"Guards!!" Adrian yelled and soon, four men in chain armor rushed in. One of them had a pot belly, a sign that he wasn’t really putting in the work for the job he was doing. But this just made Adrian frown, not because a fat man was working as a soldier but because it wasn’t possible for a mere guard to afford enough food to get that big in Oresfall.

He turned to look at the other three who weren’t exactly muscular. Instead, they were thinner than the average soldiers and guards he had seen in his memories.

"I see..." he muttered softly and turned to Damian, "Tell me, butler. Are there people here who work for someone else?"

The maid flinched at these words but Adrian didn’t miss her reaction.

Damian on the other hand, hesitated and this was more than enough to confirm Adrian’s suspicions.

"Damian, turn around and bend over."

The maid, the soldiers and Damian blushed when they heard these words but Damian did it anyways.

Adrian wasn’t thinking right and he totally wasn’t thinking about the way he was phrasing his words. He was focused on one thing and that was to pull the truth out of them.

He raised his hand and brought it down on Damian’s ass, which let out a crisp sound while he brought his hand to his mouth to stop himself from making any noise. It was already too embarrassing.

"Tell me, who are all these guys working for and how many of them are here?"

"Master..." Damian exhaled heavily, his face still red from the shame.

"Every single servant in this mansion works for Lady Vaneira. My loyalty only lies with the baron of this place but I made a mistake of being too afraid of others. I apologise from the bottom of my heart, master. I will never do this again. I will tell you everything."

Adrian stared at the butler and then, he turned to look at the maid.

"What about the guards, Damian? Which one of those work for that bitch Vaneira?"

Damian lifted his hand and pointed at the fatty, just like Adrian had guessed.

This time, Adrian let out a heavy sigh and took a step back before he walked towards Aria and patted her head.

"Don’t worry Aria, papa will take care of this." he said and then, he paused.

He didn’t know why he called himself papa but after he thought about it for a moment, he realised why. Aria had always called him papa and after the divorce, she was taught to address her step-dad as father.

But for him, papa was the first word that came to him when he wasn’t thinking. His body’s instincts had just slipped and his expression immediately changed to that of panic.

Contrary to his expectations, the teary eyed girl just hugged him instead of saying anything.

He stood there frozen, but he recovered quickly and placed his hand on her head gently.

"Damian, fire everyone. We’ll find replacements later."

"Yes sir."

Then, all he heard were footsteps until one set of footsteps seemed to be rushing towards him.

He immediately turned around and saw the fat guard running towards him while Damian struggled to even walk right.

Before Adrian could even think, his hand moved and punched the man right in his face.

There was a loud crunch and then, the guy flew backwards before falling on the creaky wooden floor.

Adrian stood in place, staring at the bloody faced man in front of him. His body didn’t move an inch and as a guard nearby brought his finger to his nose, he paused and looked up at Adrian.

"B-Baron.... it looks like he’s dead."

’Dad Strength... I actually killed someone...’ he thought as his hands shook. It had already gone back to rest on Aria’s head and he didn’t even notice it.

Aria who had seen everything happen right in front of her, looked up and saw the expression on her father’s face. She could tell instantly, that this was the expression of a man who had killed for the first time.

She raised her tiny hands and grabbed his, one of them holding his pinky while the other held his thumb.

"Papa... sleepy." she said softly.

She didn’t understand why she was doing something like this, why she even cared for this man’s mental well being.

It was out of place for her, for a girl who was hated by the world and for a girl who had hated the world in return.

It felt foreign and weirdly enough, scary. She didn’t know what she was afraid of, but it felt like there was a knot in her throat as she waited for his response, as she waited and hoped that he’d pick her up and take her to her bedroom

Maybe he’d even read her a bed time story like any other father would.

But deep inside, she feared that he’d just ignore her. That he’s just yell at her for bothering him.

But she couldn’t help but look at him with hopeful eyes.

That was the girl who was hated by all of mankind in her past life, just hoping for someone to not reject her like everyone else did.

Adrian snapped out of his state and looked down at her. He bit his lip and nodded with an awkward smile.

"You gotta have your supper before you sleep you know? I can’t have you sleeping on an empty stomach."

The girl just nodded as she looked away, not wanting him to see her expression. Her eyes blurred again as he broke her pessimistic expectations for the second time.

"Take care of his body. Let it serve as an example..." Adrian said, his voice shaking slightly as he held Aria’s hand and began to walk towards the kitchen.

A few minutes later.

Aria sat on the counter while Adrian scoured through all the drawers and shelves before clicking his tongue.

"There’s literally nothing here..." he muttered as he placed a loaf of hard bread on a plate and a glass of water.

He turned to look at her with an awkward smile, "Looks like this is the only thing left for us to eat."

Aria didn’t say anything and just picked up the bread, tore it in half and took a small bite.

She chewed for a long half minute before swallowing it.

"It’s tasty...." she said, pausing for a moment before she added, "You should eat too."