By Zephyria 
Ellie spoke in a whisper, lifting her head slightly to look at her master. Seeing her sorrowful gaze and pale complexion, the lord’s daughter spoke to her with concern.
“Ellie! You don’t seem to be feeling well. Go and rest quickly.”
“Yes, thank you, My Lady. Then I shall take my leave….”
Bowing deeply toward the banquet guests, Ellie turned and left without lifting her gaze, as if she were afraid of locking eyes with someone. She didn’t even glance at Isaac. Isaac watched her go with a worried expression for a moment before straightening his posture again.
She seemed fine until just now; for her condition to worsen so suddenly, did she have some chronic illness? It weighed on his mind, but he decided to push the thought away. If he showed too much concern now, the lord might take it as a sign and bring up marriage talks with even more seriousness. No matter how much it was framed as a joke, it wouldn’t be good to let it drag on.
Swallowing a quiet sigh, Isaac lifted his gaze and flinched. He had locked eyes with the Prince. Instinctively, he started to lower his head, but then paused and forced himself to look back up. He tried to face the Prince with a face that looked as nonchalant as possible… though he knew there was no way that sharp man wouldn’t see right through to Isaac’s inner turmoil. Regardless, he maintained a facade of composure.
The Prince’s cool eyes, which had been staring at Isaac, seemed to soften slightly—just a tiny bit. His expression remained blank, but he seemed to be in a better mood than before.
“Is the food to your liking?”
When the lord asked, the Prince nodded casually.
“The wine is decent.”
The Prince’s indifferent response to a banquet that had clearly been prepared with great effort left the lord looking slightly disappointed, but he soon broke into a wide smile.
“It is an excellent wine. It has been aged for so long that it is now a treasure that would be hard to find even for a thousand gold pieces.”
“Haha, it is just like this Hailen. In the sense that it is old and wonderful,” a middle-aged man sitting across from them remarked. The lord laughed and waved his hand, but he looked proud inwardly.
“Well, since this Hailen is in a remote area and has always been a quiet and peaceful place, it isn’t particularly famous, but I have always been proud of our family and this Hailen. In terms of history, there are only a handful of cities where the ancient appearance is as well-preserved as in Hailen.”
Words of agreement followed, such as, “Indeed, isn’t Hailen itself an ancient legacy?”
The Prince, who had been sitting silently among them, spoke up.
“I heard that witches still live in Hailen.”
At that, the people looked at one another for a moment and then burst into hearty laughter, thinking the Prince had made a light joke.
“Since it is such an old city, many fairy tales and oral legends remain. Besides, they say such things were quite common until about a hundred years ago.”
“Since the scenery is so beautiful and the air is so fresh, it wouldn’t be strange if such things still lived hidden in the forests or mountains.”
“Goodness, if I could catch a witch and offer her, I’d receive a great reward. Perhaps I should start scouting the edges of the forest from now on.”
“Haha, what are you talking about? Stop it. How could you handle such a terrifying monster? If you actually encountered a witch, you’d probably just be eaten.”
What an uncomfortable topic… Isaac thought, clutching the three cats in his arms. The cats also seemed displeased, tapping Isaac’s thigh with their tails.
“But since Lord Kaieon is here now, even if there are monsters, they’ll be hiding themselves.”
“Of course. What monster or witch would dare show themselves recklessly?”
The conversation continued. Meanwhile, noticing the Prince’s glass was empty, the lord’s daughter quickly refilled it. The Prince moistened his lips with the wine and spoke.
“At the very least, a witch will not be able to touch a human before my eyes.”
As he spoke, the Prince looked directly at Isaac, and Isaac flinched and shut his mouth. Given the timing, the warning in those words was likely directed at Ellie.
First, Isaac felt wronged because he had no such intention toward her, and second, he felt depressed that the Prince viewed him as an ‘evil witch.’ Even though he already knew it, it felt like a fresh confirmation. As long as witch’s blood flowed in his veins, that man would never trust him. Isaac felt drained by the part of his situation that his own efforts could not change and let out a quiet sigh.
Meanwhile, the lord, now quite tipsy, was in high spirits. Looking back and forth between his daughter and the Prince with satisfaction, he suddenly burst into laughter and said, “It is a good day. Truly a wonderful day.”
“It is an unparalleled honor to host such a distinguished guest on such a fine day. Although this place is humble and shabby, please rest comfortably tonight. It may not be as convenient as the Star Palace, but we will serve you with all our heart to ensure your comfort.”
While speaking to the Prince, the lord suddenly remembered something and looked back at his daughter.
“That’s right, dear, after the meal, please guide him through the rear garden. —He will surely like it. Our garden is quite large and connects to the forest and lake, making it perfect for a quiet stroll. Furthermore, in Hailen, countless fireflies fly around at night until early winter, making the night path exquisitely beautiful. I have never seen a more beautiful promenade anywhere else than our garden.”
“My daughter knows the way well, so please take her,” the lord said to the Prince with a very generous smile. It was a benevolent smile, as if he were willing to accept whatever might happen in the forest as the autumn night deepened.
Perhaps drawn by the mention of the forest, the Prince gave a light nod, and the lord nodded repeatedly with satisfaction, as if everything had already been settled. He did not forget to give his daughter a subtle wink.
Watching this from behind, Isaac thought, That lord is truly determined. The desire to somehow place his daughter as the Prince’s consort seeped through every word and action. Isaac looked at the lord’s daughter, who wore a shy smile, and then drifted his gaze into the air. He recalled the numerous young ladies who had approached the Prince with similar ambitions only to be cast aside. There had been no one who could endure and accept both the Prince’s temperament and his body.
Though he was skeptical about the daughter as well, Isaac naturally kept his mouth shut. He only hoped that she would finish this without getting her heart or body hurt. Meanwhile,
“…….”
Why am I getting depressed again… Imagining her and the Prince strolling side by side along the lakeside in the forest, Isaac scratched his head and tilted it.
It seemed today was just a day to be depressed for one reason or another.
Isaac let out a quiet sigh and pulled up the three cats that were sliding out of his arms. They were quite heavy, making his arms ache; he wondered how much they had been eating. I need to put these guys on a diet… he thought inwardly, but as if reading his mind, the ghostly creatures slapped his thigh with their tails.
It would be more accurate to call it a forest path facing the lake rather than a rear garden.
The spacious backyard, which could be called a garden and was neatly maintained by a gardener’s touch, connected to the forest bordering the lord’s estate. Since most of the forest was the lord’s private property, it seemed they considered that area part of the garden as well.
As one went deeper from the backyard, they soon reached the forest path by the lake, where the brush and trees grew lushly. Entering a bit deeper into the path that might have been scary in the pitch black of night, it was not dark or frightening, just as the lord had said, because countless fireflies were flying around. Fireflies blinking like yellow and white stars between the leaves and over the lake, the deep and clear scent of the forest, and the trees that seemed to be sleeping cozily.
Isaac was surprised that the forest scent remained so thick even though autumn was deep, and that a midnight forest could be so gentle. At this rate, just as the lord had boasted, it seemed rare to find a more beautiful promenade.
