Perhaps sensing that the bout of passion had come to a complete end, Rihan was slowly making his way over from behind the large rock. Seeing him sit on a thick tree root and casually toss dry branches onto the dying campfire, Isaac forced his aching body to sit up. Catching sight of his own bare lower half glistening wetly with slick fluids under the reflected moonlight, Isaac flinched in shame and hurriedly pulled the hem of the blanket over himself, covering everything from the waist down.

Whether he did that or not, Rihan didn’t seem to care at all. That actually made Isaac more comfortable, and hunching over with his arms wrapped around his knees, he quietly looked at Rihan across the campfire. Then, at some point, Isaac frowned. A bad feeling abruptly invaded his mind. A creepy aura that made him want to avoid that man seemed to be flowing out. ‘When…… did I feel something similar to this?’ He searched his memory and quickly recalled it. When he was near holy relics blessed by priests.

This man seemed to be carrying something like an amulet to ward off evil spirits. If even a half-witch like himself felt this creeped out, normal witches would shudder in horror. Sure enough, the three cats perched on the branch had also hidden themselves at some point.

Well, to survive at a border swarming with magical beasts, it makes sense he would have at least one amulet to repel them.

“Rihan……”

Isaac, about to speak, realized his voice was completely hoarse so he pulled the canteen the prince had left by his head and swallowed water. His throat hurt at the first gulp, but by the second and third, thirst arose like water seeping into dry earth. Only after nearly emptying the prince’s canteen and quenching his thirst did Isaac finally turn his gaze to Rihan, who had been staring blankly at him the entire time.

“You must have gone through a lot traveling from village to village distributing flares…… Thank you for your hard work.”

Isaac spoke in a heavily raspy voice, but no answer returned. He seemed like a man of few words, whom he had only seen properly a few times, so Isaac didn’t find it particularly strange. He had said what he wanted to say, so that was enough.

As Isaac was blankly looking up at the night sky, Rihan, who had been staring fixedly at Isaac for a long time, suddenly opened his mouth just as the campfire was coming back to life.

“A witch?”

Perhaps he had heard the prince calling Isaac; asking as if confirming a fact he already knew, Isaac readily nodded.

“Yes, though only a half-blood.”

“Ah, a mixed-blood,” He nodded, then looked at Isaac with a curious expression. Then he asked again.

“But why are you alive?”

“……I know, right. Somehow I’m still alive. I suppose I’ve been of at least a little help to Prince Kyan.”

He seemed very amazed that a witch was still keeping her life right next to the prince. Thinking it was understandable to be amazed, Isaac answered, and Rihan nodded as if convinced.

“Right, I suppose he leaves them alive for a while if they are useful.”

‘For a while,’ Isaac smiled bitterly at those words. He felt like he had reconfirmed something he had momentarily forgotten. That in the end, the prince would eliminate all witches.

“If it’s of help during that while, that’s a good thing.”

When Isaac murmured, Rihan stared at Isaac again. His gaze seemed to be trying to dig out if there was another meaning hidden in those words. But Isaac had put no other meaning into those words, and calmly met his gaze.

“Setting aside keeping you alive……”

Rihan, who had been observing Isaac fixedly for a while, murmured. Quietly stroking his chin and tilting his head, he looked quite suspicious. “Prince Kyan isn’t someone who would do that…..,” he muttered suspiciously to himself. Then,

“Well, yeah, I suppose he could. Not all witches are the same monsters, and I’ve seen a few fairly human-like ones.”

Rihan, still suspicious but speaking in a tone that it was probably fine for now, looked at Isaac. Pity shone in his slightly furrowed eyes.

“Anyway, there’s no way out since you’re caught by Prince Kyan, but looking at you, it doesn’t seem like you’ve lived a life doing such bad things, so try begging him to kill you cleanly at once. The way that person kills witches is truly terrifying.”

Rihan’s complexion darkened grimly as if he remembered something. For a man who had lived roughly going through all sorts of things at the borderlands to turn pale like that, what kind of horrific and cruel death had he witnessed?

Isaac also felt a chill in his chest and dropped his gaze. He was forced to remember anew just how much the prince despised witches.

