Thirteen
Chapter Two: Deserve
I don't deserve it.
-Megan Marie
xxXxx
On the other hand, maybe giving Machida and Sakura her blessing wouldn't have been such a hardship, after all.
Haru struggled weakly against the huge scaly talons holding her arms, but it was no use. That grip was too huge, covering her arms from her shoulders to past her elbows so that her hands just stuck out at an awkward and useless position as the world rushed by underneath her; farther than she'd had any intention of going in her life.
Her lungs were on fire from the screaming she had given up hours ago, and she was bone tired in the morning light, but thanks to her shawl that had fallen to the meadow she had been taken from, she was far too cold to even consider sleep. Her satchel was still hanging from her shoulder, pinned by those terrible talons to stay put no matter what, but it was doubtful that anything in there would be of any use against a wizard.
If Lord Maliss could be bribed into releasing a girl with food or fancy embroidery, there wouldn't be a highborn lady across the five continents that would be caught dead without a satchel like hers, even in bed.
That made her blink wearily in realization. 'That's right, Lord Maliss has only ever been interested in noble or royal brides. He never should have noticed my existence.' Although she was the one to pay the price, Haru couldn't resist an evil smirk of satisfaction.
The nobility of every kingdom had countered his preference with various methods, but the most common one was cutting their daughters' hair and dressing them like sons even in the privacy of their own homes. According to the stories she'd heard, some of the sons already looked so feminine, that only the red dragon carrying her would know how many men he carried off by mistake.
That had to be the reason Haru concluded while stealing a look down at her plain brown dress, which couldn't have been mistaken for finery even at a distance. She tried desperately to think of something she could do or say to escape what the dragon had planned for her, but really.
What chance did a peasant girl who couldn't even write her name have against the worst wizard of her time? Let alone one that was used to keeping unwilling wives in line.
'That's probably not the best way to think of it,' Haru told herself as she glanced at a beautiful castle surrounded by a huge city that came and went slightly to her right. 'If he bothered with keeping a wife in line, he wouldn't need a new one once or twice a month.'
A tired shudder ran through her body as her fate became clearer, and the large mountains ahead drew a line between beautiful green and barren grey.
It had once been the kingdom of Neige, but no one's called it by that name in years.
'The Realm of Doom. Not the best place to live out your final days.'
The thought became emphasized at the tall bleak castle on the other side of the mountains, with only one small amount of green earth behind it. The dragon made a spiraling dive for the castle, making Haru's legs fling out at an angle as she fought to keep her distant dinner from making a second appearance.
After what felt like a year, the dragon unceremoniously dumped her on top of a tower, making her groan from pain and exhaustion. Some of the bread toppled out of her satchel, but she automatically slipped it back in with one trembling hand.
Her arms were shaking as she forced herself into a sitting position. Her tired, fearful eyes looked up at the red dragon as it landed on the tower's edge, carefully balanced on its two legs.
It could have been her imagination, but those yellow eyes seemed to smirk at her before folding his great red wings over his head.
Haru knew she should have done something while he was distracted, but she was a simple village girl who had never seen a magic trick more elaborate than colorful scarves stuffed up a sleeve.
Those wings glowed a deeper red and strangely black as they shrank, and an evil laugh seemed to echo from within until the glow was gone.
Now a long blue cape, Lord Maliss let it fall to reveal himself to her, the smirk now on his human lips as well as in his dark eyes. He jumped off the edge of the tower to stand not that far from her to gauge her reaction to him.
He more or less looked the way Haru thought he would. Tall, pale with a green cast to his skin, long nails and dark clothing with darker hair that a vampire would have scalped someone to own. Even the tall staff in one hand wasn't a surprise, since it was red and the top of it was an exact replica of his dragon head.
Before she could think, he tapped that staff on the grey stone once. Her little dagger flew out of her satchel and into his hand as a result, making her cry out hoarsely in dismay.
"Now, now, dear. You won't be needing this, anymore," the wizard sneered, making the blade turn into a wisp of smoke before disappearing completely.
Crud, there went her suicide option. Wait, he dropped her off on top of a tower! Haru quickly turned the other direction while rising to her feet, running for the edge before she was fully upright.
Haru felt a hand as cold and strong as steel grab her wrist and yank hard enough to force her to half turn and face him again.
