On the very next day, Regis was on a free day from his task of being Princess Victoria's guardian and was free to do whatever he pleased. As soon as he woke up, he donned on his equipment and rushed outside the castle and into the forests. He looks about his surroundings hoping to find a monster of sorts to slay and to earn more experience and gold. The opportunity presents itself to him, only it was a little more that what he was expecting. The creature was colored it many crimson hues and resembled something of a Lamia except it did not have the torso of a human, but rather a lion with a pair of horns sticking out of its mane; a Ramleon. Regis was indeed surprised to find a Ramleon so suddenly in the middle of the forest and readied his stance while making a confident utter to no person but himself in particular.

"Heh, be careful what you wish for Regis."

As a rift walker, defeating one Ramleon would be an easy task. He takes out his sword and slashes an opening in mid air to jump into. A split second later, another tear in the space of reality would appear behind the Ramleon where Regis would fly out with his sword swinging only to be struck by the tail of another Ramleon at his left side. He was instantly struck and flies into a tree and falls to the ground. Only then did it cross his mind that Ramleons tend to travel in packs, who knew how many have traveled with the one that he encountered. However, being as strong as he is, he figured he could take out five to seven of them on his own without healing. Confident with his abilities, he picks up his weapon and dashes out of the shrubbery to take on what he thought was only a pack of at most seven Ramleons, only to stop to discover at least fifteen all around him.

"Ohhhhhhh, crap."

Just when things seemed to look bleak for the Riftwalker, another figure rises out from the sky, is color resemble a bit of the sky before he swung some sort of pocket watch which made multiple spikes of Ice to rise out of the ground, driving away nearly half the pack of Ramleons. Regis could only look up to him with surprise to see his savior, and Soul Ally; Aegis.

"Aegis, how did you know I was in danger?"

"What kind of Soul Ally would I be if I didn't?"

"I didn't think you'd leave Ravenloss."

"I didn't think you'd be dumb enough try to take on this many foes on your own."

"I didn't know there were this many."

With the help of the ice magic cast by Aegis, the two easily dispensed the rest of the rampant Ramleons and earned their winnings dropped from their furs. However, Regis could only stare at the sack of gold presented before him as Aegis tilted his head in concern.

"You know, it doesn't take a soul ally to be able to tell that you have something on your mind."

Regis immediately snapped out of his short trance and looks to Aegis.

"Huh? Oh, no it's nothing important."

"Are you sure?"

The riftwalker, completely lost of focus looks off to the castle once more, watching the skies, how they seem so blue that it was appealing to his visions. He took a moment to breath before looking back to his soul ally with a rather calmer expression.

"Yeah, I'm sure."

Regis had immediately lost the energy to continue on with the quest and proceeded back into the castle grounds to think for a bit. He arrives at the gardens of the castle to come across some place quiet where he could see many trees with birds coming in and out of. It all felt so strange to him that he always crossed many forests that look like the garden but never seemed to noticed how blue the skies were, how serene the birds' chirps were. He felt that he may have missed quite a lot when just focusing on tasks he energetically performs. He sits down on one of the benches and continued to look around until he could hear some faint sounds of a violin playing somewhere else in the garden. Curiously, he stands up and looks around to see where it was coming from. As soon as he could pinpoint the origin of the melody, he follows it to a small garden house where he could see Princess Victoria practicing the violin amongst the flowers. He stepped closer from behind and leaned against one of the pillars holding up the white wooden roof and listens to the song being produced by her violin. She played softly and soothingly making every movement elegant and natural, she even drifted along and played the pauses which continued on until the last part of song and the closing sound. She took an inhale and a sigh.

"You're really good at that, princess."

Princess Victoria was startled for a moment and looked back to Regis in surprise seeing him just within the castle grounds when he could be off slaying dragons or something. She was wearing a dress that primarily glowed in a rather ivory and vanilla glow that complimented the light shade of her auburn locks and her blue eyes while she had a small white headband to match. It was strange how her expression seems so different when it was the same one she had been using when speaking to him. In fact, Regis himself was feeling a tad bit awkward when facing Princess Victoria in this kind of manner.

"Regis, what are you doing here? I figured you'd be out slaying monsters on your day off."

The riftwalker was broken out of his awkwardness when she had spoken to him in a manner slightly more delicate than the usual. Perhaps she had already accepted the fact of being princess and embraced it every time she was home in her castle. Living two lives might have been a stretch but maybe there were some things keeping her coming back aside from family. He looked up towards the princess while scratching the back of his head.

"Ah, didn't feel like it."

Victoria could only blink towards his direction in even more surprise to actually hear such an answer from someone whom she could recall could never even put down his blade when there was some quest he could participate in. Even more so in such peaceful times where they could go on requests for bounties.

"Well, that's a first. Are you feeling alright?"

