Pure Hands Part Eleven
'This is what I'm reduced to. Although I never liked balls or tourneys when I was forced to attend, now the most excitement I find in my life is when merchants come to call.' Haru did what she could to suppress the latest yawn while sitting in her favorite chair by the window. "While it's lovely, I'm not really interested in a vase."
The middle-aged man looked chagrined, though not terribly surprised. All the merchants had managed to get her to buy in the six months she'd been a baroness was plain cloth and thread so that she could hem bedsheets and blankets.
There wasn't a point to much else. They seldom had a book she was interested in that she could be certain wasn't already in the library, she'd never been one for jewelry or fine adornments, and she especially didn't see the point of buying a finer weave for a new dress.
If only getting her husband's attention could be as simple as sewing a dress. She'd make herself a new wardrobe, but alas, she wouldn't be waiting around if he were that shallow.
"Step aside, Syouma; I know the lady will buy from me!" a younger merchant begged, stepping to the front of the merchants with their servants. He was carrying a large, covered birdcage in his hands, and she could hear an endless torrent of chittering sounds from within.
"I'm sure I mentioned on your last visit that birds aren't to my tastes," Haru gently reminded him, but his confident grin didn't falter.
"I remembered. You also said that if I were to find an animal that acts like a cat without the fur to upset your maid's health, I would have your immediate attention." He very carefully set the bird cage on the carpet before dramatically ripping the covering off.
She immediately gasped and rose to her feet in shock.
"Behold, Lilian lizards," he proudly announced while gesturing at the six reptiles climbing over each other in confusion and chittering louder than ever at the sudden sunlight.
Haru wasted no time turning to Hiromi, who looked sickened at the sight of them. "I want you to go down to the kitchens immediately," she ordered. "Have the chefs finely grind meat before cooking it and sending it up to me. Bring a kettle of goat milk and the softest cloth you can find so we can warm it up right here. Don't dawdle!"
"Must you buy them?" she asked, looking disgusted at the creatures.
"I renounced cats and dogs for you, you can cope for me. Hurry, they're hungry!" Haru commanded again while shooing her maid to the door. Once the maid was on her errand, she turned to face the young merchant, who was smirking at his rivals over getting a reaction from her. "Name your price."
"Ten gold a head," he stated firmly. He opened his mouth again to possibly justify the cost, but the lady did not hesitate.
"Done, are these all the ones you have?" she asked point blank, staring at the lizards while trying to keep her true feelings in check. "I'll take all of them."
"These are all I was able to put my hands on, my lady. I thought I would have to explain a bit about them, but you appear to be well-versed on their needs."
"I've read about them," she answered shortly before trying to lift the heavy cage. She scowled before turning to one of the soldiers that played chaperone the precious little time men spent in her chambers. "Fukuo, would you please gently set the cage on the table in front of the fireplace?"
The silent man nodded before stepping forward to lift the cage with one hand as easily as a feather.
'Show off,' Haru couldn't resist thinking while racing to her writing desk to write a note to the treasury keeper. "Tomboe, please escort Ping to the treasury with this. If Akima has any questions about the purchase, invite him to talk to me about it."
"Yes, my lady," he responded, though his worried glance at the remaining merchants was enough to voice his concerns.
"Gentlemen," she announced with an apologetic smile as Ping happily handed over the key to the cage. "I'm afraid that I am so pleased with this purchase that I have no wish to buy anything else. Thank you for your time, but my new pets require immediate attention. Perhaps next time I will buy more."
They weren't happy, but none of them were exactly willing to argue with the soldiers who ushered all the merchants and servants out of the room.
Now it was just her and the chittering lizards. Nearly giddy from excitement, she cautiously stepped closer to the table and knelt beside it to gaze lovingly at her purchase.
They were silvery grey with tiny muscular arms and legs. Their long tails about doubled the length of their little bodies, which were about the same size as a growing kitten. They still chittered, but they were eyeing her nervously with their tiny golden eyes.
"Shh, you're safe now," she whispered, keeping her voice as warm and gentle as possible. Then she gave a nervous look to the door and leaned close enough to whisper to the frightened reptiles. "I also know you're not Lilian lizards. Their fins are bigger and they don't make the noises all of you do."
