After the king dismissed us, we were more than happy to retreat from the stifling audience hall. Zesshi and Clementine were shown to the guest wing of the Palace, while I accompanied Renner to her room.
Only the gentle burning of candlelight in her dimly lit quarters guided my eyes. The curtains were drawn, even the moon barred from peering within.
On the round table beside the drawn window, Renner sat opposite.
Although face-to-face, her expression was unreadable. And although I knew she was the quiet type, Renner wasn't usually this reserved when we were alone.
Ah, yes. The marriage…
A mistake on my part?
Or had everything unfolded according to her design?
The difference between the two options was black and white, but the true test was determining which was which. I was reluctant to find out either way.
Sitting silently would do neither of us any good. Our relationship had been built upon communication and trust…
Except for the one thing I've kept hidden from her.
Clementine and Zesshi were out of the loop; they didn't even know about Nazarick. As for Renner, she had memorised everything I recalled of that place down to the smallest detail.
However, she didn't know the truth of where my knowledge came from.
What I've claimed doesn't stand scrutiny. Just… knowledge popping into my head every now and again, ranging from incredibly detailed information to vague at hand-waving.
Whether out of courtesy or weariness, she hadn't brought the subject up. Yet.
I don't even want to think about how that conversation will go. How would Renner react?
Not blessed by the heavens inheriting some divine gospel, nor someone who could predict the rapture. From her perspective, I'd just be a regular person stumbling through life using some defrauded, distorted understanding of someone else's fictional novel.
Renner held Downfall of Castle and Country, and was quite clearly unafraid to use it. While her frivolous application of the World Item did pose a risk to my most private secrets, I trusted her to not bite the hand that fed her.
…
Or maybe it was the other way around?
Hm.
When I first took her hand, all those years ago, I envisioned a partnership. Something where we stood on equal footing, ready to sculpt the world to our liking.
I feel like that parity had disappeared somewhere along the line.
…
Where would I be without Renner at this moment? Still on the streets, crushing bugs?
I'd like to think I would've figured something out by now, but there was no guarantee. It was a good day if I managed to scavenge a single meal back then, and I admit, it would be pretty tricky staging a grand plan while malnourished.
A sobering thought.
"Quite the eclectic mix of expressions you have offered me thus far, Climb. I gather today's events have given something to mull? Perhaps, a rare moment where you stop to reflect on the past, rather than living a fantasy in your far-flung future, my prophet?"
I exhale and slink back into the wooden chair, defeated.
"Don't tell me that World Item has the added ability of mind reading…"
A slight smirk crossed her lips.
"How quaint. Should I want to peer into another's mind, I simply need to order them to do so while under the effects of the dragon", she gestured to the symbol on her dress. "Not that require such a thing… you'd be amazed by how much is given away by body language."
I nodded as I looked into Renner's sapphire-like eyes. Staring into the depths of an ocean, I could only glimpse the surface of a mind, more shrewd and perceptive than I could ever hope to be.
My attention turned to the sight of melting wax. Like the constant emptying of an hourglass, the droplet slithered its way down the length of the candle, pooling at its base.
Time was running out.
The day was coming. Armed with magic spells that could wipe out entire cities, bringing along with him monsters that'd crush me without a second thought.
That was the entity I was up against.
Huddled away, beneath that air of majesty… Suzuki Satoru. Nothing more than a human playing pretend as best he can—roleplaying and bumbling through encounters with impossible luck.
The difference, however, was that a mistake on my behalf could spell death; when for him, a mistake signalled the beginning of a comedic skit.
For all I know, Ainz could be in Carne Village right this moment, mingling with its inhabitants. Hidden agents could be lurking in this very room, invisible ghosts observing and reporting my every move.
Me and Renner, plotting against their master.
…
The thought was unsettling.
Not because I was in danger, but because I had put Renner in harm's way because of some fanciful dream.
Robbed of a future where she betrayed her nation and thrived for it… Allowed to live forever in her ideal world without a care. In the original timeline, Renner was rarely in any mortal danger.
Here?
Pulled into a warped conspiracy of my making, kidnapped by fanatics who wished to use her. Where success meant not being tortured for eternity, could I really say I was putting her interests first?
Was I worthy of Renner?
Did I deserve her hand in marriage?
…
…
I looked back at the Golden Princess—a title which I have also taken from her. The Renner before me hadn't passed any anti-slavery laws or signed off on charitable ventures. No, she was known as the kidnapped damsel in distress to the public.