Quietly exhaling the breath he had held and dropping his gaze from the starry sky, he saw a man and a woman walking slowly ahead, appearing and disappearing behind the brush. The lord’s daughter and the Prince were strolling along the forest path. And Isaac, trailing far behind, was fulfilling his role as a guard. …Though, in reality, he was just watching.
Since several of the lord’s guards were stationed inconspicuously here and there, there was no real need for a guard, and in the first place, the Prince was not someone who needed guarding. Moreover, when Isaac tried to follow a few paces behind the Prince, the lord had subtly signaled him, so he was currently keeping a wide distance.
Since it wasn’t an open plain, their figures were intermittently hidden by the brush and trees, but from the perspective of the lord or his daughter, that might actually be better for achieving their intended goal.
Right, a midnight forest is indeed a place that can lead to a leap in progress in a relationship between a man and a woman.
“…….”
Isaac tapped his chest, which had sunk into depression once again, and lowered his head gloomily. Immediately, he saw a black furry tail tapping his ankle.
「What a handsome couple, a truly handsome couple.」
「But looking at them, isn’t the man a bit too good for her?」
「The woman must have a lot of money.」
「No, from my look at his face, the man might be decent-looking, but he looks like he’s been in plenty of fights. He might seem indifferent and uninterested in his surroundings, but his personality is probably a total nightmare. If things go south, he might even hit a woman.」
「Oh dear, poor woman. She’s jumping into a fire with a bundle of brushwood on her back.」
“…….”
Did a bunch of neighborhood ajummas gather here…? But wait, these guys aren’t even as tall as his knees and their view should be blocked by the brush, so how are they seeing so clearly? Isaac flicked away the black tail tapping his ankle.
“You brats, will you be quiet?!”
「Oh my, oh my, he’s been wearing a death mask since earlier and now he’s scolding us? Why are you looking at us like that?」
「You don’t like us, do you?」
How could I not like you? Unless one’s heart is incredibly twisted and warped, there’s no way they wouldn’t fall for beautiful and lovely Pureblood Witches like us. Looking down with cold eyes at the creatures who were chatting excitedly among themselves, Isaac let out a deep sigh.
“Right, must be nice, must be. Must be nice to be a Pureblood. …By the way, are mixed-bloods common? Is it common for a witch and a human to pair up?”
Come to think of it, he had seen witches a few times, but he had never seen a mixed-blood. They might exist somewhere, but he had never heard of them.
The cats pricked their ears and looked at each other before saying, 「Well, not really, right?」
「Unless they’re a total oddball, why would they bother having a child with a human? A witch child is much sturdier, lives longer, and is better at magic.」
「Besides, a human? Those are only useful for occasionally sucking life force; they’re not fit for mating at all.」
「Of course. Our Manbang might not know because he’s still a virgin, but basically, witches are born far, far, far more suited for carnal desire than humans.」
「Very occasionally, peculiar ones like Kali play love games with humans, but even then, it’s rare for a child to be conceived.」
“No, the child doesn’t really matter….”
Isaac stopped mid-mumble and shut his mouth. Suddenly, the strength left his shoulders, and he wondered why it even mattered. As expected, witches with witches, humans with humans. That is the most natural and fitting way.
Getting depressed again… As Isaac crouched down with a sigh, the cats rolled their eyes and stretched their necks to meet his eye level. Even so, they were still below him, but they placed their front paws on Isaac’s knees and chattered.
「Still, it’s true that witches are less exclusive toward other species than humans are.」
「So hurry up and find the flint jar so you can cross over to the land of the new moon too.」
“……Would that be better?”
Half of the whisper contained sincerity. Should he leave all the depression and longing behind in the human world and cross over to that land? Would this stinging feeling be forgotten then?
I wish that were the case, the thought suddenly occurred to him.
As Isaac buried his face in his knees and sank into thought, a soft tail brushed his hand as if to comfort him.
「Don’t be so regretful. Everything in the world flows away.」
「Even if it’s painfully hard, time flows.」
「So don’t suffer more and let’s go to the land of the new moon. That place will be much more generous to you than the human world.」
「Because even for a mixed-blood, you’re a rare and delicious mixed-blood.」
「Indeed, indeed. This kind of taste is rare even among Purebloods. You’ll make a very fine prey.」
“……. You brats, seriously…!”
They always go off the rails just when things are going well. Isaac ended up grabbing the scruffs of the creatures, who had started drooling, and shaking them vigorously.
「Kyaa! We came all this way for you, and you’re going to hit us? Hit us?」
「I was going to just stay home and rest today, but I came all this way because of you! How ungrateful!」
“Who told you to come?! It would’ve been a help if you hadn’t come! And by the way, who told you to run around the banquet hall like that earlier? Do you know how startled I was?!”
「You asked for help! You held onto us and asked for help, and now you’re talking nonsense?!」
“When did I?!”
「You said you wanted to meet a dream demon?!」
Hearing the cat’s meowing retort, Isaac stopped talking. He looked back and forth at the creatures held by their scruffs—one in each hand—and only then wondered where the other one had gone.
“A dream demon? Right, I should meet one. Does a dream demon live around here?”
「Of course, the third one has gone to fetch it now.」
「It’ll take some time because he went to catch one that’s barricaded its door, insisting it doesn’t want to come.」
I see, so that’s why those brats had such confident faces even while stirring up the banquet hall. Isaac put the two back on the ground. They seemed offended, humming and licking their fur. When he gently stroked their heads, they glared with wide eyes but didn’t push him away.
“A dream demon… right, I should meet one.”
Yes, above all, that was the most important thing right now.
Suddenly, the face of the terrified young man came to mind. A face that had withered away in an instant. That could now be the face of some girl, some mother, or some baby.
Isaac shook his head vigorously and took a deep breath. He had to try everything he possibly could. What he should worry about now was whether he could learn how to suck human life force even from a dream demon.
「Don’t worry. Since it’s lived as a human in the human world for so long, it’s a bit lacking as a witch, but eating human life force is very basic, so it’ll be able to do it.」
「Indeed, it’ll be quick once it just learns the knack. Dream demons are born for that in the first place, so it’ll teach you easily.」
Isaac rested his chin on his hand, looking down at the two chattering cats.
“A dream demon…. A monster that hides in people’s dreams and steals their life force. I suppose it still has a physical form.”
「It depends on the dream demon, but most don’t have a physical form, so they live by dwelling in other things. Mostly small and nimble animals. If they’ve been around for a while, they might dwell in a person. And if they’ve been around even longer, they might take on a human form and live pretending to be human.」
「In other words, a dream demon that lives pretending to be human is the oldest and most capable dream demon.」
「So be grateful to us.」
What is this bizarre conclusion that is so out of nowhere yet so typical of these guys… Isaac thought, and then he realized.
“Is the dream demon you went to fetch a human-looking one?”
It didn’t matter much, but a human-shaped opponent would be easier to deal with than one that looked hideous and grotesque. As Isaac nodded his head in thought,
「You saw it earlier, didn’t you?」
The cat spoke abruptly.
Isaac stopped nodding and blinked, staring at the cat.
“……. Huh?”
「You saw it earlier? You even talked to it.」
“Ah, did I already ask earlier? Then did I go to pick them up for nothing?” Isaac stared blankly at the cats as they chattered away. It was just as he pointed to himself and asked, “When did I?”
