The Prince was declared fully recovered exactly on the afternoon of the new moon, less than a month after he had returned with heavy injuries.

While the court physicians put their heads together behind his back, whispering, “He really isn’t human,” and secretly casting sideways glances at the Prince, Isaac let out a long internal sigh.

It was good. It was good that he was completely healed, but still,

“It didn’t necessarily have to be exactly on the new moon……”

Of all days to be fully cured, it had to be the new moon. For a while, Isaac had also enjoyed peaceful days because the physicians restrained the Prince, insisting he shouldn’t move his body recklessly. But those good days were over now. Furthermore, since the Prince had only lightly satisfied his desires on a very brief and mild scale for nearly a month, there was no way tonight would pass by smoothly.

‘No, but still. If I’m going to be eaten anyway, it’s better to be eaten without worrying about his wounds reopening.’ Isaac let out a long breath, desperately trying to reach an optimistic conclusion.

From the moment the sun began to set, Isaac was already pulled into bed by the Prince. Through the edge of his vision, he saw the sky already settling into pitch-black darkness, and the Prince hadn’t let go of his neck for quite some time now.

‘I’m starting to get dizzy…… Yeah, drink up, drink up. If it feels like I’m going to die, I’ll just use the third wish to replenish my blood.’

Trying hard to think optimistically, Isaac still felt a bit wronged. He lowered his head and bit the Prince’s ear. He didn’t bite hard enough to draw blood, so he was being very lenient.

Even though it couldn’t have hurt that much, the Prince stopped moving and lifted his head. Looking down at Isaac from right above his face, those piercing blue eyes were clouded with heat, but reason had returned to them. The agony of the new moon seemed to have faded.

“Are you alright now?”

The Prince hummed in acknowledgment and nodded. Looking at the nape of Isaac’s neck with a hint of regret, the Prince pressed his lips to where he had been biting. Is he just going to stop at drinking now? Isaac thought, feeling relieved. But,

“…—Ugh,”

It was too early for relief.

The Prince thrust his lower half up deeply. The member that was already buried deep inside his body pushed in even further, crushing against him.

Since the Prince had already been stirring his insides for quite a while, it didn’t hurt much anymore thanks to the slick wetness, but an immense pressure flooded into his stretched abdomen. Along with that pressure, facing the Prince’s fiercely greedy heat, Isaac arched his back to meet his movements.

The Prince let out a languid sigh. As Isaac looked up, the Prince’s blue eyes, which were scrutinizing him thoroughly, seemed somewhat sheepish, and he pulled Isaac by the neck into an embrace. Sweeping a hand down the back of Isaac’s head, the Prince softly kissed his earlobe.

“……Isaac.”

His whisper of Isaac’s name was as tender as the kiss. And the flesh embedded inside his body – which showed no intention of leaving anytime soon – began to slowly, very slowly stroke him, as if caressing his insides. Those unhurried movements drew out a far more agonizing, teasing heat, causing Isaac to let out hot breaths.

It’s strange. It’s felt a bit strange for a while now.

Normally, by this point, the Prince would be driving him wildly to the edge, so Isaac had braced his mind tightly. Yet, the Prince was continuing this slow, gentle affection. Very slowly, as if savoring and tasting him, showing no sign of getting rough or hasty.

There were times when the Prince made love like this occasionally, but today was the new moon. And the new moon after they hadn’t mixed bodies properly in a long time, at that. Isaac hadn’t expected him to be this tender.

“You’re…… a bit strange today.”

As Isaac panted and spat out the words, the teeth nibbling on his earlobe applied a firm pressure. The thrusts pushing up from below also gained a bit more force.

“Because sometimes this is good too. Are you disappointed?”

Pushing deeper into the inside of Isaac’s thighs, the heavy weight pressing down on him increased. Swallowing a breath, Isaac hugged the Prince’s back.

“No. No.….. This is good too.”

The Prince seemed to smile. Suddenly, with a heavy thud, he yanked Isaac’s waist up forcefully, biting into the lips Isaac had gasped open, and began to violently thrust his lower half into him.

‘Ah, I shouldn’t have said anything.’ Shaken by the fiercely surging thrusts, Isaac momentarily regretted it, but soon enough, after a period of intense torment, Isaac reached his peak, and the Prince followed, spilling his release deep inside him. Afterward, the Prince’s movements calmed down again. Yet, he still didn’t pull out, he didn’t stop, and the exceptionally slow, tender affection resumed.

