*——Clang.*

The heavy sound of an iron door closing echoed from a distance. It seemed it was time for the changing of the guard. That meant it was roughly around six in the evening.

Sitting blankly in the windowless room, Isaac quietly tried to estimate the date. He had diligently kept track every time the guards changed shifts since he was brought in, but as the days dragged on, he lost confidence in the accuracy of his own memory.

How much time has passed? Six days? Seven? Or maybe ten? Surely it hasn’t been a fortnight.

Even if he tried to ask someone, the guards watching the cell wouldn’t answer, and there was no one else to ask. Isaac was the only one in this prison.

“……I never thought I’d actually be locked in an underground dungeon.”

Isaac muttered to himself. His voice echoed briefly in the empty room before fading away.

It was a dungeon beneath the Blue Shadow Palace. Though it was too dark to see properly, this underground space seemed to hold about six or seven cells, but Isaac was the only prisoner. Just Isaac, and the guards who rotated shifts twice a day.

There was no reason for a royal palace to have a facility for holding criminals. Heinous criminals who committed grave sins were not to be kept within the palace walls. Even if a royal, a noble, or someone else committed a crime within the palace, they were supposed to be sent to a detention facility on the outskirts of the capital.

However, some of the detached palaces within the royal grounds did have underground holding cells, depending on the circumstances. These weren’t for official criminals, but were mainly used to temporarily lock up servants who had committed a fault against the master of that specific palace. Sometimes they were released after a day or two, and on rare occasions, they might not see the light of day for years, but that was entirely at the discretion of the master of each palace.

In the residences of royals with harsh and cruel temperaments, there was an endless stream of people locked in the underground cells, while the residences of benevolent and kind royals sometimes had no dungeons at all. The Blue Shadow Palace, however, had one. Yet, Isaac was the only person locked inside, and no one had ever been imprisoned here before. The master of the Blue Shadow Palace was the type of man who, if someone committed a fault worthy of being thrown in a dungeon, would simply cut their head off on the spot.

So perhaps he should consider himself lucky to be locked in a cell rather than dead……

“It feels like just yesterday I was trying so hard to avoid being locked in an underground dungeon and having my blood sucked dry for the rest of my life……”

In the end, it seemed it was his destiny to end up locked in a dungeon one way or another.

Leaning his back against the cold stone wall, Isaac let out a sigh.

Just then, footsteps approached from the end of the hallway. Since the iron door had clanged shut moments ago, it was likely the guard coming in for his shift.

Normally, a prison would have a jailer, but since no one had ever been imprisoned in the Blue Shadow Palace’s underground before, there was no designated jailer. Therefore, the royal guards were temporarily acting as wardens.

“……Yo, Hoden.”

Isaac mumbled, looking at the guard sitting on the chair outside the iron bars.

“Night shift today? You were on the night shift yesterday, too. Being put on back-to-back night shifts right after getting married, did you do something to get on Captain Simon’s bad side?”

Isaac struck up a conversation casually, but an answer did not easily return. Hoden looked at Isaac with a complicated gaze before giving a short reply, “It just happened that way.”

Isaac had served in the Royal Guard for a long time. He knew most of the guards. Depending on the squad, there were those he was closer with and those he was less close with, but they had all rolled in the dirt together during training and drowned in drinks together during off-hours. Until just a few months ago, they were the kind of friends who joked around and laughed together without any reserve.

“Today’s day shift was Ethe, and yesterday’s day shift was Olsen…… Tomorrow Olsen will probably take the day, and Ethe the night? But how did you three end up being the only ones assigned to this? Working in a gloomy dungeon must be a pain. Though I guess standing watch here might be easier than doing exterior guard duty.”

Even as Isaac continued to speak, Hoden offered no real response. He just sat there in silence, dropping his gaze awkwardly.

Isaac babbled on alone before finally shutting his mouth. It was the same with the other guards during their shifts. It made him realize all over again just how narrow a witch’s place in this world truly was.

Well, it was said that even exchanging a few words with a witch would drain one’s vital energy and steal their luck. It was said that witches were cunning and wicked, approaching with a friendly facade and sweet words while harboring schemes to bring harm. So it was entirely natural that they were wary of him.

“……Still, it hurts a little to be treated this coldly, you punk.”

Isaac grumbled sullenly. Hoden flinched his shoulders and cast a subtle glance his way. But Isaac didn’t force any further conversation. It would only make things difficult for him anyway.

