~Scene Continues, Soutarou POV~
Momo finally caught up.
Her bright blue eyes widened before slowly shifting toward Soutarou with open admiration.
If Sona moved the Rook, Soutarou’s Knight invaded.
If she moved the Bishop, Soutarou’s Rook penetrated.
If she moved the King, Soutarou won the weak Pawn immediately…
There was no mating net.
No trick.
Only positional suffocation.
A near-zugzwang.
Sona’s expression remained calm.
The tension finally appeared in her hand.
Only slightly…
Only once…
Her fingertips pressed a fraction too hard against the top of a Pawn before she forced them to loosen.
She closed her eyes.
Then chose the move that lost the least.
Soutarou answered instantly.
The sequence began.
His Rook invaded.
Sona’s Rook was forced sideways.
Soutarou’s Knight leapt into the opening her final defensive move had created.
Her Bishop became bound to a single duty.
Then Soutarou pushed a Pawn that had appeared unimportant for half the game.
It marched forward with quiet inevitability and became passed.
Not through a sudden tactic…
Through preparation…
Structure…
And nearly fifteen moves of patient strangulation.
Sona defended as accurately as she could.
She found the best available squares.
She traded where necessary.
She kept her Rook active for as long as possible.
It wasn’t enough.
The moment her Rook committed to stopping the passed Pawn, Soutarou’s King invaded from the opposite side.
One weak Pawn fell.
Then another.
The board tilted.
Only slightly…
But once tilted, it refused to return.
Sona stared at the final position for several long seconds.
White possessed no flashy mating attack.
No brilliant Queen sacrifice.
No dramatic tactical massacre.
Only simple structural mathematics.
A more active King…
A better Knight…
A dangerous passed Pawn…
A position that was technically winning and practically hopeless…
and the clock continued ticking.
Soutarou’s hand remained near the board.
Waiting.
Sona slowly removed her glasses.
She closed her eyes and pressed two fingers against them.
Her body relaxed against the couch with a muted thump.
Then she opened her violet eyes and studied the position one final time.
Sona reached forward.
Her fingers touched the top of her King.
She tipped it over.
*Tok.*
The room went dead silent.
Tsubaki remained frozen as though someone had struck her with a freeze spell while Momo’s bright blue eyes appeared almost grey beneath the shock.
Rias stared at Soutarou with shining eyes.
Akeno’s smile had become quieter and much more genuine.
Yumi released the tension in her hand.
Grayfia lowered her gaze toward the board in solemn acknowledgment.
Serafall looked from her defeated sister to Soutarou and visibly suffered.
Soutarou leaned back.
The regal pressure left his shoulders.
His posture loosened.
He finally released one slow breath through his nose.
Then Soutarou rubbed the back of his neck.
Soutarou honestly admitted, “Damn…
Sona…
That was disgusting.”
Sona wiped her glasses against the clean cloth Tsubaki immediately offered her.
She returned them to her face with controlled, measured, almost irritated grace.
Sona flatly agreed, “Yes.
It was.”
Soutarou gave her a weak grin.
Soutarou quickly added, “You almost turned it on the kingside.
When your Knight got active, my heart nearly dropped through the floor.”
Sona looked at him directly.
Soutarou continued, “Seriously… The source of this chapter is g.com.
One wrong response and you would’ve taken the initiative…
Playing you is going to give me high blood pressure.”
Sona’s gaze shifted toward the fallen King.
Sona shook her head.
Sona evenly corrected, “No.”
Soutarou paused.
Sona studied the final position.
Sona continued in a composed voice that sounded more serious than before, “I didn’t nearly defeat you.”
Her violet eyes lifted toward his.
Sona finished, “If anything…
I nearly survived.”
Soutarou stared at her for one second then he chuckled under his breath.
Tsubaki still appeared trapped by the board.
Her heterochromatic eyes moved over every remaining piece.
<He took one microscopic weakness in a Carlsbad structure…
Dragged the entire game into deep water…
Then outmaneuvered Lady Sona by half a tempo…>
Her gaze slowly returned to Soutarou.
<Monster…>
Momo’s attention had already returned to him.
The handsome transfer student who caught her eye that morning…
The teasing delinquent who deliberately annoyed Sona…
The shameless anime fan who’d ranted about anime with Rias…
The lost noble heir who displayed eight wings and holy authority…
And now the terrifyingly composed boy who defeated Sona at chess…
Every time Momo believed she’d discovered the most interesting part of him, another appeared beneath it.
Her curiosity was extremely deepened.
Unfortunately for Sona, the game hadn’t been played only for enjoyment.
Grayfia stepped forward.
Grayfia formally announced, “The agreed condition has been fulfilled.
Soutarou Valefor has defeated Sona Sitri under the engagement standard recognized by House Sitri.”
Serafall made a wounded sound.
Serafall sank back into her corner and muttered, “My husband beat my sister and became her husband…”
Sona’s cheeks reddened and Sona sharply corrected, “He’s not anyone’s husband.”
Serafall weakly turned toward Grayfia.
Serafall complained, “She said engagement…”
Sona inhaled slowly.
Then she straightened.
The frustration of losing remained visible in the slight tension around her eyes…
But she didn’t reject the result.
In the end she’d established the condition herself.
Soutarou had met it without using supernatural power, without invoking the ancient vow over her wishes, and without receiving assistance from anyone in the room.
Sona placed both hands neatly upon her knees.
Sona looked directly at Soutarou and formally acknowledged, “I accept the result.”
The room quieted again.
Sona continued, “By my own condition…
I accept the engagement.”
Rias’s eyes widened.
