Chapter 60

HISS

The fur of all three familiars bristled in a sudden, sharp rhythm.

「Who revealed such a closely guarded secret to a human?」

「Shh! Keep your voice down! Do not speak of it so carelessly!」

“If it has already been written in a book that a human can obtain, then the secret is long gone.”

Admittedly, the volume in question had been so ancient and tattered that only a handful of copies likely remained in the world. Isaac let his shoulders sag. Judging from the agitated reaction of the cats, the method was genuine.

The prince would wait for the next new moon, seize the witch he could identify with the greatest certainty, and excise his heart and eyes.

“Am I truly going to die this time?” Isaac murmured with a long, hollow sigh. Ever since he began working at Blue Shadow Palace, he had believed himself prepared to face death every day. Now that his inevitable demise had taken on a plausible, immediate shape, however, his heart sank.

Then—

— “Have you acquired some appointment with death?”

A voice abruptly reached him. Isaac flinched and pivoted. The prince had opened his eyes at some point; he blinked twice, then shifted only his irises toward Isaac.

“Were you not asleep?”

“I woke up.”

Despite claiming to have just awakened, Kaiyan’s eyes were as piercingly blue as though he had never slept at all. He turned his body and lay on his side, anchoring his gaze upon Isaac.

“You speak with animals?”

“Of course. I have lived alone for so long that I converse with animals, plants, and dolls. ” Isaac masked his alarm as he answered. He made sure to add, his voice light and casual, “Did my voice wake you?

I was speaking very quietly. Could you hear me? ”

“I could sense that you were speaking. That was not why I woke, however. I have never slept deeply.”

“Aren’t you tired?” Isaac asked, though the words felt profoundly unsuited for a man of Kaiyan’s stature.

“I could not say. On the frontier, I survived on one or two hours of sleep each day.”

That surprised Isaac. “You have inhuman stamina.”

“Perhaps I am not human.”

“That is entirely possible.”

If this man claimed not to be human, Isaac felt he might actually believe him. In truth, the idea of Kaiyan being human seemed infinitely more strange. Isaac nodded readily, but then he sensed the prince’s steady, predatory stare and jerked in surprise.

“I did not mean anything by that. I only meant that you are extraordinarily exceptional.”

“…”

“You are so outstanding, magnificent, and valiant that you scarcely seem human…”

“…”

“…I apologize.” Unable to withstand that unwavering gaze, Isaac finally bowed his head. “I truly did not mean it negatively,” he muttered in defense. Kaiyan continued staring until Isaac’s head nearly touched the floor.

Finally, the prince answered, “I know.”

“…”

The calm response came only after the prince appeared to have thoroughly savored Isaac’s mounting discomfort. Isaac’s expression nearly soured, but he managed to maintain a facade of composure.

“You do not appear as though it would trouble you even if I were not human.”

“Well… it is not as though you are especially humanlike now…” Isaac mumbled the words under his breath.

He did not know if the prince heard him. Kaiyan’s eyes narrowed faintly, and Isaac quickly clamped his mouth shut. Fortunately, no response followed.

Still, Isaac genuinely did not think he would care if Kaiyan were not human. The man was dangerous at every moment, but Isaac would not shun him simply because they belonged to different species. Was that because Isaac himself was not entirely human? Or perhaps because he had lived his entire life enduring the biting sensation of being isolated among his peers?

“I suppose whether someone I know is human or something else does not matter in itself.” Though it is rather sad that even if a member of the minority thinks that way, the majority seldom does. Isaac released a light sigh, and Kaiyan watched him.

“Then what does matter?”

“What? I’m not sure.” Isaac thought quietly. Understanding one another—the exchange of raw emotions and trust. Several ideas drifted chaotically through his mind before one emerged. “It would be nice if they were someone I felt comfortable with.”

Someone he could trust and feel safe beside. Whether they were a witch, a human, or something else entirely would not matter. Isaac stopped when he met the prince’s vivid blue eyes, which had been watching him intently. This man is not remotely comforting. His face shriveled immediately.

Kaiyan watched him blink and shift his gaze away, then murmured as though speaking to himself. “You say whatever comes to mind, yet you are not entirely fearless. You do not appear oblivious, nor particularly rebellious, but neither are you especially obedient.”

It was an exceptionally accurate assessment. Isaac pressed his lips together and remained silent. The prince did not appear to expect a response, merely staring at Isaac for a time before abruptly changing the subject.

“So you expect to die soon?”