They chirped in alarm.
"But don't worry," she assured them, just itching to take at least one in her arms and scratch the tiny scales to see if they really did purr. "By definition, I also know who's going to come looking for you before too long. I'll do what I can to keep all of you comfortable and healthy until then, all right?"
One of the lizards, braver than the others, stood up on its hind legs with little arms on the cage before reaching between the bars.
Haru felt strangely confident about touching her fingertip to that paw in a compromised handshake. "You won't regret trusting me, my little stars." She couldn't resist pouting while looking behind her. "It's a pity that noblewomen aren't permitted to know how to start fires, or I could get all of you comfortable right now. Pity," she sighed again.
Their little sighs seemed to echo her regret.
The problem was solved as soon as Hiromi returned with the goat milk.
"I don't remember you ever talking about Lilian lizards," Hiromi said unhappily as she started the fire and set the kettle where it would start warming up.
"I didn't think I'd ever get to see them," Haru gushed, waiting for her maid to step out of the way before unlocking the cage.
"Wait, you're going to let them out?!" Hiromi yelped, taking several steps back in horror.
"Of course," Haru stated calmly while opening the little door.
The lizards clawed at each other in their race to escape first, but every one of them leaped for the fireplace to surround the small blaze and soak in the warmth.
"Needs more heat," Haru muttered, carefully removing a log from the pile and setting it on the fire. "They're used to a much warmer climate," she explained over one shoulder as she began to sweat.
Hiromi still looked unhappy about her lady's choice of pets as they lounged happily around the blaze, their chittering sounds content.
After a bit of thinking, Haru turned to her again. "Say, if you don't mind running an errand for me-"
"I don't," Hiromi agreed without thinking.
'It looks like having them around is already beneficial. She's not giving advice and eager to leave me alone!' "I forget the word for them, but you know those cone devices that help you be heard from a long way off if you yell into them? If there isn't one around the castle, have one commissioned for me."
Hiromi looked baffled at the request, but she still curtsied and ran from the room anyway.
Haru couldn't resist the urge to look at her new pets and wink at them.
The three that were looking straight at her winked back.
ooOoo
Haru sang softly as she gently ran a scrubbing brush over one of the lizards in long strokes from head to tail, over and over while it gripped her hand and the chitter sounded more like a purr as the other lizards played in the cauldron that was serving them for a bathtub.
"This really is unseemly, my lady," Hiromi tried yet again to reason with her as she set more towels where the baroness could easily reach them.
"I know you don't like them, so don't volunteer to wash them for me," Haru answered without turning away from her task. "All right, Hoshiko. Let's allow one of your siblings a turn."
He let out a defiant mew and clung tighter to her wrist, even nuzzling against her as two began protesting and a third tried rubbing itself against the brush. She couldn't resist glowing at the affection.
Hiromi shuddered at the sight loud enough for Haru to look over at her with annoyance.
"I endured six months of loneliness for your comfort."
"You have me, though," Hiromi protested. "You haven't been completely alone."
"Oh?" the lady asked, gently removing Hoshiko from the cauldron and prying his little arms and legs off so that he could nestle in a towel that had been warming by the fire. "I seem to remember everyone suddenly knowing not long after I told you how disappointing my wedding night was."
Hiromi flinched. "They would have found out eventually," she defended herself yet again, but Haru wasn't in the mood.
"The state of my chambers is that of the lord and myself, and you treated it like you were meant to be a town crier. Or haven't you noticed that I stopped telling you my thoughts after finding out you spilled my business to anyone with ears? How about Hoshino?" she cooed, reaching into the cauldron so that one could trill in triumph and attach itself to her hand like the first had done. She picked up the brush to once again start brushing scales like starlight with all the gentle care she wasn't allowed to give humans. "It would have been speculation if you didn't insist on treating my marriage like a tourney."
"The maids know everything," she quoted yet again, as if that explained away her actions with no need of an apology.
That was what really offended Haru about the fact that Hiromi had more than a little to do with the insulting nickname being circulated through five kingdoms. That not only did she have to keep 'the best the baronetcy had to offer', the 'best' in question didn't think that she'd done anything worthy of offering an apology.
