Philap is heir to House Montes, one of the four duchies of the Empire of Asteia. He is a talented mage and one of the suitors of Mia Vinoche, the heroine of the original novel. He hates Deborah Seymour because of her "horrible" character and will do anything he can to stop her from approaching Mia.

Spoiler

Deborah and Philap meet at an Imperial party, about 6 years before the story begins. He saves Deborah from a fire on her dress using magic, only thinking he is doing a good deed but that is when she will fall in love with him. She will do everything she can from then on to prevent any women from approaching Philap. After she confessed her love to him, he harshly rejected her which greatly hurt Deborah's pride.