Isaac knew that the reluctance in Hoden’s eyes was mixed with a hint of apology. A few of his other colleagues were the same. Because he was a witch, they felt reluctant and fearful, so they avoided him, but at the same time, they felt sorry for doing so and pitied Isaac for being practically shunned by everyone. But Isaac fully understood why they couldn’t just open their hearts and approach him.

Yeah, choosing to cross over to the Land of the Dark Moon was the right decision.

Aside from the fact that he was now a pureblood witch, how could he possibly live a peaceful, quiet life here with rumors of his true nature spread everywhere, enduring those kinds of stares? It was ruined.

Isaac scratched his head vigorously. Then he suddenly let out a sigh.

‘Anyway, I wonder if the tinderbox is safe.’

That day, he had been seized by the guards on the spot and dragged straight to the dungeon without any time to prepare, so he hadn’t had a chance to grab the tinderbox. Since he had already dumped out all the gold coins it contained, no one was likely to steal an empty, battered old box—even if they took the gold. Still, he worried someone might have thrown it away. If he lost it again, those cats would definitely start wailing loudly.

“……”

The cats…… Isaac suddenly furrowed his brow. Just as a heavy sigh was about to escape his chest, the sound of the iron door opening and closing echoed from the end of the hall.

‘The guard shift already happened,’ Isaac thought. Looking out, he saw Hoden, who had been sitting outside the bars, hurriedly stand up while looking down the hall. ‘……I know who it is.’ Isaac stood up as well.

Soon, heavy footsteps approached, and the owner of those footsteps stopped in front of the iron bars where Isaac was confined. As expected, it was the Prince.

The Prince, looking at Isaac inside the cell, cast a glance at Hoden, who immediately unlocked the iron door and stepped aside. Hoden merely closed the bars lightly from the outside without locking them and retreated.

Normally, a person of such high status would never enter a cell holding a prisoner alone, nor would they leave the bars unlocked like that, but right now, no one cared about such things. Everyone knew full well that absolutely nothing dangerous was going to happen to him.

“Are those guys doing alright?”

That was the first thing Isaac asked as he bowed to greet the Prince. It was because he had just been thinking about them right before this. The Prince sat in the empty chair placed inside the cell and tilted his head.

“Well. Since I moved them from the room to birdcages, I can’t understand a word they say, so I wouldn’t know. To prevent them from wandering around recklessly and getting hurt, I locked the cages with padlocks engraved with the High Priest’s sigil.”

“……Please don’t torment them too much.”

Isaac mumbled sullenly.

On the day Isaac was dragged to the dungeon, he had heard that the tigers were also locked in cages. They said the Prince had pinned down one growling tiger and held a sword to its throat, easily forcing the other two to revert to cats and locking them in cages, before finally forcing the last one back into a cat and locking it up as well.

“Since they are witches anyway, there’s no need to take care of them so they won’t suffer, is there.”

The Prince replied casually. The chilling part was that this offhand remark wasn’t a joke or a threat, but a statement of absolute fact. Isaac’s face darkened.

He was actually more worried about their situation than his own imprisonment. No matter how annoying and spiteful those guys could be, the thought of them crying while locked up out of his sight continued to weigh heavily on his mind.

Moreover, as the Prince said, they were witches. Isaac didn’t think for a second that the Prince, knowing that fact, would take good care of them. No, wait, what if he already killed them for being witches? Whenever that thought flashed through his mind, his chest turned pitch-black.

“If you are that worried, why don’t you use one of the wishes you have left.”

The Prince said. Isaac froze.

A wish. The two remaining wishes. But he couldn’t use them. Because he had left the tinderbox behind.

When Isaac couldn’t answer and just lowered his head sullenly, the Prince, who had been staring at him, tilted his head slightly.

“I see……”

Hearing the Prince mutter as if speaking to himself, Isaac realized: the Prince was just testing him. Testing to see if Isaac could make a wish freely on his own. And now, he had guessed that Isaac could not.

‘This man is so smart, it’s terrifying because I can never tell what he’s thinking,’ Isaac clicked his tongue internally. Even now, staring piercingly at Isaac, there was no telling what was going through this man’s mind.

The Prince came to the dungeon every day. Isaac couldn’t gauge the exact time since he didn’t know what time it was, but he seemed to come quite often. Roughly once or twice a day.

He didn’t stay long. Usually just enough time to finish a meal before leaving. Having just returned to the capital, he must have been incredibly busy day and night, so it was almost strange that he found the time to come at all.

