Thirteen

Chapter Three: Attention

I'm not asking for all your attention.

-Megan Marie

xxXxx

"Oh my!" Blondie exclaimed as Haru stormed into her room again, soaked in wine with a thin line of blood drying on her chin.

Haru nearly wheeled on the purple bird that was now looking a little frightened. "Do me a favor and say that the room comes with a toothbrush," she nearly demanded.

"Just over here," Agnes announced hurriedly, setting aside a second dress and scrambling to a wash basin with a tiny mirror to point at an occupied cup.

Haru wasted no time giving her teeth and entire mouth the best brushing of her entire life. Once the taste of Lord Maliss was gone and her thirst was quenched, she started washing the wine and blood from her face and exposed skin as well as the messed makeup. It gave her a bit of pleasure that accidentally splashing herself had blotched the black eyeliner enough to make her look like she was weeping black blood.

It might have been the biggest reason Maliss had let her leave instead of trying for another kiss or worse.

"We'll need to wash that dress before the stain sets," Blondie realized, moving her side of the body toward a wardrobe before the other head figured out what she wanted. "The second one isn't ready, so slip into this."

Haru wasn't all that interested in feeling that stickiness cling to her like that wizard's embrace, so she gave up the dress for the black lacy nightgown that was slightly too big before she finished washing off the wine from her chest and off the amulet since it kept trying to stick to her skin as an unneeded reminder of her fate.

"I wouldn't go to bed if I were you," Red told her as she also handed her mistress a pink dressing gown, depressingly the same color as Lord Maliss' cape lining. "He always expects his brides to keep the same hours as him, and it's a long way off from dawn."

Haru growled at even being forced to give up the sun's warm light, but still wrapped herself in the dressing gown. "I guess I should be grateful he only wants to be a vampire. I'd be in even more trouble if I started growing fangs, too." She finished tying the dressing gown closed and gingerly touched where he had bitten her lower lip in his lustful frenzy. She winced more at the memory than the pain. 'Never mind that no one would bat much of an eye at a vampire with over a hundred brides. They'd be too busy screaming in terror.'

Thinking of vampires, she froze before getting the last of the wine off her amulet. "Does Lord Maliss ever come in here?" she begged while praying as hard as she could.

Her three attendants exchanged worried glances at each other.

"I've never seen him in here," Agnes offered with a nervous smile.

"He sleeps in another wing of the castle," Blondie explained, correctly guessing Haru's fear. "I've heard rumor that one of his earlier brides annoyed him by snoring too loudly on purpose. He loves his sleep, so…"

"He'll send for you when he wants you," Red supplied when her other head couldn't think of anything to say. "He never comes, he sends. He likes reminding everyone who's in charge, and he uses whoever is his wife at the moment to be the prime example."

A wave of relief hit Haru. The fancy room wasn't much of a sanctuary as long as it was attached to his castle, but at least it was somewhere for her to feel a little safe. Just knowing she wasn't going to wake up and see him looming over her with that satisfied smirk was a comfort.

It was probably a good idea to stick to the new sleeping schedule, just for one more reason to avoid such a confrontation.

"If he has no trouble killing wives, he probably does something even worse for servants that sympathize with them, right?" Haru clarified while cleaning off the amulet, since that had probably been tried by at least a few of the other brides.

Agnes nodded with a shudder. "There's a reason there aren't many girl monsters left in the castle. Please."

"I'll leave all of you out of it," the human promised with a sigh, sinking into a high back chair next to the fire to soak in its warmth. "I doubt any of you like him better than I do, anyway. Mind if I have some alone time?"

It's a good thing they agreed and took the dress with them. Haru wasn't sure what she would have done if they had tried to deny her this as well.

"You know, she's a lot nicer than Princess Peach was," she could hear Red confide to Blondie as they left her room.

"No kidding. She doesn't even throw things at us," the other head agreed as Agnes shut the door behind them.

Haru leaned back against the chair's cushions with an uncomfortable churning in her stomach.

It was only a matter of time before Maliss would take more than kisses from her. He had all but said out loud that she was his newest toy and he was definitely interested in playing with her. If their first interaction didn't prove that he wasn't going to wait for permission, then dinner was more than enough to convince her.

