Reborn As The Minor Villain In A Romance Fantasy Novel

Chapter 268: What Are Your Intentions With My Daughter?

Lucius entered the house and the place felt genuinely homey despite its modest size, a stark contrast to the sprawling estates and luxury mansion he was accustomed to living in.

The interior was clean and well-maintained, but clearly showed signs of age and use.

The furniture was comfortable but worn, the paint on the walls had faded slightly over the years, and there were small cracks in the ceiling that spoke of a house that had seen better days.

Family photos lined the walls in mismatched frames, showing Luna and her siblings at various ages.

"So this is my son-in-law, huh?" Stella asked while examining him carefully with a mother’s discerning eye, then turned to face Lucius directly with an appraising look. "You look even more handsome in person than in all those photos and videos online."

Luna blushed deeply as she stepped forward, still holding her unconscious younger sister in her arms.

"I’ll introduce him proper—"

"You don’t need to worry yourself about that, Luna." Stella interrupted gently, looking over toward the worn but comfortable-looking sofa and gesturing for both of them to sit down. "We already talked extensively before the both of you came here tonight."

Luna’s eyes progressively widened with shock as she turned to stare at Lucius, who looked extremely smug about the whole situation.

"You talked with my mother... without telling me first?" She puffed her cheeks out indignantly, and Lucius shrugged with mock innocence. "I thought Luke was the only one that gave you directions and her phone number."

Stella looked at her daughter’s adorably annoyed expression and then chuckled warmly at the scene playing out before her.

"I made some tea before you guys arrived... I’ll bring it over in a moment."

"Wait, let me help you carry it, Mo—"

Stella gave her daughter a single pointed glance and Luna immediately quieted down, recognizing that particular maternal look that meant ’sit down and behave.’

Then the older woman smiled and proceeded to walk toward the small kitchen.

"Your mother seems very nice." Lucius said casually as he reclined comfortably on the chair, looking around the living room with interest.

"Yes, she is very nice, but she’s also extremely dangerous when she wants to be." Luna warned seriously, lowering her voice. "Especially with her slipper throwing technique."

Her mother could probably throw a slipper with pinpoint accuracy and hit her target even from twenty meters away.

Luna had experienced it firsthand multiple times growing up whenever she had misbehaved or talked back.

"I can relate to that completely." Lucius let out a small sigh, though not with his current mother in this world since he barely talked to that woman and she had never raised him personally.

But his mother in his past life had possessed similar abilities with household objects. ’I wonder how she’s doing now in that other world...’

Just then, Luna’s sister sat up again with a groan, recovering from her shock-induced faint.

Unlike her sister and brother, Celia had blonde hair instead of the distinctive purple that seemed to run in the family, but she definitely looked like a younger version of Luna in facial features.

She sat up slowly on Luna’s lap and looked at her older sister with a sleepy yawn.

"I had a weird dream... that my actual role model was here in our house." She said drowsily, and then her eyes flicked over to Lucius as reality set in and she realized that her dream had actually become reality. "Mr. Lucius, sir!"

Her eyes went wide again and she looked like she might faint once more.

"Role model?" Luna’s eye twitched noticeably at that revelation. "You’re taking Lucius as your role model...? This guy right here?"

"Oh, shut up, sis. You wouldn’t understand at all." Celia said with an excited smile spreading across her face as she fully woke up. "I don’t know how you even managed to get your hands on Sir Lucius either... you must have seduced him somehow with your boring engineering talk or something."

"Se—what? I’m innocent and pure!" Luna protested loudly, and both Lucius and her sister immediately gave her a coordinated side-eye of complete disbelief. "What? I’m not even lying about that."

Lucius opened his arms invitingly and Celia immediately abandoned her sister’s arms to sit down eagerly on his lap instead, clearly starstruck.

"Celia, was it?" Lucius asked to confirm, and Celia nodded enthusiastically with sparkling eyes. "Alright, no more of that ’Sir Lucius’ formal nonsense... we’re family after all, so you can call me big brother or—"

"Big brother!" She said cutely, interrupting him with excitement, and he patted her head affectionately while subtly sliding something into her small hand.

She looked down to see it was a sleek black card with his name embossed on it. "Big brother, what’s this card for?"

"A card... you can use it to order whatever you want online and—"

"Thank you so much, big brother!" She squealed excitedly and immediately jumped off his lap and ran off toward her room to start shopping.