Though if Hiromi was the best the baronetcy had to offer, perhaps Haru should be grateful that the other women of the castle had so little interest in talking to her. She did what she could not to translate her irritation into how she was brushing the purring lizard's scales. "Perhaps I need to put things in plain terms, since you have so much trouble understanding why I need these lizards. I don't know this land. I don't know this people, and they've made it clear that they don't want to know me until I've conceived a child that my lord has made clear he doesn't want."
"You could-" Hiromi tried to suggest, but Haru spoke quickly so that her little charges wouldn't hear the usual dirty talk.
"No, Hiromi. Why is that word so difficult for you? He would hate me and have the right to kill me. I have no one else to open my heart to, so I need my starlights. Animals with fur make you sick, birds are hard to embrace, and trying the same with a fish would kill it. Lizards really are the best solution to my problem, and I need someone to give my love to!"
Hoshi and Hoshitaka glanced at each other before hopping out of the cauldron and climbing up her sleeves, soaking them as they each perched on a shoulder to nuzzle her cheeks, making her heart melt all over again.
Hiromi started retching the moment the two had climbed her sleeves, forcing Haru out of her bliss to glare at her maid.
"Why are you so offended by me finding even a little happiness here?!" she demanded as her eyes blurred with unshed tears. "If I didn't know any better, I'd swear that you…" she stopped, eyes turning clear as the twin droplets escaped her control.
The horror in Hiromi's face seemed to confirm her worst suspicions. "I should do some cleaning!" she yelped while running for the door.
"You stop right there, Hiromi!" Haru commanded in her best noble voice. "Or I'll consider it a confession!"
Hiromi stopped, but the terror in her eyes was nearly screaming 'guilty!'
"You are going to stand in that corner," Haru ordered, pointing with difficulty at a corner of the room that wasn't in view of the door thanks to the lizard still clinging to her wrist. "You are to keep your nose in that corner until I say otherwise, understand?"
Hiromi looked baffled at such a childish punishment, but still moved to the corner as she was told.
"Sorry, my starlights," Haru apologized to her lizards, which had stopped their play, affection, and even light nap in Hoshiko's case. "I will continue with the bath, but I need to take care of this first. If you see Hiromi move from that spot, let me know."
Their chittering and evil glares in the maid's direction made it clear that they understood their task, sending a shiver up the maid's spine as she felt the hostility in the room for the first time.
But Haru didn't bother detaching the three lizards on her shoulders and wrist before marching to the door of her room and throwing it open. "Guard!" she called out, not really caring about who would answer her.
Much to her luck, one of the younger guards was just down the hall, so he ran up with a nervous smile. "Is there anything you need, my lady?"
"I need honesty," she informed him, getting straight to the point. "When Hiromi is not waiting on me, what animals does she play with, if any?"
The lizards shrieked behind her as Hiromi choked out a cry.
Tomboe gave her and the room a baffled look as he answered. "The usual, really. Dogs, cats, but she has terrible luck with birds."
"Tomboe!" Hiromi wailed, but Haru paid her no mind other than restraining her sudden homicidal urge.
"I see. A second question, perhaps. If a girl you didn't like decided that she was entitled to your body, would you consider a relationship if she helped herself while you were asleep?"
"NO!" Tomboe screamed louder than he probably intended. He even recoiled at the terrible thought. "That is disgusting and evil! My Kiki would never sink so low, that's why I love her and only her!"
Haru smiled at the instinctual praise he gave his love. "Isn't she the one with the big red bow and constantly running errands around the castle?"
"That's the one, my lady. If you'll pardon me for saying so, there's no better girl in the baronetcy," he added with a dreamy smile that only meant the deepest of love and respect.
That was good enough for her, and even solved the upcoming problem.
"I have a few jobs for you," Haru informed him seriously. "I want you to take Hiromi to the chambers she shares with Chika. Have her grab everything that's hers, and then personally escort her back to her parents."
"You can't do that!" Hiromi howled, making Haru look in her direction with a glare that wasn't effective thanks to the large bookshelf between them.