Haru curled up into as tight of a ball as she could on the chair, kicking off the dainty black slippers that she had been given with the fancy dress. She buried her face in her arms and knees while trying not to cry.

There was literally nothing in her future to look forward to. Knowing Maliss, even her death would be drawn out and painful. Knowing him, it probably wouldn't be enough to stop him from claiming her, even if she managed to break a rule before he was done with his game of cat and mouse.

After a long minute of slow breathing to keep her steady, Haru looked up at the moon through the glass doors. It was beginning to wane, just like her life. Who would be sitting in this chair when the moon was full again?

Haru felt selfish for taking some happiness that at least it wouldn't be Hiromi, even if Maliss decided peasants were more fun after killing her. As the last unmarried…. the last one married, that is, it would be at least five years until someone from her village was in danger from him again.

'I need something to distract me from this. I'll go mad if I just sit here and think about dying and Lord Maliss.' Haru forced herself to get up and limp over to where her satchel had been hanging.

As suspected, the food was gone, and the bags had been loosely stuffed in instead of the neat little package she had made what seemed like a lifetime ago. But they were still there, with her little package of needles and thread.

Haru held the satchel to her heart while making her way back to the chair, since it seemed to have the best light in the room from the fireplace and the moon outside. If she had known that she'd never see her home again, she might have packed a little differently, but now these bags were the only reminders she had left of the life that had been renounced for her. She had always worked hard to put her best work on her father's, but now that the bags were permanently hers, she was going to do even better than her best.

She pulled out the bags one by one, laying them across her lap and the arm rests of the big chair. Her large brown eyes narrowed as they darted from one satchel to another, trying to decide what she wanted to do first, and to which one.

A shadow from the other side of the glass door just came into her line of vision, making her gasp and jump to her feet thinking it was him.

It wasn't. The man that was just climbing over the railing of the little space beyond the glass doors was tall, taller than any human she had ever seen. The way he stumbled over his own feet said that he wasn't a ghost, but it was the only hint thanks to his extremely pale skin and dark rags that suited him for clothes.

At first Haru thought his mouth was two hard lines, first set in a frown as he made sure that he and the plain wooden staff tied to his back wasn't hitting the rose bush in the small area with him, and then turning themselves up into a smile at the sight of her. A slightly closer inspection made her realize that he was holding a pair of nails in his mouth. But why?

Haru gripped the top of her dressing gown for modesty's sake as she warily waited for him to do something.

He somewhat bashfully knocked on the glass door between them before removing the tacks from his mouth and placing them in his shirt pocket. "Your highness? I'm here to rescue you," he called loudly enough for her to hear him.

Under any other circumstances, Haru would have been flattered to embarrassment about being called that. Closing her eyes and counting to ten, she managed to shove her feet back into the black slippers she had worn for dinner and made sure that the stranger saw her wedge her foot about an inch from the door before opening it a mere crack.

"You're too late, I'm not a princess or anyone important," she hissed through the crack while keeping one hand at the collar of the dressing gown. "I'm a bagmaker's daughter. See?" she asked while pointing at her father's work, now scattered on the chair and floor from her earlier surprise. "You won't be getting any reward from rescuing me, and I live too far away to be worth the trouble of sending home, even if you could get me out of here."

He blinked in surprise before giving her a careful look. "You look like a princess to me," he pointed out.

Haru buried her face in one hand since she was still keeping herself covered with the other. "Now I meet someone who thinks so," she groaned while fighting the urge to bang her head on the glass door.

With her hand on her face, one finger found the circlet still on her brow. She yanked it off and threw it as hard as she could at the opposite wall.

It was satisfying to watch it break in half, and Haru would have felt bad about getting the ladies in waiting in trouble if she hadn't seen for herself that there was literally a box of them for backups.

Feeling a little bit better, she turned enough to put her foot in front of the door again, not liking that it had slid open another two inches while she was occupied. The intruder was skinny enough that just one more inch might allow him to slip into her room and get her into real trouble. "Listen…" 'Drat, I didn't get his name!'

