However, following an unprecedented incident like that, there was no way ‘tomorrow’ was going to be peaceful. Especially considering Isaac was the sole eyewitness to the entire situation. For the next few days, there was likely no one in the entire palace busier than Isaac. He could confidently say there had never been a more chaotic, overwhelming period in his entire life.

Faced with the highly suspicious and dangerous situation of a demon beast and a court wizard found dead in the same location, the first people to seek Isaac out were the Court Wizard’s Guild.

“Tell us exactly what happened. If you saw something, describe every single blade of grass. If you heard something, recount every single breath. Do not leave a single detail out.”

“Did Volkan truly say that? Phrasing changes everything; is it not possible that you misunderstood his intent and are remembering it incorrectly? The human memory is a remarkably fragile and ambiguous thing, is it not?”

“Can you guarantee that Volkan summoned the demon beast? Did you hear Volkan explicitly state, ‘I summoned that’? Why would he ever do such a thing?”

“So Prince Kyan struck Volkan down? Fine, that part is clear. Regardless of the reason, the fact remains that the Prince killed him.”

Faced with their relentless, rapid-fire interrogation, Isaac had to calculate a hundred different angles in his head before uttering a single response.

“Well, I suppose you could interpret it that way……”

“That’s exactly what I was wondering. Why would he do such a thing…..?”

“Yes, well, that is how it appeared to me.”

Isaac had been working as a royal guard for years; he had seen and heard enough of the subtle, cutthroat political warfare inside and outside the palace. He had seen plenty of people ruin their lives just by running their mouths carelessly once.

Sensing the wizards’ desperation to steer his answers in a direction favorable to them, terrified that their standing might be jeopardized by the actions of one of their own, Isaac defended himself with the vaguest, most non-committal answers possible.

Only after Isaac had sweat bullets for what felt like hours did the wizards finally withdraw with deeply dissatisfied expressions. But before Isaac could even finish wiping the sweat from his brow and let out a sigh, the Royal Magistrates stormed in.

“We heard the Wizard’s Guild was just here. What did you discuss with them?”

“So, you are saying that Court Wizard Volkan summoned the demon beast specifically because of Prince Jyan. Regardless of what he claimed aloud, does this not clearly demonstrate he harbored an intent to assassinate a member of the royal family?”

“Furthermore, when he was on the verge of his wicked deeds being exposed, he attempted to murder you to silence a witness. And so, Prince Kyan had absolutely no choice but to eliminate him to save a person’s life, correct?”

Thankfully, having just survived the first round, Isaac’s skill at dodging questions had already leveled up.

“We discussed this and that… mostly just confirming what I wrote in the report.”

“Well, I suppose you could interpret it that way……”

“Who knows. I have no idea why things turned out the way they did……”

The Royal Magistrates – who already had bad blood with the Wizard’s Guild, which operated almost entirely above the law – saw this as the perfect opportunity to drag them down. They aggressively pressured Isaac to give them the ammunition they needed, and once again, Isaac had to spin his brain hundreds of times a minute to defend himself.

After the Royal Magistrates finally left, a lawyer sent by Grand Duke Granian arrived.

“You claim Volkan requested to forge a pact with Prince Kyan? How could a wizard who is already contracted to the Grand Duke commit such an act?! This is grounds for a formal protest against the Wizard’s Guild, who brokered the contract with the Grand Duke in the first place! …… But before we proceed, you are absolutely certain your testimony is the truth, correct? There cannot be a single margin of error. You will be able to testify on behalf of the Grand Duke later, yes?”

“Well…… that is how I remember it, but as you know, human memory is a remarkably ambiguous and fragile thing, is it not? Of course, I trust my own memory, but as for officially testifying on the matter……”

And after Granian’s lawyer left, the Chief Chamberlain – who oversaw the management of Blue Shadow Palace – personally came to hear about the situation. After him came the City Security Director, wanting to investigate the circumstances surrounding the demon beast’s appearance. Following him came an endless parade of people, ranging from politicians with ulterior motives to scholars studying demon beasts.

