The reason the room was pitch-black wasn’t solely because three massive tigers were sitting side-by-side, blocking the window.

A moonless night.

The new moon—the one night a month when the stars shone exceptionally bright, packing the night sky to the brim.

Even the reddish afterglow left by the sun dipping behind the mountains had faded away. The sky, which had shimmered with a reddish-purple hue, gradually deepened into ultramarine until evening finally retreated, and night fell.

Sitting in his room without lighting a single lamp since dusk, Isaac stared gloomily out the dark window. The starlight illuminated the fur of the three tigers sitting by the window. Isaac stared hollowly at the pitch-black beasts, whose coats practically flowed with a glossy sheen.

「The energy this new moon is much crisper and nicer than the last.」

「Oh my, just look at this fur. It’s so glossy and smooth, is this what silk

feels like?」

As they chattered away, praising themselves, one of the tigers threw a sidelong glance at Isaac. Having an eyeball the size of a millwheel roll over to stare at you would be enough to make anyone jump out of their skin, but Isaac simply sat there without twitching a single muscle.

「Why is he staring blankly like that?」

「He must have fallen for us. Look at those dazed eyes. That is undeniably the look of a man who has fallen in love.」

「Haha, the lowly creature certainly has an eye for quality. Though if he recklessly chases after us because he’s enamored with our beauty, he’ll earn himself a stern scolding.」

Isaac remained utterly silent, simply staring at the three beasts as they babbled their usual nonsense. One of them slowly slinked over and unceremoniously plopped a front paw the size of a cauldron lid onto Isaac’s forehead.

「Are you sick? No, a witch wouldn’t be sick on the new moon. Why are you being so quiet and unresponsive?」

“…… I see even you guys know you’re spouting absolute nonsense.”

「「 「NONSENSE?!」 」」

The moment Isaac finally spoke, the three of them immediately squawked in unison as if they had been waiting for it, hopping over to sit closely around him. Isaac let out a depressed sigh, repeatedly clenching and unclenching his fist around the flint he had been holding this whole time.

It was the new moon. The time had come. He had to go to the Prince now; he didn’t have the mental energy to care about whatever circus the cats were putting on in front of him.

“Hey. What happens if I don’t keep the oath I swore upon the Moon River?”

「You get swallowed by the Moon River.」

「Why? Are you trying to break the promise? I wouldn’t recommend it.」

Isaac looked out the window. At the peak of the mountain where the sun had finally dropped, the very last, incredibly faint traces of the sunset were dying out. Evening had fully passed. It was officially night. The promised hour had arrived.

Swallowed by the River of the Moon. What would that feel like? Would it feel suffocating, like drowning in water? Would he just die? Would dying actually be better than going to the Prince…..?

He needed to strike the flint quickly, but he couldn’t bring himself to move his hand. While he stared intensely at the fading red aura in the sky, it finally vanished completely, and thick night filled its place.

And then—

“……!”

It was transmitted directly to his body.

*Pong——* a sensation exactly like a heavy padlock snapping shut inside his heart. A sound that shouldn’t be audible seemed to echo in his ears. The feeling he had experienced when he first swore an oath upon the Moon River surged back to him, and the sound urged him to fulfill his promise immediately. *Clack, clack.* An ominous sensation pounding against his heart.

It felt as though the sound of rushing water was surging toward him from somewhere. A sound like a massive, violent rapid crashing toward him filled his ears, and then, he felt water begin to rise around his legs.

Isaac startled and looked down at the floor, struck by how vivid and undeniable the sensation was. He couldn’t see anything; all his eyes registered was the dusty wooden floorboards. Yet, he unmistakably felt the sensation of his feet being submerged in water. *Splash, splash.* The current was rising at terrifying speed, past his feet, his shins, his knees, his thighs, rapidly swallowing him whole.

But before the terror of drowning could even set in, something far worse hit him: the spine-chilling sensation of something in the water ceaselessly clinging to his legs, dragging him down.

