Everything was dark.
She did not know what it meant for something to be dark.
She wanted to open her eyes, but she did not know what eyes were.
She did not know what she was.
She did not know anything.
Suddenly, she felt like she was being pulled.
She was being pulled from every direction into every direction.
She was being pulled out of this.
And then, everything was white.
Neia Baraja blinked rapidly. None of her senses seemed to work properly.
She was adjusting to everything, and then she heard a voice. She did not know exactly what it said, but it filled her with peace.
It was a voice she loved hearing.
She focused her vision. Her senses were returning.
In front of her was a familiar face.
It was the Sorcerer King.
He was holding her.
She felt safe now.
Then, he poured something on her.
The wounds, which she forgot about until now, disappeared.
"Yhour Mhajesdy..."
"Please don't force yourself to move or speak, Miss Baraja."
He took out another potion and poured it on her again.
Her weakness seemed to disappear. She moved her fingers and tongue to verify. Although they all still hurt when she did so.
"Miss Baraja, I am sorry to have been late to save you."
What was he talking about? She was just fine now. Despite the pain, she could even say she felt happy.
She was being held by him, after all.
"If that's all, there's more for me to do. Please rest now, there are men coming to help you. Look, over there."
She did not want him to leave her. She wanted this to last forever.
This embrace.
The two of them being close.
As he was placing her back on the ground, she reached for his robe and grabbed it without thinking.
"... Miss Baraja? Please don't be afraid. The demi-humans who attacked you are dead. You are safe. I promise."
She had realized something.
She realized what that emotion was. What she felt when she looked at him, when she was with him. When he was being kind to her.
"Your Majesty! I love you!"
\\\
Huh?
What?
Did she hit her head before?
Did he need to use another potion to make sure she's okay in the head, too?
What the hell was she saying?
He looked at her closely, but what he saw confirmed this wasn't just her stringing random words together.
She looked at him with what he could tell was a loving smile. Her cheeks were red.
Did the resurrection go wrong, or something?
So those words weren't random, but the feelings were still definitely misplaced.
He looked around.
There was fortunately no one close enough to hear her confession, but the men rushing over to help would be soon.
When those men did arrive, he spoke immediately.
"Miss Baraja had nearly died, and seems to be confused. Please do not mind her if she says strange things, she should be back to normal after she rests."
"Understood!"
\\\
As she was being carried away on a stretcher, her eyes never left the Sorcerer King.
As she saw him disappear behind a corner, tears appeared in her eyes.
...
It's been about half an hour since she was saved from certain death.
She tried to ask about His Majesty and return to his side right away, but apparently he was away at the moment.
He summoned several high-tier undead, and was destroying the demi-human forces sent here.
She missed him already.
That beautiful moment they shared together... how he saved her from death, from all that pain... and how he held her... and how she confessed her true feelings to him...
How she realized far too late that the strange feeling she experienced sometimes was love. She's never felt it before meeting His Majesty.
She loved her parents, of course, but this was a different love.
As she thought about the difference, she also thought about what would happen next.
"Well, His Majesty didn't seem to consider me seriously. I suppose I was a bit incoherent then. Overwhelmed, at the very least. But even if I confess again..."
As she thought about it more, she wasn't feeling any better.
"Of course, it's all a bit inappropriate given the current situation. I'm his squire, and he's the ruler of a foreign nation..."
But that obstacle could easily be overcome after His Majesty defeats Jadlabaoth. She may simply leave to be with him.
"But would His Majesty even want me? After all, I've seen Prime Minister Albedo... even if there wasn't already a beauty like that, surely he could have whatever woman he wished?"
And those women would be better looking than Neia. They would certainly not have her eyes, at least.
And then came the issues of why an undead being like him would even care for such a thing as a partner.
Was there any hope for her?
Being honest with herself, there wasn't.
...
Upon hearing that His Majesty had returned to his room, she rushed over.
She was now in front of the door on which she's knocked on many times before.
But right now, it was a bit scary.
