The Villainess Is My Cute Daughter
Chapter 5: Child’s Excitement
Aria sat in her bed while she silently looked at Adrian who had ended up falling asleep while telling her a bedtime story. It was supposed to be the opposite, but this was the end result.
She chuckled softly and got off the bed before she stood in front of the mirror.
Her silver hair hung low as she stared at herself.
’A dream doesn’t last this long... and a dream isn’t this detailed. If this really is a second chance for me... to live like a normal girl, I’ll take it.’ she said to herself in her mind before taking a step back.
’But there are a few things that I need to do first...’
With that, she tiptoed out of the room and closed the door slowly. It creaked but Adrian didn’t wake up.
Sunlight hit Adrian’s face and he slowly opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw, was Aria’s adorable sleeping face and the thing that made him smile wider, was the way she was hugging his arm.
He slowly loosened her grip over his arms and tiptoed out of the room in an attempt to not wake her up but the creaking of the door didn’t help his efforts.
Aria opened her eyes and watched the door close the last few inches and just went back to sleep.
She had slept really late and her young body needed a lot of rest.
Adrian on the other hand, looked for Damian and spotted him in the living room. The man sat on a rocking chair and the moment Adrian walked in, he stood up.
"Send someone to invite a priest to our town. The entire town will be praying for the Goddess of Prosperity this evening." Adrian said and paused, "How much would it cost by the way?"
"Lord Adrian, priests do not ask for money if they’re invited for such events. They will gladly do it for free but we must provide them with accommodation, food and traveling expenses."
Adrian nodded, "How much money do we have in the treasury?"
"We have a hundred gold."
"Hundred gold..." Adrian muttered as he thought about it.
It wasn’t a bad sum if he was a commoner, but considering the expenses he’d have as a Baron, he could be considered dirt poor.
"Okay... use a few silver coins to get everything prepared."
Hearing this, Damian was about to leave to get everything done when Adrian stopped him.
"Actually. Wait. I’ll go myself since I also have some stuff to do on the way. I’ll give you another task instead. Find us a smaller house nearby. It needs to have two bedrooms, a kitchen with good ventilation and a clean toilet. If you can’t find one with a toilet, it’s fine. We can just get someone to build one. How much do you think it’ll cost?"
Damian looked surprised for a moment but he still maintained his composure as he answered his Baron.
"My lord, every single house and piece of land in this Barony belongs to you. There are a lot of abandoned houses that only need a little bit of cleaning and maintenance, which can be done in a few hours. I’ll make sure to set up a place for you by the time you’re back." Damian explained.
"Right... okay, i’ll leave that to you then." Adrian said and walked to the treasury.
The room wasn’t too big and the only things he saw in here, were swords hung up on display, some shields, spears and items made of gold and silver. At the right corner, was a wooden chest, which he opened and saw just a small pouch.
Inside it, was a small pile of gold coins.
He counted them one by one and let out a sigh.
"A hundred and six gold coins. Good enough for now I guess." he muttered as he pocketed it after taking out five gold coins. He gave those coins to Damian and told him to take care of everything while he walked towards the main door.
"Take care of Aria for me and tell her that I went out on an important work."
"As you wish, My Lo-"
"Papa! I wanna come!"
Adrian turned to look at Aria who was standing at the top of the stairs, looking pretty haggard with her hair strewn in random directions.
’Cute...’ he mused as the corners of his lips perked upwards.
He considered how his so-called important work was just him wanting to buy stuff in the market, he didn’t have any issue with taking her too.
"Alright, you’ll come with me then. I’ll wait for you in the living room while you get ready."
A few hours later, the two of them walked out of a church.
The priest had agreed to help with the prayer but had also asked for a few hours time to finish his daily duties to the church. Adrian readily agreed as he had his own thing to do.
With Aria beside him, he rented a carriage to the market and stepped out.
There were multiple stalls. People sold local fruits, vegetables, spices, grains, weapons, jewelry and almost anything common he could think of.
"Aria, what would you like to eat for dinner?" he asked as he looked at her.
Aria looked up at him and thought for a moment, "Anything you wish."
"Well... you like sweets don’t you?" he asked as he recalled all the information from his memories but the girl surprisingly shook her head.
’I might be in the body of a child but my mind is still of an adult... Give me meat...’ she thought but she didn’t voice it out.
Seeing her shake her head and not give him any alternatives, he chuckled and just headed to the nearest store.
"Alright, we’ll buy you some clothes first and you can use that time to decide on what you’d like to eat."
"Okay!" she said cheerfully, surprising even herself.
’Come on Aria, you can’t get excited over a bunch of clothes!’