Luna meanwhile looked at him with genuine surprise and a hint of jealousy in her expression.

"Hey, you never gave me your card to use freely like that..." She pouted, crossing her arms. "You just gave it to her without even thinking about it."

"You have a big successful business that generates massive revenue every month." Lucius pointed out reasonably, smiling at her warmly. "What will my little card do for you when you’re already making millions?"

He knew very well that there were several billion royals loaded on that particular card, though there wasn’t any real issue as long as Celia didn’t try to use it for something worth hundreds of billions.

Just then, Stella returned from the kitchen carrying a teapot on a wooden tray along with four matching cups that looked handmade.

She placed it carefully on the low table in the middle of the couches and sat down on the opposite sofa, looking around.

"Oh, Celia isn’t here anymore...?" Stella asked as she settled into her seat with a small sigh of resignation. "That girl never stays in one place for long."

"Lucius gave her his unlimited spending card to buy stuff online..." Luna explained, still pouting about the unfairness of the situation, while Stella looked at Lucius with motherly concern.

"Ah, son-in-law... you should know that she wants very expensive things." She warned him gently, pouring the tea. "She’s been looking at luxury items for months now."

"Don’t worry about it at all, Mother..." Lucius’s lips twitched slightly as he said the shortened form, but he couldn’t say ’Mother-in-law’ every single time they spoke because it was simply too long and formal. "She can buy whatever she wants without limits. I seriously doubt she’ll manage to spend a full billion royals in one shopping session."

Stella’s cheeks grew noticeably red, mainly from the fact that he had called her ’Mother’ so naturally and warmly, but she cleared her throat to compose herself.

"Okay... first I should properly introduce myself." She said and leaned forward, pouring fragrant tea into the cups from the teapot and taking one up for herself. "I am Stella Keller, and I’m the mother of Luke, Luna, as well as Celia. You might be wondering why Celia doesn’t share our distinctive purple hair color, right?"

In complete honesty, Lucius wasn’t wondering about that at all. People that were blood-related gave off a similar spatial signature in his perception, and that was exactly the same here with this family.

They all had an overlapping spatial resonance, so he could immediately tell that they were genuinely related by blood.

"She looks more like her father in appearance." Stella explained while drinking a bit of tea, then dropped the cup back onto the table with a soft clink. "He had blonde hair and blue eyes. Very handsome man."

There was a distant look in her eyes when she mentioned him.

"Now... do you have any questions for me, or should I continue with mine?" She asked.

From a nice homey atmosphere, this situation really turned into a formal interview real quick. Lucius could practically feel like there were invisible cameras pointed at his face, recording everything for judgment.

Regardless, he leaned forward and took one of the cups in his hand, raising it to his lips and taking an appreciative sip. The tea was actually quite good, with a subtle floral flavor.

"This is some genuinely nice tea..." He complimented honestly.

Stella smiled warmly at the compliment and then her face turned completely serious again as she set down her cup with deliberate care.

"What are your intentions with my daughter?" She asked directly, and there was immediate silence in the room as Luna’s face gradually turned bright red with embarrassment.

"Moom..." Luna whined, covering her face with her hands.

"He needs to list his proper intentions first before we continue." Stella said firmly, and Lucius raised an eyebrow as he dropped his cup back on the table.

"I have many intentions with your daughter." He said with a confident smile. "But my main intentions are crafting her into one of the most successful businesswomen in the entire world, marrying her officially in a proper ceremony, and last but certainly not least... putting a baby in her."

’I can’t tell her mother that I’m also planning to use Luna for my retirement plan.’ He thought wisely. That didn’t sound nice to say out loud at all, especially to a concerned parent.

Stella looked directly at his face with an intense gaze, searching for any signs of deception or insincerity in his expression or tone.

"I see..." She said while Luna practically turned into a tomato beside him, steam almost coming from her ears. "How many children are you expecting to have with her?"

"As many as she wants to have." Lucius said honestly and leaned back, casually dodging a playful jab from Luna’s elbow aimed at his ribs. "Oi, are you trying to make me spill my tea?"

"Stop talking about babies with my mom!" Luna hissed quietly.

Luna felt the overwhelming need to bury her face into something soft and hide from this entire conversation. Talking about this topic so openly with her mother was one of the most troubling and embarrassing experiences of her entire life.

