113 Chapter 113

Dreams of Albedo in his arms taunted and teased Ainz throughout the night, they did so with such thoroughness that when he finally woke up, soaked and sated, he expected to find her lying next to him. With the fog of sleepy confusion on his mind still and he didn't see her there, he reflexively reached over to his other side, patting his hand around and not finding her, a well of supreme disappointment filled him.

Memory began to return with wakefulness.

Memories of everything.

Including his overwhelming sense of guilt.

Guilt for what he did to her.

Guilt for what he dreamed of her.

Guilt for what he felt when he woke up and found her absent.

Ainz rolled onto his back and let his arms and legs flop out, there was no urge to leave immediately, everything would happen at the pace he himself chose to set. He stared up at the ceiling and briefly wallowed in self reproaching thoughts. 'She's the daughter of one of your best friends… and… she is a demon while you, even if you add immortal classes… are in a human body. What did she call humans? 'Lower Life Forms', yes. And her Karma rating is as low as that of Demiurge. His response will tell me a great deal of what to expect out of her.'

He took a very long breath before rising from his bed, he checked the time in the clock on the wall. 'Early, very early.' He thought, as the King, it was his right to call for a maid to serve him, but at an hour such as this? 'No.' It felt too much like a parent waking up his child to do some trivial task for him. 'An abusive parent is not one I wish to be.' And so he threw on his own robe and made his way out of the room. This was something of a magic hour in Nazarick. The 'game' world had a special mechanic for updates, the sheer size and scale of it was such that updates were massive when they happened, and in order to ensure no slowdown in player activities, player made NPCs all had a period of time in which they 'slept' even if by design their race had no need of it. This minimized the processing power needed to perform updates on server wide characters within the many guild bases. What that meant for Ainz at this moment was that with their normal routines going on, it was like being alone.

The halls were empty and so he walked uninterrupted down their great length, his feet echoing off of the stone until he reached the men's baths. The sound of running water reaching his ears was as comforting as the feel of the heat all over his naked flesh and hot water washing away the sweat. A cleaning spell would have served the same function, but it wouldn't have been anywhere near as comfortable and relaxing.

'Do the dwarves bathe much?' It was a pointless question, he abandoned it almost as soon as he asked it of himself and cast a spell of observation to go back to watching the Draconic Queen. She was awake and reading over scrolls. The written language of her kingdom was unfamiliar, but her facial expression was not.

Fear.

Yet a knock at her door and she wiped it away. This was perhaps her most important skill, her back straightened, her arms relaxed, her face became imperious almost to the point of haughtiness, all traces of fear were gone.

She turned the paper over and when a servant entered she gave quick commands to help prepare her for the day and the servant obeyed without a word. It wasn't lost on Ainz that they didn't speak more than needed, the Queen kept her own councel and remained quiet, barely acknowledging the woman when everything was done.

'Reserved' was the word he chose for what he saw of her manner. 'I can't be that with my guardians, or even with my maids… they're not just servants, they're too precious… but I also cannot be a true equal to them either.'

There were lessons to be drawn there that would take time to incorporate, and if he was being frank, 'My feelings towards the NPCs do not apply to anyone else. Even as a human, even pitying the weak creatures and seeing them at their best… They are not the children of my friends. So perhaps that model of behavior would work best on outside subordinates. The 'distant royal' is what they expect after all.'

He continued to watch her for the better part of an hour while washing himself, curiously she did seem to drop her guard among a handful of her closest advisors, and in that respect, she reminded him of how he treated his subordinates. 'But seeing her get drunk as a child and write in crayon for her soldiers… that is certainly bizarre…' It puzzled him, but it was hard not to admire her tolerance for alcohol or her work ethic.

He began to empathize with her, the apparent care she took with her people, the hard work, the struggle to present the image they needed from her in the face of calamity. 'If it came down to it, I don't think she would run away.'

And therein, rose up Ainz' greatest sense of shame.

It hit him like a mountain dropped on his head. 'I'm running away… I'm running away again, and again, and again. Each time I go out to 'personally handle' something, I'm running away from my duties as a King and my duty to my children. I'm like an absent father who is always taking business trips to avoid the needs of my home and family…' The thought had lingered around on the fringes of his mind for the longest time, but was always delaying, always putting things off… sending Albedo and Demiurge away to handle integration, while he himself disappeared on these 'tasks', first as Momon and then as a journeying King.

"Well Ainz, you're committed now, Demiurge and Albedo are the last two true threats, and from those you loved best. When you're finished with that… no matter what, you will become the King your kingdom needs." He resolved himself as hardily as he could, rose from the bath before the quietest hour passed by, dressed, and made his way back to his room.

Very soon after his return, Lupusregina knocked at his door and assisted him in his choice of clothing. "Does My Lord wish to dominate and intimidate, or to present a more peaceful state?"

"This is a diplomatic visit, I wish them to see us favorably rather than fearfully." Ainz answered, and Lupusregina reached into his wardrobe to withdraw a great white robe befitting a master wizard of supreme wealth. It had a trim of golden thread that ran up the center, a cord of gold to bind it at the waist, and a spiral weave at the cuffs as golden as the rest.

"I suggest this, My Lord." Lupusregina said, the playful air that was a fundamental part of her nature was gone. Now she was the perfect maid.

The white was almost holy, almost aglow with its brightness. In short, perfect. "Accepted." He said, and he did his best to relax while she removed the robe he wore while keeping his back to her.

'Draudillon was dressed by several servants around her, but the notion of Lupusregina in front of me while I'm naked is… a bit much. Plus it would be less than Kingly to let her see my blush. But this is something I have to get used to.' He forced himself to think of it like a medical exam, he forced himself to think nothing of it, and though it was not easy, he could not keep his 'son' asleep at the light touch behind him, while she didn't seem to notice.

Only when he was sure his blush faded did he turn around to face her.

Gloves of white came next. He held up his hands of flesh to allow Lupusregina to tug them into place. However as she tugged the last glove into place over his own, she bowed her head and let her slender tan fingers linger. "You plan to tell Lord Demiurge, don't you, Lord Ainz?"

"Yes." He answered and folded his fingers over hers.

"He is an archdevil." She replied, it was the closest any denizen of Nazarick had ever come to being critical of one of the others in a way other than a sibling might behave.

"He is the son of Ulbert." Ainz answered, unable to rebuke her formally, it was still close enough to draw a tiny nod from the beautiful red haired maid.

"He is an unpredictable genius… not on your level of course but… if…?" Lupusregina was unable to complete her question, she closed her eyes and shook her head. "I'm out of line, forgive my foolish words, My Lord." She said and his fingers tightened in comfort over her own unbroken hold on the white glove.

"The Children of Nazarick deserve the truth, the complete truth and nothing less. Even I couldn't keep this secret forever." Ainz pointed out, and another tiny nod answered him.

"If you go… I will chase after you." Lupusregina promised, and then slipped her hands from his grip, folding them in front of her waist, she stepped back to look at her handiwork, then reached for the mask of jealousy. Then with a smile on her face that reminded Ainz of the playful adventurer 'Lupu' in all her winsomeness, she rose on her tiptoes to put the mask over Ainz' face.

"My Lord is prepared for his journey, come back safely to us, I beg you." Lupusregina said with a final clap of her hands that could only be described as 'childishly endearing'.

His heart warmed and beat faster in his breast, "Then inform Demiurge that it is time, we will collect Zenberu and then go immediately."

"At once, my King." Lupusregina said with a deep curtsey before departing the room and leaving Ainz to wait for his Guardian.