"Is she back yet?" Keith pushed up his glasses surveyed his clean workroom. They'd even managed to get the blood stains out with some good old fashioned baking soda and vinegar. Sure it took two treatments but that was Tulith’s job.

He'd finished Delilah, a defence-based golem with enhanced construction and imbued it with [Sense Enemy]. It'd been immediately sent out to the western field.

Then he’d just sat around refilling his mana pool while Tulith made his work space presentable for experimenting on the princess.

Not that he was cleaning things for the princess, mind. Just that it would be easier to interrogate her while she wasn't sitting on a bloody, oily, arcane wooden bench.

That was the only reason.

"The princess hasss been spotted entering the castle not too long ago." Tulith came back from disposing of the cleaning materials and brought with her a platter of snacks. She held it for the Dark Lord to nibble on as he contemplated dark things. "She was carrying two hamperss: one full of bimbleberriesss and the other full of garlic."

"Garlic?" The Dark Lord scrunched his nose in distaste. "What dish requires berries and garlic?"

"I don't know, Master," Tulith said. "But you may ask her yourself, I can sssmell her approaching."

Henrietta peeked in through the open door and then marched in with her head high and shoulders back, looking regal. Somewhere, she'd acquired new clothes, and the dark green pants under decorative layered white and light green hunting tunic suited her. The pant string on her waist bunched up as the pants weren't exactly the right fit, but it worked well nonetheless. Her moment of poise was ruined when her stomach growled.

She blushed. "My apologies, Quick Step always leaves me hungry and I didnt have time for lunch, excepting the bimbleberries."

"You can snack on this while I ask you some questions and run my first series of tests." Lord Keith motioned Tulith forward with her tray of cumber sandwiches, candied fruit, sausages and goat brie. Keith had already eaten the honey scones.

Henrietta looked beside herself with appreciation as she picked up a tiny sandwich.

Keith tried to ignore her adorable facial expressions and turned away to get his scanning tools. "First we will determine how you got through my minions, then we will see your effect on my constructs. Take a seat on the work table, please."

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He patted his work desk twice and the princess jumped up to sit comfortably on its smooth, clean surface.

"Oh um, I actually found out why I got past the lizardkin guards so easily," the princess tentatively offered. "At least, probably."

"You have?" Keith raised an eyebrow. He was reaching for a serrated knife set, but changed his direction to a small carving knife hanging from an ornate display case. "Tell me more."

"It's all my fault," She slumped forward, looking miserable. "I am a terrible Hero of Justice."

"So don’t be a Hero."

"Pardon?"

Keith grabbed a quill and a tray of various ink bottles. He mixed a few together on a small seashell and put everything beside the carving blade. "If you want to be a Hero, that's fine, but it's your parents forcing an identity on you without accepting your own preferences, am I right?"

"I mean, it's best for the kingdom if the Heir is strong and manly..."

"Sounds sexist to me. Half of the Valarian continent is ruled by women. Even if you aren't counting Their Royal Highness Rowen of Peldeep, who switches between man woman or other at the drop of their fox-tail." Keith shook his head and tsked. "So aside from your parents wanting a son and forcing you into some half-cocked princely mould, you've no other attachment to being a Hero?"

"..."

"As I said," Keith continued when there was no ready response. "Just don’t be a Hero."

Babble bubbled up and spilled out of her. "It's not that I don't like being a Hero and I know that a princess is just as good as a prince. I know women and men level up equally so there isn't a difference between your Strength Level 60 and my Strength Level 60–"

"Sixty?" Keith did a double take and looked the princess over slowly. She didn't seem to notice.

"– and I know girls can rule with an iron fist. Grand Duchess Calisto of North Sumbria is so tyrannical that her nobles don't get to keep any of their collected tax money. They have to put it into infrastructure. It gives my father a hernia just talking about it… but I don't like complicated magical memorization or killing people or backstabbing politics. I just want to go for long walks and meet interesting people and bake. Is that too much–" she cleared her throat, "Sorry, just give me a minute and I'll pull myself together. What were we talking about again?"

"You." Keith took the empty tray of snacks from her and handed it off to Tulith, who disappeared out the door. "We were talking about you."

"Oh."

Keith waved a hand and Henrietta lay down on the table. He dropped his brush in ink and began drawing Arcane symbols. The first spell was first level, requiring no concentration on his part.

"So tell me more."