This was the first time Melina learned that if a Clockwork Cat grew so embarrassed that its internal mechanism overheated, sparks would spin from the clockwork on its back, its cat ears would snap straight up, and a faint mist of magic factor steam would drift from inside its ears.
This was probably because...
Clockwork Cats didn't have brains?
Their bodies consisted largely of liquid fat, allowing them to dissipate heat when they ran red-hot—much like Melina used her own hair to cool down.
Several incidents like this had already happened around Melina.
What had driven the Clockwork Cats into this overheated state wasn't the fact that "cats had to buy mice from the Ratmen," but rather the realization that Alissa had actually won.
Chapter 385