Sinthia and The Demon Duke of DeSidea: 21

Sinthia was doing pushups in her room in the dark. She was also singing. If anyone were to see her now, they would have thought her mad. When her arms felt like fire, she lay on her back and begun to do sit-ups. This body was considerably less fit than was desired so exercise was difficult and painful. But it was okay because it distracted. It was a potent escape from the event that transpired earlier. After her father had smiled at her and spoken words she never thought he would ever say, Sinthia had felt so uncomfortable that she had nearly ran away right then and there. This was another bad thing, and she needed to keep moving to get away from it. “Today has been a very revealing day, it would seem.” She had said.

”Quite so.” His Majesty’s smile had gone, but not fully. He did not look at her anymore either. “I think I shall leave you to rest then.”

”Before that...”

He had straightened, then he tilted his head back. “The maid that helped you.”

Right then, her heart stopped, then began pounding so hard she could barely hold still. “Lissa. What did you do to Lissa?? She’s innocent. I made her get me the uniform. She can’t disobey me so I—“

”There’s no need to get fiercely defensive. She’s fine, don’t worry. I had her confined in her quarters for now.”

”What will you do with her?”

”I haven’t decided yet.”

”I... please don’t punish her, Your Majesty. It was my fault. Everything that happened was mostly me. All she did was get me a spare uniform.”

His Majesty stared at her for a long time with an unreadable face. It was not the same tired, emotionless mask he normally had on, but Sinthia still couldn’t tell at all what was running through his mind.

”Then you’ll take her share of the punishment.”

”Without hesitation, Your Majesty.”

”Good. Then tell me what your nickname is.”

”?!” ...What?? Sinthia found herself thinking. Why does he want to know that?

”My nickname? I thought I was to be punished...?”

”Your nickname.”

Sinthia swallowed the doubt and weariness. “Thia. My nickname is Thia.”

She watched his eyes flicker away as he though. Surely he won’t start calling me Thia. That would be.... impossible, right? Does that mean I’ll have to start calling him ‘father’ or something absurd like that? Sinthia attempted to reassure herself that that would not come to pass. And yet, she was very nervous somehow.

”Alright. It is a fine nickname.” He said, but somehow she could tell that he was somewhat displeased. What about her nickname could possibly displease him?? If he had been completely unreadable before, now he was extremely confusing to Sinthia. She didn’t believe he was at all capable of this, but His Majesty was changing at a rate she simply could not keep up.

“Why... did you want to know about that? About my nickname?” Perhaps she shouldn’t have asked, but she felt like She needed to know, just in case. She felt like she had to prepare for something.

”No reason. Anyway, please return to your room. Tomorrow, the Emperor and Crown Prince of the Nova Empire will arrive, and I’ll need you and your siblings to welcome them in the afternoon.”

”Oh, yes. Understood. Then, Your Majesty.” Sinthia gave a small curtesy, suddenly very displeased to hear of the siblings she had happily forgotten about until then. The irritation kicked away the confusion of His Majesty’s strange behavior and brought her back to her ordinary self. She gathered herself, then said, “Before I go, Your Majesty.”

Walking to him, she lifted the basket full of food in her hands and offered it to him. He stared at it, a tad bit confused. “What is this?”

”When I was in town, I went about and tasted lots of food made by the people. It was delicious, so I thought that it would be nice to bring you some to taste. You can’t sneak out of the palace like me, so I thought that... maybe you would like to taste something different.” In actuality, Sinthia just didn’t exactly know what to do with all the food. She had bought it unexpectedly and she was very full. And the basket was beginning to tire her arms, so she decided to give it away to someone. That someone had just happened to be His Majesty. The king had stood very still then, looking at the unexpected gift with wide eyes. “Is this some sort of bribe to lighten your punishment?”

