Chapter 235

"Me? What do you mean, me?" Ainz asked, his heart began to race for a very different reason, he cocked his head, "You're joking… aren't you?" He flashed a doubtful smile at the pair, but Calca shook her head.

"No, Ainz… all of these are dated after our refusal to condemn you for your treatment of nonhumans, we wouldn't sign what they hoped would be a joint statement of nations that would pressure you into extermination or subjugation… and I can only think that this was why… they wanted a government that would take a hard line against any kind of demihuman tolerance."

Ainz relaxed, his heartbeat began to slow and he looked down at the fur blanket over his lower body.

Queen Calca held the paper back out to Kelart, and Ainz said, "I am sorry for our part in all this…"

"Your part?" Kelart asked with a sudden surprise on her face with blinking eyes that tried very hard not to look at the naked King, even covered up.

"Yes, it seems your… unintended friendship with us, your… neutrality with our policies must have caused some concern in some quarters…" Ainz said and rubbed the light fuzz of unshaven hair on his jaw. "I-I suppose your analysis must be correct… as expected of the Queen." He cleared his throat and asked, "How does this change the future for you…?"

It was a telling question, one that set both Calca and Kelart on edge, the brown haired caster took a step toward her Queen and without thinking, put a hand on the small of her back when the Queen faced Ainz.

Calca's eyes fell away from him and down to the floor. Her hands folded together in front of her waist, then, as absent of thought as Kelart, both hands went up toward her belly where her palms pressed softly against the cloth and toward the flesh beneath.

"M-My Queen?" Kelart asked, banished emotion roared back in her eyes as a war waged in the mind of the woman who embodied a country.

"It doesn't." She finally answered. "We can foil them, uncover the proof we need, but even so… I doubt that Astraka will lay down his arms so easily, and even if he does, what about the Queen of Frost? If we aborted everything we planned… everything we did up to now… she remains a problem. Even if all of those things are solved… What then? It won't be 'fine'... suppose we fight and defeat the Frost Queen… we weaken the demihumans, the Theocracy finishes the elves, they then use their elite units, which are better than ours, to finish our weakened enemy… where will we be then?!" Calca exclaimed, and Ainz moved, not out of the bed, but to the side of it, bringing his legs over to one side and covering his lap with the fur.

He held out his hand to the Queen, her eyes were filled with righteous anger as she deduced the possibilities of years in seconds. 'She truly is a gifted Queen… put this way, the Theocracy were fools not to do just this.' He reflected and mentally downgraded his estimation of the Theocracy government several rungs by the time she came away from Kelart and instead took the hand of her King.

"I will be your Queen, as I have promised. My people will be your people, and yours, mine. I will-" She looked away from Ainz over her shoulder, toward Kelart, who gave a subtle nod.

"I will force the temples to accept nonhuman equality under the law, offer trade to the Demihumans, free passage to the east or west… this will leave only one thing to worry about from Demihumans." Calca sighed as she ran out of steam.

"My sister. Remedios." Kelart admitted, and then her time standing as stiff as a statue in the background, came to an end. She approached the King and Queen, and went down to both knees. "She is my sister!" The advisor emphasized. "She may be an idiot, a fool, a moron, a thundering incompetent, a-"

"Is this going somewhere…?" Ainz interjected, Kelart's eyes blinked like mad as she began to lose her battle against the tears she'd struggled to hold back.

"Your Majesties… please… I beg you for her life! Must I lose everything?!" She choked the last word out, "I have no family left… I know who she is, what she is… what she has done… but please… please don't take her life!" Kelart begged and lowered her face to the floor with her hands cast forward.

"How many have already died for her?" Ainz asked with pity, and bending down, he placed a hand on Kelart's head.

"My… husband to be… Ainz… Can't you think of something?" Calca asked in a tiny little voice devoid of her earlier fire, her hand came to Ainz' shoulder. "My Kelart has suffered enough, and… I feel very strongly about Remedios. She has done some terrible things… but at least some of those are my fault, my folly."

Ainz straightened up and began to drum his fingers on his thigh as he thought the matter over, "The Queen of Frost is the one she offended, I am not the one who needs to be convinced. Granting her far more than she asked for may help, but from what has been said, the death of her envoy is the true cause of the war."

"Then offer me instead!" Kelart shouted, snapping up straight to her knees, "Offer my life for my stupid sister! If the Queen of Frost will accept me as a substitute, then we can end all this. I-I don't mind dying for my family… even if she is stubborn and pig headed."

Neither of the royals said anything. "You could strip her of her honors, confine her to a monastery forever, at least… At least then she would get to live! She'll never change but… I don't want my elder sister to die… she genuinely believed what she did was right." Kelart ran out of more steam than Calca had moments earlier, and began just repeating herself… "Please… please… please…"

"There… may actually be a solution here." Ainz said at last. "However… you would have to give Remedios Custodio up to me."

Calca and Kelart darted their eyes toward the Allfather.

"She may not be happy, but I can promise her life at least. I can't promise however, that the Frost Queen's response to either this or to Kelart's offer will be favorable." Ainz words were said with reticence, and both gave him questioning looks, but Ainz said nothing more than, "You will have to trust me."

And remained quiet until their heads bowed and they accepted his offer.

"I give you… my Remedios… save her life if you can, and I will be forever grateful." Calca whispered, while Kelart could say nothing through her quiet weeping.