She inhaled deeply and knocked despite her anxiety. This was no time for hesitation.
"Your Majesty, this is Neia Baraja!"
"Enter."
She did her best to act normal despite her strong emotions. After coming inside and kneeling, she felt there was a sort of strange atmosphere in the room.
Before she could speak, the Sorcerer King did.
"Please rise, Miss Baraja. There is no need to fulfill your obligations to me today. While your wounds might have healed, the battle must have been deeply exhausting, and so I believe you should rest."
He was as caring and understanding as always.
"I do not feel exhausted at all, Your Majesty. In fact, I would be happy to accompany you!"
But there was something that needed to be said. The main thing on her mind right now.
"... But there is another thing I wanted to say, if you would allow me. It is regarding my words earlier, just after you have rescued me."
\\\
Ah, so that's how it is. She must probably feel really embarrassed, considering what she did and said. A young girl confessing her love to someone by accident was probably the stuff of nightmares for women. Not only that, she was probably afraid of what this meant for her country. She was his squire, and this might be quite the scandal. She might even lose her position if her superiors found out she did something so rude as confessing to a foreign country's king, who had also just saved their lives.
Of course, he would tell her it was all fine, and that he would not mention it to anybody, nor was he offended himself. It was just the confusion of being brought back from the dead, after all.
"Of course. Please, do speak your mind."
He tried to say that in the kindest way he could, which seemed to work as the girl in front of him seemed to smile suddenly.
Yes, he did his best to ease her, and now she would apologize, which he would gladly accept and-
"Your Majesty! I love you!"
Huh?
He felt emotional suppression kick in.
What did she say?
Did the resurrection have long-term side effects?
This never happened before.
What's up with her?
He could not rationalize her words in his mind.
As he looked at her, he saw her blushing.
What the hell?
No, it must have been some strange status effect.
He prepared every single status-clearing spell he had, intending to use silent casting to clear her of everything.
\\\
She did it.
She confessed to him, and this time there was no doubt that her mind was clear.
But the silence right now was scary. His Majesty just looked at her.
His words earlier were reassuring, so it seemed he would not judge her.
He must have been deciding.
Deciding whether to reject her, or...
Or what? She did not know what would happen exactly if he accepted her. Would she become one of his wives or concubines? She hadn't heard of any, but it was not impossible that he had quite a few already.
Still, this silence just made her anxious.
What was he going to say?
She just wanted to know. Right now.
"Hm. Neia Baraja. Are you sure you love me?"
She replied without any hesitation.
"Yes! I love you, Your Majesty!"
For some reason, he seemed to wince at those words. Did she say something strange?
More silence followed.
Would she be rejected? She did not want to think about that. Not at all.
The thought that he would just toss her away now made her want to cry, even if that was almost certainly what was going to happen.
But what was with this silence?
He was just looking at her.
Perhaps this meant he was seriously considering it?
No, he just wanted to reject her in a polite way, and was thinking about how to do that. That's the sort of person he was, after all.
\\\
What the hell? He used every spell he knew which could clear any status, but she confessed her love again!
Were her feelings not the result of a status effect, but her own?
In that case, perhaps he should just ignore her?
Although many people cheered for him during the battle just now, she was the only real person whose respect he was sure of.
But what if she becomes bitter, and turns into someone like that ungrateful Captain?
It would probably be bad if the squire assigned for him told everyone that he was terrible.
Ainz had heard scary stories from his guildmates about bitter former lovers spreading horrible lies about their ex-partners. What if she started spreading lies like that?
Should he just kill her now?
Emotional suppression kicked in again.
No, first he should just find out what she meant, exactly. Perhaps he could work with that?
"Then... what do you... what do you want, exactly? What do you want to happen?"
She seemed confused for a bit, but then she got her bearings, and spoke in an unsure tone.
"Well, uhm... I... want to become your wife!"
Emotional suppression had to kick in once again.
What the hell was she thinking?
He looked at her, trying to study her face closely.
She was blushing, but she also looked terrified.
\\\
Her heart was beating so fast.
