It wasn’t a mutual, properly processed annulment; it was a unilateral breaking. Lord Ruoden’s contract with his wizard had been severed.

Who was the wizard contracted with Lord Ruoden? How did this happen? Bring him here immediately. As the murmurs of the people grew louder, the Prince stood up. The few people who watched him walk toward the doors of the Grand Hall without hesitation stared in bewilderment. Isaac, standing next to the door located at the back of the Grand Hall, met the Prince’s gaze for a very brief moment as the Prince exited the hall——and immediately followed behind him.

From behind, it seemed someone was calling out to the Prince, but the Prince did not look back. It was the same for Isaac following behind him. He simply followed the Prince blindly.

Where the Prince was suddenly heading did not take long to figure out. As they turned onto a single path heading northeast of the castle, it became clear. At the end of that path was the Hall of Wizards, their exclusive research institute where they gathered to discuss and study.

He didn’t even have the luxury to wonder what business he, who never associated with wizards, had there. Rather, the image of Lord Ruoden collapsing just moments ago lingered more heavily in his mind.

How could this have happened.

A contract with a wizard cannot be broken due to a simple error or mistake. Especially unilaterally. Breaking a contract requires the consent of both parties, and if one party does not consent, at least something close to their essence is needed.

Even if it’s a superior, they might be able to forcefully break it by cutting off a subordinate’s head, but it’s impossible for a subordinate to break a contract without the superior’s consent.

However, what if there was something that could substitute for Lord Ruoden for that wizard? For example, an important part of his body, or his blood.

Suddenly, Isaac remembered what he had heard earlier. The story about the horrific pain Lord Ruoden had suffered on the night of the new moon. Even without seeing it directly, the horrifying screams and the thick smell of blood that would have filled that room were easily imaginable. Right——whatever he did, the wizard would have been able to obtain whatever he wanted while Lord Ruoden was devoid of consciousness.

“——.”

What suddenly came to mind was the young wizard’s eyes. That pitch-black, pitch-black, sticky, tar-like dark light. The pale, dreary complexion that had lost all its vitality. A chill ran down his spine.

Meanwhile, the Prince entered the wizard’s research institute, and a few wizards who were talking in the front yard or the entrance recognized him and sent looks of surprise and bewilderment. Seeing him step into the institute without hesitation and walk with unhindered strides, those facing him in a panic ran off somewhere. They were probably going to inform the other wizards of the news.

Even without that, every wizard they passed in the hallway sent gazes of shock, suspicion, and hostility, trailing behind them. Isaac followed behind the Prince without a single word. Without a single person to guide him, the Prince’s steps were unhesitating, as if he already knew the internal layout perfectly.

Hearing the news and rushing over, a few high-ranking wizards chased after them, shouting, “Prince Kyan! What brings you to this place?!” “The private laboratories of the wizards lie ahead. Outsiders are forbidden from entering. Even if you are Prince Kyan, you cannot barge in so recklessly!” But the Prince didn’t even pretend to listen. Isaac, too, shook off the wizard’s hand that grabbed him in the ensuing chaos and followed behind. Judging by the presences heard from the other end of the hallway, it seemed not only the wizards but also the palace officials had heard the news and were rushing over.

‘What is it. What is he planning to do.’

Feeling a twinge of anxiety but silently following behind the Prince, Isaac finally stopped when the Prince halted in front of the room located deepest within the research institute.

A wizard standing guard like a sentry hardened his expression and blocked the Prince.

“This is the private laboratory of Lord Husfelt, the Head of the Court Wizards. Without Lord Husfelt’s permission, no one is allowed to enter,”

But before those words could even finish, the sentry’s head flew off.

“Ugh,” Isaac frowned. Without even knowing what had happened to him, the body of the sentry, his head severed with his stern expression perfectly intact, collapsed to the floor, and the Prince pushed the door open. Following the Prince as he walked inside, Isaac briefly offered a silent prayer for the sentry in his heart.

However, Isaac, who hurriedly followed the Prince, suddenly bumped hard into the Prince’s back, which blocked his view as soon as he entered the door. Only a beat later did he realize the Prince had stopped right in front of the door. After apologizing with a “S-sorry,” Isaac looked over the Prince’s shoulder, and his body froze on the spot.

The private laboratory of the Wizard Guild Master.

