Chapter 32

Reclining in his chair leisurely Damian wore expensive but casual clothing. At the moment he sat at a small circular outdoor table with a small umbrella above it, three individuals including himself sitting around it.

On his left was the girl he was recently declared engaged to Rias Gremory and on his right was the one and only Sona Sitri. The atmosphere around the three was just as it usually was with Damian being confident, Rias excited, and Sona calm.

"I heard you two are getting married? I suppose congratulations are in order." Sona Sitri declared dryly. It was the news that had shaken the devil nobility more than anything else in the last few decades.

"To think I'd receive the blessing of heiress Sitri herself. How blessed I am." Damian replied, over exaggerating to the extreme. Truth be told, Damian had strange relations with both the girls at the table.

Rias was… something akin to a relaxing element. No matter how stressed or exhausted he was it all washed away at seeing Rias' boundless joy and excitement. It was similar to an overworked businessman feeling his exhaustion wash away after seeing his pet. It was a vulgar comparison that Damian wouldn't dare to vocalize but the essence was the same.

On the other hand, Sona was like his accomplice or partner in crime. Damian felt like he could trust her to handle things that usually he wouldn't be able to trust others because Sona's nature is similar to his own. Unlike what magnets taught you, similar people did in fact attract.

"Don't play coy with me Thaumiel. Be careful around him Rias, he's an odd one." Sona warned her friend who nodded seriously. It didn't take a genius to see that Damian Thaumiel was a strange child.

Praying to god, defying the hierarchy without a shred of regret, allying himself to two of the strongest pillars of devil society, and becoming the disciple of the man touted as the Crimson Satan all in the span of three years. Even among devils, he was odd.

"Aren't we all though? I can't think of a single sane devil." Damian replied blandly as he took a sip of the tea a Gremory servant had prepared for him. While it couldn't compare to his mother's it definitely surpassed his own.

"I suppose that's true." Sona agreed calmly. No devil was truly 'normal' though many would claim that to be their charm. Even the most kind and polite devil around Ajuka Beelzebub was secretly a research pervert that would do nearly anything in the process to learn more.

"Were you two always so close?" Rias asked the two in confusion. She had only seen them in the same room twice, both for public events, and in both situations, the atmosphere was oddly tense despite the seemingly normal words.

It was clear even to her that something was happening beneath the surface in those conversations but that wasn't the same as what was happening here. While their prior meeting had always been about business things the two of them seemed more accepting of each other's presence this time around.

"Well, we think similarly so it sorta just happened." Damian explained after briefly glancing at Sona who merely nodded in agreement. There was no fancy reason they got along, they just kinda did.

"Hmm." Merely humming in acknowledgement Rias looked back and forth at both of them. The two did a have a certain air of maturity and intelligence around them. If they truly thought the same then it made sense that they'd grow closer naturally.

"She also helped me find my Queen so that helped too." Damian revealed casually like it didn't matter in the slightest though the playful grin threatening to reveal itself told a different story altogether.

"You have a Queen? Already?!" Rias shouted abruptly, her elegant demeanor vanishing instantly. While she had gotten better in recent years, her etiquette was still a mask rather than a habit at this point.

"That's right. It's a secret though." Damian declared playfully with a grin on his face. Around the table stood an almost invisible barrier of pink demonic energy. It followed a basic yet difficult to realize concept.

Its main core was that it stopped the vibration of air molecules from sound alone but not only was such minute control difficult for most it was also hard to differentiate what was normal vibration and the vibration made by sound.

People like Ajuka and Azazel could do it with ease but it was only really people at the level of those two that could do it. Most others would much prefer to utilize the more obvious but easier magic barrier that essentially created a miniature reality in the space of a barrier that followed a similar concept to storage magic or the magic used to make Rating Game battlefields.

"So only Sona knows?" Rias asked, calming herself down quickly. While she was a little jealous that she was kept out of the loop she did understand the need for secrecy. Ultimately, despite their status they didn't know much about each other and that didn't leave room for much trust.

She was also confident that if Damian didn't want to reveal it to her he wouldn't have revealed it to Sona either if he had the choice. It just didn't fit in with his mysterious and vague personality to reveal it to Sona even if their personalities were similar.

That meant that something probably happened in the Sitri territory but reading deep between the lines and getting to the truth of the matter wasn't where she was her expertise lay so she would drop the subject there.

"And the four Satans plus my parents but yeah. Do you want to know?" Damian asked her lightly, casually even. He made it sound like it was just a small matter but since only seven people knew it certainly wasn't.

Besides, there was the look in his eyes again. It wasn't overly noticeable but it was kind of like her brother's eyes that made her feel like she couldn't hide anything from him. She didn't know Damian all that well but she could tell that it meant he was testing the boundaries with her.

"No, well I do but I'll hold myself back for now." Rias declared simply. She felt like Damian would probably reveal it to her if she asked but she didn't want to push him when he didn't really trust her. Instead, she wanted to prove that she could be trusted even if it wasn't right now.

"That's a shocking answer. And here I thought you'd just ask me." Damian replied simply, an amused and almost proud grin on his face. If it was the 'canon' Rias she would have almost certainly asked, or demanded, he tell her for whatever reason she would have had.

At most, she would have denied his offer and then tried to investigate or somehow force it out of him but that was almost worst than just forcing him. But the current Rias didn't do that, she didn't push his boundaries even when he opened the gate wide open.

'Looks like things are changing already.' Damian thought to himself stoically, his outward expression unchanging. Right now it was a good change since Rias was growing in a good direction but that was guaranteed to stay that way.

He was playing a dangerous game and one day he'd get burned.

"Are you capable of dealing with Riser?" Sona asked Damian dryly but it was clear that she doubted it. Damian was mysterious and most likely had power beyond what he showed but that didn't bridge the gap of age and experience.

"I have a few plans in mind. Isn't it funny that he's causing such a fuss though?" Damian asked the two, an amused grin on his face. It wasn't a secret that Riser was angry at the declaration of his and Rias' marriage.

It had been announced under a week ago, a mere few days after his conversation with the Gremory family, and yet he had been throwing a fit the entire time. While it was actually a fairly bad situation there were some good things about it.

'I didn't know that I had such a good reputation.' Damian thought in amusement. Once the engagement had been published it took less than a day for him to receive a letter from Sairaorg and Seekvaira congratulating him and conveying their worry.

He hadn't expected any letters since it was something akin to picking a side and in a situation where the victory was assumed to be Riser that was a risky thing to do. However, he still received those two letters. It was quite a good feeling to have allies even if they weren't particularly close to him.

"If you find somebody making a fool of themselves funny." Sona replied dryly though Rias unhesitatingly nodded her head in response. She despised Riser with every cell in her body so seeing him ruin his reputation was relieving if nothing else.

"I definitely do. I'm a devil after all." Damian replied with a low chuckle. Yes, he was a devil and they were scheming bastards. They did as they pleased to get to the end they wanted and didn't care about the path to get there nor the blood shed in the process.

He was definitely a devil.

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