The Villainess Is My Cute Daughter

”Draven.” Adrian called out. ”Is there a place where I can do my mana training? I also need a secure spot to help Serena with her issue.”

Draven nodded. ”Oh yeah, absolutely. There is an underground training room right here. You can use it whenever you want.”

The Marquis crossed his arms.

”We usually use it whenever we wish to go on isolated training for a few weeks or months.” Draven explained. ”But right now, with the monster waves hitting the walls so frequently, we don’t really have the luxury of locking ourselves away down there. So feel free to use it.”

”Thank you.” Adrian said.

”If you need any food,” Draven added. ”And if you plan on staying down there for a few weeks, just tell me. I will get my servants to deliver hot meals to your door at the exact same time every single day.”

Draven paused and looked at Adrian’s bloodstained white suit.

”Do you want to participate in the next monster invasion too?” Draven asked. ”Or do you want to be completely left alone? After all, you’ve already brought two thousand soldiers which is a lot more than I expected so I do not wish to ask you for more.”

Adrian thought about it for a second.

”Well, I will come out whenever I can.” Adrian said. ”We will see how it goes. But whatever you do, do not disturb us or knock on the door while we are inside.”

He looked at the Marquis seriously.

”Because this method takes crazy levels of internal mana control. So even a tiny distraction or a loud noise can totally ruin the process and cause some fatal problems.”

”Got it. I will keep them away.” Draven said as he nodded.

The Marquis reached into his spatial ring and pulled out a massive, heavy iron key. It was ridiculously large, almost the exact length of Adrian’s entire forearm from his fingertips all the way to his elbow.

Draven handed the key over.

Adrian took it and headed straight back into the mansion.

He walked in and spotted Serena. She was sitting quietly in the living room, chatting with Caelum and Celeste.

”Serena.” Adrian called out. ”Follow me.”

Serena shot right up from her seat. She looked super nervous. but she just sucked in a long, shaky breath to steady her racing heart and hurried over to catch up.

Draven took the lead. Adrian and Serena just trailed quietly behind the Marquis.

They walked until they reached the entrance to the underground training facility. The huge door was located directly below the guest quarters. Adrian had noticed earlier that the guest wing had around twenty lavish bedrooms, and this isolated training bunker sat directly beneath them all.

Adrian shoved the massive iron key into the slot and twisted it.

Once the lock clicked loudly. He pressed his shoulder against the heavy door and pushed it open.

He stepped right inside and checked the place out.

The space was actually incredibly impressive. It was significantly larger than the underground room Adrian had built under his own mansion and this one was fully stocked.

Tall wooden bookshelves lined the entire left wall, packed fully with thick leather bound books and training scrolls. On the complete opposite side, massive weapon racks stretched across the stone. They held dozens of pristine steel swords, heavy spears, and thick kite shields.

But the center of the room was completely bare. There was no furniture, no training dummies, and no distractions. Just flat, clean floor built with stones.

”Thank you, Marquis.” Adrian said.

Draven gave him a firm nod and left.

Adrian slammed the door shut and clicked the lock into place.

He turned around to face Serena.

”Are you ready?” Adrian asked. ”We will start the training right now.”

Serena gave a fast nod, but she still looked pretty terrified.

”What do I have to do?”

”Well, we just sit down first.” Adrian said calmly. ”And then I will explain everything.”

He gestured toward the center of the room and the two of them walked over.

Adrian sat down right on the cold stone floor and crossed his legs. He dropped his hands flat onto his knees. He made sure to keep his palms facing straight up at the ceiling.

He glanced at Serena, who was just standing there looking like a nervous lost puppy.

”Sit down right here.” Adrian instructed. ”Come forward. Make sure you are as close as physically possible.”

Serena blinked twice. Her face instantly turned a very slight pink. But she followed his instructions anyway.

She dropped down onto the cold floor and slowly scooted forward until their knees literally bumped against each other.

”Now put your hands right on top of mine.” Adrian said.

Serena reached out. She placed her soft hands right on top of his, pressing their palms perfectly together.

”Now, you just do your normal mana breathing.” Adrian instructed slowly. ”And I will explain exactly what we are going to do.”

Serena nodded. She squeezed her eyes shut and immediately started her standard mana breathing routine.

Adrian did not close his eyes yet. He carefully pushed a very tiny, almost unnoticeable sliver of his own mana directly into her hands. He just wanted to sense exactly what was going on inside her body.

He felt the flow of her energy and he could immediately tell that her mana breathing was incredibly good. Even though the overall speed of the circulation was pretty slow, the way she steadily absorbed and distributed the mana through her veins was vastly superior to what Adrian was capable of almost a year ago.

’She has great control.’ Adrian thought.

”Okay, you are really good at distributing the mana throughout your body.” Adrian praised her. ”But now, the method we are going to use is completely different. It is actually similar to the methods that knights use to rank up.”

He kept his voice extremely calm to keep her relaxed.

”The way knights go up in rank is by making their physical physique vastly better and much more sturdy.” Adrian explained. ”They push themselves to the absolute limit until their bodies can hold the mana without suffering any negative side effects.”