-207- Plans

In the evening, Orianna returned home early.

Colin's Prosthetics Shop, usually closing at dusk, has been staying open until midnight in recent months. Sometimes it closes at 7 PM, sometimes at 8 PM, and sometimes even after 10 PM.

In any case, the shop only closes its doors when a blonde girl rushes in – Orianna.

The bell above the door rang, and Colin Reveck immediately put on a professional smile, getting up to welcome the customer.

The next moment, he unintentionally blurted out, "Why are you back so early today?"

By the time Colin stood up, Orianna had already dashed into the store, her face turning red as she stood in front of Colin.

"Because I didn't have any projects today, so I could come back early," Orianna earnestly replied.

"Have you eaten?" Colin walked out from behind the counter, headed towards the door, and stretched to pull down the iron gate.

Colin would keep the shop open late at night just to wait for Orianna to come back.

Now that Orianna is back, Colin's Prosthetics Shop can finally close its doors.

"I've already eaten," Orianna quickly replied, placing her backpack down and helping Colin with closing the door.

Once everything was done, Orianna stood in the shop, not saying a word, keeping her head low.

Seeing Orianna like this, Colin immediately knew something was on her mind.

Approaching Orianna, he spoke up, "Spit it out, what's bothering you?"

"Dad, it's, um..." Orianna raised her head and looked at Colin.

Her father's control over her was incredibly strong.

This was something Orianna had always known.

Being allowed to attend Twin City University was already beyond Orianna's imagination. Perhaps the senior who delivered the acceptance letter added pressure to Colin, or maybe Orianna's words before her breakdown moved him.

But Orianna didn't believe Colin would easily let her leave Piltover, especially for such a distant place as Demacia.

Demacia, looking at the map, was literally on the other side of the world!

"I, I, I..."

For a long time, Orianna couldn't bring herself to speak.

She gathered the courage to say she wanted to go in front of Leona, but after returning home, facing Colin slowly drained her courage.

"If you have something to say, just say it." Colin looked at his daughter, furrowing his brow.

"It's about something happening at your school, right?" Colin snorted and continued, "What are you planning to do this time? Are you planning to stay at the school for a few days again?"

Orianna remained silent.

What Colin mentioned was the incident where Orianna and Lorana made the puppet limbs for the first time, assembling the puppet overnight.

That night was the first time Orianna stayed up late and didn't come home.

On that night, Orianna stayed up very late.

However, several other students in the lab were also working on their experiments that night. According to Lorana, they even stayed up until dawn before going to sleep.

"If it's about that, just let me know in the future," Colin said, softening his tone as Orianna didn't speak.

After Orianna entered Twin City University, her visible happiness increased.

Orianna became even more cheerful and loved to share her experiences at school with Colin.

This made Colin both happy and regretful.

He was happy that his daughter was happy. He had an extremely strong desire to protect Orianna, but that was because he loved her too much. He worried that Orianna would get hurt outside.

It was a kind of pathological love.

But Colin, who deeply loved Orianna, of course, was willing to see his daughter happy.

Regretfully, Colin realized he had made too many mistakes in the past, causing numerous wounds to Orianna.

Seeing Colin becoming more approachable, Orianna finally gathered the courage to look up and said, "I might need to leave home for a few days."

"Where are you going?"

Orianna took a deep breath and explained, "Dad, the school issued a notice yesterday, saying they need a group of students to assist teachers in another country for training. I want to participate, and I've come here to get your approval."

She quickly added, "I hope you can agree."

Colin frowned, "Where are you going?"

"Demacia."

After saying this, Orianna could already imagine her father's roaring voice. With a determined look and beautiful big eyes, she was ready to argue with Colin.

She was going to Demacia with Lorana!

She wanted to see if she could acquire a anti-magic stone and build a powerful combat puppet!

For this, she was willing to resist Colin!

However, the scene Orianna had imagined didn't unfold.

Colin Reveck just looked down at Orianna, his eyes filled with emotions Orianna couldn't describe. After a while, Colin spoke, "Demacia, huh? Okay, I understand."

"Go ahead, but remember to stay safe. Don't leave your teachers and classmates."