That place, which felt like a sanctuary no one could enter recklessly, looked surprisingly ordinary. Bookshelves and books packed tightly on every wall except the door, various experimental equipment filling the wide table in the center of the room, which was as large as a typical mansion, and research notes piled up in layers. The vast quantity and complex appearance were certainly impressive, but it wasn’t surprising because it was particularly strange or peculiar.

However, the floor widely cleared behind the table.

A large circle was drawn on the polished stone floor. Inside the circle, which was easily 5 or 6 meters in diameter, complex formulas and all sorts of geometric patterns were densely packed according to some sort of rule, leaving not a single gap.

Every single one of those patterns was drawn with a dark red liquid, and from the drying drawing, an overwhelming stench of fishy blood vibrated. The moment he saw it, he instinctively got goosebumps; it was a bizarre and wicked magic circle.

And at one end of that circle stood an old man with a stooped back. Even with the sudden intrusion of bursting the door open, the old man did not turn around, keeping his back to them.

A massive, wicked magic circle drawn in blood. The old man standing at the end of it. The suffocating stench of blood. A massive, swirling, sinister airflow.

The old man standing amidst these terrifying things slowly turned around. Then, the moment the old man completely faced this way, Isaac held his breath. The old man’s eyes were pitch black, squirming, without any whites visible. As if everything inside had rotted and melted away.

Isaac, who had seen him from a distance during major events in the past, recognized that the old man was the Head of the Court Wizards and the King’s wizard. But was that intimidating figure he had seen back then really this small, insignificant old man? Was that man really the wizard harboring the witch in his body? A man looking like nothing but an empty shell like this……?

“Husfelt.”

Then the Prince called the old man’s name. However, the old man did not react to the call. He simply stood there blankly like a doll, watching them.

The Prince stepped toward him lightly, and Isaac had no time to stop him or say anything. It happened in a flash: the Prince’s sword severed the old man’s neck.

And——nothing happened.

 Absurdly easily, without the slightest change, the old man’s neck dropped with a thud inside the magic circle. The old man’s torso collapsed following it. If there was exactly one change, it was that the faint outline of light on the old man’s forehead at that moment, similar to what he had seen on Lord Ruoden just moments ago, flashed silvery and vanished.

That was all.

Ah, so at this moment, the King must be experiencing temporary pain from the shock of the contract being forcibly broken, that thought flashed through his mind for only a moment before Isaac soon stopped breathing entirely. An overwhelming stench assaulted his nose.

It was more horrific than any smell he had ever encountered; even holding his breath, the air that had already mixed into his lungs felt like it was turning his stomach inside out. It was as if every single cell had decomposed, filling the room in an instant with the rotten stench of a corpse left neglected in a hot, humid place for months.

“——.”

Unconsciously covering his nose, Isaac instinctively thought, ‘Oh no.’

Something was wrong.

This old man, the one the witch had possessed, the head of the wizards—this man had lost his life, but there’s no way nothing else would happen like this. Let alone this smell, as if he had been rotting for a long time.

This is…… a shell.

Whatever was inside had transferred somewhere else, leaving only the shell to rot.

The thing that was inside——the Witch of Roberni. Where did she go? She transferred to someone else, leaving nothing behind here.

Where to.

At that moment, Isaac’s gaze stopped at the edge of the circle where the old man had been standing just moments ago, right opposite it. There was a bloody red footprint there. The footprint, stamped by a bare foot, hadn’t dried yet and was glistening stickily. As if someone had been standing there just moments ago.

We’re a step too late.

That thought flashed through Isaac’s mind. Almost simultaneously with Isaac, the Prince, who had cast his gaze in that direction, walked over. He then pierced the footprint with the tip of his sword. A drop of pitch-black blood smeared on the sword fell, touching the footprint.

And.

Suddenly, the space convulsed violently.

A manic wind whipped through the room. It was a wind so fierce it rang loudly in his ears, yet strangely, as if they were in a different dimension, the objects in the room didn’t budge an inch. Not a single sheet of paper fluttered. The wind, sharp as blades, drove in, cutting shallowly into the Prince’s and Isaac’s skin.

And then——.

「Are you here? But you are too late.」

A voice mixed with laughter was heard from somewhere. Resounding from a place impossible to tell whether it was above the sky or beneath the earth, the bizarre voice—indistinguishable as male or female, child or old man—buzzed and echoed before quickly shifting into a cackling laugh.

