Villain Retirement

"That is how I manipulate people like Katherine, Silvie, the others, and...

...You."

The part was still filled with noise; the curious eyes of the people, still obviously centered and even piercing Aerith's bones. There were people sneakily moving closer to them, pretending to be getting food from the buffet table.

All of this was going on, and Aerith was aware of every inch of it—and yet right now, her eyes were only fixated on Riley as he placed his finger on her chest.

"Me…?" One of Aerith's eyebrows started to rise as she looked Riley in the eyes, "You think you're manipulating me?"

"I was, I am, and will continue to do so until one of us eternally dies," Riley nodded, almost as if he did not just say something morbid, "Because deep down, you are a kind person, Aerith."

"There you guys go again, confusing me with the righteous and mighty Megawoman—that's done. You've seen who I am now, you have seen my people," Aerith rolled her eyes as she removed Riley's finger from her chest.

"No, I've really only ever seen you, Aerith," and with those words and a light chuckle, Riley shrugged before once again choosing what food he would eat,

"I suppose I don't really have to worry if something is not edible, they probably prepared this while having all the other species in mind, no? The cuisine should be… for the universal tongue."

"You're really, really weird."

"You're weird."

"Wh—"

"Your Highness."

And with Riley still not having picked something to try from the buffet table, one of the people that have been giving them side glances finally gained the courage to approach; this time, however, Riley completely left Aerith on her own as he went to the other side of the table.

"..." Aerith subtly gestured to Riley to come back, but he was completely ignoring her. And so, with a deep breath, the only thing Aerith could really do was turn around.

"My name is Fruq, a senator of United Bujut from the planet Andro of Sector 68. First of all, I would like to express my deepest, deepest respect to…"

"Hm," Aerith didn't really need to talk. She just smiled and hummed every now and then to pretend she was actually understanding the person in front of her. It also didn't help that another person came and talked to her… and then another… and another.

She could barely even entertain one, and now there were 10 people in front of her, covering her entire view. Aerith could not help but glance at Riley from time to time, almost as if asking him to save her from the situation. But alas, Riley seemed adamant in pretending to ignore her.

Unbeknownst to Aerith, however, Riley truly was not thinking about her right now and was just solely focused on what to taste.

"...This one looks like a giant cockroach, interesting," Riley squinted his eyes at each unfamiliar dish he saw, which was pretty much everything on the buffer table, "Hm…"

And as his mind was at a loss as to what to try first, the person that was serving and waiting at the table approached him.

"What type of dish are you looking for, Mr. Riley Ross?"

"Something truly different, Elder Skeem."

"You… know who I am?"

And without even looking at the person that approached him, Riley continued focusing on the dishes.

"I recognize your voice and the way you talk during our hologram call back on my home planet, Elder Skeem," Riley just shrugged.

"But I did not talk then."

"You gasped," Riley finally turned his eyes toward Skeem, only to see his elongated head.

No—elongated was not even the word that Riley would describe it as. He just looked like a worm. The rest of him was humanoid, however—but it was obvious that his limbs were mechanical due to the fact that… the rest of him just looked like a robot. He was also wearing some sort of monocle that released some odd colors.

"You remember me just by the sound of my breath?" Skeem said, his long head…or neck, slightly moving. Riley did not really know where his forehead, face, and neck ended. In the first place, Riley shouldn't be comparing him to a worm as Skeem had a mouth and a pair of eyes.

"I remember you by the sound of your fear, Elder Skeem."

"..." And with those words, Skeem's head completely stopped moving. His perfectly round, black eyes which didn't seem to be capable of blinking, reflecting Riley's face and nothing else.

"And here I thought Princess Aerith is here to show that her race is peaceful," Skeem then said.

"She is," Riley shrugged before once again looking at the dishes, "I'm not one of her race, Elder Skeem."

"But you're with her. Doesn't that paint her in a bad light?"

"Only if you have bad eyes, Elder Skeem. The fact that I am with her, and not causing trouble here proves that Aerith can pacify even the most…chaotic of people."

"We'll see," Elder Skeem's voice started to lower as he pointed at the table, "Try that one, it's meat cooked from a plant on my home planet."

"Meat from a plant?" Riley squinted his eyes as he quickly looked to where Skeem was pointing, only to see a dish that just looked like roasted beef.

"I have reviewed all the life from your home planet, Mr. Riley Ross. I assure you, that dish has a taste your tongue has not touched before," Skeem then nodded as he turned around. Before he left, however, he whispered something quietly in Riley's ears,

"Your clone's death was not painless. The same will happen to you."

"Are you sure he's dead?"

"...What?"

"Are you sure he's dead?" Riley repeated his question as he started casually floating the meat that came from a plant toward his plate.

"Yes," the tone of Skeem's voice slightly showed his confusion.

"Oh, must be a different one, then."

"..." Although Skeem was still completely confused as to what Riley was saying, he no longer gave him any heed as he walked away.

And so, finally, Riley was left alone—his plate, finally adorned with food. Riley then started looking around for a few seconds, before finally finding a tall circular table without a single person around it; there seemed to be no chairs, however…perhaps in respect to other species' anatomy.

Riley carefully grabbed a knife and fork from his pockets, placing them on the table before grabbing a napkin out of nowhere and covering his chest with it. There were a lot of people looking at him—stares of disgust, fear, curiosity, awe, and hatred.

Right now, however, the only thing he could see was the plate of food on his table… which was now gone.

"..." Riley blinked a couple of times, before very slowly turning his eyes to the person that was suddenly on the opposite side of the table, eating his food… and even using his personal knife and fork.

"It honestly just tastes like dry-aged gryphon meat, although I suppose you have not had the pleasure of tasting that either. Have you, Riley Ross?"

"I was about to taste something like it," Riley's eyebrows subconsciously furrowed as he saw his spoon touching the lips of a stranger—an oddly familiar stranger, that is,

"Can I assume you are Princess Vera's mother, Queen Vania?"

"No need for formalities between us, the blood of my son is already in your hands, Riley. You may just address me as Vania."