After she was done with inciting the seven year old boy, Odette went back to her room and waited for the maids to bring Adrian to her room.
In her last life, she hadn't indirectly threatened Dennis is this manner and left him to his own device for the most part. Therefore, she was curious as to see how the matters would turn out.
Given Dennis' ambitious personality, he would sooner or later take a similar route. Her words merely gave him a harsh push that would lead him to be more careful and thoughtful. Therefore, he would be crueler in her dealing with Adrian.
This is exactly what she needed.
Even though Dennis was far from being a worthy opponent to Adrian, she wanted to shape him to be the first challenge that Adrian had in her path to nurture him.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the door opening. Odette turned towards the boy entering and stood up once he stepped in. Adrian walked into the room alone, and the door was closed behind him.
Odette easily detected the anxiety oozing off of him. His bottom lip quivered, and he tightly clenched on his garment. Cleaned and dressed neatly, he sported an endearing appearance that managed to tug at one's heartstrings.
The small steps he took towards her and his adorable appearance reminded her of a cautious and scared deer. How lovely.
After maintaining a decent distance between them, he halted his movements and kept his gaze lowered towards the ground. He started to chew on his bottom lip and fidgeted with his fingers.
Odette wore on a friendly smile.
"Now, you needn't be frightened of me. I only bite the bad guys. You wouldn't be doing anything bad, would you?" Odette gently said.
This made him raise his head and stare at her with those doe eyes. They held questions in them along with a slight hint of fear. Those cheeks of his held a rosy tint of them, making Odette hold back her urges to pinch them.
"You bite people?" Adrian asked upon being shocked by that piece of news.
This made Odette release a chuckle. She didn't know if all the children born to normal family were all these cute.
"Why? Does that scared you?" She sounded amused.
He nodded and answered, "In the stories mother told me, only scary monsters bite people and eat them up. But you are so pretty. Why do you bite people?"
Did the boy not see what how she punished the maid earlier?
"Your mother wasn't wrong. Just became one assumes a beautiful appearance doesn't imply that they aren't a scary monster. The worst type of monsters are those who enamor you. Even when they eat you up, you don't blame them."
Adrian appeared confused.
"But why are they called scary if they aren't so?"
The naivety and innocence of the boy made her more enthusiastic in wanting to taint him. She wanted to paint him with multitudes of colors to see how he would turn out to be. She had great expectations on the fun he would bring her.
Because of the amiable persona she presented the boy with, he started to feel more at ease around her. The nervousness from earlier on him had dissipated.
"Were you not scared of me earlier?" She raised an eyebrow.
Shaking his head in denial, he expressed, "No, I was not. You're pretty, so why should I be scared of you?"
Odette had a touch of amusement in her eyes. It seemed that the boy knew how to butter her up with words. A chuckle escaped from her lips.
Extending her hand, she pinched his soft cheeks and commented, "What a liar! You were trembling in fear earlier."
Shaking his head left to right and vice versa in order to show his refusal, he clarified, "No, you were not scary. Everyone was so unfamiliar to me, and I don't like that. And you are the only one to talk to me so nicely. I really like you. You are a good person."
His attempt to put on a solemn expression made him more endearing in Odette's eyes.
Adrian was too innocent for his own good. All the children were intimidated by her— simply because of their basic instincts— yet he faced her with those clear, bright eyes and complimented her so sincerely.
Odette was keen enough to realize how much he meant those honey-laced words, and they weren't use as a strategy to win her over. That's why, this fueled her predatory instincts.
Adrian then continued, "However, Dennis is a scary monster. He always screams at me and says how he will be killing me off. I don't like him at all. You will protect me from him, right?"
Dennis did that?
It was funny how this unassuming child knew perfectly which chords to strike to keep her obsessed with him. The dependency he showed on her made her feel excited, and sadistic ideas brewed up inside her head.
"And why should I protect you?"
He let out a giggle after listening to her words and voiced out, "That's because you're a good person. Aren't good people the heroes? Heroes always defeat the villains, right?"
Those words of his reminded her of when he had disposed off Damian Albinius and her in her last life. She commented, "That's right. Villains always gets defeated by the heroes. But what do you think would happen if the hero is on the villain's side?"
"Doesn't that mean the villain is fake? Heroes would never side with those who are bad. That's what my mother told me, and my mother is always right. No, she was wrong this one time. She told me told me wouldn't leave me, but she still left me."
His cheerful expression took a turn to become crestfallen, and his eyelashes fluttered. Odette silently stared at him for a second, pondering on his strange perspective.