No one had to explain it to him; he knew instinctively. These were the countless vengeful spirits who had broken their promises and been swallowed by the Moon River, trapped within it forever. Those spirits were now clinging to the one who was about to be swallowed alongside them. Come here, come join us in this agony, they seemed to whisper.

‘Am I about to become just like them? Filled with nothing but resentment and malice——’

“——Take me to where Prince Kyan is!”

Isaac, rolling the striker against the flint in his hand, gasped the words. A small spark flew from his hand, and the tiger with eyes the size of teacups sprang up from the floor, exactly as if it had been waiting.

The moment the tiger’s massive, open maw rushed toward his face, Isaac squeezed his eyes shut. The hands that had been clinging stickily to his legs were violently ripped away. The chilling sense of liberation was brief; a second later, it felt as though his entire body was caught in a hurricane, the air shaking and crushing him at terrifying speeds.

“I can’t…… breathe……”

「Impossible. I’ve never heard of a witch unable to cross the Witch’s Path.」

Isaac appealed to the beast in broken gasps, but the response was entirely nonchalant. Barely managing to crack his eyes open amidst the violent, slicing winds, he saw a massive, round eye staring intently down at him from right above his head. Soon, he noticed the other two beasts running alongside them, and only then did the path they were traveling on come into view.

In an endless, pitch-black void, countless things resembling glowing glass beads were scattered like sand. Big ones, small ones, some blindingly bright, others faint. The beast was running, weaving through these multicolored, glass-like orbs. Isaac realized that this was the very center of the moonless night sky.

“The Witch’s Path……”

He had heard of it. His mother had told him about it when he was young. Within the sky of the new moon lies the path traveled by witches. A path that connects to anywhere in the world.

「There are several other paths besides this one, but to take you to that man as per your first wish, this route is the fastest.」

Staring blankly at the brilliant, jewel-like stars, Isaac finally snapped back to his senses at those words. Right. This path was leading him straight to hell. This was no time to be dropping his guard.

“Wait! I didn’t get to finish my sentence earlier, but this is only for tonight! Only for tonight! When tonight is over, I return to my room!”

He had learned the hard way last time that this damn magic required explicitly clear conditions. A single misstep could invite utter catastrophe.

「Yeah, yeah, sure.」

The response was incredibly unenthusiastic. It inspired absolutely zero confidence.

Gradually, the crushing pressure of the air began to dissipate. Realizing they were getting close to their destination, Isaac frantically racked his brain. ‘Hold on, what else was there? What else did I need to keep in mind? There was definitely something else.’

“Right! Second wish! Make it so my appearance tonight doesn’t remain in Prince Kyan’s memory…… make it so it doesn’t remain in the memory of anyone I encounter tonight!”

Isaac frantically struck the flint in his hand and shouted the wish, hastily adding an addendum in case there were servants or others present at the Prince’s palace. The tiger running on his right rolled its millwheel-sized eye and said,「I shall grant your second wish.」

And the third. ‘What should I wish for my third wish?’ As he anxiously searched his brain to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything, the crushing pressure on his body rapidly faded, and the glass beads scattered around them began to lose their light.

At some point, the countless fragments of light distorted blurrily, clumping together into a single mass. It felt as though it exploded, emitting a blinding flash of light, and then—

“——.”

Isaac was in total silence.

No explosion, no crushing pressure. It was only after blinking for a few seconds in the dead silence that he realized he was sitting slumped on the floor.

He only realized he was sitting on a deep, grayish-green velvet carpet after first registering the short, plush texture beneath his palms. Slowly raising his head, the very first thing that entered his vision was the royal crest, carved in relief into the center of the wall. And beneath it, a bed massive enough for six or seven grown men to roll around in comfortably.

It was a bedroom. But a bedroom with the royal crest carved into the wall.

