Marriage.

Well, she rejected me.

That was to be expected. Outside of Nazarick, women weren't crazy about me. They weren't going to fall at my feet just because I was powerful. Sometimes, plans don't go the way I want them to.

The good news is that I received a letter from my emissary. Four Armaments, Silver Thread Bird, and Blue Rose have accepted the offer and will come to my kingdom as adventurers. Red Drop, on the other hand, politely declined the offer. Well, I'll have to go receive them when they arrive.

I sighed. More paperwork. I could leave it to Albedo and then reward her... Yes, that's what I'll do.

[Message]

"Ainz-Sama!" Shalltear called me. I flinched a bit at the shout.

"Yes, Shalltear, what is it?"

"The envoys from Queen Calca have returned, and they brought Queen Calca dead."

WHAT!!

Ahem, time to improvise.

"Open a portal to E-Rantel, I'll receive them myself. Call Nigredo to find the culprit, tell her to go to the crime scene and put a bag over her head..."

Nigredo is a spellcaster whose power mainly focuses on gathering information.

"Understood, Ainz-Sama."

-------

"Your Majesty the King!! We need your help!" Pavel Baraja, the black knight and father of Neia Baraja, shouted.

"What happened?" I feigned surprise.

"The queen was attacked by a ninja."

A ninja? It could be someone hiring Ijaniya's services, or... The Theocracy, there was a member who was also a ninja there.

"Is the queen okay?"

"No, she was cut into three," said Kelart, somewhat disturbed.

"I see," I said simply.

"Can you resurrect her? We'll pay a third of the royal treasury."

"Payment won't be necessary. I imagine you haven't tried to resurrect her yet."

"It is a rule of the Holy Kingdom of Roble to leave the resurrection to the person with the highest magic rank. Normally, that would be me, but you have someone with level 7 resurrection magic, right?" she asked hopefully.

The state of the saint queen's body made resurrection magic risky. If the resurrection magic fails, the target turns into a zombie. That's why Kelart was ensuring the queen's revival.

Her level 6 resurrection magic was inferior to Pestonya's level 7 resurrection magic. Actually, Pestonya's level was higher than 7. In fact, I'll tell her to reassure her.

"Don't worry, Pestonya's level is actually higher than 7," I said, to the group's surprise.

"I-I understand, please save her."

I went to see the body; it had been split in two at the torso, and then decapitated. In total, it was divided into three parts.

"Where is Miss Remedios?"

"She went to look for the culprit."

"Mmm, I see. Let's go see Pestonya, Kelart, accompany me."

We went to the orphanage, to the curious glances of my citizens, who saw their king carrying a sack (where I stored the queen's pieces) along with the priestess of a foreign country.

"Is Pestonya here?" I asked a widow from the orphanage.

Before she could answer, the aforementioned beast woman appeared.

"Lord Ainz, what do you desire of me? Woof."

"Resurrect her," I said, placing the body in front of her.

"At your command, woof."

Queen Calca was resurrected seconds later; the room glowed, blinding Kelart and me for a second.

I quickly asked her many things to confuse and calm her.

"Do you remember who you are, are you okay, who did this to you?"

"Umm, where am I? I remember being in my carriage talking about Ainz and..." Calca, as beautiful as when she left, was in shock.

"Rest," I let her be.

I left Kelart and Calca to recover from the shock and walked away.

**[Message]**

"Ainz-Sama, Nigredo has found the culprit, Arinsu."

"Send her here to my position with the prisoner."

I turned to the women, "the culprit has been captured; I will bring them here."

"Understood, Your Majesty," Kelart spoke to me with respect.

-------

Calca's POV

A moment ago, I was in my carriage with my vassals, and now I'm back in the Sorcerer Kingdom. Or rather, I'm back to life.

Kelart had told me everything, how I died suspiciously and how I was resurrected.

"Soon you will see the culprit, I promise," said the king.

"Don't worry about that; saving me is enough," I said timidly.

