Prince Kyan left the capital about once every two months.

Though much less frequent than before, monsters still occasionally appeared in the outskirts or border regions away from the capital. Whenever a monster appeared that the border soldiers could not handle on their own, he would ride out to dispatch the beasts before returning.

During the hot seasons when monsters were rampant, it was almost every month; during the cold seasons when they lay relatively low, it was once every three or four months. It varied, but usually, whenever he went on an expedition, he left the capital empty for a week to a fortnight.

During that time, Isaac waited for Kyan in the annex of the Blue Shadow Palace.

For the first few times, Kyan, who always kept Isaac attached to his side wherever he went, took him out to the battlefield as well. But ever since Isaac sustained a severe burn after failing to dodge a sudden monster attack, Kyan had left him behind at the Blue Shadow Palace when he departed.

When returning from an expedition, before even going to report to his father, the King, Kyan would go to Isaac first.

While some whispered behind his back that such behavior was insolent, the King was generous about it. That was because the air surrounding Kyan was entirely different depending on whether he sought an audience with the King first, or visited Isaac before seeking out the King.

Once, Kyan had returned from the battlefield a few days earlier than planned. Not knowing he would return, Isaac happened to be out visiting town. Naturally, Kyan went straight to seek an audience with the King first. Having just returned from slaughtering monsters, his aura was so terrifying and precarious that the King was practically on pins and needles.

At that time, the King cleared his throat and said benevolently, ‘Ahem, from now on, when you return to the capital, look around your own palace first to see if all is well. Taking care of one’s own people is the most important duty of a ruler.’ After that royal command, even if Kyan returned from a long journey, spent the night at his own palace first, and only sought out the King the next day, no one said a word.

* * *

Thus, on this day as well, as soon as Kyan returned from the border, he went straight to the annex of the Blue Shadow Palace.

As was customary when returning from afar, Kyan stayed holed up in the annex with Isaac for a full day, only showing his face around noon the next day. Leaving Isaac buried in bed, exhausted and fast asleep, Kyan emerged from the bedroom and prepared for his audience. His face was as expressionless as always, but the air surrounding him was warm. Noticing this, the maid assisting him with his preparations whispered to him.

“While Your Highness was away, Lord Isaac seemed quite lonely. He would sometimes sigh and mutter to himself, ‘It sure is lonely……’ Sometimes he would say he felt depressed and stay holed up in the annex bedroom without coming out. Of course, it wasn’t for long, just a few hours before returning to his usual self, so you need not worry.”

Hearing the maid detail exactly what Isaac had been doing while he was away, Kyan’s expression did not change at all. However, Rihan, who had served as his trusted confidant by his side for a long time and happened to be visiting the capital to report, could feel the air surrounding the Prince loosen even further.

Though he had seen it multiple times already, it was surprising to Rihan every single time.

The Prince usually possessed a heart that seemed frozen solid amidst an eternal state of boredom. He was practically a living, breathing blade itself. To think that a man everyone considered incapable of truly being human, wearing only a human shell, could become this calm.

Seeing this, Rihan was certain Isaac was a witch. Isaac had to be the most astonishing witch in the world, having cast some sort of massive spell on the Prince.

Rihan marveled inwardly as he followed Kyan to seek an audience with the King and pay his respects. After finishing a few tasks in the afternoon, he planned to return to his post.

No matter how calm the Prince had become, the King, who still feared and felt reluctant around his own son, kept the audience short. As if it were the most natural thing in the world, Kyan directed his steps back toward the annex. He seemed more like a man whose main residence was the annex rather than his own Blue Shadow Palace.

However, just as he left the main palace and entered the garden leading to the Blue Shadow Palace,

“Your Highness, I have an urgent matter to discuss.”

A short man in a black robe approached from somewhere, bowing his head to Kyan and speaking lowly. It was the Court Wizard.

To Kyan, who didn’t even spare him a glance and nonchalantly walked past, the wizard, seemingly flustered, followed behind and spoke with unwavering seriousness.

“It is an important matter. Your Highness absolutely must know.”

Kyan still didn’t look back at him. Kyan originally hated wizards. If it had been the old days, approaching him without a formal request for an audience and speaking out of turn would have been more than enough to get his head chopped off.