He had often seen that crest, which could only be displayed in spaces where royalty resided, while standing guard around the palace, but this was his first time seeing it in a room with a bed. He had never had any reason to enter a space as intimate and private as a bedroom.

Blinking blankly at the unfamiliar combination of the royal crest and the bed, Isaac shifted his gaze along the wall, which was surprisingly monotonous and devoid of any decorations. At the far end of the massive, hall-like room stood a set of large wooden doors. And standing next to the doors was a single servant, trembling like a leaf, his face deathly pale.

“……? ……!”

The reason the servant looked strangely blurry, as if seen through a fog, was because this space had been isolated by magic. As proof, even though the servant was facing Isaac’s direction, he showed absolutely no sign of seeing him.

Right. If that’s the case, the magic of the new moon has activated properly. Which means the owner of this bedroom he is sitting in is, undoubtedly……

“——.”

A heavy stench of blood hit him from behind.

The moment he realized it, Isaac’s body froze completely solid, exactly like prey caught by its natural predator. He was right behind him. The Prince. Likely only a few steps away.

A thick stench of blood. The sound of rough, ragged, guttural breathing, kept low and suppressed. The suffocating, searing heat radiating from a body, washing over Isaac even from a distance.

Isaac managed to slowly, incrementally turn his stiff, frozen body. Turning halfway and tilting his head slightly, a figure finally entered his vision.

A man was sitting deeply slouched on a large sofa by the window.

At first, Isaac thought he was completely drenched in blood. But he quickly remembered that the reddish-black liquid soaking the man from head to toe was sweat. It had been the same the last time he saw him. Capillaries bursting everywhere beneath his skin from the horrific agony, bulging, bluish veins, and cold sweat mixed with blood.

Isaac couldn’t tear his eyes away from the chilling sight, which looked closer to the form of a monster than a human. Because he had made eye contact with that monster.

And in that moment, ironically enough, Isaac had the thought: ‘I should have come a little sooner.’

Even while terrified to the point his spine prickled at the horrifying sight before him, a fleeting sense of pity washed over him. The thought that he should have come sooner since the man was in so much pain. But that, too, lasted only a fraction of a second.

“——.”

The monster lunged from the sofa. It looked incredibly slow, yet simultaneously faster than lightning; even though Isaac clearly saw the figure rushing toward him in an instant, he didn’t have the time – nor the courage – to dodge. The moment his heart dropped to his stomach, Isaac was already pinned to the floor. A crushing weight, as heavy as a mountain, pressed down on him.

“……. Right. It was this.”

A guttural growl that didn’t sound like it was referring to a person vibrated against his ear. Simultaneously, a searing pain bloomed in his neck. Pinned so completely he couldn’t twitch a single finger, Isaac flinched and shuddered, unable to even scream.

He couldn’t tell which was stronger: the agony of having his flesh chewed and torn while still alive, or the terror of feeling his blood being sucked from his neck like a waterfall. Even though every single drop of blood bursting from his neck was swallowed whole down the man’s throat, the metallic stench of blood seemed to flood the air. Isaac’s vision spun dizzily.

‘I won’t die. Even if I pass out like this, I’ll wake up.’ No matter what, he wouldn’t use a painkiller this hard to find as a single-use disposable. There’s no way he’ll kill me. He repeated the logic in his head over and over, but it did nothing to wash away the instinctual terror of death crashing over him.

His vision wavered and distorted, his consciousness slowly fading. Just as the thought, ‘…… I might actually die……’ began to cross his mind, he finally felt the suction on his neck begin to lessen slightly. However, the mouth biting his neck didn’t pull away; it began to taste the blood flowing from the wound.

He was no longer filling a hunger; he was savoring the taste. Isaac vividly felt the sensation of a tongue moving slowly over his wound. He realized that the Prince’s body, which was crushing him against the floor, was no longer rigid with agony but had relaxed lethargically.

