze to me.

"Until now, you wouldn’t have been able to bow to others, let alone humans, and ask for their help. During the recent banquet in Manila, you seemed to have much better control over your emotions compared to before. You still have a lot of immaturity, but I would give you a passing grade for now."

"Thank you!"

Kate’s face lit up. She looked incredibly happy, but gradually her expression became more serious.

"Your words are very encouraging, Father. But because of that, I… want to give up the position of the next queen."

"…What do you mean?"

Galon’s frown deepened. Despite the tense atmosphere, Kate continued.

"Until now, I could only see what was close to me and Sienna. I realized that my vision was very narrow, especially after spending time with Lady Letitia."

Kate looked at me and then seemed to gaze into the distance as she continued.

"It’s not just Lady Letitia. Even Lady Natalie, who seemed like a doll, was disciplining herself despite the conflicts with her family. And Lady Lee Eina, whose true nature was hard to fathom, I finally understood from the core that her unpredictability is a strength."

"Kate…"

When I called her name, Kate’s lips curled up, as if she had made a decision.

"Of course! I’m still growing and have a lot of potential! When I gain the confidence that I am more fit to be a queen than anyone else, I will definitely take the position. For now, I don’t think I should be the queen, so I’m just temporarily stepping aside."

Kate turned to face her father, Galon.

"So, Father, I have a request that may be considered unfilial. I want you to give up on producing the next queen from our family. Both Sienna and I find the title of queen too heavy to bear… Can you acknowledge that?"

"…"

Galon fell silent. Kate waited anxiously but did not back down.

"Kate… you have truly grown beyond recognition."

"! Father, then—"

"Yes, I acknowledge it. There’s no need to make a daughter the queen just to protect the family. The prosperity of our family depends on the well-being of the country. From now on, you should strive to ensure that a suitable person becomes the queen."

"Yes!! I will do my best!!"

Kate answered with a smile, and indeed, as Galon said, she had grown.

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After that, Galon apologized again for involving me in the sisters’ quarrel and took Sienna away.

Sienna, still in a daze, muttered, "For me to lose to such a short-tempered and twisted sister…" but seemed to have no energy left to resist after her misdeeds were exposed to her father.

Galon, upon returning to the territory, planned to align the family’s future direction and re-educate Sienna. According to Galon, "Sienna became twisted due to her competitiveness with her sister, but she has a straightforward nature like her sister. I intend to retrain her from scratch and instill the pride of a duchy’s daughter."

With this, the sisters’ quarrel came to a temporary end, and I felt a sense of relief. Just then, Kate called out to me.

"Letitia, thank you for all your help this time. Thanks to you, I… and I’m sure Sienna, can now move towards the right path. From now on, I will control my emotions and remain calm, even if I am insulted and called twisted."

Her determination to remain calm, even when she mentioned it, showed that her resentment towards Sienna hadn’t completely disappeared. Their relationship, being family, was likely complex.

…And there was one thing that slightly bothered me.

"Kate… ‘Twisted’ is a word that mountain cat people don’t want to hear, right?"

This had been on my mind for a while. The first time I met Kate, she was hiding her tail. Later, her tail would show when she was emotional, but when she was calm, it was always hidden behind her.

"…Yes, that’s right. It’s so ungraceful. Compared to a straight tail, it looks like it’s broken in the middle."

Kate said this with a bitter and regretful tone. Both humans and beast people have similar standards of beauty for faces, but beast people have unique aesthetic standards for tails.

"Sienna isn’t the only one who mocks me. Many people laughed at me behind my back for having a poor tail despite being a duchy’s daughter. So, I tried to be bold and strong to not lose to them…"

Kate’s words trailed off, and she bit her lip. This might have led to her becoming more prickly and confrontational. Considering this, her always strong but unstable demeanor made sense.

"I wish I could have been born with a straight tail like Sienna and Father…"

"A straight tail, you mean?"

"Yes. Don’t you think my tail looks ugly, Letitia?"

"No, I don’t. I’m human, after all."

"Huh?"

Kate looked surprised.

"…What do you mean?"

"I mean exactly that. You haven’t interacted much with humans, so you might not have noticed, but from a human’s perspective, a curved tail is just a normal variation. Most people wouldn’t think much of it."

"Normal… So, all the trouble I’ve been through can be dismissed as something trivial…?"

Kate’s shoulders slumped, as if she had lost all her energy or felt a sense of liberation. I couldn’t share her pain, but I could offer a different perspective.

"…The way people treat you can change depending on who you’re with. Differences in perspective can lead to conflicts, but it’s not just that. I’m not trying to negate the values of mountain cat people, but if you can see that they are not absolute, your world will broaden."

As Kate herself said, she tended to focus too much on moving forward, which narrowed her vision. I hoped that this would make it a little easier for her to breathe.

"At the very least, I find your tail charming. The way it moves and changes expression at the tip is very attractive."

"…Really?"

"Really."

When I said this, Kate turned her face away.

"For a human to compliment a tail, you’re quite unusual."

But her curved tail was wagging happily.

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