No matter how calm he has become, if you say one more word, your head will fly off…… Just as Rihan thought this, sure enough, the wizard opened his mouth for the third time, saying, “Your Highness.” Still wearing an expressionless face, Kyan gripped the hilt of his sword. ‘Ah, it’s been a while since a fearless, clueless fool showed up, looks like I’ll have to clean up a corpse,’ Rihan thought.

“The witch of the annex is betraying Your Highness’s grace.”

As if accusing someone of treason, the wizard dropped his voice to a low, urgent whisper, and the hand gripping the sword hilt stopped.

Simultaneously, Kyan’s footsteps halted.

Kyan looked back at him expressionlessly. The wizard glanced at the hand holding the sword, broke out in a cold sweat, and bowed his head.

“To maintain the barriers protecting the Royal Palace, I occasionally visit the Blue Shadow Palace as well. Especially when you are away, Prince Kyan, I must ensure the defenses are strong, so I visit frequently……. During that time, I discovered something.”

The wizard lowered his voice for fear of being overheard and quickly moved on. Taking the lead as though to guide them, Kyan followed silently behind him.

The wizard took a wide detour to reach the rear of the Blue Shadow Palace annex. Then he pointed to a silver ornament hanging from the corner of the back wall—a protective talisman. The talisman, which should have shone with smooth silver light, was tarnished and clouded black.

“This is proof that dark magic was performed inside this building. Looking at these soot marks, it wasn’t just once or twice. And seeing this newly carved mark here, magic was likely cast very recently as well.”

The wizard looked around as if exposing a secret, wicked plot and whispered nervously.

“That is the legitimate reason I entered the annex to investigate. The witch looked reluctant when I inspected the annex, but when I said I needed to examine his bedroom, he jumped up and showed extreme dislike and reluctance.”

Listening nervously alongside them, Rihan cast a glance at Kyan, who stood silently with an expressionless face.

It didn’t seem like the wizard was lying, but if those words were true, it was definitely strange.

Given Isaac’s easygoing personality, he wasn’t the type to act like a sheltered maiden saying, ‘How dare you enter my bedroom?!’ Far from his bedroom, even if someone came in while he was washing in the bathroom and said they needed to briefly do some work, he was the type to casually say, ‘Sure, go ahead,’ and continue whatever he was doing.

“Still, citing that it was absolutely necessary for security, I went in and looked around, and inside the bedroom…… I discovered traces of magic being used! From a detailed inspection, it seems teleportation magic was used. It appears he used magic to secretly sneak in and out to some other place.”

The moment he heard the wizard’s words, Rihan recalled what the maid had said earlier.

He would sometimes sigh and say he felt lonely, and when depressed, he would stay holed up in the annex bedroom for hours without coming out.

Isaac didn’t go outside the palace very often. Since he was a witch after all, whenever he left the palace, surveillance always followed him. (Rather than because he was a witch, it was more that the Prince wanted to know his every move inside and out.) But leaving wasn’t forbidden, so sometimes he went out to have a drink with his former colleagues or old friends.

And yet, to secretly sneak out using magic to avoid people’s eyes? Why?

“And……, it is difficult to say this……, but so I intentionally visited again later when the witch had locked the bedroom door and was inside. There was no presence for a long time despite me knocking several times, and only after quite a while did the witch open the bedroom door looking flustered, and well…….”

The wizard, dropping his voice to a hushed whisper, hesitated before murmuring: “With a faintly flushed face……, and a scent similar to that of chestnut blossoms*……” 

(*Chestnut blossom scent: is a common Korean euphemism for the smell of semen…)

Muttering as if implying Isaac had just finished a sexual act, the wizard hurriedly prostrated himself flat on the ground upon seeing Kyan’s tightly shut jaw twitch and a vein pop on his temple.

“Forgive me, Your Highness! It is not a lie. I merely thought, perhaps that wicked witch was betraying the grace Your Highness bestowed upon him, taking advantage of your absence from the capital to secretly commit lewd acts……. Though I tried to track where he might have gone via teleportation, he had no reason to go secretly, and due to the barriers installed throughout the palace, he couldn’t have gone that far. Of course, I cannot know where the witch went or what presumptuous acts he committed, but since witches are notoriously lustful and wicked, I was merely concerned for Your Highness……”

A deadly aura flared up in an instant.

