A/N: Heyo, look who's back with a timely update for once! Happy belated Canada Day, and happy early 4th of July to all those celebrating.
I know last week I posited that each chapter for the next little while would be split into two parts, one revolving around Ainz and the other pertaining to a member (or members) of Nazarick, but… I'm already scrapping that plan since it's unnecessarily and arbitrarily restrictive :p.
Today's chapter is one I'm sure many of you will appreciate, focusing entirely on(—who should be by now—)everyone's favorite Pleiade! Enjoy!
Chapter 31
"New Rivals of Love"
Enri had barely made it out the front door before it hit her, twisting her stomach upside down, inside out, and making her throat lurch acridly.
Morning sickness.
She had already gone through a spell of it several hours ago; this was the first time she'd experienced it more than once in a single day.
"Enri-sama!" Jugem, who always waited outside her house in the morning, cried in surprise as she suddenly swayed unsteadily, barely managing to brace herself against the doorframe. She held a hand up to stop him from reaching out her, and with her other hand reached into her jacket for the medicine Nfi had made for her a few days ago when this all started: a peculiar concoction of diluted antidote, antacid powder, ground ginger root, and cinnamon (to attenuate the otherwise unpalatable flavor).
She popped open the bottle cap with her thumb and chugged back a mouthful, her face scrunching up in disgust as soon as it splashed against her tongue. It was horrendously bitter, a testament to its potency that would not leave her tongue until her next meal.
But having a bad taste in her mouth was much better than going about her day for several hours on shaky feet, constantly fighting the wearisome urge to vomit.
"Boss… "
"Really, I'm fine, Jugem-san. Let's get going, shall we?"
"Mmm, let's!" a bubbly voice suddenly hummed in agreement.
the goblin chief yelped inaudibly, catching air for a moment as he recoiled away from the figure that had suddenly appeared beside him.
"Lupusregina-san!" Enri cried with a smile.
"Osu!~" the wolf maid cried, clenching her eyes shut as she offered an exaggerated salute.
"Why you..!" Jugem growled angrily: "do you HAVE to keep doing that every time you show up?!"
"Hohhh~" the tanned Pleiade hummed, leaning over the small warrior with a sneer: "don't tell me, goblin-san… did I perhaps startle you..?"
"O-of course not!" Jugem assured, crossing his arms with a huff.
"Hehe~!" the maid giggled behind her hand: "you were totally scared, weren't you goblin-san? Hmm? Hmm?" she insisted, prodding his shoulder with her elbow.
"I'm telling you, I wasn't startled! And stop callin' me goblin-san, I have a name!" he roared, brushing her arm away as a vein bulged prominently from his forehead.
The sadist snickered.
"No, you totally were! Your face went all 'Wah!', goblin-san, and you jumped like thiiiiiis—" she paused, stretching one arm as far above her head as she could: "—high! pupupu~!"
"Well, now that's just a blatant lie and yo—! " Jugem began to shout but was cut off as a coffee-colored index finger was jammed and twisted into his cheek. He looked to Enri with a lifeless, half-lidded glare: a mix of annoyance, resignation, and almost disappointment that seemed to ask 'Seriously? Is this woman for real right now?"
Enri swallowed back the urge to laugh—or maybe vomit, she couldn't tell—and clasped her hands together entreatingly.
"Alright Lupusregina-san, you've had your fun, let's leave poor Jugem alone".
"Hai-Hai!" the wolf beamed obediently with a satisfied grin, withdrawing her finger from the goblin's face before folding her arms behind her head.
"Why I oughta…" Jugem grumbled quietly while rubbing the side of his face.
Lupusregina leaned back over him, cupping a hand over her ear:
"Ehhhhhh? what was that, goblin-san? You oughtaaa~ what, exactly?" she glowered goadingly.
Seeing Jugem reach for the hilt of his blade, Enri quickly stepped between them.
"S-so! Lupusregina-san! What brings you to Carne today anyway? You haven't dropped by in a while," she noted.
Lupusregina clapped her hands together apologetically.
"Sorry, sorry! I've just been really busy with other things lately, but I felt bad neglecting my favorite human, for so long that I decided to stop by!"
Before Enri could figure out whether or not she liked being called someone's 'favorite human'or not, she was suddenly yanked forward, face-first into the maid's chest (~Boing) and locked in a tight embrace.
"L-L-Lupusregina-san?!"
But as quickly as she was pulled in, she was pushed away and held at arm's length.
"Hmm…" the sadist hummed thoughtfully, squinting with a serious expression while bringing a hand up to her chin, as though she were inspecting a most confounding murder scene: "and it seemsI was right to check on you, because now that I get a good like at you... you look awful!" she exclaimed mercilessly, drawing furtive looks from several passersby on the road.
"Aha… I-is that so..?" Enri sputtered awkwardly, forcing a laugh even as her self-confidence plummeted to non-existence.
"Oi!" Jugem barked: "leave Enri-sama alone, she's not feeling well!"
"Not feeling well..?" Lupusregina repeated, looking back to Enri expectantly, who in turn scratched the back of her head bashfully.
