A Gentleman's Curse

Arc 2 Chapter 27: Crouching Tiger Hidden Damien

"No don't phrase it like that," Alexa chided from across the table. "We need them to send Vanessa specifically. If your mom or dad show up we won't have anyone to really hide behind."

Damien nodded to the suggestion. "Then, rather than saying, 'We'd love it if one of you could make it,' we'll say, 'We'd love it if Vanessa could come to pr-.'"

"No don't say it like that either, then your parents will think we don't want them coming," Alexa exclaimed with frustration evident in her voice. "Just... Here. Give me the pencil, I'll write it."

"No way," Damien said back, pulling the parchment and pencil away from her outstretched hands. "We let you write the one to your parents and you wrote it like it was some horrible, quickly jotted down grocery list!"

"I write great," she responded quietly. "People just can't read."

"Sweetheart, you write like a two-year-old," Kastra supplemented, hugging Alexa from where she stood behind her chair.

"I don't understand why we don't just jot it all down in a [message] and send it off like that," Alexa mumbled into Kastra's arm.

Damien glanced across the table they were sitting at in their dining room, taking in her sulking appearance. He chuckled under his breath and shook his head.

Twenty-eight years old back on Earth and she pouts when picked on. Too cute.

The room was unlike most of the others in their home in the sense that it was smaller and much more intimate. It was in a separate area of their mansion that was most likely meant for guests or servants. He assumed as such due to the fact that everything felt much more homely and was way, way less gaudy.

This room, in particular, was attached to a kitchen. Actually attached rather than just being separate. It reminded him of their simpler house back in Carlon in that sense but reminded him of his home back on Earth in the sense that everything felt more modern. The counters, the pans, the stove, even the fridge was altered to keep everything at a cool temperature and similar to ones back on Earth, that temperature could be adjusted. The fridge in Carlon stayed at a constant temperature. This one also didn't need to be charged with mana every few days, unlike the one at his parent's house. It ran off a mana stone that was about the size of a golf ball. An expensive luxury, Alexa explained, of about ten gold coins for the stone itself and another five for an expert to alter your fridge to work with it. Much cheaper to have a simpler cooling one placed on your fridge with a tier one mana stone that needed to be charged daily or every other day.

The giant refrigerator in their main kitchen ran off a mana stone that was just a bit bigger than this one. Both only needed to be charged once yearly before they weren't able to power the alteration on it.

A few days had passed since the trial and they were nearing the middle of the second month. They'd all composed a letter, an actual letter, inviting Alexa's parents to some event that was held at the end of every year. It was used as a way for families all across the continents to mingle with one another and make ties for the future, alongside being a method in which the different students showed off their abilities by dueling one another. After the day's activities were over, a dinner party was hosted complete with musicians and dancing.

They'd lied in the letter intentionally. If Alexa's parents knew that she was planning on forgoing their customs altogether, they'd most likely react in an extreme manner. This way at least he and the girls would have over a hundred years to either convince them Damien was a suitable mate, become strong enough to be able to defend themselves from any kidnapping attempts, or see if anything with regards to that particular custom changed. The world as a whole was becoming more violent as opposed to less, so perhaps they wouldn't even need to worry about it.