After a few seconds of rather modest deliberation, Neia pointed to a specific piece of sushi.

"That spicy uramaki, please."

"Of course, honey."

Satoru grabbed it with his chopsticks, and slowly moved it towards her face. When it was close enough, Neia opened her mouth, and let him gently place the food inside, after which she carefully bit down as Satoru pulled the chopsticks out at the same time. The food was an utter delight to eat, of course. Neia smiled happily, which in turn compelled her husband to do the same.

"... You're so wonderfully adorable, love."

The especially passionate tone in which Satoru delivered the compliment made Neia's wings start flapping, with her chewing getting faster so that she could respond.

"Thank you, darling! You're so sweet..."

"I only say what's true."

The flapping of her wings intensified, and she was now also fidgeting with her legs in all the excitement. What somewhat broke Neia out of this elated reverie was Satoru moving his head towards the large pitcher of litchi juice from which they both drank, each having their own straw. She quickly moved to do the same, their faces now fairly close as they sucked in the ambrosial refreshment. Neia only pulled away when her spouse did.

"Honey, could I get that unagi nigiri?"

"Of course!"

She grabbed her chopsticks and looked at the piece of sushi in question, a wonderfully grilled and seasoned piece of eel covered in sauce and sesame seeds, fastened to some rice with a piece of dried seaweed. Just as Satoru did to her earlier, Neia fed it to him gently. Feeding each other like that was an intimate, romantic thing they had both started enjoying quite a bit as of late.

And just like Satoru did, Neia found her beloved extremely adorable when he was happily enjoying his food.

...

Neia watched her husband put away all the dishes for the servant to take away later, carrying them all at once, stacked up on the large platter. Whenever she saw him perform feats of strength, however small, she could easily notice on herself the feelings of lust. It was tremendously exciting to experience those displays during their lovemaking, as he held her down and made her feel just so, so good... Seeing such things outside of their private doings reminded her of all that passion, drawing some of it out.

In all honesty, it made Neia feel a bit ashamed. Having a dirty mind was not proper of women, especially considering her status as God's consort. Well, maybe it was merely testament to Satoru's irresistibility?

While her attention was stolen away by that contemplation, Satoru had moved close, wearing an expression of optimistic concern.

"Neia? Everything alright, I hope?"

"Oh, sorry! I was just thinking about... uhm, not much, really."

In response to her reassurance, Satoru smiled contently and stepped even closer, setting his hands on Neia's hips.

"How about a kiss, then?"

"Of course."

The lovelings leaned in eagerly. After their lips met, they parted right after, allowing their tongues to play with each other. Somewhere in the middle of it, Satoru started moving his hand down from her hip, eventually ending up squeezing a buttcheek. He pulled away just a tiny bit, their noses still close enough to touch.

"Your ass feels so good to play with, you know that?"

An expected, minor surge of happiness forced Neia's wings to move. Satoru's compliments and displays of lewd interest were both things she could never get enough of. They were coming from the love of her life, after all. She responded with a blush, tone and smile matching Satoru's own.

"Well, you can always do more than touch…"

...

Satoru and Neia were walking down the hall hand in hand, with the former now back in his skeletal form.

It seems things turned out as he had predicted. The joys of a human body were ample indeed, especially when Neia was involved, making parting with it was very irksome, and perhaps even melancholy. Still, it had to be done.

Soon enough, they arrived at their destination, with Neia being the one to knock.

"Mom? Dad?"

Sofia's cheery voice immediately responded from inside.

"Oh, come on in!"

The pair could barely open the door and step inside before Neia's mother continued.

"There's the two lovebirds! You sure took your time this morning, hm?"

"Mom..."

After closing the door, Satoru looked around properly, seeing Sofia and Pabel sitting next to each other behind a table, drinking tea. The latter greeted him when their eyes met, raising a hand.

"Hey there, Ainz."

"Hey, Pabel."

Satoru and Neia sat opposite the couple, making themselves comfortable. The four of them were just going to chat for now, waiting until it was time to depart for the theatre. They were all going to see Rusalka, a tragic opera involving love, about some spirit of the sea… or something like that. Satoru did not quite recall.

But what he did remember was the process of choosing it among all the other plays. It was much like the scene right now, with them all sitting around a table and talking, except with a rather uneasy Neia. It was difficult convincing her that he did not have much of a preference. Back then, Neia kept saying how it was so important that everything is according to his personal tastes.

One part of him found it cute.

Another despised it.

He should be the one spoiling her.

How could it possibly be any other way? After everything he'd done to Neia... to her loved ones, to her nation...

"...ling? Darling?"

Satoru was severed, or perhaps one could say rescued, from those bitter musings by the voice of his precious angel.

"Ah, sorry. I was lost in thought. My apologies."

"Is everything okay, darling?"

"Of course. No need to worry."

... ...

Albedo, Guardian Overseer of Nazarick, was laying down naked on the wondrously lavish bed in her private room, covered by sheets of the finest silk. But she was not entirely alone, at least not in her mind. The succubus was rubbing her most intimate area on the life-sized bodypillow of Momonga, fantasising vividly and moaning quietly all the while.

But as usual, the moment did not go uninterrupted for too long, with uninvited thoughts creeping into her mind yet again.

Why had Momonga not summoned her to his bed yet? Why would he not take her? Why not consummate their marriage? The baffling puzzle eluded explanation.