All she saw was a flash of red light, and she suddenly couldn't move. Her eyes were still turned upward in shock and fear, but she could see the wizard smile in approval when the red light faded from his eyes. He released her wrist now that she wasn't going anywhere.
"How nice to have a bride eager to explore her new home," he exclaimed in false enthusiasm while fishing something out of his pocket. "But formalities first, dear."
He pulled out an amulet that was the same glossy red as his staff, with his dragon form engraved into the surface, and in a pose that looked ready for the kill.
Haru tried desperately to lean back since she didn't like the determination she saw on his face, but it was no use. Her every muscle was frozen solid. Even her lungs seemed reluctant to take in enough air to keep her from blacking out, and her heart was having trouble beating against flesh that refused to bend around it. She could do nothing as the evil wizard clasped the heavy gold chain around her throat.
There was an immediate stinging where the huge amulet came to rest on her chest, which only increased when Lord Maliss set the head of his dragon staff against its twin image.
"As these came from the same stone, so will me and thee be one," he intoned, taking her frozen hand with his free one in a forceful grip.
The stinging seemed to echo through her until the amulet seemed to pulse in time with her heartbeat.
Maliss stole a mocking kiss from her frozen lips, breaking the spell that held her bound.
Haru backed away as much as she could and used her free hand to wipe at her mouth. 'That didn't count! That wasn't my first kiss!'
The wizard yanked her back to him and pinned her to his side by her waist. "Now then to the usual; yes, that was binding, and no, you're not going to be able to escape." He nearly dragged her to the edge of the tower and used the staff to point straight down like he didn't notice her struggling to break free from his hold.
They were pretty high up, but Haru could tell that the creatures below were snarling and fighting over remains that she deliberately didn't look too close at weren't dogs, or even wolves. No type she had ever heard of before had horns for noses.
"My little pets don't like strangers," he crooned with a twisted satisfaction. "I don't recommend trying to befriend them, I've lost a few wives that way. There's a pack at every exit, and they know who has permission to leave. Not that you would be able to visit them with this," he added while directing his gaze to the amulet.
At least, Haru prayed that was what he was looking at.
"I think you'll find any ideas involving high places, outside doors and windows, or sharp objects to be… anticlimactic," he added with another wicked smile. "I have done this a time or two, as you obviously know."
Haru wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. She wanted to give this creep a piece of her mind as well as her fists, but everything was starting to turn blurry in her vision, as if the magic on the amulet was sucking up the little energy she still had left.
It was all too much. Her grief hadn't run its course yet. Her strength was gone. This wasn't the wedding day she had been telling herself since childhood would be hers.
The last thing she saw before passing out from sheer exhaustion was that irritating smirk of his.
Night One
Haru's head was aching when she started coming to. 'Morning always comes too soon. Lili probably wouldn't mind if I just… stay in a few extra minutes before milking her.'
"Is that bathwater ready yet?" a harsh voice tried to whisper, waking the girl up immediately.
Haru sat up like she had never heard of rest and looked around her frantically. Wherever she had been sleeping, it was warm and soft but very dark. Reaching out in vain, a thick sturdy fabric came into her hand, and a good yank made the heavy material slide open enough to see where she was.
The bed she had been resting on was larger and softer than anything she had even imagined before, but the most beautiful thing about it in her eyes was that she had clearly been sleeping alone in it. A glance out the large glass doors proclaimed the time to be sundown.
She had very literally slept the whole day away.
"Ah, awake, my lady?"
"Oh goody, now we can get on with it!" another voice chimed in before the girl had a chance to answer.
She looked over and gaped in surprise at who was in the room with her.
As previously mentioned, Haru knew very little about people outside of her village, and even less about magic. So she was completely unprepared for the monsters in her room.
The two voices that had talked almost on top of each other had come from a two-headed bird, and the first voice had come from a large mouthed monster that had been calmly sewing something blue that pooled over her lap like water. Haru could just barely tell that the one sewing was female.
The two-headed monster hopped up to her, smiling and offering her two tiny hands that seemed more like talons. "Your bath's ready, my lady," the left head with red braids informed her with a wide grin.
"And don't worry, we don't bite," the right head with tight blonde curls added with a cackle of a laugh. "Did you sleep well, my lady?"
Haru numbly looked around the cavernous room that was apparently hers, at least the part she could see from the opened bed curtain. She could have easily fit three of her father's cottage in here, and there were several touches that screamed that this was meant to be a highborn lady's room.
