Hurt

This chapter's song is Don't leave me by BTS!

Sylvia's POV:

After yesterday's fiasco, I decided to visit Lianey. Right now, I'm in my carriage on my way to the Swivel family mansion. Lianey's family is well known in high society. My mother especially knew a lot since she and Lianey's mother are in the same friendship group.

The breakdown of the Swivel family is pretty simple. They're a family of four, with one daughter and son. Holden Grey Windus Swivel is the Minister of Foreign affairs. He's a normal noble that is dedicated to his job and family. He married Elemaya Sina Swivel when he was 29 and had two kids with her.

Elemaya Sina Swivel was originally Elemaya Sina Montus, the second daughter of Marquis Montus. Her older sister is currently training to succeed him and she is childfree. Elemaya is a natural-born noble. Although her marriage with the Minister was arranged, she has a happy life with him and her two children.

Next is the firstborn son. The boy I met at the boutique just so happened to be the son of the Swivels and Lianey's only brother: Landres Holden Miranes Swivel. He has no fiancee even though he's 15 and only just returned from studying abroad in Eccelia. His magic is fire. Although fire is very common, he has a very high affinity for it. It's said he could burn a forest within a minute or evaporate a whole lake if he wishes to.

Lianey is the prized miss of the Swivels. She has unique power called 'Fake Reality' which means that she can draw anything she wants and literally create that object by taking it out of her book. It's why she is also very focused on her art, and why she is engaged to the first son of the Minister of International Trade since she is also an expert on determining whether an object is fake or not.

My mother is very proficient in attaining information on random noble families. I also asked her about the Garrisons but she just mentioned things I already know. The only thing worth noting was that Mikaeyla's family used to give birth to light wielders which meant that they were very close with the temple. However, there hasn't been a light wielder in their family for six generations, which lowered their standing in high society by a detrimental amount.

I asked about the Garrisons because there was something about Mikaeyla that bugged me a lot...She looks similar to Lily. Although there was some noticeable difference between Mikaeyla and Lily, such as the difference in facial features and cough cough chest, Lily looked at least like Mikaeyla's long lost cousin. This could also make sense if Lily was related to the Garrisons and explain why she has light magic that no commoner should have.

"Miss, we're here," the driver says as he opens the door. I take his hand and get out of the carriage, fixing my gown as I stand on the pavement.

"Stay here, this will just be a quick visit," I say as I walk towards the gates. A servant was already there.

"I'm here to visit Lianey. Is she home?" I ask, twirling my parasol.

"The miss is in her room..." the servant says hesitantly.

"What is it?"

"She hasn't come out of her room since yesterday... The madam and young master are still trying to get her to open the door," he explains.

"Can I come in and talk to her?"

"...I-" the servants starts.

"Fredrick, who's there?" A familiar voice says. I look over and see Landres walking towards me, his shirt was slightly unbuttoned, and his hair was a mess. It looked like he had just woken up.

"I-it's the miss' friend," the servant says, who I now know is called Fredrick.

"Ah, I remember you..." Landres says as he gazes at me. "Let her in, let's see if Lianey will listen to her."

Fredrick nods as he opens the gate, allowing me in.

"Pardon my appearance, the whole house has been in disarray," he apologises as he invites me in.

"No need for apologies. I can only imagine what your family is feeling because of Lianey," I say.

"She hasn't come out for breakfast, nor does she allow any of her maids in. My mother is worried sick about her and is waiting by her door," he explains as we pace to Lianey's room.

"Oh my, don't you have a spare key or something?" I ask.

"No, she took them. The only reason we haven't broken the door down was because she threatened to harm herself," he says, frustrated.

As we neared Lianey's room, I saw the minister and his wife and a bunch of servants crowding around the door. The minister and his wife looked dishevelled like Landres, and the maids also looked like they'd been awake for long.

"Lianey, please come out, don't worry me like this," Lianey's mother begged as she put a hand on the door.

"Lianey, my daughter, please come out. We'll do anything," the minister says.

"Madam, you've been up all night! You need to rest!" A maid cried.

"I don't need to rest, I need to see my daughter," her mother said as she knocked on the door and pleaded again.