All they could see was the surface, news heralds and whispered rumours at inns. Second-hand information.
They could not see the real Renner.
…
…
And nor could I.
Looking into her eyes… the Renner I knew did not exist. The one obsessed with chaining up some orphaned boy and turning herself into his object of worship. The one who could single-handedly outmanoeuvred both Albedo and Demiurge till a meeting with death himself. The one who crumbled a kingdom for the sake of that whimsical ambition.
That girl did not exist.
The Golden Princess did not exist.
…
Then, who sat before me?
This rational, playful, calculating person before me.
Did I know them?
"…"
As time ticked by and the flickering of flame waned, an answer emerged.
"…Renner, I'm just now realising how little I know about you."
Climb was making an awfully ugly expression.
A pained, tense, fearful, timid expression.
It was a face quite unlike what I've come to associate with his contemplations. Climb was not the type to consider superficial notions for too long.
I had noticed his gaze upon me, sometimes intensely, othertimes less so.
What plagued him was something insidious. Something that afflicted those after committing a grievous crime.
From the barest shimmering of sweat forming around the band of his hairline, to the restlessness of fingers, he appeared he wanted to apologise for something. While no words escaped his lips, his eyes betrayed him.
Climb was feeling the dreadful emotion of guilt; that was my conclusion.
Evidently, the prospects of marriage had affected him adversely. I thought it'd be quite a joyous occasion.
A hormonal imbalance… probably not.
I watched silently Climb as he fidgeted before me, awaiting a response.
How little he knew me…
I had to restrain myself from giggling at the statement.
From the moment Climb boarded the carriage on that rainy day, he knew what I was. By the time we alighted, he had seen through me completely.
Then, what was he trying to say?
Our years spent together…
Running the palace maids ragged for the sake of amusement.
Teaching me concepts I'd never consider in a thousand years.
Assisting with science projects that I could never hope to fathom before.
Revolutionising warfare with a mere throwaway concept.
Dramatising grandiose exploits after coming back from a mission.
Ransacking the wealthiest nation on the continent of its dearest treasures.
All fondest memories of mine. Prior, I had spent my life misunderstood by those around me, trapped within these pale lilac walls of my room… how many years had I wasted?
I smiled frustratedly.
"When I spoke of you as my saviour, Climb, it was not for the sake of theatrics."
There it was again.
That look on his face.
Guilt.
"That's-"
"Surprising?" I interrupted.
Climb stopped himself before he could say anything. I kept watch, noticing his neck muscles had stiffened, poised as if ready to nod.
So… he agreed.
It was surprising that I saw him as my saviour.
…
In that case, I suppose he was correct. Climb didn't know me very well at all.
His eyes monitored the dwindling candle set between us. Perhaps, now would be a good time for a story.
"…Long before you arrived, confined in my room, I stared at a candle like this one. A question arose that day. "
My index finger traced the rim of the candle holder.
"Why, when you inspected the candles that should have melted the day before, you see they have recovered and are burning brightly once more? My young self was in awe—so they resurrect," I nodded to myself. "Ah, every night, the candles resurrect to illuminate the approaching night."
I grinned morosely.
"That was what I regarded as evidence of God. In awe and astonishment, be it my tutor or elder brothers, I told everyone about it. Impious fellows replied that this God did not exist. Still, those were the foolish mumblings of people who only lived during the day, I reasoned. God was a very shy individual, so he only wandered around the Palace at night."
"…"
"Nobody believed me. If anything, they laughed once I had disappeared around the very next corner to tell the next person I met."
Thus, I decided to confirm it.
"It was night."
The maids were ordered to lock my doors before sundown, so I snuck out beforehand. I hid in a dark hallway where many candles had melted.
My heart was pounding.
I was about to bear witness the sight of God roaming around at night.
"Most of the attendants had gone to sleep, so the night was peaceful. Only the sounds of a guards' footsteps, an old soldier coughing up phlegm, the whir of the wind outside could be heard in the distance. All distractions were ignored for the sake of my goal…"
Climb was fully engrossed in my story now. The creases on his forehead were gone, gone in favour of listening to me earnestly.