Rustle.
A large presence pushing through the brush was heard behind him. The first thing that entered Isaac’s sight as he turned toward the sound was a black tiger as large as a house. It was the Third.
Even though he had seen it many times and was well-acquainted with it, Isaac flinched and stepped back in surprise at the sudden sight of those wide eyes right in front of his nose. Only then did he notice the corpse—or rather, the limp person—that the giant tiger was holding in its mouth.
The tiger, seemingly pleased by the way Isaac’s eyes widened in shock, gave a mischievous grin and let out a long, 「Nya-hung—」 howl, and in the process, the person it was holding dropped with a thud onto the ground.
“Ack!”
The voice that let out the sharp scream was that of a woman. The owner of the voice, which sounded familiar, quickly scrambled up and shuffled back to sit down; she was quite petite. Her bare feet, looking as if she had been dragged out while in her pajamas, were fair and soft, suggesting she wasn’t very old.
“I told you I didn’t want to. I don’t want to be entangled with him.”
As she grumbled irritably, her eyes flickered toward him, glimpsed through her disheveled hair. Not just her eyes, but her elegant and pretty face as well.
“—.”
Ellie. Isaac’s lips parted, but no sound came out. He simply blinked blankly, staring at the petite young lady crouching before him, looking at him with dissatisfaction.
Apparently having resisted coming until she was snatched up by the tiger, she quickly scanned her surroundings as soon as she composed herself. Casting an anxious glance at Isaac and the cats, she tilted her head to look beyond the brush. Her gaze stopped on the backs of the Lord’s daughter and the Prince, standing side by side by the distant lakeshore. Seeing them, she lowered her shoulders, which had been hunched like a cat with its fur standing on end; it seemed they were the ones she so guarded against and feared.
“…”
Isaac was still staring at her with his mouth open.
It was definitely the Ellie he knew, the same woman he had encountered earlier, but she was different, as if she were another person. The sharp, prickly tone, the sulky and dissatisfied expression, the restless and anxious demeanor.
“…Ellie?”
When Isaac murmured softly, she, who had been glaring anxiously at the Prince’s back, turned her head. The way she pouted gloomily and glared at him was also completely different from the woman Isaac had known. However, she clearly seemed to recognize Isaac, and—
“We meet again, soldier.”
Since she spoke like this, there was no way she could be anyone other than Ellie.
Isaac blinked and looked at her, then shifted his gaze to the tiger. The tiger, with a very proud and satisfied expression, tilted its nose up and spoke.
「She kept the door locked and held out, so I smashed the door and brought her here!」
「Now, now, introduce yourselves. You’ve met before, right? This is Isaac, and this is Ellie. He’s a very tasty Half-Blood, and she’s a rather old dream demon.」
The introduction was grating, but he didn’t have the mental capacity to care about that right now. Isaac stared intently at Ellie, let out a long breath, and pressed his temples. Meanwhile, Ellie tried to stealthily back away, but the tiger stepped in and blocked her path.
「Why do you keep trying to leave? You said you liked him!」
“That was back when he was my prey!”
When did I become that young lady’s prey without even knowing it?! Before the bewildered Isaac, the chattering sounds continued: 「What does it matter, just stay for a bit. Maybe he’ll let you have a bite.」, 「He’s a bit airheaded, so if you coax him well, he might even let you have two bites.」 Isaac slapped the backs of their heads without even looking.
“Hey, isn’t that one prey?”
Ellie, still looking at Isaac with guarded eyes, gestured with her chin. Wondering which ‘that one’ he had become prey to now without knowing, Isaac blankly followed her gaze, and at the end of it was the Prince.
“…Lord Kaieon? Not at all.”
When Isaac shook his head firmly, Ellie narrowed her eyes and glared at him suspiciously.
“Really? That can’t be. He looked like he’d kill anyone on the spot if they even pretended to touch his prey.”
“No way. You must be mistaken. Not at all. …Though he does suck my blood occasionally, we’ve never signed an exclusive contract or anything.”
Isaac gave a definitive answer while raising both hands, but Ellie’s suspicious gaze did not fade. As she tried to back away again, the tiger snapped its jaws around her head, and she shouted as she irritably pulled her head out of the tiger’s maw.
“I still hate it! It’s scary! I don’t want to be anywhere noticeable! I want to avoid any chance of getting entangled with them!”
「Now now, miss, don’t be like that and just rest for a bit. Don’t you trust your big brother?」
Who would trust someone like you! Ellie shook out her hair, which was wet with tiger saliva. Even while doing so, she remained preoccupied with glancing toward the Prince.
「Maybe our Manbang needs to be more careful.」
「True. Dream demons have an uncanny intuition.」
「That handsome guy might actually be plotting to chew up and eat Manbang slowly.」
The cats chattered. The Third, who had suddenly transformed from a tiger back into a cat, was mixed among them. Isaac looked up at the starry sky and wondered when his life had taken such a wrong turn. He didn’t think he had lived his life so recklessly as to be treated as prey.
Regardless, considering the reality that he regularly provided blood, perhaps it wasn’t entirely wrong. Isaac sighed and scratched his head vigorously.
“Hmph, no wonder he smelled strangely delicious for a human, he was a Half-Blood? Even considering he’s a Half-Blood, for the scent to be this good, is he a mutation?”
Ellie, who had been looking at Isaac with disapproval, leaned in slightly and twitched her nose. As her neck stretched further, she murmured, “…Why does he smell so delicious?” and the three cats sitting beside her also began to drool.
“You little… swallow your spit!”
Isaac plucked some grass and flung it at the three of them. At that menacing momentum, Ellie shrank back and smacked her lips.
“Tsk… well, if he were a witch, he wouldn’t have been my prey to begin with.”
As she murmured and scanned Isaac, her eyes looked utterly disappointed. Isaac looked at her awkwardly and said,
“I can’t give myself to you entirely, but if you help me, I’ll let you have a bite.”
“You said you’re a witch? Then it’s useless. I can’t enter a witch’s dream.”
“…? Dream demons can’t enter a witch’s dream?”
Isaac turned to the cats and asked. They replied without even looking, jumping and swinging their paws to catch grassflies flying in the air.
「They can’t. Because what a witch dreams isn’t a ‘dream,’ but ‘instinct.’」
「While sleeping, a witch sees what they desire, or what someone else desires from them, or what will happen in the future.」
「You didn’t know? Sigh, Manbang, what on earth do you actually know?」
He really can’t survive without us, noblesse oblige. Isaac looked suspiciously at the cats as they seriously chattered nonsense, then turned his gaze back to Ellie, who looked at him as if wondering if he really hadn’t known.
“But I do dream occasionally, though not often?”
“It probably just wasn’t a dream, and you’re the only one who didn’t know.”
Ellie’s answer to Isaac, who spoke as if making an excuse, was firm.
“That’s not true. Just a little while ago—”
Isaac stopped mid-sentence. As he blinked with his mouth still open, the dream he had had several times in a row recently came to mind. A messy yet vivid erotic dream.
“What? Did you have a dream that’s bothering you? What kind of dream?”