In the quiet stillness, it had been a long time since the air stung so numbingly. It was a spine-chilling sensation he hadn’t even felt in the middle of a battlefield swarming with monsters.

Rihan shrank his neck, holding his breath, seized by shock.

‘A witch? That Isaac? No way……?’

But a witch was a species that couldn’t be trusted. They were the ones who would smile sweetly from the front to seduce you, and you never knew when they would stab you in the back while cackling. They were inherently cunning, wicked, and lustful creatures.

Even though that Isaac had never shown such a side before, wasn’t it witch’s blood flowing in his veins regardless? You can’t even know what’s inside a human, let alone a witch.

Moreover, hadn’t the maid said it earlier?

While Kyan was away, the witch felt lonely and isolated. After staying holed up in the annex for hours, he would come out looking like his usual self again.

And, whether planting seeds of doubt or not, Kyan had once muttered as if slipping it out.

Normally, every new moon, his physical and mental state became so atrocious that he made everyone around him tremble in fear. But recently, after the new moon passed, the Prince’s mood was good, so Rihan subtly asked what happened. The Prince said, ‘Witches are a species with strong sexual desires. Especially during the new moon when their power grows stronger. He was somewhat manageable when he was a half-blood, but after becoming a pureblood witch, the moment the new moon approaches, his body becomes much more sensitive, and his desires become far more vigorous than usual.’

Thinking of that…….

‘A witch with vigorous desires, left alone in the capital, to soothe his loneliness and isolation…….’

Rihan swallowed hard, his thoughts trailing off.

Beside him, an aura so terrifying and freezing that he didn’t even dare to look back was swirling.

“Y-your Highness. We don’t know what the truth is yet. Please calm down.”

Rihan mustered all his courage and barely managed to speak, and Kyan glanced at him. That alone made his heart drop.

“Whatever the truth is, the fact is that he is hiding something from me.”

At the very bottom of that chillingly sunken voice, something unfamiliar was wavering.

It was anxiety.

Rihan couldn’t believe it.

Anxious. This person, who feared nothing under heaven.

* * *

As soon as Kyan returned to the annex, biting back the wizard, Isaac noticed his mood like a ghost.

Coming out of the bed sleepily, Isaac froze while greeting Kyan with sleep still lingering on his face, and asked.

“Did you hear some bad news, Your Highness?”

‘No, that can’t be,’ Kyan asked and answered himself as he stared down intently at Isaac, who was tilting his head.

“Are you hiding anything from me?”

“Me?”

Isaac blinked with a bewildered face.

With such a goofy face, blinking blankly and searching his memory to see if there was anything, it truly didn’t look like he could deceive someone and do something bad behind their back.

But then, just for a split second. A very brief moment.

A flash of panic crossed that flawed face.

He hurriedly wiped the expression away, but Isaac was definitely flustered.

“Uh, um……, I got caught……. The wine you specially procured for me to drink, Your Highness, I played a card game with the cats and lost, so I handed it over to them…… I’m sorry. I had the precious wine you went out of your way to get taken from me……”

*Nya? Nya-nya? Nya-nya-nyang?* Above the head of Isaac, who was shrugging his shoulders and apologizing, the sound of small footsteps running across the ceiling along with cat meows could be heard. As always, they were quite noisy.

Isaac often seemed to make bets with those cats. If you could call it a bet, there always seemed to be a price on the line. When Isaac lost, he usually gave them Special A++ goat meat, or had his precious wine specially bestowed by Kyan stripped from him. He didn’t know what Isaac got when the cats lost.

Isaac hastily made an excuse, but Rihan had definitely seen the brief look of panic on his face. If Rihan saw it, there was no doubt this person did too…….

Rihan cast a sideways glance at Kyan. Kyan stared at Isaac for a long time before simply nodding without a word. He didn’t interrogate or press Isaac any further, smoothly transitioning to another topic.

On this particular day, Isaac seemed to be secretly studying Kyan’s mood; while he acted normally, there was a cautiousness about him. He pretended to be nonchalant, but it felt like he had a guilty conscience.

