The cats spoke in unison.

「「「No.」」」

Isaac blinked at the cats before asking back in a slightly sullen voice.

“No? Not even if I do this?”

「No, absolutely not.」

The cats’ answer was firm. Licking their paws disinterestedly, they didn’t look like they were going to give him a clear solution either.

“I thought the tinder box was such an amazing treasure? Yet it can’t even do that?”

When Isaac grumbled what kind of treasure is that, the cats opened their already large eyes even wider.

「You’re asking to unlock a curse traded for a life with another curse traded for a life, how are you supposed to unlock that? Do you think a life is that light?」

「Yeah, that’s right! Manbang is bad for taking life lightly!」

「Right, right! Manbang is bad for insulting the tinder box!」

“……Alright, enough, so, is there any other way?”

「None, none!」

「You couldn’t break it even if you died and woke up again!」

“Hey, seriously, there isn’t?!”

「We’re telling you there isn’t!」

Isaac grabbed one of the cats by the scruff of its neck and shook it violently, but all he got in return were deep claw marks on his forearm.

The cats, sitting a short distance away from Isaac, who was clutching his bleeding forearm, put their heads together in a row. 「Even if our Manbang doesn’t know some things, he really doesn’t know this.」 「That handsome boy is already doomed to carry a curse paid for with a life.」 「It’s not easy to overwrite that with another layer, but if you do, then curse upon curse. He just has terrible luck.」 They chattered utterly unhelpful nonsense.

「If by some chance Alikisha breaks the contract with that wizard, the curse might be lifted, but breaking a contract once formed carries a massive backlash.」

「Even if she returned the wizard’s soul, Alikisha would lose hundreds of years of the magic she has accumulated while living her life. Do you think someone that vain and greedy would be crazy enough to break the contract?」

「No way, no way.」

「None, none.」

The cats shook their heads, saying there was no need to even think about it.

Looking at the cats with open disappointment, Isaac eventually let out a long sigh and slumped his shoulders. Then he turned his head.

A short distance away, the Prince was asleep under the shade of a tree. The shade that had completely covered him earlier had receded as the sun set, and now the sunlight was barely touching his cheek. His golden hair sparkled brilliantly in the light.

…… He’s so beautiful.

Now that person can never escape his curse. Even if, like a miracle, all the witches in this world were to disappear. When he heard that the tinder box – which he had placed his last shred of hope on – was useless, even his slightest hope vanished, and Isaac’s heart sank heavily.

Even if he couldn’t tell the Prince, who was already spending gloomy days, he had wanted to give him at least a small glimmer of hope.

Currently, the Prince was under suspension.

The reason was killing the Wizard Guild Master. To be precise, under the pretext of killing ‘the King’s wizard’.

When the Prince cut down the Guild Master, the King had also suffered a massive shock and pain, albeit temporarily, from the backlash of the abruptly broken contract, just like Lord Ruoden. A substitute wizard was hastily brought in to manage the situation, and he soon stabilized, but killing the King’s contracted wizard without the King’s permission was an incident that even a Prince couldn’t just sweep under the rug.

Furthermore, he was the Guild Master, not just anybody. He wielded immense power, arguably rivaling any noble, so there was no way the Wizard Guild, who had already viewed the Prince as a thorn in their side, would just let this pass quietly. Naturally, the Wizard Guild rose up like a swarm of bees, filing appeals that this situation could not simply be overlooked with a punishment as light as a suspension.

Despite this, the reason the punishment remained a mere suspension was because the Guild Master’s death was entangled with many suspicious elements.

First of all, the Guild Master’s adopted son had used Lord Ruoden to break the oath of loyalty and vanished. The Guild had initially taken the lead in expanding their search, saying ‘We must apprehend that treacherous scoundrel’, perhaps cutting off the lizard’s tail for the crime of breaking the oath of loyalty toward the royal family, but it wasn’t much help, and the adopted son’s whereabouts remained entirely elusive.

Moreover, the state of the Guild Master’s corpse was excessively decomposed for someone who had only died recently. And the magic circle drawn in blood on the floor of the laboratory. It was a bizarre and wicked magic circle that even high-ranking wizards found difficult to decipher……. While outsiders might not know, rumors had probably circulated secretly within the Wizard Guild. That perhaps, a witch was involved. If this were to be investigated thoroughly, it might actually end up putting the Guild in a difficult position.

