The Ruined Princess (2/3)

In the middle of the forest between Teioh and Kuoh, a group of devils wearing the Gremory insignia could be seen examining the cave that was created by Malekh. Multiple barriers have been placed in the surroundings to ensure the secrecy and safety of the operation.

Seemingly standing in the air, were Sirzechs and his wife Grayfia, overseeing the operation. Both had grave expressions, concerning everything that happened recently, the reemergence of a stray they thought was dead, and the situation with Rias. Although Sirzechs allowed himself to snicker at his father's reaction at the news, it didn't undermine the importance and the danger his little sister just put herself into. He did not understand how much Rias hated Riser, considering the length she went to ensure she would be able to get out of the arranged marriage.

Alas, Sirzechs knew that Rias was not aware yet that her actions' sphere of influence would be much bigger than just the marriage. The media in the Underworld was on fire, smearing both Rias and the Gremory name. Although they could not directly attack the Gremory family even with such a scandal, one that Sirzechs had no idea how they got their information about, it didn't mean they could not be passive-aggressive about it. Due to the influx of reincarnated devils that knew nothing about the culture of the devil society, there was a huge culture war going on in the devil's grounds. The reincarnated devils jumped at any opportunity to bash the remaining noble families that held all the power in the devil society, by searching for any case of discrimination against reincarnated devils.

No matter how they turned the situation, the shrinking noble families were in every important position of every sector possible, so their actions were rapidly curbed. Blood nobility was considered an important aspect and reincarnated devils that were greedy for powers sought to overthrow the noble families by appealing to the masses. They tried to paint themselves as the spearhead of the reincarnated devil's rights movement, apparently seeking to open up positions of power for reincarnated devils.

The reason why despite overwhelming support from the majority of the devil population that were low-class devils and reincarnated devils, nothing could trump sheer power. The devils respected strength before anything else, the reason why the noble families were at the top was not because of some sort of laws that would oppress anyone else systematically, it was simply because their bloodline gave them a crushing advantage over reincarnated devils and low-class devils.

The gap could only be bridged by personal effort, something that those that sought to stir the public opinion realized they could not do. The strongest youth, Saiaorg Bael, was once seen as a symbol for the reincarnated devils because they thought he was excluded from his family. The devils that manipulated public opinion tried to make him a figure, but they turned on him the moment they realized that even though he didn't inherit the power of destruction, he fought hard to achieve what he wanted. It simply went against their narrative, so they instead claimed that even without any power, nobles still keep to themselves, showing the lack of meritocracy.

Of course, if their actions didn't work, they wouldn't have continued. The noble families each year had to let go of some of their power to the masses because their numbers simply grew over time, whereas noble families had a hard time even giving birth to one child. The few reincarnated devils that managed to climb the ladders were given the infamous name of 'betrayer', making it difficult for those that desired to improve to not succumb to social pressure.

Due to this problem, Rias Gremory being the heiress of one of the biggest family in hell was a prime target for the media. The mediatic industry being the only one overwhelmingly dominated by low-class devils and reincarnated devils, it was clear what kind of stance they would take on this subject.

Sirzechs sighed, thinking about the newest edition of the Devil Mail, the biggest media outlet in the devil community and one that represented everything toxic about the current popular ideology among low-class devils. Although the public thought that the owner of this company was a reincarnated devil that suffered from torture at the hand of his King, before finally being released luckily, in fact, the mastermind behind this company was a noble devil, one from a very well known noble family, that was rarely attacked by the media due to their generous donations every year.

Rusix Phenex.

The second born of the Phenex family, the noble pillar with the highest birthrate among all noble pillars.

It was a piece of information that very few were privy of and although he was effectively bashing every other noble family other than his by manipulating the opinion of low-class devils, there was no concrete proof of that. Moreover, the Devil Mail's reputation was undisputed and if the truth was to be revealed, not many people would believe it, although every other media outlet would try to destroy the Devil Mail.

Armed with both political power from his public profession, strength from his bloodline and control of the masses, Rusix was a tough nut in the devil community. The reason why Sirzechs was hesitating on finding the man and making him disappear was because of the content of yesterday's article from the Devil Mail.

| Scandal among the red-haired nobles! The ' Ruined Princess ' runs from her family?! |

Sirzechs' brows furrowed at the title, they didn't even try to hide their intention this time around. In the old society, it would have taken no more than 10 seconds for him to simply destroy the ones that published the article, but in today's age, he was tied to his position and by the Devil Council, that had the uncanny wish to gain the low-class devils' approval.