Similarly, seeing Kyan, who seemed like his usual self yet spoke less than normal and appeared deeply lost in thought, Rihan felt an internal shiver, sinking into anxiety and sorrow.

Although Rihan had been highly active as a brave and peerless warrior by Kyan’s side for a long time, deep down, he was a delicate and warm man. He feared and respected his master, but at the same time, he wanted his master to be happy.

So, even though Isaac was a witch, seeing how keeping the good-natured and decent young man by his side had brought out different facets in Kyan, surprising as it was, he had been joyful about it…….

‘Oh, Lord in heaven, please have pity on that witch.’

Offering a futile prayer internally, Rihan carefully opened his mouth when the two of them were left alone to discuss business after finishing a meal feeling like he was sitting on a bed of thorns.

“If Isaac……, that witch……, has done something bad, what will you do……”

Rihan liked that witch.

Though they hadn’t seen each other very often, he was a good-hearted and earnest young man. During the legendary witch sweep a few years ago, he had even rendered great service. From the witches’ perspective, he might be considered a traitor.

Rihan recalled Isaac’s sorrowful eyes as he looked around at the dying witches. He was a young man who possessed the blood of both witch and human, agonizing over the pain of both.

Even though he was now said to be a pureblood witch, Rihan couldn’t imagine him doing something bad behind Kyan’s back while raising a chicken in the small annex, bickering with cats, and living peacefully. ‘I’m usually a good judge of character, too……’

However, that wizard wouldn’t have risked his own life to frame Isaac. He might have snitched to gain favor, but knowing Kyan’s personality, there was no way he would fabricate a story that didn’t exist.

“If that bastard did something behind my back.”

Kyan muttered.

At that spine-chillingly cold voice, Rihan felt a shiver down his back.

“I will bind him with chains made of pure silver. He won’t be able to step a single foot outside the annex for the rest of his life, and he won’t be able to meet anyone but me.”

“Yes, it actually seemed like a good idea. He didn’t particularly like seeing the guy wandering around freely anyway.” Kyan muttered to himself, sounding like it was a joke but also not a joke.……It sounded like a joke, but it was the truth.

Rihan looked at Kyan in disbelief.

He wouldn’t eliminate a traitor? That made no sense. If he hadn’t heard it with his own ears, he would never have believed it. This was a man who used to kill even beloved pets and subordinates he had kept by his side for quite a while without lingering attachment over the slightest mistake.

“No matter what happens, that witch is mine. If the hands of another touch him——I will tear them to shreds and lock my witch up forever. So that only I can see him.”

The voice spitting out the words low was chillingly cold and resolute.

At the same time, those words held an agonizing pain, almost like a curse.

Rihan looked at Kyan and bowed his head.

At least that witch will keep his life, he felt relieved, while a corner of his heart stung.

* * *

It was a few weeks later when Kyan set out for an expedition to the border again.

The hand that slaughtered monsters relentlessly had always been ferocious, but his terrifying, eerie momentum made everyone whisper and shrink back, saying it felt like the Prince from the days before all the witches disappeared from the world had returned.

Rihan, who was drafted as backup at that time, felt like he was facing the old Kyan for the first time in a while. As frightening and brave as ever, but far more chilling, distant, and feeling as if he were behind a ten-thousand-year-old wall of ice.

‘Please, let it not be so. Please, let it not be that the witch betrayed this person.’

‘Prince Kyan has been a bit strange lately. I don’t really have anything specific to point out, but…… he doesn’t speak much, and when he stares at me, his expression is so heavy. Did something upset him? ……It would be nice if he didn’t just bottle it up and told me instead.’

Right before leaving for the expedition, Isaac, whom he ran into by chance in the yard, had grumbled.

‘Haiya……, it would be nice if he could just live with a more relaxed mind now……. Please take good care of Prince Kyan while you are out on the expedition. I want to go with him, but he won’t let me out on the battlefield.’

Speaking like that and sighing sullenly, Isaac looked utterly sincere without a hint of hiding anything. Rihan held back the words he almost said to Isaac.