"I-it's nothing really, I just haven't been sleeping well lately because—"
"Don't tell me..!" the Pleiade interrupted with an appalled look on her face, recoiling away from village chief as if she were the plague. Just as quickly though, she drew back in closer with a devious grin.
"Has Nfi been keeping you up all night, hmm~? you little rascal, you!" she whispered knowingly, swatting Enri's shoulder playfully, at which point Jugem keeled over, choking violently on his own spit.
"N-no, t-that's not..!" Enri sputtered hopelessly, her head spinning from the heat accumulating in her reddening face.
"Say no more, Enri-chan!" the smiling sadist exclaimed histrionically, pulling away from her victim as she brought the back of a limp hand up to her forehead, as though she were about to faint in dramatic fashion: "your face says it all! But to think, you were such a nice and innocent girl when I first met you! Ah, my poor little Enri! A nymphomaniac who lives only to fulfill her primal urges, even at the cost of her own health!" she bemoaned, collapsing to her knees tragically.
"L-Lupusregina-san, please!" Enri begged, glancing around in a panic: fortunately, the street was congested and it seemed like most people hadn't tuned into their debacle. There were some, however, almost as red as Enri herself, who refused to meet her eyes and instead quickened their pace, pretending to have not heard anything with a generic, unbothered whistle or a sudden interest in the contents of their own pockets as assurance.
She wanted to run after each and every one of them and tell them she wasn't actually a nympho, but that would probably only succeed in exacerbating her already unbearable shame.
Jugem cleared his throat awkwardly.
"Enri-sama, why don't we go back inside for a bit until that medicine kicks in, hm?" he suggested, his complexion only just now beginning to return to its natural shade of green.
"Y-yes, good idea…" Enri muttered dazedly as the goblin warrior ushered her back inside.
"Eh? Medicine? You mean you're actually sick? Aha, my bad, my bad!" Lupusregina apologized unconvincingly as she leaped back to her feet: "Anything I can do to help? I'm sure I could find something back at Nazarick that would have you back to normal in no time!"
The goblin chieftain shot a venomous look over his shoulder.
"No thanks, you've done enough already! The best thing you can do to help is just leave, 'cause the stress your presence causes ain't good for Enri! And besides, a pregnant woman can't just go around popping meds all willy-nilly, and she most certainly ain't taking anything you manage to scrounge up from the medicine cabinet of your tomb!" he rebuked, that same vein from before bulging once again from his forehead.
The wolf maid's eyes widened.
"Eh...? Enri, are you..?" she trailed off in bewilderment.
'Pregnant': the word jostled around in her mind like an indigestible lump. Up until a few days ago, it was just a word: unremarkable, like any other. But now? It stirred all sorts of things inside her. 'Pregnant', and all its implications, which had previously seemed so unfathomable and foreign, now felt close to her own life.
And possible.
"—Lupusregina-san..?"
The tanned Pleiade shook her head, tearing her eyes away from the village chief's belly. Had Enri been speaking to her that whole time..?
"Hehe~! Sorry Enri, I spaced out for a second!" she apologized lamely, sticking her tongue out as she scratched the back of her head: "But wow, pregnant! Congratulations!"
"Mmm!" Enri beamed: "Nfi and I are so excited an—eep!" she yelped as Lupusregina suddenly invaded her personal space for the third time today.
"Aaaaaand just to be clear," the wolf maid began in a grave whisper: "you're sure the child is Nfirea's right?"
Enri blinked vacuously for a moment before the insinuation sunk in.
"O-of course it's Nfi's, I-I would nev—!"
"Aha of course you wouldn't, I'm kidding! But, it sure would be awkward if in eight months a little green munchkin popped out from between your legs, wouldn't it?" the wolf said, slapping Enri's back as she nodded sideways towards Jugem, whose face was as red as a Redcap's hat and whose mouth was moving a mile a minute but failing to produce any sound.
"T-t-t-t-t-that—!" Enri stuttered again, her mind in utter shambles.
"Uwahh, would ya look at the time!" Lupusregina exclaimed, tapping on the face of the nonexistent watch strapped to her wrist: "I gotta get going! Congratulations once again you two, I'm sure Nfi will be a good sport about it if you come clean soon. Bye byeeeeee~!"
And with that, before either human or goblin could get a grip on themselves, she reactivated [Complete Invisibility] and bolted away.
…
Four hours later, Lupusregina found herself in Nazarick's bathhouse, with that same strange feeling that had compelled her to leave Carne village in such a hurry still lingering obstinately in her tightened chest.
Curled up in a half-submerged ball in the shallow end of the bath, the redhead hugged her legs closer to her chest and let out a prodigious sigh from between her kneecaps.
'Pregnant', huh…
She had never personally known anyone who was pregnant; most of Nazarick's inhabitants lacked the biological faculties needed to bear children to begin with, and those few who did, naturally, only had eyes for Ainz-sama, who himself was not capable of reproduction until very recently, and even now, was unattainable.
'Well, ALMOST unattainable,' the wolf amended her own thought, her lips creasing into the slightest of smiles as her face burned up with the memories of that night. She tilted her head down into herself to conceal her smug embarrassment from the outside world, resting her forehead in the crook between her knees. She still couldn't wrap her head around how she of all people—not Albedo, not Shalltear, not Narberal, or any of the other women in Nazarick whom she always considered her superior in just about every aspect—was the Supreme One's first.
