Reborn from the Ash
1.2 - An Heiress' Duty
A week later, Kiara sat slumped down on a refined looking couch in her wing of the mansion, watching reruns of some serial drama show on the massive television that hung over the antique looking fireplace. She was no closer to telling her parents she wanted nothing to do with Antonio’s business. No closer to escaping this suffocating place she called home. Nothing had changed.
Even if she did manage to escape the mansion and her responsibilities, what then? It wasn’t like she had the skills nessacary to make it out in regular society. After all, whenever she actually left the mansion, it was to visit the Villareal Estate. Kiara could legitimately count the number of times she’d been out in the city on one hand. After all, what reason is there to go out when you have servants to do it for you? Why visit people when you can invite them over to your much more lavish house and show off?
To drown our her thoughts, Kiara returned her focus to the television.
In the show, a girl in an elegant white dress and boy dressed in flattering black suit sat at an iron table- the lone decoration in an ivy covered courtyard that, based on the old stone wall, was in a dark castle of some sort. Cupping his hands, the boy made a black rose that shined with an odd purple light appear.
“Nate,” a girl in a white dress gasped, rising from the table in shock. “It’s beautiful. I can’t think you enough.”
The boy smiled, stood up, and walked over to the girl to take her hands. “No need, Olivia. It’s my gift to you.”
Kiara frowned in disgust and shut the tv off. Some princess being swept off her feet by a dashing man… The last thing she needed was a reminder that there wasn’t a single romantic prospect on her horizon. It was one of many things that Jacqueline constantly hounded her about. That show had really spiraled out of control- if she’d known it was going to end up like that, she wouldn’t have tuned in.
Rubbing her temples, Kiara made to lay down on the couch, but she was interrupted by a polite knocking on the wooden doorframe that led to her wing of the mansion. Kiara quickly sat back up, and smoothed out her dress as she looked to see who was at the door.
It was Jacqueline’s blonde haired personal servant, Jinelle. When she’d first been hired, Jinelle has been a rather demure girl who didn’t speak much, but once Jacqueline took Jinelle under her wing, she’d started making it very clear how much she disliked certain tasks. Didn’t help that Jacqueline doted on the girl so much that she took her out to buy fancy clothes whenever Jinelle seemed exhausted. She got more spoiled by the day.
“Um…” Jinelle muttered, not making eye contact. “Mrs. Jacqueline wishes to see you?”
Kiara rolled her eyes. “And she couldn’t come and tell me this herself?”
“Yeah, I’m just the messenger, okay?” Jinelle said with a tight smile. “I think this job is just as ridiculous as you.”
Kiara let out an audible sigh, but she stood up, and headed past Jinelle and down the hallway towards Jacqueline’s wing of the mansion.
Jacqueline was lounging in the sitting area she’d put together near the windows that looked out on the patio, reading a magazine in a gorgeous red evening gown. The white couches in her very stylish wing of the mansion were the plushest, and it made sense they were, as Jacqueline had been sure to order what was both the most expensive and the best reviewed item on the market at the time she’d furnished the area.
Upon seeing Kiara enter, Jacqueline closed the magazine, and gestured for Jinelle, who’d followed Kiara, to take it. Jinelle did as she ordered, then started to head out.
Jacqueline cleared her throat, and Jinelle stopped, muttered something under her breath, then turned back around. “Do you, uh, need anything else, Mrs. Jacqueline?” she asked with a pinched smile.
Jacqueline nodded. “Yes, actually. A cup of ginger tea. I’m feeling a bit parched.”
“Of course, Mrs. Jacqueline.”
Jinelle started to head off again, but Jacqueline stopped her.
“Make sure it’s warm as well. Not too hot, as I do not wish to burn my hands, and too cold will ruin the tea.”
Jinelle nodded, and carried on her way.
With Jinelle gone, Jacqueline turned to her daughter with a radiant smile. “Come and sit, darling. Carefully too- the designer told me these couches were not made for sitting.”
Kiara gave Jacqueline a sullen look. Did she have to remind her that every time she was asked to sit with Jacqueline here? Regardless, she sat down.
“Oh- is that how you’re going to sit, dear?” Jacqueline asked. “That posture is rather man-ish, and I thought you and I were better than that!”
“Get to the point please, mother. What did you call me in here for?”
“Well,” Jacqueline said with a sly smile. “I was going to ask if you’d found a man yet. Or a girl, I won’t judge. You do know how badly I want grandchildren, and Antonio needs to make sure the family line doesn’t end with you.”
“This is because of that show I was watching, isn’t it?” Kiara asked, exasperated.
“Kiara, whatever are you implying? That I, your mother, would-“
“Mother, please.”
