Staring at the envelope, Kaison let out a soft sigh. He’d have to write a reply eventually, he supposed. He got up, lifting the hidden in plain sight lid of the seat compartment of the carriage, and begun pulling out a stamp with a seal, and all the other prepared objects. He sat back down making sure she was sound asleep before beginning to write a response.
“As always, you were right, Pollux. I found her, and will be bringing her to my estate if you decide to stop being a coward and leave your residence for once, and actually greet her. I have yet to explain things thoroughly to her beyond what we discussed, the rest is up to you to explain to her, or choose the cowardice path as always and avoid responsibility. Until our next visit, hopefully before the engagement ceremony I can already hear her majesty’s words, try not to overthink again. —Kaison Faust.”
He were satisfied, that sounded quite formal, he could already imagine that the recipient of the letter was awake right now, walking around in circles waiting for his reply. He drew a little figure of him sticking his tongue out with a few squiggles and sealed the envelope with the Faust family crest, casting a spell over it. Like that, the envelope were gone from his hand, vanishing onto the table of that man.
He had nothing to worry about anymore, the envelope would make loud jarring noises if held or read by anyone but the intended recipient. His chin rested against the back of his palm, looking at her sleeping figure. She was beautiful in every sense of the word to him, well worth every ounce of effort to find her.
Perhaps it was because merfolk are rumored to have the beauty passed down from the god of seas, glistening soft skin, bright and shining eyes, and silk smooth hair. Or maybe it wasn’t that at all which made her beautiful, but the fact he was attracted to her, not just in the physical sense but she admired her personality. He could make an educated guess as to why she ran from her home, or to how her personality ended up the way it were, but he appreciated her honesty with him, speaking her mind.
He’d used a lot of magic the past few weeks in preparation, to the point everything was catching up to him as he were feeling exhausted, but that could wait for the morning. His fingers absentmindedly traced his eyepatch, shutting his eye, resting.
As the two slept within the carriage, on the opposite side of the country was a place wide awake and far from silent despite being the dead of night. As soon as the envelope materialized onto his desk, the man pacing the room walked over, excusing his attendant, picking it up. The seal was that of the Faust family, and he had no hesitation peeling it open to read, ignoring the weird drawing, scowling at it.
His green eyes scanned the letter, a sigh of relief as he collapsed against his chair, exhausted from just waiting for the letter. Though certain parts were undoubtedly annoying, he knew that Kaison was right about him being a coward. “Haah, annoying bastard.” He murmured, tucking the letter into the breast pocket of his coat, making his way through the halls and knocking on a certain door twice before entering. He immediately dismissed the maids in the room and tucked his stray hair behind his ear, there was a lot to think about, including whether he’d meet her sooner rather than later.
It was only a matter of time until he’d meet her in person for the first time, whether he’d tried to hide away like always or not. But still, he couldn’t help but wonder if he were truly mentally ready to tell her, face her reaction, and whether she, who he presumed completely innocent and sheltered from the world, may not even believe him.
As the man had his nervous breakdown, the night was long for everyone across the country. At long last the carriage had come to a halt with the morning sun already risen, golden eyes peering open, nearly jolting back and hitting her head. “You’re too close,” she murmured, throat a bit hoarse and still half asleep as he chuckled at her reaction, smiling at her happily.
“Sorry, you’re just so beautiful!” He smiled, leaning back against his seat, red eye still staring at her dazed face. He was surely energetic this early. Actually, she had no clue what time it were or whether he even slept.
Ignoring his comment, she crossed her arms. “Where are we?” She asked, getting down to business and wanting to know how far along the way they were to the estate. He opened the curtains slowly, turning to look at her to see if her eyes needed to adjust. Upon seeing her adjusting, he explained.
“We’re about two hours away from the estate. You can get more rest if you’re still tired. It’s a bit past noon right now, you must be exhausted, I don’t mind. When we get to the estate you can also rest on a proper bed, carriages aren’t that great for naps.” He grinned, and she could definitely feel aching in numerous places, from down below to her neck after that night, a proper bed would feel nice.
“I slept for half a day?” She asked, stretching slightly as he corrected her, “Over half a day. But you don't have to overthink about it, what do you want to ask?" he inquired, already knowing she were ready to question him.
She rubbed her eyes a bit, waking up properly as she got to the chase. “I assume your house has a library? Are there any books that introduce your country’s language?” She asked. Last night the paperwork was written in her people’s language, something not many could decipher, but she couldn’t always have things written for her in her own language.