‘Thank god. The painkiller must have worked well……  Then you can stop eating now, isn’t it metallic……?’

「Looks like he skipped dinner. He’s acting like he’s going to fill his stomach with blood.」

「Right? Just one sip should be enough, but he’s acting like a kid who starved for three days. For a Prince, why did he skip dinner?」

「Well, to someone cursed, there’s nothing as sweet and fragrant as a witch’s blood, but he’s a Prince, doesn’t he eat delicious food every day?」

「The country must be really poor. Tsk, tsk.」

Even in his hazy state of mind, he could hear them. Utterly drained of energy, Isaac weakly rolled his eyes to look at the three beasts sitting side-by-side on the windowsill. Even with three monsters the size of houses sitting there, there’s still room on the sill. That window must be massive…… Isaac found himself having completely useless thoughts. Whether it was thanks to the cats’ pointless chattering or not, the mouth biting his neck finally pulled away.

The Prince, who had been lying on top of him, raised his body slightly. The Prince’s face entered Isaac’s vision. From about a handspan away, the Prince was looking down at him.

They were piercing, crystal-clear blue eyes. Seeing those eyes, devoid of the madness and agony that had clouded them earlier, Isaac let out a silent breath. 

‘I see. It doesn’t hurt anymore. Then that’s good enough.’

Just as a wave of relief washed over him, the Prince, who was staring intently down at Isaac, suddenly curled the corners of his lips upwards.

“You must think you survived, witch’s spawn.”

The Prince reached out. His grip clamped around Isaac’s neck without an ounce of hesitation. The bones in his neck cracked. It felt like he was going to snap it right then and there. His airway cut off, Isaac flinched and scowled, but he didn’t move a muscle. Resisting or begging was useless against this man. He would simply do whatever he wanted.

Their eyes met. As if inspecting him, the piercing blue gaze slowly raked over every inch of Isaac’s face. Then, finally, his gaze returned to Isaac’s eyes, which were staring back at him in silence.

For a brief second, the Prince seemed to frown. The grip on Isaac’s neck tightened. *Crrk—* just as the sound of bone echoed again, the Prince let go. However, as Isaac gasped roughly for air, coughing as his crushed airway opened, the hand moved to his shoulder, and this time, there was no mercy.

“Fine, I’ll let you live. But as long as you’re breathing, there’s no reason for me to care about your comfort.”

With those words, a sickening snap echoed, and blinding pain engulfed his shoulder. His vision went dizzyingly black before brightening again. In an instant, a cold sweat broke out down Isaac’s spine. Only as Isaac lay there, unable to twitch, taking shallow, ragged breaths, did the Prince finally stand up. Stripping off his blood-and-sweat-soaked clothes and tossing them aside, he stepped into a bathtub massive enough to take up a space the size of an average bathroom in the corner of the sprawling bedroom. He seemed to pay absolutely no more attention to Isaac.

One of the tigers that had been on the windowsill hopped down and began meticulously licking Isaac’s shoulder and neck.

「I don’t know why this kid is always getting hurt. He throws his body around way too recklessly.」

「Tsk, tsk, what would he do without us? You’re blessed, you really are.」

“…….”

‘If it weren’t for you guys, I wouldn’t be in this situation to begin with,’ Isaac thought, the words rising to the very back of his throat, but for now, he swallowed them. As the rough tongue swept over his skin a few times, the wound on his neck and the agonizing pain in his shoulder vanished as if washed away. His exhausted, worn-out mind hadn’t recovered, but having his physical body back to normal was at least something.

“I guess even dog crap has a use sometimes……”

Muttering to himself as he sat up, Isaac saw the tiger, which had understood the insult perfectly, hiss and puff up its fur. ‘Yeah, yeah, you’re pretty, you’re pretty.’ Isaac patted the puffed-up fur to calm it down and rolled his shoulder to test it. As he did, the Prince, who had been submerged in the bathtub, stood up with a loud splash, entering Isaac’s line of sight.

