Chapter 90: Interlude 4

Chapter 90: Interlude 4

Rias Gremory POV

"Mother." I greeted as I entered the house, she gave a warm smile, wrapping me up in a hug. It was nice to see her, going to the human world for school made it so I would sometimes go days without even visiting mom or dad.

"Father." I looked towards the man who sold me away.

"Rias." He replied curtly, not even looking the least upset that I'm still barely speaking to him.

Well, I've known about the arranged marriage since I was a child, but recently he's completely stonewalled me from even bringing up any alternatives.

I wasn't against marrying someone....but why did it have to be that idiot Riser? He only sees me for either my Gremory name or my body. He couldn't even make a half-assed effort to get to know me before drooling all over my boobs.

Even if I didn't want to be here...mostly because of Dad, it was the first time we've all gotten together in weeks....since Takao went missing and everyone started fighting.

I walked into the dining room, seeing the maids start setting out dishes and silverware everywhere.

"Hello, Rias."

I turned, recognizing the voice. "Brother." I smiled towards Sirzechs who strolled in with Grayfia right behind him.

"How are you doing, Rias?" Sirzechs smiled, opening his arms for a hug. He wasn't wearing his formal 'Satan' clothing, that was a good sign.

"Good...considering." I embraced him briefly. "Grayfia." I looked towards my sister in law.

"Hello Rias." Grayfia gave a neutral smile, clearly not in her 'maid' mode. She prioritizes being a Queen and Maid over being brother's wife. Still though, she never takes off her maid outfit.

I was happy to see them.....but it just felt so awkward.

It was like everyone was forces themselves to keep up appearances.

The table was prepared rather quickly, everyone filling in. "Where's Millicas?"

"Father wanted to spend some time with him." Mother responded politely.

Oh, he's with Grandfather.

"Rias, we have some news." Dad broke the new silence. "The Phenex family is pushing to move up the marriage date."

"WHAT!?" I stood up slamming my hands on the table. "I was told I could wait until I'm done with College!"

"Rias, behave." Mother lightly chided. "Listen to everything before you get upset."

I took a deep breath, settling back down. Mother was actually on my side, not wanting me to be forced into a marriage I didn't want.

"As I was saying, the Phenex family was pushing to move up the date, we were talking about it in a few weeks.....but after everything that's happened – " He glanced towards brother. "It's going to be a few months instead, possibly up to half a year."

"I was promised until after college."

"No, you were not." Father sternly replied. "You were told we would let you continue through your schooling as long as you kept up with all your responsibilities."

I guess they're still fighting.

"What happened?" I asked quietly.

"The details are a bit vague, but Okita and your nephew fought over in Kyoto, under the supervision of one of the Youkai Leaders, apparently Izanami-no-Mikoto was there as well and is quite close to our wayward grandson. She did not take too kindly to Okita being aggressive as he was."

"Japan's death goddess attacked Okita?" I couldn't help but ask in shock.

"No." Mother shook her head. "She merely delivered his body to us. He was beaten in a duel by Wilhelm."

"Whose Wilhelm?" I asked.

"Ah, that is your nephew, apparently he has a new name." Mother explained. "Don't worry, this is the first time I am learning of this as well." She shot another glare at brother.

"WHAT!?" I shouted in surprise. "How did he beat Okita!? Okita is like.....one of the strongest in the underworld!?" I mean, he can't compared to brother and Surtr....but he's still one of the strongest knights even if he isn't at the top.

"That is quite the mystery, isn't it? How did my grandson beat someone with centuries of experience and power under his belt? Unfortunately, we'll never know because he does not wish to come back."

"Mother." Sirzechs sighed. "Are you really going to do this right now?"

"What, do you expect me to stop bringing it up? To ignore the fact that I have a grandson whom I will probably never meet?" Mother narrowed her eyes. "Is it that he wasn't strong enough for you? That he didn't have any power of destruction. That didn't seem to matter when he promptly handed Okita his ass." She huffed. "You told me when you were first sending him away that he would be looked after and lead a normal life, not that he would be shuttled away to a corner in Kuoh and forgotten about."

"Okita held back." Sirzechs spat out, ignoring everything else she said. "There was no way he would have lost if he was fighting at his best."

"Oh, then why did he say that Wilhelm held back substantially as well?" Mother countered, earning a glare from brother. "I did go meet him you now, just because I am annoyed at you and by extension, him, doesn't mean I don't care for his wellbeing." She didn't back down form brother's clearly annoyed expression. "According to Okita, he was well versed in magic, and had a mastery of swordplay well beyond what his age and experience should have allowed."

"Your SON defeated your knight in single combat, and it's only a matter of time before everyone knows this. So, what exactly is your plan now? What even was your plan then? Grab him, force him back here where he clearly didn't want to be?"

"I would think of something." He muttered. "As long as he's back, then things would be fine."

"Because everything would fit back into your picturesque idea of a life? Strongest Devil, with the Strongest Queen as his wife, a genius son, sitting high up on his throne. What's missing from that picture? You have everything you could want, but here's this little black spot called Wilhelm, and you see it and can't help but try and hide it."

Sirzechs stood up, the screeching of his chair silenced the room. He took the napkin in his lap and threw it on the table, walking out of the room.

Mother just sighed. "That stupid son of mine, just doubles down with his stubbornness." She shook her head.

"You tried." Father gently pat her shoulder.

"I'll go try and stop him from doing anything foolish." Grayfia sighed, following after him.

How?

How did Takao.....Wilhelm get so strong? Okita wasn't the strongest, nor even in the top twenty of the underworld, but he was definitely up there. I've seen him train Kiba a bit, I've watched videos of him fighting, yet....the thought of him losing to someone my age seemed impossible.

And now I have to deal with my marriage moving up.....what am I going to do?

***

Another interlude to see what's going on in the Gremory family right now. Also kind of sets a time table for events if they weren't derailed by the MC so far. Never planned on making Sirzechs some lol!evil father kind of thing, he did what he did out of some weird logic, but I don't plan on whitewashing that either. Basically, people do stupid things for stupid reasons, even if they aren't malicious in nature. So no plans on like 'redeeming' the relationship between the two. And I didn't want to come across as bashing Rias but the more I looked at it the more I was just like 'WTF Rias?'.

Anyways, if you want to read 5 chapters ahead or support me, visit my /Astoryforone