"When her parents ask why she was dismissed in disgrace, I want you to tell them it's because she's a gossip-monger that doesn't care about hurting people, I found her actual work lacking, and I just found out that she was isolating me from people and pets on purpose to try to force me to follow her terrible advice on my marriage. I don't want such a person working in my castle."
Tomboe's still-red face now seemed almost purple with anger. "She didn't really want you to do that to the Baron, did she?! Did you really think that would fix things between them?!" he hollered over Haru's head, but she waved a finger at him.
"I'm not finished, Tomboe. Feel free to take care of this before or after seeing Hiromi home as you see fit or see the head housekeeper, but I think I'd like to put your word to the test and appoint Kiki as my new maid. I'll give her a week to see if she can handle my needs any better, and I can send for my old one if we do not get along."
"You'll love her, I promise. If you would mind letting me in, my lady," he asked darkly, side-stepping around the young baroness in order to glare at the trembling maid. "Either you walk or I drag you. You could have ruined everything, you little idiot!"
"Please refrain on the language until you're further down the hall," Haru asked blandly, secretly taking pleasure that her self-righteous maid was finally seeing some consequences directed at herself instead of those around her.
Tomboe didn't end up dragging Hiromi from the room, but he did have a firm grip on her arm to keep her from getting too far.
"Oh, and tell Kiki she can start tomorrow morning, I'll take care of myself for tonight," Haru remembered to say, since the last thing she wanted was to disturb whatever the girl was working on for the rest of the day, such as it was.
As soon as the door shut after them, Haru felt an immediate release at not dealing with Hiromi's antics or lies anymore. Any more than the six months she'd already endured at the Piaal baronetcy, and she'd have been ready to murder.
"I hope this is a good lesson for the future," she apologized to her lizards as she walked back to the cauldron to resume bathing them. "Being alone is much better than being with people that make you feel alone."
Hashi chittered softly into one ear as he licked her tear away.
ooOoo
There was no telling the late hour when there was a tapping at her window.
Haru wanted to ignore it, or tell herself that it was a bird, but it was rare for a bird to be so persistent when she didn't leave out a meal she didn't feel like finishing.
She yawned, forcing herself to sit up from the comfortable pile that her lizards had clustered around her on the couch. A few chittered angrily as she turned enough to see what the ruckus was while rubbing sleep out of one eye.
It was the Baron. Somehow, he was on her tiny balcony, waving nervously at her now that the tapping had worked. He was still in travel clothes, his sword belted at the waist and a satchel resting by his feet.
"His timing leaves much to be desired," she growled, trying to extract herself from the couch and blanket without waking any more of her pets to little success. Hoshiko chose to hop to her shoulder and take a defensive stance, as if he could sense that his lady had no fondness for her visitor.
Since she hadn't bothered to change into a nightgown before drifting off in front of the warm fire, she didn't see a reason to tie on a robe before marching to the glass door to unlock it. Her plan had been to give the man a deadpan stare and let him stumble over an overdue apology without input from her, but then Hoshiko screamed in her ear and hopped off her shoulder. He raced for the edge of the balcony, still shrieking louder than ever first straight down and then back in the direction of the glass door.
"Hoshiko, what's…" Haru stopped, also leaning over the balcony to see. Her mouth immediately fell open to a delighted, but slightly terrified grin.
An enormous silver dragon had risen its head up to the balcony, slowly becoming more visible of its own accord to look straight at the shrieking drake. It had needed to balance itself on the wall with its front talons and the wings outspread like an unimaginable tent, but that was hardly a problem as the camouflage ability withdrew for now.
'… Big. Big!' she couldn't resist thinking happily, even though she knew mature dragons were big. But it was nearly impossible to mentally prepare oneself for a creature that could be resting its lower haunches on the ground below and still have the head reach a third-story window. She didn't even need the loud cone to gain the parent's attention!
It couldn't have been more than a second before all the drakes had rushed onto the balcony and jumped off to land on their parents' head.
Large golden eyes closed in bliss as a low purr issued from its throat, clearly the ultimate destiny of the chitters the babies made as they happily rubbed their tiny bodies over the giant cranium and around various horns. It was a sound that seemed to shake Haru's very soul. All the drakes were chittering away as usual, possibly informing the parent of everything the cluster had endured since they were taken from their home.