That made her feel a little better. There was absolutely no hint that she was meant to share this room with… that thing.
"Come, come; before your bath gets cold," the red head scolded as both of those tiny hands grabbed hers and nearly yanked her off the bed and sending the blankets flying.
"I'm up, I'm up!" Haru yelped, getting to her feet and suddenly realizing that her shoes and socks had been removed while she was asleep. Even the cord that held her ponytail was gone.
Her satchel was hanging on a nearby peg, but Haru could already tell that someone had filched the food from it. 'If it was Lord Maliss, I hope he choked on Hiromi's cheese!' she thought furiously.
The two headed purple monster guided her over to a marble bathtub that was full of steaming bubbles.
But the girl still stopped those talon hands when they tried to remove her dress. "You don't have to bother, you know," she stated in absolute misery as her voice croaked from all the screaming she had done on the flight to the castle. "He's going to kill me anyway."
"Only if you don't follow the rules," the blonde head tried to assure her, trying again to lift the skirt.
Haru took another step away. "Why not kill me now?" she couldn't help demanding. "He's going to do it anyway, and I already know I'm never going to like him."
The red head sighed as she and her joined sister both grabbed a part of her skirt, and very literally ripped the homespun dress apart.
Haru shrieked in surprise and tried to cover herself with her arms, but the purple bird was already ushering her into the tub while ripping the rest of the torn fabric off her arms.
"We already know what the human body looks like," the red head informed the girl as she quickly sunk up to her chin in bubbles, her face blushing furiously. "We've been the ladies in waiting for the past two years."
"Agnes is already working on your dress," the head with curls added as her hand grabbed a sponge and started scrubbing Haru's back. "She should be done with the adjustments by the time we dry you off."
Adjustments. Meaning they already had the dress. Was it one another bride had worn?
Haru experimentally tugged on the amulet but felt like she was trying to pull out a major vein in her chest. Whether she liked it or not, that sign of the wizard's power wasn't going anywhere. She sighed miserably and did a face plant into the water through the bubbles, but the amulet turned warm in warning against her bare skin as it kept pulsing in time with her heart.
The water and even the bubbles around her face immediately retreated to an invisible bowl of air so that she wouldn't 'accidentally' drown.
"Sorry, my lady. One already did that," the head with braids informed her as she used a cup to douse Haru's head with water a few times before adding a liquid soap to her hair.
The soap smelled nice, at least, and the talon fingers were gentle as they rubbed the thick liquid into a rich lather. Haru couldn't name the flower scent, but she was too busy with her more depressing thoughts as she curled her body into a fetal position under the bubbly water.
Lord Maliss had thought of everything. No escape routes, no way to even use them without getting rid of the amulet first, and no way to even hasten her demise before he was finished with her.
'Thanks a lot, Kamiko,' Haru thought bitterly as her head was doused again. 'If you had just accepted and cared about the fact that going to your son's wedding as a guest instead of the bride would have ripped me apart, I wouldn't have needed to sneak away in the middle of the night for my own sanity. Thanks to you, I'm on death row. I hope you're happy.'
Death row and worse. She shuddered at the thought of that disgusting thing taking another kiss and more from her.
Where's something venomous when you need it?
ooOoo
"Oh, aren't you a sight to behold, my lady?" the head that had identified itself as 'Red' gushed as her sister similarly swooned.
"I admit I was a little worried when he said he was bringing a peasant bride this time, but you look just as regal as the rest of them!" 'Blondie' swore while dabbing a tear out of her eye.
Haru looked at herself in the mirror, feeling worse than ever by the light of the moon and the fireplace. Even though she and Lord Maliss barely even resembled the same species, there would be no doubt in anyone's mind that saw her with him now that she was definitely his wife.
The dress was softer than anything she had ever worn, but it was the same shade as Lord Maliss' shirt, and the sleeves were a little more flowing than his, hemmed in a lighter blue the same as her fitted bodice and the bottom of the billowing skirt. It was belted at the waist like him as well, with a blue triangle as the clasp to echo the gold circlet holding her loose hair in place. The square bodice revealed a bit more than she was comfortable with, and it also left the dragon amulet the center of attention. Haru had fought against it, but despite her protests, there was even a little amount of makeup to heighten her features just enough to make recognizing her own reflection a chore.