Following the wizard’s advice, they investigated systematically, and the more they looked into it, the clearer it became: Isaac had been secretly using teleportation magic to go somewhere while Kyan was away, and every time he returned, he exhibited a refreshed and satisfied demeanor, as if he had relieved a pent-up desire.

Under such circumstances, Kyan, who had remained silent without saying a word, set out on his next expedition——

And right now, he was secretly returning to the capital, a full 3 days earlier than the scheduled date he had announced.

* * *

When Prince Kyan, acting on the secret notification from the court wizard who had been monitoring the presence, stormed into the annex, the bedroom door was locked.

Even though Isaac had supposedly gone inside and locked the door, there was absolutely no presence inside.

*CRASH!!!*

When Kyan smashed the doorknob of the heavy bedroom door with a single kick and entered, sure enough, there was nothing inside.

No, to be precise, there were presences that jumped in surprise. One, two, three short presences leaping up.

A bluish light was shining from inside the bedroom. On one wall, a massive, pitch-black hole was wavering like a shadow, and around that hole, an eerie blue light flickered.

It looked like a sinister passageway. In front of that pitch-black hole sat three cats, who jumped up in surprise and scrambled frantically upon seeing the sudden intruders.

Snatching up the jumping, meowing cats in an instant, Kyan gripped all three of their necks at once with both hands. Caught in his firm grasp, the cats nervously rolled their large eyes.

“Cats. Where is my witch? Take me to where my witch is.”

Kyan commanded.

The cats rolled their eyes and meowed, pretending not to know, pretending not to understand, and feigning ignorance. But as the grip on their necks tightened to the point of strangulation, they couldn’t breathe properly and their eyes bulged.

“I don’t make empty threats, you beasts. So listen carefully. Right now, before I count to three, if you don’t take me to where my witch is, I will lock you all in a silver cage for the rest of your lives and feed you nothing but crow meat and rotten water.”

The cats’ eyes doubled in size. To think those eyes could get any bigger…… Rihan marveled inwardly, while Kyan, ignoring the cats’ meows that sounded like excuses, counted the numbers without hesitation, neither slow nor fast.

“One…… Two…… Thre—.”

The moment the final number was about to drop from his lips, their vision wavered.

The pitch-black hole wavering like a shadow on the wall suddenly stretched wide like an opening maw, and swallowed them whole in an instant.

As if eaten by a monster’s belly, their vision went black.

The heavy, suffocating air crushing their entire bodies, the sensation of all directions shaking wildly—they couldn’t tell up from down, if they were lying down or hanging upside down. They couldn’t even grasp the flow of time in this bizarre feeling.

Perhaps a brief moment, perhaps an agonizingly long time passed after being trapped in that bizarre space.

At some point, they stood in a dead-silent space, as if nothing had happened.

A vast room with an unfathomably high ceiling and the opposite wall visible far in the distance.

A place with no lamps lit and no windows, yet radiantly dazzling.

“This place is……”

Rihan muttered in bewilderment.

Treasures overflowed everywhere. Gold and silver coins were piled to the ceiling, self-illuminating orbs, winged shoes, spinning wheels that spun golden thread—everywhere he looked, bizarre and wondrous things gleamed.

The King’s Royal Treasury.

The place he had only heard of through rumors.

If the King, who cherished his treasures dearly, found out, he would jump up and down in a fury, but they had brazenly entered the deepest sanctum, guarded by dozens of soldiers and sealed by multiple layers of doors and locks.

「We’re finally here, we’re here.」

「Manbang-ie is going to be mad at us for no reason, what do we do.」

「Can’t be helped. It’s better than filling our bellies with crow meat and rotten water.」

Just then, a buzzing sound came from very close by.

Rihan flinched, suddenly noticing three house-sized tigers crouching next to them. The beasts, grumbling with swollen, displeased expressions, instantly shut their mouths when Kyan glared at them.

Soon, in the dead-silent space, Kyan turned his gaze.

In a place where there should be absolutely no one, a faint presence was emanating from deep inside.

Quietly stepping toward it, the wizard and Rihan followed behind Kyan, silencing their footsteps.

As they passed a few pillars of gold coins soaring to the ceiling, they spotted their target.

In the distance stood Isaac.

