Chapter 25: Is he a player?!
Renner walked through the halls of the castle wearing her regular outfit which was pale blue dress that was short sleeved, the previous outfit she had worn to the dungeon had been burned and her hands scrubbed clean on any blood, plus she added an extra layer of perfume to mask the scent of blood Removing any trace or smell that should not be found in a noble lady. Zanac walked just behind her with a contemplative look on his face. The guards they had with them stayed behind in the dungeon.
The Princess's face was locked in a perpetual smile, a grin that stretched quite wide and was forcing her to consciously put effort to not show her true smile. The reason for her mood was due to confirming that the Gods worshipped in the Slane theocracy were indeed individuals who crossed over from another world just like Arthur, she also learned a new term from Khajit that had turned her mood from good to great and forced the perpetual grin on her face.
'A player, Arthur might be a player'
She thought, Khajit knew a lot about the theology and history of the Slane theocracy, from before the six great gods appeared to after their deaths and with single touch from her he spilled all that she wanted to know and more, now she had good reasons to believe that her knight was quite possibly a God of equal power to the six great gods of the theocracy. This information meant that now Renner had to do all in her power to ensure that Arthur was hers and hers alone, knowing what she knows now about Arthur she felt a sense of possessiveness.
"sister?"
"Yes what is it brother?~"
Zanac found himself taken aback as heard his sister respond to him in an unusually cheery attitude, she usually responded more subdued and calm, always making sure her thoughts and feelings were known only to herself, yet here, right now the amount of glee in her voice was palpable.
"Why were you so interested in the Theocracy's religion? It's not something I had thought you'd be interested in"
"It was nothing but a minor curiosity brother, something akin to expanding my knowledge about our neighbouring countries"
"you seem far too elated for that to be the case, after you received the information from Khajit your mood shifted greatly"
"Is that how it seemed to you? I'm afraid you were just imagining things"
Zanac squinted his eyes as he looked at the back of her head, he could tell clearly that she was happier than usual and she walked with a more sloppy posture as a result of that, it was almost like her attention was somewhere else As a noble lady posture is important, it shows discipline and in Zanac's personal opinion, which a majority of the noblemen would agree with, a refined lady with great posture was quite beautiful.
"Is that so? I suppose I did. moving on, I do have to thank you for showing me an effective torture technique, I was of the opinion that bodily harm with various weapons was the best way but it seems I was wrong."
Zanac complimented, although he was surprised to know his sister was capable of such cruelty it wasn't something he didn't expect of her in fact his Surprise was more about the method she used than her knowing how to torture, this did remind him that she was indeed a bit messed up in the head, she was certainly different from most noble women. It also made it clear that neither her nor Barbro should rule the kingdom.
"Glad I could help"
She responded and they returned to their silent walk, as they rounded a corner and now made their way to her chambers and saw Arthur already standing beside the door which caused Renner to move a bit quicker. Zanac noted this change in pace and again squinted his eyes as he tried to keep up.
..
Arthur could not help but smile as he saw her approach, her wide smile and sparkling blue eyes conveyed an emotion from her that she went at great lengths to hide, Elation, she still hid her sadistic like smile but the joy in her face was present, seeing such a thing he hoped that it was because of him that she was happy.
'I should try and subtly bring it up'
He reminded himself, much like with everyone Renner always hid her true feelings not even her father can accurately tell what she's feeling Most of the time as such Arthur thought it would be only fair that she be able to relax around him and show her true emotions, what she was showing right now as she approached him was close but still hid a lot.
..
This feeling of Elation was a first for her, she hardly remembered a time where there was something that brought her so much joy. Perhaps before her mother died or when she was too young to remember anything but after then she can't recall anything to make her so happy. The moment she could count to a hundred was the moment she realised what her life would be like so there was hardly anything to be happy about.
A caged bird may dream of flying but it does so at its own detriment. Fortunately for Renner she has a reason to be happy right now, if before she thought she could use Arthur to carefully manoeuvre and take charge of her own life, before Arthur she had been trying to find a way to escape this life and go somewhere she can live without worrying about anything but now she thinks differently, her goals are starting to change.
"Good afternoon Your Majesties"
Arthur greeted the two royals with a bow, with the both of them acknowledging it by nodding to his greeting.
"Thanks for the escort brother, my knight will take it from here"
"Very well, excuse me then sir Arthur"
Zanac turned on his heels and walked away, while Arthur opened the doors to Renner's chambers and let the princess enter before following behind her and closing the door.
"You seem rather happy today Princess, did something happen?"
"Indeed, I found some very interesting things that I wish to discuss with you"
Renner said as such and took her seat at the table, she took one that would allow her to face Arthur and coincidentally the window would be behind her and thus the light from the setting sun would shine behind her creating a rather pleasant image of the princess smiling genuinely, Arthur could not help but smile back to her as he once again was reminded of her mesmerising beauty.
"forgive me if I sound rude princess but seeing a genuine smile from you truly does enhance your beauty by tenfold"
"Oh my! It's been a month since you've been my knight, are you just now showing interest in me?"
