The Villainess Is My Cute Daughter

He just knew that the two of them were currently dating. Adrian didn’t even consider the fact that they might already be engaged or married right now because he definitely wasn’t invited to any formal event. And considering the simple fact that he was an extremely wealthy neighbor who basically absorbed her father’s territory, there was no way that they were going to ignore him for a wedding.

And there was also the fact that even Claire wasn’t invited for any family event recently, which further solidified Adrian’s guess.

Then there were the rest of the minor nobles. All of these guys Adrian had previously seen and talked to when he had originally set up that meeting with the regional nobles back in Oresfall. They were basically all his active trade partners, the ones who eagerly bought iron ingots in bullk from him to arm their forces. Adrian also had massive amounts of steel ingots now, but he had heavily restricted it and never sold them to anyone outside Oresfall yet.

Adrian just looked at the group of nobles and gave them a highly standard, slight bow out of basic etiquette. And as he stood up straight, he thought to himself as he looked at the eager nobles that he didn’t really know too much about.

’I hate these guys... but they do give me a massive amount of money. If they ever dare to talk about Aria and her potential marriage again like last time, I’m gonna fuck them up somehow. But hey, these guys are literally no different than disposable side characters, so I hope that I don’t get caught for not remembering any of their names.’

He had, in fact, never bothered remembering a single one of their names. He hadn’t even tried to.

If it wasn’t for Baron Kaldwin being his immediate neighbor, who had a pretty high political importance in the Empire, and also his daughter being Adrian’s loyal General, Adrian honestly wouldn’t have bothered remembering his name either. The only actual reason he remembered Draven’s name was because Draven was a close friend, and Adrian actually looked up to him.

As for Frankenstein? That fat man was just a permanent, annoying thorn in his ass. Some people just naturally leave an impact, and Frankenstein was some one who just left a negative impact in Adrian’s life by being Vaneira lapdog.

One of the minor nobles who looked like he had a rat face eagerly walked up to Adrian and immediately grabbed his hand and shook it vigorously.

”Baron Adrian! We are so incredibly glad to finally have you here at the camp. I heard a lot of impressive things about your new army. Is it really true that you have a bunch of awakened knights under you now?”

Adrian pulled his hand back.

”Well. I do have a small, dedicated group of knights, yes. But they are strictly only for my family’s personal protection. I’m definitely not going to take my elites out for an open field war.”

He said that smoothly, and he looked around the camp to change the subject.

He saw a sort of massive, open tent nearby which only had a top roof that was basically just a thick piece of cloth. For everything else, there were no walls. Adrian could see large, dirty iron pots that were currently boiling over open fires. This was clearly the place where all of the army cooking happened.

He looked at the place and turned his attention back to the nobles.

”How exactly is the food situation here?”

Instead of the rat-faced man speaking up, it was Draven who answered instead. His voice was much louder, so it just carried over easier, and the rat-faced noble just awkwardly scooted back into the group.

”Based on a unanimous decision made by every noble here before I even got to the camp,” Draven grunted, crossing his massive arms, ”they had already set up a standard shared system for cooking. A few regular soldiers from every single army would team up and cook the rations for everyone here in bulk.”

He gestured to a smaller, cleaner tent nearby.

”And then there is a select group of maids who came from each of the noble territories who would cook food specifically for the nobles and the commanding generals.”

Adrian nodded slowly, taking in the classic medieval class divide.

He just casually glanced at every single noble standing here.

”Well. I am actually here not to participate in the war directly on the frontlines just yet, but to make sure that everyone here is well-fed and ready.”

Then he looked directly back at Draven, and they shared a knowing look before Adrian smoothly continued.

”May I have the permission to completely take over and cook for the entire combined army here? My trained men and I will make sure that everyone is highly comfortable and everyone is actually happy to fight. After all, the baseline morale of an army is much, much more important than a small, temporary increase in soldier numbers.”

Draven just nodded firmly.

And then Adrian smiled brightly at everyone, but his gaze rested on Count Frankenstein for a little bit longer than everyone else. They made eye contact for a brief moment before Adrian casually moved on.

And then he smoothly continued his pitch.

”I hope that the overall war preparations against the Avarice Kingdom are going well?”

This time, Draven answered with a sigh.

”Well, we have been waiting for you to arrive with your Army. And due to this delay, we haven’t exactly attacked them yet.”

”Oh,” Adrian said, feigning innocence. ”Well. It really shouldn’t have mattered whether I joined the vanguard or not. After all, I am basically nothing but a humble chef for all of you esteemed guys.”

He gestured to the kitchen tent.

”And I’ll make sure you don’t have to worry about any of the cooking ingredients. Because I am personally going to pay you out of my own pocket for every single ingredient that I want to use. And I will officially be the one who will be feeding everyone. But of course, if you have any other better idea, you can freely give it to me.”