Isaac had absolutely no way to avoid or escape them, forced to receive every single visitor. The reason being: the Royal Guard had placed him under house arrest. (Which was exactly why all these high-and-mighty officials couldn’t just summon Isaac to their offices and had to personally visit him instead.)

The justification for his house arrest wasn’t explicitly stated. It was simply the result of the fierce, vicious political battle over Isaac’s report between the various factions—primarily the Wizard’s Guild and the Royal Magistrates.

The Wizard’s Guild – the faction with the highest risk of suffering the most damage from this incident – claimed the report might be fabricated. Taking it a step further, they began suggesting this was a conspiracy and that someone must be pulling Isaac’s strings from the shadows. At this point, the situation was turning into a complete mud-slinging contest, and someone was going to end up taking the fall.

Judging that stray fire might hit the Royal Guard if they weren’t careful, the Guard Captain ordered Isaac to lay low and put him under house arrest. As a result, Isaac was stuck in his room, suffering through the endless barrage of visitors.

“Well, at least it’s starting to die down now. It’s been about a fortnight, right? I honestly thought they were going to wear down your doorway.”

“Time heals all wounds.” Humming a cheerful tune, Hoden muttered. He was currently completely absorbed in staring at himself in the mirror. Considering he had immediately started washing up and grooming himself the second he returned late from his afternoon shift, it seemed he had another date tonight. He had been dating passionately for a while, and apparently, they had finally set a wedding date for three months from now.

“Must be nice…… You look incredibly happy……”

Whether Isaac mumbled like a bitter old man with no joy left in life or not, Hoden simply laughed heartily, “Hmm? Life has been pretty fun lately, hahaha,” trimming his mustache and styling his hair in pure bliss.

“Some people are so happy, while others…….”

“Life is so unfair……,” Isaac muttered, pulling his knees to his chest. Finally satisfied with his hair, Hoden turned away from the mirror and spoke.

“Don’t say that. If you really think about it, you hit the absolute jackpot in life. Is there anyone luckier than you? You survived that situation!”

“……”

Isaac wanted to deny it, but he couldn’t. Hoden’s sentiment was shared by almost everyone who heard the story. As a result, despite the harrowing ordeal he had gone through, Isaac received absolutely zero sympathy from anyone.

You survived a situation where it wouldn’t have been weird if you got killed by the wizard, the demon beast, or Prince Kyan! If you had run into even one of those three alone, you would’ve died! It’s a miracle! I guess it really is true that poison cures poison. I’ve never seen anyone with luck as insane as yours! And so on, and so forth……

For some reason, it felt incredibly unfair and frustrating, but even Isaac had to admit that surviving that situation was nothing short of a miracle. He should have died a hundred times over, yet he had walked out without a single broken bone.

“If I had miraculously survived a situation like that, I’d just smile and brush off a little harassment like this.”

“…… If you were actually the one who went through it, you wouldn’t be saying that……”

“No, I would. I definitely would. Let’s say we completely write off the wizard and the demon beast. How on earth did Prince Kyan decide to let you live?”

Regarding the Prince, who was treated as an entity more terrifying than a demon Beast, Isaac had come to a silent realization after seeing that apathetic gaze up close. The Prince hadn’t let Isaac live. He had just found the very act of killing him too tedious to bother with.

To think there is a man in this world who finds everything so utterly meaningless and boring.

Staring blankly into the air for a moment, Isaac sighed and his shoulders slumped.

“Yeah, I guess I should consider myself lucky. At least the visitors are starting to die down now……”

Besides, compared to him, my life seems pretty decent, Isaac thought, scratching his head and looking at Hoden.

“Are you sleeping out again tonight?”

“Yup.”

“Wedding preparations going well?”

“Yup, very smoothly.”

Humming to himself as he sprayed on some cologne, Hoden looked at Isaac through the mirror and added:

“Even after I get married and move out, I’ll come visit you sometimes, so don’t be too lonely when I leave.”

