Asher finished patching the beast up and kept him company for the rest of the night. He hadn't expected to be welcomed back, but it was clear that the witch had been making surprise visits to try and coax Leon into marrying her. Unfortunately after his outburst she made good on her word and disabled the automation spell that had the castle running on its own.

Asher no longer heard the servant's voices, which left the vast halls empty and silent. When he went to the kitchens to look for a snack, nothing magically appeared in the cupboards or on the counters. The baths didn't fill themselves, and worse, the beast was having a wardrobe malfunction as he no longer had the magical assistance to get dressed anymore. 

"I don't need your help with this!" The beast backed away as Asher approached with a clean pair of trousers. Due to the stressful events last night, he hadn't bothered with asking why the Prince had chosen to sleep in his clothes. But now it was morning and his tattered outfit was no longer presentable.

"Sire, you can't do anything with those claws. What do you expect to do? Wear the same old clothes for the rest of your life?"

"If I must!"

The beast was embarrassed, but that wasn't going to stop Asher from assisting with getting him dressed this morning. Last night the Prince had agreed to let him work as a servant again and this time, more sincerely, promised not to be an ass anymore, and Asher believed him right up until morning.

Apparently that 'don't be a jerk' policy didn't extend to getting dressed as the beast stepped away in shame.

"Haven't you ever had a servant dress you before?" 

The beast frowned before admitting, "Every day before this curse happened."

"Then this is no different."

"But it is! Before, I didn't look like...This!"

"So you would rather wear stinking tattered cloth than let me see you naked?" Asher rebuffed, then immediately backpedaled. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that."

The beast shook his head, waving off the servant's quick apology. "It's alright. You're right. I...I do need to get dressed. And these damned things..." The beast curled his claws angrily. "Get in the way of everything."

"So can I help or no?"

He stood by while the creature fumed in the corner before stomping over and holding out his arms so Asher could assist with undressing him.

"Don't look." He commanded.

"How am I not going to look? I sort of need to see in order to do my job."

"Have you ever done this before?" The beast wondered as Asher began unbuttoning the last few bits of his shirt, most of which had been undone last night by the witch.

"Yeah, when my parents were ill." He replied, carefully removing the cloth and only vaguely taking notice of the toned pecs. "I was immune, so I had to help change them when they couldn't walk around or move much anymore."

"I see..." The beast murmured as Asher began tugging the shirt off, being careful not to cut himself on the beast's claws while trying to keep the bandages intact. When he was done with that he froze, staring at the belt.

The witch had made a move last night, and Asher was feeling a bit self conscious about removing the creature's pants and seeing what was beneath.

Would it be human? Or would it be something else?

The beast lowered his arms and cocked his head in irritation. "I get that you have to look, but staring is going too far."

"Sorry." Asher immediately snapped out of it and made a move for the pants. 

The beast remained still, waiting for the servant to finish quickly.

Asher pointedly refused to stare as he grabbed the clean trousers and had the Prince sit on the bed so he'd more easily be able to pull the creature's legs through. It was interesting to know that the goat legs only started about midway down his upper thigh. His fur started at the shoulders and extended to the hands, yet his neck and mouth were pretty human.

Why would she pick these parts of his body to remain normal though? Why not turn him completely into a beast? He could guess why after what he witnessed last night, and was horrified by the implications.

So far all he knew was that the witch had made a deal with the King and raised Leon as his nanny with the promise of marrying him one day. The age gap alone was unsettling, but then she had to go and curse the guy in retaliation and hold him hostage so she could keep harassing him.

It was sickening. No wonder he hadn't accepted her offer. All he had to do was get married to her and the curse would be broken, yet he had decided he'd rather stay a beast and marry anyone else but her.

The beast stood back up so Asher could get his pants the rest of the way up, taking care not to touch anything unnecessary and feeling only slightly perturbed that it was, in fact, human. Then he moved on to the shirt.

Once the creature was fully dressed, he looked somewhat presentable. Too bad he hadn't thought to bring back any girls to introduce him to.