Usually, especially on the nights of the new moon, the Prince was so fierce that Isaac wouldn’t be surprised if his lower half was completely ruined. But occasionally, there were times when he held Isaac with infinite slowness and gentleness. As if, amidst unbearable, surging desire, he found Isaac so precious and lovely he didn’t know what to do with him.

Just like today, tasting every corner of Isaac tenderly, gently, and slowly, for a long time.

…… However.

Just because it was gentle and slow didn’t mean it was comfortable. If it dragged on endlessly, like boiling something on a low simmer for hours, it became exhausting in a completely different way.

Like this—even when his lower half was numb, nearing the point of melting away entirely, the Prince continued his languid thrusts, kept locked inside Isaac. Beneath his waist had already become a puddle of water, sloshing for quite some time.

Staring up at the pitch-black night sky, Isaac was shaken endlessly, endlessly, endlessly beneath the Prince. Eventually, in a half-fainting state, he parted his lips.

“Can we…… just rest for a bit…… before continuing……?”

By the time the Prince had poured himself into Isaac for an unknown number of times, it was already well past midnight. Feeling that if he missed this window he truly would die, Isaac pleaded breathlessly. He hadn’t been drained of as much blood as he expected, but his vision was spinning for entirely different reasons.

With tears in his eyes and his lips swollen red, Isaac must have looked quite pitiful as he begged.

The Prince, leaning over Isaac, looked down at him and seemed to consider it for a moment before finally saying, “Alright, let’s rest for a bit,” and lifted himself up.

Wait, you’re really planning to do it again…..? Yeah, looking at your track record, you definitely will……

Rising as lightly as someone who had just done a light stretch, the Prince wrapped Isaac in a blanket, lifted him, and laid him down on the spacious sofa. The servants waiting outside, catching the Prince’s quiet signal, quickly entered, changed the bed linens with lightning speed, and vanished. Looking at the freshly fluffed bed, ready to be rolled in whenever and however much, Isaac crouched on the sofa and shed internal tears, foreseeing his doomed future.

‘No, this isn’t right. I can’t just sit here. If my immediate future is already set in stone, I need to eat something, anything, to build up some stamina. I can’t die like this.’ Isaac, still trembling, reached out his arm toward the table. On the table, simple refreshments were laid out. Wanting to shove whatever he could reach into his mouth, his hand touched a plate filled with small, round snacks.

It was a flour snack. Although it was baked much neater and with a finer color than what Isaac remembered, it was the very snack Isaac used to occasionally treat his old comrades to.

Around evening time, the Prince’s young cousin had come to say his farewells. Before leaving, he had set down a lavishly and elegantly packaged box of snacks.

‘I heard Prince Kyan enjoys these frequently nowadays…… I bought them on the way here because they say it’s trending in social circles lately.’

The boy had said proudly. Imagine Isaac’s sheer bewilderment when he opened the colorful box after the boy left and found these snacks inside.

How did a snack that was merely a cheap pastime for poor commoners end up in such a luxurious box? Come to think of it, the Prince had nibbled on a piece or two next to Isaac recently. Had that caught the eye of some noble? Those noble folks had probably never even tasted something like this before. Trends sure work in strange ways. With a smirk on his face, Isaac picked up a piece of the snack.

“Lord Franz is departing early tomorrow morning, right?”

“Mmm. He said he’ll go with Rihan on his way back.”

Sitting on the sofa opposite him, the Prince opened a bottle of wine, and at that very moment, a ghostly rustling sound approached from the garden, and answered nonchalantly.

His young cousin had volunteered for the subjugation squad stationed at the border. The parents were strongly against the wish of the boy, who was barely fifteen, but the boy’s determination was stubborn. Saying he would return after gaining experience and growing into someone who could pull his own weight, the boy sought permission from the Prince, the commander-in-chief of the squad, and the Prince granted his request. Starting tomorrow, accompanying Rihan back to the border, the boy would spend the next few years stationed at the border squad.

When this fact became known, people were once again in an uproar. Speculations that if the boy returned after properly building his credentials, he would secure an unshakeable position by then, mixed fiercely with calculations of needing to line up behind him early, and whispers weighing what other variables might exist.

Among them, those who rejoiced and approved the most were the King, and the Prince’s younger brothers. The King, who had been waiting day in and day out for the day he could abdicate, had already been calling the Prince to excitedly ask, ‘When exactly can you step away from the subjugation squad? Will it be difficult within this year? Will it be possible next year?’ Meanwhile, the other princes, who had quickly given up their succession rights to escape the nagging of those constantly poking their sides about the throne, were happily inspecting their territories in the countryside and starting renovations on their mansions.

“I hope Lord Franz adapts quickly and does well.”

“He’ll secure his place by late next year.”