She quickly lifted her head, ears twitching giddily, and drew in a shaky breath as she stretched her limbs out beneath the water's surface—she had grown too hot to be curled in on herself for a moment longer.
She let out a relaxed sigh, sinking until the water rose above her breasts and reached her shoulders.
"..."
And then, her smile faded soberly.
This always happened: every second she didn't spend busying herself with work or in conversation, her thoughts would inevitably drift back to Ainz and she would work herself into a flustered mess of ecstasy that would just as quickly turn lachrymose...
She couldn't allow herself to get carried away. She may have been his first, but that didn't necessarily mean she would be his last; no matter how comforting and reassuring (teasingly so) the letter he left for her was. Every night since he left, as restless and terribly lonely as they were, she found herself reading it over and over and over, to the point that she could now recite it verbatim whenever she wanted.
...But the more she read it, the more she doubted its sincerity. She was the victim of some emotionally torturous semantic satiation.
"..."
And so once again, the wolf maid found herself curled up in a ball of self-doubt, ears flat against the top of her head.
No matter how she looked at it, it was simply impossible that he wanted her as much as she wanted him. It was foolish to think he would ever settle for her in the end, when—
!
Suddenly, her left ear perked up in reaction to a sound: a footstep, bare, measured, and light. She turned her head and there, peering around the divider between this bath and the opening area, was…
"L-Lady Albedo?!" the wolf exclaimed, eyes widening as she scrambled to her feet, bowing frantically: "W-what brings you here..?"
She asked, though she knew there was only one possible answer: the overseer was here to chew her out for slacking off.
Wordlessly, and with an unfaltering, close-eyed expression of neutrality, the succubus strutted towards her.
Lupusregina swallowed gravely, her heart racing more and more with each elegant footfall drawing closer and closer. She dared not straighten herself until she was given express permission. After Yuri and Ainz, Albedo was already the last person Lupusregina wanted to get caught by for being indolent: now that they weren't exactly on good terms lately, depending on the overseer's mood, Lupusregina knew she could very well be in for some serious castigation.
Tap. tap. Tap.
Finally, the overseer's feet appeared in her ground-facing line of sight, and so she clenched her eyes shut, deepening her bow even more.
"Albedo-san, forgive me for—!"
Splish, splish.
..?
Lupusregina tentatively opened an eye, surprised to find the overseer standing right beside her, knee-deep in the water.
"A-Albedo-san..?"
Much to her surprise, the succubus looked at her through the corner of her eye and flashed an amused smile, placing one hand on her hip.
"There's no need to be so stiff, Lupusregina: you're not in trouble or anything".
Blink blink.
"I… I'm not..?" Lupusregina stammered in disbelief, slowly standing upright.
The guardian overseer shook her head.
"No, not at all. In case you couldn't tell," she paused, waving a hand demonstratively over her naked torso: "I'm also here to just relax and unwind for a while".
!
Before she could even inwardly express her skepticism towards such a claim, Lupusregina startled as the overseer suddenly reached out and grabbed her hand, and the wolf suddenly found herself being led deeper into the water.
"Come, sit with me for a while, Lupusregina," Albedo proposed, pausing for a moment just as the water became waist-deep to look over her shoulder: "unless you were just about to get out..?"
"N-no, not at all… I was planning to stay a while longer, so I'd be happy to join you for a bit," Lupusregina assured, unable to reciprocate the overseer's intense gaze.
"Wonderful," Albedo said with a nod before leading her a few steps deeper still.
Don't tell me…. Lupusregina began to think: is she going to drown me?!
All of a sudden, the overseer's grip on her hand felt strangely inescapable.
Gulp.
'A-actually Albedo," she began: "I think I should actually—"
"Ah, here's a good spot!" Albedo exclaimed happily, ignoring the Pleiade's evasive stuttering: "right in front of a pair of jets. Shall we?" she proposed rhetorically, releasing the wolf's hand as she lowered herself into the water.
She let out a contented sigh, her wings flexing euphorically as they became submerged. Soon she was shoulder-deep, the top of her cleavage just barely breaching the surface; she leaned her head back against the edge of the pool, eyes closed with a blissful expression.
Lupusregina watched her for a few moments, taking in the succubus' confidently unguarded beauty before shifting her gaze into the water's rippling surface to inspect her own reflection. She raised a hand to touch her cheek and bit her lower lip.
There was no comparison: Albedo's attractiveness was unparalleled. She could never compete with such dignified and elegant prettiness.
Hell, forget the delicacy of her allure: even her boobs are—albeit only slightly!—bigger than mine! Lupusregina thought frustratedly, clenching a fist self-consciously over her chest. She knew it was a pointless comparison since she was far from being flat regardless, but still… the more she thought about it, the more she came to terms with the fact that a man would surely have to be both blind and braindead to choose someone like her over the noble overseer. She was prettier, smarter, more reliable, more powerful..!