“Why are you spouting nonsense after eating a perfectly good meal? Just hurry up and leave.”

“Oh, don’t be shy. I know you started raising three cats because you were feeling lonely.”

“I’M NOT RAISING THEM!!!”

Isaac yelled angrily. Ignoring him completely, Hoden gently patted the heads of the three cats sitting by the door, who had just finished eating a piece of fish and were grooming themselves, before putting on his shoes.

No matter how tightly Isaac locked the doors and windows, the cats always managed to sneak in like ghosts. After grabbing them and tossing them out the window a hundred times a day, Isaac had simply given up.

“My goodness, aren’t you feeding them a bit too well? Their fur is incredibly glossy.”

“That’s because the new moon is close.”

“Huh? What did you say?”

“Nothing. Just get out of here.”

Isaac mumbled sullenly, waving his hand dismissively. Hoden tied his shoelaces and threw a glance at Isaac.

“Even with you complaining about being on house arrest for something that wasn’t your fault, getting to rest at home has definitely done you some good. Your complexion is glowing.”

Isaac swallowed the response: That’s also because the new moon is close. It was a good thing his physical condition was peaking right now. Even after being harassed to death, he wasn’t actually dying.

“So, you’re coming back tomorrow morning?”

“No, I’ll head straight to work from Aire’s place. I’m on duty until the afternoon, so I won’t be back until evening. I might just head straight back to Aire’s tomorrow night, actually.”

“You must be so incredibly happy. Where are you on duty tomorrow?”

“……. Blue Shadow Palace.”

The smile vanished from Hoden’s face for the first time all evening. Hearing Hoden’s depressed reply, Isaac’s expression also darkened in sympathy.

“Is that place……, …… has anything happened there recently?”

“Of course not. Alright, I’m heading out.”

Hoden shrugged, checked himself in the mirror one last time, and waved goodbye. The sound of him regaining his happiness and humming a tune faded down the hallway.

Isaac, sitting blankly in the quiet room by himself, looked out the window. The neat rows of graves in the front yard were peacefully submerged in the faint, moonlit darkness. No matter how dark the world got, that place was always perfectly peaceful.…… Just like Blue Shadow Palace.

Throughout this unprecedented disaster and chaos, the only person truly involved in the incident who remained entirely at peace was the Prince himself. While everyone was relentlessly harassing Isaac, no one dared to ask the Prince a single question, merely walking on eggshells around him. And the Prince was living his peaceful, everyday life as if absolutely nothing had happened.

‘This is unfair! This is the tyranny of the powerful!!’

‘Is this how the powerless are supposed to live?’ Grumbling and venting his frustrations as he trudged toward the palace gates the day he received his house arrest order from the Guard Captain, Isaac had suddenly found himself face-to-face with the Prince walking from the Main Palace. Isaac had instantly snapped his mouth shut, unable to say a single word, keeping his head bowed as the Prince walked right past him. At that moment, watching the Prince walk by without a care in the world, Isaac had a sudden realization.

Even though the entire palace was in an uproar over what happened at the hunting tournament, the Prince didn’t care in the slightest. He didn’t even remember Isaac. To a man who was completely and utterly indifferent to anything that didn’t personally interest him, the incident meant absolutely nothing.

「So basically, you’re saying you were sad he didn’t recognize you?」

At some point, one of the little monsters had shoved its face right up to Isaac’s nose. Startled by the massive, lantern-like eye staring at him from an inch away, Isaac flailed his hands defensively.

“Jeez, you scared me! I told you guys to stop sneaking up on me like that!”

「We literally stomped over here. You were just so deep in thought you didn’t hear us.」

「Hey, leave him alone. He must have been so heartbroken when that handsome guy walked right past him that he was too busy wallowing in it to hear your majestic footsteps.」

“Heartbroken, my foot. Did you guys eat bad fish or something?”

