Chapter 65 : "And your family just… accepted this?" I

want to read ahead or want to support you can join my patr-eon and u will be able to read ahead by 15 chapters

patr-eon.com/Rias_gremory174

----------

"So what does exactly do you need my expertise about?" I inquired quietly. "I'm sure that you aren't here to merely allude to some situation of yours, and that you wish to hire my help."

She blinked, her eyes widening a little at the pressure but, instead of refusing to answer this and deflect the topic elsewhere, I was bestowed with quite the situation.

"I've been dealing with a difficult situation for a couple of years now," Rias admitted quietly, her body easing up some of the tension that had kept her from relaxing on her seat. "Something that was initiated by my parents to make sure to improving relations with some allies to them."

I blinked… so this is about the arranged marriage. I guess that the girl was desperately grasping at everything to get out of that muddy predicament.

I hummed quietly as I pondered over the situation and nodded. "What kind of idea do your parents have of 'improving relations', Rias-san?" I asked more, drawing a sigh. "Seriously, I understand that discussing of this might be quite nerve-wracking, but if the conversation continue to get dragged like this, I hardly think we will ever reach a solution."

Her nervousness forced her to let out a flinch at my stern but legitimate words. Keeping up with so much reluctance over her explanation was just begging to have annoyance out of me.

I knew what she was trying to tell me, but I wasn't supposed to know this 'yet', so I had to be a little careful to get her to reveal it to me instead of behaving like this.

"It's an arranged marriage."

There was no stuttering, but the room's tension increased noticeably as she concluded these words.

Most of her peerage was aware of this, showing just sadness at the revelation, while Issei's jaws dropped low as this was the first time he had heard of this.

But before the brunet could exclaim his inner shock at the development, I jumped in.

"So you mean that your parents have decided to bind you to the life of someone else that you perhaps have shared a proper courtship already-"

"Actually, there was no courtship happening," The redhead interjected with some irritation. "It had been one of the early clauses of the contract that is currently binding the formal notes of the pre-marital rules."

I was actually surprised by this discovery as I had thought that the Gremory family would have at least asked for this.

It was the minimal, to make sure that the arranged marriage could actually work well, especially one as important as this one.

I thought Rias' annoyance was derived only by the shitty attitude Raiser had over people… but perhaps there was much more to it than it was shown in the series.

"And your family just… accepted this?" I pressed on, my surprise showing in my words. "That is one of the prime pillars of a proper arranged marriage."

"I'm aware of this myself, yes," The redhead confirmed with a nod. "But the debt my parents have towards the other family is substantial, promptly bypassing that requirement."

Now, ain't that a funny annoyance to deal with? So there was actually a certain degree of debts that were forcing these many accommodations for the soon-to-be groom to exploit about.

Still, how exactly was I supposed to do with this little few things?

Just as I prepared to ask some more over the subject, I was cut short by a certain young man.

"S-Still, that is something big, buchou!" The brunet looked incredibly clueless about some bits of the situation, but part of the disgusting mess was starting to sink in his brain.

He had all the rights to be like that considering it would entail him ending up forced to serve under another King he isn't loyal to, but I decided to focus on the matter at hand.

First we solve this mangled debacle, then some explanation will be given by Rias and only Rias.

"Rias-san, I suppose you have a copy of the contract with you as you are directly involved with it."

She nodded at my supposition.

"I do," She replied carefully. "But I've already searched for any clauses that I could use against him but-"

"There is none that would help," I concluded curtly for, drawing another sigh as I pondered over this little circumstance I was supposed to unravel carefully and without screwing my secret identity.

Still, that sucked big time as I was kind of hoping that there could have been something that would have helped me up, maybe even bypass completely the Phenex Arc with some cunning planning and political blundering but…

It wasn't the case much to my immense annoyance and chagrin.

And so I knew that I would have to be ready to directly meddle if something strange ended up happening with my moves. Until now the timeline had been pretty much similar to the show, ignoring Raynare getting ejected earlier… and the attack on Kyoto.

"Have you thought of declaring the contract void since you weren't signing it willfully?" I inquired again, this time grasping at every possible hint that I could use to even delay the Arc to a point when the redhead can sustain a Rating Game.

In fact, if she had been given more time, the young woman would have had plenty of more opportunities to train up her peerage to not only match up with Raiser's, but even overwhelming it to the point where not even fire-regeneration truly mattered.

Rias blinked with some surprise at that, blue eyes showing all of it to the world. "What?"

"You could mention that the pressure exercised by both family ended up influencing your decision and, against the chances of performing your pondering with the lack of a peaceful and free capacity, you were forced to sign such contract," I started to explain this little political exploit that was actually pretty common in the supernatural law.

It had been Baraqiel to mention it while speaking of the Underworld's society, pointing out that there was a common law that allowed this kind of situations to be prevented.

----------

want to read ahead or want to support you can join my patr-eon and u will be able to read ahead by 15 chapters

patr-eon.com/Rias_gremory174