The Villainess Is My Cute Daughter

Aria just shook her head.

She pushed herself off the doorframe and tried to take a single step forward into the bedroom.

Her knees buckled.

She stumbled and fell hard onto the wooden floor.

She didn’t try to get back up. She just raised her small, bruised fist and punched the floor in pure frustration. And then she just started crying. Small, weak sobs left her throat as she shook.

Serena felt her chest tighten.

She looked over at Caelum.

”Go do what she told you to do.” Serena said.

Serena quickly walked over to Aria and crouched down on the floor. She gently wrapped her arms around Aria and helped her stand back up. She didn’t let go of her after that. Instead, she picked Aria up and carried her over to the large bed.

And even before Aria could ask to be put down, Serena just gently placed her right onto the mattress, directly beside Adrian.

”You should rest too.” Serena whispered, pulling the edge of the blanket over Aria. ”And I feel like you will sleep much better having him right beside you.”

Serena just reached out and gently patted the top of Aria’s messy hair.

”Don’t cry, okay?” Serena said softly, forcing a reassuring tone into her trembling voice. ”He is going to be fine. We both know that your father is a really strong man.”

Aria sniffled loudly and nodded her head.

She slowly turned on her side and looked at Adrian lying next to her. She could see exactly how bad the damage was up close. She could see the deep purple bruising on his skin and the dried blood in his hair.

She took a really long, shaky breath in. Then she exhaled slowly through her mouth.

Her eyelids fluttered for a second, and then her eyes finally closed. Exhaustion hit her hard and she didn’t fight it this time.

She fell asleep almost instantly.

Serena just stood there near the edge of the mattress and watched the two of them sleep.

’Just what kind of war did they fight?’ Serena asked herself.

She didn’t get an answer. But she had seen the horrifying aftermath with her own two eyes. She had seen the massive lines of bleeding, screaming soldiers being carried around and moved.

And this was the very first time she had ever actually seen so many people injured at once. She had never seen that much blood in her entire life.

She was a noble’s child, born into one of the highest tier of Crestwall nobility. But she had rarely ever seen the ugly reality of wars. Duke Silas had always made sure that she was heavily protected and sheltered. He made sure she never had to grow up looking at things like severed limbs and crushed heads.

She looked down at the six-year-old girl sleeping beside her bloodied father.

Serena just let out a heavy, depressing sigh.

’Why does a child have to go through something like this?’ Serena thought to herself.

She just stood there and asked herself how she would have reacted. How would she have felt if something like this had happened to her own father when she was Aria’s age and what would she have done if she saw Duke Silas carried home with broken limbs.

Serena closed her eyes and shook her head.

’Forget being her age.’ Serena reasoned with herself. ’I wouldn’t even be able to handle seeing my father like this... not even now.’

She opened her eyes and looked back at Adrian.

Just seeing him lying there so helpless and broken sent a sharp, agonizing pain straight through her chest.

With Aria sleeping now, her worries and anxiety went straight back up for Adrian. Her hands started to shake and she slowly reached out, moving her trembling fingers toward his arm resting on top of the blanket. She gently wrapped her hand around his.

And just from that single, soft touch, her heart sank.

His hand felt completely wrong.

She could feel the massive, unnatural swelling in his knuckles. His fingers felt thick and stiff, like the bones inside them had been crushed into powder and stabbed into the flesh. There were deep, jagged cuts running across his palm and wrists.

She just felt a chill run down her spine.

Something was wrong. Something was really, really wrong with his body.

Celeste walked over from the writing desk. The herbalist stopped right beside Serena and gently placed her hands on her shoulders.

”I did not expect something like this to ever happen to him.” Celeste whispered grimly.

Serena nodded slowly, her eyes still glued to Adrian’s ruined face.

She looked up at Celeste.

”Will he survive?” Serena asked, her voice cracking.

Celeste just stared at adrian for a few seconds, and then she slowly shook her head.

That single, simple shaking of the head made Serena’s heart beat so fast it actually hurt. The sheer panic hit her like a tidal wave. She had not expected an answer like that.

But luckily for her sanity, Celeste clarified her words a second later.

”Whether he survives or not is something I cannot really tell you for sure right now.” Celeste explained quietly. ”But his actual chances of living after taking all of this physical damage is incredibly low.”

Celeste squeezed Serena’s shoulders.

”I am not really a trained healer or a holy priest who can formally diagnose what has actually happened to his internal organs.” Celeste continued, her voice soft but heavy. ”But I can tell that it is a bad situation.”

Celeste took a deep breath.

”I have helped people with a lot of horrific injuries in the past.” Celeste told her. ”I have seen men torn up by monsters and crushed by falling rocks. But the sheer scale of the internal and external trauma on his body... this is something that I have never seen anyone walk away from.”

Celeste looked down at Serena’s pale, terrified face.

Then she looked back at Adrian lying motionless on the pillows.

”You should probably start preparing your last words for him.” Celeste advised softly.

And that was exactly when Aria’s eyes snapped wide open.

She hadn’t been fully asleep.

Aria didn’t sit up. She didn’t say a single word. She just laid there on her side and glared straight at Celeste.

A suffocating, crushing wave of pure killing intent exploded across the bedroom. Celeste felt her entire body freeze. Every single hair on her arms stood on end and her knees gave out.

She collapsed to the wooden floor with a heavy thud.

And instantly, she felt like she was suffocating. The air in the room felt thick and heavy, like it had suddenly turned into water. She couldn’t draw any air into her lungs.

Serena panicked.

She immediately let go of Adrian’s hand, and kneeled down on the floor right beside Celeste.

”Are you alright?” Serena asked hurriedly, grabbing Celeste’s arm with worry.

But Celeste didn’t answer her. She couldn’t.

She was just lying on the wooden floor, her eyes wide with pure panic. She was desperately clutching her own throat with both hands, gasping and choking as she did her best just to try and breathe.

[A/N: I’ll be a little busy attending online classes for the next three days. Due to this, i’ll only be able to post 2 Chapters for three days but after that, I promise 6-8 Chapters per day for an entire week!]