“Okay, fine! I had Jinelle take a tiny peek at what you were watching so I could tune in on my tv here, and have something to talk with you about! And the moment I saw that boy give that girl a rose, I knew my darling would need some comfort. If those two teenagers can find love, she must be feeling so unwanted having never had a relationship at the ripe old age of 32!”
“26, mother. If I was 32, you’d be ancient, and we both know you can’t have that.”
“Fighting fire with fire here!” Jacqueline beamed. “Knew you had it in you, Kiara! Alright. I’ll be frank. Your father and I had a talk last night, and the night before, and so on and so forth… anyway, we really need to ensure that you find someone to carry on the family name…before it’s too late. After all, it’s going to fall to you to keep the family running, and neither of us like to imagine you doing that alone.”
“And what would happen if I didn’t, mother?” Kiara asked coldly. “What would you and father do? Adopt? Start training Jinelle to be my replacement?”
“You’re being ridiculous, darling,” Jacqueline said through clenched teeth.
Kiara rose from the couch. “You know, I would love to see what would happen if I never bothered with any of it. If I just disappeared! How quickly would you and father spiral out of control?”
“Kiara, don’t you dare take that tone with me!”
“I’m going out, mother,” Kiara said firmly. She then quickly turned on her heel and stormed out of the room.
“Going out? You can’t go out!” Jacqueline called out behind her.
As she marched angrily towards her room to grab a purse and a hat, Kiara knew she was making a massive mistake she’d pay for later, but she’d come this far. Jacqueline wasn’t going to take being yelled at lightly, and Antonio would come down on her like a wrathful god for disrespecting her mother, so for now, she was just going to do what she’d said she’d do in her fit of rage. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d just gone ‘out’ anyway.
After grabbing her hat and purse and leaving her room, Kiara paused as she shut the door. The mansion seemed oddly quiet. Jacqueline had likely retreated to her room, wounded. Kiara frowned. She was beyond fed up with her mother, but…
After thinking for a moment, Kiara walked over to the door next to hers in the hallway, and knocked. It was the room of her personal servant, Lyric. Lyric was more of a friend to her than a servant. She gave Lyric complete freedom with her appearance, whereas Jacqueline mandated that Jinelle always looked fashionable and Antonio gave his personal servant as little dress freedom as possible- not that his servant would want it, anyway. Kiara rarely had Lyric do anything for her either, so she ended up working more for Antonio than her most of the time, but today… if there was ever a time she didn’t want to do something herself, it was now.
Lyric, a woman with random color streaks in her black hair, opened the door. She was wearing workout clothes, and judging by the perspiration on her body, she’d been interrupted.
“Sir, I’ll be right ther- Oh! Kiara? What is it?”
Kiara gestured vaguely, words not coming to her. Giving up on finding the words, she pushed past Lyric and walked over to the pair of black chairs Lyric had set up near her Antonio-issued wardrobe for when Kiara wanted to talk.
Immediately understanding that Kiara was going through something, Lyric shut her bedroom door and walked over to sit in the chair across from Kiara.
“Tell me, Kiara. How can I help?”
“I, uh… I may have blown up at my mother.”
“You pissed off Jacqueline? Let me guess- she brought up marriage again, and it sent you over the deep end?”
Kiara nodded, looking at her shoes.
Lyric let out a big sigh. “I’ll go and talk to her. I know that Jacqueline really knows how to push your buttons, but getting angry is only going to make your situation worse. You have to stop doing this.”
“…this time is different.”
“How so?”
“I didn’t only get furious at her for criticizing my lack of decision making… I also told her that I just wanted to disappear. That… I’m going to go out into town.”
Lyric smiled. “The little rich girl is going to wander around town, huh? Well, I’m all for it. You barely know what’s out there. I’ll talk to Jacqueline- and probably Antonio, because I’m sure she’s telling him all about this right now- and try to smooth as much over as I can for you.”
“Thank you, Lyric,” Kiara smiled.
With that, Kiara got up, straightened her hat, then started heading out.
“Kiara, you may need a coat…” Lyric’s words fell on deaf ears as Kiara closed Lyric’s door behind her.
Sighing to herself, Lyric grabbed her things to take a shower so was presentable enough to speak to Antonio and Jacqueline.
20 minutes later, after a rough and quick shower, an entanglement with a blow drier, and strangling her hair into a braid, Lyric was presentable enough to get dressed and plead Kiara’s case. Guessing that the two would be in Antonio’s office, Lyric slowly crept up the stairwell that led to Antonio’s floor of the house.
Sure enough, she could hear Jacqueline, sounding as if she was on the verge of tears.
“What would we do if she didn’t bother with any of it? What could she possibly mean by that, Antonio?”
“I sincerely hope she isn’t planning to do anything rash,” Antonio muttered.
“If I may…” Lyric interrupted, climbing up the rest of the stairs to Antonio’s office.
