The Villainess Is My Cute Daughter

But he didn’t really need the healing as much anymore. Now, it just helped soothe the tiny muscle tears that Hugo’s targeted magic had missed.

But the main thing that Adrian actively focused on was the raw intake speed.

So he aggressively pulled the ambient mana directly from the room. And the massive rush of pure energy was totally staggering.

Because it wasn’t a sluggish trickle anymore.

The parallel arrays acted exactly like a massive vacuum. So the actual speed at which he could actively draw raw mana from the outside atmosphere had just multiplied by at least five times.

Adrian just laid there on the bed and chuckled quietly.

”This is great.” Adrian muttered to himself. ”This is really great.”

He just closed his eyes and continued meditating to greedily hoard the mana.

And Serena and Claire just stood near the wooden door and stared at him. They could see firsthand just how miraculous Hugo’s brute force healing had actually been.

Because there were almost no marks left on Adrian’s face. There were no visible scars on his arms or his chest, and there was literally nothing they could spot that even hinted at the catastrophic beating he took.

Even his face was completely flawless.

It had been a swollen and unrecognizable mess of crushed bone just a month ago. And they honestly thought that he would be completely disfigured for the rest of his life.

But luckily for Adrian, his injuries weren’t like Claire’s ruined leg. The facial fractures and bruises were severe. But he hadn’t actually had chunks of flesh violently ripped right off his skull.

So the healing magic didn’t have to invent new mass out of nowhere. His facial structure just snapped right back into its normal shape.

He still looked a little bit pale from being stuck in bed for a whole month. But the outcome was just infinitely better than what any of them had expected.

Aria walked right up to the edge of the bed.

”Papa.” Aria asked quietly. ”How long is it actually going to take for you to recover your mana veins now?”

But Adrian didn’t open his eyes. He just kept cycling the massive flow of mana through his chest.

”Well.” Adrian calculated out loud. ”With this new runic board acting as a magical pump... maybe around five to seven months. Let’s just take six months as a safe average.”

Aria gave a slow nod.

”Then I will go down to the underground training room.” Aria stated firmly. ”I need to focus on my magic training.”

And Adrian finally opened his eyes. He looked right at her serious little face.

He just smiled and gestured for her to come a little closer.

Aria took a slow step forward. And Adrian just reached right out and grabbed her by the waist. He effortlessly picked her up off the floor.

But he didn’t lay back down on the pillows. He sat straight up on the mattress and crossed his legs. Then he plopped her right down into his lap and wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug.

He rested his chin right on the top of her messy hair.

”Do not overwork yourself down there.” Adrian murmured softly. ”And if you ever miss Papa, you make sure you come right back up here. Because I am pretty sure I am going to miss you too.”

Aria wiggled a little bit in his bear like embrace.

But then she just gave up and melted right into it. She leaned heavily against him and reached right up and grabbed his hand that was looped around her. She tilted her head back and looked straight up at his face.

”Papa.” Aria said bluntly. ”You should really shave your beard. It is getting too big.”

Adrian let out a loud and raspy laugh.

”Yeah, yeah.” Adrian chuckled right into her hair. ”I will shave. I will completely shave it off.”

But instead of letting her go, he purposely leaned right down. He aggressively rubbed his scratchy and thick stubble right against the top of her head.

”Why?” Adrian teased her. ”Don’t you like it?”

”No.” Aria grumbled as she frantically tried to push his face away. ”You look really weird with a beard.”

Adrian just chuckled again. He looked right up at the two women standing near the doorway.

”What do you guys think?” Adrian asked them with a massive smirk. ”Do you think a beard is going to suit me? Because I already grew quite a good stubble just sitting in this bed for a month. How do you think it will look if I just grow it out for a few more months?”

Serena and Claire just looked at each other.

”I think you should just go with whatever style makes you feel the best.” Serena offered politely.

But Claire just crossed her arms.

”Beards are not really a good choice.” Claire answered seriously. ”Especially when it comes to close quarters fighting. Because an enemy can just grab a handful of your beard in a grapple. And it is not going to end well for your neck if that actually happens.”

Adrian just stared at the knight.

’Yeah....’ Adrian thought to himself. ’Go say that to the Vikings.’

But on the outside, he just gave her a polite nod.

”Okay then.” Adrian sighed dramatically. ”I guess I will just have to completely shave it off.”

He loosened his arms, and let go of Aria so she could hop right off his lap.

But Aria didn’t jump down.

She just spun right around on his lap and threw her arms around his neck. She hugged him tight like a little koala bear. She looped both of her small legs right around his waist and completely buried her face into his shoulder.

”You said you will miss me, right?” Aria mumbled quietly into his tunic. ”So why are you leaving me? Why do you want me to go train so soon then?”

Adrian smiled softly and gently rubbed her back.

”Well.” Adrian reasoned. ”I thought you were the one who wanted to go train down there. I didn’t want to be a bother and hold you back. I actually thought you didn’t want to spend time with me anymore, so I got a little sad and maybe a little clingy too.”

He was just smiling and completely messing with her.

Aria pulled her head back. She gave him a massive exaggerated pout. And then she leaned forward and lightly headbutted him right in the center of his chest.

Adrian laughed out loud and quickly put his hands on his chest.

”Hey, it still hurts a little bit!” Adrian joked. ”Don’t hit me, brat.”

Aria just rubbed her cheek right against the fabric of his tunic.

”Papa, you are really mean.” Aria grumbled.

”Well, what can I say?” Adrian smiled widely. He rested his cheek right against her hair. ”I really like messing with the people I love.”

Aria completely paused. She looked straight up at him and blinked.

”Does that mean you love me? A lot?” Aria asked quietly.

Adrian just leaned down. He pressed a long and soft kiss directly to her forehead.

”Papa loves you the most.” Adrian whispered.

Aria’s pale cheeks immediately flushed a slight red. And she aggressively headbutted his chest again just to completely hide her blushing face.

”Aria loves Papa the most too.” she mumbled into his shirt.