Chapter 24

Amidst the unprecedented uproar that had gripped the palace, only the prince—the very person at the center of the storm—remained detached.

While everyone else hounded Isaac for answers, they dared not utter a single word to the prince, hovering instead around his shifting moods. And that prince? The man continued his routine with an eerie, composed grace, as if the world were not fracturing around him.

Unfair! A blatant tyranny of power!

It was enough to reduce a powerless man to tears.

The very day the captain of the royal guard had summoned Isaac, placed him under house arrest, and dismissed him, he had trudged toward the palace gates, muttering his grievances into the stale air. Then, he had nearly collided with the prince, who was strolling from the direction of the main palace. Isaac had recoiled, his voice instantly dying in his throat. He had stood frozen like a statue, head bowed, as the prince glided past him without a second glance.

Watching the prince walk away with such chilling indifference, Isaac had been struck by a crushing realization.

Even as the entire palace thrummed with frantic rumors regarding the hunting tournament, the prince remained blissfully unbothered. He did not even register Isaac’s existence. Because the prince lacked interest in anything that did not immediately command his focus, the entire ordeal held no significance for him. It was, in the man’s eyes, utterly trivial.

「So, you’re trying to say you’re hurting because he didn’t even acknowledge you?」

At some point, one of the beasts had thrust its face right up to the tip of Isaac’s nose. Isaac recoiled at the sight of the lantern-sized eyes pressed against his own and flapped his hands in a frantic wave.

“You startled me! How many times have I told you little beasts not to sneak up on me like that?”

「I came stomping over,」 the creature replied. 「You were simply so lost in your own little world that you failed to hear me.」

「Leave him be,」 another interjected. 「He must have been so devastated that the handsome one just passed him by that he was too preoccupied to notice your magnificent footsteps.」

“Devastated, my ass. Did you idiots eat something spoiled today?”

「Do not feel so hurt,」 the third chimed in. 「The new moon is almost upon us. You will meet him again soon, so why do you wear such a regretful expression?」

“I am not regretful! You damned cats, stop reading and interpreting people’s faces however you please!”

The three beasts, possessing no intention of obeying human social graces, scrambled onto Isaac’s bed and chattered away.

Isaac had considered grabbing them by their scruffs to shake some sense into them, but he vividly remembered how, two days prior, all three had simultaneously regurgitated damp hairballs onto his forearm with a repulsive, wet gack. He swallowed a groan of disgust, turned his head away entirely, and fixed his gaze upon the window.

In a day or two, the new moon would vanish completely. For the moment, the waning moon carved a thin, pale fingernail of light across the night sky. Beneath that sliver, Isaac’s face stared back at him from the dark glass—the same mundane face he had seen every day of his life.

“…”

A regretful face.

What in the world did that even mean?

Isaac rubbed at his own features, feeling suddenly self-conscious. There was nothing to be wounded about, yet perhaps “regretful” was not entirely wrong. No, that was not the right word. How should he describe it?

“…How did something like that become so meaningless to him…?”

The words escaped his lips before he could call them back. To an ordinary person, confronting such naked greed or standing on the precipice between life and death would be a once-in-a-lifetime trauma. What sort of life had he led for such events to have occurred often enough that they had become mundane? How had his reality become so hollow?

「Look, look. There is that expression again.」

A cat had hopped onto the windowsill and sat close beside him. It stared at Isaac, then licked the tip of his nose with a rough, sandpaper tongue.

Isaac blinked, startled, and slowly rubbed the center of his chest. The ache that resided there seemed to dissipate, escaping in a quiet, bitter sigh.

“…The Land of the New Moon.”

「Hmm?」

“Is it better there than here? Is it more peaceful and happier than the human world?”

「That depends entirely on the person. There and here are exactly the same. Those who are happy remain happy, and those who are miserable remain miserable.」

So it was not the paradise people blindly longed for, then. Isaac hooked his arms around his knees and pressed further.

“Then, if living there is just like living here, why do you crave it so desperately?”