Lupusregina's eyes began to sting, brimming with acrid wetness. Surely, in the end, he would end up with her—surely, if it had been Albedo in the right place at the right time to intercept Ainz right before he left, rather than her, the two of them would have shared just as passionate of a night together as she and the supreme one did.
No, maybe even more passionate..! The wolf admitted defeatedly: Yes, if it was Albedo who had stopped him that night instead of stupid, useless me, he probably wouldn't have even left! He'd still be here, happy—way happier than he'd ever be with me—ruling over us, with Albedo at his side as Queen of Nazarick and—!
"Lupusregina?"
!
The Pleiade turned away for a moment, blinking back the bitterness. What was wrong with her? She was being petulant—no, just plain pitiful: the complete antithesis of what she was supposed to be, the smiling sadist. She knew all of this, wholly self-aware, and yet…
The fact remained, she was a wreck.
"Yes, Albedo..?" she asked calmly, not daring to turn around. The last thing she wanted to do was look at Albedo, much less bathe with her. She just wanted to be alone—this was a mistake, EVERYTHING, was a mistake. She should never have tried to stop Ainz the night before he left. If only she hadn't done that; if she had just stayed in her own lane and minded her own business, she wouldn't be like this right now, crumbling to pieces and—
!
Again, she felt a hand wrap around her own, but differently this time, and looked down with a start at their interlaced fingers.
"Albedo...san..?" she trailed off dazedly as she was slowly pulled downwards.
It was almost comical how little she resisted the overseer's touch, silently accepting it with wide eyes but without protest as the side of her head was guided to Albedo's bosom.
'What… is going on..?' Lupusregina thought to herself, dumbfounded as she felt an arm wrap around her midriff beneath the water and pull her in even closer, such that their bodies were now tightly pressed together.
Albedo, looking up at the ceiling in embarrassment, was just beginning to wonder if perhaps she was making a mistake and putting the Pleiade in an uncomfortable position, when much to her surprise, the wolf reciprocated, wrapping an arm with apprehensive slowness around the succubus' torso. A moment later, a capitulative exhale, deep and breathy, trickled out of the redhead's peacefully-parted lips, tickling the crevice of her headrest and sending a warm tingle down the overseer's spine, and she felt the arm around her tighten its hold perceptibly, consentingly.
It was a peculiar embrace, for innumerable and obvious reasons, and Lupusregina still wasn't sure why it was happening, and certainly never expected to take solace in her superior's arms, but…
It was nice. Warm, tender, and comforting—but undeniably awkward, distinctly stiff; they both felt this, and yet neither felt the urge, suppressed or otherwise, to pull away.
Albedo herself didn't know exactly what had come over her, compelled her to suddenly pull the Pleiade in and hold her tight. It was just a whim, a spur of the moment decision with no ulterior motive made to comfort a clearly distraught underling, and—
...No, that was a lie, actually. She had initiated this embrace with purely selfish reasons in mind.
She was testing her conviction.
From the moment she laid eyes on Lupusregina's clothes and approached the divider that separated them, Albedo knew she was approaching a life-defining crossroads—this instinct was only lent further credence when she had looked around the corner and caught the wolf, unguarded and unmasked, curled up in a hapless ball, every perceptible aspect of her reflecting a soul that was plagued with heartache, doubt, and uncertainty.
It would be so, so easy to exploit this vulnerability; to use it to her advantage, and all but destroy the Pleiade under the weight of her own guilt and insecurity.
Albedo had been doing a lot of thinking these past few weeks; a lot of introspection; a lot of changing. The old Albedo was selfish, living in a world of black and white in which she presumed herself above all others, second only to Ainz-sama of course. But ever since her entire world nearly crumbled into a million irreparable pieces right before her eyes…
She was different now: as an overseer, as a guardian, and as a woman. The person she was now could have a real shot with Ainz if she chose to pursue it. Her love for him had matured beyond overbearing infatuation—it was now something that could surely be reciprocated. And so if she removed Lupusregina from the equation, her position at the Supreme One's side was all but assured. It's all she ever wanted, everything she's ever dreamed of! Being married to him, sharing a bed with him, loving and being loved unconditionally, bearing his children—as many as he wanted!
Nothing in this life or the next could ever possibly afford her as much joy as that scenario.
"..."
And this is what was meant by 'life-defining crossroads': would she choose to break the poor wolf in her arms and try once again to monopolize Ainz-sama for herself, with a new-and-improved mindset?
Or would she choose a different path?
And, in the time between first peeking her head around that divider, and grabbing hold of Lupusregina's hand for the first time, she had made a decision—surprising even herself with how quickly and resolutely she was able to make it.
And since then, during this quiescent embrace, she was happy to find that she had no inclination whatsoever to change her mind. She knew what she needed to do.
The old albedo would've chosen to destroy her, no hesitation.
But now, from the second it crossed her mind, the thought of doing so utterly repulsed her.
She drew in a shaky breath, looking down at the top of the Pleiade's head, allowing her body to melt even further into their impromptu embrace.
