The Villainess Is My Cute Daughter

But Draven just burst into a loud laughter.

He slapped Adrian on the back so hard that Adrian scooted forward and almost fell right off the tree stump. Adrian just grinned and pushed himself backward so he could sit properly again.

A collective sigh of relief washed over the nobles.

But right at that second, just when they thought everything was fine, Draven grinned widely and stood up before releasing his mana.

A heavy pressure washed over the camp and made almost everyone there shiver. Sebastian could feel the fear settling deep into his bones. This was a man who had killed tens of thousands of monsters. The sheer aggressiveness and intensity of his mana was suffocating.

Everyone froze.

Everyone except Aria and Adrian.

Adrian just stuck his pinky finger into his nose. As unbecoming as it was for a noble, he dug around and pulled out a small booger. He rolled it between his thumb and pinky and casually flicked it to the side before looking up at Draven.

"So, did I provoke you enough to warrant a fight?"

Draven grinned. "Of course you did. You really know how to pump me up. But today this old man is going to teach you something other than fighting too."

Adrian just chuckled and nodded. He really didn’t care what Draven was going to teach him. He stood up from his spot on the log.

"Okay, let’s go then," Adrian said. "Barehanded?"

Draven shook his head. "Let’s do weapons. If one of us gets our weapon tossed to the side, then we go barehanded. Use of magic is forbidden." He paused for a second like he was changing his mind midway. "Or should we actually just go all out?"

"Let’s just go all out from the start," Adrian replied.

The two of them walked away from the other nobles. The lords and the others just sat there on their logs while the soldiers closest to the group overheard the whole exchange. The word spread fast that Draven and Adrian were going to fight.

Hearing this news made a massive crowd of soldiers rush over to see what was going on.

They saw Adrian and Draven standing face to face, and a massive, wide perimeter naturally formed around them as thousands of men gathered to watch.

Aria stood near the front of the crowd watching the scene unfold. Serena was standing right beside her.

Aria looked up at the older girl.

"Looks like Papa is going to be paired with Big Sis Claire," Aria said casually. "You are losing here."

Serena stiffened up. She clenched her hands into tight fists and stared straight ahead. She really did not know what to say. She looked down at Aria and hesitated for a long moment before finally letting her frustrations spill out.

"I don’t really know what to do," Serena admitted quietly. "I’ve tried multiple times. When I approach him normally for anything I haven’t planned out, it doesn’t feel as pressuring or hard. But whenever I plan everything in my head and try to go talk to him, my body just freezes up. I shy away and I just can’t bring myself to say anything."

"Well, if you don’t fix that habit of yours, then no one can help you," Aria pointed out. "You know I can’t really talk to my Papa about this. He’ll just think I’m thinking about him. And if I tell him that I want a mama, he might actually just set up an event where a bunch of random nobles come and portray themselves in front of him in a way that is obviously fake. I know how noble women are."

Aria crossed her little arms.

"He’s gonna marry one of them, and I don’t want that," she continued. "I’ve seen a lot of women and I really want you and Claire to be with my Papa. If you want that, of course. But, there’s no need to hide anything since I already know that you both like him. So I really hope both of you can marry him. You are much better than my blood mother."

Serena felt a deep pang of sadness about her own weakness and shyness. It sucked knowing she couldn’t just go through with her plans.

But when she heard that Aria was actually okay with both of them marrying Adrian, a sudden warmth bloomed inside her chest.

This was the one single thing she was terrified of. She knew that Adrian prioritized Aria over everything else in the world. If Aria ever expressed her dislike for Serena, then no matter how much she tried, Adrian would never marry her. Even if he liked her back, it would be completely futile. Aria was always going to be his first priority.

Serena took a deep breath and nodded. She clenched her fist again.

"Tonight I will make my move, no matter what happens," she whispered. "This time I’ll be the one who does it first. I won’t let Claire overtake me."

Aria looked back up at her.

"Well, you are not even on the starting line," Aria said. "At least she has made a few moves in the past. You have made zero moves, and you literally have so much of an advantage over Big Sis Claire."

Serena looked down at Aria. She glanced over at Adrian who was still facing off against Draven before crouching down to bring her ear closer to Aria.

"What is it?" Serena asked.

"You know, Big Sis Claire is also not using her advantage, which is the fact that she could literally fight Papa and they could get physically closer," Aria whispered. "Let’s just say I found out somehow, but she is afraid that if they get too close, she might just kiss him or ask him out directly. She doesn’t trust herself."

Serena’s eyes widened.

"This is also a secret, and don’t ask me how I found out," Aria continued. "But Papa is someone who doesn’t actually dislike either of you. He thinks of you two as really fine women. But you know the rest."

Aria poked Serena’s arm.

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