The Prince, rolling his shoulders casually, spared a brief glance at the frozen Isaac before stepping out of the tub without a word. Water dripped heavily from his naked body. Normally, servants would have rushed over immediately to dry him with towels, but right now, this was a space no one else could enter.

While the Prince roughly dried his own body and hair and threw on a fresh robe, Isaac sat there sweating bullets, as quiet as a dead mouse. ‘I’d be really grateful if you just kept ignoring me like I’m not even here. Really grateful……’

“What kind of magic did you use?”

The quiet voice suddenly flew across the room, and Isaac flinched, still frozen in place. He didn’t move a muscle, only rolling his eyes to follow the Prince’s footsteps until he sat down on the sofa.

“I am looking directly at your face, yet it is blurry. It feels as though my mind cannot process it.”

‘Thank god. The wish I made earlier seems to be working properly.’ Feeling a wave of relief, Isaac muttered,

“If we happened to run into each other outside, wouldn’t I be immediately dragged off and locked in the dungeon?”

Only after speaking did Isaac worry that his tone had been too petulant, stealing a glance at the Prince’s reaction, but the Prince didn’t seem to care about that. Instead,

“It seems you live not far from the castle.”

‘Uh oh.’

“However, I rarely go out on city patrols.”

‘Holy crap.’

Isaac quickly clamped his mouth shut. Cold sweat ran down his spine. The Prince’s gaze, narrowing slightly as he stared intently at Isaac, felt like daggers.

He couldn’t forget. This man wasn’t just cruel and powerful; he was terrifyingly intelligent. Among the brilliant military achievements he had secured during his time on the frontier, the instances where he successfully subjugated demon beasts – missions deemed impossible – relying solely on his tactical brilliance required more than two hands to count. In fact, the Military Academy had an entire course dedicated specifically to studying the campaigns he had led.

‘What do I do if he probes further?’ Isaac held his breath, avoiding eye contact, tense to the absolute limit trying to figure out how to answer without making a mistake. Fortunately, perhaps deciding he had no reason to dig further, the Prince pulled his gaze away from Isaac and pulled the cord hanging next to the sofa. However, even though the bell summoning the servant surely rang, there was no response. The Prince looked at the servant standing by the door.

“Uh, right now, there’s a magical barrier up, so……”

Even without Isaac adding an explanation, the Prince seemed to understand that the servant couldn’t hear his summons, noticing how the servant’s figure wavered faintly, like looking through a heat haze. He lightly massaged his throat; perhaps he was thirsty.

But soon, as if even that didn’t matter, he looked down at the hand that had been rubbing his neck. Even though he had already experienced it on the previous new moon, the complete absence of pain still seemed to fascinate him. He slowly bent and straightened his fingers one by one before suddenly murmuring, almost to himself.

“It feels like I am dreaming.”

“Unfortunately……”

How wonderful would it be if this were a dream. Isaac, feeling depressed, shook his head as he unknowingly muttered the response. He flinched when he felt the Prince’s gaze and snapped his mouth shut. ‘Ugh. My mouth keeps getting me in trouble today.’ The Prince, staring at Isaac – who was physically holding his own lips shut with his fingers – opened his mouth.

“For you to use magic of this caliber, rumors should have circulated, yet you’ve hidden yourself quite well. You must be close with a wizard of rather high standing.”

Rumors like that had circulated for a long time. Rumors that wizards hid witches to siphon their magical energy or to directly learn their magic. And it probably wasn’t entirely baseless. When Isaac was young, whenever his mother met with her fellow witches to talk, the names of various wizards they were friendly with would occasionally come up. During the frenzied storm of the witch hunts that swept the land for years, there were surely witches who were betrayed and killed by wizards they thought were friends, but there were likely also witches who successfully hid themselves under their protection. But since Isaac had no way of hearing news about witches anymore, it was impossible to know.