A knot inside of her had just come undone, and she bit her bottom lip as tears began to trickle from her eyes. She was just so, SO relieved that she ACTUALLY changed. She had passed this test, spontaneous and unforeseeable as it was, and proved to herself that she had in fact learned from her mistakes and grown as a person—and was still growing, into a person Ainz-sama could be proud of when he returned…
… And maybe one day, love.
Because it was still important to be true to oneself, and the Supreme One's absence had made it unignorably clear that she loved him, with all her heart. It's true that about a week ago, she had sworn—to the other guardians—that she would never try and seduce the Supreme One ever again because she thought that was the punishment she deserved.
But that just wasn't fair—or maybe it was, but she didn't care. She knew she had changed—she just proved that! She felt terrible for what she did to Lenora, she truly did, and she would for as long as she persisted in this world. She also felt guilty about so many other things, her behavior and attitude towards others—like the one in her arms right now—and she would spend the rest of her days striving to make up for these mistakes in so, so many ways, some already visible.
But giving up Ainz-sama would not be one of them; at least not without a fight.
She now saw Lupusregina not as a toe-stepping whore, or an insect who didn't know her place, or a contemptible vixen…
But as a rival of love. And if in the end—after everything was said and done—the Supreme One ended up choosing the Pleiade over her, then she would accept that outcome gracefully, with no regrets. She was fully aware that the tanned maid currently had a leg up on her in this battle, but nothing was set in stone yet.
But that just meant she would have to give it her all, and then some. The future was hers to change.
The succubus quietly cleared her throat, inaudible thanks to the ambient babbling of jets and flowing water, preparing to speak measuredly so that her smile would not creep into her voice.
"These past few days have been tough for you, haven't they?" she murmured into the top of the wolf's head, who in turn felt the hum of the question through the succubus' chest.
"...Y-yes, they have," Lupusregina quietly confessed.
And suddenly, to the overseer's subconscious chagrin, the Pleiade suddenly pulled away from her, leaning back against the wall beside her, brushing the hair that had gotten plastered against the side of her face away to reveal a rosy-tinged complexion that could not entirely be attributed to the bath's temperature.
"—As I'm sure they have been for you too, hehe," the maid quickly added with an uneasy smile. She wanted to apologize for clinging to the overseer as she had, but at the same time felt that calling attention to it would just make things more embarrassing.
…Though it was completely inappropriate, and probably deserved an apology...
"No, that's not what I meant," Albedo insisted with a shake of her head, unwittingly assuaging the wolf's awkward dilemma with her unbothered tone: "I meant tough for you, specifically," she insisted knowingly, with a confidence that made the Pleiade's heart skip a warning beat.
'Surely she doesn't know about…'
"W-what do you mean..?" Lupusregina asked innocently, meeting the overseer's unveiling gaze only to then shy away from it immediately.
The succubus smiled.
"You know Lupusregina, I'm a bit disappointed: as a notorious 'sadistic trickster', I had always assumed you were a good liar".
The Pleiade laughed casually.
"Albedo, honestly, I have no idea wh—"
"I know you were with him—Ainz-sama—the night before he left".
"...Eh..?" Lupusregina gasped, feigning incredulity, unsure of any other way to respond. She didn't like where this was going, and she shifted her weight anxiously from buttcheek to buttcheek as her entire body tensed with a fight-or-flight response—heavily leaning towards the latter.
But the succubus wasn't finished.
"I know you two slept together as well, and th—"
"Wahhh!" the maid suddenly exclaimed in a panic, startling from the overseer's unexpected candidness such that she slipped off the wall and plunged beneath the water's surface. She emerged a moment later, coughing and sputtering frantically.
"W-what are you saying all of a sudden, Albedo-san?! Me, and Ainz-sama?! A-as if! That's ridiculous! That's legitimately the craziest thing I've ever heard, and! And..!" she stammered vehemently, slipping into a violent coughing fit, hoping to buy as much time as she could to think of an explanation that wouldn't result in painful death at the overseer's hands.
And yet, there wasn't one. For Albedo to have just come right out and say it… there was no ambiguity left to hide behind, no wiggle room for denial.
And besides, what with how dizzy she felt, she was sure the redness of her face would condemn her in the end even if she managed to think up the most brilliant lie ever conceived.
She stopped coughing, and her ears drooped flatly against the top of her head in defeat. Slowly, she let herself sink lower and lower into the water until it was up to her chin; she kept eye contact with the overseer's hard and expectant gaze the whole way down.
"..."
"..."
"...Please don't kill me…" the Pleiade entreated quietly.
"..."
The overseer stared down at the Pleiade without a shred of clemency in her eyes, and in their golden luster, brimming with unconcealed murderous intent, the wolf saw her entire life flash by.
She drew in a breath, preparing to utter the words [Complete Invisibility]; if she suddenly made a break for it as fast as she could, the invisibility might buy her enough time to escape the bathhouse, and then, if she was extremely lucky, she could make it to Sebas in the throne room and THEN maybe, JUST maybe, she could hide behind him and live to see another day; take a page out of the Supreme One's notebook and slip away into the night without a word, never to return, and th—
!
The wolf maid's heart nearly leaped out of her chest as the shadow of the overseer's hand loomed over her.
