Chapter 89

“What?” Elli scowled, her features twisting with irritation.

She had already complained bitterly about the extraction of her precious vitality, yet the cats tapped their tails against her ankles in silent, insistent prodding.

「Now, now,」 they purred in unison, the sound echoing in her mind. 「Grant our child one more attempt.」 「The poor little thing is struggling so earnestly merely to survive.」

Elli glared down at them, clicking her tongue in sharp disapproval. “Fine. Once. Only a very little.”

She stretched her neck toward him, and Isaac, nodding in acknowledgement, approached. He intended only to verify that he had mastered the technique before stopping; otherwise, he feared the lingering desire might spiral out of control. With that thought, Isaac cupped Elli’s cheek and gently pressed his lips to hers.

At that instant, he felt her entire body lock in place. Her eyes widened, and at his feet, the cats’ fur stood rigidly on end.

“Oh my…”

A small, startled whisper drifted from over his shoulder.

Isaac stiffened, instantly forcing himself to mask his dismay before turning with the most ordinary expression he could muster. He had no idea who had witnessed the scene, but he knew he had to smooth the situation over, and quickly.

“Oh, it was Elli. My goodness. And Sir Guard as well…” Grace stood before them, hands clasped, her gaze darting between the pair in bewildered surprise. At the same moment, Isaac encountered the prince standing beside her, and his mind went entirely blank.

Kaiyan watched Isaac without a word, his vivid blue eyes darkened almost to black. His face remained as expressionless as ever, yet the air around him felt entirely different. Isaac could not name the sensation that chilled him from the marrow out.

Kaiyan’s gaze shifted from Isaac to Elli, who recoiled visibly. Under the crushing weight of the prince’s gaze, she trembled so violently that she seemed incapable of taking a single step to hide behind Isaac, her face draining to the color of a corpse.

“Oh, Elli… There is no need to be quite so frightened,” Grace offered sympathetically, yet Elli did not appear to hear her. Even the cats crouched at her feet with their fur standing on end, their tails swollen and rigid.

Why?

This was no mere misunderstanding. Not only were Elli, the cats, and Isaac paralyzed, but even Grace and the guards standing at a distance watched the prince with palpable unease.

Kaiyan stood amidst an aura of terrifying, absolute coldness.

Instinct screamed danger, and Isaac forced a shallow breath into his frozen chest. How did I fail to notice him approaching? He must have been utterly absorbed in the feeding.

“I believe I told you I would not tolerate you touching a human,” Kaiyan finally spoke, his low voice colder and heavier than ice.

Those who had been watching in tense silence exchanged confused, fearful glances. Isaac immediately recalled the words Kaiyan had spoken at the banquet: no witch would be permitted to touch a human in his presence.

“It isn’t like that…” Isaac began to answer, but he stopped short. Kaiyan’s expressionless eyes rested steadily upon him, waiting for an explanation, yet Isaac could say nothing. He could not explain that he had not intended to harm a human, nor could he reveal that Elli was not human at all. When Isaac closed his mouth without speaking, a faint, dangerous tension tightened Kaiyan’s jaw.

Isaac’s chest went cold and plummeted.

“Although they have neglected their duties, it is a pleasant night. Please overlook it just this once.” Grace, who had been watching cautiously, stepped forward. She placed one hand affectionately upon Kaiyan’s arm and gestured toward Isaac and Elli. “They already appeared fond of one another. Such things are perfectly natural between a young man and woman.”

Grace smiled generously, gently stroking Kaiyan’s arm. The prince’s gaze fell from Isaac to the hand caressing him. He looked down at it for only a moment, then his indifferent eyes rose to her face.

“Lord Kaiyan!”

Isaac lunged forward, seizing the prince’s arm just as Kaiyan reached toward his waist to close his hand around the hilt of his sword. Nearly ashen with fear, Isaac clung to that arm. At this, Kaiyan looked down at him. The emotionless eyes that had regarded Grace as though she were some tiresome, inhuman object now burned with something else.

Something resembling rage.

Facing it from inches away sent ice down Isaac’s spine.

Grace looked between them in confusion, unable to grasp what had transpired, while Elli trembled so violently she seemed on the verge of convulsion. Isaac could feel the terrifying bloodlust that had been contained now beginning to unfurl.

“I’m sorry. I was wrong,” Isaac spoke quickly, his face rigid. His tongue felt frozen, making speech a physical struggle, but he had to say something; otherwise, Kaiyan seemed certain to draw his sword. “I had no intention of satisfying any selfish desire. I swear. I would never, ever harm anyone.”

