Chapter 83

“How long was I unconscious?” Isaac asked.

“A day and a half,” Kaiyan replied.

Isaac nodded. Despite observing the witch longer than before, his blackout had been shorter this time, thanks to the new moon’s vitality. Yet Isaac felt utterly exhausted, his body as heavy as waterlogged cotton.

Kaiyan rang a bell beside him, and the door opened quietly. A servant peeked in, saw Isaac awake, and slipped away, returning moments later with a tray of steaming food to place beside the bed.

“Has your mind still not returned?” Kaiyan asked. When Isaac only stared blankly at the food, the prince began rolling up Isaac’s sleeve, looking ready to slap him awake.

“No, I’m awake,” Isaac said, snapping his head up. At Kaiyan’s pointed glance, he picked up the spoon and drew the bowl of soup closer, letting the savory aroma wash over him.

Isaac stirred the soup twice before his hand slowed. Lowering his gaze, he covered his face with one hand as a pained sound escaped his throat. “He was eating someone,” he said, his voice suppressed. “Draining a person alive. And the magician’s consciousness is still in there.”

Speaking the words brought back every image with terrible clarity. He saw the young man’s face contorting in terror and pain as it dried within seconds. He saw the dark space where flesh shriveled and bones crumbled to dust. He saw the magician’s smile reflected in the mirror. The memories crawled through Isaac’s mind with sickening vividness.

“Eat.” Kaiyan’s cold voice pierced his ears, severing the dark, clinging memory. Isaac looked up and met the prince’s impassive eyes.

Gesturing with his chin toward the soup on Isaac’s lap, the prince acted as though Isaac’s horrific story mattered less than the cooling food. Isaac suspected that if he hesitated much longer, Kaiyan might literally start eating him from the head down. He quickly raised the spoon. As warm soup flowed down his throat, his heart settled slightly, and the hunger he had forgotten finally began to resurface.

Still, what should we do? This could not have been the magician’s first victim, and it certainly would not be the last. They could not leave him unchecked.

“Do not think about it,” Kaiyan cut in, his cold voice severing Isaac’s thoughts once again.

Isaac looked up sharply. The prince’s blue eyes rested steadily upon him. “You need only move when I command you. Do not think any further about them. Eat and restore your vitality if you intend to be useful.”

“Very well,” Isaac said, chewing the words along with the soup. You speak as though I’m a game piece you intend to move around a board, he complained inwardly, but only briefly. As Kaiyan instructed, he tried to empty his mind. At that moment, he was almost grateful for the blunt order.

“That magician can no longer be called human,” Isaac spoke abruptly in the middle of eating. Kaiyan, who had been watching him continuously, raised an eyebrow. “The moment he contracted with a witch, he had already decided that remaining human did not matter.”

Why would he choose that? Isaac wondered. Could someone discard the desire to remain human so easily? Isaac himself possessed only half-human blood, yet even he could not say whether he would be able to release that thread when the moment truly came.

“Is being human truly an identity worth regretting?” Kaiyan asked.

Isaac stared at him. After a pause, he murmured, almost to himself, “I would regret losing it.”

He had spent his life standing at a crossroads, neither fully human nor fully witch. Because of that, he regretted being unable to claim either side completely. He wanted something solid to hold. That was why watching another person discard such a thing so effortlessly felt so wasteful and sad.

“That does not sound like something a witch should say,” Kaiyan replied, his tone indifferent.

Isaac could not tell whether the prince was mocking him or merely scoffing. “I cannot change the fact that I am not fully human, but… please do not hate me too much for being a witch,” Isaac said with a sigh.

Kaiyan lifted an eyebrow. “You need not worry for the moment. I do not presently intend to harm you.”

So you may intend to later? More importantly… “I am not worried that you will harm me. I dislike the thought that you might hate me.”

“Why?”

“Because…” The words failed him.

Isaac looked at the prince. Those blue eyes never left him, holding Isaac as though he had been physically snared.

The prince questioned, “Does it displease you when other people dislike you?”

“No… Naturally, being disliked is not pleasant, but I do not care greatly.” No one can be loved by everyone, nor hated by everyone. Hatred, like affection, can exist without reason. Isaac had learned this long ago and refused to let others’ emotions control him. So, it wasn’t about that. He simply didn’t want this man to hate him. Every time Isaac sensed Kaiyan’s hatred for witches, he felt his strength wane. Why?