Ellie, watching Isaac whose face was beginning to grow warm, asked subtly. When Isaac didn’t answer due to his embarrassment, she observed him closely and asked abruptly again.
“Did you dream of sleeping with someone? Who?”
“—.”
It seemed true that dream demons had an uncanny intuition. Seeing Isaac’s face flush instantly as he dropped his gaze, Ellie murmured “Aha,” as if her conviction was solidified, and gave a mischievous grin.
What I desire. Or what someone desires from me. Or what will happen in the future.
Isaac counted them off one by one and shook his head. No. None of the three. But if he absolutely had to pick one, the most likely was probably the first…
“You must have someone you like?”
The moment Ellie spoke, Isaac felt as if his heart had been struck. As if she had pierced the exact center of something he hadn’t even realized himself.
“…”
Reflexively, he tried to say ‘No way,’ but the words felt stuck in his throat. No way, that can’t be—those words lingered on the tip of his tongue, but something caught deep inside. Eventually, that thing slowly, slowly spread upward until it reached his head.
Oh my god.
…Oh my god. It must be true.
Strangely, while he hadn’t known until now, the realization came so suddenly and clearly that Isaac became as flustered as if he were caught in a typhoon. His entire face became scorching hot.
“Who is it? A human?”
Ellie, who had been scrutinizing him, asked. Dazed, Isaac unconsciously nodded. Seeing his vacant expression, Ellie waved her hand gently in front of his face and snorted in disbelief.
“He lives such a naive and fresh life… For a witch, what’s with the flushed face and the fuss just because of a mating dream? Just pounce on them.”
To Ellie, who was sneering mischievously in a condescending tone, Isaac simply shook his head, still dazed.
“Why? Are you a devout believer?”
“No, it’s not that…”
Is it true? Did I like that person? To the point of having such a dream—no, even if it wasn’t a dream.
Thinking back, it seemed so. From the moment he lost himself looking at that appearance, from the moment he thought he just wanted to be by his side, from the moment he felt that it was familiar and even comfortable, from the moments he often became depressed for no reason while looking at him. …Good heavens.
Isaac’s strength left his knees, and he collapsed. As Isaac groaned and clutched his head, Ellie glanced at him strangely and asked, “Why is he suddenly acting all artistic by himself?” while the cats merely looked at Isaac with cold eyes, murmuring, 「I wonder.」, 「Why is he like that?」, 「I have no idea.」
“What’s wrong? Did you eat something bad? Or did that human you like turn out to be your half-sibling, or your best friend’s lover, or a married neighbor?”
“…No, it’s not that…”
What kind of soap opera has this girl experienced while living as a dream demon? Isaac replied, slightly appalled, but thinking about it again, his own tragedy wasn’t much different from that level.
“It’s just, it already seems like my heart will suffer… because it’s a name that might kill me just by calling it…”
As Isaac murmured gloomily, Ellie, perhaps feeling a bit pity for him, clicked her tongue and crouched down beside him.
“That’s why you shouldn’t like humans. Even if a witch likes a human, they only end up hurting each other. You should just enjoy what you can enjoy and eat what you can eat. If you can’t do that, just go to the land of the new moon.”
“I have a pretty good eye for people due to my profession, and I think that would suit your personality better,” Ellie said, and the three cats, who had been rolling their eyes with disapproval for a while, jumped in to help.
「Right, right! Just hurry up and find the flint jar!」
「Is this the time for you to be playing love games!」
「Don’t waste your energy on that! You already need to save your strength!」
As the cats, who had been sulking, suddenly started meowing, Ellie looked at them as if wondering what was wrong with them.
“As for strength, there are plenty of humans, so I can just suck some life force, right?”
「He’s so airheaded he can’t even suck life force!」
「He couldn’t eat it even if it were given to him, given!」
What kind of nonsense is this? Isaac barely regained his senses after receiving Ellie’s gaze, which scanned him up and down.
Right, that wasn’t the important thing now. First, there was something Isaac had to do immediately.
“Right, that’s why I asked to be called, to get some help with that.”
“That? What’s that?”
“How do I suck life force from a person?”
At Isaac’s question, Ellie stared at him with a face as if she had heard a language she had never encountered before. It was an expression that suggested she heard the words but completely failed to understand them.
“What? …What do you mean, how do you suck life force?”
“Huh? Ah. Since dream demons obtain human life force through dreams, do you not know how to suck it directly in reality?”
“What? No, of course I know! Sucking it directly is much easier, but we enter dreams on purpose to be safer and to make it easier to flee quickly if something happens. …So, you’re asking how to suck a person’s life force?”
Ellie asked with a nuance of confirming since she still didn’t understand, and Isaac nodded. Ellie tilted her head and looked at Isaac, then answered in an uncertain tone, as if doubting if she had grasped the question correctly.
“What do you mean ‘how’? You just suck it—slurp.”
“….”
“Just slurp.”
This one is no different from those damn cats. They say the smart ones can’t understand why the slow ones can’t memorize a sentence after reading it once.
In front of Isaac’s disgusted face, Ellie and the three cats huddled together and whispered something. Listening to the few words that drifted over, it seemed the cats were advising Ellie that he was half-clumsy human and utterly airheaded, so he wouldn’t understand if explained that way. After a few rounds of disbelief, questioning, and answering, Ellie looked back at Isaac with a face of utter pity and patheticness.
“If you asked how to breathe, it would be more understandable. How can you not know something like that, tsk tsk. Fine. Anyway, I want to go back quickly, so I’ll teach you as simply as possible. You, when you’re hungry, you want to eat, right?”
“Huh? Uh, yeah.”
“Now. You are hungry right now. But it’s not your stomach, but deep inside your body that is starving. Right—a full state is, so to speak, a Dark Moon night, when you’re full of energy; that’s the full state, and a full moon night is a state of extreme hunger. So how is it now?”
“…A slightly peckish state?”
He didn’t know clearly by feel, but he understood roughly in his head. A state of lacking energy. Slightly languid and tired.
“Right, then you look at the opponent’s life force. In human terms, you could say you ‘feel’ it.”
“How do I feel that?”
“Humans can feel that roughly among themselves. ‘That person is full of energy,’ ‘that person always looks tired,’ ‘that person seems in a good mood today,’ ‘they seem depressed.’ For example, those are the states of life force.”
“It’s not perfectly accurate, but it’ll be easier to understand that way for now,” Ellie murmured. Just as she said, Isaac nodded readily, saying, “Right, I understand up to that point.”
“Right, right, then you’re all set. Since it’s easier to get life force from someone who is full of energy and seems in a good mood, you pick such a person and put your hand on them—you can eat just with breath without touching, but that seems too hard for you—and then you suck the life force.”
“How?”
When Isaac asked, Ellie seemed to hit a wall. After pondering for a long while with a frustrated and annoyed expression, wondering how on earth to enlighten this ignorant being, she suddenly grabbed Isaac’s hand.
It was a subtly cool hand. Just as he thought it didn’t feel like the body temperature of a living person, the strange dissonance vanished as if it were an illusion, and the hand soon began to grow warm. A warm heat seemed to be transmitted through the touching palms and fingers.
“Focus on your hand. You’ll feel something there. Imagine you are starving, and eating this will make you full. There is a mouth in your palm. …Visualize it. Focus only on that thought.”