Isaac shook his head.

“I do not know any wizards.”

“I have killed countless witches in my time, but I have never seen one heal as quickly as you. With that level of recovery, I would expect at least one or two wizards to be clinging to you.”

The Prince’s gaze landed on Isaac’s flawless neck, and then on his perfectly functioning shoulder. Isaac shook his head again.

“The healing isn’t my ability. It’s because these guys lick me……”

As Isaac directed his gaze to the tigers sitting in a neat row beside him, the Prince followed his gaze, raising an eyebrow slightly.

“Those are quite convenient beasts.”

“Would you like them? You can take all three.”

If you take them as a bundle deal today, I’ll throw in a massive discount and give them to you for free! As Isaac’s face lit up with hope, the three beasts simultaneously hissed,「KESHK!!」 throwing him looks of pure, ghostly fury.….. ‘So you guys are fine offering me up as a sacrifice, but you refuse to go yourselves, you hypocritical little bastards.’

“If those things lick me, does the pain of the new moon vanish as well?”

The Prince asked, seemingly lost in thought as he looked at the tigers.

「Absolutely not!」

「It won’t vanish, not a chance!」

「Of course not, what we heal is the physical flesh! The mechanism behind curse-induced agony is entirely different!」

The three tigers roared simultaneously in unison. Staring blankly at the three beasts, the Prince turned his gaze away and muttered.

“Useless things.”

「Of course we’re useless!」

「Absolutely useless!」

The three beasts, who had quickly roared their agreement in unison, slowly began to roll their eyes, looking slightly uneasy with what they were saying. Their eyes narrowed into triangles as Isaac spitefully repeated, “Of course they are. Absolutely useless,” prompting them to hiss at him again:「KESKH!」

Isaac felt a tiny bit better. Completely ignoring the tiger nervously licking its front paw, Isaac spoke politely to the Prince.

“Well then, since you seem to have finished your business, may I take my leave now?”

The Prince, who was slowly flexing his fingers, spared Isaac a brief glance but said absolutely nothing. Taking that apathetic, uninterested look as a silent ‘yes,’ Isaac looked back at the tigers.

“Let’s go back now.”

「 「 「 …… 」 」 」

“Why are you just staring at me with those big eyes? I said let’s go.”

「The sun hasn’t come up yet?」

“What?”

「Didn’t you wish for ‘the night’?」

「If you wished for ‘the night,’ shouldn’t you stay for ‘the night’?」

“…….”

Isaac stared blankly at the tigers. This time, the beasts were giving Isaac spiteful, narrowed looks and smiling deviously…… This damn magic, adhering so uselessly and strictly to every single word.

How is this any different from being locked inside a predator’s cage with the beast until dawn? Isaac hunched his shoulders as the Prince spoke from behind him.

“Does that mean you have to stay here exactly like this until the sun comes up?”

「Yup.」

“Will you guys watch your mouths?! ——I apologize. If you could just tolerate me for a few more hours……”

Isaac frantically lunged forward, shoving the tiger’s jaw up to snap its mouth shut, before quickly turning back to the Prince to apologize. Staring down at his own hand for a moment, the Prince nodded.

“Fine. I am not in a terrible mood today.”

Isaac let out a breath of relief and carefully watched the Prince’s reaction. His expression remained as blank as ever, but exactly as he said, his mood seemed to be quite decent. Then again, considering he had just been freed from the horrifying agony of the new moon, it made sense he’d feel refreshed.

The Prince picked up a book he had left on the table next to the sofa. Pulling out a bookmark, indicating he was already halfway through, he began to read. Seeing this, Isaac felt relieved again. He knew the Prince’s habit: once he started reading a book, as long as he had no other schedule, he would read it straight through to the end. The book was thick; considering how much was left, it would definitely last until dawn. Then all I have to do is sit here quietly and hold my breath.

Isaac decided to just sit still in the corner and wait for time to pass.