Haru couldn't resist resting her elbows on the balcony to hold up her head to enjoy the reunion, even as she felt a bit of bitterness that once again, her husband had felt the need to cut her joy short. 'Keep it together. You prevented a dragon's rampage by protecting the young. You got to live out your childhood fantasy of owning dragons with no one the wiser. You did well, even if no one else will appreciate it.'
After a long, blissful moment of communion, the parent opened its large eyes to look straight at Haru. "Dragons don't forget their debts. Thank you for not making your mate a liar."
That voice echoed in her soul like standing right next to a giant ringing bell.
"It was my honor to keep them safe for you," Haru responded politely while offering him the best curtsy she could manage with the modest amount of skirt her everyday dress provided. 'Now is not the time to jab that I'm surprised he mentioned me at all.' "I'll miss you, starlights," she bade regretfully, wishing she'd gotten more than a rough twelve hours with them. "Would all of you like to keep the ball?"
They chittered happily, so Haru quickly ran back into her room, managed to find the cloth ball they had played with in the dark, and rushed out to carefully toss it at the dragon's head.
Hoshie and Hoshimi managed to catch it between them, holding it down while fastening themselves to various horns on their father's head with their remaining limbs and tails. Their siblings did the same, obviously used to flying before their own wings grew in.
The father bowed his massive head to her with respect before giving Baron a pointed glare with his golden eyes. "Mind your cave," he stated like a thinly veiled threat before stretching his wings and taking to the heavens as his camouflage turned him one with the sky. The drakes were still visible, but they looked more and more like a flock of distant birds to anyone not paying special attention to them as they kept ascending to the sky, where they belonged.
Haru was put to her knees from the wind his wings produced, but that was still a small price to pay to reunite a loving family. 'My father would never go looking for me the way a dragon would,' she couldn't help thinking with a pang.
Perhaps she should have asked if she could go with them. She'd fantasized more than once about being carried off by a dragon, and she would have likely been looking after the little ones over getting eaten. It wasn't like she was serving any meaningful purpose in the baronetcy.
Well, it was too late now.
Haru sighed tiredly before heading back inside the room.
Her husband followed, locking the glass door after himself. "How did you manage to sew a ball for them that quickly?" he asked with genuine surprise as he set aside a large satchel that was likely his luggage for the king's assignment. Then he unbelted his sword before putting that aside as well. "I know you bought them less than a day ago."
"It's from my hope chest," Haru stated tiredly as she walked around the bed. "Here, I'll let you out."
"Never mind," he yawned, sitting in her favorite chair and removing his shoes. "I'm far too exhausted to head all the way to the West Wing tonight."
Irritation bloomed in her, but it was still his castle, and as always, the husband had the final say. "If it pleases you," she forced herself to respond, but her steps led back to the couch.
"I'm not going to touch you tonight, if that's what you're worried about," he mentioned a bit stiffly, but Haru was already adding another small log to the fire before curling up on the couch with the blanket again and using a throw pillow for her head and gripped a second one like a beloved toy.
"That's nice. Good night," she bade out of habit before closing her eyes and burying her face into the back of the couch. 'You want to sleep in my room, then fine. Go to sleep and stop talking, I can't handle it right now.'
Unfortunately, she could hear him sigh and step over to the couch. "Get up, Haru. I'm not going to put you out of your bed, I'll take the couch."
"Can you just leave me alone right now?" she begged tiredly. "I'll be at your immediate disposal in the morning if you're finally ready to talk but let me grieve losing the only friends I managed to make since being tricked into this marriage."
She didn't see his facial expression at her declaration. He didn't say anything either, but at least she could hear him slowly step away from her, although he decided to make himself comfortable on her favorite chair instead of the bed.
Deciding it wasn't worth asking why, Haru tried to let herself drift back to sleep and keep her tears silent.
He didn't deserve to hear them.
ooOoo
She was startled awake the next morning when Tomboe opened the door for Kiki to come in with a breakfast tray.
