Villain Retirement

"We told you, Lord Riley. You are not allowed to see or wait for Her Highness here. Please go back to the surface, you will be able to see Her Highness during the trial."

"I would like to stay here, Helguard."

"That is not possible, Lord. Her Highness won't come out of her room until the trial.

"I thought themarians do not believe in prisons, other Helguard?"

"...You can't stay here, Lord Riley. You have already been standing there for 5 hours straight, Lord Riley."

"Because I want to be the first person Aerith sees, Helguard."

5 hours. With Princess Esme's help, Riley was able to find where they were keeping Aerith. Deep underground, where no light from the surface could ever reach—but as inaccessible as it might sound, it was truly not.

The way to it was actually in plain sight, just several meters away from the castle's main entrance. It was another large door, adorned with marble pillars on the side; as well as surrounded by some fauna that almost made it look like a small garden—and no one was guarding it.

Once you open the door, however, there was nothing but darkness and a pit that led miles into the ground.

And at the end of it, was a bright hallway, with strips of blue light on both the ceiling and the floor, similar to the throne hall.

There were several doors across the hallway, but Riley did not really stop for them as only a single one had people guarding it—Aerith's room.

"How were you even able to go inside here, Lord Riley?"

"You lack security, Helguard. You're not alone in that oversight, however, as the evaniels also tend to not care about their security."

"So you are half-eva—Your Highness!"

And before the two guards could entertain themselves with their boring jobs by chatting with their unexpected visitor, they suddenly placed both their hands behind their backs; standing straight as they raised their chins high.

"..." Riley slowly looked back to see who they were saluting to, only to see a woman whose eyes were closed casually and calmly approaching them. Riley was confused as to who it was at first, as the strands of grey hair that previously covered a large part of her hair were now dyed brown. She still looked old, of course, but not like before.

"Princess Tifa," Riley bowed his head as soon as their eyes met.

"Come with me," Princess Tifa, however, just waved her hand before gesturing to Riley to follow her.

"I need to be here, Princess Tifa."

"Maybe," Princess Tifa covered her mouth as she slightly giggled, "But you can't. I promise you, I will make sure that you will be one of the first people that Aerith would see as soon as she comes out of her… seclusion."

"..." Riley squinted his eyes as he looked at the door, the guards, and then finally back to Tifa. And with a nod, he started following her. The two walked around the castle for a few minutes; unlike the other day, however, the castle was filled with life—with all the maids and other castle staff just freely walking around the hallway. Aside from Princess Tifa greeting her people, their walk was completely silent until they reached Tifa's study.

There was a certain unique smell there, it wasn't bad, but not really what one would expect to hit their nose as they enter someone's office.

"..." Riley quickly looked around the study, only to see more than a dozen shelves filled with orbs hovering in them, as well as a handful of what seemed to be books. Riley wasn't aware of how large a data the orbs could store—but it was probably astronomical in value… and there were than hundreds of them.

Does that mean that whatever data the orbs contained, Princess Tifa has read and watched them all?

"How old are you, Princess Tifa?" Riley asked as he stepped deeper into the study; his eyes, surveilling everything. But other than the floating orbs, everything just looked like a normal study one could find in rich homes.

Princess Tifa could really only look at Riley as she heard his sudden question, before glancing at one of her shelves and chuckling,

"I've forgotten how old I am, dear. Was the hair dye too much?" Princess Tifa then said as she lightly brushed her hair, "I was only going to color it gold, but I don't really like how it just looks white in some lights."

"A dye? Why did you not just inject the hair color serum that Aerith gave me, Princess Tifa?"

"I'm old. I don't like putting things inside my body that don't belong there," Princess Tifa once again chuckled as she took a seat at her desk, gesturing to Riley to sit on the chair in front of her, "Sit, we need to talk about my youngest child."

"...Hm," Riley nodded as he took a seat, "I thought you called me to talk about what happened in the canteen, Princess Tifa."

"And what happened in the canteen?" Princess Tifa raised an eyebrow.

"I almost killed one guard due to a major altercation."

"Oh," Princess Tifa waved her hand and sighed, "That's okay. If you ask me, there have been too many of us lately, not enough deaths because old people like me refuse to just go, you know?"

"That can become a problem, yes."

"So, about my—"

And before Princess Tifa could actually start their discussion, a sudden sharp cry wailed in the air. Riley's eyebrows quickly furrowed as he once again looked around the room at the slightly annoying noise.

Tifa, on the other hand, just let out a small hum before quickly standing up; slightly pushing her chair as she did so and revealing the wooden crib behind it.

"..." Riley could really only blink a couple of times; tilting his head as he watched Princess Tifa very gently… carried a baby from the crib,

"I thought themarians could only give birth once in a thousand years or so, Princess Tifa?" Riley then said; the tone of his voice, slightly deep. This… was the first time he was seeing a themarian baby—he hasn't even seen a toddler even once.

"Did Aerith tell you that?" Princess Tifa lowered her voice as she gently cradled the baby themarian, "I suppose that's true, but I'm old—the sperm just goes in and a baby slides out between my legs. It just works like that."

"..." Riley breathed out heavily, squinting his eyes as Princess Tifa started chuckling again. Suffice it to say, Riley was having a hard time discerning whether or not Tifa was telling the truth, "You seem to be a very happy person, Princess Tifa."

"I just choose to, I'm old," Princess Tifa said as she caressed the baby's cheek.

"So, that child is yours?" Riley squinted his eyes further, "I thought Claudyne was your youngest child?"

"Who knows," Princess Tifa shrugged, "But we're not here to talk about this baby. I believe your class is a sparkling success, Lord Riley. Whatever you did, it worked. I have never seen Claudyne so behaved—and her peers are unusually quiet too."

"Does that mean you will talk to the King, Princess Tifa?" Riley stood up from his seat.

"Hm…

..I already did."