The Villainess Is My Cute Daughter

Serena stopped breathing.

Even from a distance, Serena could identify the ruined suit. Especially the suit. Mostly because it had multiple custom engravings which were literally made of actual gold thread.

These similar patterns were enough for her to tell that this was Adrian.

She just stopped where she was.

She had been fully expecting the whole war, or the fight against the monsters, to be easily handled by him. But she never expected him to come back in such a horrifying state.

And while Draven took him inside the mansion, she saw the others.

Right behind Draven was Claire.

Claire was on a wooden stretcher, and two tired soldiers were carrying her into the mansion too.

Serena could see exactly what happened to Claire. There was a bite mark on her calf. And she could see a chunk of flesh ripped out of her right arm.

Serena just put her hands to her mouth in shock.

And these two weren’t the only ones.

She looked past them. She looked at the other soldiers who were being moved into the courtyard. A lot of the soldiers who were actually walking and helping were all injured. They all had messy bandages.

But the ones who were being carried in stretchers looked really, really serious.

A lot of them had some of their limbs missing. Some of them had chunks of flesh being bitten right off their bodies.

And then Serena also saw some bodies being moved.

She knew for a fact that these were dead bodies because among the group that was transporting them, they were carrying headless corpses.

Serena felt her stomach twist.

She immediately fell to her knees and started retching.

Celeste quickly crouched down and patted her back.

And Serena could tell that Celeste’s hands were also shaking.

She puked until there was nothing left in her stomach anymore. And even then, she continued dry retching for a while, with tears leaking from her eyes.

It took her a few minutes to finally calm herself down.

She wiped her mouth, stood up slowly, and walked into the mansion.

She saw the family members who were gathered inside the main living room, and walked right up to them.

”Could you please tell me where Adrian is?” Serena asked quietly.

One of Draven’s sons looked at her.

”He’s in the master’s bedroom.” the boy replied.

Serena nodded and started walking. She climbed until she reached the highest floor, which was the third floor of the mansion.

She stopped in front of a wooden door.

It had a lot of intricate carvings on it, and it looked pretty expensive.

She stood there in the quiet hallway. She took a deep, shaky breath, and pushed the door open.

And inside the massive master bedroom, the silence was deafening.

Draven was just sitting in a wooden chair right up next to the bed and he looked like he had aged ten years in just a few hours. He rested his elbows on his knees and just stared blankly at the mattress.

Adrian was lying on the bed.

There were two nervous servants standing over him. They were holding wet cloths, gently dabbing the blood and dirt off his face. The water in the wooden bowl sitting on the bedside table was already stained with blood.

And now Serena could finally see it.

She could see just how bad the actual damage really was.

The right side of Adrian’s face was a swollen, ruined mess. There was a massive purple lump protruding right above his right eye, forcing the eyelid shut. His lips were split open in three different places. Deep, jagged cuts and dark bruises covered his cheeks and jawline.

As for the rest of his body, Serena could not really see anything. He was covered by a thin white blanket up to his chest. But the blanket was already starting to seep with fresh red patches from underneath.

She slowly took a step forward and she felt like her legs were chained to the floor.

Someone else moved much faster than her.

Celeste had been behind her the entire time. Both Celeste and her brother, Caelum, walked into the room the moment Serena stopped blocking the doorway.

And the very first thing Celeste did was shift into pure survival mode.

She marched right up to the marquis.

”Could you tell me where I can find paper and some quills?” Celeste asked as she looked at Draven.

Draven blinked and snapped out of his daze. He just pointed a finger at the large desk in the corner of the bedroom.

Celeste rushed over, pulled the top drawer out, grabbed a thick stack of blank parchment, and placed it down on the wooden tabletop. She quickly found a bottle of ink and a handful of feather quills.

She grabbed one of the quills and dipped it deep into the ink bottle.

Then she started writing.

She scribbled incredibly quick, writing down a long list without pausing for even a second. Soon, a massive list of medicinal ingredients was ready.

She grabbed the paper, walked back over to Draven, and shoved it right into his hands.

”Get me as many batches of these specific ingredients as possible.” Celeste ordered firmly. ”I need all of it right now.”

Then she pointed her finger at a small box she had drawn down in the bottom corner of the paper.

She looked Draven dead in the eyes.

”If you are having trouble finding the first set of ingredients, give me these ones instead.” Celeste told him. ”We need to treat him as soon as possible. And having a basic, fast-acting medicine is going to help much better than having nothing at all. So get me whichever batch you can find the fastest.”

Draven just nodded. He didn’t say a single word as he grabbed the paper, stood up from his chair, and ran straight out of the bedroom.

Celeste watched him leave. Then she turned around and looked at her brother.

”Can you do something?” Celeste asked Caelum. ”Is there any magic you can use to help stabilize him?”

Caelum just stood near the foot of the bed. He looked down at Adrian’s broken body for a few long seconds. Then he slowly turned to look at his older sister.

”I could try to make something.” Caelum muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. ”But I really don’t know much about healing magic. It was never my specialty.”

Celeste just clicked her tongue in frustration.

And that was when a very familiar voice came from the doorway.

”Draw these runes on a wooden board.”

The three of them turned around at the same time, and saw Aria standing there.

And the girl did not look fine either.

Her large eyes were bloodshot and swollen red. And they could all clearly see dried streaks of dark, crusty blood running down her cheeks. It looked like she had been crying actual tears of blood.

She leaned heavily against the doorframe just to keep herself standing.

She held a folded piece of paper in her small, trembling hand. She lifted it up slightly, looking straight at the runesmith.

Caelum stepped forward and took the paper from her. He unfolded it and quickly went through the complicated runic drawings drawn on it.

Then he looked down at her.

”Young miss.” Caelum said softly, his voice full of concern. ”I really feel like you should rest.”