The young woman smiled a bit nervously as she took in her lady on the couch and her lord on the chair, also startled awake and feeling for his sword until realizing where he was. "That was quite a surprise last night. I hope you're both feeling up to breakfast."
"People saw?" Haru asked in surprise while rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, since she didn't think the locals could handle seeing a dragon and not start screaming.
"Kiki? What happened to Hiromi?" Baron yawned before his expression grew dark. "One of the reasons I slept in here was because I wanted to have a little… chat concerning what Ping the merchant had to say."
"If it's about her 'allergies', I figured it out and dismissed her for it yesterday," Haru quickly explained, stretching her arms without a care of looking good for her husband. "It wasn't the only reason, but it was certainly the last straw. If nothing else, I know Kiki keeps a cat," she pointed out while nodding at the little black feline that followed the new maid's steps as she tried to quickly set up a breakfast for two on the little table.
It might have been Haru's imagination, but she could have sworn that the cat turned its head in order to smirk with that ingrained superiority that came naturally to all felines. She could almost hear the cat thinking 'of course my Kiki is better.'
She could just see a pleased blush cross her new maid's face as she nervously tried to set everything perfectly. "Well, I'm not planning on any of Hiromi's nonsense if that helps."
"It helps enormously. But I must admit that I'm surprised that everyone kept calm enough for the business with Gin to be concluded," Baron noted, more or less repeating his wife's earlier question.
Kiki double-checked everything before holding the large platter to her chest. "I don't think everyone saw, but word's spread enough that the cooks knew what to give me for both of you. You would like a bath and assistance later?" Kiki asked, directing the question at the young baroness.
Haru gave a half-glance at the man she once thought would be the key to her happiness. "I think an hour should suffice for what needs to be said."
"Make that two," Baron added while looking guilty. "We have a lot of ground to cover before I allow myself to walk away again."
Haru couldn't help growling that it had taken six months and a fire-breathing lizard almost as tall as the castle for him to finally realize that he was mistreating her. "That would have saved me a tremendous amount of stress and embarrassment if you had given me that before."
He flinched like her words were lashes. "I've been regretting it for a while," he admitted, almost not noticing that Kiki had just finished excusing herself from the room.
Although it was the last thing she wanted to do, she still sat at the little table, intentionally moving too quickly for him to help her into her chair.
Baron seemed distressed but hardly surprised at the miniscule slight. He sat down across from her but didn't look at the food in front of him. "… I feel it's appropriate for an apology to be the first thing discussed. I wasn't planning on staying away for so long, but… I also don't know what to say after…" he struggled with the weight of his last words to her on his mind.
Haru stared at him with no expression. "I had a knife up my sleeve that night."
He blinked in surprise.
"While you were never planning on honoring your vows, I was trying to work up the courage to say, 'since we're strangers, how about I give myself a little cut so that people won't bother us later and we can spend our wedding night talking, getting to know each other, figuring out how to make our marriage work?' " she stated, still staring at him. "I'm angry because if the king had been more honest or you had let me have some small say before running off with your tail between your legs, we could have salvaged my reputation at the bare minimum. A lover would have been nice, but a friend would have been even nicer. I'm angry because your actions for the past half-year have been telling me that you don't want a friend, at least in me."
"That's not true," he hastily assured her, looking chagrined at the news. "If I hadn't taken it for granted that you were about to throw a fit or throw yourself at me, I'd have been delighted to have you for a friend."
"Are you convinced yet?" she asked, still deadpan. Then she closed her eyes and sighed, still feeling exhausted. "Do we want to cut to the chase and sign a divorce agreement? I can't keep living like this."
"No! Haru… I'm sorry," he begged, getting off his chair to kneel beside hers.
"Stop it," she demanded in a panic since no one ever took that pose with her, but he didn't get up.
"I'm so sorry. I don't know if you heard-" he choked and lowered his gaze shamefully. "…T-the… merchant you bought the drakes from."
"What about Ping?" Haru prodded, since she hadn't done or said anything scandalous in front of the man.
He swallowed hard and tried to steady his breathing. "He… didn't know who I was at first. I suppose he thought I was a random foreigner."
