The Villainess Is My Cute Daughter

He looked around at the massive estate and groaned internally. Taking over a massive city meant he had a ridiculous amount of administrative work to do now.

’I have to do so much management now.’ Adrian thought lazily. ’I do not want to deal with all this bureaucratic bullshit.’

He decided to just give all of this work to someone else instead.

’I can handle the paperwork once I get back to Oresfall.’

Adrian walked outside and found Burke waiting near the gates.

”Burke.” Adrian called out. ”You are staying here.”

Burke saluted. ”Yes, my lord.”

”Keep one thousand of our Oresfall soldiers stationed in this city to maintain order.” Adrian instructed. ”Just let the people do their own thing and keep the economy running. As long as they do not attack any of our men or break the laws, leave them alone.”

”Understood.” Burke nodded firmly.

Adrian then walked over to Captain Thorne.

”You and every single soldier from this city are following me back to Oresfall.” Adrian ordered the knight. ”All three thousand of your men.”

Thorne bowed his head. ”We will follow you anywhere, Lord Adrian.”

Adrian did not waste another minute in this city. He mounted his horse and rode straight out of the territory gates.

He rode back into the forest tree line and found his inner circle waiting for him.

Aria was standing quietly, surrounded by the five elite kids who were heavily guarding her.

Adrian dropped from his horse and walked straight over to her. He crouched down and gently patted her silver hair.

”Well,” Adrian gave her a warm smile. ”Papa did a really good job today, right?”

Aria beamed right back at him. ”Yes! Papa is the best!”

It was a completely bizarre scene. A super wholesome family moment. Especially considering the fact that a grown man’s fresh corpse got chucked off a stone wall a few minutes ago.

But Aria did not care about the dead guy at all.

She just threw her tiny arms around his neck and squeezed him tight.

”Papa is the strongest.” Aria said as she giggled happily.

Once he was back in Oresfall, he headed straight for his private study.

He skipped the victory celebrations entirely. He did not even bother resting his tired muscles. He just slumped right into his leather chair and started yanking out the messy trade reports his people had compiled over the last few weeks.

Then he snatched a fresh sheet of paper and a quill.

He immediately started planning the future projects and the direction in which Oresfall would grow.

Oresfall just doubled in size. He had thousands of new citizens to feed, multiple new buildings to construct, and an entire army of three thousand men to integrate into his own ranks. He started assigning specific construction goals, trade routes, and military rotations.

Adrian basically locked himself inside that study for seven straight days. He went through the endless administrative plans until his hands cramped up.

And then a royal courier rode right up to his front gates at the end of the week.

The messenger carried a thick parchment roll sealed with the bright gold crest of the Crestwall Empire. But the guy did not just drop the mail off and leave.

He stood right outside the mansion doors, waiting for an immediate response.

Adrian cracked the seal and unrolled the scroll.

His eyes scanned the fancy, elegant handwriting.

The letter was a direct royal summons. Adrian had launched a full-scale siege on Viscount Alexander’s city; officially the Halerius territory. Since he had done it without asking for permission, the Emperor was personally dragging him to the royal court to face judgment.

”What the fuck?” Adrian muttered.

Launching an offensive war without sending advanced notice to the capital was technically illegal. But Alexander had gotten another kingdom to burn Oresfall to the ground first. Adrian was just defending his own borders and retaliating.

’Fine... whatever.’ Adrian sighed.

Adrian did not panic. He just walked out the front doors and shoved the intercepted letters straight into the courier’s chest.

Those papers were the raw reports proving Alexander’s treason.

”Tell the Emperor I will be in the capital in a week or two.” Adrian said flatly.

The messenger scrambled to hold the heavy evidence, bowed stiffly, and spurred his horse away.

Adrian immediately called for his inner circle.

Cassius walked in first, followed closely by Claire. Burke was currently stationed in the captured Halerius city, managing the new territory.

”Cassius,” Adrian ordered. ”You are in charge of everything here while I am gone. Keep the food flowing and make sure the construction does not stop.”

”Understood, my lord.” the merchant nodded.

Adrian turned to his general. ”Claire, what is the exact status of our military forces right now?”

”We have the original five thousand men, and four thousand of them are stationed here.” Claire reported efficiently. ”Plus the three thousand soldiers we absorbed from Alexander’s city. And the recruitment posters got us another two thousand applicants last week, and every single one of those new recruits is female.”

Adrian raised his eyebrows. ”Two thousand women?”

”Yes, my lord.” Claire smirked. ”Your plan worked perfectly.”

”That is a much higher number than I expected,” Adrian grinned. ”Great. Keep them training and integrate them into the regular squads.”

He tapped his desk. ”I am heading to the capital. I am not bringing a massive army this time. It will just be me, Aria, you, and Lorcan.”

Lorcan was naturally going to stay completely hidden in the shadows, acting as Adrian’s invisible shield. To the rest of the world, Adrian was just traveling with just his daughter and his knight.

They left the next morning.

Adrian did not ride a horse this time. He now had his own luxurious travel carriage that had his new crest. It was still incredibly bumpy and uncomfortable since the dirt roads in this era were absolute garbage, but it was better than sitting in a saddle for weeks.

’I really need to invent some proper carriage suspensions when I get back.’ Adrian thought. ’Maybe add some rubber tires too.’

The journey took three long weeks, and they finally reached Crestwall’s Capital.