I would never harm a human.

Isaac stood before Kaiyan, pleading with utmost sincerity. The prince’s eyes were such a deep blue that they seemed black, and their intense gaze made Isaac’s chest quiver. Despite this, his instincts told him not to avert his eyes. Kaiyan looked directly through him, his stare as sharp as a finely honed blade, as if it could slice Isaac where he stood. His hand was firmly gripping the hilt of his sword. The moment Isaac noticed the slightest twitch in those fingers, he instinctively tightened his hold on Kaiyan’s arm. Unable to think of anything else, he clung to him with all his might. It was only afterward that he realized his error.

I could never overpower him, so why did I try to restrain him by force?

Kaiyan’s gaze briefly fell to Isaac’s arms, which were wrapped around his own, and a crease slowly formed between the prince’s brows. As the thought surfaced faintly in Isaac’s mind, the cats’ bristling tails lowered slightly, and Elli’s convulsive trembling eased, if only by a fraction.

When Kaiyan looked at Isaac again, displeasure had etched lines upon his face, yet the murderous edge had subsided compared to the terrifying blankness he had worn moments before. Kaiyan released the hilt of his sword and slowly raised the same hand to seize the wrist Isaac had wrapped around his arm. His grip was so powerful that the bones creaked, causing Isaac to clench his teeth.

“Very well. Then let us hear what you intended. I will give you the chance to offer an answer I can accept,” Kaiyan spoke, looking directly at him.

Meeting those darkened eyes, Isaac understood that, for the moment, he had survived. His shoulders, which had stiffened without his realizing it, throbbed with tension.

Kaiyan turned and began walking toward the lord’s residence.

Grace looked back and forth between them in confusion as the prince left without sparing her another glance. “Oh… Lord Kaiyan,” she called, hurrying after him.

Isaac watched her retreating figure and let his shoulders sag. His heart still pounded, and the cold sweat would not stop. He rubbed the gooseflesh erupting along his arms, then turned toward Elli. She was trembling violently in terror; her eyes remained open, but she did not appear fully conscious.

“Ell—”

The instant Isaac reached toward her, she recoiled as though she had seen a ghost. Elli slapped his hand away and fled blindly into the forest.

Isaac remained where he stood, staring in the direction she had disappeared, until the sound of the cats shaking out their fur brought him back to himself.

This is no time to stand around.

For whatever reason, Kaiyan had granted him a brief reprieve, but if Isaac delayed even slightly, he might lose the chance to explain and die before uttering a word. Remembering the dark, dangerous gleam in the prince’s eyes sent another chill over him. Isaac rubbed his arms and hurried after him.

He had always known that Kaiyan hated witches. Isaac had never felt ashamed or tormented by the fact that he was half witch and half human; he had merely endured the loneliness that inevitably came from living in human society. Yet, after beginning to serve Kaiyan and repeatedly witnessing the prince’s hatred of witches from such close quarters, Isaac had for the first time found himself wishing that no witch’s blood flowed through him. At the same time, he also felt a strange gratitude that being half witch allowed him to relieve Kaiyan’s suffering. Ever since entering the prince’s service, Isaac had spent his days wavering between those two opposing thoughts. And now…

If only I were not a witch. Isaac wished this desperately.

Kaiyan must have believed that a witch had tried to seduce and harm a human, which was why he had become so terrifyingly furious. Isaac wanted to explain, yet the mere fact that witch blood ran in his veins inevitably weakened the credibility of anything he said. The injustice of it brought a matching melancholy.

He never trusted me. Forget affection. I did not even possess his trust.

Isaac released a sigh deep enough to sink into the earth and stopped outside the bedroom door. Lies always bred worse misunderstandings. Whatever happened, he had no choice but to tell the truth and ask Kaiyan to understand.

He knocked.

“It’s Isaac.”

After taking a deep breath, he opened the door. The breath became meaningless the instant he stepped inside. His heart stopped.

Kaiyan sat leaning sideways against the sofa and met Isaac’s eyes directly. With his temple resting against one fist, he stared at Isaac in absolute silence. His face was frighteningly blank.

It was terrifying.

If a person’s presence could become visible, something immense and horrifying would be flowing through the room. Perhaps Elli and the cats had truly seen such a thing.

“So,” Kaiyan said slowly, “what is this answer I am supposed to accept?”

Isaac swallowed hard and began exactly as he had planned. He told the prince the truth. “I was trying to learn how to consume a human’s vitality.”