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“Why are you being so nice to me?” Raea asked as the headmaster stood up and walked to the corner of the room. He pulled out a tea set that he placed on the table in front of the couch. His cat sniffed Raea’s foot before wrinkling its nose and walking away.

“You’re my guest,” the headmaster said, “and guests should be treated as such.” He poured two cups of tea and pushed one towards Raea. She stared at it before glancing at her manacled hands. It didn’t seem like the headmaster had any intention of taking them off, so she reached forward and grabbed the cup with both hands, awkwardly bringing it to her mouth, and pretended to drink from it. After eating for so long with Palan, she also developed some wariness of poisoned food. It was a shame he wasn’t here to check the tea for her.

The headmaster sipped on his own cup of tea, uncaring of Raea’s actions. “So you’re an archangel of wrath,” the headmaster said after he finished. Raea’s cup remained full. “You aren’t the first fallen angel I’ve seen, but you’re definitely the first one that looks like the archangels of the legends: Angels with demon-like characteristics who wielded unimaginable powers—Raphael, Uriel, Camael to name a few. Do you have a life-and-death contract with your demon?”

Raea’s hand trembled as she placed the cup of tea down on the table. She stared at the floor and didn’t respond. The headmaster shrugged and poured himself another cup. “Your sister used to do this to me too, you know?” he asked. “She was one of my brightest disciples with many amazing qualities, but so very stubborn. If I asked her a question she didn’t want to answer, she’d just stare at me in silence.” He sighed as he watched the tea leaves float in his cup. “I still can’t believe she’s gone.”

Raea gritted her teeth as the headmaster took another sip of his tea. He sighed before placing it down and standing up, heading over to a cabinet. He pulled out a bottle of amber-colored liquid and returned to his seat across from Raea. “I thought you were a law-abiding citizen,” Raea said as she watched the headmaster uncork the bottle.

“It’s barley juice that’s been sitting around for too long,” the headmaster said and shrugged as he took a swig. “Nothing illegal about that.” Raea snorted, but didn’t say anything. “Would you like some?”

“No,” Raea said, shaking her head.

“Good,” the headmaster said. “I was just offering out of courtesy—I wouldn’t have actually given you any. I’m sure Selena’s ghost would throw a fit if she knew I gave her sister alcohol.”

“Ghosts aren’t real,” Raea said as her hands curled into fists. She bit her lower lip and lowered her head. She hated hearing her sister’s name from this old man. It made her want to stand up and strangle him. What did he know about her sister? She sighed as her hands loosened. “So what happens now?”

“Now I do what your parents asked of me,” the headmaster said. “I’ll work on converting your wrath into patience and kindness. It won’t be the first time I’ve done this. You’d be surprised at the number of students who come seeking help for a sin they developed while separated from their parents. I have innumerable methods to deal with something like this.” He rubbed his chin as he exhaled. “I don’t suppose you want to work with other students, huh?”

“Why?” Raea asked. “Because I’m a monster?”

The headmaster leaned back as his cat jumped into his lap. He took another sip of his drink before responding, “Do you think you’re a monster?”

Raea’s brow furrowed. She was, wasn’t she? “I’ve done … things,” Raea said and bit her lower lip.

“We’ve all done things,” the headmaster said. “I did a thing in the bathroom just a few hours ago. You’ll have to be more specific than that.” Raea lowered her head, refusing to answer. The headmaster shrugged. “It doesn’t matter if society sees you as a monster. It only matters if you see yourself as a monster. It’d be a lot easier for me to convert you back if you think you’re pure and innocent, but it doesn’t matter either way.”

“I don’t want to turn back,” Raea said, staring at her hands.

“Oh?” The headmaster raised an eyebrow. “And why is that?”

“Wrath is powerful,” Raea whispered.

“And what do you need power for?”

Raea didn’t respond. The headmaster sighed as he brought the bottle to his lips and chugged the whole thing without pause. He exhaled and patted his stomach when he was done. The glass made a clinking sound when he placed it on the table, and he leaned forward, causing the cat to nearly fall off his lap. “So it seems like I’ll have to do this the hard way,” he said. “You’re going to hate me for this, but that doesn’t matter because I’ll be removing your wrath. Even though you’re Selena’s sister, I still have to honor your parents’ request. I suggest you drink your tea because it may be a while before you have anything else to drink.”

Raea’s face was expressionless as she stared at the headmaster. Her hands moved to the cup, and she tilted it over onto the table while maintaining eye contact with the old man. The headmaster’s lips curled upwards as he smiled and began to laugh. “You’re just like your sister,” he said as he stood up, causing the cat to fall to the ground. He went to a corner and pulled out a rag to clean up the spill. After he finished, he went to a nearby wardrobe and pulled out a bundle of red metal chains.

“Law-abiding citizen, huh?” Raea asked as she eyed the headmaster.

“It’s not illegal to own chains,” he said and shrugged. “This is just a precaution. Can’t have you running away now, can I?” He tangled the chains into the shackles that were already on Raea’s body and secured them to hooks that conveniently happened to be on the wall of the law-abiding citizen’s room. Once he made sure Raea couldn’t escape, he pulled out a piece of paper. It had a box with eighty-one miniatures boxes inside of it arranged in rows and columns of nine. He placed it on the table in front of Raea.

She frowned at the few numbers she saw randomly spread out on the grid. “This is called Kudosu,” the headmaster said. “You’ll be getting real familiar with these until you become an angel of patience again. It’s a simple puzzle that you’ll have to solve every time you want to eat, drink, use the bathroom, or sleep. If it’s too easy, I have them in grids of sixteen by sixteen, and twenty-five by twenty-five as well. The last student who wanted to accumulate patience solved a forty-nine by forty-nine puzzle. I was very impressed. Here’s how it works.”

Raea listened as he explained the rules to her. When he finished, she picked up the paper and tore it to pieces before blinking at the headmaster. “I forgot to mention that if you give up on a puzzle, you have to watch paint dry for twenty-four hours. Of course, you won’t be allowed to sleep in that time,” he said as he pulled out another piece of paper. “I literally have millions of these, so don’t think you can destroy them all. The students who want to learn about wisdom create them for me.”

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