CHAPTER 444: A NEW FRIEND-I

"Isaac," someone whispered again, the voice carrying softly through the garden where sunlight streamed between the leaves like melted gold.

The young man stirred, half asleep beneath the old pear tree, his hair tousled and catching the light like threads of copper and wheat. His mismatched eyes— one blue as clear sky, the other green as a summer meadow— peeked open with lazy reluctance.

The castle around him bustled with life: the clang of cauldrons, the hum of spells, sorcerers gliding across marbled halls. But Isaac— unlike them— preferred the quiet company of the sun.

He stretched languidly, one arm flung over his eyes as if to shield them from the brilliance he secretly adored. The warmth kissed his skin, wrapping him in comfort, and he smiled faintly.

If anyone asked what he wanted from life, Isaac would answer without hesitation: to be warm, to be left alone, and to dream beneath the sunlight.

But that simplicity made him an oddity in the castle of sorcerers.

He possessed magic— strong, unrefined, and rare— and yet he refused to use it. To Morpheus, this was a waste of divine talent. To Isaac, it was freedom.

Everyone else clawed for Morpheus’s approval, desperate to serve him, to prove themselves useful. Isaac saw them all as moths circling a dying flame. And he refused to burn with them.

"Isaac!"

The shout drew him from his thoughts. He opened one eye, spotting a girl hurrying across the grass.

Lily.

His half-sister, with hair the color of honey and eyes that always looked a little too worried for her age. She skidded to a stop beside him, breathless, and frowned as she brushed the dirt from her skirt before crouching down.

"Lord Morpheus called me earlier," she said, voice hushed but tense.

Isaac groaned dramatically, dragging a hand through his hair. "Eugh. Him again? I already told His Highness I’m not interested in his spells or his gloomy lectures. I’d rather learn from the sun— it’s kinder."

Lily sighed, suffering from her older brother’s stupidity that had almost choked her to death, and promptly tugged his ear. "You can’t keep saying that! Do you know what I would give to have your gift? And you waste it napping in gardens!"

He yelped and swatted her hand away, scowling like a cat interrupted mid-nap. "Ow! You sound just like him now. So what did our illustrious lord want this time? Another threat? Another lecture about ’potential’ and ’destiny’?"

"Neither," Lily said quickly. "He... actually offered something different this time. He said he’d overlook your refusal to study— if you did one thing for him."

Isaac’s eyebrow arched. "That sounds ominous."

"It’s not! He said it’s an honor."

He snorted. "That’s what people always say right before they die doing something stupid."

Lily puffed her cheeks in annoyance. "You’re impossible, Isaac. Everyone else in this castle dreams of serving Lord Morpheus, and here you are acting like he’s some—"

"—human producing gold?" Isaac finished for her, folding his arms behind his head. "He is one. A clever one, I’ll admit. But I’ve seen too many naive kid sing his praises only to vanish days later, and no one ever questions it. Tell me, doesn’t that sound suspicious to you?"

Lily faltered. Her lips parted, but no words came. She looked away.

Isaac sighed softly. "That’s what I thought. You’re kind, Lily, but too trusting."

Still, curiosity crept into his tone as he turned his head lazily toward her. "So? What’s this grand ’honor’ he wants from me?"

Her eyes flickered uncertainly. "He... he said he wants you to guard someone. Personally. Someone very important to him."

Isaac frowned, sitting up for the first time. The sun shifted behind a cloud, dimming the warmth that had bathed him moments before.

"Guard someone?" he echoed slowly. "Who?"

Lily hesitated. "He didn’t say her name. Only that... she’s the key to everything he’s been working toward."

Isaac didn’t believe Lily. After all unlike so many, many, sorcerers in the castle, he never had a loyalty toward being a sorcerer. Everyone here always take full pride for being able to serve a witch or Morpheus, even uttering that they were happy that they had died for them.

It bugged Isaac so much how naive they were when he had seen Morpheus and never once felt anything that could pull him into giving all his trust and loyalty towards the man. Perhaps that was also the reason why he didn’t want to touch studying magic despite the fact that he could have became a great sorcerer as mentioned by Morpheus.

But once he walked toward the grandest room in the castle, he saw what finally moved his heart.

A woman had stirred from the bed. Her face was still sickly and pale, the faint flush of life returning to her cheeks like dawn breaking through mist. Her hair, a shade between brown and red—like autumn’s last maple leaves— spilled over her shoulder, curling gently against the silk of her white dress.

Her eyes opened. Round, green, and bright as polished emeralds, they held a fragile innocence, like the painted glass eyes of a doll treasured by noble girls. Yet something in her gaze told him she was not to be trifled with. There was a quiet danger there— soft, so out of the world yet still real. Isaac could not explain it, but his soul warned him not to ever be the cause of her frown.

A strange stirring filled his chest, a warmth unlike anything he had ever felt. It wasn’t affection like what he felt for Lily, nor the fleeting admiration he’d had for any girl before. This was different— an instinct, deep and ancient, that whispered one thing into his heart:

Protect her.

Before he had known what he was doing, he was already on his knees, bowing towards her with his head bent down.

A drop of cold sweat dripped from the sides of his forehead, a sensation of fear and confusion stirred inside his heart as he wasn’t really sure what he was feeling and why he was feeling so odd that it doesn’t feel normal.

"I heard your name is Isaac?" the beautiful woman spoke to him and his heart thump.