He was walking slowly, looking around the treasury as if entranced.

Right, come to think of it, witches love shiny things. But wasn’t he going to meet someone……? What is he doing here? Is he stealing……?

Isaac was staring at the myriad of treasures as if blinded by their brilliance. He occasionally stroked a golden calf or fiddled with a jeweled crown, but showed no signs of stealing. He merely gazed at them with enchanted eyes.

Then, suddenly, Isaac shook off his lingering attachment and walked briskly toward one spot. And, as if reaching his intended destination, he stopped.

It was in front of a massive golden cabinet. On top of it was a mirror. A large mirror, like a tray, bordered in bronze.

Is that it? Is he going to summon someone using that as a magical medium?

Rihan held his breath. Beside him, Kyan radiated an icy aura that made Rihan’s body shrink back.

Right at that moment.

Isaac stroked the mirror. Stroking it slowly as if caressing it, he whispered quietly.

“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all……?”

The moment the low spell dropped from the witch’s lips.

The mirror began to glow softly. The mirror, which seemed clouded as if covered in fog, cleared up shortly after, and the person reflected in it was,

“…….”

Even from a distance, they could clearly tell. That dazzling blond hair, sculpted features, jade-like eyes.

Rihan, who was frozen and unable to breathe properly, rigidly turned his eyes to glance at the man standing next to him.

Prince Kyan.

The greatest beauty in all the land.

A man whose appearance could undeniably overwhelm anyone was standing right there. And that man was staring fixedly at the mirror Isaac was facing. At his own face reflected within it.

「It’s a face that makes you want to feed it a poisoned apple.」

「Let’s feed it! Let’s feed it a poisoned apple and detach it from Manbang-ie!」

「It’s no use. Even if he were a corpse lying in a glass coffin, as long as his face is pretty, Manbang-ie would probably still kiss him, wouldn’t he?」

「That’s true. He’s the kid whose life was ruined because he was blinded by a face. Ruined it once, what’s to stop him from ruining it twice?」

「No matter what, surely our Manbang-ie isn’t a necrophile.」

The noisy buzzing sounds from the side stopped as if doused in cold water the moment the metallic clatter of Kyan gripping his sword hilt rang out.

No one, no one said a word. No one even moved. In that silence where even the drop of a pin could be heard, only Isaac, completely oblivious, stared blankly into the mirror.

Soon, a long sigh was heard.

“Ah……, seriously, no matter how much I look, he’s so pretty…… How can he be this pretty……”

Isaac groaned and carefully stroked the mirror. He stroked the image in the mirror as if it were precious, even though he couldn’t possibly feel it. The image, formed like a painting, was moving vividly within the mirror. As expected of the King’s treasure. How could it conjure such a lifelike entity? It was said to be a mirror stolen after feeding a poisoned apple to the queen of a snowy land……

After staring into the mirror and stroking it for a long time, Isaac whispered at some point.

“Please come back quickly. I miss you.”

Whispering so softly lest anyone hear, he blushed faintly.

Then he clicked his tongue and let out a self-deprecating sigh, saying, “Really, I just have to wait a few more days.” After that, Isaac gently leaned in and pressed his lips against the mirror. Softly, with affection.

Without even noticing the blue eyes staring piercingly at him, several times.

Meanwhile, Isaac’s breathing slowly grew heavier.

“Ah, seriously, I told you to come before the new moon……”

Lust tinged his grumbling, lamenting voice. Now that he thought about it, the new moon was approaching. The night when witches vibrated with vitality as if intoxicated was right around the corner.

Even from a distance, they could see Isaac’s face flushing as he kissed the mirror repeatedly, desire shimmering in his expression. Even in his low breaths, lust was evident.

「Kyaaaang! I told you I didn’t want to come here because I didn’t want to see this! My eyes rotted before, and now they’re rotting again!」 The buzzing sound whispered once more.

At that moment.

Kyan took a step.

When Isaac finally noticed the presence striding unhesitatingly toward him and turned around in shock, Kyan was already right in front of him.

“——! Ky,”

Before Isaac, eyes wide in shock, could even properly open his mouth, Kyan grabbed Isaac’s arm and pulled him away from the mirror. And without giving him a chance to catch his breath, he bit Isaac’s lips.