"Tack," he offered with a bow that nearly cut his impressive height in half and make the staff on his back tap sharply on the glass on accident. "Tack the Cobbler."

"Nice to have met you, Tack. I'm Haru Yoshioka," she introduced while giving a tiny curtsy out of sheer habit. "I appreciate your offer of assistance, but you should leave before anyone finds out you're here. My fate is sealed. You could still have a chance to live."

He blinked his large blue eyes at her like he couldn't believe his ears. "You want to stay?"

Haru wiggled the amulet around her grip so that she could show it to the strange cobbler. "Ever since I made the mistake of wanting some peace and quiet for a day, it's not about what I want. Maliss has made it very clear that there's no escape, and there have been enough girls before me to have found all the loopholes he already fixed. I can't even kill myself thanks to this thing," she mourned while glaring at the dragon etched on the red stone and wishing the chain were just a little longer so that she could slip it off her neck.

"… So, what are you going to do about it?" Tack asked in morbid curiosity.

Haru shrugged before leaning against the glass door and accidentally closing it. "I don't know," she mumbled under her breath, so miserable that she barely noticed Tack lean enough to press his ear close to where her mouth was located on the other side. "He has a set of rules, but they'll only mean something if he decides it does. I wouldn't be all that shocked if he just gets bored with whoever his current victim is and decides some random thing is worth killing them over. For all I know, I'll be dead by this time tomorrow."

"Are you ready to die?" Tack said a little loudly so that she'd hear him through the glass.

"Is anyone ever ready to die?" Haru countered, though she was able to smile a little. 'The sooner I die, the sooner I can see Mother again.'

"I meant 'isn't there anything you'd like to do before you die'?" Tack clarified with a slight bit of annoyance in his tone.

Haru sighed in longing. "A lot of things. Well, not a lot, but enough to make me happy." Her heart grew heavy in her chest. "But since I'm married to the most evil wizard in over a century, none of it's possible anymore."

"Is there anything I can do to help you out? Anything at all?" he nearly demanded.

Haru looked at him with her dead eyes. "One thing. You can leave before you get the both of us killed by talking to me. Goodbye, Tack."

Just to make sure he knew she meant business, she locked the door and drew the curtains over the glass.

"I'm pretty sure that I could help you out with more than that!" Tack called out in indignation.

"Well, I'm pretty sure that Lord Maliss would eat you alive if you tried," Haru called back while gathering her father's work off the floor. "Now get going."

Then she sat down to her embroidery and ignored every sound outside her room until her ladies in waiting returned with a fresh dress.

Just to be a good sport to the cobbler and let him have the best chance for escape, she didn't say a word about her visitor.

ooOoo

Haru would have died before admitting it to anyone in the castle, but one thing she did love to do was stay up as late as she could without compromising her chores in the morning. Now that she no longer had a morning, or even chores other than her husband's summons, she secretly enjoyed not having to force herself to go to bed until after the sun had risen.

Though she had to admit to herself, between taking care of livestock, chopping wood, or other general tasks she had to perform everyday and spending any time with Lord Maliss, she would have cheerfully shoveled cow manure the rest of her life.

She was certainly getting her morning exercise in, though in a way she never imagined was possible. She strained with all her might against the sunrise, but her feet slid disobediently backward as the amulet around her throat throbbed in warning.

The ladies in waiting merely waited on the other side of the glass doors, watching her with grave eyes until the weak ray of sunhine was enough to push her back into the room.

"We did try to tell you, my lady," Red offered with a weak smile as she and her sister closed the doors and Agnes closed the dark curtains again to block out the rising sun.

Haru fell forward as if a door had suddenly been thrown open in a childish attempt to make her fall on her face.

Haru laid against the thick carpet panting heavily, enraged that she wasn't so much as allowed to feel sunlight on her skin anymore. 'If I live long enough, I'll be able to give Tack a run for the palest person alive.' Haru couldn't resist almost simultaneously offering a prayer that her skin would never take on the greenish cast that Lord Maliss had.

"There now," Agnes tried to comfort her while helping the human to her knees. "You got to see the sun rise. Now to bed with you."