The beast cleared his throat awkwardly. "So...Now what?"

That was when Asher's belly growled and he was reminded that they had no breakfast waiting for them.

"I'll grab some of my rations. There's nothing in the kitchen so it'll have to make due for now. Afterwards I can take a trip into town to collect some things for you."

"You're going to leave again?" The beast asked in a small voice with a shimmer of fear in his eyes.

What the hell had that witch been doing to humble this arrogant creature so much?

He wanted to ask, but felt that bringing up such a sensitive topic would cause more harm. It was better left unsaid for now and he nodded. "Just for a short while. The castle is no longer producing food for you like before. She said she'll starve you for a few days, so hopefully it'll start up again later. In the meantime I'll bring some essentials so we don't have to worry about it."

"Don't-" The beast cut himself off as he resisted the urge to stop the servant.

Asher gave him a reassuring look and went back to his room where he had brought up his trail rations from yesterday's trip. After the beast asked him to stay, he had made himself comfortable in one of the guest rooms.

Returning, he laid out some dried meat and cheese on the side table for the creature to eat. Leon just stared at it, then stabbed a chunk of meat with a claw before nibbling at it carefully.

It was the last bit of rations Asher had left since he only packed a meal for one. The village wasn't too far away so he had never considered packing enough for two people, but now he regretted it since this would be all the creature would have until he returned.

"Aren't you going to eat?" The Prince asked, noticing that Asher had taken none for himself.

"I'm fine." He smiled. "I'm a commoner. Eating more than once a day is weird for us."

"You're serious?" The creature wondered as he slid the remaining meat from his claw and chewed.

Asher laughed. "You really don't know much about the lower class, do you?"

"It was never my job to know how you lived. My job was to determine tax rates, pass laws, sign treaties, and establish trade routes."

"Sounds fun."

The beast made a strange noise that sounded like a growl and a cough and Asher realized he was laughing. "No. No it wasn't."

He then went to stab the cheese with is claw to continue eating, but the chunk that Asher had brought along was slightly dried out and crumbled instead, making it impossible for the beast to spear it.

"Let me help." Asher offered, picking up a bit and holding it to the beast's face.

Prince Leon wrinkled his nose at the gesture and looked very much like he wanted to make a quip, but instead he obediently took a bite.

Asher stood facing him awkwardly, feeding the Prince the rest of his cheese before brushing his hands off and heading out of the room. "Alright, I'll probably not be back till later this evening."

"Wait!" The beast stood, then passed him and gestured for Asher to follow.

Asher did as he was told and they made a few turns until following a downward staircase. He pointed to a door, which Asher opened for him, and inside he found mounds of gold.

His jaw practically dropped to the floor as the beast walked up to one of the piles and pointed. "Take what you need for the food."

Honestly, just one of these coins could buy a whole shop back at the village, but he chose not to point that out as he pocketed one.

"Don't you need more?" The Prince asked when the servant stood back.

"Sire, very few people back at the village have ever seen a real gold coin before. I think it's more than enough."

And with that, he started heading up the stairs with the beast close behind him.

"Are you sure you need to leave right now?"

"You've been here alone before." Asher pointed out.

"But before I at least knew the castle was alive...Kind of. Now I can't even open a door because the castle used to do that for me."

"Okay, tell me what rooms you'll need access to and I'll open the doors for you." Asher compromised.

The beast readily took him on his word and started showing him around, pointing at a number of rooms including the bathroom, his bedroom, the kitchens, the waiting room, half of the guest rooms, the servants quarters...Wait a minute.

"Why do you need to go here?" Asher wondered as he opened the entry to the dungeon.

The beast shrugged noncommittal. "You never know."

Asher then realized the beast was trying to delay the servant's departure. Leon really did not want to be left alone, but if he was going to eat a proper meal then he had no choice and Asher sighed, then made his way to the stables.

"I'll be back by evening, alright?" He called.

The beast watched as the servant wandered out of sight, gold in pocket and a list of necessities in mind. 

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