Haru and Baron were once again enjoying tea together when a shout from outside brought their conversation to an abrupt halt.
"Yuki, take her highness out the back way," Baron said, a sharpness in his voice that Haru hadn't heard before.
"What's going on?" she asked, even as the white-haired girl tugged her out of the chair and room.
"The lord's sons. They rarely come, and every time they do, they cause the young master pain," Yuki whispered between panted breaths as she ran through the halls, still pulling the princess behind you. "He wouldn't want you to see that."
Haru followed silently after that. She didn't want to leave Baron behind to face whatever was about to happen alone, but she also knew that there as little she would be able to do. As a member of the royal family, she could order the brothers to not harm Baron, but once she was gone, her orders would not matter.
Yuki held her horse for her as she mounted, and with a worried, brave smile she farewelled the other girl before kicking the black mare into action, galloping indelicately back to the palace.
"Have you been having guests Baron?" asked Damien, the slightly older of the two brothers. His falsely handsome face was drawn up in a sneer that was most unflattering.
"Yes, sir," he answered, kneeling on the ground, his head bowed before them. If they were asking such a question, then they knew and there would be no point in trying to hide it.
"That's very naughty of you Baron," Gustavo tutted, wagging a finger. His schoolteacher impression and niceties were as false as his face.
"I cannot turn away those who need help. It is my family's creed," he answered quietly, his head still bowed.
Here, he was in the light, with his stepbrothers looking down on him in all their finery, and him in just a simple suit, his ginger, cat features clear for all to see. That didn't mean that they wanted to see his face, it was merely a statement that they would happily drag him into the village and watch the peasants he loved so much stone him to death for his appearance.
Their faces, masks of glamour and black magic mixed together, flickered, and Baron steeled himself against the sight of their true faces, so much more repugnant than his simply because his face was at least recognisable as a known creature – a cat. Their faces had simply contorted and twisted and were hideously, grotesquely malformed perversions of features. Then it started: the beating.
The first thing was a boot to the head, causing him to fall to the ground. He curled himself into as much of a ball as he could, with his tail tucked up between his legs and out of the way – it was particularly sensitive to being kicked and pulled at.
The few servants who remained from when his mother had been alive looked on, flinching at every strike to their beloved master's body. They all knew the truth, and had known the whole time, but they were only peasants, what could they do against a lord?
The beating went on for an hour before the brother's tired of the way Baron didn't fight back and mounted their horses once more to return to their father and the colourful court.
Tenderly, the servants carried Baron back inside the house and began the long task of tending to his many, many wounds.
He was in so much pain, yet the relieved thought that Yuki had gotten the princess away safely passed through his mind before he passed out completely.