「Don’t be sad. The new moon is almost here. You’ll be seeing him again soon, so wipe that pitiful look off your face.」

“I said I’m not sad! You stupid cats, stop reading into my expressions and making up your own conclusions!”

The three little monsters, absolutely refusing to listen to a word he said, hopped onto Isaac’s bed and chattered away as they pleased. He desperately wanted to grab them by their necks and shake them violently, but remembering that doing exactly that two days ago had resulted in all three of them simultaneously puking wet hairballs onto his forearm with a loud『EUGH,』he swallowed a groan and simply turned his head to look out the window.

The waning moon, which would completely vanish in a day or two, drew a thin, white, crescent-shaped line in the night sky. Beneath it, Isaac’s face was faintly reflected in the dark windowpane. It was his usual, incredibly average face.

“……”

A pitiful look. What kind of expression had he been making? Isaac rubbed his face for no reason.

He certainly hadn’t been heartbroken, but maybe ‘pitiful’ wasn’t entirely wrong. No, rather than pitiful, how should he describe it?

“…… How did he get to the point where something like that doesn’t even faze him…..?”

The murmur slipped out before he could stop it.

An event that ordinary people would be lucky – or unlucky – to experience even once in their lives: facing someone’s blatant, murderous greed and standing on the absolute precipice between life and death. Exactly what kind of life had he lived where things like that were now completely insignificant to him? How did something like that become nothing?

「See? Look, he’s making that face again.」

A cat, which had silently hopped onto the windowsill to sit right next to him, spoke up. Staring intently at Isaac, it gave the tip of his nose a single, rough lick.

Isaac, blinking slowly at the cat, slowly rubbed his chest. The faint, aching sensation in his chest escaped as a quiet, bitter sigh.

“…… The Land of the Dark Moon.”

「Hm?」

“Is it better there…… than here? Is it more peaceful and happier than the human world?”

「Well, that depends on the person. It’s the same there as it is here. The joyful are joyful, and the miserable are miserable.」

Then I guess it’s not the ‘heaven’ people make it out to be over there either. Resting his arms on his knees, Isaac asked again.

“Then if it’s the exact same living there as it is here, why do you want to go back so badly?”

「Because we belong there. This place is ‘their world,’ not ‘our world.’」

Another cat hopped up onto the windowsill. Perhaps because it was dark, its glassy, reflective eyes looked even larger than usual.

「You know it too. You know exactly what it’s like to live in ‘their world.’」

「You should cross over too. To the Land of the Dark Moon. That place will become ‘your world.’」

The cat’s soft, purring voice brushed against Isaac’s fingertips with another rough lick. You poor thing. You pitiful thing. The touch felt like an old man stroking the head of an orphan. It stung slightly from the rough tongue, but at the same time, it was oddly warm.

「Of course, everyone there will help you out a lot. Just like we do.」

“……”

Suddenly, he really didn’t want to go. Just hearing that made him feel like his blood pressure was spiking.

Isaac flicked the chattering cat squarely on the nose. The cat hissed furiously, nervously licking its nose. Seeing that made Isaac feel a bit better.

Shooing the three cats off the windowsill, who immediately huddled together to badmouth him for being an ‘insolent brat,’ ‘ill-mannered brat,’ Isaac opened the window. The night air rolled in, carrying the scent of dirt and grass.

…… My world.

My world, our world.

What would that feel like? To live somewhere where you naturally belonged, simply existing as a matter of course. He didn’t know. Having lived as a complete outsider since the day he was born, Isaac couldn’t even begin to guess. Then, a sudden thought crossed his mind.

Even though the Prince lives in the place he was born, surrounded by his own kind, he’s completely isolated. With nowhere to return to.

“……”

That bitter sensation seeped into his chest once again. Stroking his heavy chest once, he turned his gaze back out the window.

In the night sky, where the moon had nearly lost its light with the approaching new moon, the stars twinkled as if ready to fall. And resting low beneath them, the single, faint sliver of the waning moon looked even thinner than it had moments ago.