Obsession: Albedo’s Desire

Yuri beams with a radiant smile, but her resolve is ironclad. Refusal isn't an option she entertains. To do such a thing to an innocent maiden and not take responsibility is unthinkable—akin to Ainz-sama being a mere human incapable of magic.

If he dared refuse, she'd likely collapse in shock before swinging her blade in earnest.

The man, unaware of Yuri's conviction, meets her gaze with solemn intensity and nods gravely.

"I understand. I'll take responsibility."

"Yay! ♡"

No longer a rain of kisses, her lips now claim his cheek, then his mouth.

Their rhythm resumes—grinding shifts to fervent thrusts. The sound of flesh meeting flesh mingles with wet slaps, interrupted by Lupusregina's exaggerated cough.

"Sorry to interrupt the heat, but how's Onii-san planning to take responsibility?"

Despite the tender scene of her sister's love confession, Lupusregina's eyes are cold. She knows this man better than Yuri does and can't fathom why her sister's so swept away.

"It's obvious—"

"It's obvious," the man interjects. "My responsibility is to satisfy Yuri whenever she desires."

"…Huh!?" Yuri balks, stunned.

Lupusregina sighs, unsurprised.

"No way! Taking responsibility means marrying me!"

"Marry? Why does that equal responsibility?"

"Because… we did that!"

"So I'll satisfy you whenever you want."

"That's not it! Responsibility means… uh, well…" Yuri falters.

"It means fulfilling a role or duty. My duty now includes pleasing you, right?"

"No!!"

The conversation had turned serious, so he'd switched from the local tongue to fluent Japanese, a skill honed to impress even Demiurge. Neither Yuri nor Lupusregina notice the seamless shift.

He recalls the Japanese dictionary he was lent: "Responsibility: a duty or obligation one must fulfill." He knows the definition precisely.

But there's a catch. His dictionary was for children—large print, full hiragana, and limited entries. A grown-up dictionary would include "moral responsibility," explaining that an unmarried couple's intimate act is improper, thus requiring marriage to rectify it.

Yuri means moral responsibility, but they're speaking past each other, each clinging to a different meaning of the same word. No wonder they're not connecting.

Had he studied an adult dictionary and grasped Yuri's intent, he might've bluntly said, "That's just your feelings, isn't it?"—and been pummeled for it.

"You did all that to me, and marrying me is that bad?"

Yuri's eyes are sharp, her smile gone, yet she remains astride him.

"Hmm…"

He hesitates. It's not that he's opposed, but he doesn't understand why marriage follows. As a non-native Japanese speaker, his understanding of "responsibility" is dictionary-bound.

Yuri can't explain why responsibility equals marriage either—she assumes it's obvious.

They're at an impasse. Someone must yield, and it's always the weaker one.

Her body tightens around him, coaxing a subtle pleasure. Fresh from release, the urge stirs again, but Yuri won't move until he agrees. He can't overpower her high-level physical prowess.

Like Solution before him, a man craving release is weak-willed.

"Fine, marriage it is," he concedes lightly.

The moment he speaks, before Lupusregina can protest, "Onii-san's supposed to be my husband!" or Yuri's smile returns, a deafening blast shatters the room's window into splinters.

At the doorway stands Solution, her exquisite face a mask of deathly calm. Her usual serene smile is gone—an ominous sign.

She lowers the leg that kicked the door open, approaching the entangled pair with eerie calm.

Yuri tumbles off him, overwhelmed by Solution's oppressive aura.

Solution's gaze, sharp and unyielding, flicks to Yuri, then Lupusregina, who squeaks pathetically. It settles on the man, still unabashedly erect despite her presence.

Ignoring temptation, she locks eyes with him, her stare lethal.

"You promised to marry me. Yet you'd marry Yuri-neesama? Are you mocking me? Toying with her? I've spoken to Sebas-sama about our promise. And you'd break it? To humiliate me, a Pleiades! …I'm sorry. I liked you. But you can't live."

Her arm rises, delicate fingers morphing into grotesque, viscous sludge. Her skill activates, promising instant death.

Solution had consulted Sebas about a Nazarick servant marrying a human, using Sebas and Tuare as a pretext to mask her own desire. Sebas knows she wants this man. But now, her promised husband claims he'll marry Yuri.

Unacceptable.

A Pleiades, Solution Epsilon, betrayed by a human who'd marry her sister instead.

Unforgivable.

Nazarick's pride, her pride as a woman, lies in tatters. She can't live with such shame, nor let him. Albedo's wrath be damned—she's ready to die too.

Was she more woman than servant? Is that why this betrayal stings?

Their time together was sweet—a honeymoon of mutual indulgence. A pang of guilt hits her—for Albedo's prized "meal," for Ainz's care for his servants, or for losing him.

She shakes it off.

