The room fell quiet again, with only the sound of Genichi's breathing left to fill the space.
He drew a slow breath. Cold air flooded his lungs, barely tamping down the restlessness Rias stirred in him.
He looked away and forced himself to focus on something safer: helping the young lady who was clearly enjoying his discomfort get dressed.
His eyes landed on the neatly folded clothes by the bed. On top sat a small, delicate pair of black lace panties.
The moment his fingertips touched that soft, cool fabric, it felt like his skin had been burned.
Face blank, Genichi picked it up and walked over to Rias, who was still sitting primly with her legs tucked under her, calmly watching him like it was all entertainment.
He crouched down and fixed his gaze on the floor, not anywhere he shouldn't be looking.
"Lift your foot."
His voice came out a little dry.
Rias obliged, almost lazily, raising her pale ankle with a kind of elegant ease.
Genichi moved quickly and carefully, slipping the underwear over her ankle and drawing it upward.
Inevitably, his fingers brushed her smooth calf. Each accidental touch sent a tiny jolt through him.
"If you want to look, then go ahead and look."
Rias's voice drifted down with a smile, not a hint of shyness in it. "If it's you, Genichi, I don't mind at all."
It was practically a devil's whisper.
Genichi's throat bobbed. He forced down the saliva that flooded his mouth, kept his eyes glued to the floor, and pulled the lace up to her waist as fast as he could.
By the time he finished, a thin sheen of sweat had formed along his back.
Next came the bra.
Same bold black lace, and the weight alone made it uncomfortably easy to imagine what it would feel like in his hands.
Genichi almost held his breath. He moved behind her and, clumsy but determinedly steady, worked the clasp into place.
Last was the Kuoh Academy white shirt.
As he buttoned it up one by one, covering most of the breathtaking view, Genichi finally let out a long, genuine exhale.
He had no idea how much willpower those few minutes had cost him, just to keep his eyes and instincts under control, to maintain a calm mask.
Rias watched him look relieved, almost a little drained, and she couldn't help letting out a soft laugh.
She stood and stretched. Even under the shirt, her curves were still dangerously vivid.
She stepped up to Genichi and lightly tapped his chest with one finger.
"Honestly, you don't need to hold yourself back so hard."
Her voice carried an enticing warmth, and her green eyes looked straight into his. "Even if you really wanted to do something, I wouldn't refuse."
The words hit Genichi like thunder.
Wouldn't refuse?
What did that even mean?
A joke?
A test, pushed one step further?
But after a brief jolt, his reason snapped back into place.
He took a half-step back, widening the distance. His black eyes settled into their usual calm.
"If I'm not mistaken, devil society, especially a high-class pure-blood noble house like Gremory, is basically like human feudal nobility. Strict hierarchy, endless rules."
His voice stayed level, emotionless. "A noble young lady of your status, Rias-buchou, has to carry family responsibilities. There's probably a political marriage involved. An engagement of some kind."
He paused, meeting the subtle shift in her expression.
"Right now, I'm just a newly reincarnated devil. Weak. Worse, I have a reputation that's hard to wash off. I don't have the right, and I don't have the power, to do anything that crosses the master-servant line with you."
The statement was calm, practical, and even a little cruel.
It drew a clear boundary and exposed the gulf between their status and strength.
The smile on Rias's face faded slightly. Something complicated flickered through her green eyes, so fast it was almost invisible. Agreement, perhaps, and also a shadow of something touched.
But that flicker was quickly replaced by a stronger, sharper interest.
Instead of getting angry at his restraint, she looked more intrigued and asked, "Then, Genichi. What if you did have enough power? What if you became strong enough to ignore those rules and any engagement? What would you do then?"
The question was even more direct, even more dangerous.
It was testing his ambition, the real endpoint of his hunger for strength, and his thoughts about whatever kind of relationship she might be hinting at.
Genichi was silent for a moment, then slowly shook his head.
"Without power, anything I say is meaningless. Empty talk."
He sidestepped the trap neatly, forcing the conversation back to solid ground.
"What I care about right now is a real problem. Rias-buchou, let's talk about the real reason you're giving me special treatment."
His eyes sharpened. "I don't believe a low-tier dragon-hand Sacred Gear is enough to justify this. As for mindset and willpower, I'm sure there are plenty of people out there with steadier hearts and stronger wills than mine."
"And you, Rias-buchou, must have no shortage of elites like that under you. So can we speak frankly? I want the real reason."
Rias studied him for a few seconds. Then her smile returned, but this time it held less teasing and more genuine approval.
"You're really starting to satisfy me more and more, Genichi."
Her voice was soft, with the pleasure of someone who'd found a rare treasure. "Sharp. Calm. You know how to read the situation. More importantly, you know how to grab the key point. Fine. If you insist, I'll tell you the real reason."
She walked to the window and stood with her back to him, looking down at the street as it gradually came to life. Her voice carried clearly across the room.
"You're right. Your temperament, your will, and the abnormal qualities you've shown are all factors in how I observed you and judged you. But the reason I realized, the very moment the reincarnation ritual was completed, that you were nothing like an ordinary servant, and decided to invest far more attention in you than usual, was something else."
She turned back.
An odd light shimmered in her green eyes.
"It was the devil chess piece used when you reincarnated."
Devil chess piece?
Something stirred in Genichi's mind.
He knew devil chess pieces were the tools devils used to reincarnate humans or other beings, an invention attributed to the Maou.
Different pieces represented different roles, and also hinted at different levels of value and potential.
"Most reincarnated devils, depending on their potential and compatibility with their master, only need one piece. At most, two or three. Even humans with decent Sacred Gears rarely require a large number of pieces."
She paused, then dropped the key information.
"But you, Hyoudou Genichi. To pull you back from the edge of death and reincarnate you into my peerage, I used…"
She deliberately stopped there, drawing the suspense tight.
"…a full eight Pawn pieces."
Eight Pawn pieces.
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