Demon Queen Wants to Paint

Much to Rosa's surprise the lessons with Asdeus went by without much trouble. She had forced her to write another letter fifty times, but since Rosa didn't have to try so hard to appear stupid, it was much easier. 

The demoness had attempted to send Deziara away, no doubt to make sure that Rosa would do as she wished. But the girl completely refused to leave Rosa's side, saying she wouldn't leave her no matter what. And Rosa made no attempts to shake her sister away. As long as Deziara was with her, Asdeus could not do anything to Rosa openly.

"Deziara, you did very well today. You can leave now," Asdeus smiled sweetly at the demon girl.

She's trying to remain alone with me again.

Rosa looked to her sister, hoping that Deziara was still in her barnacle phase. Much to her relief, the older girl grabbed her chair and pushed it right next to Rosa's.

"I'll wait for Morri to finish again!" she said stubbornly and crossed her arms over her chest, showing no intention of moving. Rosa noticed that Asdeus frowned for just a fraction of a second, quickly adopting her neutral expression.

"Alright then. But it might take a while. She's still slow since she is learning," the demoness accentuated the word slow and looked Rosa straight in the eyes. 

"It's okay. I can help her," Deziara chimed and then went to grab another inkpen for herself. "Let me show you how to draw this letter."

And Deziara proceeded to slowly explain in which order to draw lines and repeated her demonstration several times.

Bless this child. Despite being bratty at times, Deziara is truly kind.

Rosa nodded enthusiastically at Deziara's explanation, and proceeded to follow her instructions. She drew the letters a bit crooked, but her sister still praised her every time and encouraged her to keep going.

Oh, how I wish I could show her my paintings. I bet she would love those.

But Rosa quickly dismissed the thought. It was far too dangerous.

"Alright, that will be enough for today," Asdeus dismissed both girls once she realized that Deziara truly wouldn't leave Rosa by herself. As they exited the room, she saw Asdeus glare after her and mentally thanked her sister again for remaining by her side.

"Now we can go play!" Deziara cheered and began dragging Rosa outside, no doubt intending to visit the little dragon again.

"Yes," Rosa agreed and soon both girls were bending over backwards from laughter as Haku was chasing his own tail with a piece of bell attached to it. The noise confused the creature as he kept trying to find the source of the sound, but each time he moved he moved his tail as well, making the bell chime in a completely different place.

Later in the evening both girl's sat on the bathroom floor, waiting as Gunna filled the bath with water. Deziara always scrunched her nose at the nanny, but acted far more respectfully towards her than the first time they met. 

"Pour in lots of water! So we can play in the bath," Deziara commanded, observing the dwarvish woman with a keen eye. Gunna shifted uncomfortably, and then threw a nervous glance at Rosa.

"I–I'm afraid that won't be possible," Gunna began, and Deziara jumped up to her feet and pointed her finger at her.

"Why not? I am the Princess. If I ask for something, it must be fulfilled."

Gunna shifted uncomfortably again, then stopped pouring the water and put the orb to the side of the bath.

"You see, Lady Morrigan is afraid to take a bath in water that is too deep," the nanny explained with a somber expression. Rosa recalled the first time she took a bath in this world, how she had gone under water and how Alphegor had pulled her out then.

She also recalled the harsh, cold waves that dragged her down to the bottom of the sea right before she woke up as Morrigan.

"You're afraid?" Deziara looked at Rosa sympathetically, all of her previous bravado completely gone. Rosa nodded, ashamed to admit that even something as simple as an overfilled bath scared her. 

What would happen if I saw the sea again? Would I have enough courage to swim in it again? Probably not.

"Well, that's alright then. Make lots of bubbles," Deziara smiled cheekily. 

"Of course," Gunna replied with a smile and began foaming up the bubbles from the soap.

After the warm bath, both girls snuggled close to each other in bed. Deziara kept giggling from time to time as she brushed away one of Rosa's stray locks.

"Your hair is tickling me," she squealed.

"Yours is tickling me too," Rosa objected, and began giggling as well. Deziara wrapped her arms around her, and she huddled closer. In fact, they were so close that Rosa could hear Deziara's steady heartbeat.

"This is really nice," the older girl hummed, but her smile faded and a sigh escaped her lips.

"Why are you sad then?"

"I-I just wish I could have done this with our other sisters too."

"Oh… Have you ever tried?" 

"I have. But whenever I tried talking to them, they would either brush me off or their mothers would do it for them. Despite being sisters we could never really do anything sisterly," Deziara sighed again, then looked down at Rosa and smiled. "But now I can. I am so glad you were born, Morri!"

Deziara brushed Rosa's hair gently, and slowly her eyes fell shut and steady breaths escaped from the girl. 

It is wonderful to have a nice sister.

***

Rosa walked towards the study room, dragging her feet on the ground. It was time for another lesson with Asdeus. But this time, Deziara was not by her side. 

After spending every waking and sleeping moment together for more than a week, the novelty of having sister time all the time was wearing off. Deziara wanted to return by her mother's side, while Rosa craved some time alone.