He didn’t do anything special when he came. He just sat inside the iron bars and looked at Isaac. (Though once every few times, they did mix their bodies—and when that happened, Isaac spent the time feeling like he wanted to jump off the cliff from the mortification of sensing his former colleague’s gaze right outside the highly visible cell bars). For the most part, he would just sit there for an amount of time that made Isaac wonder why he even came, and then leave. As if, despite being so busy, he had just come to look at Isaac’s face.

“Three wishes…… It must have something to do with those cats.”

The Prince spoke. Is he trying to bait me again this time? Isaac acted as if he didn’t hear, just blinking his eyes and looking at the Prince. However,

“Then, if I kill all those cats, will you be completely unable to make your remaining two wishes?”

“NO!”

Isaac unconsciously shouted loudly. He had tried to keep his mouth shut, but seeing Isaac lean his entire body forward and change his expression involuntarily, the Prince watched him silently.

‘……Damn it. He definitely figured something out from this again. What he knows now is…… that the cats and the wishes are connected? Ugh, I fell for it, I fell for it.’

Watching Isaac smack his lips in dismay, the Prince seemed to let out a faint chuckle. But when Isaac looked again saying, “Huh?,” the Prince’s face was as expressionless as ever, making it impossible to be sure.

Isaac looked at the Prince and dropped his shoulders.

“……It’s not completely unrelated, but…… I could probably still make a wish even if they weren’t here right now. But please don’t kill them. ……I beg of you.”

The tinderbox was now a complete treasure. He knew that the moment he made his first wish, even without anyone telling him. He could feel just how full of magic that treasure was. Even if the cats weren’t by his side, as long as he had the tinderbox, the wishes could be granted. But separately from that, Isaac didn’t want them to die. No matter how annoying and spiteful they were, absolutely not.

He knew that begging like this was practically exposing his weakness to the enemy. Still, if it was this Prince, he might actually kill them. No, to be honest, it was already a miracle that a man with no mercy for anything that offended him was still keeping them alive……

“……, ……Don’t tell me, they’re already dead…….”

Suddenly struck by a terrifying thought, Isaac’s face paled. Unable to finish his sentence, Isaac stared at the Prince with a stiffened face, and the Prince met his gaze steadily.

“If I killed them. Would you resent me?”

“——.”

The blood drained from Isaac’s face in an instant. His heart plummeted painfully, and his fingertips turned ice-cold. Watching Isaac, whose face had gone horrifyingly pale in the span of a heartbeat, the Prince’s eyebrow twitched, and he spoke up at once.

“I didn’t kill them.”

“……Really?”

“I didn’t kill them. I just put some goat meat in their cages earlier, and I came here right after watching them stop crying and devour the entire mountain of meat.”

“……They also like wine.”

“I gave them some. Their crying changed immediately.”

The Prince cut him off firmly, clicking his tongue. Seeing him answer so promptly, it seemed he really hadn’t killed them. And maybe, they were actually living quite a luxurious life in those cages. Imagining the three of them, who had been wailing 『UWAAAA, UWAAAA,』 suddenly shifting to *myaang-myaang* as they chugged wine, Isaac closed his mouth.……Now that my worry is gone, I’m starting to hate them again.

Still, they weren’t dead. And it seemed they wouldn’t be killed immediately unless something major happened. Isaac’s entire body, which had been rigidly tense, instantly went limp.

“Thank you, Your Highness,” Isaac bowed his head, drooping listlessly, and the Prince watched him quietly.

“To think you can make a wish even without the new moon…… It must have been that day you went to the royal treasury.”

The Prince muttered, almost like a soliloquy. Isaac had to quickly reel back in the tension he had just let go. There was no telling how far this man’s deductions were reaching.

“Why the gold coins?”

The Prince asked slowly. And because Isaac couldn’t immediately think of a quick reply, he paused for a moment.

“I heard that His Majesty doesn’t like it when someone is too greedy for something grand. So I……”

It was a mix of truth and lies that the Prince was unlikely to believe at face value. However, Isaac realized from his question that the Prince’s suspicions hadn’t yet extended to the box itself, and he felt a wave of relief. He kept his head bowed, only raising his eyes to glance at the Prince. He hadn’t realized that navigating each other’s minds like this could be so exhausting.

“I ordered that your room be left completely untouched, so your gold coins should still be sitting right there. Rest assured, no one will take the precious reward you earned.”

