Chapter 20

「Look at this one. A magician, disgracefully indulging in such grotesque displays in broad daylight—」

Isaac grabbed the chattering cat by the neck, silencing it instantly. He could not be discovered. The instinct screamed through his nerves. It was not merely that the prince—who stood untouched after butchering a monstrosity—was more terrifying than the beast itself; it was the implication of the words.

A magician of Granion?

Had a servant of the Grand Duke, the prince’s own uncle, orchestrated this assassination attempt?

Isaac had stumbled into a conspiracy that should have remained buried.

“Oh, no, no. Granion has nothing whatsoever to do with this,” the magician replied smoothly. “I, Volkan, senior court magician, have come privately to make a request of Lord Kaiyan.”

Isaac pressed himself into the brush, his breath hitched in his throat. Volkan had likely rigged this barrier to lure Kaiyan and summon the beast. Isaac knew the name; Volkan was a capable courtier, one trusted enough to serve a man as exalted as the Grand Duke. But what motive could drive such a man to this?

“A magician with a private request for me…?” Kaiyan murmured.

Volkan offered a laugh that rang with a faint, metallic edge. “I knew full well that a magical beast like Kredalaus—the hellish bull that breathes flame—would not scratch you. But I did not expect you to finish it this easily. You are truly Lord Kaiyan, born under the oracle that spoke of something inhuman wrapped in human skin.”

Isaac’s heart skipped a beat. That was the forbidden phrase, the one whispered in the darkest corners of the palace.

[Something inhuman shall be born wrapped in human skin.]

It was the temple’s oracle, delivered at dawn on the day Kaiyan was born. The child had neither wept nor smiled; he possessed a power that eclipsed all others, a power that even his parents and siblings feared. It was said that this was why he had been exiled to the harsh, distant frontier while still a boy.

Kaiyan stood motionless. He shook the blood from his blade with an air of profound, listless boredom.

“And to kill you? How could you suggest such a terrifying thing? You know we court magicians swear an oath of loyalty upon entering the palace. This Volkan is no different. I do not so much as contemplate harming Lord Kaiyan, and unless the oath carved into my heart is shattered, I cannot act against you.”

Volkan bowed deeply.

As he claimed, the oath was absolute; they could not use magic to harm royalty directly. Unless the vow were broken by searing their own hearts with a brand soaked in royal blood, the prince remained untouchable.

At least, untouchable in the physical sense.

“This Volkan knows full well that Lord Kaiyan is not a man to be trifled with by such trivialities. To you, every predator stalking these lands is nothing more than a tedious, dull nuisance, a mere plaything awaiting your blade. Yet, surely, this Kredalaus served a purpose? I witnessed it—that rapturous glow in Lord Kaiyan’s eyes the very moment you cleaved it down. Tell me, was it not sublime? Was this not the singular gift that would sate Lord Kaiyan more than all the gold, silver, or jewels in the world? Is this not exactly what Lord Kaiyan desires…?”

Volkan’s eyes narrowed as he fixed his gaze upon Kaiyan, a slick, feverish gleam dancing in his pupils that bordered on madness.

“This Volkan knows. Lord Kaiyan thrives on this, does he not? The intoxicating, dizzying thrill that eludes the banality of daily life—the iron-scent of fresh blood, the rhythmic, visceral writhing of flesh as it expires—”

Kaiyan offered nothing, his features a mask of impenetrable indifference. Volkan lowered his voice, dropping it to a conspiratorial, grating murmur.

“There are but a handful within the kingdom capable of invoking a magical beast of Kredalaus’s caliber. Should Lord Kaiyan so desire, I, Volkan, can orchestrate such diversions at any hour—secretly, of course. Lord Kaiyan would gain a loyal shadow, a servant to whom he could entrust his most shadowed secrets, provided you deign to form a contract with this Volkan.”

Good heavens. A madman. Isaac struggled to determine which thought arrived first. Huddled deep within the undergrowth, he could only gape, paralyzed by the sheer audacity of the exchange.

—I shall facilitate your slaughter to your heart’s content, so pray, strike a bargain with me.