It had taken until after her bath to notice, but her first glance at the large mirror even revealed that her earlobes had been pierced with delicate gold earrings while she was passed out and unable to fight against the careful process.
'Is this all my life was leading up to? I don't think this could be any more opposite of all the plans I had ready if Machida ever looked at me.'
It would have been such a good life. Simple. Full of love and laughter. It would have ended with her and Machida on a wooden bench outside their cottage, old and wrinkled and still attached at the hip as grandchildren played at their feet.
"Who wants to bet I won't last through dinner?" she mumbled in a very poor attempt at humor. 'With how things have been going, there's probably someone outside the room to drag me there if I don't walk.'
"Oh, don't be silly, my lady," Agnes laughed as she nearly bounced to the door and held it open for her current mistress. "There hasn't been a single bride lost during a meal."
"Yet," Haru added, reluctantly dragging herself through the door to see a strange reptile soldier salute her smartly, though one scaly hand was on a flaming torch.
"Lord Maliss has charged me with taking you to the dining hall," he announced in a hissing voice.
Haru could do barely more than nod. The numbness that had helped her cope with Machida's engagement was back, and she was secretly grateful for it. Her poor heart felt like it was going to give out at any moment, and she had been feeling far more than what was good for her anyway.
The lizard soldier looked a little disappointed as he started marching down the dark hallway, only lit up by his own flame. "No scream for me?" he asked while waving away a group of mismatched soldiers who also seemed disappointed as they watched her miserably drag herself past them.
'Just as I suspected. No more free will for me.' "I'm all screamed out right now," Haru told him in perfect honesty as she followed his lead. Her throat was still sore from all the screaming she had tried after Maliss had grabbed her from the goat meadow, even with the cup of honey tea she had been given to smooth out the sound. "Maybe tomorrow if it means that much to you." 'We'll see if I last that long.'
The numbness was helping her cope with the monsters as well, but in all honesty, the creatures that served here barely deserved the name when compared to the master of this castle.
They didn't smirk at her or steal kisses, for one thing. Or make sure that she wasn't going to be around when Hiromi had her baby.
For Hiromi, her heart throbbed in acknowledgement. After not going a single day of her life without at least exchanging jokes with her best friend, that was probably going to be one of the harder things for her to get used to.
All she could do was hope that Hiromi was giving Kamiko a hard a time as possible for forcing this to happen.
If the lizard guard had anything to say to that, Haru was too distracted to hear him. But he was still nice enough to slow down enough so that she wouldn't get lost.
This castle was too big to be a home, Haru decided as she stared at the high ceilings and wide hallways. It felt like she was trapped inside a hollowed-out mountain.
She might as well have been. It was only a shame that the mountain was hollowed out so that she could keep breathing.
A rat guard and a vulture guard straightened up a bit when the two reached the heavy doors that were being guarded, though they looked a bit surprised that the current bride wasn't being dragged by the usual squad. Without needing any prompting, the rat and vulture yanked hard on the rings to make the doors swing open to reveal the longest table she had ever seen in her life.
"Lady Maliss," the lizard soldier announced, making Haru flinch in revulsion.
As if losing her simple life and home weren't enough of an additional insult, even her name had lost its meaning in this horrible place.
At the far end of that long table, Lord Maliss was waiting by a fireplace bigger than her room in her father's cottage had been. He stopped pacing so that he could look up at her.
Even from this far away, she could see that irritating smirk.
"It's about time!" he exclaimed while quickly taking the distance between them in long strides, his red staff hitting the floor with every other step to make a sound like a ticking clock.
If Haru had eaten anything in the last twenty-four hours, she was certain that she would have thrown it up as he drew close enough for her to see that he was shamelessly looking at her up and down with approval.
"Amazing what a bath and change of clothes can do for one's appearance. Don't you agree, dear?" he stressed with a thin smile as he rubbed his chin in thought.
"I hate you," she muttered under her breath, secretly hoping that he'd get angry and kill her for such an open insult.
Just her luck, though, that he threw his head back and laughed like she had told the best joke of her life.
"I see the peasants' reputation for bluntness is well-deserved. How refreshing. Come along, dear, we don't want supper getting cold." He grabbed her hand, making her strain against him without much success as he dragged her down the long length of table.
