The Villainess Is My Cute Daughter

’No. You are taking this the wrong way. Getting stronger is a good thing. But you are totally wrong about the rest of it.’

Aria still didn’t move an inch.

’You are already way stronger than me.’ Adrian told her flatly. ’I was just thinking about your personal safety back there. Things probably would have been very different if I had just let you fight with me in that forest. We probably would have won without me getting beaten up.’

He paused his thoughts for a second.

’But I am your father...’ Adrian said. ’I would much rather have my entire body broken into pieces than see you get hurt even a little bit. That is just how the logic works in my head.’

Aria finally turned around. She walked right back to the edge of the bed and looked down at his bruised, mangled face.

’No.’ Aria argued back. ’I don’t want to see you hurt either, Papa. You are my only family. You are the only person in this whole world that I actually love. If something bad happens to you, it hurts me too.’

Adrian saw the fresh tears welling up in her large eyes. He absolutely hated making her cry. But there was literally nothing he could do about it right now.

’I am sorry.’ Adrian told her gently. ’Just get strong. Get so incredibly strong that even if I try to smack you for disobeying my orders, you can just smack me right back.’

Aria just blinked.

’You want me to beat you up, Papa?’ Aria asked right inside his head.

And Adrian just gave a weak, raspy laugh right inside his own skull.

Aria couldn’t help it either. A short and teary laugh escaped her lips too. Because it was a really messy mix of laughing and crying at the exact same time. She tightly clenched her fists since she really wanted to smack his arm for making a stupid joke right now. But she knew hitting his broken bones would just cause him actual agony. So she kept her hands firmly glued to her sides.

”I hate you, Papa.” Aria said out loud. She wiped her wet eyes with her dirty sleeve and let out another teary chuckle before she turned around.

”I will go bring Caelum.”

Adrian just watched Aria leave the room. He slowly closed his eyes.

Serena and Claire just looked at each other from across the room. But Claire didn’t say a single word. The injured knight just grabbed her wooden crutch and limped back over to her own bed. Then she sat down heavily on the mattress.

So Serena just pulled up the wooden stool and sat down right next to Adrian.

A few long minutes passed in total silence.

And then the bedroom door clicked open. Aria walked back inside with Caelum and Celeste following right behind her.

But Celeste didn’t waste any time. She walked straight over to Adrian’s bed and reached right into her apron pocket, pulling out a small glass vial.

The potion inside was completely colorless.

She popped the wooden cork off the top and brought the rim of the glass right to his bruised lips.

Adrian felt his lips quiver. He tried his hardest to just open his mouth on his own. But he could not do it.

So Celeste reached down with her free hand. She pinched his lower jaw and forced his mouth open just a tiny crack. Then she tilted the glass vial. She just poured the thick and colorless liquid right inside his throat.

Adrian forced himself to swallow.

It hurt like hell. but he managed to get the liquid down.

And Celeste just watched his Adam’s apple bob.

”Tell me what you feel after thirty to forty minutes.” Celeste instructed him. Her tone sounded completely professional. ”This is an advanced potion. I need to know exactly what sort of effects it is having on your internal system.”

She put the empty glass vial right back into her apron.

”Some people show severe negative reactions to advanced alchemy.” Celeste explained quietly. ”It would be much better for me to know early so I can counter it right then and there. Advanced potions are not meant to be brewed for the masses. They are heavily customized for specific people. And because of that, they react differently to different people’s bodies.”

Adrian just stared at her. He rolled his eyeballs to the side and looked directly at Aria.

’Tell her I will inform her.’ Adrian projected into her mind.

Aria nodded. She looked up at the apothecary.

”Papa said he will tell you if he feels anything bad or if he feels anything good.” Aria repeated out loud.

Celeste gave a firm nod. ”Good. I will be waiting right down the hall. If I do not get any response in an hour, I will be coming back in here to check his pulse myself.”

She turned around and walked straight out of the room.

And once the wooden door clicked shut, Adrian moved his eyeballs back to the center of the room, at Caelum standing near the foot of the bed.

But before Adrian could even relay an order to Aria, Caelum took a nervous step forward.

”The young lady told me what you wanted.” Caelum said nervously. ”And I really do not think it is actually possible to do it right now.”

Adrian frowned slightly.

”Right now, it is a lot better for you to focus purely on your physical recovery.” Caelum reasoned as he rubbed the back of his neck. ”It is better for you to heal your broken bones first before you even think about using mana breathing methods. I do not think it is a good option to completely ignore your physical state just to chase magic.”

Adrian looked over at Aria.

So Aria listened to the mental link for a few seconds. Then she looked right back at Caelum.

”Papa says he does not want to ignore his physical healing.” Aria relayed slowly. ”But he wants to do both at the exact same time. Why can’t you just use the parallel stacking method?”