Suddenly, a face floated up within the space. A face resembling a mask molded from wax was smiling, its mouth torn all the way to its ears. It took some time to realize that this unfamiliar, eerie face was actually one he had already seen before.

It was that man’s face. The man who had lost his arm, that young wizard who was the Guild Master’s adopted son. However, it was no longer human. Neither living nor dead, neither male nor female, it had transformed into something entirely different. Altered to the point of being almost unrecognizable.

「Cursed descendant of the royal family, why do you seek me?」

“Where are you, witch.”

Instead of answering the mask’s words, the Prince asked back.

「In my new body. It is overflowing with far more vitality and is much cozier than that old man’s. The magic power is also quite useful, so it will hold up well for a while.」

Even though it was a body that would begin to rot starting today, the mask laughed loudly, like a woman who had just received a new dress she liked.

“It couldn’t have been easy to obtain, but I see you got it well.”

The Prince spoke. However, the reply that returned to that indifferent remark was unexpectedly prompt.

「No, it wasn’t difficult. It was very easy. He sought me out first, you see.」

With wide eyes, Isaac stared at the face of the mask, which had once been human. That face, which had made the worst possible choice a human could make.

If he was an ordinary person, let alone a wizard, he would have known full well. That his soul would now suffer eternally in the fires of hell. Despite that, the reason he had wanted to find the witch so desperately first was,

「Cursed descendant of the royal family, is it because of the curse placed upon you that you seek me? Do you wish to find a way to break that curse? Or do you merely wish to vent your anger by killing the witch?」

Then the mask approached closely in front of the Prince. The mask, whispering coquettishly, approached right up to the Prince’s nose, staring at him piercingly before grinning.

「Or perhaps——are you trying to kill all the witches gathered in one place at the Grand Assembly to see if that breaks the curse?」

The Prince simply looked at the mask expressionlessly, doing absolutely nothing. But as the eyes staring at the mask narrowed faintly, in that moment, Isaac realized that whatever the mask was whispering had hit the mark regarding his true intentions.

Perhaps the mask realized it too. The mask burst into a cackling laugh. Laughing deeply as if dying of joy, as if utterly amused, the mask drew close to the Prince once again. Then, it whispered in an intentionally pitiful tone.

「But what should we do. That wish can absolutely never come true. No matter what happens. Even if you, uhm, even if you kill me and eliminate every single witch in this land——or even if the witch who originally cursed you comes back to life——you can never escape your curse for the rest of your life.」

The mask smiled obliquely.

「Because that is the curse this man——this foolish and stupid new shell of mine——traded his soul for.」

Elation was deeply seeped into the mask’s low whisper. Hearing that thin whisper, which swallowed human despair like sweet honey and reveled in it in ecstasy, Isaac felt his heart grow cold.

There was only one thing the young wizard desired. For the curse placed upon him to never be broken, no matter what happens. For his entire life, until the day the Prince’s life ended. Even if the witch who made the contract dies. Even if the curses of everyone else are broken, for the Prince alone to remain bound by the curse until the moment of his death.

That contract would undoubtedly be fulfilled flawlessly according to the laws of the gods by which all things flow, and as long as this man intended to achieve his goal, there would be no exception. He would never be able to achieve what he desired.

The mask burst into laughter. The mad, cackling laughter echoing violently felt like it would pierce his eardrums. A ringing sound that pounded deep into his brain. Isaac covered his ears, but it was no use.

Then. The sudden sound of laughter seemed to fade, and the mask abruptly approached Isaac. Isaac, meeting the mask face-to-face as it suddenly thrust itself right in front of his nose, held his breath.

A face as pale as a corpse stared piercingly at Isaac. The pitch-black eyes were like the abyss of hell. So this is a witch. This is the true face of a witch when it contacts a human.

「You came here too.」

The mask whispered. Those pitch-black eyes narrowed faintly. A sneer rose on the mask’s lips. In that moment, Isaac recalled the night from a few days ago. The corpse they had confronted in the burning warehouse on the eve of the new moon. Right, I already met this witch there.

「You, neither one thing nor the other, who had been hiding like a bug, why have you crawled out? If you’ve crawled out, you should have stayed somewhere to preserve your breath, so how did you end up with this cursed human?」

The mask circled around Isaac, laughing mockingly.

「Foolish, how foolish. Being with this one, you will achieve nothing. This one is destined to live in a living hell, alive but as if dead; because of him, anyone next to him will also become miserable.」

“It will not be so.”