After saying this, Colin turned away, walked towards the kitchen in the face of Orianna's disbelief, preparing some dinner for himself.

"Dad?"

"Aren't you going to stop me?"

Colin didn't stop, continuing to walk, and asked, "Why should I stop you?"

"But, but this isn't like you," Orianna followed, puzzled, into the kitchen.

"Why? Do you want me to stop you?" Colin turned around, looked down at his daughter, and continued in a low voice, "You have changed now, and it also mean that I can change."

"Orianna, you've grown up now. As you said, you can decide your own destiny. Although I'm your father, I don't have the right to dictate your life."

Colin picked up a plate of bread, then walked past Orianna, into the living room, placed the plate down, and sat on a chair.

Orianna quickly followed, like a little tagalong.

"I've done too many wrong things in the past. Now I don't want to make the same mistakes."

Chewing on the bread, Colin looked up at his daughter, with a complex expression, "To be honest, I don't want you to go, but..."

"I know I can't do that."

"So go, learn more knowledge."

Orianna silently watched Colin. After a while, she bent down, reached into the plate in front of Colin, and took a piece of bread.

"Haven't you had dinner already?"

"I suddenly got hungry again!" Orianna stuffed the bread into her mouth, smiling at Colin.

Colin looked at Orianna with a slightly helpless expression as she sprayed crumbs from her mouth but said with a playful tone, "No talking during meals, you're not a little girl anymore"

Orianna vigorously nodded while chewing the bread.

The bread had been left out for a while and cooled down. Still, the taste was excellent. The bread, softened in her mouth, had a sweet flavor with a strong aroma of wheat.

About the diet plan....

Let's start it tomorrow!

——————

On April 22nd, Linwin looked at the registration list collected by Ekko.

Ekko handed a stack of papers to Linwin, each with students' photos, ages, genders, majors, and more.

Linwin was carefully reviewing them.

"Orianna."

When Ekko heard this name, he immediately added, "Big bro, Orianna is a very bright student."

"The combat puppet she made with Lorana, if successful, will surely become a powerful weapon for Twin City." Ekko confidently said.

Both Orianna and Lorana were Ekko's students.

The mentor for Mechanical Engineering and Applications is Ekko.

"Who is Lorana?"

Looks like Orianna is still going to build a clockwork puppet.

But does that mean that Orianna is now a puppet master and not a puppet?

Thinking about this, Linwin looked at the paper selected by Ekko with a strange expression.

Picking it up, Linwin saw a woman with red hair and small freckles on her face.

"She has a good relationship with Orianna, appearing together at school every day." Ekko stood straight beside Linwin, explaining.

"Why are you standing like that?" Linwin also noticed Ekko's actions and gave him an annoyed look. "What? Are you afraid of me now? Are you afraid I'll beat you up like we did back in the Black Ally?"

Ekko: ...

"Alright, you can lead the team this time. You don't need to worry about constructing the Hex Gate of Piltover; Jayce will handle it. You just take the students to Demacia and work on building the Hextech Base Station there."

Linwin pushed the papers back to Ekko.

Ekko collected the papers on the desk, nodded, and said, "Alright, big bro."

After Ekko left, Linwin squinted.

Is Orianna going to Demacia? 

Moreover, judging by what she wrote in the application, it seems like she wants to obtain a anti-magic stone in Demacia...

This thing is not easy to get, but Linwin can guess what Orianna wants to do with the anti-magic stone.

Hextech combined with Petricite? Linwin suddenly became interested.

The Petricite can absorb magic, store a lot of it, and even give rise to creatures with self-awareness like Galio. So, what miracles could happen if it was used as the core for a Hextech puppet created by Orianna?

Linwin was a bit skeptical, but he would not intervene.

Because Champions are individuals that create miracles, and he won't underestimate them just because of their seemingly weak strength.

However, Orianna's actions did disrupt Linwin's plans.

He originally wanted to pull some strings for Orianna, making her the first president of the student council at Twin City University. This way, Linwin could use this opportunity to get to know Orianna better and maybe increase her favorability.

But now...

Oh well, I'll just wait for their good news.