Chapter 92
His words provoked Marianne to lift her gaze from the little stack of papers.
Observing him with a dull expression, her eyes seemed to be surprised by the unexpected sentence Orland impulsively let out. And so, flickering her lovely eyelids to convey her confusion, she stared directly into his eyes.
Although seeing this reaction would usually send regret through his nerves, to then reach his head in a second, this time, nothing happened.
The Duke kept combing her hair with his fingers, stroking her forehead and temple as they made their path into the thick strands of hair.
Orland warmly grinned at her. She seemed to be pondering with those innocent eyes what had made her father say such a thing out of nowhere, and, answering her, he said in a soft voice conveying the calm in his heart.
"... It’s nothing, Dear... I am just happy to have you here..."
Thomas, who was still in the room, saw these wonderful interactions between the Master and his daughter. The way his Lord’s countenance seemed to rejuvenate by the Little Lady’s presence, pleased his aged heart greatly. However, watching the Young Little Miss let herself be caressed by her Father... was the one thing that caused the strong elder to tear up.
Long ago, he had witnessed numerous times, the cold rejection the Young Lady would give to the Duke.
At the time, she had already stopped being the Little Lovely Miss that Thomas had seen grow ever since her birth. She was by then, an emotionless child, with a gaze empty of the previous life they contained, and the joyous voice she used to emit had entirely disappeared from her being... to the point even her paced breathing wasn’t audible to the ones in her presence.
Today, that same child had flushed cheeks... and a glow in their eyes that the old Butler had thought he would not be able to see ever again... For his old body was sure to arrive at its last days shortly.
Her previous demeanour made that belief a possibility. Yet, now that he is seeing for himself how far her soul’s revival had come to blossom...
’My Lord is right... The Little Miss is indeed... A very precious child...’ — The Butler agreed with his Lord’s previous statement, recalling a memory from long ago.