And finally, though this was minor compared to the previous two, there were subtle hints that emerged during the investigation of his belongings, suggesting the Guild Master might have been connected to the Robernis.

Seeing several signs that digging too deep might backfire and ensnare them instead, the Guild side couldn’t strongly demand a harsher punishment for the Prince anymore. Thus, the Prince’s punishment was settled at a suspension for the time being.

“If it were anyone else, their mind would have been utterly exhausted from being so harassed…….”

“Like me after the hunting competition,” Isaac mumbled to himself. Whether this was the power of authority, or simply because the man himself had such a strong mentality, the Prince had received several visitors since that incident, but not a single one of them had returned having properly achieved their goal. In fact, most of them were chased away without even seeing the Prince’s face. Just today, people related to this incident had visited twice in the morning, but they were chased back without even being offered a cup of tea. And all the while, the Prince remained holed up in his study, only coming out briefly to the backyard after afternoon tea to take a nap.

Isaac stared blankly at the Prince, who had obediently accepted the suspension order handed down personally by the King. To be precise, rather than obediently accepting it, it was closer to him just staying within the Blue Shadow Palace without much reaction, but.

Even though it was a suspension, the Prince was living without any major restrictions on his freedom. The grounds attached to the Blue Shadow Palace were quite large, so the only thing he was restricted from doing among his usual activities was going deep into the forest to hunt. Since he rarely went out in the first place, the punishment of a suspension was practically meaningless to him.

However, as if the Prince had received a punishment dictating he must stay in his study, he spent his time exclusively there. Standing quietly behind him, Isaac, who had to fetch books as he commanded, quickly realized that every single thing he meticulously examined was a book related to witches, magic power, or magic. The related books stocked there were enough to rival, if not exceed, the library attached to the Wizard Research Institute. The Prince almost practically lived among the books there. Perhaps this man knew more about witches than Isaac, the son of a witch, did (or even the witches themselves)…….

“…….”

Isaac drooped his shoulders and just sat there, staring blankly at the Prince. Suddenly, he remembered seeing the book the Prince had left open with a bookmark when he stood up for a meal earlier. The passage that had briefly caught his eye was about a method to track the whereabouts of a specific witch.

《……In the case of a witch stronger than oneself, she cannot be tracked by spells alone. In that case, the heart and eyeballs of another witch are required. When you meet the witch you wish to track or her split soul, you cast a tracking spell using the blood extracted from the other witch’s heart (or powder ground from a dried heart) covering it over, and you can see the location of the target witch through the eyes of the owner of that heart……》

Other witch’s heart and eyeballs. The part marked with a red pen.

The fact that the Prince, who hadn’t left his study for a while, was now taking a nap outside like this meant he had found the answer he was looking for, and what he wanted to know was the method to track the Witch of Roberni. And the things needed for that method.

“……The next new moon might really be the day of my memorial service…….”

「What? Manbang is dying? Then who’s going to bring us the tinder box?」

「If you’re going to die, you have to bring us the tinder box before you die, right?」

「Yeah, yeah, fulfilling the duty you took on before you die is the proper attitude of a soldier.」

“…….Oh, you pretty little brats~~~~.”

Isaac launched his body and swept all three cats, who were sitting in a row a few steps away, into his arms at once. Squeeze, squeeeeze. He only let them go after hugging the yowling brats intensely, thoroughly rubbing their scruffs. The cats puffed up their fur and sat scattered, hissing angrily.

「Why is he trying to kill us when he’s the one who wants to die?」

「Does he want to stay together with us forever?」

「Sigh……, I told you not to fall for my beauty so recklessly, in the end…….」

「But it’s useless, since we are purebloods and you are a half-blood, there’s no guarantee we’ll go to the exact same place when we die. We’ll fall into a warm hellfire, but unless you commit as many sins as we have, there’s a high chance you won’t make it.」

‘No, I don’t want to go at all. If it’s where you guys are, I’d decline even if it was a refreshing heaven, let alone a warm hellfire……,’ Isaac thought with a rotting expression.

「Still, if you reeeeally, reeeally want to go to the same place as us when you die, it’s not like there’s no way. Seduce one of the witches, like that young human wizard did, and try making a contract that hands over your soul and body. Then they can probably arrange a spot for you right next to us in hell.」

「But I won’t make a contract with you, I don’t need a human body,」 the cats nodded and chattered. Isaac asked, feeling a sudden doubt.