Haru grumbled like she was thinking of mutiny, but her headache and fatigue were reminding her in strong terms that a pillow and blanket would do wonders.

The ladies in waiting had been willing to let her 'stay up' but standing on the balcony in her dressing gown had been a little much for the monsters to swallow. But they'd obviously had practice with dressing a young girl because Haru was back into the black lace and tucked into the large bed before she really knew she'd gotten to her feet.

"Rest well, my lady," Blondie wished her with a smile on her beak as the bed curtains closed in to leave Haru to complete darkness.

She experimentally spread her arms and legs out as much as she could under the mountain of blankets. It amazed her that she couldn't feel the edge of the bed in any direction. Her bed back home was barely a shelf on the wall by comparison.

But she had always slept on it just fine, except during the past year where her dreams of Machida had turned into nightmares.

Machida. He was married by now, too. Haru had always dreamed of having a wedding day with him, but not to separate people. He at least got to have someone that was good and kind. He was going to be someone good and kind to his wife.

It was just so unfair. Up until coming here, Haru had always tried to be kind, no matter what. Who could really blame her for the eggs when the 'request' was really a demand, as if Kamiko were the high elder of the village. Or even a queen.

Kamiko would have made a better bride for Lord Maliss than her. They could have had haughty contests to pass the time if he could have gotten over the fact they were closer in age than any of the girls Maliss seemed to favor.

She curled up into a fetal position on the bed and cried herself to sleep. But she still felt like a traitor for enjoying how soft and warm her new bed was.

Night Two

Haru had to say this for Lord Maliss; he did learn from his mistakes.

While the contents of dinner the following night were nearly the same as the night before, the most noticeable change was that instead of wine, her goblet was filled to the brim with plain water. Not only did this amuse her, it also meant that Haru didn't have to spend most of the meal feeling like she was going to die of thirst.

Haru kept her eyes on her plate again and made no effort to talk to the thing passing itself off as her husband. Last time, that had ended with a kiss that had very literally given her nightmares- daymares?-, and she was not going to do anything that might result in another frenzy of his 'passion'.

Just as she was about to raise a spoonful of soup to her lips, a tiny red snake poked its head out of her golden bowl to hiss at her in warning.

Haru screamed in surprise, dropping the spoon and slapping the bowl clear off the table and into the fireplace, where the soup sizzled and popped loudly as the bowl already began to melt.

Lord Maliss laughed and applauded with one hand against his thigh while the other hand gripped his staff. "That was a marvelous scream, dear. I think you just may be one of the better screamers when given the proper motivation."

Haru glared at him while panting, one hand at her heart to get the pulse being echoed loudly by the amulet under control. 'He has more power than any magician in a century, and he wastes it on stupid pranks.' "Is that your way of asking for the salt?" she snarled at him.

He pointed a dismissive finger at a tiny silver shaker next his plate with a small shake of the head. "Consider it a warning. If all I wanted was something to sit across me for meals, I'd have a statue erected where you are faster than you can imagine."

Haru glared at him before taking a sip of water. "I bet it would be less of a hassle than going hunting every other week or so."

"It would," he agreed with the air of someone that had already given it careful consideration. "But there are certain downsides to such an arrangement." He cast another appraising eye at the part of her body he could see from his side of the table.

Haru cringed at the unwanted attention before he continued.

"It would be a lot more boring, for one thing. My minions aren't exactly sophisticated conversationalists."

Haru glared at him while folding her arms over her chest, trying not to be too obvious about wanting to cut off his line of vision. "I don't think I've been that much of a talker, either."

He grinned wickedly as his thumb thoughtfully ran itself on the staff's strange lines that formed the dragon's sinews before reaching the head. "No, but you are certainly easier on the eyes than all my minions put together."

'That was both mean and not very fair on them.' "I think they're nice," she defended them since even she would have had trouble arguing against that point. "At least the ones I've met so far are. They may be a little odd, but I haven't met a person yet that isn't at least a little odd."

He seemed surprised at her response but leaned forward with a terrible eagerness. "Is that what I am to you? A little 'odd'?"