'Too late to run now! Way to go Lupusregina; yeah, let me just think about my only plan for survival instead of actually executing it! The wolf cursed inwardly, clenching her eyes shut in anticipation.
'So this is how it ends, huh? Strangled to death by the guardian overseer, completely nude, probably left to drift face down along the bath's river, butt up in the air, until a maid eventually comes by in a couple of days to clean this area and finds my bloated body stuck in the drain or something… I mean, I guess it's not the worst way to go, but… Ahhhhhh there's so many things I still want to do in life; who's going to bully Enri once I'm gone, or make Yuri-nee's hair go gray with stress?! And Ainz, I still—!' but she cut herself short, for the thought was too embarrassing to finish consciously.
*Pat*.
"AHHHHHHHH~!" Lupusregina wailed dramatically as the overseer's hand landed on top of her head, and she waited for her skull to be crushed.
"—HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
… She continued to scream.
If she was going to go out like this, the least she could do was inflict some temporary hearing damage! Let it be known that Lupusregina did NOT go down easy!
And so she continued to wail for as long as she could, until her lungs began to burn with depletion and her voice finally gave out, cracking hoarsely into inaudibility.
"..."
She tentatively opened one eye.
"..."
"..."
The overseer's cheeks suddenly puffed out briefly, and then—
"Pffft~! Ahahahaha!"
She exploded with high-pitched laughter.
Blink Blink.
"...Eh!?" Lupusregina gaped bewilderedly, her ears perking up ever-so-slightly in confusion.
"You should've seen the look on your face; you actually thought I was going to kill you, didn't you?" Albedo accused as she wiped at the corners of her eyes.
"Y-you mean… you're not going to..?" the maid trailed off in disbelief, shaking her head as she struggled to reconcile that possibility with everything she knew about the guardian overseer.
"Okay, what the heck is going on?!" the wolf cried indignantly, leaping to her feet with a splash as she brushed the overseer's hand away from her head.
The overseer waved one hand dismissively as she stifled her laughter with the other: "no, I'm not going to kill you or anything".
Lupusregina regarded her doubtfully with crookedly pursed lips.
"..."
The overseer shrugged guiltily.
"...But I SUPPOSE I could see why you might've thought I would, in light of some recent events…" she admitted with a playful wink.
The two stared at each other for a moment, a smile creeping onto each of their faces, until they eventually both broke out in giggles—one of amusement, one of relief.
"But… why not..?" Lupusregina asked as she sat back down beside the overseer: "I mean, don't get me wrong: I'm absolutely thrilled that I get to live, but… I always thought that if the day came that you found out, well…" she trailed off, for the sentence didn't need to be finished aloud.
Albedo closed her eyes, leaning back against the wall with a heavy sigh.
"'Why not', you ask…" she repeated thoughtfully, her lips curling into an imperceptible smile as she turned to look the bewildered wolf dead in the eyes:
"I guess… it's because I respect you, Lupusregina: as both a fellow denizen of Nazarick and as a woman".
"A-Albedo-san…" Lupusregina stammered, fidgeting with a lock of her hair as she looked away, blushing profusely, wholly caught off guard by such a sincere and flattering explanation—and coming from the most beautiful woman in all of Nazarick no less.
"W-what am I even supposed to say to th—"
"But," Albedo continued sternly, cutting her off: "don't get the wrong idea: I still fully intend to win Ainz-sama's heart away from you in the end," she assured determinedly, to which the Pleiade nodded with a smile.
"... I'd expect no less from the guardian overseer of Nazarick".
And then the two closed their eyes, smiling inwardly, allowing a comfortable silence to take hold.
"...Hey Albedo…" the wolf maid eventually whispered, so quietly that the overseer's unstimulated mind didn't register it at first, having to do a mental doubletake before replying:
"Yes?"
The Pleiade fidgeted with her hands in her lap as she spoke:
"Thanks... for, er… holding me, earlier, and not being mad about… y'know. I...really needed this today…" she admitted, having grown quieter and quieter with each word.
Albedo regarded her curiously for a moment.
I guess it was true, that those who wear the thickest masks—especially one as impenetrable and bombastic as the 'smiling sadist'—were usually the most fragile underneath. To think though, that Lupusregina had a side like this to her all this time...
Albedo was certainly in for an uphill battle.
"Think nothing of it," the overseer assured, pausing for a prolonged beat as she began to blush:
"I guess… I needed it too, actually".
Now it was her turn to shy away from meeting the other's eyes.
"Ehhhhhh…" Lupusregina gasped teasingly, leaning in close, her sadistic instincts activating in response to the other's opening: "don't tell me, Albedo-san… are you actually a big softy?!"
The succubus barely had time to open her mouth to speak before the maid lunged forward, tackling her in the gut and sending both of them into the deep end of the bath with a great splash.
"Aha! Victory is mine!" Lupusregina declared triumphantly an instant later, having been the first to resurface, as she placed one hand on her hip and flashed a peace sign with the other.
The guardian overseer emerged a mere second after, her face twitching irately.
"Hoh? And I thought we were just starting to get along… are you sure you want this fight, Lupusregina?" she asked in a grave tone as she unfurled her wings to their full length.
Lupusregina coyly rubbed beneath the tip of her nose with an index finger.