Saying those things out loud...
"Hm. Mm. I see. I see. Miss Baraja, it seems perhaps the last few days have gotten to you? I do not mean to offend you, but perhaps your feelings are some mix of gratitude, relief and happiness over winning the battle and surviving? Perhaps the despair being replaced by such positive emotions made everything sort of… well, what I mean to say is that I want to talk about this later. Please, do try to sort out your feelings in the following few days. Afterward, we can talk about this again. Is that okay?"
What the Sorcerer King said made perfect sense, but she knew it was not correct.
She's felt this love before. She's felt it as far back as when they spent entire days together in that carriage.
Still, this was how it ought to be. She had no ground on which to protest his decision. For now, she would wait.
"Yes, Your Majesty." She tried to sound normal, but the defeat was obvious in her voice.
"Then, I am sorry to say that I must be leaving now. There is an urgent matter I must attend to in my kingdom."
"Of course, Your Majesty."
\\\
Ainz teleported away.
He was going to meet with Demiurge, and discuss the plan.
More specifically, how he deviated from it by saving the city.
He was going to scramble to make excuses for himself, and somehow justify it.
"From one painful situation to the next, huh?"
\\\
Neia was now alone in His Majesty's room.
Her mind was completely occupied by their meeting just now, and what it meant for her.
"He didn't refuse me outright..."
It was time for more waiting. She hated that.
There was a chance that he would refuse her. No, that was the most likely scenario.
But there was also the possibility that he would accept her love, and... something would happen.
Just thinking about being accepted made her already envision a future with him. This, however, would only make it more painful if she was rejected later.
Seeing that she was already imagining their wedding against her will, she shook her head to clear those uncontrollable thoughts away.
"No... I have no chance. His Majesty was just being kind. I suppose he is trying to spread the pain out slowly or something?"
In that case, she would prefer to be refused immediately. The sooner, the better. Just to get it over with, like she used to prefer when delivering bad news to Remedios.
She looked around and realized she was idling in His Majesty's room, and quickly got up to leave.
Her eyes were misty as she did so.
She was scared about the future.
Her future.
… … …
It was another cold morning, though Ainz did not feel that of course.
He was supposed to be arriving here in about half an hour, but he was now sneaking around with [Perfect Unknowable], observing Neia.
And now, as he watched her make a speech to a small crowd, he realized something.
"It's like I said! His Majesty left me with two powerful undead, and went on to free the entire prison camp by himself!"
Recently, he had been helping clear the prison camps, which the paladins and conscripts were also very busy doing. The army he defeated during the attack on this city was in large part made up of the guards of these local camps, meaning now was the ideal time to strike.
As Neia was speaking, many gasps and noises of approval could be heard from the people who have gathered. He could not see her eyes due to the visor he gave her so he wouldn't have to look at them, but the rest of her face indicated she was quite enthusiastic about the topic of... him.
When she finished her speech, there were many cheers and praises shouted in his honour.
And then, Neia was answering some questions.
One person at the back of the group, who had not been cheering at all this whole time, spoke up.
"Uhmm, there's something I don't really understand, Squire Baraja."
"What is it, sir?"
"It's about the large battle that happened here, when the Sorcerer King suddenly joined it and destroyed the entire opposing army."
"Yes, it was a glorious show of power! What do you wish to know about it?"
"Well, if the Sorcerer King could have won at any point, why did he not join the fight earlier?"
Some people in the crowd seemed to consider that a valid question and looked toward Neia, while others glared at the man.
"I've explained this before so many times! His Majesty must be cautious and conserve his mana to fight Jaldabaoth! One could say he shouldn't be helping us at all, because it puts him at a disadvantage. But he still does! It's because even if it's risky, he cannot simply stand by and let innocent people suffer! Even if they're not his subjects, that's just the kind of person he is! We're all here today because of his infinite kindness! And besides that, whose fault is it that you... no, the WE all couldn't protect this country and those we love? It's not anyone's fault but ours! Defending what you love is nobody's responsibility but your own! We
were, and still are, too weak to protect this country, and that is ultimate weakness!