Ellie whispered. It was that low, soft, pleasant voice. The tone of her whispering in his ear suddenly made his heart relax.
Come to think of it, he hadn’t eaten dinner properly. His heart had felt heavy, leaving him with little appetite, so he had barely eaten. A forgotten hunger resurfaced. …If I eat this.
For a fleeting moment, it felt as if the air was pushing against his palm. However, it vanished quickly, like a light breeze brushing past. And that was it.
In that moment, he felt as though he had almost succeeded, but Isaac continued to mutter I’m hungry, I’m hungry in his mind while looking at Ellie. Ellie frowned deeply.
“Ah—it felt like it was going to work! I went through the trouble of sending my precious life force, so why didn’t you eat it? Why?! You had your mouth wide open; why did you stop just before eating?”
“…Did I?”
Isaac scratched his head, and following Ellie’s shout of “Again!”, he tried once more. However, it ended with a similar result, and he had to endure another irritable outburst: “Why can’t you eat it even when I give it to you?!”
After trying exactly three more times and getting the same result each time, Ellie’s eyes finally slanted upward in irritation. As the cats pranced around, chanting “She’s getting stubborn, she’s getting stubborn!” and “Hooray~”, Ellie stepped firmly on their tails and glared fiercely at Isaac before speaking.
“From what I can see, you weren’t born unable to eat. You can. You can do it, but you lack the knack.”
“That’s exactly why I’m struggling—because I don’t know what that knack is.”
As Isaac sighed, Ellie sank into thought. Glaring at Isaac with a very grim and serious expression, she suddenly muttered.
“Contacting mucous membranes is a bit easier than skin… Right, let’s try that.”
“Huh…?”
Isaac’s mouth twitched. He felt he had heard a word that brought an unpleasant premonition. When she suddenly grabbed him by the collar, that premonition grew even stronger.
“Mucous membranes basically have an absorbent property, so it’s much easier to exchange things than through the skin.”
“Uh, yeah, I guess that makes sense, but by mucous membranes, you mean…”
“Tongue to tongue is the simplest.”
“…”
As Ellie spoke with total composure—mentioning that there was no need to wash and it could be done anywhere—Isaac, still held by the collar, slowly pulled his head back and looked at her. Noticing his reaction, Ellie frowned.
“You don’t want to? You think even that won’t work? Then do you want to mate? That is the easiest and most certain method.”
But then she grumbled that she didn’t want to do that because she might give away too much of her energy. Isaac quickly shook his head, replying, “No, that’s a bit much!” Cold sweat poured down his spine. Then, Ellie suddenly thrust her finger deep into Isaac’s mouth. “Try eating this,” she said, her finger digging in and poking his uvula, bringing tears to his eyes. However, because she urged him with a sharp “Hurry!”, he closed his mouth without even the presence of mind to push her away.
Ellie’s finger pressed firmly against Isaac’s tongue. Isaac thought he felt only a light pressure and no taste, but then, despite the finger and tongue clearly being in contact, a strange sensation arose, as if there were a soft layer of air between them. Inside that layer, it felt as if a tiny breeze was fluttering.
“—”
Looking up at Isaac’s wide eyes, Ellie whispered, “Let it seep in just like that. Swallow it quietly. Slowly.”
Not knowing what that sensation was, he looked back at her and slowly inhaled. It felt as if the wind was pooling on his tongue like water, swaying back and forth. Yes, just like that, Ellie whispered happily.
“You should be incredibly grateful to me. Just know that I am pushing my energy into you in huge amounts.”
「I see, he needs to be spoon-fed and have his jaw moved up and down to chew.」
The cats watched from the side and chattered. Isaac felt the wind pooling on his tongue gradually subside—and at the same time, he felt his hunger being filled very, very faintly—and thought, Is this it?
He thought he understood. He felt he knew what the sensation was, but as she said, she was the one pushing it in. It didn’t feel like he was sucking it in by his own will.
So, the moment he actually swallowed, his throat bobbing.
“Ah—you idiot! It was going so well, why did you stop?!”
Ellie screamed. She yanked her finger out of his mouth and pointed aggressively right in front of his face.
“…I guess that’s not what you meant by swallow.”
As Isaac muttered somewhat gloomily, she, who had been stomping the ground in anger, whipped around.
“Feel it properly. This time, suck it in for real. Got it?!”
The end of her sharp words vanished into Isaac’s mouth. Gripping Isaac’s collar, she had pulled him in and kissed him.
In an instant, both speech and movement stopped. Embracing the frozen Isaac’s neck, she deepened the kiss, and her tongue entered Isaac’s mouth, resting upon his. And before Isaac could realize the situation and panic,
“—”
The air felt even more distinct than before. The wind pooled, pressing more strongly against his tongue. It began to seep in slowly, as if someone were forcibly pushing it. Along with it came a sense of satiety rising from the bottom of his body. Yes, it was satiety. Not of the flesh, but filling the fundamental life force.
That strange satiety, which Isaac had never tasted before, was being filled drop by drop, very slowly, from the very bottom. It started from the touching tongues.
So this is it. This is the sensation. Sucking vitality—was something this sweet and alluring.
“Now, I’m going to reduce it little by little, so try sucking it yourself.”
Ellie whispered, slightly parting her lips. Then she overlapped their tongues again. This time, the feeling from before decreased sharply. Only a faint flow remained, barely there, making him crave more. He wanted to drink more. More. How did he do it? What was the sensation? More like this, as if a warm and abundant wind were flowing from this person into him—
That was when it happened. For a moment, it felt as if a gust of wind blew into his mouth.
“Yes! That’s it!”
Ellie shouted briefly. Dropping her head, her eyes sparkling, she patted Isaac’s shoulder. A bright, proud smile of finally having succeeded played on her lips. Beside them, the cats patted their paws wildly, chanting, 「Hooray~」, 「Well done, our Manbang!」, 「You’ve become a proper witch!」
In front of them, Isaac could only blink vacantly.
The feeling he had tasted for the first time in his life was incredibly foreign and new. Along with it, he could feel the abundant vitality that he could only enjoy during the Dark Moon visiting him for a brief moment and then vanishing.
The surprise. The vividness. The abundance. The longing.
“…So this is how it is.”
So this is how it feels to have life force filled. That’s why witches enjoy stealing human vitality so much.
Isaac looked up at the sky quietly.
Along with the excitement of discovering a sensation he never knew, a faint regret surfaced. It would have been better if he hadn’t known. He would long for this sweet and rich taste for a long time.
Isaac let out a quiet sigh.
“…It tastes good. Maybe because it’s a taste I’ll never be able to have again.”
“Why wouldn’t you have it again? You know the knack now.”
“No… well, yeah, I might have to collect it little by little from people for a while, so there might be another chance to eat it.”
Isaac nodded, but he didn’t stop sighing. It tastes this good. But since it’s bad for the body—for other people’s bodies—he shouldn’t eat it unless there are extraordinary circumstances.
Isaac sank into thought for a moment and then looked back at Ellie.
“I think I know how to do it. Just to confirm if I’ve really learned it, could we do it one more time?”
“What?”