Speaking as he smelled the aroma of the wine, three furballs were already circling the Prince’s feet.

The Prince’s predictions were almost never wrong. By the end of next year, Isaac mumbled.

The boy would work tirelessly, and Rihan and the other commanders would assist him by his side. Then, just as the Prince said, by late next year, the subjugation squad would be able to operate without the Prince.

The day the Prince would step back from the front lines of the beast subjugations was approaching. Once he ascended the throne, he would be busy in his own right, but at the very least, Isaac wouldn’t have to stay behind in the capital and wait for him with an anxious heart.

“If Lord Franz secures his position firmly, the people arguing back and forth about the succession will decrease too.”

“I don’t need to worry about who leads this kingdom or how. At least until my next generation.”

The Prince would undoubtedly place this kingdom on a solid path to prosperity, and the successor who would carry on that prosperity would be cultivated flawlessly. Thinking of that clear, destined future, Isaac asked playfully.

“And after that?”

“After that—we must pray to God.”

The Prince answered casually. Since my power won’t reach that distant future, Isaac thought that calm reply wasn’t very like him, but then quickly shook his head.

No. This was like him.

In the distant future, long after he is gone, there is no way his reach could extend through history. How the descendant of his descendant leads the kingdom is beyond his power.

What he is certain of is himself, and the successor he can personally raise.

Up to that point, he will do absolutely everything in his power. Beyond that effort, he doesn’t harbor useless greed and accepts the results of having done his best. He has reached where he is now by grasping what he desires through utmost effort.

—But, what if it’s something that cannot be achieved by effort alone.

What if it’s something he desperately wants to achieve, but effort cannot reach it, yet it’s too earnest a matter to merely pray to God for.

Isaac stopped his hand, which was bringing the snack to his mouth. Lifting his gaze, he saw the Prince had also stopped his hand holding the wine glass and was looking at Isaac, deep in thought.

Isaac couldn’t tell what those deeply settled blue eyes were thinking……. ‘But, perhaps I do know.’

Just as Isaac, looking silently into those eyes, was about to part his lips to call out to him,

「Are you going to eat it all yourself? Huh? Are you going to eat it all yourself?」

「Can’t you see the poor, fragile cats withering away on the new moon?」

The cats, who had been staring only at the wine and drooling, finally couldn’t hold back and started meowing.

The Prince, who looked down at the cats for a moment, soon pulled them to his feet and willingly poured the wine into their empty plate.

As the cats buried their noses in the wine in excitement, the Prince, who had been lost in thought while watching them quickly empty the plate, asked the cats who had begun licking their front paws.

“What happens if you make a vague wish?”

The cats, grooming their claws in satisfaction, rolled their eyes to look at the Prince.

「Vague? Like what?」

“To be happy. Something like that.”

The Prince, who had been thinking for a moment, spoke. Isaac stared at the Prince as if to pierce through him.

He has everything, what more happiness is he looking for? Is there something he lacks……

「Wait, he lacks one thing. Ah, character? Is he finally trying to get some character? But a person with an exceptionally wonderful character would find it hard to live happily in the human world, wouldn’t they? Moderately wicked kids live happily,」 the cats whispered, putting their heads together. Isaac, looking at the Prince, reached his hand between those huddled heads and waved it.

“Just answer him, you little brats. I’m curious too.”

The cat that hissed at Isaac’s hand licked its paw again, washed its face, and snorted.

「It’s better not to do it.」

「If it’s that vague, it means something completely random could drop.」

「A bag of flour snacks that makes you happy might drop, or an earthly paradise where all your desires are fulfilled might arrive.」

“…… Can’t we do that highly probable simulation for that?”

「Meaningless, meaningless. With a wish that vague, there are millions of possibilities, so the actual outcome will differ wildly from the simulation result.」

The cats swished their tails dismissively.

「Usually, a streak of good luck lasting a day or two is the most common form of happiness.」

「Mmm, like getting a lot of customers who generously leave tips when you’re pulling a rickshaw, or getting to eat seolleongtang, which you usually can’t afford because it’s too expensive.」

“That doesn’t sound like a bad thing……”

Muttering half-heartedly, Isaac stroked his chin and turned his gaze to the Prince, who was deep in thought.

Feeling that gaze, the Prince looked at Isaac. Suddenly, Isaac’s heart pounded and raced.

Perhaps…… Just perhaps.

“Did a vague wish come to mind?”

As Isaac asked, the Prince slowly nodded his head.

“What kind of vague wish? Do you want to be happy?”

When Isaac asked again, the Prince, who had been looking at Isaac for a moment, nodded and spoke.

