"Am I not beautiful enough?"
Arza asked, her crimson eyes steady on the boy who had just proposed to her.
She didn't understand the emotion behind the question because she didn't understand emotions in the first place but she knew one thing.
An engagent, for demons, wasn't sothing done lightly.It was a once-in-a-lifeti bond and sothing really important.
So she should have considered it more carefully.
The boy had already offered a price far beyond what was normal. Twice the chocolates from yesterday's deal. He even agreed instantly when she pushed it to three tis.
And yet…
There was still sothing she didn't understand.
From what she had heard earlier… The boy claid to be from a future where she was his wife.
He spoke with conviction, acted with certainty, risked things she couldn't asure and didn't even understand… all because of sothing she had never learned to feel.
So she asked him for the one thing she lacked.
To Understand emotions.
And the boy accepted that as well but then he said sothing strange.
He promised that their engagent would be "purely political."
Was she lacking?
Was she unwanted?
Or was she… not beautiful at all?
She didn't care about those possibilities but she was curious.
Curious about why the one who claid to be her husband from the future wanted "purely political" engagent instead of a real bond… even though she herself had nothing emotional to offer.
The boy looked into her eyes and smiled brightly.
"Nope." He said calmly. "You aren't beautiful at all."
Arza nodded once without any anger. "Understood."
She had grown up with her maids calling her beautiful and she had even heard many other demons whisper the sa things behind her back.
But this was the first ti soone said she wasn't beautiful but she didn't feel sadness, embarrassnt or even disappointnt.
Except, perhaps, a faint and irrational urge… to watch the blood erupt from the boy's severed neck.
—
[Rael's POV]
I felt a faint pulse of bloodlust leak out of Arza the mont I said she wasn't beautiful.
It was barely noticeable but it was there as her eyes narrowed barely.
If I hadn't been boosted by either my Trickster Nexus or my Scamr Myth, honestly, could be either at this point, I never would have caught it.
My lips twitched.
So she isn't as emotionless as she pretends to be, huh?
Arza definitely didn't possess a wide range of emotions and she certainly didn't express them.
But that didn't an she had none.
It felt more like… she had locked them away and sealed them off from everyone.
Maybe even from herself.
From what I rembered, stuff like this usually happened for a handful of reasons.
Parents being cold.
Growing up in an emotionally dead environnt.
Or so kind of event that forces a kid to seal everything away at a young age.
In any case, that was all I could deduce… as a self-proclaid psychologist in my previous life whose prestigious degree was earned straight from the internet.
But it was enough to know one thing, she was not a blank slate.
Before she could do anything unholy to for my brutal answer to a question I still had no idea why she asked, I jumped in with my ergency-grade bullshit.
"This is my first lesson, Arza," I said with the confidence of a certified quack psychiatrist. "Normal people feel angry or even humiliated when soone insults their appearance."
I delivered it like divine wisdom.
—
After a few more minutes of "normal" talking which honestly felt more like repeatedly slamming my forehead against a rock instead of communicating with an actual human being, I gave up.
And it's not like I had ti to waste either.
The Demon King and Morvana were still waiting outside the domain, probably judging my life choices.
So I decided we would continue this emotional bootcamp next ti.
I tapped the barrier of Ashavar's domain.
It dissolved instantly and just like that, we were back in Morvana's office… facing two beings who had definitely heard nothing and absolutely hadn't been silently staring this entire ti.
I looked at Ashavar smugly. "She accepted to be engaged."
I an, I just secured myself a perfect backing and a free subordinate depending on how I educate her in emotions.
So yes, I deserved to be smug.
"Is that so?" Ashavar tilted his head slightly, his gaze drifting from to Arza as if asking for confirmation.
She t her father's eyes with her usual emotionless stare.
"Yes."
Ashavar nodded slowly, a small smile appearing on his lips. "So am I correct to assu you both fully agree to engage with one another?"
He paused.
"You may think this through. Engagent is an important decision."
He said.
…Tsk. This bastard.
Acting like a responsible parent all of a sudden?
Bro, where was this energy when your children were killing each other off?
But I had no intention of arguing. Especially when I had already won the round.
"Yes." I said calmly. "I want to be engaged to Arza."
Ashavar's gaze settled on … and he casually waved his hand.
Two rings forged from pure obsidian materialized out of thin air, floating toward and Arza..
"If you are so sure..." he said, his smile widening. "Then let's complete the formalities while I am present. I wouldn't want to miss my own daughter's engagent, after all."
Why is he smiling like that?
My confidence wavered for the first ti.
Wasn't he against this a few minutes ago?
I narrowed my eyes on the rings to see if there was anything suspicious about that.
Hell, I even activated my monocle's appraisal function to see if it was so hidden artifact.
[Engagent Rings]
[Description: Rings Forged From an Obsidian and used for engagent as a tradition of Demon realm.]
So… why the hell is he smiling so widely?
Is he perhaps overwheld by joy… because he's getting such a handso and benevolent son-in-law like ?
Honestly, who wouldn't be?
Or maybe the Demon King was probably just playing with my mind, trying to intimidate into backing out due to my paranoia.
In any case, I didn't care, this was just a formality after all.
I reached out calmly and took the ring into my hand like it was the most natural thing in the world, then turned toward Arza who was holding the other ring with her usual deadpan expression.
I stretched my hand toward hers, fingers right over hers. Just one smooth slip of the ring and it would be done.
A classy, elegant engagent which would connect with two of key players of the Demon Realm.
What could possibly go wrong?
I brought the ring close and right before it touched her finger, Morvana, who had been silent this whole ti, suddenly snapped.
"Rael, wait—!"
Her voice was sharp, urgent and almost… panicked.
Which was… weird.
So why the hell—
But before her words could even fully reach … I had already slid the ring onto Arza's finger and she had done the sa to .
And imdiately, a blinding light erupted from the rings with glowing green chains before they rged with my body.
[Engagent Pact is made with Arza Ashen Noctharion]
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