Ellie frowned deeply. She had been displeased, thinking My precious life force!, but after glaring at the cats who were tapping her ankles with their tails, saying 「Uh-huh, please give our baby one more chance.」 and 「The poor thing is trying so hard just to survive,」 she clicked her tongue briefly.
“Fine. Just once. Only a very little bit.”
Ellie craned her neck. Isaac nodded and approached her. Just a little, I’ll just check if I’ve mastered it and then stop; otherwise, I’ll only want more. Thinking this, he cupped Ellie’s cheek and quietly overlapped their lips, and then.
Suddenly, he felt Ellie’s body freeze. He could tell her eyes had widened. At their feet, the cats’ fur stood on end.
At the same moment Isaac noticed the presence,
“Oh my…”
A small, surprised whisper was heard from over Isaac’s shoulder.
Isaac also stiffened momentarily, but he quickly hid his panicked state and turned around with the most nonchalant expression possible. Whoever had caught them, since it had come to this, he had to somehow smooth things over…
“Oh, it was Ellie. Oh my, and Sir Guard…”
However, the moment he faced the Lord’s daughter, who was holding her hands together and looking back and forth between the two in surprise—and simultaneously encountered the Prince staring at them from beside her—Isaac’s mind froze completely.
The Prince was looking at Isaac in silence. Those deep blue eyes had sunk into a pitch black. His face, utterly expressionless, was the same as usual, yet it felt entirely different. He didn’t know how to describe the feeling of a chill rising from the bottom of his chest.
The Prince, who had been staring at Isaac, shifted his gaze to Ellie. In an instant, Ellie visibly flinched. Her body trembled violently; even as she tried to hide behind Isaac, it seemed her feet wouldn’t move. Under the Prince’s gaze, her complexion turned as pale as a corpse in a heartbeat.
“Oh, Ellie… there’s no need to be that surprised…”
The Lord’s daughter spoke pityingly to the pale, trembling Ellie, but even that sound didn’t seem to reach her ears.
At their feet, he now saw that even the cats were curled up with their fur standing on end. Their tail hairs were stiff.
Why?
It wasn’t an illusion.
Not only Ellie, the cats, and Isaac, but even the Lord’s daughter and the soldiers standing at a distance behind her were observing the Prince with anxious expressions; the Prince stood there emanating an air so chilling it was terrifying.
Instinctively, he felt that it was dangerous. Isaac forced breath into his heart, which felt as if it were freezing.
To think he hadn’t noticed until he was this close. How distracted had he been by sucking vitality?
“I believe I said I could not overlook someone laying a hand on a person.”
Finally, the Prince spoke. Those low words were colder and heavier than ice.
The people, who had been silent in tension, looked at each other with puzzled expressions, but Isaac soon recalled what he had said at the banquet. He had said that, at the very least, a witch would not be able to touch a human in front of him.
“—It’s not like that,”
Isaac, who was about to speak, stopped. The Prince’s expressionless eyes gazed steadily at Isaac. In front of him, remaining silent as if telling him to speak if he had something to say, Isaac could not utter a word.
In this place with others present, he couldn’t say that he wasn’t trying to harm a person. Nor could he say that Ellie wasn’t a person. Ultimately, as Isaac fell silent again, a faint tension appeared in the Prince’s closed jaw. Isaac’s chest chilled instantly and sank.
“Um, although they were negligent in their duties, it is a lovely night, so please overlook it this once.”
Then, the Lord’s daughter, who had been quietly gauging the situation, stepped forward. Placing her hand affectionately on the Prince’s arm, she looked back at them.
“The two of them already seemed to get along well… it’s something that could easily happen between a young man and woman.”
The Lord’s daughter smiled benevolently and lightly stroked the Prince’s arm. The Prince’s gaze, which had been on Isaac, dropped to her hand. His indifferent eyes looked down at the hand stroking his arm for a very brief moment before moving up to her face. And,
“—Sir Kaieon!”
It was immediately after that Isaac hurriedly sprang from his spot and grabbed the Prince’s arm.
The Prince, who had been reaching for the hilt of his sword at his waist, looked back at Isaac, who was clinging to his arm as if in desperation, his face almost pale. Emotion filled the expressionless eyes that had been looking at the Lord’s daughter as if she were some bothersome non-human entity. Facing that look, which resembled rage, right in front of him, Isaac felt a chill run down his spine.
The Lord’s daughter looked back and forth between them with a bewildered face, not knowing what was happening, and Ellie was trembling almost convulsively. Isaac could now recognize the terrifying bloodlust that had been contained and was now leaking out.
“I am sorry. I was wrong.”
Isaac also spoke hurriedly with a stiff face. His tongue felt frozen, making it hard to speak, but he had to say at least that. Otherwise, it felt as if the Prince would inevitably draw his sword.
“I had no intention of satisfying my own greed. Truly. I absolutely, absolutely have no intention of harming anyone.”
He would not harm a person.
Isaac appealed with all his heart, facing the Prince. The blue eyes, so deep they looked black, were terrifying enough to make his heart tremble, but his instinct told him he must not avert his gaze here.
The Prince was staring at Isaac as if to pierce through him. His gaze, more chilling than a honed blade, felt as if it would cut Isaac right then and there. The Prince’s hand was still gripping the hilt of the sword. The moment he felt a sign that the hand was moving slightly, Isaac reflexively tightened his grip on the Prince’s arm. Since no other way came to mind, he clung with all his might, and only then did he realize his mistake.
It’s obvious I can’t win with strength, yet I’ve uselessly pretended to block him with force—just as he thought this, the Prince’s gaze seemed to brush over Isaac’s arm, which was clinging to him as if embracing it. A wrinkle slowly formed between his brows.
…Eh…? Just as Isaac vaguely thought this, the cats, who had their tail hairs standing stiff, seemed to relax their bodies slightly. Ellie’s convulsions also subsided a little.
As the Prince looked back at Isaac, a look of displeasure was evident on his face. However, the terrifying sharpness had subsided compared to his previous expressionless face.
The Prince let go of the sword hilt. Then, with a slowly raised hand, he gripped the wrist of the hand that had been holding his arm. Isaac grit his teeth at the fierce grip, which was strong enough to make his bones creak.
“Fine, then shall I hear what your intention was. I will listen to see if you can give an answer that satisfies me.”
The Prince said, looking at Isaac. Facing those dark eyes, Isaac realized that for this moment, he had survived. His shoulders, which had stiffened unconsciously from tension, throbbed.
The Prince turned and walked toward the Lord’s manor, and seeing him leave without a single glance, the Lord’s daughter looked back and forth between them in confusion. “Oh, oh my, Sir Kaieon,” she said, hurriedly chasing after him. Watching her back, Isaac let his shoulders slump.
His heart was still racing. The cold sweat would not stop.
Rubbing his goose-bumped skin, Isaac suddenly looked back at Ellie. Terrified and trembling violently, she had her eyes open, but she didn’t seem to be in her right mind.
“El,”
The moment Isaac tried to reach out to her, she flinched and shuddered in horror, shaking off Isaac’s hand as if she had seen a ghost, and hurriedly ran off into the forest.
Isaac stood blankly, staring in the direction she had disappeared, until he snapped back to his senses at the feeling of the cats shaking their fur.