The Prince spoke slowly, tapping his fingers while keeping his arms crossed. It seemed he was both suspicious of Isaac, who had blown the chance to get something far more valuable on a mere handful of gold, and secretly mocking him for it.

But Isaac felt relieved once again at those words. If that was the case, there was no worry that someone had thrown the tinderbox away. For now, he could rest easy.

‘But I have to get my hands on it somehow. Before the Great New Moon arrives.’

“What is today’s date?”

Isaac asked. It was a question he asked every time the Prince visited. The exact same conversation was bound to repeat, but Isaac had no choice but to ask again. This was the fundamental problem regarding his imprisonment here.

“Well, the moon has waned quite a bit.”

Looking at Isaac with narrowed eyes, the Prince did not give a clear answer. Isaac could guess that the Great New Moon hadn’t arrived yet, but not knowing exactly how much time was left made him increasingly anxious as the days went by.

If the Great New Moon passed, he couldn’t go to the Land of the Dark Moon. He would have to wait another seven years for the Crescent Moon-Silver Boat to return. That long, long time.

“……Please let me go to the Land of the Dark Moon.”

Isaac said, his voice like a sigh.

There was no deceit or hidden motive; it was his absolute, sincere truth. And it was the only thing Isaac asked of the Prince.

Every time the Prince came, Isaac said those words. And every time he did, he saw the Prince’s face grow colder, but he couldn’t stop himself from asking. Because it was the most central issue at hand.

Having nothing to do while locked in the dungeon, he had constantly thought about it. He thought about it, but he couldn’t understand. Why was he locked up here?

The Prince’s judgment upon Isaac would naturally be one of two things: send him to the Land of the Dark Moon, or kill him.

However, seeing as he was keeping him confined like this, it seemed the Prince had no intention of sending him to the Land of the Dark Moon, which meant…… he intended to kill him.

But on the other hand, if he was going to kill him, there was no reason to keep him alive like this right now. He didn’t have to worry about looking out for Alikisa anymore—there was no need to. And once all the witches left, the new moon curse would end anyway, so Isaac’s blood wasn’t necessary either. It wouldn’t be a shame to kill him right this instant.

And yet, if he didn’t send him to the Land of the Dark Moon and just kept him alive here. That wouldn’t do. That couldn’t happen. As long as a witch remained in the human world, the curse placed upon the Prince would not be lifted.

“You will remain by my side.”

Right then, the Prince, who had been staring blankly at Isaac, spoke. Hearing those words, Isaac raised his head to look at him.

Until now, whenever Isaac said those words, the Prince had only stared at him with cold eyes, offering no reply whatsoever. As if he himself hadn’t reached a conclusion yet——or as if he didn’t know why he was acting this way.

Only now did the Prince give a clear answer. But that answer was something Isaac hadn’t expected. Or more precisely, it was the answer he had assumed would never come.

“……But why……?”

Then the curse won’t break. As long as even one witch remains in the human world, you will not be freed from the agony of the new moon.

The Prince closed his mouth and stared deeply at Isaac. Frowning faintly, he looked lost in thought, his demeanor somewhat unclear. As if the conclusion had been made, but he hadn’t yet figured out the reason for it.

Isaac looked at the Prince with a strange feeling.

The man he knew was not someone like this. He was a man whose every action was clear and sharp as a blade. There were times when he took a moment to deliberate on matters that required deep thought, but he had never been vague like this.

“Perhaps there are more witches hiding in the human world who won’t cross over to the Land of the Dark Moon,”

And,

“I might need your blood every new moon.”

He had never made a decision based on such flimsy reasons—reasons that even he himself didn’t seem entirely convinced by.

The Prince, too, seemed to realize something was lacking in his own words, as a faint furrow formed deeply between his brows.

“……They won’t do that. Everyone will cross over.”

Isaac shook his head.

The cats had said it. All the witches remaining in the human world had decided to cross over to the Land of the Dark Moon during this Great New Moon. They said they were going to abandon this wicked and harsh land of humans.

As individuals, witches were infinitely free-spirited and capricious, but when there was a collective decision, it was their nature to abide by it as if it were an absolute ironclad rule.

Therefore, keeping Isaac behind was meaningless. In fact, doing so would only ensure the curse continued to manifest.

“Witches in the land of witches, humans in the land of humans.” Isaac murmured a phrase he had heard on the wind somewhere before. “I believe those words are right.”

Even if the Isaac who spoke them felt a deep sense of sorrow.