“You wicked witch.”

Kyan muttered lowly through grinding teeth, and as if he couldn’t endure even that brief gap, he crashed their lips together again. With a rough and fierce kiss as if to devour him whole, Kyan’s hand slipped downward. Isaac gasped as the hand grasped his gradually swelling member.

“Sneaking in here every time I’m away,”

“——.”

“Were you using me to satisfy your lust? Reeking of this bewitching scent?”

“P-prince, Ky, an, when did you return,”

“Tell me.”

Kyan grabbed Isaac’s chin, flustered and trying to step back, and stared down at him. Under that terrifying gaze, Isaac rolled his eyes wildly in panic before finally dropping his shoulders.

“I don’t always do this. ……I heard there was a mirror in the King’s royal treasury that reflects the prettiest person in the world, so originally I just wanted to see the face……, just your face, Your Highness……. But since the new moon happened to be approaching……, I’m sorry.”

Staring at Isaac, who stammered excuses with a flushed red face, Kyan swallowed a low breath. Then he pulled Isaac in and fiercely tore open the buttons fastened tightly up to his neck, biting his lips and his nape.

Kyan’s rough touch was unusually impatient. Mounting him fiercely as if to devour Isaac whole, he suppressed even the slightest resistance.

As if something he had barely been suppressing was unleashed in an instant.

As if the unfamiliar knot of anxiety, anger, and pain was untangled all at once.

Hot breaths soon mixed. Embarrassed, sharp gasps were quickly swallowed up and vanished.

And——.

「See, I told you. I said he’d ruin his life blinded by a face.」

「Tsk tsk, as soon as he heard about the mirror, he even offered up wine and ran off so excitedly.」

Buzzing sounds echoed near their heads.

On top of the golden cabinet where the mirror sat, the three tigers had climbed up and were looking down.

Beneath those rolling eyes, Kyan, who had briefly stopped moving, lifted his head. After making eye contact with the wizard—who was frozen like a stone statue—and Rihan, he finally looked at the three tigers.

Fierce words dropped from Kyan’s lips.

“If you don’t disappear right now with them, crow meat and rotten water will be—”

Before he could even finish, the quick-witted cats let out a loud, wailing screech, *Weeeeng!*

And.

Rihan, and the Court Wizard, suddenly found themselves standing alone back in the annex bedroom.

The pitch-black tunnel that had wavered like a shadow on the bedroom wall had vanished without a trace.

Only the three cats were jumping around wildly next to them as they stood blankly.

Rihan, standing dumbfounded as if waking from a dream, made eye contact with the wizard. The wizard, who had similarly been blinking his eyes for a moment, finally shrank his neck sheepishly.

“I didn’t know this would happen……. I only thought the witch was doing something suspicious…… No, but how are those two going to get out……”

Mumbling excuses defensively, the wizard trailed off, then hurriedly left, saying he had to quickly go tip off the treasury guard. Perhaps thinking that doing so might save his neck later, his frantic footsteps were incredibly fast.

Left alone in the room, Rihan stood blankly for a long time, until at some point, he let out a weak laugh, “Hah.” Then he slumped into a nearby chair. The intensely tense and frozen heart finally relaxed, and his legs gave out.

Whatever the case, it was a relief. A true relief.

The anxiety and pain suppressed beneath that expressionless face. He didn’t want to see such things again.

Rihan sighed deeply, recalling the unfamiliar face of his master he had never even imagined.

It really turned out for the best. That they ended up living together like that.

* * * 

“……! ……!!”

Isaac had been writhing beneath Kyan for quite a while. Moans mixed with cries flowed endlessly, but were swallowed by Kyan and didn’t even make it out.

The clothes haphazardly stripped and crushed beneath the two of them were already a soggy mess. The fabric was completely soaked, slapping wetly every time their bodies moved, yet the overflowing desire showed no signs of stopping.

How much time had passed? How many times had their desire burst and burst again?

“I thought I could definitely lock you up this time,”

Biting Isaac’s cheek, Kyan growled low.