Haru studied him carefully. He seemed to be in a better mood tonight thanks to heckling her, but other than his fearsome reputation, she literally knew nothing about him. If refusing to explode into a fury the night before was worth a brutal kissing session, what would he consider her honest opinion to be worth?

"I'm waiting," he reminded her, his long-nailed hands clenching at both the staff and the table's edge with anticipation.

"I'm debating whether or not it's worth the punishment to tell you," she answered truthfully.

He twisted his staff meaningfully in one hand with his usual confident smirk. "I can guarantee that you won't be leaving this table unless I get an answer. Go on, give me your worst insult."

Haru took in a deep breath and gave it her best shot. "I think you're a freak of nature that should never have been born."

He actually managed to look disappointed. "Drat. I was hoping you would have had something new for me."

"Number one hundred and thirteen," she reminded him while one finger slid around her goblet's edge in thought. "Did any of the others talk about vampires to you? Because-" she immediately cut herself off when she caught the terrible look on his face.

His dark eyes were flashing with something wickedly menacing as he rose from his chair with a more evil grin than usual. "I love it when a wife mentions-"

Haru had also learned her lesson from last night. Not waiting for him to finish his sentence or finish walking around the table's short end, Haru forced the chair out from the table enough to keep a good ten paces between her and her suddenly amorous husband. 'Why did I have to bring that up?!'

Lord Maliss didn't even seem surprised at her silent insistence at keeping some distance between them. If anything, he seemed encouraged by it. All he did was increase his pace when she did the same, following the length of the long table. "-when a wife mentions vampires. It always makes me want to imitate them."

Haru hurriedly put both hands to her throat, already imagining the biting and sucking he was likely to do if he got his hands on her. A cut lip could be overlooked, especially thanks to the red lipstick she was forced to wear for dinner, but those kind of marks on her neck would be obvious for weeks.

Knowing him, he'd refuse to let her cover them up. He'd want everyone to see them.

She turned and ran, but unfortunately guessed that the large doors and sole exit from the room would only open if Lord Maliss wished it. Without a better option, Haru ran around the short end of the table to go for the other long side, but his steely hand managed to grab her wrist and pull her into a chest that shook slightly with a triumphant laugh before she even made the turn to the long side.

Haru tried protecting her neck by raising her shoulders as high as she could, but Maliss had obviously done this part to more than one bride. With a practiced flair, the hand that held the staff bent both of her arms back enough at a useless angle so that his free hand could forcefully pry her head over to give him the best possible position to administer attention to her delicate throat. She still tried to break free, of course, but she struggled not to cry as she felt his face get closer and closer until his cold lips were trailing just behind her ear and guiding her brown hair out of the way-

"Lord Maliss!" one of the soldiers shouted while violently throwing open the door.

Haru could feel his teeth become bared against her neck before he twisted his head to look behind them.

"It had better be important," he snarled so darkly that his dragon form could be heard through his 'human' throat. But he didn't loosen his grip on Haru in the slightest.

"Um, s-sorry, my lord," the soldier apologized, sounding scared to his core. "But y-you wanted to be t-told. It exploded."

Maliss looked enraged, but whatever the soldier meant must have been important, because he was able to force himself to release his hold on her after stealing one kiss to her tender neck. "To be continued tomorrow," he informed her before leaving the dining hall.

Haru wanted to breath a huge sigh of relief, but it came out as a haggard gasp for air. It was probably too much to hope that he'd forget her comment about vampires before dinner tomorrow.

Holding her arms tightly against herself, she gave nods of acknowledgement to the two rat guards standing outside the open door before letting the usual lizard guard escort her back to her room.

Felix rolled his large yellow eye to look back at her as he led the way down a cold hallway and up an impressive staircase. "You didn't have to stand up for us, you know. He says that to every bride he brings home."

Haru nodded without much surprise or enthusiasm. "That's why I'm brushing off his idea of compliments. When he says something I know for sure is solely for me, I'll be more flattered." 'I just wish it wasn't a horny wizard that first noticed I'm a girl.'

Felix gave a short cynical laugh as they finished climbing the stairs. "Sounds like you'll never be flattered again."

