Chapter 21 : Grayfia's declaration

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"Rias Gremory has retired. Riser Phenex is the victor."

I paid no mind to Grayfia's declaration. I was too busy running towards where Yubelluna had collapsed.

She'd forced too much power into her final attack and fell over when the cost caught up with her.

I fell to my knees and checked her over, letting out a sigh of relief when I saw she was not only breathing, but conscious.

She was laying on her back trying to get her breath back. She turned to look up at me and said, "Did…Did I get her?"

I smiled, nodding as I said, "She retired. You won."

Yubelluna smiled tiredly. "Good. I'm sorry, my king."

"Sorry for what? You won." I asked, overcome with confusion.

"I'll never have the courage to do this again." Yubelluna reached up and grabbed the back of my neck, pulling herself up towards me while she pulled me down to meet her halfway. She pressed her lips against mine.

I didn't fight it. Instead, I deepened the kiss. I didn't think Yubelluna felt this way about me, but the past ten minutes went a long way to convincing me.

Yubelluna pulled back, a content smile on her face. "I really want to do that again, but you need to make your declaration before we're pulled out of the arena and away from the cameras."

My eyes widened as I realized my window was closing. When we'd first started planning this, we knew we'd need to make the most of this opportunity.

Carefully withdrawing myself from Yubelluna, doing everything I could to not cause the exhausted young woman any more discomfort, I stood and faced the barrier, hoping there was a camera in this direction.

"As per the contract signed by Lords Phenex and Gremory and Ladies Phenex and Gremory, control of the betrothal now falls to me.

I hereby dissolve the betrothal contract between myself and Rias Gremory. May her future husband treat her as she has treated me."

The moment the last word left my mouth, I was engulfed in a blue light and found myself in the waiting room once more.

A quick search of my surroundings found Yubelluna stubbornly climbing to her feet, wincing with each movement.

"Yube, wait!" I rushed over to her and pulled a phial from my belt.

Yubelluna shook her head, saying, "No, my king. I will be fine. There's no need for–"

"Hush." I cut her off as I uncorked the phial, carefully pouring it out onto Yubelluna's stomach.

The Phenex Tear flashed white as it made contact with Yubelluna's skin, and the minor abrasions and cuts visible on her body rapidly healed. Yubelluna's panting breathing evened out as the Tear did its work.

"Thank you, Riser. You didn't need to waste–"

"It wasn't a waste." I killed that train of thought immediately. "Now as much as I'd like to go over everything that just happened. I have a feeling that we're about to be–"

"Oh, brooother?" a far too cheerful voice called out as the door to the waiting room opened.

Sighing, I turned and saw Ruval strutting into the room with a grin wider than a Cheshire cat's plastered to his face.

"You know, little brother…" Ruval began as he sauntered his way over to me.

"If you had told me you didn't want Rias because you were already spoken for, I would have been more than happy to introduce you to the novel concept of a harem.

You're a Phenex after all. Only the best for you. Why, I would've even been willing to show you how I conduct my own harem. You could've taken notes, looked at diagrams, even–"

"Ruval, please. That's enough." I said, doing my best not to cringe. This was not a conversation I ever wanted to have with my brother. "What did mother and father say when I won?"

Ruval's smile dimmed somewhat. "They were…conflicted. You did well, Riser, but the way you handled things is going to cause problems."

"What do you mean? What did I do wrong?"

Ruval sighed, running his hand through his hair as he tried to organize his thoughts. "You won. Soundly.

That's good for a lot of reasons. The way you broke off the contract is going to piss a lot of people off though. You just publicly humiliated the Gremory family."

Now I was just plain confused. "That was kind of the idea? You know, like how they humiliated me and our family?"

"It's not that simple. Rias's stunt made a fool of you in front of the lower caste.

You just slighted the Gremory family in front of the lower caste and the Pillars. We're…mother, father and I are going to have to run damage control for a while. I'm not sure exactly what that will entail but don't let it bother you.

You did good, Riser. You're 1-0 in the Rating Game scene now. Give it a few hundred years and you might even be able to lose to me!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Don't you mean beat you?"

Ruval snorted. "Not on your life. You'll get stronger, sure, but no matter how high you rise, I'll be waiting in the wings to kick your ass."

Grinning at the implied challenge, I said, "We'll see."

Ruval pulled me into a side hug and led me back over to Yubelluna. "Come on, you two." he said. "I'm sure you have lots of celebrating to get to back at the manor. We'll throw a victory party later."

Yubelluna's face went bright red and she looked away shyly, but she didn't deny anything, a fact that excited me to no end.

A teleportation circle expanded out from Ruval to encompass all three of us, and moments later we were back in the main hall of the Phenex Manor.

Mother, father, Raycal, and a visibly shaking Ravel were already there. Ravel was facing mother, and was seemingly in the middle of screaming at her.

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