It's not like she disliked time together with Deziara, but the girl was quite the chatterbox. Rosa barely had any time to organize her thoughts when Deziara would spring three new suggestions or questions at her. It was tiring to say the least.

That morning the girls agreed to return to their old schedules, occasionally having sleepovers to spend some quality sister time together. So Rosa was walking to Asdeus's lesson without her cheerful sister to lighten her heavy mood.

It's alright. Deziara will be there, I made sure to drag out lunch as much as possible, so I should be arriving a bit late. And with my sister around Asdeus won't dare to do anything.

Gunna's warm hand gave Rosa a bit of courage, but she knew that the nanny would not stay during the lesson. Slaves in the Demon Castle were not given much leisure so if there was a chance to give them work, the head maid was sure to occupy them.

"Good luck in your lesson, Lady Morrigan," Gunna said with a smile, and opened the door to the study room.

"S-See you later, Gunna," Rosa forced a smile on her lips, trying to hide her anxiousness. She took tentative steps inside the study room and saw Asdeus sitting behind her desk with a notebook in hand. Once she noticed Rosa, she snapped it shut and got up.

"Princess Morrigan. You're late," she announced as the door shut behind Rosa. Much to her horror, Deziara was nowhere to be seen.

"W-Where is Deziara?"

"I'm afraid her schedule will be slightly different from now. She has shown a good aptitude in magic, so currently she'll be focusing on improving that. In the meanwhile, I'll focus on tutoring you, Princess Morrigan," Asdeus purred in a wicked tone, and walked up to Rosa, looking down on her. 

"You arranged that, didn't you?"

"Perhaps. But it is true that Deziara requires more lessons in magic. While I am more than capable of tutoring her myself, this is hardly the right place for it."

"So what do you intend to do with me?" Rosa growled, clenching her little hands into fists.

"Exactly what I promised I would. Tutor you," she replied, and motioned Rosa to sit. Without taking her eyes off the demoness, Rosa went to her tiny table and sat down behind it. Asdeus went up to the shelf that contained all the stationary and pulled out a note and inkpen.

"You're just going to continue tutoring me?" Rosa asked, staring at the inkpen in disbelief. She observed it carefully, wondering if it was cursed in some way.

"Yes. I don't know what else you would expect me to do? While His Majesty is not here, all I need is to spend some time with you to keep up appearances in front of others," she said and yawned, then propped a chart with the demon alphabet in front of Rosa. "Write the second letter fifty times."

Again with the fifty times? Oh well, it's not bad. Just a bit tiring.

Begrudgingly Rosa took the inkpen and began the task. Unlike the first time, she didn't bother making the letters look bad. Of course, she didn't write in her neatest handwriting either, instead opting for a quick and messy approach, just to get the task out of the way.

"Done," Rosa announced after approximately ten minutes. Asdeus raised an eyebrow, then walked over to her desk. She glanced over the letters, then pulled out her red inkpen seemingly out of nowhere and crossed out three of them.

"I'm afraid these won't do. These won't do at all," her mouth turned into a wide, sick smile. Rosa looked up at her and suddenly her hand wrapped tightly around Rosa's hand, pressing it against the table. "I'm afraid I'll have to punish you for your mistakes."

Before Rosa could protest, the demoness pressed her sharp nail against Rosa's palm. She stared at it for a moment as nothing happened, and then pain began to swell in her palm. It was barely noticeable at first, but quickly grew in intensity. Rosa was about to scream, when Asdeus pressed her other hand over her mouth thus keeping her shut.

"Shhh. It's alright. We all make mistakes. But in order to learn, there needs to be punishment," she whispered sweetly in Rosa's ear and then removed her nail. The pain receded almost instantly. Then Asdeus pressed her nail again and Rosa screamed into her hand – the pain was excruciating.

"I'm sure that next time, you'll try harder," Asdeus pressed her nail the third time, smiling in satisfaction all the while. Rosa whimpered, tears rolling down her cheeks. it hurt far worse than any knife cut she had the misfortune of experiencing before. The demoness released both of her hands and looked at her with great satisfaction.

"H-How dare you?" Rosa growled, cradling her hand although there were no visible injuries. "I-I'm going to–"

"You're not going to do anything!" Asdeus hissed. "If you dare to say so much as a peep about this to anyone, then next time the punishment will be more severe."

"You can't do this! You won't get away with–"

"Who is going to stop me? If you squeak so much as a word about this to anyone, then you can be sure that His Majesty will find out about the rat in his den," Asdeus conjured up the shadowy bird again, and Rosa slumped down into the chair.

"It seems you understand now. Good. Now go ahead and write 'I will not disobey Lady Asdeus' a hundred times."

"I don't know how–"

"Don't lie to me, you filthy cockroach! I know full well that you can write. And remember that for every mistake you make, I'll make a correction."

Rosa paled and took the inkpen into her trembling hands. 

I may know how to write individual letters, but I'm not that great at writing whole sentences yet. And if I make any mistakes…

Rosa trembled as she remembered the pain from the nail. There was no way Asdeus would tell her how to write it correctly. Praying to all the gods she knew for help, Rosa carefully began writing down letters, making sure they were as perfect as she could manage.

Endure it for now. I'll figure out something later.