Love was utterly fickle.

Atsumu has sought hundreds of books ever since he was a child, reading through incessant scribbles and engraving them in his mind. A personal preference, albeit confidential, was his indulgence with fairytale stories — a particular interest for a love at first sight; or even the grandiose gradual affection from an arranged marriage.

He can’t exactly pinpoint if his dreams have shattered the moment he has gotten betrothed to the Duke’s only child — a proclaimed beauty of the Ruriean Empire, his beloved hometown.

It’s not as if you openly showed your displeasure being engaged to the crown prince, but more so aloofness, and perhaps even a little detached. Atsumu was no stranger to apathy after all. And yet the idea of his fiancée being uninterested with him was utterly jarring. Not a single speck of interest or even care. Was he that uninteresting to you?

“My lady,” Atsumu decides to break the unwavering silence between the two of you. “Be truthful with me. Do I bore you?”

And he was willing to turn it into a constant for you.