This made Sinthia burst out laughing. She had interpreted that as a joke, but she realized that he was very serious, albeit surprised when he did not laugh or smile back. “No, it isn’t a bribe. It’s me... trying.” He understood then what that meant, and he took the basket. For a bit, he looked at it like it was a very foreign object. Well, it must have been to him. But he took it nonetheless. “Thank you, Sinthia.” And with that, she had left.

So now, in an effort not to be bothered by the king’s perplexing words and her own confusing decisions, Sinthia was busting it down to get the bod fit. Oh, if only they had gyms in the palace. Perhaps that could be a good venture. Hmm. Sinthia let her mind wander into its comfort zone; business. It would be a bit hard to market it, but not impossible. She would need to prove the benefits of moving and keeping fit if she wanted it to work. Especially to the nobles, who would pale at the thought of being physically active. It would be hard indeed, but—

“Your Royal Highness!” A familiar, happy voice rang out. It shocked Sinthia for a bit, but when she sat up to see a silver-haired man squatting on her windowsill, she felt joy swell in her chest. “Elias!”

She had had to make Elias wait a bit longer because she had to take a bath, what with how sweaty and grimy she was from working out and walking around in town, but when she was done, she rushed back into her room and hurried to the chair he was sitting in as he happily sipped the cocoa she had asked to be brought up. “Oh, Elias! You have perfect timing!” She sat opposite him, her face beaming. This made Elias very happy, and his tail flicked ever so slightly. “I do?”

”Is that... a tail?”

”Oh. Um... i-it is...” Elias felt suddenly very nervous. Although he was a demon, his appearance was often human when he was outside the lands of DeSidea. However, he had been so excited to see Sinthia that he had forgotten to mask it. And now he worried that she would find it too strange. His heart fell a little bit.

”It’s so fluffy!” She stared at it not with confusion or disgust but with fascination and excitement. Elias felt his sinking heart rise yet again. She didn’t think it was strange!

”Y-you don’t dislike it?”

”why would I dislike it? It’s very cute.”

If It was possible to explode with happiness, Elias would have done so right then and there. He was so happy, his face was becoming red! “Th-thank you!”, he said. He couldn’t wait to tell His Grace what sinthia had called him! She had said that he, a demon, was cute!!

”Oh! Before I forget! Here.” Sinthia stood up and went to her desk. She came back with a pastel purple bun. Elias looked upon it curiously. “Eat this. It’s a Silk bun.”

”Silk bun?” He questioned, taking it into his own hands and sniffing it. “Yes. The Silk Light festival is happening in a few days so everyone in town is getting fired up.”

Elias looked at the princess. “You went into town??”

”Yep. I was in a disguise so don’t worry too much.”

”Disguise??” Elias gasped. He had not heard of any princesses that put on disguises and went to commoner towns to eat commoner food. But the matter-of-fact look Sinthia had on her face meant that she was not at all joking.

”Oh! Do you want to hear about it?? It was really fun!” Sinthia leaned forward, eager to share her experience. Elias’ surprise was immediately replaced by excitement as he nodded enthusiastically. 

They had been talking for so long, and it was getting late when Sinthia suddenly remembered. “Oh! Come to think of it, Elias. What were you here for?” Elias’ face moved from elation, to confusion, and finally to realization. “Oh, how could I forget! I’m so sorry, Sinthia. I came to deliver this.” He took out a black envelope from somewhere behind him, then handed it to her. It was a letter from Kairn!

So her threat had worked. Inwardly Sintha proudly patted her back. Good job, girl. Before she opened it, she asked Elias; “Is it better than the last one?”

He nodded. His fringe was bobbing up and down. How cute. “I made him re-write it because the first one was much too mean.” While it was true that he did this, Elias had mostly elected to inform Sinthia of it because he had the slight intention of being praised for his efforts.  “Oh my... is that true, Elias?” Sinthia gasped, her heart going soft with gratitude. He nodded again, and Sinthia gave a warm, gracious smile. “You’re too kind. Thank you so much. What would I have done without your caring and careful eye?” There it was! Elias could barely hide the pride he felt for helping!