Momo’s small smile faded before she quickly hid the reaction.
Tsubaki looked toward Sona with quiet concern.
Akeno glanced toward Rias.
Serafall lowered her forehead against her knees.
Soutarou stared at Sona.
She was serious.
Not in love or even the slightest bit excited…
But she was willing.
She’d been raised in one of the Underworld’s traditional noble houses.
Her personal condition had been met.
The ancestral vow had been validated under the rule she trusted.
If Soutarou pushed now, Sona would accept the formal engagement because she believed honor required it.
He looked at the girl across from him.
The girl he’d met that morning by deliberately mispronouncing her name…
The girl whose life had been rearranged within a few hours because a lost bloodline had returned…
The girl whose dreams, fears, habits, and ambitions he knew only through memories of a fictional story.
Memories were not the same as knowing her.
Soutarou rested one arm across the back of the couch.
Soutarou calmly said, “Let’s wait.”
Sona blinked.
Sona’s brows drew together.
Sona cautiously asked, “Wait for what?”
Soutarou gestured vaguely between them.
Soutarou answered, “To make the engagement official.”
Serafall’s head shot upward.
Rias leaned forward.
Sona’s eyes narrowed behind her glasses.
Sona reminded, “You won.”
Soutarou nodded.
Soutarou agreed, “That I did.”
Sona pressed, “I established the condition myself and accepted the result.”
Soutarou nodded again.
Soutarou replied, “Hn…
You did.”
Sona’s voice became colder.
Sona asked, “Then are you rejecting me after forcing me to acknowledge the engagement?”
Soutarou immediately answered, “No, not at all.”
The firmness of his response stopped her.
Soutarou leaned forward and rested his forearms against his knees.
Soutarou carefully explained, “I’m saying we just met this morning.”
Sona remained silent.
Soutarou continued, “We should finish high school.
Then university.”
Serafall quietly counted upon her fingers and looked horrified by the number of years.
Soutarou added, “During that time, we learn who the other person actually is…
And decide when the day comes to formalize it.”
His hazel-golden eyes held Sona’s violet ones.
Soutarou continued more seriously, “Not to mention…
I don’t know what you want from your life yet.”
Sona’s expression shifted.
Only slightly.
Soutarou went on, “You might have some dream everyone else thinks is childish…
Or unrealistic…
Or beneath a noblewoman.”
Sona became completely still.
Tsubaki’s gaze moved toward her King.
Soutarou continued, unaware of how precisely his words had touched a fear Sona rarely allowed herself to acknowledge, “Maybe you’ll hate the way I live.
Maybe I’ll disagree with something you care about.
Maybe we’ll discover that we can’t stand each other outside a chessboard.”
Rias’s lips curved faintly.
Soutarou shook his head.
Soutarou concluded, “I’m not interested in having you stand beside me because our ancestors wrote it down before either of us existed.”
He looked toward the fallen King between them.
Soutarou added, “The vow can remain.
You accepted the engagement, and I’m not pretending this game meant nothing.”
Then his gaze returned to Sona.
Soutarou softly finished, “But I’d rather wait until we’ve finished university before formalizing it or discussing a wedding…
If we do that, I want it to be because Sona wants me there.
Not miss Sitri.”
Sona stared at him.
The rigid line of her shoulders slowly softened.
Her future husband, whoever that person became, would hold enormous influence over her life…
And Sona possessed ambitions many noble Devils considered ridiculous…
A school in the Underworld open to every class…
A place where low-class Devils and reincarnated Devils could receive the same opportunities as nobles…
A dream she understood could be mocked as childish idealism.
She’d always known that a traditional husband might demand she abandon it.
And because she’d been raised to respect her house, her duties, and the responsibilities attached to marriage…
Some part of Sona feared she’d accept that demand even while hating it.
Soutarou hadn’t promised to agree with a dream he didn’t yet know of, but he had offered something more important….
The willingness to learn what it was before deciding her future for her.
Sona’s eyes lowered toward the board.
Her cheeks remained faintly pink.
Sona quietly asked, “You’d wait until after university?”
Soutarou shrugged.
Soutarou lightly replied, “We’re Devils.
A few years aren’t going to kill us.”
Serafall clutched her chest.
Serafall muttered in devastation, “He even wants to court her properly…
Not fair…”
Grayfia glanced toward her.
Serafall’s eyes became watery.
Serafall whispered, “That was supposed to be my fairy tale husband…”
Grayfia remained wisely silent.
Rias brightened as she watched Soutarou.
The kindness he had shown her during the afternoon hadn’t been a performance designed only for her.
He had won the legal and traditional right to claim Sona’s engagement…
Then willingly returned the pace of that relationship to Sona’s hands.
Rias’s smile grew.
Then a different engagement entered her thoughts.
Her expression faltered.
One hand tightened lightly against her skirt.
<Why couldn’t I have something like that…?>
Akeno noticed.
Her violet eyes softened before shifting away to give Rias the emotional privacy.
Sona slowly raised her gaze.
The uncertainty within it hadn’t vanished.
But something brighter now existed beside it.
Possibility.
Sona adjusted her glasses.
Sona formally stated, “Then the vow will remain acknowledged, but the engagement will not be registered until we’ve completed university and made a mutual decision.”
Soutarou smiled and agreed, “Works for me.”
Sona’s lips moved and she smiled back.
Serafall stared between them and she abruptly complained, “Why do you two already sound married?!”
Sona’s smile vanished.
Before she could respond, Serafall pointed at Soutarou.
Serafall emotionally declared, “And you!
You’re supposed to be devastated that you can’t marry So-tan immediately!
At least look a little heartbroken!”