“Yes. You.”

“——.”

As Isaac stopped talking, the Prince continued his words strangely.

“I have enough. I already have my happiness, and I will keep it by my side until I die. But I will only be able to live as long as a human lifespan, and after I die—you.”

The Prince’s blue eyes looked at Isaac. Isaac, standing all alone one day after much time had passed.

Isaac stared blankly at the Prince before muttering.

“……. I said I’d be buried with you.”

“Then there would be no greater wish. If I could take you with me to the very end. That would be great…… but I don’t want to.”

The Prince’s words, dripping with clear desire, ended in a calm resignation after a brief pause. For the first time, he was folding his own desire for the sake of another’s happiness.

Isaac looked at the Prince without even blinking an eye. He looked at the man staring back at his witch as if he didn’t want to miss a single second.

He was giving up what he wanted most. For the sake of his most precious thing.

With an earnest desire so intense he wanted to reach out and drag Isaac back with him right this moment.

‘But there’s something you don’t know.’

‘The person who wants your earnest desire more than anyone else is me.’

“……—”

Isaac opened his mouth to say something, closed it, and after repeatedly opening and closing his lips to speak, let out a long sigh.

“…… That’s a matter for the very distant future…… Time flies faster than you think.”

Isaac straightened his posture, placed both hands on his knees, and looked directly at the Prince. His heart beat with a crackle, crackle, like sparks popping in subtle heat.

“You see, I’ve been thinking about it for a while. I thought deeply and thought again, but I really don’t think my feelings will change no matter how much time passes. I wondered if I’d change after living alone for hundreds of years…… but what if I don’t? And if so, how on earth would I endure and survive those hundreds of years……”

It wouldn’t be impossible. Nibbling on accumulated memories while letting time pass day by day wouldn’t be a big deal. Small and large events of living would continue to happen, and merely staying alive isn’t that grand a feat anyway, but still, his emotions would undoubtedly remain frozen. They would be trapped in the day he was left alone.

“I thought that would be a bit hard. What do I do? So while I was worrying…… I actually thought of a vague wish too. It’s vague, but a bit desperate.”

Isaac scrutinized every corner of the Prince’s face. It was a lovely face he wouldn’t be able to see again even if he lived for hundreds more years.

…… Meanwhile, from his feet, chattering noises drifted up: 「How can a desperate thing be vague?」 「He even added ‘a bit’ in front of desperate.」 「That guy needs to restudy his grammar.」 But without even looking down, Isaac waved his leg to shoo the nonsense away.

“Even if that day is still far away, the more time accumulates, the more I won’t want to be left alone. But I am a witch, and witches live longer than humans. So I even thought about becoming human, but then you’d struggle every new moon, Your Highness, and if I became human and happened to die first, I wouldn’t want that either……”

“I’m more narrow-minded than you, Your Highness, so it makes my stomach hurt thinking about you living well without me,” Isaac mumbled. The Prince stared intensely at Isaac with a strange expression.

“And I can’t exactly tell you to become a witch, Your Highness……”

As Isaac muttered the final option he had considered, the cats jumped up and made a fuss. Waving his foot again to chase away the fiercely opposing cats puffing up their tails, Isaac stared straight at the Prince.

“So even if it’s a bit vague—even if I don’t know exactly how it will be realized—I want to treat it as a gamble and make a wish. You said you’d let me use the last wish, right?”

The Prince looked at Isaac demanding the wish. After a moment of silence, he nodded and granted permission. “Yes.”

“Good, then,”

Isaac took a breath. Through lips tinted pale with nervousness, he spoke his vague—yet earnest—wish.

“I wish that you and I, Prince Kyan, live a long, long time…… no, that we live long enough until we are mutually satisfied, and end our lives together. That is my wish.”

The Prince stopped moving. Looking at Isaac without a single tremor, Isaac also held his breath and looked back at him.

When those strangely shining blue eyes finally blinked and moved,

「He’s really gambling his life.」

The cat’s meow broke the silence.

「Who knows when and how you might become enemies as an old married couple, yet you want to live and die together forever?」

「We kept saying he was clueless, but to be this clueless.」

「GET A GRIP, GET A GRIP!」

The three black furballs jumped up and down, causing a ruckus.

Isaac tried hard to ignore them and pretended not to hear, but as they repeatedly smacked his ankle with their tails, he finally failed and shouted.

“Be quiet, you cats!”

「How much is ‘satisfied’?」

「What if Mr. Moisture says he’s going to live for a thousand or ten thousand years??」

At the cats’ clamoring words, Isaac froze……. Prince Kyan for a thousand or ten thousand years……

“…… Could the wish come true in that way…..?”