"Yare yare, Albedo-san... I'd suggest you ask yourself the same question the next time you even think about going after Ainz-sama! Hohoho~!" she shot back with a boisterous guffaw.
Albedo allowed her jaw to drop, feigning that she felt insulted.
"Ah, so that's how it's going to be, is it?"
"Indeed, it—!"
*WHOOSH*
"WAH—!"
With a flap of her wings, the overseer sent a veritable tidal wave surging towards the Pleiade, who, immersed in her own hubris, barely had time to yelp before the towering wall of water crashed into her, sending her to the bottom of the pool while simultaneously blasting her away, all the way across the bath until she slammed into the wall beside the entry steps—the wall caved in, fissuring like a spiderweb from the impact and the entire bathhouse quaked perceptibly.
*Blub*
A few seconds later, as the water began to settle and the rumbling ceased, Lupusregina's splayed-out and face-down body floated limply to the surface.
"..."
"...Lupusregina..?" Albedo called out awkwardly.
No reaction.
'Ah, I may have overdone it,' Albedo thought as she watched the Pleiade's corpse begin to languidly drift away, carried by the jets' current.
'I forgot, she isn't wearing any defensive equipment…'
Just as she was about to swim after her, however—
"PWAH—ACK!" Lupusregina shot up, gasping for air but immediately choking as she coughed up a lungful of water.
"...Are you okay..?" Albedo asked, unsure of how to sound sincere.
"OKAY?!" Lupusregina yelled back, slapping the water's surface with an open palm: "What the HECK was that, Albedo! I thought you said you weren't going to kill me today!" she cried, retching into the crook of her elbow.
Albedo pursed her lips to suppress a laugh.
"You're still alive, aren't you?"
"That's not the point o—!"
Vrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
The sound of mechanical machinations whirring to life, and then—a male voice, deep and authoritative:
"To not know the proper etiquette means you have no right to be in the bath! Lethal force engaged!"
Th-thunk!
The ground trembled as the nearest lion golem suddenly leaped down from its pedestal, eyes red and fixed upon the transgressors.
"GrrrrrrrOOOOOOOOOOAH!"
It unleashed a mighty roar, and a bright orange light suddenly manifested in the back of its throat, gradually swelling in intensity.
"SEE Albedo!" Lupusregina shouted vindictively, motioning emphatically towards the golem: "even Lucifer agrees, you went way overboard with that one!"
Albedo shot her a lifeless glare through the corner of her eye.
"...Right, well… I'm sorry".
"You could at least try and sound sincere…" Lupusregina chirped, puffing her lips out.
Albedo felt her left eye twitch.
"We can talk about my almost killing you later. For now, let's just take care of this thing. Unarmed, you don't have the strength to damage the golem: so you just distract it, and I'll pummel it. If you turn invisible it will prioritize targeting you, so—"
"Hai, hai, roger," Lupusregina prattled dismissively, casting the inferior version of her favorite spell and leaping into the air.
Just as the overseer predicted, Lucifer's golem immediately registered the wolf's 'concealed' presence and angled its head upward. It crouched low, planting its feet to lock in place and resist the knockback of its own attack—
FOOOOOOOOM!
A massive geyser of flame shot out from its maw, white-hot and blinding. The Pleiade did an acrobatic twist, thrusting her pelvis towards the ceiling and arching her back just enough to narrowly dodge the beam as it shot past underneath her—she winced from the intense heat radiating against her, immediately evaporating every bead of water that had still been clinging to her back.
Far below, Albedo shot forward like a rocket with her arm cocked back.
BA-KSHHHHHH!
She slammed a fist right up into the golem's chin, snapping its mouth shut and interrupting the beam attack just as gravity would've pulled the airborne wolf back into its path.
The lion's upper jaw and teeth all shattered from the impact, and its head snapped upwards.
!
It was more durable than the succubus expected and recovered quickly, and with a vicious snarl, it swung a massive paw towards her.
"Urk—!" Albedo grunted as she crossed her arms in front of her to block, absorbing the full brunt of the attack. She began to skid backward but quickly managed to find her footing and plant her feet. If she were anyone other than a tanky level one-hundred, her arms would've been completely obliterated.
"Albedo!"
The Pleiade cried out from the air, positioned directly above the lion's head with her crosier held high.
She slammed it down with all her might, splintering the top of its skull, spewing chunks of stone and metal into the air as deep cracks snaked out in all directions from the point of impact.
The beast toppled head-first into the ground with a mighty crash.
"Here, catch!" Lupusregina called out from atop the beast's head as it began to slowly get back up.
Albedo thrust an arm out and caught the crosier. White-knuckling the hilt with both hands, she spun once, twisting her hips as if she were performing the last rotation of an Olympic hammer throw.
"Haaaah!" she cried out, swinging the weapon straight into the side of the golem's face, all the way through like an unstoppable wrecking ball, completely obliterating the lion's entire face from the eyes down. The destruction was so swift and absolute that what little remained of the head itself didn't even move from the impact.
Its whole body began to twitch erratically as its systems malfunctioned irreparably. It staggered back drunkenly, then to the left, and then finally, as the crimson light of its eyes died out, it crumbled into a motionless heap of rubble.