“The wizard possessed by the Witch of Roberni, has his soul already passed to the afterlife? Is only his body left?”

「Not yet. His body has to die to cross over.」

「But there probably isn’t much of his human reason left. Only the desires he so fiercely wanted when he was human remain.」

「Even that will overflow soon. As magic power overflows in the body, the desires will boil over too.」

But why did he desire it so fiercely that he made that contract? Listening to the cats’ nonchalant words, Isaac felt his heart plummet.

What that young wizard fiercely wanted was the Prince’s suffering.

And right now, that mass of resentment desiring the Prince’s suffering was hiding somewhere in the world.

“……, ……To track that witch……, do you really need the heart and eyeballs of another witch?”

Asking while holding onto a sliver of hope that there might be another way, Isaac was terrified as the three cats simultaneously made all the fur on their bodies stand on end.

「Haaackkk! Who leaked such top-secret information to a human?!」

「Shh! Be quiet! Don’t speak carelessly!」

「……If it’s already recorded in a book humans can get their hands on, it’s already over…….」

“Come to think of it, that book looked incredibly old and worn out, like a raggedy mess that probably doesn’t exist in many copies in the world,” Isaac thought, dropping his shoulders again as he mumbled.

‘I see, looking at their reaction, it seems that is the truth.’

If so…… the Prince will wait for the next new moon. To catch the most certain witch he can meet, and take out its heart and eyeballs.

“Is this really how I’m going to die…….”

Isaac let out a long sigh and muttered quietly. Ever since he started working at the Blue Shadow Palace, he thought he spent every day prepared for death, but when real death seemed realistically visible, his heart sank.

Just then,

“Are you planning to die?”

A voice abruptly reached out. Startled, Isaac turned his gaze and saw the Prince had opened his eyes at some point. Blinking twice, he only rolled his pupils to look this way.

“…… Weren’t you sleeping?”

“I woke up.”

The Prince, with vivid blue eyes that showed not a hint of having just woken up, turned his body exactly as he was and lay on his side facing Isaac.

“Do you talk to beasts?”

“……. Yes. When you spend a long time alone, you talk to beasts, to plants, and to dolls.”

Hiding his burning guilt, Isaac answered. And he didn’t forget to subtly ask, “Did you wake up because of my voice? I was talking very quietly…… did you hear me?”

“The sign that I woke up. I didn’t necessarily wake up because of that. I’m not a deep sleeper originally.”

“Aren’t you tired?”

Only after asking did Isaac think the word ‘tired’ didn’t suit this man at all, but,

“Well. I got by with just an hour or two of sleep a day on the border.”

Hearing that, he was a bit surprised.

“…… You have superhuman stamina.”

“Maybe I’m not human.”

“That’s possible.”

If it was this man, even if he said he wasn’t human, it somehow felt believable. No, rather, it would be weirder if he were entirely human. Isaac answered obediently and nodded. Then, Ah, he flinched, feeling the Prince’s intense gaze piercing him.

“No, I didn’t mean anything else by it, I just meant that Prince Kyan is so extraordinary…….”

“…….”

“Prince Kyan is so outstanding, magnificent, and brave that you don’t even feel like a human…….”

“…….”

“…………. I’m sorry.”

In the end, unable to withstand that intense gaze, Isaac ducked his head. “But I didn’t mean it in a bad way……” The Prince only opened his mouth after piercingly staring at Isaac, who was mumbling excuses as if justifying himself, until Isaac felt like a hole would burn through him.

“I know.”

“…….”

Only after seemingly enjoying Isaac’s reaction enough did the Prince offer that cool response, leaving Isaac’s expression to momentarily rot before barely managing to maintain a straight face.

“You look like you wouldn’t care much even if I wasn’t human.”

“Well……, just because you are right now doesn’t mean I cling to it either…….”

He didn’t know if the Prince’s mumbling reached his ears or not. The Prince’s eyes seemed to narrow faintly, so Isaac shut his mouth, but fortunately, no further words came back.

However, yes, it didn’t seem to matter to Isaac whether he was a human or not. Even though he was a precarious and dangerous figure at every moment, the hesitation didn’t stem simply from not being of the same species.

