Chapter 10: Live To Sienna Pt.10

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She showed Sienna and Chelsea the room. Though not large, the room looked warm, and there was a window overlooking the garden. There was a hint of care to every little thing, such as the vase full of red flowers on the bedside table, the picture hanging in front of the bed, and the gold candlestick.

“This line is connected to the maid’s room below, so if you need anything, you can pull it.”

“Thank you for your care. I wish I could’ve visited to Aunt Kelly sooner. I don’t know if she remembers me because it’s been so long.”

“Clearly, Kelly will be happy to see you, too.”

Jane took Chelsea out, saying that she would show her another room.

Sienna sat on her bed without changing her clothes.

She was now eighteen years old, but she couldn’t act like she was eighteen. Five years. In that short, short period, Sienna had experienced too many things. Many things were certainly different from what they used to be.

Although she was acting naturally, she was nervous about someone thinking that she might be acting strange. Chelsea, in particular, had been around since Sienna was born. It was obvious that Sienna’s change would be the most acute for her.

Chelsea, however, did not seem to have noticed, and that was because of all the excitement. But, how much longer could Sienna think of herself as the woman who had gone through those five years? Even if she seemed a little different from usual, others would think it was just the whims of an adolescent girl.

“Have I really come back?”

Sienna sighed deeply, alone in the room. She was glad to be back before her marriage to Carl, but she was afraid that would all turn out to be an illusion, and that what she saw when she died by Carl’s sword had been true.

*

Sienna followed Jane to Kelly’s room. The candlestick in the room was red, but it was dark. Even the air was heavy and stuffy.

Kelly was confined to her bed. There was a peculiar smell of sick people in the air, the smell of a woman tired of suffering.

Come to think of it, Sienna seemed to have been extremely reluctant to go into Kelly’s room because of the smell. She had only been eighteen years old at the time. For a girl standing on the threshold of becoming an adult, it would have been difficult to overcome the instinctive fear she had felt when she had been with someone facing death.

But now, it was different. She had the body of an eighteen year old, but she was not young as she was to fear it anymore.

“Sienna…”

Kelly stretched out her hand helplessly. Sienna sat by the bed and held the woman’s hand in hers.

“Hello, aunt Kelly.”

“Yes, Sienna. Do you remember me?”

“I don’t remember perfectly because I was so young, but I do remember that when I was young, I sometimes visited you with my mother when she was still alive.”

After her mother died, Sienna had thought it to be because of the environment of the North that aunt Kelly never showed up, so she didn’t come to blame her father for it, but…

“Looking at you and your red hair reminds me of Sera.”

Tears streamed down her cheeks. Sienna comforted Kelly by rubbing the back of her hand against her cheek.

“Do I look a lot like my mother?”

“Yes. You look exactly like her. Your lovely cheekbones and thick lips look very similar. Still, your forehead looks like that of your father, Duke Waters. Is your father healthy and well?”

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