The arrogance of that proposition, premised entirely on the assumption that the prince was a blood-crazed monster, was insanity personified. Equally deranged was the notion of peddling murder as a recreational service. It was little wonder the common folk whispered behind the backs of magicians, labeling the lot of them a cabal of lunatics. Yet, beneath the shock, a cold realization struck him. It might actually work on that prince.

That sounds unsettlingly plausible, Isaac conceded, the thought lingering unbidden in his mind.

He had long heard that every ambitious magician coveted a contract with Kaiyan, but he had never imagined witnessing such a spectacle firsthand. Here stood a man already bound to another, serving a grand duke, bathed in unimaginable wealth and prestige, yet he was so desperate to secure that prince that he dared to shatter the ultimate taboo: dragging horrors from other dimensions into this world.

As Isaac swallowed a dry knot of dread, the cats behind him rustled through the foliage, engaged in some inexplicable, feline mischief. What in the hell were they doing? They clawed at the loam, chattering incessantly about “here” and “there.” Fortunately, the two men locked in their tense confrontation ahead remained oblivious.

Isaac, his nerves strung tight as wire, was the only one who jerked his head around to glare at them.

Can you little bastards hold your tongues?

Isaac shrieked the words silently, his lips moving without sound. The cats remained unfazed. One of them, hopping between exposed tree roots as if chasing a beetle, merely waved a dismissive paw at him.

「You, you. Could you pass me your knife? This little thing keeps wriggling in the dirt and refuses to be caught; I really ought to dig a hole.」

There are plenty of worms by the graves in our front yard, so catch them later and stay quiet right now!

「It isn’t a worm.」

Whether it’s a worm, a centipede, or a spider, shut up!

「Did you hear that? Apparently, he raises bugs in his front yard.」

「Goodness. Of all things to raise, he keeps insects? I knew there was something fundamentally lacking about him, but what a bizarre, pathetic hobby. Who in the world would ever claim him…」

THUD

Isaac drove his blade into the soil, grounding it firmly between the two cats as they huddled together, their whispers dying instantly into a tomb-like silence. His knuckles turned white as he gripped the hilt buried in the earth, his expression a lethal warning: one more chirp, and he would butcher them where they stood.

In that sudden, ringing silence—

“If you contract with me, I will grant Lord Kaiyan his deepest cravings.”

Volkan’s low, honeyed temptation slithered through the air again. After a beat of heavy silence, Kaiyan finally responded.

“This is insufficient.”

In that heartbeat, a jolt of ice pierced Isaac’s spine, his shoulders hunching instinctively. That brief, clipped sentence bled a killing intent so absolute it raised the very hair on his arms. It felt as though some monstrous, caged bloodlust had been violently unbarred by the recent slaughter.

Volkan’s visage drained of color, his lips trembling under the crushing weight of that gaze. It was no surprise; few could survive facing such primal, terrifying malice head-on. Yet, precisely because of that bloodlust, the magician seemed emboldened, his face twisting into an ecstatic, jagged grin.

“Of course. That is precisely why I prepared a sequel. This one shall satisfy you without fail,” his voice rasped, a nauseating blend of terror and dark rapture.

The unpleasant sensation of that voice scraping against his nerves flickered through Isaac’s mind, but it was a secondary concern. The immediate, looming catastrophe—the one Isaac sensed in that very moment—was far more tangible.

“…What is this?”

The vibration crawling up the steel of the knife buried in the earth forced the words from his throat. Whatever writhed beneath the soil, pierced by his blade, was no mere worm. It was gargantuan. A snake? No, a python?

No.

It was something far more ancient and massive.

Isaac surged to his feet, abandoning caution as animal instinct seized control.

He leaped backward just as a black, whip-like appendage erupted from the earth, lashing the empty air where he had stood a second before with a deafening, heavy WHUMPH.

The appendage thrashed violently, whipping through the void before the rest of the monstrosity began clawing its way from the depths. Isaac had unwittingly vaulted into the space between the magician and the prince. He thought, I’m done for, but he had no time to ponder his demise; he was too occupied evading the lashing tentacles tearing through the air.

The two men, momentarily startled by Isaac’s sudden intrusion, scrambled for cover as more whip-like strands erupted from the ground, one after another.

「He stabbed it. He actually did.」

「He caught the middle head perfectly.」

「Hidessa is properly enraged now.」