"Let me just…" Having a hard time making sense of everything she'd heard, Margarette had her fingers pressed against her temples trying to work out a way to ask the question. "So you brought the demon lord of lust, all the way here to Lamenia on your shoulders?"
Gathered at the hall of the Curatos castle, Asuka, and Riley were surrounded by not only their closest companions but even some human diplomats that had to be put on council to keep up with the integrity of Margarette's deal with Maria.
"M-my queen, did you just say that the demon lord of lust is here?" Terrified by the prospect, one such council member voiced his concern.
Shot with a sharp sideways glance, Margarette scared him into keeping his mouth shut. Turning back to the two, she shifted her gaze to Moriyana and the demi-cats standing behind them.
'This is probably not the best place to talk about this.' Huffing out a sigh, she gestured them to follow her around and led them out of the throne room. Walking through the windows corridor, Margarette wished to break the tainted glass that plagued the entire structure, however, doing so before Haruki takes over didn't feel appropriate.
"What the hell happened back there? I thought you guys just had to get master to drain her abilities and then kill her, then why is she here?!" Margarette asked, fuming as she made her way toward where Haruki and Asmodia were resting.
"It's a long story, maybe Moriyana can have you guys see through our memories and be done with it later?" Asuka suggested.
"That has to wait for a while then, I wanna first make sure Haruki is okay," Moriyana replied.
Storming through one long hallway after the other, the group finally reached the room at the very top, and at the very end of the castle's structure. Far away from any other place occupied by the other inhabitants of the castle, the two were put to bed inside with the door locked with an array of magic shields.
Undoing it quickly, Asuka led everyone in. Stepping inside, the very first thing they noticed was Haruki and Asmodia laying side to side on the bed. For some reason, the mere sight of it felt wrong to them all. Moving closer Moriyana places a magic barrier separating the two with an illusionary curtain wall between them.
"Last time, he was unconscious…" Turning her head to look at Asuka, Moriyana reminded her of the time she'd accidentally used a witch's name, which in turn haunted all the maids present around her. "Yeah, we should just wait for them to wake up, I don't trust myself to not get frustrated if my magic fails right now."
"Why not try at least?" Riley asked, taking a step forward.
Shifting her gaze from Asuka to her, Moriyana rolled her eyes before replying.
"My magic doesn't work very well around Mother, that's how she kept me in control in the otherworld," reminded of her past, Moriyana stepped away from the bed and sat down on a chair by the window. "If I try anything to wake him up, it might instead make his sleep a lot longer. Oh, and don't poke your nose around them either, you guys are even less experienced at this than me."
A bit terrified by the warning, none of them dared to try their hands to pull Haruki out of his sleep. Having Asmodia wake up on the other hand wasn't something any of them wanted to happen, if anything, the ideal situation would be Haruki waking up on his own and deciding what to do with the mistress.
"So, what do we do until Master wakes up? We can't go to the dungeon without him opening the portal, we can't leave this place without his input, and we can't just abandon our stations like this forever either," pointing it all out, Athena chimed in.
Glaring especially sternly at Moriyana, she wanted her to head back to the Dolatian border so that even that kingdom could be taken under their control. Especially since unlike in Lamenia, the kingdom of Dolatia had already fallen before they destroyed everything that was left behind, but since nobody was left to rule, the place had to be set up with a governing system from the ground up.
"Go back then?" Moriyana said in a mocking tone.
Frustrated already from all the work, and the current situation, she wanted nothing more than some sweet time with Haruki as soon as he had woken up.
"UGhhh…" Just as frustrated, Athena was ready to bear her fangs against the illusionist.
"Mom, stop!" Pulling her back, Alice stopped the fight before it escalated further.
"We can't just sit here either," Margarette uttered followed by a heavy sigh.
"Hmm?" Looking out through the open window, Moriyana didn't seem interested in even trying to help. "Sometimes darling, that's all you can do, and I'd appreciate it if this can be one of those times."
Saying that in a condescending tone, Moriyana looked at Margarette and lightly nodded a few times. Noticing the lack of urgency that she had before walking into the room, Margarette couldn't figure out why Moriyana was suddenly acting so cold toward everyone.
"Moriyana, what's your problem?" Margarette asked, not paying any mind to how it would be taken by her.
"What's wrong with me?" Pausing for a moment, Moriyana was about to utter something but then stopped herself as a deep frown took over her eyes. "You guys are the ones who brought a monster to this place, and you dare to ask what's wrong with me? What a joke."
Her tone now mellowed made her sound all defeated. Was it because of the torture she'd been through as a child under Asmodia's control? Or was it something even deeper that none of them could even begin to grasp? Whichever it might've been was enough of a reason for the chattiest of them all to turn back to the window and watch birds flying by.
'Dammit, what's her deal really? What did Asmodia do to her before any of this started?' Although her curiosity was growing, Margarette kept those questions to herself and turned to the two who'd brought the monster here.
"That long story, I doubt she's gonna help us right now, so do you mind telling it now?" She asked, her gaze shifting between Riley and Asuka.
Agreeing to tell everything that's happened to them, the two were once again surrounded by the others as they told the entire story. Seated in different corners of the room, they all listened quietly, all the while Haruki and Asmodia slept like logs without moving a single inch.
"We wanted to go back to the dungeon, but…" Finishing the story at that, Asuka glanced back at Haruki sleeping on the bed. "Well, you already know we couldn't since Master hasn't woken up."
Caught up with it all, countless questions were jumping around in everyone's mind, but for now, having no way to figure them out, they decided to wait around until Haruki as well as Asmodia were eventually back up.
***
Waking up to the sigh of a chess board in front of his eyes, Haruki saw on the other end of the table, Asmodia beaming at him with a smile as she moved the knight as the first move. A bit bemused, he blinked his eyes a few times before he noticed her appearance change altogether.
"Mom?" He muttered, not at all shocked by the revelation at this point. "You took control of my life from that far back?"
Once again as he blinked, the person in front of him turned back into Asmodia. Gesturing him to make a move, she seemed determined to not reply until he'd done as she wanted. And although Haruki wanted nothing more than to free himself from her binds, he knew that one way or the other she was bound to have her way.
"That story about father, those memories Moriyana showed me when we first met at the Larian gates, you planned it all, didn't you?" He asked, moving a pawn intentionally on a spot where the knight could easily get him.
To his surprise, she didn't take the piece, instead letting it linger around the board as she kept building up her strategy.
"I had to, but, you did have a mother," Gawking at the board, Asmodia finally uttered a few words. "A pair of bandits were chasing her through the forest, she managed to escape, but…You killed her during labor before she could make it to her village."
Looking back up at Haruki, Asmodia was surprised by the lack of shock on his face. She even wondered if he didn't believe her or if it was all just too much information for him to process this instant.
"You know what, Asmodia?" Picking up the pawn he'd set up as a sacrifice, Haruki began resetting the board for an entirely new game. "To hell with this world, I'm going to kill you and then destroy it."
Peering back up at her, the smile on her face mocked him utterly. He knew he couldn't outwit her just yet, but he'd be damned if he didn't try after what he'd just witnessed.
"The natural order of the world you said, to hell with it too," staying as calm as he could be, Haruki promised the keeper of time, the very end of the mortal world.
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