"No, it's not," Kelart whispered to me, "he could have been the one who killed you."

I want to think that's not the case. Ainz Ooal Gown didn't give me that impression.

I saw how his subordinate, Pestonya, took care of me while I was in shock. A demon shouldn't have this kind of subordinates!

-----------

Soon the culprit would arrive, and I would find out who killed the queen.

About 10 minutes later, Nigredo appeared, as ordered, with a bag over her head to avoid scaring others, and with her, the 12th seat of the Black Scripture.

I hope I didn't hurt her feelings with the first order. But well, it was a surprise to have a seat of the Black Scripture here.

"As you ordered, Lord Ainz, the prisoner tried to commit suicide with poison, but I was faster."

"Mm, not even death will save him from me."

"As you say."

The seat of the Black Scripture was unconscious. With my staff, I summoned some water to wake him up.

"Wake up, sleepyhead."

"Agggh."

"Who are you?"

"A ninja from Ijaniya, hired by the Kingdom of Re-Estize."

"I see. Or is that what you think I would say? Member of the Slane Theocracy."

The ninja's eyes widened for a fraction of a second, but he hid it well.

"Haha, theocracy? Stupid demon, think what you want," the ninja spat these venomous words at me.

"The theocracy, why?" the queen asked.

"Who else? They didn't like our trade agreement, and Re-Estize wouldn't dare do such a thing."

"You say they killed me because I made deals with you?"

"They killed you because they're afraid of my influence, I'm sorry."

"Nigredo, take him to Neuronist. Since he's level 40, take a few death knights for protection."

I felt a bit guilty; because of me, she was killed in such a horrible way.

"No, it wasn't your fault," she said softly, still weak from the resurrection.

"You have very beautiful skin; do you use some kind of cosmetic?" I asked.

"Eh?! Well, I've developed new divine spells for skincare."

"Since when?" Kelart asked, confused. She was her closest confidant and didn't know.

The reason I said that was because of her bibliography:

She strongly desires to be loved, which deeply frustrates her. To maintain her appearance – keeping her skin young – she has developed new divine spells for skincare. She uses herself as a guinea pig and has thus accumulated a lot of knowledge in this field, making her the most skilled esthetician in the human realms. However, she has never publicly announced it, so no one knows. "I'm not going to be selfish. I just want a husband who loves me unconditionally!" she said.

"For a few years now, cough cough. Ainz Ooal Gown, I have a request."

"What is it?"

"I offer you my hand and my kingdom in exchange for implementing these improvements in the Holy Kingdom of Roble."

This surprised me.

"Calca! Wait, Sorcerer King, she's not well..."

"No, please marry me!"

The queen was offering me her kingdom on a silver platter.

"Alright, but there's something you need to know before the commitment."

"What is it?"

"I will have several wives."

This surprised Calca and Kelart, especially Calca, who looked sad.

"I don't mind; please love me. I have to marry before 30. If it improves my kingdom, I won't hesitate to sacrifice my happiness."

Inside, I smiled wickedly. It seemed the world was going my way.

"I think you're confused, Calca," I approached her, leaning on Kelart's shoulder. "I will make you very happy."

I placed my finger on her cheek and kissed her.

"Hmmmp."

It was a very intense French kiss.

"I promise I will do everything possible to make you happy."

"I-I see," she said, very blushing.

"Now, where do you want the wedding to be?"

"In my kingdom, in the Royal Palace of Hoburns. I've always dreamed of having my wedding there," she said hopefully.

"Then we will have it there, my sweet holy queen."

Words that would have made her cringe before now had an effect on her, leaving her red as a tomato.

On the other hand, Kelart's brain had stopped functioning from the events she had just witnessed, leaving her speechless.

Inside, I laughed like a madman. My stupid plan worked. I'll enjoy seeing the faces of the believers when they know I'll be sleeping with their saint.

If they're like Kelart's right now, then I'll have fun in the future.

xxxxxx

How did you like the ending? Did you hate it or enjoy it? If you liked it, please give me power stones.