"Goodbye, dear Onii-sama. Our sibling charade was false, but my love was real."

Before Yuri, frozen in shock, or Lupusregina, trying to intervene, can act, he speaks.

"Of course I'll marry Solution. I haven't forgotten our promise."

Her arm halts.

Lupusregina's baffled.

Yuri snaps back first.

"You said you'd marry me! What's this about Solution!?"

"I'll marry you too."

"Whaaat!?"

"And me, right?" Lupusregina chimes.

"We didn't—"

"Let's make that promise now! I'll bear lots of healthy babies!"

"What's with 'let's'—"

"Quiet! I'll even… you know ♡."

He falters.

Pushing past Solution, Lupusregina climbs onto the bed, starting her promised "service." A man nearing release is predictable.

"Fine," he gasps.

"Yay!"

Lupusregina's mouth joins her hands, her heat contrasting Yuri's dullahan chill. Teased by Yuri, he's close when—

"Ow! What the—!?"

Lupusregina's ear is yanked, her moment ruined.

"You'd marry me and Yuri-neesama? What's your plan?"

"Yeah! Marriage is for one person!" Yuri adds.

"Why not?" Lupusregina shrugs.

"Shut it, Lupu!" they snap in unison.

"…Fine."

Unfazed, he tilts his head, puzzled by their outrage.

"True, the Sorcerer Kingdom forbids polygamy."

They tense.

"But does Nazarick follow the Kingdom's laws?"

The sisters freeze, struck by the implications.

E-Rantel, the Sorcerer Kingdom's capital, was once a Kingdom city, bound by its laws. Even now, Albedo's bureaucrats are revising them, but until then, Kingdom laws apply. Polygamy is likely to remain banned.

As a Sorcerer Kingdom citizen, he's subject to its laws. But as Albedo's subordinate, he's also Nazarick's.

Nazarick's laws supersede the Kingdom's. And in Nazarick, polygamy's status is delicate.

Albedo and Shalltear vie for Ainz's hand. If polygamy is banned, the loser faces eternal defeat. A solution must exist.

Yuri and Solution exchange glances. This is an Albedo—or Ainz—level matter. Pleiades like them can't meddle without risking wrath. They're not foolish enough to step on that tiger's tail.

"Whatever," Lupusregina says, unfazed.

"You plan to take both me and Yuri-neesama as wives?" Solution asks.

"Hey, don't forget me!" Lupusregina protests.

"Three wives?"

"More like I'd be the shared property of three."

"What do we do, Yuri-neesama?"

"Don't ask me…"

Too delicate to resolve here, they sigh in unison.

Solution's gaze dips, catching Yuri's bare form—fuller breasts, neatly trimmed hair, and a glistening slit dripping with his essence. Wasted on sheets when she could—

"No way, So-chan! Snap out of it!" Lupusregina tackles her, sensing disaster.

"Not that—drink from the source."

"Oh… right. Thanks, Lupu."

Yuri, oblivious to the near-crisis, misses the danger.

Lupusregina knows Solution's obsession with his essence. Yuri's fresh "deposit" is too tempting. To avoid catastrophe, Lupusregina stops thinking.

"What's that mean?"

"This."

"Stop joking!"

Nabe grabs his collar, hoisting him up. Pain or not, choking is agony. His face reddens, and she releases him. Coughing, he states his purpose.

"I heard you're marrying Yuri-neesama, Solution, and Lupu."

"Talks are ongoing. Likely, but not confirmed."

While Pandora's Actor plays Momon, Nabe guards the Shining Golden Pavilion or stays at the mansion with the sisters. Yuri's back at Nazarick, but Solution and Lupusregina, smug in victory, let Nabe have her moment.

They're peeking, of course. Vile sisters. He's just as guilty for not warning her.

"Why am I not included?"

"Do you want to marry me?"

"Don't be stupid! I wouldn't marry a human. But if I had to… figure out why!"

"…Huh?"

Classic Nazarick nonsense. The peeping sisters cackle, pinching each other to stay quiet. Hopeless pair.

"No reason."

"There's a reason! Think!"

"We've had no real contact. I can't invent something that doesn't exist."

Nabe's stern facade cracks with pain.

"But with Beauty Nabe, maybe…"

"What?"

"As Momon's partner, you're tied to him, who has a fiancée. Rumors swirl when a man and woman are close. Marrying another man could quash those. We'd grow close over time, or whatever."

"That's it!"

"But as a Sorcerer Kingdom citizen—"

"I'm fine with that."

Nabe beams, her worries eased. She glances at him, then the bed, her cheeks flushing with each look.

"Shall we rehearse as husband and wife?"

"Uh… sure."

They rehearse.

The next morning, the sisters tease Nabe mercilessly about her "rehearsal." Blushing under Pandora's Actor's concern, she vows revenge on her wicked sisters.