"I just don't get why you are doing this." The Duchess said.
Lyrica heard shouting through the door. When she looked at the door it was twice her size. She was able to get a peek into the room and she saw her mother sitting at her desk and another person she was talking to, though she wasn't able to see the person.
"You ruined my life...You and him! All those years ago!" The person shouted, "I don't get why you are complaining when you made my life so miserable!"
"You don't have to do this." The Duchess said firmly, "I don't understand why you have to put them against each other! They are just kids, do you understand that? Don't you care for you child's well being? What do you think all this is going to do for them in the future! It's going to destroy them. The only reason why I've been keeping quiet about what you've done is because deep inside I know you can be a good person. I want to give you a cha—"
"Well don't! Because you already know my objective. Let's just end the conversation here."
"Wait!" The Duchess exclaimed, "Don't do this to yourself...You still have a chance, just make it right."
"Tch, you and your daughter have the same personality. It's annoying." The person then walked towards the door where Lyrica was standing. The person opened it and she help up her hand, almost warning that she was going to slap her face.
"Stop!" The Duchess yelled out.
Lyrica eyes shot open and she was breathing heavily. She looked around and saw she was in her room. She felt her face and it felt like nothing hurt or got slapped. Lyrica reached over to her phone in the wooden night table and she checked the time. It was only 1 a.m in the morning, she had waken up a bit too early.
"Damn..." she felt like she couldn't go back to sleep so she decided to take a walk outside in the gardens. She grabbed her jacket, put on her slippers and left her room. The estate was quite everyone had gone to sleep and most of the employees had already left to go home. She was using her flashlight on her phone to guide her downstairs. That's when she heard a sound. It felt like someone near her.
Step step
She wouldn't know who it would be, but she prepared herself mentally to face them. She checked her surroundings for some sort of object to use and she found a wooden sword lying around on one of the couches. She grabbed it and walked carefully. She heard the footsteps closer and she swung the wooden sword to the person in front of her, but they caught it with their right hand.
"Hey!" It was a male voice.
Lyrica shined the flashlight to him and she was surprised to see it was Cassien, "You scared me!" She threw the sword at him.
"Ow!" It hit his stomach and he placed his hand over it, "What was that for!"
"I don't know! What are you doing awake?"
"I was getting a glass of water. I just finished some documents."
"Oh...Yea that makes sense."
"How about you? Why are you awake? Your Debutanté is literally tomorrow."
"Y-Yea...I couldn't sleep so I was going outside for fresh air."
"I see." He said, "Well let's go."
"Go? You want to go outside? Don't you want to sleep?"
"I have time to kill I guess. Plus I want to know why you can't sleep."
"A-Alright." She agreed and walked with him to the gardens. It was cold outside, but she wasn't so cold since she has a warm jacket on her. Though, the night sky was a bit cloudy and she could faintly see the stars hiding behind the soft feathered out clouds.
"So you woke up during the middle of the night?" He asked.
"Something like that, I had a weird dream."
"Weird dream?" He raised his eyebrows, "What do you mean?"
"I had a dream, I think I was young or something. I saw my mother arguing with someone."
"Who?"
"That's the problem, I don't know who. I couldn't see them, it was like they were covered with a black foggy haze or something. But I could tell it was someone since it was a silhouette of a person."
"What they were arguing about?"
"Something about kids, like placing kids against each other? I'm not sure what it was about. But, then the person left the room and was about to slap me when they saw me. My mother got up and tried to stop her. Then I woke up."
"Hmm..." Cassien nodded his head as he listened to her, "It's an odd dream. Do you think it felt real? Like it's something that happened in real life?"
"To be honest...It felt like it, like dejavu in a way. I guess it like some sort of past memory? It's just weird because I've never really remembered a past memory. You know like in movies where the character starts remembering their past from time to time because of traumatic events? This is the first for me."
"Pfft." He laughed at her reference, "You have a weird imagination Lyrica." He crossed his arms and looked up to the sky, "Are you ready for tomorrow?"
"Hmm...I believe I am. But is Valentino ready for me?" She followed up.
"With that energy? No." He said honestly.
"Hey!"
"Just joking, you'll do fine. You did fine during mine too."
"Mhm...You know after doing all the planning and stuff it got me thinking about my future."
"How so?"
"Well during school I always thought I wanted to be some sort of healthcare worker. I mean healthcare is great and all, but I just felt...I felt like I wanted to do more than healthcare. I wanted to care for people, that was the start. But, I thought, well how could I care for people outside of the hospital? Doing all of the work for the project I'm going to present tomorrow, I think it's my passion? I mean helping out in Marlin also helped with finding out what I wanted to do. I really want to do outreach work to help the community in some way."
"I'm happy for you." He smiled to her, "When I first met you, I remember you told me in the car that you didn't like talking about the future. It also seemed like you were unsure about it when it came up in conversation. You know for royals it's a given we do community work in the future, but I think it's even better that you found that passion through curiosity."