That was when.

A splashing sound came from the pond, and soon the prince emerged from the water. Walking over while roughly wiping his wet body with a towel, he saw Rihan sitting there. He looked back and forth between Rihan and Isaac, who was sitting across from him, and raised an eyebrow.

“What did you two talk about?”

As the prince spoke, tossing his towel aside, Rihan tilted his head with an expression that said, ‘He’s not usually one to ask such things……’, before pointing at Isaac with his chin.

“I hear he’s a witch.”

The prince merely glanced at Isaac without answering. Realizing the canteen he had picked up was mostly empty, the prince grabbed his wine flask, quenched his thirst, and sat on a rock. It seemed Isaac had looked quite pitiful to Rihan, even though they had barely interacted.

“If he’s a witch, it can’t be helped, but since he seems to be providing quite a bit of help, wouldn’t it be better to kill him as late as possible, and painlessly in one go—.”

Rihan, who was speaking as if trying to help Isaac out in his own way, suddenly snapped his mouth shut mid-sentence.

The prince’s gaze locking onto Rihan was terrifyingly cold. Under that gaze, which felt like it would slice him open if he touched it, cold sweat broke out on the forehead of the rigidly tense Rihan.

After a moment of heavy silence, the prince spoke.

“The situation in the mountain villages.”

At the short question changing the subject, Rihan stood up without hesitation and handed the map to the prince. On the unfolded map, the villages where flares had been distributed, and the villages where people had already disappeared, were marked with dense dots……

“Judging by the witch’s path, the next clustered village to be wiped out will likely be one of these three or four. We are currently searching for the pond where the witch has hidden her body, but we have no significant results yet.”

Rihan reported in a businesslike manner, and the prince stared at the map in silence.

Listening to their conversation with half an ear, Isaac slowly pushed himself up. As he entered the pond to wash his body, he felt the prince’s gaze briefly touch his back, but the prince didn’t call out to him or stop him.

Isaac submerged his body in the pond water, which was perfectly cool against his swelteringly heated skin, and let out a low breath.

I see. To Rihan, and to anyone who knew the prince, it was already an accepted, established fact.

Witches must die.

There might be a difference between dying first or dying later, but if one was a witch, they had to die. That was the ultimate thing the prince desired.

“…… Is it impossible to live together?”

Isaac muttered to himself. His hot breath rippled the surface of the water, causing the reflection of the full moon upon it to tremble and blur.

Did they really have to be killed? Couldn’t witches and humans just coexist?

They said all witches in this world must disappear to break the curse placed on the royal family, but the curse on the prince couldn’t be broken anyway. Couldn’t they just coexist and live together, like now, like in the past?

「Witches in the land of witches, humans in the land of humans.」

Just then, a sudden breeze blew. At the rustling sound of the water reeds, suddenly, a sound like the wind mixed in. A low purring sound, like a whisper from somewhere far away.

「It is the natural order for witches to leave the land of humans.」

「Because it is impossible for them to coexist as equals.」

*Rustle, rustle.* The water reeds swayed. The faint voice that seemed to drift from within them soon ceased, leaving only the sound of the wind. And from very far away came the faint meow of a cat.

Isaac stared at the dense water reeds in silence.

He knew. They couldn’t live together.

A witch was an undeniable witch, fundamentally different from humans. Even in the eyes of Isaac, who had grown up as a human among humans, there were moments when even his mother seemed chilling. There were times when an emotional wavelength distinctly different from that of a human revealed itself.

To a witch, a human was not an equal being or someone to empathize with. They were prey, or something to be consumed. Even if a witch held affection for a human, it was akin to keeping a pet or cherishing a favored object; it was fundamentally different from the affection a human holds for another human.

To witches, using or harming humans wasn’t strange or evil at all. Humans could not live together with those who held completely different standards for life, death, good, and evil in every aspect.

Therefore——in order to preserve the world where humans lived, witches had to disappear.

Isaac let out a slow, heavy breath.

There wasn’t much time left.

If things went smoothly, they would catch Alikisa before long, and before the Great New Moon arrived, the prince would be able to wipe out the witches of this land. And after that……

“……”

‘I won’t be able to see him anymore.’