「Because we belong there. This place is ‘their world,’ not ‘our world.’」

Another cat vaulted onto the windowsill. In the deepening darkness, its glassy eyes appeared even more gargantuan.

「You know the truth of it, do you not? You know what it means to live in ‘their world.’」

「You should cross over as well. To the Land of the New Moon. That place will become ‘your world.’」

The cat’s thin, purring voice brushed over Isaac’s skin. Poor thing. Pitiful thing. The sensation was akin to the hand of an elder stroking an orphan’s head—a bit rough, perhaps a little painful, yet undeniably warm.

「Of course, of course. Everyone there will assist you immensely. Just as we do.」

“…”

Suddenly, the desire to go vanished. The mere suggestion made him feel as if his very insides might burst with anxiety. Isaac flicked that chattering cat on the bridge of its nose with a single finger. The creature erupted in a furious hiss and began licking its nose with irritated, jagged movements. Watching its petty reaction soothed Isaac’s frustration just enough.

Ignoring the three cats as they huddled together to gossip about his rudeness, Isaac shooed them off the sill and threw the window open. The night air rushed in, heavy with the scent of damp earth and crushed grass.

My world.

My world. Our world.

What would that feel like? To live somewhere where one’s existence felt natural, as if they truly belonged?

He could not fathom it.

Isaac had existed as an outsider since the day he was born; he lacked the capacity to imagine such belonging.

Then, a thought struck him: That prince lives exactly where he was born, surrounded by his own kind, and yet he is alone too. He is a man without a place to return to.

“…”

Once more, a bitter sensation seeped into his chest. He stroked the heaviness away, then turned his gaze back to the window.

The new moon approached.

In the darkness where the moon had shed its light, the stars burned with such intensity that they seemed ready to spill over the horizon. Beneath them, the final, fading line of the waning moon looked more withered than ever.

The room was cast in total shadow, and it was not solely because the three enormous tigers now lined the windowsill, effectively blocking out the night.

A moonless night.

The new moon, arriving once every cycle, was the time when the stars glittered with an unnatural, piercing brightness, crowding the sky until there was no room for anything else.

The reddish afterglow left by the sun as it dipped behind the mountains finally vanished.

The sky, which had once shimmered in shades of red and violet, deepened into a profound, suffocating navy.

At long last, evening retreated, and night claimed the world.

Isaac sat in the darkened room, having not bothered to light a single lamp since sunset. He stared gloomily into the abyss beyond his window.

Starlight caught the fur of the three tigers, who sat motionless, watching him.

Isaac stared hollowly at the sleek, black beasts, whose coats shimmered with a dark, polished oiliness that felt far more real than the world outside.

「The essence of this new moon feels significantly more refined, far purer than the previous cycle,」 the creature purred, its voice vibrating with a silk-like quality that belied its lethal nature.

「Look at this coat. The texture is remarkably smooth, almost liquid in its luster. Even the finest, highest-grade silk could hardly compare to such natural refinement.」

CLANG

One of the tigers, which had been lounging lazily while preening itself alongside its companions, cast a sharp, piercing glance toward Isaac. Its eyes, vast as windmills, flashed with a predatory brilliance that could unnerve even the most seasoned warrior. It was a sight that would have sent most men scrambling for cover, but Isaac remained rooted to the spot, entirely unmoving.

「Why is he just staring so blankly like that?」

「He must be utterly smitten. Look at those vacant eyes—they are undeniably the eyes of a creature deep in the throes of hopeless infatuation.」

「Ho ho. A pathetic, lowly thing, yet he clearly has an eye for quality. If he succumbs to my majesty and dares to pursue me with such recklessness, he shall be scolded most severely for his insolence.」

The trio continued their haughty discourse with the same arrogance they always displayed, while Isaac maintained a heavy, silent vigil. One of the beasts crept forward, planting a front paw—broad as a heavy iron pot lid—firmly against Isaac’s forehead, testing his state.

「Is he ill? No, that is impossible. A witch should not be physically compromised during the new moon. Why is he so deathly quiet and completely unresponsive?」

It seems even you are aware that you are spouting absolute nonsense.

「「「Nonsense?!」」」