I was a virtuous wife

Chapter 18: An ominous request

When Kierra arrived at the door of the parlor room, she felt ominous and uneasy. She steeled herself and entered the room determined to be calm and composed. But as soon as she stepped inside, she was taken aback. Along with her sister, her mother was also seated there. 

"Mother ?"

"It's nice to see you again Kierra. Are you alright now ?"

"Y-yes..."

She thought that she was to have tea only with Sierra. She didn't expect to see her mother as well. 

"You look well, sister. We were all worried about you since you wouldn't leave your room.", chirped Sierra with an innocent smile. 

"I just didn't want anyone to look at my unkept appearance.", said Kierra sharply. 

"Kierra."

Her mother raised her voice. 

"Don't you see your sister is worried for you ? What is with your tone ?"

It hadn't even been ten minutes since Kierra arrived but she was already feeling irked. However, she was used to this so it was more like she wasn't surprised. 

"My apologies if I caused you concern, Sierra.", Kierra said with an icy voice. 

Sierra looked visibly flustered by her sister's cold demeanor. She realized real quick that something was not right with her sister so she decided to save her words.

"It's alright. I understand you are not feeling well, sister. It's okay..."

"Well then..."

Kierra took a seat on her own before her mother could tell her to. Her mother was visibly rattled but she stayed composed, probably because of Sierra sitting nearby. 

"Have some tea."

Her mother glanced at a maid and immediately hot tea was served to Kierra. She took a sip and immediately she wanted to spit it out. It was herb tea sweetened slightly with honey. It was served probably because of Sierra since she was the one who always drank herbal tonics in the form of tea or juice. It smelled and tasted horrible, like bitter grass squeezed out and mixed with mold. 

"Do you not like the tea ?", he mother asked sternly seeing her distorted face. 

"No, it's just my taste buds have weakened since I was sick.", she replied calmly. 

Kierra was used to her mother's passive and stern attitude. She was a warm and loving person in front of Sierra but was strict and ruthless towards Kierra. She used to get hurt by her mother's shift of attitude when she was young but now she was used to it and it didn't faze her anymore. 

After a few moments of awkward silence between the three of them, Kierra's mother placed down her teacup and started speaking. 

"I wanted to talk to you about something concerning Sierra.", her mother began. 

Kierra wasn't even surprised. She knew from the beginning that this whole tea party had something to do with Sierra when she saw her mother in the room. 

"Sierra is going to become an adult very soon and we thought it was time for her to learn from the real world."

Kierra's heart froze. She had an inkling of where this was going and she hoped that it wasn't what she thought it was. 

"So we thought that you could let Sierra stay in the Alden house for a few months so she could experience life at the capital."

Kierra could hear her heart crack. She felt a sharp pain in her chest.