"Thanks." She smiled back to him, "Now we just have to tackle tomorrow. Then...Life will carry me there."
"Do you want to stay at the States?"
"I've been thinking about it...Maybe staying in Valentino?"
"Wait what?" Cassien didn't expect her to want to live in Valentino. But, inside he was suddenly relieved.
"It sounds crazy, I mean to me. Because I didn't want to stay in Valentino. But, I really fell in love with the Empire. I guess that's why my mother stayed."
"Interesting." He nodded his head.
"Thanks for showing me this place and for opening my eyes. If it weren't for you I probably would be back in the States, in a stuck place. But, I finally feel found."
"You really say a lot huh." Cassien replied, "Go to sleep. You are probably going to oversleep at this point, but that was to be expected."
"Alright I will." Lyrica stretched her arms out, "All that talking got me tired. Are you going to stay outside?"
"Just a couple more minutes."
"Okay, well good night." She waved her hand and walked back inside the Estate.
- the next morning -
"Lyrica wake up!" Aubrey threw a pillow at Lyrica's face.
"What!" Lyrica shouted in an annoyed tone.
"You overslept by one hour you idiot!"
"I did!" Lyrica shot right up and looked at the clock on the wall.
"We have to go to the venue right now. You'll just have to get ready over there."
"A-Alright." Lyrica jumped out of bed and booked it straight to the bathroom. She began to wash her face right when she stood in front of the sink.
- at the venue -
"I wonder where Lyrica is..." Her grandfather looked at his golden watch on his wrist. It was the afternoon and they were still waiting for her to arrive.
"She'd better get here soon." Vivian was tapping her foot when she saw the doors swing open, "What the."
"Sorry I'm late!" Lyrica exclaimed, she was wearing a hoodie and sweats, behind her Aubrey and Ava was carrying a bag full of makeup products and jewelry.
"It's fine dear, your room is inside there upstairs." Her grandmother informed her.
The three ran upstairs and Vivian followed along strolling calmly. They made it into the room and they started getting Lyrica prepared for the event.
"Why are you late?" Vivian watched as everyone shuffled around the room to get their materials out.
Bam!
The door opened up and accidentally hit the wall, outside Elizabeth was panting and held up Lyrica's dress that was covered in a black casing, "I'm here!" She said with a tired breath.
"Good, she needs to get changed now." Aubrey told her.
"So? No one going to answer me?" Vivian looked at each of them.
Lyrica grabbed the dress from Elizabeth and started unzipping the casing, "I overslept Vivian." She answered and she took the dress out of the case. It was gorgeous, something no one had ever seen. It was a vibrant pink ball gown dress with roses on the bust, a sweet-heart neckline, while the bottom was made of chiffon and had shimmers of gold scattered around it.
"Woah! You really hit the ballpark on this one." Aubrey checked out the dress.
"It was inspired by Lyrica's eyes!" Elizabeth pointed to her eyes, "I mean why didn't we think of it sooner? But hey it's better for your Debutanté anyways."
Lyrica hurriedly got into the dress so Aubrey and Ava could start her hair and makeup. She sat down in front of the wooden vintage vanity.
Aubrey and Ava had already laid out their supplies they needed. Aubrey was on hair duty, while Ava did her makeup.
"I think big soft Hollywood curls would do." Aubrey grabbed a thick curling iron out and plugged it straight into the wall.
"Lady Lyrica I'll start by applying the base makeup." Ava grabbed a pastel pink beauty sponge and grabbed a bb cream to apply to Lyrica's face.
- outside the room -
"Here we are at Lady Lyrica Castillo's Debutanté! They have said that she has a surprise coming so we do look forward to it!" Darcy was reporting outside the venue and she saw a couple of limos coming out, "Here are some of the royal aristocrats coming out right now!" She noticed Prince Peter and waved him over, "Prince Peter!"
Peter looked up and gave a bright smile to the camera. He walked up to Darcy and hugged her lightly, "Hello Darcy, and Hello Valentino." He said to the camera.
"Prince Peter you look stunning today in your velvet green suit! What do you look forward to for Lady Lyrica's birthday?"
"Me? Definitely to see the upcoming surprise she has for Valentino! She hasn't even told anyone in the royal sector, it's mainly The House of Castillo that have been running it."
"I see, I see." Darcy nodded her head, "Ever since the Marlin Project all of Valentino have been wondering what is next from you your highness?"
"Me? Well I'll just keep moving forward." He said with a bright attitude, "I don't know where I'll be, but hopefully I'm still helping out."
"Great! Oh right there is the Duke of the West! Let's go to him c'mon!" She grabbed her cameraman and they ran to him.
Grey walked up to Peter and sighed, "She should've interviewed me."
"I didn't even know you were here."
"My team has been here since they started setting up. We also have a few other units around the perimeter of the vicinity."