"It does, doesn't it?" Haru agreed before managing a look up at him and smiling weakly. "I'm not trying to get anyone killed except maybe me. I meant what I said."

Felix sighed and gave her a warm bow when they finally reached her room. "I'll miss you when the time comes. Even if you don't scream for me."

She gave him another smile and helpless shrug before he opened the door and let her through.

Red and Blondie were teamed against Agnes in a game of chess, but they immediately lost interest in the game when she entered.

"Well, this is better!" Blondie noted happily while inspecting Haru's face closely. "No blood or wine this time!"

"This time," Haru agreed with a sick feeling in her stomach. "Agnes, is there some spare cloth lying around the castle?"

The almost frog-lipped servant gave her a wide grin. "What would you like made, my lady?"

That made Haru start in surprise. "Well, I was going to make it myself, but now that I think of it, there might be some already. I mentioned vampires-"

All three of her ladies in waiting groaned in immediate understanding.

But that didn't stop Red from looking over both sides of Haru's neck with a scrutinized stare. "How did you manage to get away from him?" she asked in genuine astonishment.

"Well, a soldier had a message," Haru admitted, feeling ashamed that she hadn't managed to put up a decent fight. "But Maliss implied he was going to pick up where he left off tomorrow. Is there something to…?"

Agnes opened a trunk by the foot of the canopied bed to start laying things over her scrawny arms, all in a darker shade of blue than most of Haru's dress. "You have scarves, cowls, and- ooh! I forgot about the wimple!"

Haru almost wanted to say, 'it's a good thing I'm not the only one he's done this to', but that was wrong on so many levels. "Will he let me wear any of it in front of him?" she nearly pleaded.

Red gave her a pitying look. "I think you already know the answer to that. It's the reason the trunk isn't as full as it used to be."

"Disgusting creep," Haru muttered under her breath, marching over to her favorite chair by the fireplace and falling into it without a care for manners. One hand reached up and ripped the new circlet off, but she slammed it on the little table next to her instead of hurling it against the wall again.

"Would you like more alone time, my lady?" Blondie asked in sympathy.

Haru could only nod. "Thank you for understanding."

They gave her smiles and small offers of encouragement while exiting.

The moment they left, she leapt off the chair and washed her face clean from the makeup again. That way she could hold herself in a tight fetal position without fear of getting the dress dirty and creating more work for her servants. The fetal position was probably the only way she was ever going to be held without wanting to escape.

She wasn't going to get off so easily tomorrow, she could feel it. Maliss was enjoying torturing her too much to stop now.

Still, Haru couldn't help wondering about what it was that had exploded that Lord Maliss thought was more important than making her bleed again. She could only pray that it wasn't Tack, and that he had managed to get away after all. Maybe it was a magic potion? But for what?

'I really don't know a thing about the man,' she concluded while rocking herself slightly in her comfortable chair. 'Other than abducting wives and fending off anyone that tries to take them back, I don't know what he does with his time. I guess I should be grateful that he doesn't spend the entire night inventing reasons why I'm 'secretly' giving him signs to move forward with the marriage.'

Haru shuddered at the thought. 'Even when he isn't around, he finds ways to torture me.'

Without warning, there was a loud sound on her balcony, like something falling out of the sky. Haru half-jumped out of her seat, landing on the carpet in an untidy sprawl. When she managed to look up, she saw that it was another visitor.

He was as short as Tack had been tall, and almost seemed too colorful by the same comparison. His complexion was a healthy pink, and his clothes were blue and a bright red that were completely unsuitable for sneaking around the dark castle.

He knocked on the glass with a huge gloved hand before waving at her in big sweeps to make sure she noticed him. "Yoo hoo! Princess!" he called cheerfully.

Haru growled deep in her throat as she got to her feet and stomped close enough to do the same foot wedge as the previous night. "Why don't you scream a little louder? Lord Maliss told me not even half an hour ago that he loves it when people scream for him," she had to inform the man after opening the door just a crack.

Still, for a guy that only came up to her chest, she was impressed that he had managed to get up here.

