REBOOT SIENNA

Chapter 28: Live To Sienna Pt.28

Kelly approached Jane, put her hands on her shoulders, looked into her eyes and said, “Yes, you’re my daughter now, no matter what anyone says. You must stand tall and with confidence for me, who have taken you in as my adoptive daughter. You are a noble now and should not let anyone tarnish our family name. So, always keep your back straight and be confident. You can do well.”

“Yes, mother.”

Jane’s eyes were filled with tears, so Kelly wiped them away with a handkerchief.

Sienna watched them lovingly. It had only been a few weeks since they had formed the bond of parent and child, but their relationship had been a long and deep one. Those two people, who treated each other caringly, seemed to have already had the strong bond of a mother-daughter relationship, no matter their circumstances.

Sienna, Jane, and Kelly got in the carriage that was parked outside. It was not their usual carriage, but a fancy carriage led by six white horses. The outside of the carriage was painted with a shield symbolizing the Grinnie Family, and around it there was an engraving of two lions carrying the shield.

Sienna took the horseman’s hand first and boarded the carriage. After that, Jane and Kelly did the same. While the three chatted amicably, the carriage slowly headed toward the palace.

Jane’s hands trembled nervously. That was also the day where she would go from being a commoner to formally becoming an aristocrat.

Sienna had shuddered just like her when she had first gone to her debutante ceremony in the past. She had been so nervous that she hadn’t been able to drink a sip of water at the time, and so, she had ended up going to the palace with a pale complexion. Although she had been very nervous, she had certainly held expectations for her banquet since it had been held at the Imperial Palace.

But the debutante banquet she had experienced had been terrible. She had been laughed at by the other high class, aristocratic girls, who had worn stylish dresses and expensive cosmetics. She had been repeatedly teased by them, being constantly called a “countryside hick.”

Sienna had not been able to refute the remark because she had felt very shabby by comparison in that rustic dress. All she had been able to do was hide herself in a corner of the banquet hall and swallow her tears.

“Sister, if there are people at the banquet who are disrespectful to you…”

Sienna gave her calm advice, recalling the tricks that had disgraced her at that time, when she had known nothing. Jane listened silently to Sienna’s words, a tense expression on her face. Kelly, beside them, listened to Sienna and burst into laughter.

“Hahaha, that’s amazing! Who would believe you if you were to say that this is your first time attending a debutante ceremony today? Sienna, where in the world did you learn those things?”

Sienna seemed to have unintentionally said too much. Like Kelly had said, it was not something a girl from the outskirts of the capital who had never participated in a banquet should have actually known.

“Chelsea told me.”

Sienna used Chelsea as her excuse. It was strange that Kelly, a commoner who had lived in Heidel for a long time, would have known of such information, but she had no proper excuse. Luckily, Kelly didn’t keep prying.

The carriage, which had passed through the front gates of the Imperial Palace, had to come to a full stop well across the garden that the gardeners had arranged for the occasion. At the front of the palace, the nobles stepped off their carriages and entered the banquet hall.

The Sun was sinking. Full-scale banquets were better at night.

Sienna and Jane followed Kelly into the banquet hall. Kelly knew how to walk with grace, though it was her first appearance at a banquet in a long time ago. Jane’s steps resembled hers.