"Huh?" Those words from Malphas definitely took Ryuk by surprise, causing him to blink a few times while not understanding any of it.
First, a demon who appeared to be much stronger than him arrived with a delicate box containing aphrodisiac and gave it to him.
Second, the demon, who seemed not to even call Drishti "Lady" even after knowing her strength as Ascendancy, called him, an Early Legendary rank, a Lord, more specifically future Lord.
Exactly, what did all this sudden change of events mean?
"Is there anything you want to ask?" Malphas lifted his gaze, observing the young man looking at him with a blank gaze while holding the opened box that Demon Queen Morana had offered.
"...Why aphrodisiac?" Ryuk inquired, clearly hearing the laughter from behind him.
Though the distance was much larger but due to his enhanced senses, he could hear Drishti falling from her chair while laughing her lungs out.
'it's definitely embarrassing.' Ryuk didn't care about the standards of others judging him based on their perspectives, yet it seemed embarrassing, knowing how every Devereaux member, including the 188 battalion members and Regina Devereaux, observed this whole thing with hardly controlled laughter.
Though it was confusing how none of them had arrived here and attacked the demon infiltrating this land, making it clear that Drishti had big hand in this.
"Demon Queen wanted you to be strong enough," Malphas nodded, placing his folded hands behind him with proud eyes looking towards the young man who would have the greatest honor of all time.
"....By drinking an aphrodisiac?" Closing the box, Ryuk's eyes turned towards the demon who was spouting nonsense without giving any context to things.
"Indeed, humans and demons, both belonging to different races, have a very low birth rate, which could be a hindrance for Malevolia, which will need an heir soon," Malphas explained the reason for giving the potion to him, citing the low fertility rate between demons and humans, resulting in very few childbirths from parents of both different races.
"And why would the Demon Queen want to marry me?" Indeed, it was clear where this devil was going with his words.
From Malphas' words, Ryuk was aware that this whole conversation was devoid of any suspicion about him being the Host of the Nexus System but was about something else.
And that something else was, without any prior details, a marriage proposal—no, more like an already decided marriage deal where he needed to marry that woman regardless of his choices—evident from how he received the aphrodisiac without any say in the matter.
'....Why does this seem similar?' Ryuk glanced towards the box before turning again to Malphas, realizing that there was this similar background story for Esme too.
Last time, due to things disrupting their conversation, he came to know about her being the sister of Alia only at the last moment, after finally deciding to be with Esme.
Naturally, due to none of Esme's facial features having a similarity to Alia's, he had kept away from remembering that she was indeed the sister of the woman who tried to stab him.
No matter what the reason was.
From his point of view, if there was a need to save him, then he should be aware of what sacrifices someone is making for him. Yet, in reply to his hundreds of questions, he only received answers in form of wounds.
So, he wasn't going to ignore the fact that he was bound with another woman even before his birth.
In Esme's case, her father died due to involvement with the Devereaux family, leading to a chain reaction that appeared as if executed in a planned manner, from Alia's falling in Heindal to Esme's meeting him here.
Now, the System's Host turns out to be someone who again had some relation with the Devereaux family.
In both cases, Alisia Devereaux was the catalyst for all reactions.
'it can't be a single thing, can it?' Ryuk's instincts were saying that there would be more mess which would follow him due to his mother, who seems to be lost somewhere for now.
He didn't know where she was, or even had a contact to confirm if this devil was telling the truth or if they were already aware of him possessing the system and this was just a plan to lure him in.
But among all this confusion was a question lingering inside him, "And how did your queen even think of making decisions on behalf of me?"
"What?" Malphas raised his eyebrow, as if hearing something like this for the first time, even after being honored to be chosen as the Demon Queen's partner, someone was asking him this.
"Indeed, you are Alisia Devereaux's son," Malphas nodded, looking at the young man who showed the same personality as Alisia Devereaux, with the same confidence and pride.
"Of course, I am. Unlike Morana, who was saved by someone and believes offering herself over would be a blessing for them who saved her," Ryuk firmly stated with a mocking tone.
He moved forward, approaching Malphas, who stood calmly. Ryuk halted and meeting cold eyes with Malphas, adding in a firm tone, "Such arrogance definitely suits a pridefully blind woman like Morana."