「Of course, either you die before your lifespan, or Mr. Moisture lives longer than his, it’ll be one of the two!」

「Either you live as long as a human, or Mr. Moisture lives as long as a witch, it’ll be one of the two!」

‘…… No, I didn’t think in that direction…… I just thought I’d live reasonably long as a human and close my eyes together with him, that’d be good……’

Isaac flustered. He blinked and looked into the Prince’s eyes. The Prince was just silently listening to their conversation with an unreadable face.

“No, well, I wouldn’t mind living only a human lifespan, and living together for a long, long time would be good too……”

“A thousand or ten thousand years is a bit much, though,” Isaac mumbled, his voice shrinking.

He was overwhelmed by the unexpected, astronomical number. Even so, it seemed a bit too long. Wait, do witches really live that long?

Listening to the three of them whispering among themselves: 「That guy probably won’t die even if you kill him.」 「If it’s Moisture, he could, mm-hm.」 Isaac suddenly thought that perhaps he might live far, far longer than expected.

Feeling faint at the unimaginably long time, Isaac felt the gaze watching him and quickly snapped back to his senses. The Prince was looking at him expressionlessly.

“Your Highness…… would you still be okay with that?”

As Isaac asked, the Prince seemed to think for a moment before asking back.

“You.”

“Yes?”

“Your lifespan might be matched to mine. You’re a witch and could live a very long time, but you’d give that up?”

Isaac shrugged his shoulders casually without a long thought.

“I was originally half-human anyway. I never had the greed to live as long as a witch. I didn’t even know we could live that long…… And a short life spent together sounds happier than a long life left all alone.”

Saying that, Isaac reaffirmed to himself what he truly desired anew. Long or short, it didn’t matter. Whenever the end came, as long as he was with him at that end, it was fine.

“You said you wanted me to be happy.”

‘This is exactly what I want.’

Isaac shut his mouth and looked at the Prince. He had said all he needed to say, and conveyed his wish to him. Now it was his turn to decide.

The Prince silently looked at Isaac. After a long moment of quiet observation…… An expression slowly began to spread across his statue-like face.

It looked somewhat distorted, perhaps even a bit crumbled—it was a profound sense of fulfillment, having finally reached what he had so desperately desired.

‘I see.’

‘I properly found what I wanted, and what this person wanted too. We have reached the wish we both wanted most.’

Isaac smiled. His heart was pounding so hard he couldn’t tell if he was smiling properly, but he smiled brightly anyway. His heart beat violently, aching pleasantly

“Now, then…… You said the person making the wish has to ask for it,”

Isaac looked back at the cats. The cats, sitting in a row on the couch with sullen faces, looked at him with wary eyes.

“Hand it over, the tinderbox.”

As Isaac held out his hand, the cats glared with eyes as big as lanterns.

「I don’t like that wish!」

“I said hand it over.”

Isaac pulled out the wooden box tucked under the belly of the approaching cat. Normally, they would have avoided him like ghosts so he couldn’t even touch it. Faced with the final third wish, they must have had no choice, though they made the fur all over their bodies stand up in a poof, they growled and backed away.

Isaac held the wooden box in both hands and gently stroked it.

Even looking closely again, it was just an old, ordinary wooden box. Yet this exceedingly common-looking wooden box was the precious treasure that had saved Isaac’s life countless times, and would now fulfill the Prince’s—and Isaac’s—final wish; the only one of its kind in the world.

Suddenly, the box in his hands felt warm and vibrated slightly. As if saying, Now is the time.

“It’s the perfect new moon to make a wish.”

Isaac, lifting his head, held out the tinderbox to the Prince and spoke.

The Prince, who was looking at Isaac, nodded and reached out his hand. However, the Prince’s hand grabbed Isaac’s wrist instead of the tinderbox and pulled him in.

“Ah!” With a short gasp, Isaac was pulled along, and the wide-eyed cats dashed like lightning to snatch the box that was about to fall to the floor.

Ignoring the scolding voices chattering, 「WHAT IF YOU BREAK EVEN A CORNER OF THIS PRECIOUS TREASURE!,」 and paying no mind to the box, the Prince pulled Isaac deep into his embrace. Looking flustered, Isaac wriggled in the Prince’s arms for a moment, before soon quieting down and burying his face into his chest. And Isaac, too, reached out his arms and pulled the Prince into a hug.

It was a beautiful night of the new moon, a pitch-black sky pouring with starlight.

On this night of blessing where a desired wish comes true, the long roar of a tiger could be heard from somewhere.

—THE END—