Was it because he wasn’t entirely human himself? Because he had lived enduring the feeling of being completely isolated among people…….?

“In reality, it doesn’t matter what the opponent you know and associate with is, I suppose.”

‘Even if I, a minority, think that way, it’s sad that the majority opponent doesn’t think the same.’ Hmm, looking at Isaac letting out a light sigh, the Prince asked.

“Then what does matter?”

“Yes? Well…….”

Isaac thought silently. Emotional exchange, trust, things like that scattered dizzyingly in his mind before he let out one thing from among them.

“It would be nice if they were someone I felt comfortable with.”

If it was an opponent he could trust and be with. Whether they were a witch, a human, or anything else wouldn’t matter.

It was when he made eye contact with the Prince’s vivid blue eyes, blankly staring at him while thinking that.

……This man is not comfortable, uhm…….

Isaac, whose complexion instantly crumpled, had absolutely no idea what the eyes looking at him were thinking. As Isaac hesitated, looking around and blinking, the Prince suddenly muttered like a soliloquy.

“You often speak without a filter, but you don’t seem entirely fearless either; you don’t seem totally clueless, and you don’t have a rebellious streak, but you’re not exactly submissive either…….”

He hit the nail right on the head. Isaac clamped his mouth shut and couldn’t say a word. The Prince didn’t seem to expect an answer, as he just stared piercingly at Isaac before abruptly changing the subject.

“So, you’re going to die soon?”

Hearing those words, Isaac recalled what he had been mumbling to himself when the Prince woke up.

“Yes? Ah, yes, well, seeing how suspicious the times are lately, I just had a thought that it might end up that way soon…….”

‘I think His Highness will rip out my heart and eyeballs soon,’ Isaac mumbled evasively, unable to say the actual words.

“Do you want to die?”

The Prince asked. Isaac thought for a moment before nodding.

“I’d like to live a bit longer.”

“Is there anything you want to do while alive?”

This time, he thought a bit longer. He didn’t have any desires with a clear shape, but the image of the life he wanted floated into his mind like gold.

“I’d like to live quietly, raising pretty chickens in a pretty house with a pretty wife.”

At Isaac’s words, the Prince slightly raised an eyebrow. That expressionless face even looked a bit baffled.

“That’s not difficult, so why haven’t you done it yet?”

“What are you saying. It’s a very difficult task.”

Isaac replied solemnly.

“Even if we say pretty chickens are one thing, to have a pretty house with a yard to raise chickens in, you need that much financial power. That’s not an easy task either, but above all, the ‘pretty wife’ part is the hardest. She has to have an appearance that fits my taste, and at the same time, she has to like me back.”

The last condition is the hardest. Of course, once you meet, you often get attracted to other charms besides appearance, but it wasn’t that easy to find such a person and mutually like each other.

However then,

“Does the other person absolutely have to like you?”

Words he hadn’t even considered returned.

Isaac blinked at the Prince. Staring at the man with an unchangingly indifferent complexion for a long time, Isaac asserted firmly.

“Of course, yes.”

As expected, this man lacks something. Knowing it already, realizing it anew made his chest throb heavily.

“How wonderful it is when the person I like likes me back. Have you never experienced that?”

“I haven’t.”

Even though he said it didn’t lead to good results – thinking about it, he wondered if there was such a thing as a ‘good result’ in relationships with people – he had tasted that profound joy several times, even if briefly. Even if it wasn’t romantic love. The feeling that someone you cherish and love cherishes and loves you back. Even if it’s very trivial, the moment it is engraved like a treasure in your life. It would have been nice if this man had something like that too.

“But why are you still a virgin?”

“…….”

‘…… It would be strange if he had something like that……,’ Isaac thought, unconsciously letting go of his previous sentiments. Isaac suddenly pressed his heavy temples and grumbled.

“As you live your life, you encounter all sorts of circumstances…….”

“I don’t know what grand circumstances you have, but it seems to me you just do it less than a sausage.”

“…….”

His temples throbbed so much they felt like they were going to ache. Besides, was it his imagination, but the Prince definitely still had the same expressionless face as always, yet he felt like he was being teased. Must be his imagination. But why is his mood getting bad again?

“As for me, if I set my mind to it because I haven’t done it, I’m very good at it.”

