The Villainess Is My Cute Daughter

Adrian pointed at the papers.

"The designs for me, Claire, and Serena just need to be good." Adrian said. "I am not pushing you for absolute perfection on those three. But for Aria? I want her dress to be the most special thing in the world."

The tailor took a deep, shaking breath.

If this crazy Baron was willing to hand him an so much just for some paper drawings, why was he even feeling sad? This was the greatest opportunity his family had ever seen.

"Yes, my lord!" the tailor exclaimed. "I promise you will love the clothes!"

He grabbed his pencil from teh counter before looking up. "How much time do I have for the drawings?"

Adrian did the math in his head.

’The party is in twelve days.’ Adrian thought. ’I only need maybe two minutes to use the dungeon to craft the dresses. So I can give him almost the entire time limit.’

"I will give you ten days." Adrian said. "Give me as many design options as you possibly can. And I need them to look magical."

"Magical, my lord?"

"Not actual magic." Adrian chuckled. "I mean magical in the sense of pure beauty. Make her look like a fairy tale princess."

"I swear on my life, I will pour my absolute best into this project." the tailor promised quickly.

Adrian gave him a nod and turned around before walking right out of the shop. He navigated his way back through the busy commercial district until he hit the central city square.

But then he stopped in his tracks.

A massive wooden notice board stood right in the middle of the plaza, like it was in Oresfall too.

A paper was pinned right in the dead center. It caught Adrian’s eye immediately because it bore the heavy wax seal of the Crestwall Empire.

Adrian walked up and read the text. It was a formal public announcement regarding the upcoming high society events. And right near the bottom, was basically the timing for the royal auction.

Adrian just shook his head. He shoved his hands into his pockets and kept walking past the crowd.

Because he really did not have the time to care about the auction since he was focused on Aria at the moment. So he just ignored it and headed straight down the dirt road.

He walked right back into his room.

Claire was sitting on the bed, busy polishing her sword while Aria and Serena were sitting at the small table, quietly discussing magic theory.

"Pack your things." Adrian announced. "Let us go back to Oresfall."

Aria cheered and jumped off the bed. Claire and Serena simply nodded and headed back to their rooms before they started packing their travel bags.

Deep inside nearby border territory, Marchioness Vaneira sat in her lavish, incredibly expensive living room.

A part of her sky blue dress rested perfectly over the cushions as she held a thick, rolled up scroll in her hand.

Count Frankenstein sat on the matching sofa right across from her. The fat noble was sipping wine from a crystal glass, but he looked incredibly nervous.

Vaneira was glaring at the scroll. She squeezed it so hard that her knuckles turned white.

Because this specific scroll was an invitation to Aria’s sixth birthday. But the elegant ink on the front did not have her name at all. And instead, it was addressed directly to Count Frankenstein.

Vaneira was absolutely furious.

"He actually invited you." Vaneira hissed, her voice dripping with pure rage. "He invited you, the man who tried to ruin him. But he did not invite me? I am the mother of this child!!"

Frankenstein swallowed hard and set his wine glass down.

"My lady," Frankenstein said carefully. "Based on the intelligence reports I have gathered, Baron Sterling has invited every single high ranking noble in the entire kingdom. He even extended a formal invitation to the Emperor himself."

Frankenstein wiped his sweating forehead.

"And the royal family actually accepted." Frankenstein continued. "The youngest princess is attending as the official representative for the crown. But... it appears he deliberately excluded you from the guest list."

Vaneira threw the scroll onto the glass table and the count watched as it bounced and hit the floor.

"That pathetic, cursed loser thinks he can humiliate me like this?!" Vaneira screamed. "He thinks building a few muddy walls and selling cheap iron makes him my equal?"

Frankenstein leaned forward.

"It does not matter if he invited you or not, my lady." Frankenstein smiled, "Who in their right mind would ever dare to reject you if you just show up at his gates? You are a Marchioness, my lady... he is just a Baron."

Vaneira narrowed her eyes at him.

"We can just crash the party." Frankenstein suggested eagerly. "You can travel with my entourage. We will walk right through his front doors and I am absolutely certain he will not have the courage to stop us in front of the royal representative."

Frankenstein laughed.

"And even if he does try to stop us," Frankenstein added. "It will completely ruin his reputation. Turning away his own former wife and the mother of his child? The other nobles will whisper, the commoners will gossip and it will destroy his public image. We can easily use that exact moment to spread terrible rumors about his cruelty. It is a total win for us either way."

Vaneira slowly leaned back into her sofa. The absolute pure rage in her eyes shifted into a cold, calculating glare.

"That is actually a great plan." Vaneira agreed softly. "We will crash his little peasant gathering. But we cannot just show up empty handed. That kid is my own blood, so I cannot just show up to her party and socialize like some random outsider."

She tapped her long nails against the wooden armrest.

"I have to get her a gift." Vaneira muttered. "And I need to use this specific chance to completely humiliate him."

A cruel smile stretched across her beautiful face.

"I will make absolutely sure that my birthday gift is vastly superior to whatever cheap garbage he manages to scrap together." Vaneira laughed coldly. "Everyone in that room will see that Adrian cannot even provide properly for his own blood."

[A/N: Preparing 5 more Chapters for upload today. Just a few hours and I’ll upload them.]