svetikya Page 190
Page 190
Is this person really the majestic demon king Lucifer?
Could it be some low-level demon in disguise?!
Rias felt her brain completely shut down; shame overwhelmed her reason like a tsunami.
"Oh, I was just joking, just trying to lighten the mood."
Seeing his sister's almost mortified expression, Sazex's smile deepened.
This is the effect he wants.
A seemingly absurd joke shatters Zhou Ye's composed facade and disrupts his rhythm.
However, he looked at Zhou Ye.
The expected surprise, embarrassment, or secret delight did not occur.
Zhou Ye was only slightly taken aback, but then his calm and composed smile returned to his face.
He even nodded seriously, looked at the bewildered Rias, and said in a very innocent tone.
"Look, even your brother said that."
"Rias, what do you think?"
He gently kicked the ball back.
"I...I...I think you're a big idiot!"
Rias completely lost her composure. She grabbed a cushion from the sofa and threw it at Zhou Ye without thinking, completely forgetting about aristocratic etiquette.
Zhou Ye easily dodged to the side, letting the cushion fall onto the carpet.
Looking at the red-haired girl who was both embarrassed and angry, and the red-haired demon king next to her who seemed to thrive on chaos, he finally couldn't help but chuckle.
These two siblings are really interesting.
As Sazex looked at the chaotic scene before him, his admiration grew even stronger.
He remained calm and composed in the face of pressure and provocation.
They can skillfully defuse their own jokes and challenges, and even turn the tables on their opponents.
This boy named Zhou Ye was even more unfathomable than he had imagined.
It is also...more valuable.
He picked up the wine glass again and gently swirled it.
"Okay, enough with the jokes."
Sazex's smile faded, and his expression turned serious.
"Zhou Yejun, let's talk about something serious."
Chapter 157 The Engagement with Rias
Sazex dropped his joking expression, and the air in the reception room became heavy again.
Zhou Ye, holding a cup of red tea, broke the silence with a relaxed posture.
"I wonder what my brother-in-law wants to talk to me about?"
He pronounced the words "brother-in-law" with a mix of teasing and nonchalance, not too much, not too little.
"I'm still a young person, so please forgive me if I say anything wrong."
Sazex looked at Zhou Ye with a smile, his fingers tapping lightly on the armrest of the sofa.
[A young person?]
He sneered inwardly.
[I think he's just a cunning little fox with scheming ingrained in his bones. But... with Rias by his side, at least for the rest of her life, she won't be in any danger, and might even live a more comfortable life than anyone else.]
This deal is a good one.
“Zhou Ye is too modest.” Sazex pulled his thoughts back to reality, leaned forward slightly, and locked his all-knowing sharp eyes on Zhou Ye with the same emerald green eyes as Rias.
"We'll talk about three things."
"First, the continuation of the demons."
"Secondly, Rias's marriage."
He paused, then added meaningfully, "Third... about you."
Rias was so nervous that her palms were sweating, while Zhou Ye seemed to be talking about something as mundane as a casual conversation.
"The devil endures..."
He put down his teacup with a soft sound.
"I have heard Rias mention this before."
Zhou Ye shrugged and said in an extremely colloquial tone, "Simply put, the demons today are like countries in the human world that have suffered heavy population losses after a world war. They urgently need to restore their pre-war population to protect their old interests and territories."
He glanced at Rias and Sazex, whose expressions were growing increasingly strange, and then dropped a bombshell.
"Therefore, whether pureblood or not, male or female, in my understanding, some guys are like the energetic Tyrannosaurus Rex, spreading their seed all over the world, regardless of the quality."
"Thai...Thai Ritian?"
A question mark appeared above Rias's head. Although she didn't fully understand, her intuition as a noble lady told her that this was definitely not an elegant word.
Sazex was taken aback at first, but then immediately understood the crude yet precise meaning behind the word. His lips twitched involuntarily, but it eventually turned into a suppressed chuckle.
Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!
An outsider, a human, actually used such an outrageous metaphor to incisively point out the most core and embarrassing state of the entire demon society.
He nodded, acknowledging Zhou Ye's statement: "Although the metaphor is crude, it is... very apt. After the three-way war, the demons were indeed like that, and so were the fallen angels. Only the angels, due to the special nature of their birth mechanism, faced some difficulties in replenishing their ranks."
"So, the next question."
Zhou Ye didn't give Rias time to process the shock, and went straight to the core, which was also the part that made the girl's heart race.
"Rias's marriage."
He looked at Sazex with an unprecedented seriousness. His calm demeanor made it seem less like a discussion of personal matters and more like a crucial business negotiation.
"Here, I will provide a betrothal gift that will satisfy the Gremory family and even the entire demon nobility, in accordance with the customs of the underworld."
Upon hearing this, even Sazex became serious.
He had expected Zhou Ye to use force to threaten and oppress him, but he did not expect that the other party would actually abide by the devil's rules and follow the most orthodox procedures.
Zhou Ye's next words were like dropping a nuclear bomb on a calm lake.
"As for offspring."
"Whether it's the eldest son or the other children, they can take my surname Zhou, or they can inherit the Gremory family name. It's all up to Rias's wishes."
【boom! ! ! 】
Rias felt her mind explode, going completely blank.
bride price?
Heir?
Last name?
Each of these words felt like a red-hot branding iron, searing her nerves.
She was previously overwhelmed with the struggle to resist the arranged marriage, but now, the man she chose herself is already planning the custody of their child in front of her brother!
Isn't this progress a bit too fast?!
Her cheeks—no, her entire body's skin—visibly turned the color of a steampunk princess, reddening from the base of her neck all the way to the tips of her ears...
"I...you...he..."
She was incoherent, pointing at Zhou Ye, then looking at her brother, and finally so ashamed that she wanted to grab a sofa cushion and bury herself alive.
On the other side of the reception room, several figures who had been sitting quietly, trying to keep a low profile, could no longer maintain their composure.
There were more than just the three of them in this private meeting room.
When inviting Zhou Ye, Sazex thoughtfully invited his family members as well.
At this moment, Nami still wore a professional smile, but her knuckles gripping the teacup were already white, and her mind was racing with calculations: [The dowry? The boss is going to have to spend a fortune! No way, I have to manage the family accounts! The Gremory family's assets… I need to carefully assess them; the dowry and bride price can't be disproportionate!]
Saeko Busujima sat upright with her hands on her knees, her posture impeccable. But if you looked closely, you could see that her hands, hidden under her clothes, were tightly gripping the hilt of her sword, and she exuded a sharp, unapproachable aura.
[Offspring...inheritance...]
The two words echoed in her mind, and a hint of loneliness flashed in her eyes.
Himejima Akeno maintained her gentle, older-sister demeanor, her smile radiant, but a purple lightning gleamed deep within her eyes, and the curve of her lips carried a hint of morbid danger: "Ara ara, Ye 2.3 is really impatient... he's even thinking about the baby. Looks like I need to work harder too; I can't let the captain have it all to myself."
Deep within their hearts, they are roaring the same sentence in different languages.
[I'm so angry!!!]
Sazex took in everyone's reactions, and the admiration on his face turned into pure pleasure.
He loved the sight before him.
He looked at his sister, who was almost bursting with shame and anger, and then at the scene of carnage that was about to materialize.
This is what energetic young people should be like!
It's much more interesting than those lifeless old guys in the underworld.
Finally, he turned his attention back to the person who had started all of this.
Zhou Ye met his gaze calmly, picked up his black tea, and gently blew on it.
Chapter 158 Mechanical Dragon Girl Draig
Sazex took in everyone's reactions, and the admiration on his face turned into pure pleasure.
He loved the sight before him.