Witches had stayed in the land of humans for far too long. It was time to leave. If they did, half-bloods like him would no longer be born, and the human world would become a place solely for humans. How humans chose to cultivate that land would be entirely up to them.

However,

“I cannot trust the words of a witch.”

The Prince completely cut off Isaac’s words.

Even though he could surely believe that Isaac wouldn’t lie or try to deceive him, he kept saying that same thing over and over during their repeated conversations. I cannot trust the words of a witch. I cannot trust your words. As if that was the only clumsy justification he could muster.

This man is not usually like this.

Or was there some entirely different hidden motive? A political reason why he needed to keep at least one witch alive…… But Isaac thought to himself, then quietly shook his head in denial. It could be possible, but he couldn’t guess what it might be.

“Please send me away.”

So in the end, Isaac just said those words, with as little reason as the Prince’s stubborn insistence. It was the only thing left to say after stripping away all the various excuses.

“Please send me away.”

Isaac repeated it once more, and the Prince’s face grew even colder. The furrow between his brows deepened. The finger tapping his crossed arms became slower and heavier.

“You are a much more headache-inducing and difficult bastard than I thought.”

The Prince muttered, almost to himself. Wondering what this sudden insult was about, Isaac kept his mouth shut and waited for the rest of his words.

“Because of that, when you act stubbornly like this, I get the thought that simply killing you would be the easiest solution,”

“——.”

“……Do not make me angry.”

The Prince finished his sentence. His chillingly shining eyes looked at Isaac, holding a clear warning.

‘Where else would you find a subordinate as obedient and diligent as me, to call me a headache and difficult……’ Having never rebelled once in his life, Isaac felt a sense of unfairness.

“If I make you angry, are you going to cut me down?”

So, for the first time in his life – at least in his own mind – Isaac offered a sullen rebellion. He could see the lips of Hoden, who had been anxiously peeking in from outside the bars, mouthing, ‘Has that bastard lost his mind?’ with wide eyes. Isaac internally thought the same, but having been locked up for an incomprehensible reason for so long, he felt his mind might actually be twisting a bit.

The Prince glared at Isaac with a look of sheer disbelief. ‘Has this bastard lost his mind?’ That exact sentiment was etched onto his expression.

“……Witch.”

“I apologize. I misspoke.”

The moment the Prince’s low voice slipped out dangerously, Isaac quickly answered. He was half snapped back to his senses, and half thinking, Let’s just see how far I can push this. He watched the Prince’s complexion shift from disbelief to absurdity, before suddenly returning to a face utterly devoid of expression.

“……Throughout my life, I have never really experienced what one would call emotional fluctuations. Joy, anger, sorrow—I felt almost none of it. The only thing that ever provoked strong emotions in me was the race known as witches. Only witches ever awakened such intense hatred and rage in me that I thought it was the only emotion I possessed in this world.”

The Prince tilted his head slightly as he spoke. That freezing gaze never left Isaac.

“Whenever I thought of you, I felt a strong, unidentifiable emotion, and I kept wondering what on earth it could be. Now I know. The fact that you truly are a witch.”

“Are you saying I made you angry?”

“……”

Right at that moment, Isaac decided to stop pushing his luck. The Prince was glaring at him terrifyingly, with a look that clearly said if Isaac added even one more word, he really would draw his sword.

Isaac immediately adopted a groveling mindset, shut his mouth, and bowed his head. He could feel a terrifying gaze bearing down on the top of his head, but thankfully, the Prince did not draw his sword. Waiting for that freezing fury to subside a bit, Isaac unexpectedly let out a soft, silent chuckle.

In the past, they used to exchange these kinds of jokes often. Back when he was in the Royal Guard, he and his colleagues would tease and mess with each other on a daily basis, laughing and chatting the days away. But now, those very colleagues were avoiding him, and the fact that he was doing this with this man, who knew absolutely everything about him, felt both funny and strange, while also making his heart ache with a bitter sting.

‘It would have been nice if I could have lived like this with this man, too. With a comfortable heart like this. If we could continue to be together like this in the future. How wonderful would that be?’

Isaac raised his head. He looked warmly at the Prince, who was still staring at him with a fierce scowl. As he met Isaac’s gaze, he saw the Prince’s frown slowly begin to soften.

‘As expected, I like him. This person is truly lovely and deeply dear to me. Enough to make me greedy.’

“……Being locked up and unable to do anything but sit here listlessly, I find myself lacking in energy.”