She asked, maintaining her smile however inwardly she was confused, She was certain that her smile was perfect enough to fool even the most observant of individuals, even Marquis Raeven only knew about her true smile because she had let it slip when she was a child, so she was certain Arthur could not tell or at least she assumed he wouldn't. It was imperative that his image of her was positive otherwise she wouldn't be able to control him, she had nearly let her smile slip for a moment before and he saw a glimpse of it but he didn't seem put off by it so maybe it was fine?
"I suppose you could choose to interpret my statement like that if you want"
He said as he let out a sigh and walked over to take a seat, he was hoping she would react to what he said just a bit, he purposely added the phrase "genuine smile " so that she would know what he was talking about. Her poker face was immaculate.
"So you aren't denying it?"
"I'm not confirming it either"
"Heh, I hope you realise that when you don't deny something you're practically agreeing to it, so you've told me all I need to know"
She teased, ending her statement with a melodious giggle, one that would be expected from a beautiful princess.
"Perhaps that was my intention all along"
Arthur expressed as an obvious smirk appeared on his lips, this caused Renner to pause for a bit as she realised that he may actually be serious, of course this wasn't a problem using his interest in her as a way to control him was not completely out of the question in fact she had considered it before and was more than willing to do it.
however there was a danger now that she was aware of, Arthur is probably a player an individual akin to a God, should she mess up and he find out that she's been trying to manipulate him it won't just end with her death.
However this danger only compounded on her desire to keep him by her side, she didn't understand herself but maybe she craved the power he had or perhaps it was a way to secure her own safety in case he becomes a problem in the future, regardless whichever it was one thing was certain, it's imperative that her relationship with Arthur be more than just princess and her knight and her plan on making him emotionally reliant on her was a go.
She suppressed a blush once she again realised what that would eventually entail, if his interest in her was genuine.
"you've become quite famous after that undead incident in E-Rantel"
"indeed, I have and as a result of that many nobles have been a nuisance to me"
Arthur complained and decided to not bring up the fact that she changed the topic of conversation, he figured that she was embarrassed and decided not to pursue the matter, although it was true that it's been a month since he met her so it was about time that he made his move at least.
"I apologise for that but it was a natural outcome of your achievements, plus we've achieved two of our intended goals"
She stated, Arthur has garnered the attention of the nobles and many a currently scrambling to get him on their side, this has successfully turned Arthur into a political tool with great value, the second achievement is that he has gained fame amongst the commoners, while that didn't necessarily translate to influence by itself but if you add it with Arthur's reputation within the noble court then that means now Arthur was a person of importance not to be ignored and it was more than enough to give some political power which was the main goal.
Once the nobles realise that Arthur cannot be bought(at least she's hoping he can't) they'll try to form alliances with her or give some backing to make her presence firm in the noble court.
"I suppose but what now? I haven't met any would-be spies and the assassination attempts have stopped."
"True, but you can forget about the spies, in fact they're no longer important, they'll show themselves eventually"
She instructed, the spies for the most part will come by themselves, Renner was currently thinking of something else, with Arthur by her side she let the thoughts of becoming queen passed through her mind once again, she didn't like being compromising but with Arthur at her side it would be easy to rule. She may not love the kingdom but it is her home at least
"fair enough"
Arthur agreed, the spies within the kingdom will most likely not approach, at least not until they have gathered the necessary information on him and are confident on the prize they want to dangle in his face.
"Now that's out of the way, can I ask you a question?"
Renner leaned forward, her eyes staring into his emerald coloured ones, conveying the slight seriousness of her question, however Arthur smirked and responded to her words.
"that's a question"
This caused Renner to look at him with slight annoyance but ultimately decided not to address the childishness of his response.
"I wanted to ask you—"
"Now hold up, I didn't agree to being asked the question"
Renner could only give him a deadpan stare as she watched him exhale through his nose in amusement. This was the first time he'd been this playful with her, so she took that as a good sign.
" Are you a player?"
Arthur's eyebrows shot up in shock, as he hadn't expected such a question from her, although he did figure that she would probably research the whole thing about him being from another world, he didn't expect it to be so soon.
"in a sense you could say yes."
He aptly responded, thinking about it further Arthur came to the realise that Ainz didn't exactly make it a point to keep the concept of player a secret he mentioned it whenever necessary, plus not mention the six great gods were players so they probably threw the word around even in the presence of their subjects plus the creed kings probably did the same and since Khajit was captured Renner got the information about players from him, he figures the some record of the six great gods saying the word player to refer to themselves or someone else, all in all the concept of player wasn't really that much of an unknown secret, if one searched for it they'd find it.
"I see, then does that mean you are a God like being? And are of equal power to the six great gods of the Slane theocracy?"
"That remains to be seen"
He responded, he decided to be vague about it, there are many things he didn't know about himself and the powers he held, the world of overlord had individuals with quite the OP skills, not only does he need to find out his skills but he needs to master them, like for instance mastering Sukuna's technique and domain expansion, that will be very useful.
...…
A/N: I guess some of yall probably have some feelings about this Chapter, so go ahead express yourselves.
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