Chapter 2:

Margaret’s POV

I wake up just before sunrise. Wipe myself over with a wet cloth before entering the kitchen. Being the head sister in an orphanage is lot harder than one would imagine. Looking after several trouble causing children would give enough stress to make a person go bald. After all, being the orphanage closest to the border town of Torena means lots of children to look after and being the person who everyone relies on is hard.

But, being depended upon by everyone, seeing the happy smiles of the children laughing and running about, becoming a sturdy support for everyone to rely on gives me a satisfaction I never experienced before joining the church.

I was city girl, born and raised as the second child of a well-off merchant in the Royal Capital of the Holy Kingdom. Raised alongside a talented older sibling, though my parents always compared me to my older brother and never paid me any real attention.

You could say that I was frustrated, being ignored and never relied on by anyone made me feel unwanted, unneeded.

I used to like walking around the capital with my friends, or more like my ‘acquaintances who I spend my free time with’ because it was too suffocating to stay at home. It was then that I met Jerry, the blacksmith’s apprentice. We started talking; it was fun to say the least. Conversing with someone who didn’t look at me as a product for sale made me felt alive.

A few months after, he proposed to me, asking me to become his girlfriend. I felt it was the happiest moment of my life, being proposed by the boy I had a crush on, someone who looked at me as Margaret and not Margaret Thales, daughter of owner of a merchant company. Though his muscular stature and huge biceps probably helped me say yes.

The days that followed were one of the most exciting days I ever had in my life. I sneaked out whenever I found time and being the horny teenagers we were, our dates were always followed by a round of passionate sex in his room.

But, like every good dream having an end, our short romance faced its first tribulation. My family picked a fiancé for me. The son of rival trading company, a marriage purely for the benefits it would bring.

I knew my parents would never let me marry Jerry, so we eloped.

We ran to the border town Torena, hoping to live a happy life in a world with just the two of us.

We hoped.

Reality came crashing down, Jerry was not able to get employment and our limited funds were dwindling.

I saw different faces of him that time, the angry face, the resentful face, and the worst, drunk and abusing face.

He said everything was my fault, that I caused him to lose everything.  I was pregnant at that time; one of his venting sessions resulted in miscarriage. He apologized after coming to his senses but as expected, some things cannot be forgiven.

There was no love between us, at least not anymore. I left him.

I turned to the only path left to me; begged the goddess and got accepted as a nun. Jerry no longer bothered me after that.

The days that followed were best described as frugal, a simple life time centered around the church and its activities. Years passed and I was deemed reliable enough to be the head sister at the orphanage in the village nearest to town.

Village life is usually filled with risks of monster or bandit attacks, but being the village nearest to town and on a major trading route removed the risks and the village was deemed to ideal place for the churches orphanage.

I spent 10 years there, now 30 years old and living a life of happiness.

It was normal day, finishing work at church, we help around the village. The herbalist was out of herbs and we were heading to forest. There we found... an angel.

She had silver hair which seemed to glow with light reflecting from it, her big round blue eyes staring at you, eyes that seem to draw you inside.

Finding abandoned newborns in front of church doors is not anything new. But finding one inside a forest?

Being a merchant’s daughter, I had to train my appraisal to level 3, and am able to see much more than normal person.

Appraise.

Seems to be normal, but who would leave a baby in forest? Why?

Ah, she’s smiling at us. Such an adorable baby, I wouldn’t be surprised if she really is an angel in disguise.

I walked up to her and picked her up, she started smiling. The always cheerful and lively Milly tried to get her attention by her usual antics, being more popular with the kids; it does sprout some feelings of jealousy in me.

Oh? She’s staring back at me; it seems she likes me more.

I keep losing myself in those eyes, the color of sky, giving me a sense of freedom and strength, it made me believe myself capable of doing anything, wishing deep down that she would always keep looking at me.

After carrying her back to the orphanage, we sent the guards to investigate the presence of the baby in the forest, as expected they found nothing.

I confess I felt relieved knowing that nobody would come asking for her. It was wrong, I should be worried for Lilith’s parents, but knowing that she would be staying in the orphanage made me happy. Made me wish even if her parents were out there searching, that they would never come asking here.

“!!!”

Oh Goddess Aaris, please guide this lost lamb for she seems to have lost her way.

I should never think like that. What’s wrong with me?

Her parents would be worried.

Even if Lilith were to stay here, I shouldn’t treat a single child as special; it will make the others feel distant, like what my own parents made me feel.

But looking at little Lily sleeping on my bed made me think, ‘Isn’t it fine? She deserves to be treated special.’

 That night she spent the night sleeping beside me; it takes time to arrange for new addition into our orphanage. Lying while holding her, I found myself unable to sleep. Staring at her peaceful resting face, too adorable even on a newborn, taking in the sweet scent of honey and milk she seems to exude made my mind mushy and unable to think properly.

That night I started secreting breast milk again.

A pleasant surprise since I’m the one in charge of feeding Lily now. There are few things better for a baby than a mother’s milk. Fufufu, it seems the goddess blessed me to experience happiness only mothers are entitled to.

Everyone noticed me becoming too attached to Lily, it wasn’t right, as the head sister I am supposed to be the central pillar of support for everyone. But nobody could bear to separate her from me as they thought I was treating her as replacement for my lost child. 

I spend my days waiting for the time I get to spend alone with Lily. She makes such an adorable face while smiling. Sucking on my nipples while her other hand squeezes my other breast using her soft small hands, I feel myself filled with overflowing happiness. Happier than when I was proposed to by Jerry. Holding her and feeding her gives me more pleasure than the most intense orgasms I had during sex, making me wish if time would stop, if this moment could continue forever.

These days I wake up to see the cute face of sleeping angel.