“I’m just a virgin, I’m not that inexperienced,” Isaac glared at the Prince with a rebellious look and asserted clearly. He didn’t know if he didn’t like that defiant voice or the rebellious gaze, or which one it was. The Prince suddenly raised an eyebrow and slowly rose from his reclining posture. Seeing the gigantic beast slowly getting up, Isaac unknowingly shrank back.

“You.”

The person the Prince abruptly called and pointed at with his index finger wasn’t Isaac. It was a maid who had been approaching this way from the outer palace, walking back and forth to run errands, who stopped dead in her tracks when the Prince called her. Confirming that he was calling her, she approached without delay and bowed her head.

“Yes. Did you call for me?”

She was a woman Isaac knew as well. Working every day at the Blue Shadow Palace doing odd jobs like organizing, she was the daughter of a merchant living outside the city walls. With an outgoing and free-spirited personality, she had had several flings with the palace servants. Isaac also exchanged trivial small talk with her occasionally while coming and going inside the Blue Shadow Palace.

“You said you were good at it if you put your mind to it.”

The Prince looked at Isaac and gestured his chin toward her. Seeing the Prince alternate looking between her and Isaac with an unfathomable, dubious gaze, Isaac frantically blinked his eyes. That gesture clearly meant, ‘Do it.’ What. Do what. When. Where.

“……You mean right now? Here?”

When Isaac mumbled vaguely, the Prince stared intently at Isaac and nodded slightly. Isaac was speechless. Then,

“I don’t want to.”

It was an extremely obvious answer from Isaac’s perspective. The partner, the time, the place, the situation, none of it was what Isaac wanted.

The Prince, observing Isaac, muttered low.

“You said you didn’t want to?”

‘Uh oh.’

“I’m not asking for a favor right now.”

The temperature dropped from the Prince’s voice, and Isaac felt a sense of dismay.

‘This is…… I have no choice.’ He didn’t seem like he would back down if he tried to vaguely deflect it. Even so, the unyielding Isaac, who silently stared back at the Prince, ultimately let out an unheard sigh and drooped his shoulders. Did he find Isaac pitiful – hard to believe given the Prince’s usual temperament – but the Prince spoke.

“If you do it as well as you say, I might spare you once, you who might die soon.”

“…… Yes?”

“It means I can save you from a threat to your life once.”

Isaac stared piercingly at the Prince.

“Is that true?”

When Isaac checked to get a firm promise, the Prince slightly raised his eyebrow and gave a light nod. And in that moment, Isaac saw a ray of hope. He didn’t know if that man knew what he had promised, but he wouldn’t break the words spoken by his own mouth.

‘Maybe my heart and eyeballs can survive safely. Maybe.’

Isaac looked dubiously at the maid watching them. He felt a brief moment of immense apology toward her, who was looking at Isaac with curious eyes, but as Isaac tapped his own lips and she quickly caught on and smiled brightly, that apology quickly evaporated.

Isaac approached her and gently cupped her face. Looking at her, who smiled broadly, scrunching her eyes as if looking at a cute younger brother, he brought his face close to hers. Feeling the Prince’s gaze watching them coldly, like observing a specimen, he thought, ‘What am I doing right now,’ but he didn’t hesitate. ‘Whatever, I don’t know,’ with that thought, he overlapped their lips.

“——.”

Even without turning his gaze, the blue eyes entering the edge of his vision.

The vivid blue gaze of the Prince, watching them expressionlessly, was clearly perceived as if cold water had been poured over his already heated chest.

He could feel her exhaling hot, excited breaths. The sensation of her slowly opening her lips and slipping her tongue inside. Soon, their tongues tangled, and her breath grew distinctly sweeter.

In truth, this wasn’t the first time Isaac had experienced something like this.

Although he still maintained his virginity, he wasn’t a monk who had lived his life completely isolated from women, and he had experienced kissing or very light petting a few times. And every time, the women’s reactions were similar. Whether they were proactive from the start or shy, whenever they locked lips with Isaac, they always became intensely aroused, as if they had tasted something incredibly delicious for the very first time in their lives.

At first, Isaac was bewildered, but he soon instinctively realized the reason. It was due to the witch’s nature of seducing humans.

It wasn’t exactly severe. It wasn’t a feeling so strong that the other person would find it strange. However, they all said the same thing in unison. That kissing him made them feel incredibly good.