But His Majesty is the opposite! Not only is he powerful enough to protect his people, he is so impossibly kind that he also protects those who aren't his subjects at all! His power combined with his kindness makes him a true agent of justice itself!"
Judging from her words, one could think that she somehow sees him, and is trying to suck up to him. But even if he were in that situation, trying to make a CEO hear fake praises, he wouldn't say something as ridiculous as "I think the CEO is an agent of the economy itself", or something stupid like that.
Still, she seems to be very effective at convincing the rest of the paladins and militiamen that he is a great ruler they can trust.
But this was exactly the problem.
The way she was acting and speaking this whole time has likely been motivated by her romantic feelings towards him.
When he also promised her they'd talk about that in "just a few days", he really intend it at the time.
But he kept putting it off, and now it was weeks ago, so he already broke that promise several times over.
He had a reason for not bringing it up when he should have.
"Ah, what a pain. If I talk to her about that and refuse her, would she start hating me instead?"
He thought back to those stories about ex-partners being bitter and making up all sorts of lies.
If Neia, the person who's doing great work raising his fame in this country were to become like that, surely all the effort would have been for nothing.
He would have to kill her, but that would also slow down the rate at which his fame was increasing.
Or…
At that moment, he made up his mind. He would have to speak to her about the matter today.
...
As she was about to knock on His Majesty's room, she felt both happy and uneasy.
Happy because she was going to be by his side for another day.
Uneasy because the talk they agreed on regarding her feelings still hasn't come up.
This wasn't unusual, however. Every single day, she hoped that "today" would be when they talked about it again.
But that hasn't happened yet.
She could swear His Majesty told her to simply rest for a few days, but it's been far longer than that.
"Perhaps all those days I was working or training didn't count? If he only counted days I was simply resting... Well, there wasn't really a day like that."
She did not want to seem pushy or impatient, but she would likely have to bring it up eventually.
As she made up her mind, she finally knocked on the door.
"Your Majesty, this is your squire, Neia Baraja!"
"Come in."
His Majesty's handsome voice allowed her entry.
She entered, knelt, everything going as it always did...
"Please, rise."
He looked at her for a while before speaking again, which she would not normally mind at all, but it probably indicated something.
"Miss Baraja... I believe it is high time we talk about your feelings, no?"
Her heart started pounding.
"Rather, it seems I am quite late in regards to this matter. Forgive me."
Before she could say that an apology was unnecessary, he continued.
"Now then. Tell me again how you feel towards me, and what you want."
She knew her feelings did not change at all. In fact, they got even stronger.
"Your Majesty, my feelings towards you remain the same! I love you, and in ideal circumstances, I would wish to be your wife!"
She thought again about how unlikely this was. He was a ruler of amazing power and a great person. He could have any woman he wanted. But he was most likely not interested in women at all, given his undead nature.
"I see. Do you have any important duties tomorrow?"
"Your Majesty, all my other duties are unimportant compared to your commands!"
"I see, but will it be a problem if we spend an hour together, here in my chambers?"
Her mind went blank and her heart started beating even faster as she heard those words. She did her best to recover and responded with a shaky voice.
"I-in Your Majesty's chambers? Together? Alone for an hour? For what purpose?"
She thought about what that meant and there was a certain sensation between her legs, but she brushed that aside considering how unlikely that was.
She lacked the privacy and time to properly attend to her body's desires for many weeks now, which just made her think odd things.
"... W-what will we be doing? What will happen?"
His Majesty looked at her briefly and shrugged.
"I can't be certain. Let us simply speak and we can see where it goes, no?"
\\\
He wanted to avoid it for as long as possible, but it seemed he would have to talk to some of the other guardians about this. No, he should have already spoken to Demiurge before doing something like this.
It made his head hurt a little. "Ah, or would it be better to keep this a secret? If this reached those two..."