"I see, security is tight that makes sense. Anything weird happen yet?"
"Not that we've seen, and trust me we literally see every corner of this place."
They both walked into the venue and there were already a handful of people inside. Everyone was chatting away there were some servers holding trays of food and glasses of champagne.
"I wonder when she will come out." Peter looked around at the people, there were more than expected.
"Anytime, I heard she overslept. She came running in haha."
"Seems like her."
Peter and Grey looked back and saw Cassien dressed in a velvet black tuxedo with his hair combed back.
"Someone is looking spiffy." Grey whistled.
"He always looks like that." Peter rolled his eyes, "Where is Ariana?"
"She's stuck being interviewed by Darcy." He answered, "Any clue on when they are going to start?" He then turned to Grey, "Shouldn't you be on duty?"
"Some of us are dressed as guests on duty." Grey explained and pulled out his phone, "This is my work phone. I can check all the security cameras on this place as you can see here. I can also contact the Knights on post for today. It seems like everything is running smoothly so far." He swiped around the phone, "I have told them about keeping an eye on the perimeters."
"We should be expecting them to come after the celebration is over. But, we should be on guard in case they decide otherwise." Cassien looked over and saw Ariana walking towards them.
"You guys look good." She complimented each of them, "Where is she? Do you think we could go see her?" She asked the group.
"I think she's still getting ready." Peter replied, "Hmm...I want to see her but for some reason I also want to be surprised when we see her walk through those doors."
"You've got a point." Grey agreed.
"I want to see her." Ariana pouted, "Grey where is she right now?"
"She should be down that hallway upstairs."
"I'm going to go greet her then." Ariana walked away from the group and went to where Grey told her Lyrica would be. She reached the door and knocked.
"Come in!" Lyrica shouted.
She walked inside and she was surprised to see everyone still doing the finishing touches on Lyrica.
"Woah you look amazing!" Ariana went over to hug her, "Congratulations on your big day. Everyone is dying to see you!" She looked at Aubrey and Ava, "Good job you two."
"T-Thank you Lady Ariana." Ava replied.
"If only Lyrica didn't move so much." Aubrey complained.
"Hey! You literally almost burned my face!" Lyrica said back.
"Yea, yea whatever. We should be done now." Aubrey removed the hair curlers from Lyrica's hair.
Lyrica's curls dropped down into old Hollywood-like curls. Aubrey fluffed them up a bit so they would look more smoother and natural. There was another knock on the door and from the voices Lyrica knew it was her grandmother. Ariana opened the door for them and bowed her head slightly.
"Lady Ariana its great to see you." Her grandmother smiled kindly, "I believe Lyrica is done. Is it okay if we can speak to you privately?"
"Yea of course." Lyrica looked at everyone.
They each left after cleaning up a bit and Ava closed the door behind them.
"You look beautiful." Her grandmother looked at Lyrica proudly. She could almost see her parents standing behind Lyrica looking at her the same way she is, "I actually have something for you." She walked over to the table and grabbed a wooden birch box. She opened it up and showed Lyrica the contents inside.
There was a necklace decorated with pink jewels along with earrings and tiara to match with.
"This is..." Lyrica pulled out the necklace first carefully, "It's so beautiful...This probably costs like...One hundred badminton racquets."
"Haha, you and your humor." Her grandmother then helped her put on the necklace, "These are what we are passing down to you."
"This!"
"Mhm, these were worn by the first head of the house. It was specifically made for her to match her pink eyes. They're one of the most prized possessions of The Castillo Household. Your mother even worn this once at one of your fathers birthday party's."
"Wow..." Lyrica placed her hand on the big jewel on the middle.
Her grandmother then handed the earrings for Lyrica to put on. Then, she grabbed the silver tiara with a pink big hearted jewel on the middle and placed it on top of Lyrica's head gently.
"Now you are ready. Happy birthday my dear." She hugged Lyrica tightly.
"Thank you grandmother." Lyrica felt a bit emotional. She wished her family from back home were here with her today. But, she felt enough warm in the room to fill that void.
"Are you ready to go out there?"
"Give me a couple of more minutes." Lyrica answered.
"Alright, I'll see you out there then." Her grandmother walked towards the door and left the room.
Lyrica walked over to another full body mirror next to the vanity. She took a good look at herself. A few months ago she would have never imagined that her life would've ended up like this. A few months ago she was worrying about her SAT grade, her gpa, what she was going to eat for dinner. Now, it almost felt like all of those worries disappeared. There were some more stuff she had to face, but the journey to how she got where is right now. She knew it was something she would do all over again, even though she had almost died back then. She did a few minutes of breathing techniques to calm herself down while closing her eyes.
After she was done she opened them and smiled confidently into the mirror. She walked towards the door and opened it. She had to walk down the hallway until she met the two knights guarding the two giant doors in front of her. She nodded her head at them to signal them to open the door. That's when the main event started.