"I'll walk normal if you let go of me!" she promised since just his contact on her skin made her flesh crawl, but he tutted as if she were only a naughty child.
"You'll have to learn that things are done differently here than in that quaint little village you ran away from."
Haru opened her mouth to protest that she hadn't been running away, but then immediately shut it again. 'I am not explaining what happened to this creep!'
He did release her hand, but it was only to pull out a fancy chair and give her an expectant look.
Although the last thing she wanted to do was share a meal with him, Haru reluctantly sat down, though she was a bit startled when he pushed the heavy chair back in for her.
He soon joined her on the other end of the table, with the short side facing the huge fire between them. He even leaned his staff against his side of the table, but it was close enough to counter any move she could have made.
The meal was mostly quiet, save for when she would politely say 'thank you' to whatever monster was putting something on her plate. If that had been the worst of it, Haru probably could have eaten the whole table clean with how hungry she was. But it was a little hard to focus on food when an evil wizard was watching your every move.
Haru was certain that he was eating, too, but didn't dare take her eyes off her own plate to see for herself. She couldn't name most of the things the monster servants piled in front of her but was surprised that most of them were actually pretty good, even if she avoided touching her wine goblet. The simple village girl had never tasted wine before, but she had no intention of finding out how much she could handle with that thing sitting across from her.
If only she couldn't feel Maliss' eyes on her the whole time. Sizing her up? Waiting for her to say something? What could she even say to him that would have any effect?
More out of pride than a need to impress him, Haru was careful to use her best table manners while sending a private apology to her mother's memory. Haru hadn't been a willing student, but she had remembered most of what her mother made her learn.
She briefly noticed that her dinner knife was nice and sharp, but as soon as she thought it, the amulet throbbed a warning, and the implement flew from her hand back to its place next to one of the spoons. Her fingers tried to pry it off the table, but it was staying still enough to have been cemented there. A tired sigh escaped her throat, especially after she gave up the notion so that she could use the knife again.
Haru didn't mind the silence when compared to the alternative, but after a while, her morbid curiosity could bear it no longer. Forcing herself to take a deep breath for courage, she looked her husband in the eye and asked him a simple question.
"What number am I?"
Sure enough, that irritating smirk reemerged from the other side of his wine goblet before he set it down. "You are the thirteenth bride of the thirteenth year of my reign of this realm. A new record."
Record. That wasn't talk from someone that had even a little bit of regret over killing that many girls.
"I meant in general," Haru clarified, even though she'd like the new answer even less.
He laced his fingers together before resting his chin on them, still smirking at her. "One hundred and thirteen. Since that has always been my number, I thought I'd celebrate hitting it three times at once with something different."
'Definitely not because you were running out of royal or even noble game to hunt. Not at all.' Still, one hundred and thirteen. Her mind boggled at the number.
Haru turned her head back to her plate to fully think things over.
One hundred and thirteen. One hundred and twelve girls before her. It went without saying that at least most of them were smarter than her. They'd actually been given an education bigger than basic math and how to get stains out of laundry. One hundred and twelve girls to find all the loopholes around the castle and the amulet and failing. Royal and noble women, all from powerful families that had surely attempted rescue after rescue, but obviously failing.
Haru couldn't help but remember the rumors from some of those disastrous rescue attempts. Now that she was face to face with the evil wizard, she knew for a fact that not even an army could stop him from getting what he wanted.
There was no chance for her. If entire countries weren't able to rescue their own princesses and such, who would really waste the time or energy to try rescuing a bagmaker's daughter?
Only one, and not only was Hiromi heavily pregnant and unskilled for combat, it was doubtful that she would so much as make it out of her own country before Haru's time came, or the baby's.
… Haru wasn't going to get to be there for the baby's birth. She promised, but now she couldn't even dote on the child in place of the children she should have been having with Machida to ease the pain. It just wasn't fair.
"When are you going to kill me?" she asked, almost too softly to be heard. 'I don't really want this answered, but I have to know.'
He gave a short laugh that sent chills down her spine. "That's really up to you, dear. I have rules, and if you should be foolish enough to break one, well…"
It wasn't hard to fill in the blanks. Haru sighed in resignation and forced herself to look up at him. "What are the rules?"
"Oh, you'll figure it out when you break one," he responded like his answer didn't mean a thing, but there was another evil grin on his lips.