"So sorry," he immediately apologized, holding his red hat between his hands with a hopeful smile. "But I thought you would like to come home, yes?"

Haru took in a deep breath to calm her irritation, since she knew the man meant well. "I can't. Unless you've got something to get this… thing off my neck," she stated while giving the amulet a really good yank.

But the chain was too strong, and it still felt like her veins had the amulet directly connected to her heart.

He rubbed his big bushy mustache in thought. "If I can, you'll come away with me?" he asked while placing the strange red hat on his head.

"Forget it," Haru couldn't resist laughing even though there was no cheer in her tone. "I'm certain that Lord Maliss made sure pretty early that he's the only one that can remove it, or the bride has to be dead before it can come off." She then scowled at the uncomfortable truth. "I hate to say it, but he's too clever to miss something that big." She then blinked and gave him a suspicious look. "How did you get up here? Or past whatever those things are surrounding the castle?"

He gave a dismissive wave with his large hand. "The horned wolves? They're not so bad, especially if you can do this."

Crouching down slightly, he managed a jump that went far out of Haru's line of vision. Gasping in surprise, Haru opened the door and walked out to see where he had gone. She immediately regretted it since she had already kicked off her shoes and the night air had turned the stone deathly cold. She looked around while holding her arms against the chill but couldn't see where he could have gone.

"Up here, Princess!" he called to her while waving happily, just now making her realize that some room had a balcony higher and to the left of hers.

Haru had no choice but to clap in appreciation, even as she nearly hopped from one foot to the other from the cold stones until retreating back into her room and the warm rugs that waited for her. "That's impressive, all right. But I'm pretty sure that it will take more than jumping to defeat Lord Maliss. He'd probably just make you hang in the air and beat you with his staff until your insides came out."

He jumped back onto her balcony just in time to see her start closing the glass door. "Wait!" he yelled in a panic before nearly running up to her to plead with his large blue eyes. "Don't you want me to rescue you?"

"Do you have something that can remove this thing?" Haru asked while yanking on the amulet again. "On top of that, do you have an escape plan? Lord Maliss might not care about me personally, but I can guarantee that he'd be after us in a heartbeat." She could only shudder at what he would consider a worthy punishment for managing to get out from under his thumb for even a short amount of time.

Haru's blood nearly froze in her veins. Agnes, Red, and Blondie were surely going to take the fall if she managed to escape when she was under their care. 'Curse my basically decent nature!'

The strange little man seemed ready to answer the first question but the second one struck him dumb.

Haru sighed, hating herself for this as she finished closing the glass door. "Thank you for offering to help, but you should leave before someone realizes where all the yelling's coming from. The only way I'll be able to leave this place is if Lord Maliss dies. If you should meet any other rescuers on the way out of the Realm of Doom, tell them that they should focus on plans for actually defeating Lord Maliss instead of trying to slip me out of his grasp. I'm not the only one suffering in this place, you know."

He genuinely seemed shocked at that last part. "Who else is there?"

Haru was answering before she had time to think it over. "The ones serving him, for one thing. I'm getting the feeling that they're even more afraid of him than I am, and while they aren't in danger of getting molested every night, I've gotten the idea that he isn't exactly kind to them when my back is turned."

Just trying to find out names and saying 'thank you' to the ones bringing dishes to the dinner table seemed to put Haru on a pedestal to those strange monsters. She wasn't trying to do it on purpose, and it wasn't like she had set out to learn everyone's name, but even the little effort she had made seemed to count for a lot with the ones she interacted with.

The little man gave a dismissive sniff as he unlatched a strange stick with a pink cup on the end from his belt to swing it around like a sword. "Why are you wasting your sympathy on monsters? Just let me take that necklace off and we can leave."

Haru's heart immediately turned cold to him, and she no longer cared if he was bluffing about being able to get rid of the amulet. "Goodbye," she informed him while locking the door and grabbing a handful of curtain.

"Wait, Princess!" he protested while pressing his face against the glass. He was still holding whatever that silly stick with the cup was.

"I'm sorry, sir," Haru apologized while firmly closing the curtain over his panicked expression. "But your princess is in another castle."