"Someone approached the candlelit hall. Footsteps, much too normal to be called the footsteps of God. The person's form was also much too pitiable for it to be called the appearance of God. Regardless, the man had drawn close to the candles, and I still believed that was He. I simply thought that God was magnanimous enough to be comfortable with even normal and pitiable things. Soon after, I witnessed God extinguish the dying embers of a candle. Then, he replaced the melted candle with a new one and set it ablaze… I came to a realisation—that wasn't God."
He was just a normal attendant.
He was simply a pitiable human.
"Climb, that night was quite dreary. What I had witnessed was just an attendant on night duty, but what I had done was conjecture something far more than what I could see. The candles did not resurrect; they were merely replaced."
Then, my young self had a thought.
"However, since the candles were replaced every day, it was clear that there was someone who made those candles. And since there was a person who made a living by solely making candles, it was indisputable that there was a person who cultivated, harvested, and handed that candlemaker their food."
"…"
"Before that night, I was not aware of those subjects. I had never seen the artisan who made a living by making candles. Nor had I seen a farmer, nor the blacksmith who crafted their farming equipment. Nevertheless, as the candle was replaced right before my eyes, the subjects that I was blind to, had come into view."
The people existed.
Outside my reach.
Beyond my room.
A world, more vast than I could have ever imagined.
"I hated it."
"…"
"From my bedroom, locked away; my young self was enraged. It was unfair. All I could ever hope to glimpse of that farmer, that blacksmith, and that artisan, was a mere candle. What more of the world could I not see from the castle?"
I retracted my finger from the candle holder. I brought my hands close to Climb's and held them tightly.
"Do you see? My world was small, yet I knew of an outside I could never reach, greater than I could ever imagine. A princess of a nation, I was told—a position of great honour and privilege."
I scoffed.
"A title that hardly mattered to me. That day, only then, did I realise how maddening it was to be a bird in a cage. If I could have never seen that attendant replace that candle, stayed ignorant, how wonderful that would have been."
Despite this, turning back time was something I could not achieve, however much my five-year-old self tried.
"To be used as a political tool, married off to some powerful aristocrat—a fate that I spent many sleepless nights brooding. Eventually, a silver lining. Perhaps, when I am sent off to their demesne, maybe then, only then, could I glimpse just a bit more of the world of which I have been deprived."
…
After I had finished, a silent, final question passed between us.
Do you understand me a bit better now?
He didn't avert his gaze.
He did not mock me for my naivety, nor did he ask any questions. He did not judge, but he did not dismiss my account either.
No more words passed between us.
His guilt had vanished. In its place, a new, unfamiliar look in his eyes. I was no longer regarded as something inconceivable, something incomprehensible.
Climb was never intimidated by my intellect… but I was fully aware that sometimes I made him feel insubstantial.
He never saw me as human.
But today, I believe Climb saw me for the first time.
…
Against the darkness, sat opposite each other, hands in mine, the candle flickered.
I couldn't keep smiling.
Actor Skills:
[Silver Tongue] – Makes a target more susceptible to persuasion attempts. Increases potency of speech. Natural boost to charisma
[Smoke and Mirrors] – Misdirection, lies, bluffs, and cheating has a much higher chance of success
[Wolf in Sheep's Clothing] (Passive) – The user can take on an alternate persona with little to no prior planning. Grants immunity to [Charm Person], and mild resistance to stronger variants such as [Dominate]
AN: Romance? In my Overlord fanfiction? It's more likely than you think.
I felt like Zesshi was hogging the spotlight, so I handed it back to Renner this chapter.
I hope you enjoyed the small glimpse into the Golden Princess' childhood. Do you think she embellished the story, or told the truth exactly? Up to the listener's interpretation. If you know the reference of where the candle story comes from, please, allow me to treat you to some of the finest Balleleunium wine in the land.
Anyhow, there are quite a few unresolved plot threads left (Slane Theocracy knows about the Dwarven Kingdom, Zesshi wanting to nuke the Elf Kingdom, The Treaty of Katze, etc.), but those are things I'm saving for when Nazarick arrives.
It should make for a more dynamic and exciting retelling of the series.
I plan to wrap up everything with the king's promised last supper and the proceeding wedding. I won't rush the pacing, so it may take a couple chapters.
After that, we're finally going to see some of our beloved characters enter the fray. I think I'll fudge some of the characters if I write them in 1st person, so I might switch to 3rd while focusing on their side of things.
As with anything, plans can change. If anybody wishes to see any major plot points tackled before Nazarick arrives, be sure to let me know.