Chapter 148

--- 24th Day, Evening ---

After helping Miss Zelda with Mari’s healing, Mia headed upstairs. She moved to the room opposite hers, pressing her long ear against the door, trying to listen if someone was inside.

Sneaking around didn’t feel right, but she really preferred to avoid going in while someone else was there. When Mia couldn’t hear anything, she assumed Amber was out and slowly opened the door to peek inside. When she didn’t spot anyone, she slipped into her Master’s room.

Her nose twitched at the smell constantly lingering in the air. She had tried to air it out before, but it seemed to be impossible. Opening the window anyway, she looked at the bed, in which she could only imagine what was happening between her Master, two women, and a succubus.

She smiled, her cheeks coloring, realizing that she probably actually couldn’t imagine it at all. But not wanting to get caught in his room, she quickly moved to take care of her job. It was a self-assigned task, but she felt she should be doing something to not be completely useless, and she lacked the skills to do anything else.

She pulled the cover off the bed, holding it by the lower corner, having already learned that it was usually the cleanest spot. She picked up a few clothes thrown around the room and, holding the ball of dirty fabric as far away from herself as possible, quickly sneaked out to the bathroom to throw everything into the bowl to wash later.

After returning to the room and putting on a fresh cover, she looked around, checking if anything else needed cleaning or organizing, and her eyes fell on pieces of paper spread across the table.

In big letters, random words were written across them.

‘Mana’, ‘slave’ with an arrow pointing at nothing, ‘disgusting’, ‘Maybe’, ‘I don't know’, ‘again later’, ‘sad’, ‘Dependent and devoted’.

Mia wondered what any of it was supposed to mean, and why someone would even write things like that down, but it wasn’t really her business. She shook her head and quickly slipped out of the room, running downstairs toward the kitchen.

When she didn’t find anyone downstairs, she assumed Amber must have taken the younger wolves somewhere to teach them about potions, and Mia had the whole ground floor to herself, though she only really needed a small spot in the kitchen.

While she wasn’t an amazing cook, she quite liked her own cooking. And she could at least be useful in some way by cooking for the recovering kitsune. She wasn’t sure what she would do now that Mari was fully healed. Mia wasn’t even sure if it was her choice anymore. Tobias, her Master, claimed it was, but perhaps he already had some other idea about what she was supposed to do.

It wouldn’t even be that bad. She would at least know what to do and wouldn’t have to worry about whether it was the right choice, because she really had no idea what to do with herself.

While cooking and humming to herself, Mia came to the realization that she would actually prefer if he simply told her what to do, as long as it wasn’t something super difficult and she was able to do it without failing him.

Even better if it was something to do at home, and she wouldn’t need to leave. Especially when it was so peaceful there, and she could simply move from one task to another without worrying about anything. But there wasn’t enough cleaning to keep her busy all day, and while until now she had been occupied with helping Miss Zelda take care of the kitsune, that was finished. What would she even be doing tomorrow? She had no clue.

With the meal finished, she prepared portions for herself and Mari, wondering if the kitsune would be willing to eat together. Mia couldn’t even imagine what Mari had gone through. She was glad that Tobias was a good master and didn't take advantage of her as much as he could have.

Mia knocked softly on the door, slipping inside only after Mari invited her in.

“I made dinner,” the bunny girl said with a soft smile, looking at the kitsune sitting on the bed.

“Hm…” Mari hummed, scribbling something on a piece of paper resting on her knee, with a frustrated grimace on her face.

The bunny girl placed the plates on the nightstand next to Mari, then sat down beside it.

“Give that to him,” Mari said, passing the piece of paper to Mia.

She glanced over it and could tell it contained Mari’s demands for the work contract they had argued about with Tobias the previous day.

“I…” Mia started, but stopped for a moment, searching for words. “W-Why are you mad that he f-freed you?”

“None of your business!” Mari hissed.

“S-Sorry,” Mia replied quickly, curling up, her long ears drooping down, flattening against the back of her head.

“You wouldn’t understand!” the kitsune added, raising her voice. “He just freed me! He hates me, and he fucking freed me!”

Mia frowned in confusion, trying hard to understand the kitsune, but she had no idea what was going on.

“You-You wanted that…” Mia replied quietly.

“That bastard! God, I hate him! And I hate Tobias! I hate fucking everyone!”

“E-E-Even me?” Mia asked quietly.

“Yes!” Mari growled. “I fucking hate you!”

“I-” Mia started to speak, but hitched on her own breaths, taking them quickly as she stumbled a step back, grasping for air. “I-I’m sorry,” she mumbled before running out of the room, tears streaming down her face and tightness crushing her chest as she clutched the piece of paper in her hands.

Choking on tears, Mia tried to run to her room, but when she reached the stairs, she bumped into someone and almost fell to the ground. Strong hands caught her, holding her upright.

---

“A date with Cassia?!” Zoe gasped, looking at me in surprise.

“Yeah.”

“Can I join?” Zoe purred, pressing her body against mine, her hands resting on my chest. “Master, I’m sure Cassia won’t mind.”

“Perhaps,” I snorted. “But I’m not sure what her parents would say.”

“Her parents?” Zoe asked, furrowing her brows.

“Let’s go. I’ll explain on the way,” I replied.