As his arms raised from resting to cross against his chest, she also took notice of the disappearance of the envelope, but that wasn’t a huge priority of her’s to figure out, as she could predict how he’d stick his tongue out at her and say secret, again. “There are a few children’s books, don’t worry. Your knight should know where they are, and as long as he’s wish you you’re free to ask everyone else to not disturb you, that way you don’t have to be worried.”
He was considerate, things would be embarrassing for “Eve”, a girl who’s lived in the country her whole life as a noble to be caught trying to read basic children’s novels and failing. “Just to be clear once again, I have no intention on indulging your whims, I’m just using you during this marriage.” She said to him.
With a wave of hand, he laughed “Well there’s no need to remind me, but you’re being a little harsh. We’re both using this marriage to our advantage, to be exact. I’m fully aware you don’t completely trust me just yet. However, living in a bit of a delusion that you will within the next two years you’ll fall for my charms, rather than my assets. Hopefully as much as you fell for my body.” His smile was teasing, she hated that he was so calm about this and that she did in fact feel physically attracted to the charming man, with pure white teeth and a radiant aura.
“That will not be happening. I have thought over my goals, and will be solving my own problems. In the next two years I’ll be finding my own source of income. Plus, dealing with that on my own.” She replied, not even entertaining the thought. If this was going to be her very last life, she was going to survive, and must make sure to handle things on her own.
Truthfully, she lacked a plan. There was two years to figure things out, but she had a general consensus of what had to be done. Obtain financial security, learn proper self defense, and finally deal with that. She knew more than anything, that man would be hardest to deal with, the main perpetrator behind each of her first dozen deaths.
The first two were likely easier due to the golden spoon that offered himself to her. She would hate to use his money and planned to pay him back after, but for now she’d be given access to his finances, and after learning a bit more about the country she could figure a way to secure her financials.
The other thing was self defense, something she knew the basics of. She was no longer the naive woman she once were. Somewhere along being killed repeatedly, repeatedly, repeatedly, in the seventeen different times in the endless loop of death she had tried to fight back against that man and learnt the basics to swordsmanship, only to be absolutely throttled. She wasn’t sure how she expected to win, looking back, but this time could be different.
The people of the sea were fairly docile, a calm and neutral race not many know of or have seen. There were many depictions of them, such as mermaids, sirens, who were beautiful webbed creatures that were dangerous and other rumors according to what she’d heard. Some was close to truth, others far off. One she wished were true was the rumor that they could rip a man apart with their bare hands, but if things were that simple she might of actually lost her sanity and tried it in one of those previous seventeen attempts to break the cycle.
“You’re scowling, are you hungry?” Her thoughts were interrupted by him making a joke, hand reaching out and fingers pushing her hair out of her face. He looked down at her as she massaged her temples, exhausted despite just waking up, shutting her eyes as he kissed the tips of her hair, pulling away.
“No. Just thinking, that’s all.” She sighed a bit. This was nothing she wanted to tell him, he kept his secrets about knowing her, and she kept her secrets on her death loop. Though a part of her couldn’t help but question, did he know about the loop? Or was he someone completely unrelated, and now came into the picture after doing so many different things than her first attempt of breaking free?
The more she thought, the more frustrating everything became, but that was partially her fault. She was overthinking and stressing herself over things she would be able to solve in the future. She couldn’t solve anything while in a seriously fancy carriage, in a foreign country she knew nothing about, while being somewhat sleep deprived with sore pains and now that he mentioned it, hungry.
It had been a long time since she had a proper meal, or rest. She had traveled around aimlessly for the past few weeks, without too much on her to afford any proper meals. She was thankful at least the man she met in her last life came from this country, teaching her the language verbally at least, or things would of been a lot worse right now than it already were. A part of her couldn’t wait to end up at her one night stand’s estate, getting to eat and rest.
Kaison looked at her, head tilting but then smiled. “Seems like you must of gotten over what you were thinking about,” he sat up straight, arms crossed over his chest. “Your brows no longer crinkling and you’ve stopped grinding your teeth.” he finished as she raised a brow up at him. She hadn’t noticed her own behavior before, she’d have to work on being less obvious on showing what she were thinking.
Rolling her eyes, she rested her chin on the back of her palm, speaking to him, forgetting about her problems temporarily as they talked the rest of the carriage ride back to his estate, failing to notice him smiling even brighter than before now that she were no longer stressing out too much. Her trying to focus and think was cute and all, but her speaking to him freely and not giving herself a headache was much preferred, for him and her too.