This was no time to stand around. For some reason, the Prince had granted him a brief reprieve; if he dawdled even a little in this situation, he might die without even a chance to explain.
Recalling the Prince’s dark, glistening eyes, Isaac felt a chill run through his entire body. Rubbing his shivering arms, he hurried his pace.
He already knew that the Prince hated witches.
Until now, Isaac had never felt ashamed or distressed by the fact that he was a mixed-blood of a witch and a human. He had simply had to endure the occasional loneliness that inevitably came with living in the world of humans.
However, since staying by the Prince’s side and feeling the hatred the man occasionally displayed toward witches, Isaac had thought for the first time that it would have been better if the blood of a witch did not flow within him. On the other hand, he also thought it was a relief that, because he was half-witch, he might be able to alleviate the Prince’s pain. Since coming to be with the Prince, his days had been spent oscillating between these two contradictory thoughts.
And now.
How wonderful it would have been if I weren’t a witch, Isaac thought desperately.
A witch had seduced a human to cause them harm—that was surely how the Prince perceived it. That was why he had been so terrifyingly enraged.
Isaac wanted to make an excuse, but the mere fact that he carried the bloodline of a witch meant that any excuse would inevitably lose some of its sincerity. Along with that sense of injustice came a wave of depression. He realized that far from being liked, he wasn’t even trusted by the man.
Isaac let out a sigh that felt as if he were sinking deep into the earth as he stood before the bedroom door. Lies always breed further misunderstandings. Regardless, he had no choice but to speak honestly and seek understanding.
Knocking on the door, he said, “It’s Isaac.” After taking a deep breath, Isaac opened the door, but the breath he had taken proved useless; the moment he stepped into the room, his heart stopped.
His eyes met the Prince’s, who was leaning back on the sofa. Resting his temple on his fist, the Prince gazed steadily at Isaac, his expression chillingly blank.
It was terrifying. If the aura of a person were visible, it felt as though something immense and dreadfully eerie was flowing through the room. …Perhaps that was what Ellie or the cats could see.
“So, the answer that will satisfy me is…”
The Prince spoke slowly. Isaac swallowed hard and opened his mouth to say what he had prepared. The truth.
“I wanted to learn how to consume a human’s life force.”
The Prince’s eyebrow twitched. Isaac hurried to continue.
“I have never done it before, so I didn’t know how. That is why I wanted to find out.”
A look of absurdity mingled with the Prince’s cold gaze. Letting out a short, hollow laugh, the Prince muttered frostily.
“Not only is that unsatisfying, but even if it were, you intend to eat human life force? Are you telling me you want to act like a witch? Right now? In front of me?”
Whether he was brave or simply insane, the Prince let out a smirk, looking at Isaac with narrowed eyes. Isaac shook his head with a serious expression.
“I intended to take only enough life force so as not to harm the person. If I could gather small amounts of life force from many people, I would be able to see where that witch is. If I could obtain life force that way, I would do it every day.”
The Prince said nothing. After appearing to ponder the words slowly, he suddenly asked.
“Small amounts from many people?”
“Yes, only as much as would not cause them any hindrance.”
“Even though it would reveal that you are a witch?”
Isaac momentarily dropped his gaze to his feet. Living as a human in the human world, and not.
He still held onto a lingering attachment to living among people as one of them. He had lived that way his entire life; to say otherwise would be a lie. As much as he could guess how harsh it would be to live as a witch among them—no, he would likely no longer be able to live among people at all.
Nevertheless.
The pain, the terror, and the misery of the young man who had been eaten alive in an instant.
How many more people had that horror spread to?
“Even if it becomes difficult for me to live as a human, I must do what needs to be done.”
Isaac looked up. The eyes watching him narrowed slightly. Perhaps the Prince didn’t like something about it.
“So, as the first sacrifice, you intended to suck the life force from that maid? Why her?”
Isaac flinched. He didn’t know why the few seconds he spent blinking at the Prince, unable to think of an immediate response, felt so long.
He could never say, ‘It’s because that girl is actually a dream demon and I was learning from her.’ If he did, he would likely see a witch die right before his eyes.
“…Anyone… would have been fine, but I happened to be speaking closely with her…”
The Prince said nothing. Isaac had to try incredibly hard not to avert his gaze from those cold eyes that simply watched him in silence. The man was so sharp that he might sense something if he wasn’t careful.
“Since I have learned the knack of how to consume life force, I should be able to replenish my energy. If I obtain it from many people, just a tiny bit, enough not to cause harm…”
Then he would be able to use his ‘eyes’ more freely than before. Enough to see where the witch was.
To gather energy from many people in a short time, he would need their consent, and for that, he inevitably needed the Prince’s help. Whether the Prince would agree to Isaac’s plan was uncertain—and if he didn’t, the knack Isaac had learned would be useless—but at least one option had opened up.
“Many people…”
The Prince muttered. Hearing the faint trace of displeasure in those words, Isaac added as if making an excuse.
“I couldn’t think of any other way. To replenish enough energy to see that witch, but not so much as to cause harm…”
“Do witches absorb life force in that manner? I was under the impression they could suck life force with a mere breath.”
The Prince cut Isaac off mid-sentence. Isaac blinked for a moment, and then his face suddenly flushed hot. He shifted his gaze downward.
“…Since it was my first time, I didn’t know the knack… absorbing it through mucous membranes was the easiest. I believe that as I become more accustomed to it, I won’t necessarily need to go through mucous membranes…”
“That means for a while, every time you absorb life force from those many people, you’ll have to do it that way.”
“…Yes, probably.”
Isaac muttered, bowing his head like a sinner. He had never expected to be interrogated over something like this. He hadn’t even considered it until now. But, yes, thinking about it, the person having their life force sucked might hate it. It wouldn’t be a pleasant experience from his side either.
As Isaac felt awkward, he suddenly heard a faint sound of wind and looked up. The Prince was letting out a hollow laugh of absurdity. His expressionless face still looked somehow fierce, causing Isaac’s shoulders to stiffen with tension.
“I never imagined I would see a witch boldly declare their intent to suck human life force right in front of me.”
“—If you do not permit it, I will not do it.”
Isaac spoke with his head bowed. As expected, it wasn’t allowed. Indeed, no matter how harmless it was, the idea of sucking human life force could not be readily accepted. …Then, what should he do? How could he find where that witch was?
Just then, as Isaac looked down in deep thought, the answer “Fine, I understand your point” suddenly came from above. In the moment Isaac looked up, feeling a surge of relief,
“Your pretext is quite good.”
The moment the Prince let out a low snort and rose from his seat, Isaac felt as if a massive predator were rearing up before him. The slow steps approaching Isaac were heavy and threatening. The nape of Isaac’s neck stiffened.
“Child of a witch. Do you crave human life force? Did you want to taste it? Then a wonderful excuse has presented itself.”
“That’s not—”
As Isaac began to stammer, the Prince’s large hand roughly gripped the nape of his neck. A grip that felt as if it would choke the life out of him tightened around his throat.
“Yes, your excuse is not bad. If that is how we can catch that witch, then so be it. However, I wonder how many people you would have to suck life force from, and how much, to fill yourself to the necessary level.”
“—.”