He obviously did not want to take it anywhere with her, but if this was what he needed to do in order to spread his fame amongst the people of this country, it had to be done. He also did not want to lead her on, so he planned on a simple hour of casual conversation. For as long as possible, he'd throw her the occasional bone of fake affection to keep up the appearances that there was something between them.
He'd get rid of her once there were other people spreading word of him.
As he was thinking, his squire's blush got even more intense and she asked a question in a somewhat quiet, trembling voice.
"Uhm, Your Majesty, should I do my best to wash and shave, then?"
He did not really understand why she asked him that question. He understood washing, but shaving?
He wouldn't see her armpits at all. Why would she ask such a strange question?
"Ah!" he exclaimed in his head, as he finally found a somewhat likely explanation.
This whole time, she likely did not have the option to properly clean or maintain herself with an appropriate level of privacy or quality.
Even if he was not planning to smell her, she wanted to appear her best. Also, perhaps this is some sort of feminine desire to always look beautiful, regardless of the situation?
Whatever the reason, he felt he owed her after making her wait like this for so long.
"I do not find it at all necessary, but if that is your wish, I am able to take you with me to the Sorcerous Kingdom, where you may clean yourself. Think of it as an apology for making you wait so long to discuss this."
\\\
Neia did not know exactly what that meant. By asking that question, she hoped to figure out what His Majesty had planned for her. She'd heard that among nobility, women being freshly shaven (particularly, down there) was seen as desirable, and proper etiquette before doing... that.
But his answer didn't clear that up at all. His Majesty said that he would allow her to shave if she wished, but also did not insist.
Either way, even if it almost certainly wouldn't get to... that, she wanted to feel nice and clean when being with him, and so she decided to accept.
"Yes, I accept, Your Majesty!"
"Then we'll need about two hours, no? Is that still okay?"
She thought about it again, but nothing was as important as this.
Well, there was, but not to her.
"Yes, it's still okay, Your Majesty!"
"Good. Then you may inform someone in charge that we will both be unavailable for two more hours following my arrival. If that's all, should we proceed as normal for the rest of today?"
Neia's cheeks were still red and her heart was still beating fast, but it was time to go. Not that she was somehow upset at this, she's going to spend that time with His Majesty, after all.
"Actually, there was another thing. Miss Baraja, how old are you exactly?"
She hadn't expected that sort of question right now, and it made her a bit flustered. Was he asking if she was marrying age?
No, that probably wasn't coming anytime soon. It was just her mind coming up with wild scenarios again.
"I'm 16, Your Majesty!"
"Ah. Uhm. I... I see."
\\\
"I'm twice her age, damn it!"
It was a somewhat different feeling from when he felt it necessary to grope Albedo that one time right after coming to this world. That was more like desecrating what his friends had built and taking advantage of the situation.
This just made him feel like a creepy old man, and he really did not want this relationship to go any further than it needed to.
...
After His Majesty had departed for the day, she felt quite alone again.
But perhaps she was not that alone. The visor His Majesty had given her allowed her to hide her eyes, and it made most people far friendlier. And with those people, she could train, and talk about the greatness of His Majesty.
Still, this was not the time. She was going to report her and His Majesty's absence to a superior. She thought about speaking to Remedios, but immediately decided not to. She was now looking for Gustav instead.
As she walked the streets, many people greeted her and waved.
It seems she had a reputation now.
She finally found the man she was asking for. He was walking somewhere, looking busy but relaxed.
"Vice-Captain!"
"Oh, hello Squire Baraja. What do you need?"
"Tomorrow, His Majesty and myself will be unavailable for two more hours after his scheduled arrival."
Gustav raised an eyebrow.
"Is that so? For what reason, if I may ask?"
Neia realized she didn't have a good answer.
"We- I mean His Majesty will be... attending to some business in his kingdom. I will... also be there."
She knew it all sounded a bit strange.
"Oh? What will you be doing?"
"I don't know yet."
That part was not a lie.
"I see... that's... well, if that's how it is, I suppose I cannot stop you. Good luck."
His tone indicated he was suspicious.
"Thank you, Vice-Captain!"
"There's no need."