"Mother, Father! I've brought her friend, Lianey will probably listen to her!" Landres says as he quickens me to the crowd.

"Sylviana, thank goodness you're here. Please get my daughter to open the door," her mother begged me as she fell to the floor in exhaustion.

"Maya!" The minister cried out as he tried to support her.

"Mother! You're weak! You need to rest!" Landres says as he holds his mother from the other side.

"Please madam, have a drink at least!" the maids said.

"My daughter hasn't had a morsel of food or a sip of water since yesterday, so neither shall I."

"Lady Swivel, this isn't good for your health, you must be strong in order to comfort your daughter," I say.

"I'll only rest once that door is open," Lady Swivel says, resolute.

"Then it's a deal," I say as I walk towards the door, motioning for everyone to keep quiet.

"Lianey, it's me, Sylvia..." I say.

There was a silence. "It seems we have to do it the hard way," I say as I summon Luna out.

"Go and open the door," I order her.

"Sheesh, no 'Hi Luna, how are you?' Just orders," Luna pouted as she went through the keyhole and a click was heard. The door creaked open.

I opened the door slowly, "Lianey..." As I walked into the yellow room, I saw a foot that was sticking out from behind the four-poster bed. "Lianey!" I scream as I run towards her. My voice alarmed her family as they came running in.

Lianey was sprawled on the floor, her long hair was cut jaggedly and surrounded her.

Suddenly, her head popped up and she backed away.

"Go away, I don't want you here," she croaks.

"Lianey what have you done to your hair?!" Lady Swivel cries as she sees the cut strands around her.

"Leave me alone," she repeats as she looks away.

"Lianey this is preposterous! Come here no-" Landres says as he attempts to walk towards her, only to back away at the scissors in Lianey's hands.

"I said. Leave. Me. Alone." The maids gasped at the sharp weapon. No one wanted to go near her in case she harms someone, including herself. That's when I got mad.

"How pathetic," I say.

"What did you just say?" Lianey stares at me.

"I said you look pathetic. All this over an argument with someone."

"She's not someone, Mikaeyla was my best friend!"

"Was, being the keyword. No matter how bad you're feeling, it's no excuse to worry your mother to sickness and cause chaos in your house," I say.

"Shut up, and LEAVE!" She screams.

"Or what? You're gonna hurt me? Or yourself? Or perhaps your caring family who have put up with your sulky attitude for this long," I raise a brow, motioning for Luna to smack the scissors out of her hand.

"Ah!" Lianey screams as the scissors go flying to the end of the room. I kneel down and face her.

"Enough, I know you feel betrayed but you can't worry your family like this, not over some girl," I sigh.

"She wasn't some girl, she was-" Lianey breaks down.

"Your friend, she was your best friend. And she hurt you, so hey, wanna be my friend instead?" I ask.

Lianey looked at me before finally bursting into tears, crying into my arms. I stroke her hair, calming her down as she let it all out. Good thing this dress is washable.

We stayed like that for five minutes, with Lianey's family finally hugging and consoling her.

After all that, I was sitting in the lounge room with Landres.

"I cannot thank you enough for helping us," Landres says as he serves me a cup of tea.

"It's no matter, I know how emotional girls can get when they're betrayed by a loved one," I say.

"No please, accept my gratitude. If it weren't for you, my mother would've fainted from worry and we still would have never opened the door."

"I only hope that Lianey feels better. Her hair..."

"She lopped it all off. All the way to her neck. Though I think we may have to cut it shorter in order to neaten it," he sighs as he rubs the back of his neck.

"Will she be alright in time for the debutante?" I ask, remembering that it's in two days.

"I think so. I may have to ask you to leave for now. I need to attend to Lianey and my mother, though I hope that I can thank you properly later," he says.

"No need, my carriage is waiting for me anyway," I say as I get up.

"Then, I'll walk you out." The walk was a silent one, once I made it to the entrance, Landres did something very unexpected. He kissed my hand.

"See you again soon, Miss Sylvia," he says, using my nickname. I was unsure of what to do so I nodded and sat in the carriage. It was just a goodbye, nothing more but hopefully less. I tried to focus on the debutante instead. Let's hope Ace has finished with my dress...

The Royale Debutante is next chapter! Look forward to it!