章 20: Awakening

"Linny, why did you run off by yourself?" Her father sounded pretty angry. She blinked and shifted from side to side. Her head hung low as she thought about a good excuse. She needed to come up with an excuse that allowed her to keep visiting that orphanage, otherwise she could kiss goodbye the chance to rope in Dimitri.

"Linny..." She heard his pitch rise and immediately looked up.

'See my cute face! How can you be angry at this cute face?' She looked at him with watery eyes. Don't scold the child! She's gonna cry!

He wavered immediately seeing how she looked like she was going to cry. No, she ran away, he must discipline her so that she wouldn't do it again.

"Dad..."

An arrow went straight through his heart. *Cough* "Why don't you tell me why you ran away?" He questioned in a much softer tone.

"I heard a bell rang followed by a few children running towards the sound. I wanted to know what was happening so I followed them, Daddy. Aaron told me that it was an orphanage, I felt sad because I had you but they didn't have anyone so I thought I'd help them out. Was I wrong?... Daddy...."

That sounded plausible, right? Adeline mustered up every ounce of cuteness she had.

The Marquess fell deep in thought. She was just a child that didn't know better. How innocent. She reminded him of his late wife too much. She too had a philanthropic spirit. All the children she sponsored made sure to visit her grave from time to time. She left a deep impression on all of them.

He couldn't help but sigh. Helping out an orphanage wasn't a big deal to him, he would do as she liked. He sighed because he wished her innocence would last forever.

"Is that the entire truth Adeline?"

She nodded vigorously.

"Very well. Go apologise to your brother and the Captain. They were extremely worried after you ran off like that."

Adeline immediately went to find her brother. The Captain earned a few reprimands from the Marquess, being distracted like that was no way a Captain should behave. He accepted the scolding well, he didn't blame the children.

He knew he was the one who took his eyes off the ball. How could he blame Adeline? When she just wanted to help other children. The reprimands didn't feel too heavy after seeing why the child ran off like that.

Her brother didn't get scolded too much by the Marquess, in his eyes he too was just a child. But that didn't stop Alaric from going off on Aaron.

When she went to apologise to Aaron the first thing she could see was the red dot on his forehead. It was bright red in contrast to his fair skin. She realised what had happened. Poor Aaron got flicked on the forehead by Alaric. He was cheery for someone who had just been scolded by their older brother.

"Are you happy, Linny?"

If Adeline didn't know how much of a cinnamon roll Aaron was she would assume he was being sarcastic. Seeing the question mark on Adeline's face, Aaron began to explain.

"Are you happy that Father decided to help that orphanage?" His face was beaming, he couldn't hide his joy.

He was truly the purest among the siblings. He was genuinely happy Adeline decided to plead their case with Father. Because of this happy turn of events he completely forgot that Adeline had schemed to get this done.

Initially, he questioned how she knew about the place but it quickly changed. Aaron followed his mother whenever she went to help the poor and needy, he was very much interested in continuing his mother's work.

"I thought about checking up on them after a few days. Will you join me, brother?"

The enthusiasm on his face only grew. He would love to accompany her and make sure all the proper arrangements had been made. The orphanage was getting by but wasn't exactly in the best condition.

Because Adeline wanted to help, the Marquess decided to take it upon himself and better the place. Renovated rooms, new beds, better food and supplies. Finally, a good educator would be hired to make sure the children can make something of themselves.

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"Why are you being so stubborn? You should be grateful that I gave you the chance to stay in the orphanage."

The owner was losing her mind trying to get this 'street-urchin' into the orphanage. The daughter of the Marquess left her with specific instructions, but she didn't take her seriously until many men showed up and renovated the home. The emblem of the House of Kendrick on their uniforms was unforgettable.

Instead of crying tears of joy and joining the orphanage, this brat had the audacity to bargain with her. He refused to come with her until she took in the pair of children he was with.

She didn't care about them! She didn't care about him either, she wouldn't have batted an eye if he died of starvation. But now that the lady has her eyes on him she had to play nice.

"I don't know why you're suddenly being nice. You refused to give me food scraps you were about to throw away, why would I come with you?!" He shouted at the top of his lungs.

He was filled with anger but he quickly became horrified at what happened.

"My- my magic-"