The Inseparable Princes

51. Allured - 2

"Will you marry me, Lakshman?"

Lakshmana turned around in a frenzy to stare at the back of the demoness's  head. His eyebrows furrowed and eyes narrowed, before he turned back around to his brother who was chuckling at him. Lakshmana clenched his jaws so tightly that it was extremely evidently visible, but Rama didn't cease laughing. The next instant he turned back around to Shurpanakha, his eyes still narrowed in rage, of a sort, before he decided to answer her, however, pushing aside his anger and talking with a cool head.

"Aha, Devi! Marriage, huh? With me? Like... Okay, I think you should seriously reconsider your decision. What am I, an absolute angry bird who is ready to wage war all the time, without worrying about the situation, apart from having decided to eternally serve my brother," said Lakshmana, before an idea flashed in his head. He grinned widely, sending his brother a quick glance, as Rama waited for the idea to be revealed.

"I still believe that I should marry you. Where will I ever find such a golden soul as you?" she said in an annoyingly intoxicated manner, as Lakshmana wanted to scoff to his heart's content at her, but decided against it ultimately.

"Look, Devi, I'm nothing but an ordinary, dumb, stupid, not-great-at-all, good-for-nothing, useless man. All I do is serve my brother. I'm just so useless! Why'd you want to marry somebody as wasteful as I?" he asked. Rama marvelled at how wittily his brother had played the masterstroke. Of course this overambitious woman wasn't going to marry somebody who deemed himself a servant, now was she?

"Servant? Why do you reckon so?" she asked, an eyebrow raised. She kept moving closer and closer to Lakshmana, who, in turn, felt increasingly uncomfortable by the second. "You're a prince too!" she scoffed. "NOT a servant!" Rama had stopped laughing now. He raised an eyebrow at how confidently that woman was, for some reason, saying somewhat encouraging things or whatever to Lakshmana. Only himself and his wife told Lakshmana that statement otherwise. "You're NOT a servant!" they'd scold, but Lakshmana would simply laugh it off.

"I am a servant, and I shall be until the end of everything. Look, Devi, a person of your---" he trailed off, not finding the right words.

"Stature?" prompted Rama from behind.

"---Ah, yes! Stature. Repute. Importance. Fame. Ridiculousness-"

"Huh?!" she cut him off, listening to the last 'compliment', before which she had been swooning over the appreciation she was receiving, not understanding it to be sarcastic.

"-Beaoooooooootifooolness, I meant," he added in quickly, as Rama tried not to laugh. Shurpanakha nodded in a brief yes, accepting that her ears had a complete malfunction altogether. "I-I just meant beauty. You see, I'm not very good with words, even. What're you going to do after having married me? Go and wage unnecessary wars with whoever you find on the roads? For that's what I do, and I, frankly, don't require company for that job!" he completed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "I can't even speak all romantically. I-I'm not very good with getting gifts and all that. Jewelry, nope! What in this world do you see in me that you want to wed me?" he rattled persuasively, and she agreed.

"You're right. I don't want to wage wars or anything," she said with a hint of disinterest and disgust in her voice and intonation. Lakshmana did a little victory dance in his heart, before continuing.

"I know, right? I'm right, more often than not. You should go and approach Bhaiya again, I suppose," he told her, eyes gleaming. Rama's eyes widened in alarm. Not again!

"But he says that he won't marry me," she complained.

"Just go and ask him!" he insisted. "Go!"

She nodded determinedly, before stepping forward to walk towards Rama again. Lakshmana grabbed his dagger, letting out all the anger and annoyance by chopping through some wood with it.