Zoe didn’t mind that I was going on a date with another woman, but she was disappointed that it was fake and wouldn’t end with me fucking the life out of Cassia or with her joining us. She also clearly disliked the idea of being separated from me, even if only for a few hours.

When we reached home, the ground floor was quiet. Hannah was at work, and Amber must have taken Azura’s sisters somewhere. But as we headed upstairs toward our room, I heard muffled sounds behind a closed door, and when I reached the first floor, Mia suddenly ran into me with tears filling her eyes. She bounced off my chest and almost fell, but I caught her in time, keeping her upright.

“Mia, what’s going on?” I asked.

“T-T-T-T-” she tried to reply, but got stuck on a single letter just like on the first day we met. She raised her hand with a piece of paper, trying to pass it to me, but she was shaking, gasping for breath.

“Hey, everything’s okay,” I said. “Breathe with me,” I added, taking a deep breath while keeping my face close to hers.

It was shaky, but she managed to take a long breath, then let it out together with me. After repeating it one more time, I pulled her against my chest, wrapping my arms around her as she sobbed, clutching onto me.

“What did she do?” I asked softly, glancing toward Mari’s door.

“N-” Mia only managed before her voice cracked, and she pressed her face harder into my chest.

With my arms wrapped around her slim body, I held her tightly as she cried into me, but after a minute, I gently pushed her back enough to look into her brown eyes.

“Tell me what happened, please,” I whispered.

“I-It’s my fault,” Mia mumbled. “I-I was asking stupid questions.”

“What did she do?”

“N-Nothing…”

“Mia.”

“S-She screamed. A-A-And she hates me,” the bunny girl wailed. “I-I just made her dinner.”

I kept hugging Mia, hoping it would help calm her down as she continued crying.

“It’s fine,” I murmured, brushing her back gently. “There’s nothing to hate about you, Mia. You shouldn’t listen to a single word coming from Mari.”

The bunny girl only sniffled, giving me no answer.

“Head upstairs with Zoe and Azura, and I’ll come soon with something to eat and drink, okay?” I asked softly, pulling back to look at her reddened face.

She gave me a small nod before slipping from my arms and shuffling toward Zoe, who immediately wrapped her in a hug before the three of them headed upstairs.

I only waited until they vanished from my sight before I moved toward Mari’s room, entering without bothering to knock.

“Have you lost your fucking mind?!” I asked, stepping closer to her as she lay on the bed, with two meals sitting on the nightstand.

“What the fuck are you doing?” she asked.

“I was about to ask you the same thing. Why is Mia crying and shaking because of you?!”

Mari grimaced, glaring at me, but didn’t come up with an answer.

“Can you stop being a bitch?!” I asked, raising my voice.

“You are not going to tell me what to do! You’re not my master!”

“You think everything’s always about you?! I don’t give a fuck about you! But I won’t let you hurt and abuse Mia!”

“I-” Mari started to speak, but I interrupted her.

“What the fuck do you want?! I got you out of that cage! I freed you! I healed you! Mia was helping take care of you just because she’s kind. She makes you a meal and you scream at her?! What the fuck is wrong with you?!”

“I…” Mari said, but trailed off, her gaze flicking between me and the food on the nightstand.

“Take your things and fuck off!” I snapped.

“What?”

“Leave. Go the fuck away! You are free. Go do whatever you want, but not here. I doubt anyone would last with you, but that’s perfect, no? You hate people, so stay alone and hate only yourself!”

Mari stared at me with a scowl but stayed where she was on the bed, not looking like she was actually going to leave.

“You have no idea how much I hate you,” she hissed.

“You repeat it all the time. You hate men. I get it. You hate me, sure. But taking it out on Mia? On a barely eighteen-year-old girl who got herself into a shitty situation that you, of all people, should understand best? That’s fucking low, even for you.”

A flicker of something other than anger appeared on her face.

“I’m not kidding,” I said. “Pick up whatever you have, and go away. You don't need to live here. We can meet before the dungeon and part immediately after. End of the warm bed and meals cooked by Mia if you can’t appreciate that. You wanted to be free, now deal with it!”

“What the fuck do you want from me?!” Mari hissed.

“I wanted you to shut your mouth and stop being a bitch, but now I want you out of here!”

She scoffed, glaring at me, but after a moment realization must have hit her as she grimaced, not with anger, but with some hesitation.

“Zelda just finished healing me. I can barely walk. How am I supposed to leave? And what am I supposed to do?” Mari asked.

“It’s not my problem,” I replied, shaking my head. “I’m not your master anymore. You can stay here till tomorrow. Then I want you gone. You’re not living here anymore. I want to have peace here, and you just can't behave!”

“Fine!” Mari growled. “I don't want to live here anyway! Fuck you!” she added, turning her back toward me and facing the wall.

I sighed deeply, staring at her for a moment before rolling my eyes, realizing that if I stayed there any longer looking at her, she would probably call me a pervert.

There were two plates of food left there, but I decided Mia probably wouldn’t want to eat this anymore. So, leaving the kitsune to stew in her own hatred, I headed downstairs, hoping there was something easy to prepare for the three women upstairs and that I could somehow make Mia feel better after her unfortunate encounter with that ungrateful fox.