“Don’t worry, Sinthia. I’ll do my very best to steer my stubborn master in the right direction. Just as long as you promise...”

”Promise what?”

He thought for a moment. Should he say what he had wanted to say?

”Promise that you’ll be nice to him like you’re nice to me.”

Sinthia tilted her head in confusion. “What are you talking about, Elias? Of course I’ll be nice to Kairn. I know he’s a bit different from most other people I know, but I can’t find a reason not to be nice to him at all.”

”And don’t be scared of him.”

”What’s there to be scared of?” She said, carefully prying open the envelope.

”W-well... humans don’t like his horns, or his claws, or his eyes.”

”A pity, really. I thought they looked very stylish and beautiful from the portrait he sent.”

”Do you promise?” Sinthia nodded, staring at the flustered Elias. She was not lying or saying these things to simply placate him. She meant it.

Sinthia gave one more reassuring grin to him before opening the letter in her hands. This time, he had written it on a very dark grey paper. The ink he used was white. It was extraordinarily exquisite. Before she read, she looked at how beautiful his handwriting was, and was impressed. “I think I will hang this up. I’ll frame it.”

”Why?”

”Because Kairn’s handwriting is breathtaking. Isn’t this a work of art all on its own?”

Elias must have liked that, because his tail began to wag very furiously.

Fourth Princess of the Ophelian Kingdom, Princess Sinthia Anne Marie of Ophelia,

I’ll be very frank. I do not see the point of continued correspondence. I have no interest in you, and I do not understand why you have a continued interest in me. However, for the sake of Elias, who seems to very much enjoy spending time with you when he delivers these letters, I will try to write to you. I emphasize the “try.”

According to your previous letter, the letter I sent you had made you feel better. I can’t fathom why. But I predict that I will not be able to fathom a lot of things when it comes to you. I also heard that your first meeting with Elias begun with you throwing him into the floor and threatening to—

“You told him about what I did to you Elias!!” Sinthia screeched, very flustered that that information had reached the duke’s ears. Elias sat up from devouring the silk bun, confused. “Yes?”

”Oh, now he must have a very strange picture of me. Oh no.” Anxiety and embarrassment begun to fill her chest. Something that had never really happened before. She really should have held back.

”No, His Grace doesn’t mind. Keep reading.” Sinthia cast a doubtful look on the innocent face that stared back at her sweetly. She did.

I also heard that your first meeting with Elias begun with you throwing him into the floor and threatening to dislocate his shoulder. It seems that you are trained to protect yourself to a degree. That’s good to hear. At the very least I won’t have to worry about your safety too much. Another matter. I am not petty. Neither am I one who expressed himself in a “unique way”. If I were to say that there was anyone who expressed themselves in a unique way, it would be you. It isn’t very often that I am threatened by a human in the manner you did in your post script after all.

I will end this letter here. You seem very quick to respond, considering Elias comes right back with your reply, but expect me to take more time to write back.

Best,

Kairn Edrick DeSidea

Once Sinthia finished reading, she wasted no time in retrieving her stack of letter paper and quill. “Elias, which paper do you think is prettiest?” She asked, spreading five selections before him. Elias looked over them, pouting thoughtfully. He had crumbs around his mouth. “I like this baby blue one. It has a pretty pattern.”

”Thank you.” Sinthia sat on the floor so that it was easier to write on the low coffee table.

She was extremely excited to write this next letter. Her heart was pounding, and she was trying to arrange what she wanted to tell Kairn in the best way possible. She had a lot to say somehow, and she was a little curious as to how he would react while reading her words. It was very strange how she found communicating with that stiff, strict-looking man with horns fun. What part of it even was? Well, it hardly mattered. The nib of her quill begun to glide across the page as all the words she had in her head  flowed down her arm and onto the paper.