Isaac quietly observed him. Kaiyan met his gaze, seemingly waiting for more. Isaac examined him slowly and carefully, as if seeing him for the first time. He noticed the sculpted proportions of his face, his hair shining in the sunlight, his interlaced hands, his languid expression, the soft sound of his breathing, and the slow angle of his head. Isaac already knew all these things, yet he looked at them anew. Then, at some point…

“I think I will need more time to understand,” Isaac said, lowering his gaze. His fingers fidgeted nervously with the spoon, and his heart began beating unexpectedly fast.

Kaiyan seemed dissatisfied with the lack of an answer but didn’t press him, perhaps out of sheer disinterest. After watching Isaac quietly swallow his soup, the prince checked the clock and rose.

“Come to the study when you finish. A great deal of work has accumulated,” he said.

“Pardon? …Ah, yes,” Isaac replied, looking up in confusion. When he met Kaiyan’s cool gaze, he nodded quickly. The prince left the room, and Isaac blinked at the closed door.

Work had accumulated? Kaiyan was always busy. Regardless of his intimidating temperament, no one could match his competence. At an age when most men struggled to survive, he had completely subdued the frontier soldiers, men so harsh and unruly that even veteran commanders couldn’t control them. He moved them like his own limbs and achieved extraordinary victories.

Upon returning to the capital, he proved equally exceptional at handling the mountains of reports and administrative matters. Even officials with decades of experience marveled at his ability. Work naturally gathered around the capable.

Every day, documents requiring Kaiyan’s seal piled up. A retreat in Haylen didn’t allow him to abandon his duties. Though the volume was smaller than in the capital, substantial government business still reached him there. Combined with the countless ancient manuscripts and records he chose to examine personally, he might not even have enough time to sleep.

That, however, was the prince’s work. A guard’s duty remained simple: protect the prince. The task could be easy or difficult, but it wasn’t complicated. Isaac merely had to stand beside Kaiyan and defend him if danger arose.

Aside from the recent series of disasters, Kaiyan rarely encountered anything that could truly threaten him. Consequently, people who heard the phrase the prince’s personal guard usually imagined one of two things: a bedwarmer or an idle position that required no real work.

So why had Kaiyan told him to come to the study because work had accumulated? Kaiyan was the one with work to do. Isaac would only stand behind him with empty hands and stare into space. A strange command indeed. Since when had the prince cared whether a guard remained constantly attached to him?

And yet… Isaac moved his spoon faster. He would finish the soup and go immediately.

「Wasn’t the handsome one supposed to have free time?」

「Exactly. What work has accumulated?」

「Now that I think about it, some official-looking person came in around fifteen times with a face like he desperately needed to relieve himself, begging him to review some documents.」

「I see. He has been sitting here constantly, so I assumed he had nothing to do.」

「Apparently, he abandoned a mountain of work to laze around here.」

The cats, having already emptied the enormous platter of meat broth, licked their mouths and chattered. Isaac’s spoon stopped midway to his lips, and he turned toward them in confusion. “You mean he stayed here the entire time? He isn’t the sort of man to put off his work.”

「Perhaps he had nothing else to do.」

“He’s hardly ever idle.” More than one government official had protested when Kaiyan announced he was leaving for Haylen, and several had even followed him here to pursue official business.

「But he had remained here the entire time. He sat in that chair without moving, doing absolutely nothing.」

「Even when his underlings brought him food, he barely touched it. He must have been hungry, though. The way he stared at you was positively murderous, as if he were deciding which part of you to tear off first.」

「If we hadn’t stayed beside you and kept watch, you would be nothing but bones by now.」

「That’s right. You should be grateful!」

“…You three probably spent the entire time rubbing your faces against his shins and happily drinking the meat broth he gave you, whether I woke up or not.” Isaac glared at them, and the cats immediately fell silent. He had only made a guess, but apparently, he had struck the truth. They carefully avoided his eyes, licking their paws, washing their faces, and chasing insects that did not exist.

Isaac watched them for a moment, then sighed and turned away. What had I expected from them?

More importantly… “…Why?”