Only then did Isaac remember what he had been muttering when Kaiyan awakened. “What? Ah, yes. Times have been rather unsettled lately, so I have begun to think it might happen before long.”

You will probably pull out my heart and eye soon, Your Highness. Isaac could hardly say that aloud, so he answered evasively.

“Do you not wish to die?” the prince asked.

Isaac considered the question, then nodded. “I would like to live a little longer.”

“Is there something you wish to do while alive?”

This time, Isaac thought for longer. He possessed no clear, tangible ambition, but the life he desired came to mind immediately. “I would like to live quietly in a pretty house with a pretty wife and raise pretty chickens.”

Kaiyan raised an eyebrow, his otherwise expressionless face appearing almost dumbfounded. “That does not sound difficult. Why have you failed to do it?”

“What are you talking about? It is extremely difficult. ” Isaac answered with complete seriousness. “Pretty chickens are one thing. To own a pretty house with a yard large enough to raise them, I would need considerable wealth. That alone is no simple matter. More importantly, the pretty wife is the difficult part. She must possess an appearance suited to my preferences, while also liking me in return.”

That final condition was the most challenging. People often discovered that they were more attracted to qualities other than appearance once they grew close, but mutually falling in love with such a person was hardly easy.

Then Kaiyan said something Isaac had never considered. “Does the other person truly need to like you?”

Isaac blinked at him. He stared for a long moment at the man’s unchanging, indifferent face before answering firmly. “Of course.”

There truly was something missing inside this man. Isaac had known it already, but realizing it anew caused a dull ache in his chest.

“How wonderful is it when the person you love also loves you? Has that never happened to you?”

“I have never considered such a thing. Has it happened to you?”

“Yes.” Though none of those experiences had led to a favorable result. Then again, Isaac wondered whether relationships between people could even be said to possess a definitive result. He had experienced that joy many times, both great and small.

It was not only with romantic partners. The feeling that someone he cherished and loved also cherished and loved him in return—however trivial the moment—became engraved upon one’s life like treasure. Isaac wished this man had experienced something like that too.

“Then why are you still a virgin?”

“…”

Perhaps it would be stranger if he had experienced it.

The thought escaped Isaac before he could stop it. He pressed his suddenly heavy temple. “Sometimes people have unavoidable circumstances.”

“I do not know how extraordinary those circumstances may be, but sleeping with a person would seem preferable to doing it with a sausage.”

“…”

The heaviness in Isaac’s temple threatened to become a full throb. Perhaps it was only his imagination, but although Kaiyan’s face remained as expressionless as ever, Isaac felt as though he were being mocked. He did not know why it still irritated him.

“I simply haven’t done it. I would be good at it if I decided to.”

I may be a virgin, but that does not make me an innocent fool. Isaac glared sullenly at the prince and made his claim in an aggrieved voice. Perhaps Kaiyan disliked the tone, or perhaps he disliked Isaac’s insolent glare.

Isaac could not tell.

The prince raised an eyebrow and sat up. The movement resembled an enormous predator rising to its feet, and Isaac instinctively tensed.

“You.”

The prince called out abruptly.

The person he pointed at was not Isaac.

A maid was walking toward them from the direction of the outer palace, perhaps returning from an errand. She had just begun turning toward the rear entrance when the prince’s voice stopped her.

Once she realized Kaiyan was addressing her, she hurried forward and dropped into a deep, graceful bow. “Yes, Your Highness. Did you summon me?”

Isaac recognized her immediately. She was a regular fixture at Blue Shadow Palace, tasked with tidying and various odd jobs—the daughter of a merchant residing on the capital’s outskirts. She was a vibrant, free-spirited woman, known for her casual trysts with several palace servants. Isaac had exchanged idle pleasantries with her on more than one occasion while navigating the corridors.

“You claimed you would be proficient, if given the chance.”

Kaiyan turned his gaze toward Isaac and gestured at the maid with a slight tilt of his chin. The woman darted glances between them, her expression a mask of confusion.

Isaac blinked, his mind reeling. The implications of the gesture were impossible to misinterpret.

‘Prove it.’

But prove what, exactly? To what extent? When? And where?

“Do you mean… now? Right here?” Isaac asked, his voice wavering.

Kaiyan held his gaze, offering only a subtle, near-imperceptible nod.

Isaac stood breathless, his tongue tied, until he finally managed a strained response. “I don’t want to.” From his perspective, it was the only reasonable reaction. He had selected neither the partner, nor the timing, nor the setting. None of this was of his own volition.

Kaiyan narrowed his eyes. “Did you say you do not want to? ”

Oh, no.