Hearing those words made him feel somewhat sorrowful, as if he had tricked them. Also, it felt like the true nature of his being—which he usually lived forgetting—was vividly thrust right before his eyes. That was a big reason why his relationships with them never progressed any further.

And right now, the woman locking lips with Isaac was also exhaling a pleasantly aroused breath, wrapping her arms around Isaac’s neck. At some point, her movements had become more proactive, and strength entered the arms embracing Isaac. The movement of her tongue became even more skillful.

……Regardless of whether I’m good at it or not, she is definitely good at this.

Just as Isaac blankly registered that thought in his mind, his chest suddenly flushed hot at the movement of her tongue digging deeply into his mouth. As her breath also grew heated alongside it, he suddenly felt a gaze touching his cheek intensely.

Even without turning his gaze, the blue eyes entering the edge of his vision.

The vivid blue gaze of the Prince, watching them expressionlessly, was clearly perceived as if cold water had been poured over his already heated chest.

A chilling sense of crisis, as if a wild beast were thrusting its head right beside him and watching him.

 At the same time,

“Stop.”

The Prince said. Even though it wasn’t a very loud voice, the woman didn’t stop her hand from stroking Isaac’s neck, seemingly unable to hear it, and Isaac, acutely feeling the chilling gaze of the Prince, hastily pulled her shoulder away to detach her. The woman, looking at Isaac bewilderedly, alternated her gaze between the Prince and him, and quickly stood up straight. She sent a knowing smile to Isaac, who could only awkwardly nod his head slightly.

“You may go.”

The Prince gestured with his chin to the maid, and she quickly assessed their eyes, bowed deeply, and left the area. Even as she retreated, she didn’t forget to send one more wink to Isaac, to which Isaac gave another brief nod.

As she entered the palace, only the Prince and Isaac remained in brief silence in that spot.

“Was it good?”

The Prince asked abruptly. As if he had ordered him to do it, and now his tone was treating him like a debauchee……. Isaac vaguely mumbled, observing the Prince’s mood in vain. “Yes, well, just…….”

“You looked like you were almost sucked in.”

“No, surely not…….”

His voice lacked confidence. In truth, from the point when she had started taking the lead, Isaac had felt a little that way too.

The prince looked at Isaac in silence. Isaac found it hard to meet his gaze and dropped his eyes to his own feet.

“Well, it seems her skills are better than I expected. So, I’ll spare you once, at a time of your choosing.”

The prince spoke. Isaac lifted his head without thinking. A faint spark of hope kindled in his heart. One chance to be spared. Just one—but that was something. Isaac bowed his head deeply.

“Thank you.”

Perhaps his heart and his eyes might both be saved…… But then he reconsidered: the one to whom the prince had promised a reprieve was Isaac, while the one who wanted to rip out his eyes and heart was the Moonless Witch. The two were the same, yet entirely different entities…… so what now? Hope and despair crossed paths at once.

Isaac, lost in troubled thought for a while, suddenly realized that he could feel no presence above him. He slowly raised his head.

His eyes met the prince’s. At that moment, Isaac flinched.

The prince was watching him. His face betrayed no expression. There was no guessing what he was thinking. The moment Isaac saw those deep, almost murky eyes, an inexplicable surge of crisis rose within him—he did not know why. The prince’s gaze traced Isaac’s lips very slowly. Then, abruptly,

“You.”

The prince spoke. Isaac, frozen like a frog before a snake, flinched and waited for what came next. The prince, without taking his eyes off him, frowned slightly, as if something troubled him as well. He tilted his head ambiguously and muttered, “…… Never mind.” Then he looked away. His gaze swept over the attendants and guards standing within sight, and he beckoned with a finger toward a chamberlain standing at a short distance.

With a face full of bewilderment and tension, the attendant hurried over. The moment the prince loosely loosened his belt and said curtly, “Take it off,” the attendant’s eyes flew wide open. Isaac also froze solid.

Right, now that he thought about it, it had been quiet for a while. This was a man who used to keep a paramour by his side and satisfy his urges whenever he pleased, without any warning or sign. So if he had taken a long break, one could call it a long break.

Isaac quietly averted his gaze from the attendant, who was whimpering “B-b-b-but—” and looking around frantically, and muttered inwardly, ‘Sorry I can’t protect you.’ Most of the people nearby were probably doing the same. Once chosen by the prince, there was no escape for that attendant. Pale with shock, the attendant ultimately had no choice but to remove his lower garments and prostrate himself before the prince.