Isaac suddenly spoke up at one point. The Prince raised an eyebrow.

“Could you perhaps give me some vital energy?”

Only after he said it did it occur to him that this might be the first time he had actively asked for it first. Furthermore, it felt quite shameless to demand the Prince hand it over when Isaac wasn’t even expending any major energy these days. But brushing those thoughts aside, Isaac looked at the Prince.

The Prince watched Isaac silently. He was still expressionless, but he looked slightly frowning and slightly surprised—a somewhat strange face overall. Somehow, his complexion seemed to turn a bit colder as well.

“No, if you don’t want to, that’s fine,”

Just as Isaac was muttering sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck, the Prince twitched his hand. He only moved it lightly once, but it was a clear gesture of consent.

Isaac smiled. Suddenly, he felt even happier. Yes, he was happy.

The Prince’s gaze landed on Isaac’s lips. As Isaac stood up and walked toward the Prince, that gaze didn’t drop for a second.

Approaching the Prince, who remained perfectly still in his chair, Isaac looked down at him. After a very brief hesitation, he reached out without reserve and wrapped his arms around the Prince’s neck.

The overlapping lips were familiar. Lips that had already overlapped countless times. The only unfamiliar thing was the Prince, who was completely still.

Even though they were so close that their faces were practically touching, the Prince simply stared intensely at Isaac without making a single movement, and Isaac pressed his tongue against him.

It was a bit unfamiliar and somewhat awkward for a moment, but he soon felt it didn’t matter. He just liked this man so much that just kissing him and holding him like this felt wonderful. Is this how a mother feels when she playfully bites and sucks on her baby? Isaac pondered briefly, then shook his head. Absolutely not. His heart wouldn’t be fluttering and racing this heavily if it were.

‘As expected, he is lovely, and I like him.’

Rather than the act of mixing their lips, or their bodies, it was nice because being intertwined like this made him realize that thought much more intensely and clearly than usual. ‘Ah, he is this lovely.’

After softly licking the Prince’s tongue for a while, Isaac let out a pleasant sigh and relaxed his body. Just as he thought this was enough and pulled his lips away, and just as he lightly pressed his lips against the Prince’s one last time,

“——.”

The Prince grabbed the back of Isaac’s neck and pulled him in. Their lips crashed together again. And this time, it became an entirely different act than a moment before.

It was a fierce, savage kiss, as if he intended to devour him whole. He had tasted it plenty of times before, but every time, his heart pounded with a terrifying unfamiliarity, as if he were newly being eaten by a beast. Isaac wrapped his arms around the Prince and gripped his shoulders tightly. He liked the feeling of the Prince filling his embrace completely. So, amidst the rough breaths, he let out a long sigh.

“It is a witch’s job to bewitch people.”

Suddenly, the Prince muttered lowly. As if in anger, strength surged into the teeth biting down on Isaac’s lips.

“Yes, you are most definitely a witch.”

The hand pulling at the back of Isaac’s neck tightened. As did the arm wrapping around his waist.

“Because I keep thinking about you constantly. What should I do with you…… What do I want to do with you. For days—no, continuously, for much longer than that.”

What the rationality in his mind dictated was clear and concise. Send him away, or kill him. It should have been a simple matter either way.

“Yes, you are definitely a witch——Because I have never felt such an intense emotion for anyone other than a witch.”

“But I don’t know what this is,” the Prince whispered like a soliloquy. At the end of that whisper, he devoured Isaac’s lips again as if angry once more. Accepting the tongue that roughly shoved its way in as if to cut off his breath, Isaac let out the breath he had taken in. His heart pounded wildly.

“……It would be nice if you just called it affection.”

If you could call it affection. The words he unconsciously muttered to himself slipped out like the sound of the wind. He said it lightly, half as a joke, but the moment the words left his mouth, they became his sincere truth. It really would be nice if that were true. If that intense emotion was not hatred.

However,

“That cannot be.” The Prince’s answer returned far too immediately and resolutely.

He knew it would be like that, of course, but Isaac still dropped his shoulders and mumbled, “Right.”

“…… Like this,” The Prince seemed to be trying to say something. But the Prince, who had paused for a moment, crashed his lips against Isaac’s once again, pulling him in so fiercely it felt like he might break his body, and amidst that embrace, his words faded away.

——This rough and savage greed, this urge to swallow you up whole like this…… there is no way it could be something like that……

Isaac thought he faintly caught words brushing past his ear. But they scattered and vanished far too quickly for him to understand them.