"Hehe, piece of cake!" Lupusregina boasted with a toothy grin, stepping off its lifeless corpse
Albedo nodded with a smile.
"Not bad, for a low-level such as yourself".
"Hey! You better take that back, Mrs. 'YoU dOn'T hAvE tHe StReNgTh tO dAmAgE tHe GoLeM WiThOuT a WeApOn'! Your uppercut barely even fazed it!" the Pleiade shot back.
Albedo coughed into her hand.
"... I'm not afraid to admit I misjudged our opponent. But all's well that ends we—"
"Unnacceptable! Unignorable! Ignorant, ignorant, IGNORANT!" Lucifer's voice suddenly interjected from some omnipresent speaker: "You will be punished for your sins!"
The harrowing sound of other golems activating and descending from their pedestals rung out from a distance.
The succubus and wolf looked to each other with a determined look in their eyes.
"You ready?" Albedo asked.
"Born ready," Lupusregina assured resolutely.
… And with that, they both turned and made a break for the exit just as three more golems came sprinting around the corner.
...
Laughing in the changeroom as they toweled themselves off, Lupusregina suddenly thought of something.
"Albedo, how'd you even figure out I had been with Ainz..?"
The succubus, in the middle of flossing a towel between her thighs, paused for a moment.
"It was pretty easy, actually. Naturally, I visited Ainz-sama's room the morning that he left and found his bed in such terrible disarray that the presence of another was unquestionable. Then I remembered noticing that you were the only one absent from the throne room when Sebas proclaimed his lordship, and when I asked him about that the next day, well… he didn't outright confirm it, but he certainly didn't allay my suspicions in any way. Really, he's a terrible liar, even in just feigning ignorance," she explained as she folded up her towel.
Lupusregina laughed, scratching the back of her head.
"Yeah, I guess it really wasn't that hard to figure out, huh?"
"But," Albedo continued as she got up from the bench and headed over to the cubbies to retrieve her clothes: "I actually got my most conclusive piece of evidence today," she revealed, keeping her back purposefully turned to the coffee-colored Pleiade.
The redhead cocked her head to the side quizzically:
"Today..? What do you mean..?"
Albedo slowly turned with a mischievous smile and a playful glimmer in her eyes as she leveled an accusatory finger, aimed right at the maid's crotch.
"I couldn't help but notice you're completely shaven down there, and there's no way anyone would bother going to such lengths if they weren't anticipating sex in the near futu—" but she was silenced as a damp and crumpled towel smacked her in the face.
"V-very funny! Do you not have ANY shame?!" Lupusregina cried with a quivering grin, her face taking on the same hue as her hair.
Albedo chuckled teasingly as she removed the towel from her face.
?
"Lupusregina..?" she trailed off confusedly as she noticed the maid's complete and sudden one-eighty shift in demeanor, her expression and complexion turned vacuous and pale.
"O-oi, you know I was only kidding, no need to shut down on me or…" but she cut herself short, following the Pleiade's distant stare back to the cubbies.
Now that the overseer's own clothes had been reclaimed, the shelving was completely barren.
The succubus pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.
"Lupusregina, don't tell me…"
The maid nodded slowly, her eyes sparkling wetly.
"Hai… my clothes are still in the bath…" she confessed despondently.
"..."
"..."
"Do you think Lucifer's golem's have shut down by now..?"
"Only one way to find out," Albedo shrugged, motioning towards the hallway that fed into the bath area.
Lupusregina bit her lip and tip-toed her way over, peeking around the corner.
FOOOOOM!
"WAH—!" the wolf yelped in surprise, ducking as a beam, the entire width of the hall, shot by overhead.
"COME BACK AND PAY FOR YOUR CRIMES!" Lucifer's voice thundered out from afar, accompanied by a chorus of lion-like roars.
"..."
"..."
Lupusregina let out an anxious laugh and quickly retreated back to the change room on all fours before she dared to stand up on wobbly legs.
"Soooooo…" Lupusregina whistled awkwardly, turning back around: "whaddaya say you stay here and keep me company until the coast is cl—Uwahhh!? Albedo-san?!" she yelped as she noticed the overseer was already fully clothed and heading towards the exit.
"A-Albedo, wait..!" Lupusregina began to blubber, reaching out towards the succubus and grasping at thin air like a child reaching for their mother.
The overseer came to a stop as she reached the exit, and turned around one last time.
"Sayonara, Lupusregina-san... I'll always remember you, and the time we spent together. I'll take good care of Ainz-sama in your stead, I promise," she assured morosely, raising a trembling fist of conviction before stepping outside.
Lupusregina stood, frozen in place as she listened to the overseer's receding footsteps, sounding unhesitating and steadfast the whole way until they could no longer be heard.
"..."
'Surely she wouldn't actually leave me stranded here, right..?' the wolf thought.
'Yeah, I'm sure she'll be back any minute now…'
...
And so, Lupusregina ended up having to wait three more hours before it was safe to get her clothes back.
...And later that night, Yuri was not at all pleased with the fact that her sister had spent four hours 'idling' in the bath.