Isaac, who had experienced such situations two or three times while standing guard at the Blue Shadow Palace during his time in the Royal Guard, once again turned his back on them out of courtesy, as he had done back then. Though some of his comrades had watched with wide eyes and rapt attention, and the prince had paid them no mind at all, Isaac had never had the slightest interest in spying on others’ private acts.

Just standing nearby, where every sound and sign of flushed embarrassment was clearly audible, was awkward and mortifying enough—what the hell were those comrades of mine, who apparently watched openly, made of? Isaac sighed inwardly and was gazing up at the distant sky with his hands clasped behind his back when—

“Face this way.”

The prince’s voice struck the back of his head.

It somehow seemed directed at the direction Isaac was facing. Thinking, Surely he means the attendant, Isaac nonetheless responded to the voice out of duty and turned his head just slightly. Then their eyes met.

The prince was looking at Isaac. Holding his gaze, the prince spoke again.

“Turn around and face this way.”

It was a calm yet resolute command.

Isaac stood there blankly for a moment, unable to comprehend the order even after hearing it. Only when he saw the prince’s eyes narrow did he quickly snap out of it and turn around. He then stood upright, facing them, and blinked in bewilderment.

The prince reached down to his groin. Grasping his genitals with one hand and massaging them a few times, they immediately rose and swelled. The penis, which had quickly swollen in size, was placed between the legs of the servant who was bent over with only the lower half of his body exposed and his buttocks raised. With one hand gripping and spreading the servant’s buttocks, the prince thrust his member straight into the middle, and a beast-like howl of agony erupted from the servant’s mouth.

And all the while, Isaac was facing the prince. The prince’s gaze had been fixed on Isaac the whole time. As if caught by those icy eyes, Isaac, frozen in place, couldn’t look away from those pupils.

“Huff, ugh!” Ah! Ah, haak! “Ah!”

The servant pinned under the prince was losing his mind and screaming. However, the prince, unfazed, firmly grasped the servant’s hips and lifted him up. At first, it was tight and didn’t go in well, but after several rough thrusts, it was now going in and out smoothly.

He can hear the sound of flesh colliding. The sound of squelching mixed in. The gaze was piercing thru the lewd sounds.

Isaac swallowed dryly. Even his heart seemed to have stiffened completely.

Why? Why was the prince looking at him like that? As if he were the partner in the act. It felt just like—yes, just like being subjected to a “time gaze.”

The word “time” flashed through his mind, and in that instant, heat surged through Isaac’s body. The absurd thought that had occurred to him left him bewildered, unsure of what to do with himself.

The prince watched Isaac the entire time as he, flustered, dropped his gaze and rubbed his face. The prince observed every detail of Isaac’s flushed cheeks. That only embarrassed Isaac further, and he bowed his head.

The gaze continued to press upon him. He didn’t understand why, for what reason. He couldn’t tell what the prince was thinking. No—perhaps, as a prince, he had no particular intention at all, and Isaac was simply recalling something irrelevant on his own and panicking over nothing.

‘Calm down. Calm down, Isaac. This might just be your own delusion. Yes, that must be it. Idiot, what kind of ridiculous fantasy are you having?’

Isaac pressed a hand over his racing heart and took a deep breath. Then, as if making a resolution, he lifted his head—

—And at that very moment, their eyes met again.

The prince’s eyes narrowed sharply. His lips tightened. At the same time, the prince’s relentless thrusting halted—and the attendant let out a long, drawn-out cry.

Moments later, a pale, viscous fluid spilled from between the attendant’s legs and trickled down his thighs. It pooled briefly before the prince slowly withdrew his hips, pulling his member out of the attendant’s body, and the fluid gushed out.

And all the while, until he wiped his moistened member with a dry cloth and straightened his clothing, the prince kept his eyes on Isaac. As if imagining something, or testing something.

And at the end of that long, unbroken gaze,

“…… It seems I might be able to do it.”

The prince murmured to himself, as if in thought. Though those low words reached Isaac’s ears clearly, and though it was not clear what exactly the prince might be able to do, Isaac’s heart lurched and trembled inside him. He was bewildered. So bewildered that he didn’t know what to do with himself. Yet what was certain was that, at the same time, his body had suddenly grown heavily feverish.