Sinthia and The Demon Duke of DeSidea: 19

Kairn has spent nearly three hours staring at a blank paper. He was beginning to get very, veryfrustrated. It was nearing a week, or, in other words, the foolish deadline his fiancée had given him to write a reply to her letter was coming. Even though he barely knew her, he knew without a doubt from the few words that they had exchanged—most of them being hers and a single one from him— that she would do exactly what she threatened to do: appear at his house ready to hear his “stories.”

He had deeply considered canceling the engagement to her altogether. Her personality was already too strange for him, and he was yet to meet her in the flesh. She was too different. Too different from tradition and too different from what he was used to. He didn’t know why, but he just knew that she had ambitions that would break the tradition he was tasked with upholding.

Folding his arms and throwing his head back, Kairn growled impatiently. What was he to tell her of? His work? What could she possibly want him to say in these foolish letters? “Well, I don’t know if this helps, but when I was talking to Her Royal Highness, I could feel that she simply enjoys talking and interacting. Not necessarily the message.” Elias’ voice rose out of nowhere. Kairn tilted his head to see his aide squatting by the side of his seat, looking up at him like some sort of puppy. “That makes even less sense. The point of talking is to relay information. What’s there to enjoy In meaningless talking??”

“But all talking conveys information even if you don’t mean it to.”

Kairn lifted his head slightly. Elias took this as a sign to explain. “Even when you simply talk, the other person is able to glean a lot of information about YOU. More than you’d think.”

“So I should say whatever.”

“Well, that would seem the correct course for you, Your Grace. Give it a go! Talking to her is surprisingly fun! And I don’t think she’s scared of demons either so it’s even better.”

It was difficult for Kairn to believe that when he has heard that she had thrown herself from her window two days after hearing of her engagement to him. But he didn’t want to say it and have to deal with a defensive Elias. So he kept it to himself and begun to write.

Unto Her Royal Highness, Fourth Princess of Ophelia, Sinthia Anne Marie of Ophelia.

I will be frank with you. I find correspondence outside of work to be pointless. I have no particular desire to know you, and I am doubtful as to why it is you are so eager to know me. I am also greatly uncertain as to what part of my letter was able to supposedly comfort you after the issue with your father. It was a single-word letter after all. As it stands, I do not think continued communication between us will yield any desirable results.

Best,

Duke of DeSidea, Kairn Edrick DeSidea

He put the quill down and looked at his handiwork. It communicated what he wanted to say in as few words as possible. He was pleased by this. Elias peeked at it from besides him. While it elicited pride in Kairn, it stirred dismay in Elias because he made a very sad noise when he read it.

“No.” Kairn immediately refused.

“But it sounds so mean...”

“Then let it be so.”

“But Your Grace, it’s far too mean to a woman who is just trying to be friendly with you.”

“Perhaps she should stop trying to be friendly with me then. It would save me the trouble.”

“But she’s the first human who WANTS to be friendly with you! I know you’re not particularly fond of them, but not all of them are disappointing!”

To this, Kairn let out a low chuckle. Not all humans were disappointing? That was a very brave claim considering he had literally never seen otherwise from them. Every single one he had seen had disappointed him the second they had seen him. Every single one.

“Even though she threw me and nearly dislocated my shoulder when we first met, she’s really very nice, Your Grace! She has wonderful tea!”

Suddenly, everything stopped momentarily. Kairn turned to Elias. “She what?” Elias looked at him cluelessly before perking up and saying, “She has nice tea!”

“Not that you naive fox. Before that.” Elias pouted, tilting his head to think. “She threw me to the floor and held me in a shoulder lock. She was going to dislocate it.”

“Why?”

“Oh. Its because I appeared behind her. I forgot that humans don’t like that very much.”

“And instead of screaming or fainting she...”

“Tossed me into the floor. And threatened me. Yes.”

Well.

He most definitely had not head that side of the story. A human’s immediate instinct in such a situation is to scream and jump away. He had had women faint from clearly seeing him approach from the front , with warning, and grown men cower meekly in his presence. He rarely even had to look at them to awaken their survival instincts. That was a genuine and serious effect demons had on humans. The potent reaction called fear.

“Not all of them are disappointing.” Kairn looked at the letter in front of him pensively. Elias had better be right about that, he thought before taking out another paper and picking up his quill once again.

Imagine that. Kairn giving A human being a second chance lol.