Haru opened her mouth to angrily protest but stopped herself before she could utter a sound. She had to remind herself just who it was that had stolen her from the tattered remains of her simple life.
This was an evil wizard. The worst one in over a century. Not only did he steal women from their lives, he took glee in tallying them up. That's all she was in this place; just one more notch on his thin leather belt. If he bothered to bury his wives after he was through with them, it wasn't even all that likely that he would allow her to be buried under her own name. Especially since he still hasn't bothered asking what it is, yet.
Sulking angrily, Haru pushed her plate away from her even though she was secretly still hungry. "May I be excused?" she asked through clenched teeth, barely keeping her tone polite.
Strangely, he looked as though she had cheated him. "Oh, come now! I look forward to the screaming, the stopping of dishes as they're thrown at me and getting told 'that's not fair!' over and over! Give me something for the trouble it took to find you!" he nearly demanded while standing up and taking his staff in hand again.
Haru only looked at him, seeing no reason to hide the hatred in her eyes. "You don't exactly have a reputation for being fair. It explains why you beat your record this year. May I be excused?" she asked again, a little more firmly this time to make sure he heard her. 'Knowing my luck, he'll use magic to drag me back if I try to just leave."
Lord Maliss narrowed his eyes at her, slowly walking around the short end of the table as his staff again did that click that sounded all too much like the tick of a clock every time it touched the stone floor.
Although she wasn't sure how pointing out the obvious was forbidden, Haru still closed her eyes and braced herself for a killing blow. 'So much for never killing a bride during a meal.'
His cold strong hand wrapped itself around her right arm, tearing her from the chair with a surprised cry.
With the cry still on her lips, Maliss swung the staff around and pinned her against him by her waist, grabbed a good fistful of her hair with the hand that had held her arm, and used that grip to hold her steady while he claimed another kiss.
The one he had taken after placing the amulet around her neck was a simple peck by comparison. He had caught her with her mouth open this time, and he was taking full advantage of it.
Haru flailed and beat at his chest trying to get him off her, but nothing seemed to break his concentration as he held her tight. Waves of panic rushed up and down her body as she tried to scream, but he was keeping his mouth on hers to muffle the sound and lick at the cut he had just made on her lower lip.
From the corner of her eye, Haru spotted the only weapon she had available. Without thinking, she was just able to grab her goblet and splash the wine directly into his face.
It was a good plan. Pity her face was attached to his when she did it.
"Mm-ouch!" she yelped, breaking away on instinct as he swiftly let her go to rub at his face.
Haru's attention was centered on her eyes, since they had been open when she'd splashed the wine in order to make sure that she at least hit his face. The rest of her face was sticky, and even worse, now smelled and tasted like him.
Never again would she be able to even think about wine without remembering the horror of his tongue down her throat.
"You know," Lord Maliss managed to rasp once he had regained control. "You could be a great kisser if you put a bit of effort into it."
Haru stopped rubbing her eyes long enough to glare at him, tears only forming to help flush the painful wine out. "Don't expect that kind of effort. Not for you."
Ugh, that familiar smirk was back, now stained with the lipstick that had been on her own lips a moment before. "We'll see, dear." He turned away from her to study the flames. "You may go."
Haru didn't wait for a second invitation. She turned on her heel to march toward the door. About halfway down the long table, she looked down and noticed that she was still gripping the goblet in her left hand like it was a cudgel.
Rage bubbled in her very core! How dare that creep?! Haru had been saving her kisses for someone special! She had been saving everything for someone special! There hadn't been that much hope for her in the village, but there was definitely even less of a chance as an evil wizard's latest wife!
Haru turned on her heel again, switching the goblet to her right hand to aim for his head. It made her feel better to see it spin in the air in a lovely arch toward its intended target.
Maliss turned around at the last second and used his staff to freeze the goblet in midair, a mere foot from his forehead. His long black eyebrows raised as if he hadn't expected her throw to be that accurate.
"Are you happy now?!" Haru snapped at him, since she had half-expected him to do exactly that. 'Between you and Machida, I'll never have someone special!'
He smiled while plucking the goblet out of the air as easily as fruit in an orchard. "Much better. I don't know what I would have done with you if you were going to be boring."
Haru turned on her heel and exited through the large doors, knowing that it would have been too much to hope that he would have just returned her to her real home.