Isaac’s reply was almost a reflex. Looking straight at the mask, he spoke clearly, and the mask fell silent for a moment. But that silence was soon shattered by a loud, mocking laugh.

「A young thing talking back so boldly. Are you saying you won’t be miserable with the way things are now?」

“That’s right.”

Isaac replied again, and this time too, the mask laughed loudly. But perhaps displeased with the answer, the mask’s pale face took on an even more chilling edge. That horrifying face approached Isaac closely. Right in front of him, close enough that their noses might touch, the pitch-black eyes glared at Isaac.

「Arrogant young thing. Let us see if you still speak like that the next time we meet. Though I don’t know if you’ll still be alive by then.」

The mask laughed long and hard. The sound of the laughter felt like an awl piercing his ears.

That laughter, which felt like it would shake his very skull, ceased when the air-cleaving sword sliced the mask entirely in two.

The mask floating in the air vanished cleanly as if washed away. The laughter piercing his ears, the blade-like wind whipping through the room also ceased. As if nothing had happened, only a dead silence remained in the room.

“…….”

Isaac stared blankly at his feet.

The magic circle, dried pitch-black, was still there. And at the end of it, the dead body of the old wizard remained unchanged in the vibrating, rotting stench. It felt as if nothing had happened, but what had just occurred had clearly happened in reality. The witch had been here just moments ago, and every single word she spoke remained vividly clear in his mind.

“…….”

Raising his head, Isaac met the Prince’s gaze. As the Prince slowly flicked the blood off his sword and stared piercingly at Isaac, Isaac, quietly looking back at him, opened his mouth.

“You already have a face steeped in misery. There was no need to deliberately wait until the next time we meet.”

“Me? ……That’s not true.”

Isaac shook his head. Then the Prince stood silently looking at Isaac for a moment before nodding his chin. Following the direction his chin pointed, there was a wall mirror. Reflected within it was a man with a face drooping so gloomily that anyone could recognize it at a glance: himself.

“It’s not because I’m miserable. It’s not because I’m miserable…… it’s because I’m depressed.”

Isaac mumbled like a sigh.

It was true. He felt depressed. His heart felt heavy, though he didn’t exactly know what the difference was between feeling heavy and feeling miserable, but it didn’t seem to be quite the same.

He could never escape this curse. No matter what happened.

“There must be a way……, ……there will be a way.”

Even though he whispered like that, he felt no strength in the words. Then, suddenly, a thought struck Isaac.

The tinder box.

The treasure said to be unrivaled in the world. Even a half-witch could be turned into a pure witch with it. If it was that, if that existed, couldn’t something be done? ……Please. Please, let it be so.

“There will be a way to break the curse.”

Isaac spoke again. Repeating it like an incantation. And the Prince, who was watching Isaac, slightly raised an eyebrow. As if he hadn’t thought about anything the mask had just said at all.

Once, twice, as he flicked his sword, the Prince, who seemed lost in thought, asked.

“Why should my curse be a reason for you to feel depressed?”

Faced with the calm question laced with genuine confusion, Isaac couldn’t answer immediately. He hesitated for a long time before merely mumbling, “I know, right.”

“……Exactly. There’s no reason for me to feel depressed……, ……but my heart still feels heavy.”

His mumbling, fading voice sounded like an internal monologue. He let out a deep breath, but his heart didn’t lighten in the slightest. As Isaac repeatedly took deep breaths, rubbing near his heavy chest twice, three times, the Prince silently watched him. As if looking at something he didn’t understand, observing closely to see if he could grasp an answer that would make sense.

However, before a clear light of understanding could dawn on the Prince’s face, that heavy, quiet silence was broken.

From the far end outside, approaching footsteps echoed throughout the hallway and drew closer. And soon after,

“LORD HUSFELT! ……W-WHAT IS THIS,”

A group burst into the room. The dozen or so men—a mix of wizards, guards, and officials—lost their words in horror at the sight inside the room.

The massive magic circle drawn in the room, the dead Guild Master inside it, and the Prince holding a sword dripping with sticky, tar-like blood.

Regardless of what had happened or what the truth of the situation was, there was exactly one thing that everyone in this scene could clearly understand.

The Prince had killed the Guild Master.

That was it. The countless words, speculations, and conflicting political stances that would soon spread wildly. In this unprecedented crisis, there was no one who could open their mouths.