It was a very formal looking room, one that made anyone who entered it that wasn’t Antonio anxious. The red wallpaper above the wood paneling on the walls set a very different tone from the rest of the house, seeming to warn visitors that this was a serious room. It didn’t help that Antonio’s desk and the chairs in front of it where he had visitors were all raised up slightly above the rest of the room, and the edges of the raised space were adorned with intricately carved golden trellises that seemed to cage visitors within the lion’s den.
All in all, it was a room Lyric did not enjoy paying visits to, especially when she’d have to deal with Jacqueline’s drama as well.
“What is it, Jarrel?” Antonio sighed, the tone of his voice indicating that she was walking on thin ice, looking up from the sofa he was sitting on with Jacqueline. “If you couldn’t tell, Jacqueline and I are in the middle of a very important conversation.”
“It’s about Kiara, sir,” Lyric said with a bow as she entered the office area.
“Kiara?” Jacqueline said excitedly, sitting up in her chair. “Did she say where she was going? I don’t know what we’d do if she did anything reckless…”
“My apologies, nothing about that, Mrs. Jacqueline. She just wished for me to apologize on her behalf, and told me that she was going out.”
“Did she give any indication to where she might’ve gone?” Antonio demanded.
Lyric frowned. “Nothing specific… although she did grab her purse, so I’d guess she was going to buy something.”
“Probably just to old town Windenburg then,” Antonio said, more to himself than anyone else. “Jarrel. I want you to catch up with her, and join her on her little shopping expedition. She’s on foot, because she doesn’t know how to drive. She couldn’t have gotten far.”
“Understood, sir. I’ll go immediately.”
“Antonio…” Jacqueline muttered. “Could we be lenient on her for this? I fear that too drastic of a punishment would push her even further from us…”
Antonio frowned thoughtfully. “… I’ll think about it. And what are you still doing standing here, Jarrel? You have work to do.”
“O-of course, sir,” Lyric stammered.
Lyric hurriedly walked down the short flight of steps and away from Antonio’s office area. As she approached the stairwell, a confident pale face emerged from the shadows that draped over the far part of the room, his black hair and uniform having blended in.
“Letting your master leave without the slightest concern about where they’re off to,” the face muttered. “Utterly shameful.”
“Leave me alone, Ivailo,” Lyric sighed. “Kiara is entirely capable of going to town by herself.”
“I wonder about that…” Ivailo smirked.
Spotting Ivailo from across the room, Antonio held up a commanding hand. “Rodrigues! Prepare a face mask for Jacqueline at once. If you have any questions about which product to use, ask Jinelle. She’s on kitchen duty at this hour. And if she isn’t, reprimand her for me.”
“At once, sir,” Ivailo said with a bow.
He made for the stairs, and Lyric shuddered as he passed her. “Creep,” she muttered.
Ivailo was Antonio’s personal servant, and if any word described him, it was devoted. Unlike Lyric and Jinelle, who wore their regular clothes when guests weren’t visiting the mansion, Ivailo constantly wore his house staff uniform. He only ever took it off when it was his turn to take care of a task in town. Antonio’s word was law to him, and he looked down on all the other members of the house staff for not being as selflessly devoted as he was.
After waiting a few seconds for Ivailo to get a head start, Lyric set off to track down Kiara. The last thing she wanted to do was walk down the stairs beside that man. It wouldn’t surprise her if he gave her a little push.
Nearing old town Windenburg, Kiara’s steps quickened, and she allowed a smile to grace her face. There were buildings of all sorts of sizes, the cobblestone ground didn’t seem scrubbed clean, everything wasn’t some picturesque image of perfection. And Kiara loved it. The town in front of her didn’t feel like it was tailored to suit her every whim, like life at the Sanchez mansion was. It actually felt authentic.
“Kiara,” a familiar voice called out from behind her.
Kiara turned around and was surprised to see Lyric jogging her way.
“Lyric? What are you doing here?”
“Thought I’d join you,” Lyric shrugged. “And… I’m sorry, but I cannot believe I let you out wearing that.”
Kiara looked at the form complementing tan dress she had on, and gave Lyric a confused look. “What’s wrong with it?”
“Let’s just say that you look awfully dressy for someone who’s just walking around town. Not to mention, cold. Let’s get you warmed up with some coffee.”
Kiara nodded. “Yeah. That sounds lovely! I’ve just been so awash in excitement that I barely noticed the cold, but now that you mention it…”
“Let’s go,” Lyric smiled, gesturing for Kiara to follow her.
As she followed Lyric to the coffee shop, Kiara continued to look around in wonder. She’d seen plenty like this on television, but all her real world experiences outside of the mansion had happened at such a young age for her that she barely remembered the thrill…