"You guys look cute together, however I have an important question for Luna too..." Stella said and turned to face her daughter directly with serious eyes. "It’s obvious that Lucius has multiple girlfriends currently and will have multiple wives eventually... we all know that from the news coverage and social media. Are you genuinely okay with this arrangement?"

She wasn’t against her daughter’s relationship at all, but she desperately wanted to know what her daughter was actually feeling deep down about the situation.

"Me?" Luna asked, then took a deep breath and smiled warmly with genuine affection. "I’m very fine with this situation..."

"You’re truly okay with dedicating your life to a man who has multiple women as well?" Stella pressed gently. "I need to hear it from you directly."

"Yes, absolutely." Luna said firmly, sitting up straighter. "I won’t pretend I’m never jealous, or that sometimes I don’t wish I had him completely to myself. But that doesn’t actually matter in the end. He never treats any of us badly or makes us feel less important than the others."

She looked at Lucius with affection, then back at her mother. "I can see the genuine love in his eyes when he looks at all of us individually. He remembers our preferences most times, supports our goals, and makes time for each of us."

Luna continued with growing confidence. "I’ve grown incredibly close with the other women as well, and they’ve become my closest friends in the world. Vanessa, Selene, Elara, Emilia, and all the others are always supportive of whatever I do. They celebrate my successes and help me through my failures."

She squeezed Lucius’s hand. "He’s grown on all of us emotionally, and I couldn’t take that away from them even if I wanted to. We’re building something together, all of us. So yes, I’m completely okay with it."

Her mother was quiet for a long minute, processing everything her daughter had said, but then she smiled with tears appearing at the corners of her eyes, which made Luna genuinely surprised.

"I’m so glad..." Stella said with emotion threatening to overflow. "That you’re genuinely happy with your choice. That’s all a mother can really ask for."

She turned to Lucius. "Lucius, can you promise me one important thing?"

"Yes?"

"Promise me that you won’t die and leave Luna behind..." Stella said seriously, looking him directly in the eye. "The work of an Awakened isn’t easy and anything can happen in dungeons or battles. Monsters, traps, other Awakened... the dangers are endless."

Her voice caught slightly. "It’s been several years since my husband died because of exactly that, and... I don’t want my daughter to feel the same unbearable pain that I feel every single day."

"Mom..." Luna whispered, reaching out to hold her mother’s hand.

"He was an A-rank Awakened." Stella continued quietly. "Strong, capable, experienced. But one mistake in a dungeon, one moment of bad luck, and he was gone. They never even recovered his body."

The room was heavy with emotion and memories.

"I promise you." Lucius said with absolute confidence and a reassuring smile. This was something that he could definitely keep without any doubt. "There’s nothing in this world that can kill me. I’m far beyond the level where dungeon monsters or even other Awakened pose any real threat."

It wasn’t like they could penetrate space, could they?

"Good..." Stella said with visible relief, wiping her eyes. She noticed he had already finished the tea in his cup. "If you’re both truly happy together... then we need to celebrate this somehow properly."

Just then Celia came running back into the living room with her phone held up and made a straight beeline directly to Lucius with an excited expression.

"Big Brother... the website is asking for a pin or something when I tried to order this item." She said breathlessly, showing him the screen, and he took the phone from her while Stella looked at her youngest daughter with suspicion.

"Celia Nova Keller..."

Celia straightened up immediately with wide eyes at the use of her full name.

’Full government name drop.’ Lucius winced internally at that tone. ’She’s definitely in trouble now.’

He looked at what Celia was trying to order on the screen and his eyes widened.

"Mo—"

"You were trying to buy an entire mansion...?" Lucius asked incredulously, looking at the twelve-year-old girl, and the other women in the room visibly paled at the revelation.

"Yes, you said I could buy anything that I wanted to." Celia puffed her cheeks out defensively, crossing her arms. "You didn’t say there were limits."

Stella fumbled desperately for her slippers, ready to throw them with deadly accuracy at her audacious daughter.

"I don’t really have a problem with that purchase, honestly." Lucius said casually as he patted her head approvingly, making Stella freeze mid-reach. "Good girl for thinking big... oh wait, I actually recognize this real estate website. I have the owner’s personal number saved in my contacts."

He paused, scrolling through the listing. "Hold on, let me call him directly and get you a better deal on this property."

He pulled out his own phone and confidently dialed Timothy’s number while the women stared at him in disbelief.