Chapter 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.