"I uhh, yeah. . . I think. Errr, d... don't let me bother you. Just keep playing like I'm not here."

Princess Victoria would curve her fingers over her palms as she raised her hand towards her mouth to muffle her slight giggle. It was funny to actually have Regis as an audience. She would raise the violin to her face once more, gently holding the neck and pushing down some of the strings. The skin of her cheek would softly kiss against the grooves of the wooden instrument as her other hand brings the bow up, lightly resting its strings to those of the violin before moving her hand back and forth into multiple angles playing a melodic harmony. Her eyes where half closed as her body began to sway slowly to the music. Regis could only watch as he sat down against one of the railings of the house as he listened to her song. For the duration of the melody, the birds would chirp softly as the wind brushed against Victoria, her hair would wave in the air but still keep from the violin as her dress also fluttered with her movements. It was not long before she would finish and face Regis eagerly.

"What do you think?"

"That is the first time something struck me so hard, but it wasn't…physical? Wait, I think that came out wrong."

Regis was at a loss for words as Robina would tilt her head at him in a smiling manner before sitting right next to him.

"Don't worry, I get it."

"Ohhh, okay. That's a relief."

"So, do you play an instrument?"

Regis's head would quirk up to her question before hang down slightly in irony that amongst all the free time he had, it never occurred to him to just sit down and practice something like playing with an instrument besides his weapons.

"Uh, I don't know how to play any actually."

Robina shakes her head towards Regis in some sort of a joking disappointment.

"Tsk, tsk tsk that will not do. The hero of Lore does not know how to play any instrument. We should really fix that."

Victoria stands up infront of Regis and presents a hand towards him, opting that she would want to show him something.

"C'mon, I know exactly what to do."

Regis's expression lightens up a little more before he took her hand into his. Only then she would pull him up and drag him along into the castle, running past the guards and servants into the ballroom, where a piano was sitting by. The riftwalker looked between the princess and the piano, not exactly sure what to say.

"Wait, that?"

"Mhmm. A hero with your dexterity should be able to play a piano very well."

She begins to grab his arm with both of her hands, pulling him excitedly to the seat of the piano before sitting him down and sitting next to him.

"I'll teach you."

She lays her finger against one of the keys to make a sound before opting for Regis to press his finger against the same key, except he hits the wrong one. This made her laugh a little towards him before he slinked his arms back to his sides ironically laughing as well.

"Wow, I'm just starting and I am already bad at it."

"No no, it's perfectly fine. Here, try again."

Throughout the rest of the day, Victoria would teach Regis on playing the piano. He was a bit slow, but he was learning how to do it. They would keep at it, laughing at one another until night would come to fall. Victoria would look sleepy and started nodding off a little.

"Hehe. Alright, I think that is enough for today. The princess will need her sleep before sneaking off to the forest in the morning."

"Maybe you're right..."

"C'mon, let's get you to your room…. Princess?"

Regis looks back to Victoria, who has already fallen fast asleep on the piano, giving off a final breath to him.

"I told you… not to call me that."

Regis would chuckle for a moment before looking around then heaving a heavy sigh with a shake of the head. He is left in an odd situation where he would definitely have to carry her to her room. Figuring that he was her bodyguard anyway, he would just carry her himself. He carries her into his arms before walking along the halls where in he had to sneak past the still wake guards and servants to avoid an awkward situation. He ended up to her room after a while. The riftwalker would have just used his ability to just tear a portal into her room, but it did not occur to him until he was already at her doorway.

"Wait a minute, I'm a Riftwalker. Ohhh, I'm so stupid… Agh nevermind."

With his head, he nudges the door open into Victoria's room where it had a strange mixture of belongings for a ranger, and for a princess. Then again, it wasn't all the surprising to see such belongings since Victoria is also Robina. He shook his head once more before laying her down on the bed, almost falling unto since he was letting fall from his back. He regained his balance before sneaking out the room and closing the door from the outside only to find Sir Ano standing next him, apparently lurking about.

"Ain't that sweet?"

Regis nearly blurted out loud before muffling into a whisper of surprise, finding the long nosed knight sneaking up on him.

"Gah, would you stop doing that?"

"Hehe that is the second time I was able to sneak up on the great Regis Felliand. I should really consider becoming a ninja."

"Yeah, good luck with that."

The riftwalker decided to also call it a night and turn in as well. He walks off to the direction to his own room on the lower floor.

"What, you won't carry me to bed?"

"Shut it."

"Good night to you too."

(Hello there again, I'm sorry that this chapter came out late compared to the others. I have been a little busy lately. Still, I have not forgotten about this fanfic. I'm planning to make this a little more audience-oriented. So please, let me know what would you like to possibly happen in the next chapters. Who know, I might place it in, thank you for reading. ^_^ )