'Not too far off,' Haru couldn't resist thinking.
It took him a bit longer to continue. "… When… we asked him… who he sold Gin's grandchildren to…" His throat was too thick to finish.
Haru raised an eyebrow with amusement. "And he told you 'the virgin baroness'?"
"Oh dear, you did know," he moaned, covering his face with his hands.
"Hiromi knew she'd be spending a week scrubbing stairs if she said it in front of me again, and the marquis was ruthless about reminding me while trying to convince me to get you drunk and be done with it," she informed him nonchalantly. "It's partially Hiromi's fault, you know."
He sharply looked up at her. "What?" he snarled.
Haru jumped a little in her seat, since she wasn't expecting him to get worked up about the fact. "I tried to confide in her the day after, because I was used to maids that know how to be discreet, or at least understand that some things should be kept under wraps. When I went riding the next day, I was told by no less than six locals that you would relent before long."
He furiously stood up. "Why on earth was she still your maid after that?!" he demanded.
"I've tried to dismiss her, but the head housekeeper kept reminding me that she was the best the baronetcy had to offer and that the common folk wouldn't take it well if I threw her away for my old maid from the palace. That was her excuse every time I tried to replace her until I found out yesterday that Hiromi doesn't have allergies. She just wants me to get so lonely and desperate that I'll take her horrible advice about visiting your chambers after midnight." Haru shrugged. "So I skipped the usual procedure and got rid of her before letting her superior know about it."
Baron started pacing the room angrily. "Out of curiosity, were you ever briefed that the head housekeeper is her second cousin?"
"Ah ha!" Haru snapped while pointing her finger. "I thought there was something going on! I thought she nagged her way into the position!"
"If not for knowing that, I'd assume the same thing," Baron growled, looking furious. "Is that wretch still in the castle?"
"No, I had Tomboe escort her to her parents after telling him to tell them why she was being dismissed." Haru couldn't help a smug little smirk creeping over her lips. "He definitely had the attitude of someone who spent the entire walk telling her that she was lucky to be keeping her head."
He frowned, clearly in the mood to remove said body part. "I think that's a little too close for me. Haru, if I send her and her family where you won't be able to see her again even in passing, will you give me a chance to fix what I've broken?"
Haru thought it over carefully. It was a nice offer, but… "Out of curiosity, did someone tell you that I wouldn't know a math equation if it danced in front of me?" It was the only reason she found plausible why no one ever approached her about her duties as baroness.
"The marquis," he replied without thinking, but now he looked even more furious. "Was he lying too?"
To prove her point, Haru started reciting a standard equation that she found useful while designing dresses, back when she felt the urge and responsibility to make fine gowns.
"I'm going to grind his bones to a powder," Baron growled, sending a shiver of delight up his wife's spine for the first time as an uncontrollable smile lit up her face.
"Now you try sweet talk," she couldn't resist teasing with a laugh before remembering what month it was. "One last favor with those two, and we can try again."
"Name it," he insisted with a deep bow to her.
"Next month is the annual jousting tournament. I don't care for jousting, but I do care about seeing my Yuki again."
"Done. I will not visit the capital again without you, even if I'm being summoned for an assignment," he promised, bowing even more deeply.
Haru sighed happily. "Truth be told I hate it there, but Yuki is high incentive for me to cope. I suppose I'll have to summon those merchants back," she sighed regretfully.
"Oh? How come?" he inquired curiously.
"One month isn't enough time for me to sew a gown worthy for court, I know the other ladies will rip me to shreds if I wear an old one to the tournament, and even if I was arrogant enough to think I could work with that little time, I'd still need material since I put too much time and effort into my wardrobe to dismantle it for something new."
"I'll send riders out immediately," he promised, turning to the door and marching to it to call out for a servant and give the orders.
Haru half-expected him to leave then, but he closed the door and strolled back to the table to sit back down and pour both of them tea.
"I think it's also fair to reimburse you for the sixty gold you paid for the drakes."
"I'd have rather had the drakes," she admitted sadly as they finally shared a first meal. "But all in all, they were the best investment I ever made."
xxXxx
Why, yes, this was my backup for the 2024 prompt Dragons.