Her husband's behaviour in the last few months had been odd in general. Working on secret projects like that... Even if Albedo's talents were not required, it felt wrong that Momonga would keep anything at all from her.

And what was with his peculiar schedule? So much time spent with orders to not be disturbed, leaving himself unaccounted for on purpose... It made no sense at all. Was he... no, Albedo was his favourite spouse. Obviously there was no secret laying with the others.

Yes, that was merely an unfounded paranoia prompted by a prolonged lack of clues for her mind to chew on regarding his unexplainable behaviour... and there was also the sexual frustration…

... ...

It was late into the evening, bordering on night. The curtains of the room's windows were all closed, yet everything was brightly illuminated by magic, including the four occupants. They were all gathered around a fairly cluttered table covered in used dishes, bottles of expensive drink, and some uneaten bits of salami, cheese, baked goods, and whatever else one could snack on. One person did not eat at all, while another only ate the food specifically brought for her. Among the mild mess, one could also find a traditional board game of Roble, one vaguely similar to Slane's chess, but adapted to be playable by up to four people.

One of those present was standing up, now holding a large blue apple with a sort of pink gleam. Neia's first thought upon seeing her husband pull it out of nothing was the beauty of the object.

"... This is called the Blessed Apple. It can be used to summon a unicorn, which remains for as long as the apple is held..."

Neia had first heard of unicorns around the age her maturing into a proper woman had started, mentioned in a book of tales originating from Slane. It was quite surprising to hear that they existed, and that she was often eating burgers made of their meat.

"... it's not really that useful an item, but it used to be a rather rare find nonetheless."

"Used to?"

Satoru seemed to pause at Sofia's question, looking ahead into nothing.

"Well... I don't think there exists a way to procure them anymore. They used to be obtained by..."

He seemed to be thinking, though Neia could not quite understand why. Was he trying to remember?

"... uhm, they used to materialise after real unicorns were slain... yes. That's how they were found."

Neia always found it fascinating how the ancient world Satoru spoke of was so different from the one she knew. His tales of battle against god-like beings, surrounded by powerful comrades of such a large variety of species, many of which she'd never heard of... And how they amassed such a wealth of powerful items, of treasure... how they created Nazarick together... It made her wonder what changed. How did things become so different? Where did these fantastical beings, lands and treasures disappear to?

And where have Satoru's comrades gone? He never explained anything regarding the topic, always refusing to. Neia could not figure out why exactly he refused, but she saw him talk about them enough to understand their loss must have been crushing.

If only Satoru would open up to her more. Let her into his heart, so that she may ease the pain within.

It was yet another reason for her devotion. Satoru was too kind a soul to be left without true love. He deserved to be happy.

"... Is that so? That's fascinating."

Sofia's voice made her daughter realise she'd been stuck in musings for too long, snapping to attention. Satoru nodded with a noise of agreement, storing the apple away after a moment or two, while pulling out something else in the same movement, a pristinely white pair of simple shoes decorated with some golden thread and a few tiny, blue gemstones.

"And these are the Shoes of Vodastride. They allow the user to walk on water. More powerful footwear would have many other, more potent effects, with something like this just being a small bonus. Still, it's not a particularly useful enchantment even then... Ah, but I suppose that's all besides the point. I hope it will be fun for you all to try water-walking later. I assume you've never had the opportunity?"

Her parents glanced at each other in clear agreement before turning back to Satoru. Sofia spoke for them both while Pabel nodded.

"Of course."

Darling had said earlier that the items of this particular showcase would be more mundane, but Neia knew well that all three of the Barajas were impressed.

"Good. I suppose at that time, I can also show you some of those weapons I wanted to gift you two."

The atmosphere in the room changed quickly as some unease appeared on her parents' faces. Even though they were convinced earlier to accept some weak (by Satoru's standards, at least) enchanted items complimenting their skillsets, it was going to be uncomfortable for just about any decent person to continuously receive, especially when it was from the saviour of their daughter's life, their own lives, their homeland...

In truth, Neia felt the same. Satoru's kindness was so great it made one feel bad about themselves just for experiencing it.

It didn't help that he had such a strong insistence on spoiling his wife in particular...

"Oh, and if you end up really enjoying these items I'm showing off right now, I suppose there's no problem in you keeping them too."

The Baraja family collectively sighed, probably thinking the same thing.

'He's so generous...'

... ... ...

Warmth of a blanket... dim light... the sounds of her own breathing... it was all coming to her. Slowly, yet all at once. Neia was waking up.

After an amount of time she could not be certain of, now feeling awake enough to move around and think, the young woman looked around. The light of the morning sun was so weak as to be hard to perceive. It must have been very early indeed. This was not an usual time for her to wake up in recent days. The stress made it hard to sleep.

With a sigh of unease, Neia sat up and went to check her underwear, once again finding her menstrual cloth spotless.

Her period was now almost 2 weeks late.

…

Hello!

Sorry you're having to wait so long for so little content. Not only have I been drowning in doctor's appointments, but then I also ended up cutting some scenes here and having to replace them… I hope everyone ends up liking this chapter anyway.

The next one will release sooner, probably a week from now at most. As the end of this chapter suggests, the little period of calmer slice of life is once again ending to make room for some more serious drama that progresses the overall plot. I hope I am able to deliver on that.

Thank you very much for reading, everyone. Don't forget to tell me your thoughts in the reviews/comments, as usual! I'll be very happy to read them :3