“How would I know if you’d suck more for your own greed even after filling yourself sufficiently, or if new damages would arise because of a witch like you? To think you’d use such a plausible excuse to suck life force from many people; you’ve come up with a truly cunning trick.”
“That’s, not—”
The Prince, gripping Isaac’s neck, was staring into him from inches away. His eyes, locked in an unfathomable darkness, were chillingly cold. Only then did Isaac realize that the Prince was enraged to a terrifying degree.
Isaac tried his best to meet the Prince’s gaze. That’s not it. That’s not what I meant. I have no such intention. The feeling of injustice and sorrow that he wasn’t understood or trusted preceded his fear. As the Prince stared intensely at him, his pupils suddenly seemed to glisten black. Abruptly,
“I will give you mine.”
The Prince breathed out low through his teeth.
Isaac’s eyebrows twitched. Amidst the pain of his constricted airway, he couldn’t immediately comprehend what the man had said. His? What—
“Try taking it from me. Let us see how much life force you can take from me, and how much of that witch you can see with it.”
The Prince’s lips murmured at a distance so close they almost touched Isaac’s. It sounded like the growl of a beast.
The meaning reached Isaac’s mind a step late. And before any other thought could enter his mind, which had gone blank in an instant,
“—.”
The sensation of lips being fiercely bitten.
As if venting an uncontrollable rage, the Prince lunged at Isaac, biting his lips without hesitation as if to devour him.
It was a contact so sudden that it pushed aside even the pain of split lips and a bitten tongue. Isaac could only blink vacantly, yet those pitch-black eyes were staring at him as if to consume him, even though they shouldn’t have been visible from that distance.
The tongue pushing into his mouth found Isaac’s. That tongue, as if carefully tasting a piece of caramel before suddenly swallowing the sweetness whole, slowly licked Isaac’s tongue and then, at one point, greedily sucked it in.
“—.”
He couldn’t breathe. It felt as if a typhoon were raging inside his mouth. That typhoon flowed down his throat and spread throughout his body.
It was an indescribable, instinctive sense of crisis. Unconsciously, Isaac gripped the Prince’s shoulders and tried to push him away. For a moment, the shoulders felt like solid rock that wouldn’t budge, but after a short time, they gave way. Their overlapping lips parted. The Prince’s face was right before his eyes.
Is this… the person I knew?
Though the face was familiar, it felt strange. It was because the expression was unfamiliar. He had never seen the Prince’s face with such a fierce and clear emotion surfacing. He didn’t know what that rough and ferocious emotion was.
The Prince stared at Isaac as if to pierce through him. His eyes were pitch black. Finally, he slowly opened his mouth and growled in a low, husky voice.
“What are you doing, witch? Was the claim that you intended to obtain life force through mucous membranes a mere excuse? Were you simply trying to toy with a human?”
“N-no, it’s not.”
Isaac’s heart sank.
No. It’s not a lie. He had to dispel the man’s suspicion.
“Then do it properly.”
The Prince urged him low. Then, he immediately gripped Isaac’s hair, pulled him in, and overlapped their lips again.
He had to suck the life force. Right now, from this man.
Isaac anxiously accepted the tongue delving between his lips. Entwining his own tongue with it, he struggled to recall how he had done it before, what the sensation had been.
It had felt like filling a hunger. A non-physical hunger he had never been conscious of until now. The thing that would soothe that starvation was flowing from the partner, and Isaac had simply felt its presence and swallowed it.
Yes, that was the sensation.
Isaac focused all his consciousness on his tongue, groping for the Prince’s. He gently swept across it, searching for what would be contained there. He didn’t even realize he had unconsciously wrapped his arms around the Prince’s neck. And then,
“—.”
He found it.
The moment he felt something like a faintly leaking air, Isaac clung to it and began to suck it in. And at that very moment, the numerous thoughts in his head were wiped clean.
To think there was something so sweet and dense. Something so luscious.
It felt as if all consciousness were vanishing. With only the sense of tasting that flavor remaining, Isaac clung to the Prince. As if his instincts as a witch had awakened.
A feeling of being filled gradually from the empty depths. He could vividly feel the energy surging from deep within his body.
In a trance, Isaac tasted the Prince’s tongue. Licking, sucking, swallowing. And at some point—when the life force, which had been falling drop by drop, began to flow in like water—a low sound seemed to escape from the Prince’s throat.
Along with that sound, like the threat of a beast that had endured for a long time, the Prince, who had been still until then, bit into Isaac.
“—.”
He sucked and gnawed at Isaac’s tongue with terrifying intensity. The momentum, as if he would devour Isaac’s lips, tongue, and the entire inside of his mouth, caused Isaac’s blurred consciousness to snap back instantly.
He tried to pull his mouth away instinctively, but the hand gripping Isaac’s head didn’t budge. Rather, noticing the attempt to pull away, the Prince pulled him even harder so that he couldn’t move an inch. It felt as if he were trapped in the man’s arms.
A cold sensation ran down his spine. What was this terrifyingly immense thing? Perhaps because his witch’s senses were vividly awake, the person before him looked like something larger and more overwhelming than a great mountain. That terrifyingly absolute pressure—and at the same time, the ecstatic life force flowing into his body so sweetly that he couldn’t bear to give it up.
While his mind felt distant, as if a part of it were paralyzed,
“So this is what it feels like to have your life force sucked out,” a low whisper echoed against his lips.
At the end of those words, the Prince greedily sucked Isaac’s tongue once more, and then,
“Yes… Yes. Yes. It’s fine. Now I understand why humans become so enchanted by witches. Yes, let’s see how far you can enchant me. And how much more life force you can eat. —Did they say the easiest and most effective way for a witch to eat human life force is through sexual intercourse?”
The low, muttering voice was rough. The moment those words fell, Isaac snapped awake as if doused in cold water.
Beneath his body, trapped in the arms holding his waist tightly, there was a distinct sensation against his groin. He realized in an instant what that unfamiliar, hard sensation was.
…This is impossible.
“Lord Kaieon, wait, this is enough life force—”
“Is there a limit to the life force a witch can eat? What happens if you eat beyond the limit?”
“—.”
He didn’t know. He had heard stories of humans dying after having their life force sucked dry, but he had never heard of a witch getting sick from overeating life force. He had never heard of someone eating more than their own capacity.
“I heard the temple said so when I was born. That something not human was born wearing a human shell. That an endlessly vast energy was contained within a human vessel—so they said.”
The corners of the Prince’s mouth curled slightly. Eyes filled with a cold sneer gazed at Isaac.
“Well, I don’t know if those words are true or not, but I wonder. …Yes, I’ve suddenly become curious. I wonder if I will waste away from having my life force sucked dry by a witch. And if so, what happens to a witch who has sucked more than enough life force.”
The arms wrapping around Isaac’s waist tightened. Trapped in an embrace so tight it was suffocating, Isaac held his breath. It was hot. Their bodies pressed tightly together. The desire clearly touching him below.
When Isaac reflexively twisted his body, the arms holding him even tighter were like an iron wall, making it impossible to move further. The Prince whispered into the ear of the panting Isaac.
“If you must eat life force, I’ll give you as much as you want. Eat as much as you desire.”
“No, I’d rather decline—”