The next morning Baron tromped down the stairs, not leaning quite so heavily on his cane as he had before. Swinging open the dining room doors, he smiled and said his greetings as he took his seat to the left of the emperor.

Beside him, the four princesses smiled wanly and bowed their heads. And across from him, Prince Machida looked smug.

"I trust you slept well, Baron-san," Ryoko said, glancing over at him.

Baron nodded as he took a sip from his glass. "Indeed Your Majesty," he replied. "The room was just to my liking."

"I'm glad. I wasn't sure what you'd like so I just catered to your father's tastes."

"I appreciate the thought greatly, Your Majesty." Dipping his head, he stifled a yawn quivering in his throat. He hadn't realized how much he loved sleep until he was bereft of it.

The princesses didn't seem to be doing much better. All four of them had dark smudges beneath their eyes as they slouched in their seats and continually dabbed their mouths with their napkins to conceal their own yawns.

The emperor turned his head to the crown prince on his left. "And you, Machida-san? Did you sleep well?"

Leaning his chin in his palm, he leered at Princess Louise across the table. "Like a baby." Louise smiled sweetly as she discreetly elbowed Princess Yuki. She in turn touched Hiromi, who bumped Haru seated directly to Baron's left.

Haru matched her sister's smile, and a second later a soft thump echoed in the dining room and Machida's smirk disappeared, replaced with a grimace of pain.

Baron grinned into his cup.

Fifteen minutes later, breakfast was concluded and they were excused. The emperor appeared deeply disgruntled with the apparent lack of progress, suspicion hovering behind his brown irises. Instead of returning to his bedroom however, Baron decided to explore the castle.

The hallways were numerous in quantity, most of them appearing identical to him. They were also excruciatingly long, the floors covered in red carpet and lit with dozens of bright torches. The paintings that lined the walls were the only noticeable differences as he wandered through them. One hall featured paintings dating back to ancient times, while another was adorned with much more recent pieces. An entire hall was devoted to relatives of the royal family. Baron smiled slightly as he recognized the dark, kind eyes gazing back at him from every portrait.

While meandering through one of these hallways in the west end of the castle, he came across a set of double doors. Upon one of them, a gold plate embossed with the word 'LIBRARY' gleamed back at him in the cheery lighting.

Seeing as how this was the most interesting room he had come across so far, he shrugged and elbowed open the doors to enter. His breath caught in his throat.

Hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of books lined shelves that filled the spacious room from floor to ceiling, and the ceiling was at least thirty feet high. Two spiral staircases went up about halfway, leading to twin balconies that wound around the shelves. Sliding ladders stood at attention at the ends, and richly colored armchairs stood in every corner, feather-stuffed to almost bursting and just begging for him to have a seat. A huge globe, delicately painted to represent the earth, sat in a corner not occupied by a chair, and between the huge windows, lamps, ceiling skylights, and the merry fire crackling in the marble fireplace, the royal blue room and its multicolored books seemed to glow in the golden light filtering in. He was in heaven!

"Who knew this was hiding in here?" he mused, closing the door and gazing at all the books again.

Once most of the shock had worn off, he strolled over to one of the shelves and pulled out a book. Casually flipping through the pages, he almost missed the cry of help coming from the depths of the library.

"Is someone there?"

Placing the book on a coffee table, he turned and strode deeper into the library. "I am," he called out. "Where are you?"

"Back here."

He followed the voice to another tall shelf, and he saw a dark-haired girl clinging to a ladder and reaching for a violet-backed book. Her fingertips brushed against the spine, but not enough for her to be able to wrap her hand around it and pull it out.

Leaning his cane against a shelf, he grabbed another ladder and swung onto it, pushing away to slide right beside the girl. Climbing the rungs faster than he thought possible with his bad leg, he reached out with his longer arm and snagged the book from the shelf. "Here you are," he said, holding it out to the girl.

She turned to look at him, and he almost fell off the ladder. "Princess Haru?" he said in shock.

The princess shot her arm out and grabbed hold of his collar. With a mighty jerk, she pulled him forward until his chest bumped the books, and he gave her a sheepish grin. "Thank you," he said, handing her the book.

"No," she replied, smiling back, "thank you."

They carefully descended, and when his boots thumped against the carpet he slid his hands around Haru's waist and helped her down. As he did, he caught a glimpse of the title of the book.

"'Fairy Tales,'" he read aloud, glancing at her as she flushed. "You read fairy tales, princess?"

Haru brushed a stray strand of hair away from her eyes and glanced down at her feet. "I do," she murmured.

His grin broadened and he leaned closer. "Want to know a secret, princess?" he whispered, his eyes twinkling.

Her eyes glittered in the light. "What?"

"I read fairy tales too." He winked at her, and she blushed. "Do you have a favorite?" he asked, straightening and retrieving his cane.

"Actually, I do." Cracking open the cover, she flipped through the pages until she gave a soft gasp and held it up for him to see. In black, flowing script were the words 'Beauty and the Beast,' and beneath was an illustration of a lovely, dark-haired woman on the arm of a human-sized furball. She tapped the page with a fingernail. "This one has always been my favorite."

"If it's not too bold," he began, quirking his lips, "may I ask why?"

Sighing dreamily, she closed the book and hugged it to her chest. "Because it's so romantic," she breathed. "Even though he was verging on hideous monster, Beauty fell in love with him anyway, and their love was strong enough to break his curse. Plus," she frowned, "it's not about a princess."

Baron laughed, and Haru's smile returned. As they stood in the library together, he realized how much he truly liked her smile, and how bereft she appeared without it. Too bad her smile was as rare as Sakura trees in Sunder.

"Do you have a favorite, Baron von Gikkingen?" she asked when his mirth finally ceased.

He waved his hand. "Please, no formalities. Just call me Baron, Your Majesty."

"I'll agree to that arrangement when you just call me Haru." She shook her head and mumbled, "You have no idea how annoying that gets."

He smiled. "All right Miss Haru. As to my favorite fairy tale…" He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I'd have to say I'm partial to 'The Princess Bride.'"

Haru frowned. "'The Princess Bride'? I don't believe I've heard of that one. What's it about?"

A slow smile spread across his lips. "It's about how a young woman, said to be the most beautiful girl in the world, overcomes a sinister suitor and multiple murder attempts in order to be with her one true love." His eyes tilted down to hers. "And she's not a princess either."

Haru sighed dreamily. "It sounds wonderful."

Baron nodded. "It is. But it's new and not very popular yet—plus a Sunderese man wrote it—so it's understandable you haven't read it. I used to own a copy, but it… it…" His voice trailed off as he remembered his parents' elegant library, nothing more than ashes now.

The princess gazed at her feet. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you," she murmured.

Baron shook his head fervently. "No no no no, it's not your fault Miss Haru! You didn't know." He grinned. "No harm, no foul, right?"

She nodded, not thoroughly convinced, before lifting her head and eyeing him. "You know," she said, "not many of our suitors can read, let alone like it."

He shrugged. "Then they're fools who don't know what they're missing."

Haru beamed. "I agree. I like you, Baron-sama."

He eagerly returned the smile, noticing how the simple gesture brightened her demeanor even more. "I like you too."

=^^=) - cat.

A/N: I love 'The Princess Bride' (both the book and movie versions) and I needed a fairy tale for Baron to like. He's a hopeless romantic at heart, I think :)