" Sirzechs, we have found no traces of the Swarm Of Iron left in the cave. " said Grayfia next to him, shaking him out of his thoughts. The silver-haired women looked concerned about her husband that seemed deeply shaken by the current events. She knew more than anyone else how tied was her husband ever since he took the position of Maou. After all, the Council did not wish to have someone as powerful as the Crimson Satan go unchecked. This was a way to control the most powerful devils in the world and bend them to their wills. Although it rarely worked as much as those old devils would have wanted, it was still able to inconvenience deeply the 4 new satan, especially Serafall and Sirzechs.

" I see... that old corpse has always been quite clever and cunning, we wouldn't be able to catch him like this. " said Sirzechs. " There is the possibility that he's extremely weakened as well since he didn't manage to kill Rias and her peerage. We know what kind of power he has, so either he has not amassed his swarm yet and that is why he couldn't kill Rias and has fled the scene, or he has deliberately left Rias alive to bait me, he probably recognized my blood at sight. He probably wants to have his revenge. " said Sirzechs, with close to no emotion in his voice. Grayfia, however, knew otherwise. What Malekh had done in the past was something that made Sirzechs both despise whatever was left of the man known as the Swarm Of Iron and hate himself as well for letting such a thing happen.

" Expect the remnants of the corpse he probably used to replenish his swarm, nothing was left. No trace of magic, no scent, nothing. He is extremely meticulous, as always. That is why I think he purposefully left Rias alive. " said Grayfia.

Noticing the lack of response from her husband, Grayfia found herself looking at his features in worry. " Are you still worried about Rias? You knew that one day she would have to do without the protection of the Gremory family, it just happened earlier than anticipated. "

Sirzechs looked at Grayfia with a troubled expression, " Yes, it was bound to happen, it's just... " he paused to find the right words, " I didn't expect her to take such drastic decisions. And there's nothing I can do against it as well. I feel like the one I spent the past years protecting just slipped away and tossed in the big world without knowledge. "

" I hate the fact that I cannot do anything for her, she's too fragile and not prepared for what's coming... " he continued, looking into the sky. He smiled wryly at what Rias did to Zeoticus before leaving the family. " I guess not completely unprepared, considering she managed to smuggle quite a bit of fortune before leaving. Father didn't expect one of his front company being used by her daughter for years without him noticing. It was funny seeing him switching between being proud and completely furious at the amount of money she took. "

Grayfia allowed a smile to grace her feature at Sirzechs' words. They all had severely underestimated Rias, especially since they realized that she had been preparing this for months.

" Still... " started Sirzechs, shifting his gaze towards the article in his hands, his smile disappearing from his face as the gravity in the surroundings seemed to increase, catching off guard the Gremory servants examining the cave. " It seems that I will have to do something about this Rusix Phenex in the end. " continued the Crimson Satan, a dangerous glint appearing in his eyes as a smirk appeared on his face.

" Many people aware of his company have been wanting to take him down for a while and maybe it's time to make him realize that he is nowhere near as invulnerable as he seems to think. Oh well, it's not like he will have the occasion to learn from his mistake. " said Sirzechs with such a nonchalant tone that the Gremory servant behind him, that was bringing him something that would allow understanding where Malekh went, shivered at Sirzechs discussing killing someone so easily and with a happy tone.

Let it be known that with restrictions or not, the Crimson Satan, Embodiment of Destruction, was not someone to play with.

And Rusix Phenex took one step too far.

" On that note, " Grayfia took the stone from the hand of the Gremory servant and dismissed him. The servant hurriedly left the scene, scared by what he just heard, not realizing that his body function seemed to slow down, until it was too late and his corpse crumbled, completely frozen. " I have located the ones Rias seems to have a crush on, her teacher. " said Grayfia.

Sirzechs perked up at his wife's words, having searched the man for quite a while. Although he did not directly go around the city searching for him, it didn't mean one could easily hide from his units

" Anything remarkable about him? " asked Sirzechs, wanting some information about the man that changed his little sister so much in the span of a few months. Although he wanted to 'reprimand' him for influencing Rias, he also couldn't help but want to reward him for what he did to her.

" He is a devil, and has an unusually strong body, but nothing else I could notice. " said Grayfia, a bit curious about Deo. Sirzechs, however, furrowed his brows as he thought about the implication of an unknown devil being in the territory of his little sister.

" It seems that I will have to meet this gentleman myself, he may prove to be a good asset for Rias in the long run. If I approve of him, I might even allow him to court Rias, since she seemed so engrossed by him. " said Sirzechs, in response Grayfia simply laughed and answered, " I'm not sure you can exactly stop your sister from being around him either Sirzechs. "

The Crimson Satan simply pouted at his wife's words, knowing that they were true with the current situation. Grayfia simply laughed harder at Sirzechs' expression, breaking her image of a cold and unexpressive devil that she used when around other people.