Isaac couldn’t seem to understand the sound echoing in his ear. The member digging into him, relentlessly pounding his lower half without a moment’s rest since earlier, slid in and out without pause. Even though he was already exhausted and struggling, the desires of a witch approaching the new moon continued to heat his body and push his consciousness.

Pleasure so intense he couldn’t breathe, simultaneously with an exhaustion that made him want to pass out.

It had been a long time since Kyan’s lips blocked Isaac every time he tried to say something.

He didn’t want to hear excuses. Or apologies.

He didn’t need any of that. He didn’t need any words.

Just desiring him was enough.

In a desire that couldn’t be satisfied no matter how much he devoured and devoured again, when he poured his climax into Isaac’s body for the umpteenth time.

Isaac, who trembled like a young beast facing a brief death, collapsed onto the floor as if he couldn’t take it anymore, and only then did Kyan’s movements slow. Barely catching his breath atop the body that couldn’t twitch a single finger, Kyan still didn’t rise, continuously biting Isaac’s cheek, lips, and nape.

Sometime later.

Only after lying like that for a while did Isaac, recovering a tiny bit of strength, place his heavy hand on Kyan’s cheek. Languid, exhausted eyes looked at Kyan.

“It really is Prince Kyan……”

A faint voice, sounding like he would pass out at any moment.

The exhausted eyes smiled faintly.

‘I missed you,’ he moved his lips without a sound.

Even though there was a whole slew of things he wanted to say, that was the only phrase he carefully selected and left behind.

Kyan clenched his teeth and stopped breathing for a split second, before their lips crashed together again right after.

Beneath the fiercely pouring kisses, Isaac writhed as if suffocating and collapsed limply again, but Kyan didn’t pull away.

He couldn’t pull away.

——I am, I was the one who missed you this much.

——I didn’t want to be apart for even a single moment.

He wanted to take him wherever he went. He wanted to keep him within arm’s reach at all times. He hoped he would always be there whenever he turned his head.

If not for that unfamiliar fear he felt for the first time in his life—the fear that he might get hurt at any moment—Kyan would have kept Isaac with him wherever he went.

Even while forced to leave him behind in the safest place in the world, he always hungered and starved for him.

He always wanted to see him and touch him.

But.

He wasn’t the only one.

“Witch.”

With their lips touching, Kyan whispered.

“I’ll give you this whole treasury. I’ll give you whatever you want. So, promise me.”

Isaac’s eyes, so close they couldn’t even focus, were looking at Kyan. Kissing those eyelids, Kyan said.

“Always think of me.”

“——.”

“Even when I am far away, or while you are with me. Just as I do. ——Always think of me.”

At that desperate and tender command, Isaac blurred his eyes.

Looking troubled, Isaac barely managed to stammer in a completely hoarse voice that wouldn’t even come out properly.

‘Isn’t there anything else?’

Kyan shut his mouth. Under that sharp gaze staring piercingly down at him, Isaac let out an awkward sigh.

‘Because, I’m already doing that…….’

Looking down at the lips grumbling greedily about whether giving him the treasury wasn’t enough, Kyan almost burst into laughter without realizing it.

But before laughter, what surged hotly first was desperate desire. So Kyan swallowed the escaping groan and dropped his head over Isaac’s face again.

——My witch.

——The only one in the world, just for me.

That priceless treasure beyond anything in this world, Kyan held him tightly in his arms, as if he wanted to embrace him so completely that he could take him into his very own body.

* * *

When will they come out.

Outside the King’s royal treasury, the Court Wizard paced nervously, waiting.

Behind him stood a line of treasury guards, anxious that they might face severe punishment if 

they misspoke.

The King, who had jumped up and rushed over in a panic upon hearing the report that intruders had entered the royal treasury, instantly grew calm upon hearing the intruders were the Prince, and ordered, “OPEN THE DOORS IMMEDIATELY!” But upon opening multiple layers of doors and reaching the final one, they didn’t even dare to peek inside.

There was a continuous presence emanating from beyond the door, but the intruders showed no signs of coming out, so the guards had no choice but to wait outside the door until they emerged.

As time passed and the night deepened, the hot, passionate presence inside the treasury did not cease, and the wizard and guards, completely forgotten from their minds, could only wait endlessly for them under the starry sky.

[Fin]