Isaac stared blankly at the full moon reflected on the pond’s surface. When he lightly tapped it with his finger, the full moon wavered and shattered into a hundred fragment.

‘When the time soon came and the prince tried to kill me……’

He had no intention of meekly bowing his head. Even if it was like striking a boulder with an egg, he would try every resistance and attempt to survive. No matter how impossible it was to survive by the prince’s hand, he would do everything he could. If he died after that, he considered it unavoidable. And if, by some miracle, he succeeded, it would be extremely fortunate.

There was only one way to escape him. As long as the oath sworn on the Moon River bound Isaac, there was no way to escape him while remaining in the human world. He had to cross over to the Land of the Dark Moon.

No matter which way it goes, Isaac would no longer be able to see the prince. Whether he died by his hand, or survived and crossed over to the Land of the Dark Moon.

Already feeling the sorrow of that reality, a sigh escaped him.

Isaac, who had been staring up at the full moon, turned his head when he heard footsteps approaching the pond’s edge.

The prince had approached. Rihan was nowhere to be seen; he must have left in the meantime.

“It seems even a witch’s lips turn blue when they’re cold.”

The prince pulled Isaac out of the water. Only then realizing that his body had chilled from being submerged for so long, Isaac belatedly hunched his shoulders and rubbed his arms.

“What did you talk about with Rihan?”

The prince, wrapping Isaac’s body in a large towel, lifted him up effortlessly. Despite Isaac’s momentary startled struggle, the prince carried him without any sign of strain and sat him down by the campfire.

Isaac sat blankly for a moment before muttering, “We didn’t talk about much……” and lifted his gaze to look at the prince.

“Could you kill me painlessly?”

The prince’s brow twitched slightly. Isaac spoke calmly while wiping away the water from his skin.

“After all, I am still very much attached to this life of mine, so I certainly have no intention of obediently handing it over to you. Yet the survival instinct is, after all, something unavoidable, so please overlook that much. But if you are going to kill me, I’d like it if you did it painlessly…….”

However, feeling a sudden chill on his temple mid-sentence, Isaac turned his head and flinched as he met the prince’s fierce gaze. His eyes were glaring so savagely it looked as though he might strike him.

“……Please don’t beat me to death, either.”

The prince’s gaze grew even more hostile. His blue eyes wavered as if a surge of anger had rushed up from within, but his jaw clenched tightly as if suppressing it. He grabbed Isaac’s shoulder roughly and pulled him closer to the campfire.

“……And please don’t burn me to death, either…….”

When Isaac muttered once more, the prince released his shoulder. Seeing his coldly settled expression, Isaac figured he should stop here. Though it was secretly a bit fun.

As Isaac offered a faint smile, the prince clicked his tongue in displeasure. Then, with the back of his hand, he wiped away a water drop hanging on Isaac’s eyelashes that was about to seep into his eye.

‘How strange,’ Isaac thought, looking at the prince.

There it was again. Unfamiliar. It felt like looking at someone he didn’t know.

The prince was looking at Isaac as if observing something carefully. Like looking at something warm and precious. How very strange.

Isaac stared blankly at him before blurting out a question without realizing it.

“Do you really have to kill them?”

In that moment, the prince froze. The hand that had been brushing down Isaac’s wet hair slowly dropped.

“The Great New Moon is coming soon. Can’t you just put all the witches on the Crescent Moon-Silver Boat and send them away?”

Isaac knew. The prince had been searching for the Witch of Roberni because of the Grand Banquet of Witches. To eradicate all the witches living in the human world when they gathered in one place. And Isaac was no exception.

The prince stared piercingly at Isaac. His expressionless face had cooled chillingly. That unfamiliar light from moments ago was completely gone.

“And if they cause harm in the meantime?”

The prince spoke.

“Between the Grand Banquet and the Great New Moon. What if the surviving witches harm people again during that month?”

“What if they refuse to board the Crescent Moon-Silver Boat? Or what if they leave, but come back again?”

The prince continued. His glowing blue eyes were like ice. Isaac couldn’t say a word, only looking back at him.

“Right, child of a witch. You are a witch raised in the human world. Does that make you pity the witches? Do you feel sorry for them?”

The prince leaned closer to Isaac as he spoke. Contempt and cynicism were distinctly laced into every low syllable.

“I probably know them better than you, who lived half-heartedly as a human. They are a wicked and cunning species to the bone.”

At that low conclusion, Isaac could neither confirm nor deny it.

Witches had different standards from humans. What humans saw as wicked and cunning was as natural as breathing to them. For them, ‘their own benefit and pleasure’ was the sole standard for all judgment. However, that could not be allowed to pass in the human world.

——Witches in the land of witches, humans in the land of humans.

Suddenly, he remembered the words he had heard drifting in the wind.

It was the natural order for them to live where their respective rules applied.

“It’s not like you can’t communicate with them. If they promise not to harm humans in the future—”

“If they promise, how do we settle the past? What about the people who are already dead? The people who have already suffered? The loved ones who watched them suffer from beside them?”

“That is why many witches have already died.”

The brutal whirlwind of the witch hunts had swept across the land, and humans had brazenly massacred witches without mercy. Countless witches had perished at human hands. To the point that finding one still hidden among mankind had become exceedingly difficult. And yet,

“It is not enough.”

The prince stated. There was not an inch of hesitation in his resolute declaration. Isaac looked at him and murmured.

“Why must all of them die?”

Even though not all witches were wicked and cunning.

The prince’s mouth twitched. The blue eyes staring at Isaac were terrifyingly cold.

“Fine, let’s say we kill them selectively instead of all of them. How do we distinguish between those who should die and those who shouldn’t?”

“——.”

“Whether they please me or not? Whether they harmed a person or not? Then what should be the standard for harming a person? Whether they killed them, sucked their vital energy, stole their wealth? Up to what line is acceptable, and what line is unacceptable?”

His low voice sounded like a beast’s threat. A warning sound right before it bites. Hearing that low, chilling tone in his ear, Isaac couldn’t say a word. Looking closely at Isaac right in front of his face, the prince whispered.

“Witch. I despise your kind.”

Those words drove into his heart like a wooden stake.

Isaac stared at the prince without moving an inch, as if frozen in place. He fixed his eyes intently on the man’s every expression. The only emotion the prince had ever clearly recognized, that pure hatred, was unmistakably evident on his face.

And in that moment, Isaac was forced to remember anew.

‘I see. This person has no choice but to hate me. And because that is already predetermined, there’s nothing I can do about it.’

“……”

Isaac lowered his gaze for a moment before lifting it to look at the prince again. The moment their eyes met, he saw the prince’s eyes twitch slightly. Isaac gazed clearly at the prince, who suddenly clamped his mouth shut and scrutinized Isaac’s face intently.

‘I have no choice but to cherish the present.’

Because right now would be one of the few treasure-like moments in his life. The time he spent with this man now would be moments he would recall over and over again while living out empty days in the future……. Assuming he didn’t die, that is.

“It can’t be helped.”

Isaac murmured like a sigh.

“Even so, I still like you, Prince Kyan.”

His weak, whispering murmur sounded like he was talking to himself. Isaac looked down at his hands for a moment, thought to himself once more, ‘It can’t be helped,’ and raised his head.

The prince was still staring fixedly at Isaac. Without even blinking, staring at Isaac as if unwilling to miss even a split second of his expression, the prince’s eyes were as fierce as if he were angry…… No, perhaps it was a bit different from being fierce. It was a strange face Isaac had never seen before.

The prince was looking at Isaac as if he were an angry person, or a bewildered person, or someone who didn’t know what to do…… His mouth twitched briefly as if he were about to say something, but in the end, he said nothing.

Isaac wiped his almost completely dry body once more with the towel. This was the very towel the prince had thoughtfully wrapped around him when he saw his body turning blue from the cold. ‘This sweet memory will surely be etched deep into my mind for a long time,’ he thought to himself, he gathered the large towel tightly around himself instead of clothes.

He threw a branch into the faintly dying campfire.

*Creack, creack,* the sound of the branch burning echoed in the quiet night.

The full moon was beginning to wane.