12 Chapter 12: Moving Pictures
As she stepped out of the mansion she lived in, followed closely by Ophela, the servant Sahana knew she had to keep an eye on, she came out of the mansion and headed straight for one of the colorful carriages that were waiting just outside the big open gates.
On each of the carriages was a coat of arms of the House of Velin, depicting two black swords on blue-colored grasses.
Hurrying past the gates, she mentally prepared herself to meet her father and stepmother, who were both the duke and duchess of the province of Gillmaner along with her stepsister, Panita, and, Jaiya her younger brother who, was only ten years old.
From the memories she had, her mother died ten years ago and her father married another woman whom he fell in love with.
Her husband, who was a Marquess had also died and even though she already had a child for him, her father still married her because of how beautiful he thought her to be.
"Put on your game face Ki, um...Sahana, if they find something wrong or different about you, who knows what they might do to you," thought Sahana as she tried her best to recall the exact nature and behavior of the Sahana her family knew and were used to.
Later on, she could gradually decide to change her character.
In no time at all, she got to one of the carriages in front, while Ophela, her personal maid went to the carriage at the back where the other servants were along with whatever luggage the family had.
A male servant in his black-uniformed robe was already waiting in front of her family's carriage to help her in.
The whole experience was new to her and she felt slightly scared but had enough practice from running a company, not to let her fears show.
"Lady Sahana," said the male servant as he stretched his gloved hands out towards her.
She quickly took it and entered the carriage since he had already opened the door for her to enter.
As much as she could, also while taking hints from the major memories of the real Sahana that she had, she tried her best to behave in a lady-like manner.
She entered the carriage and greeted her father and stepmother since she had a vague feeling that, that moment was the first time she would be seeing them all day.
"Hello father and Good morning, Duchess," Sahana said taking hints from her memory before taking a seat on the left side of her younger brother who was sitting in between her and Panita.
Her father nodded in response to her greeting while her stepmother just glanced at her without saying a word before turning her face away to look at her daughter who sat directly in front of her.
The carriage started moving and she was a little delighted when no one said anything, Sahana hoped for the silence to continue knowing fully well that if she didn't say anything or do anything there was a lesser chance of making mistakes.
Which was why after only a minute or so after the carriage started moving, Sahana was surprised and slightly alarmed when her brother was the first person to speak.
"Sahana," said her brother, the ten-year-old Jaiya in a questioning tone.
"Yes" replied Sahana in the same tone turning to look at the young boy sitting beside her.
Suddenly, Sahana had the great urge to pet and ruffle his short black hair because she knew that If she hadn't woken up in his sister's body, he would have had to mourn his sister. Another reason why she had to figure out how the real Sahana had died in her own room without anyone knowing about it
"You haven't done what you said you were going to do," he said looking at her with his big and beautiful blue eyes.
"Shit," Sahana silently thought in her mind. She could remember just the major and most important things relating to Sahana, like her age, birthday, people she had met, and other crucial details relating to her family, but there was no way she was going to remember what Jaiya was promised.
" Yes, I agree but how soon would you like me to do it," she said hoping that he would have enough excitement about it to elaborate and explain exactly what he wanted her to do.
"Sahana," he moaned getting the feeling that she had actually forgotten.
"We need to go this week before I go back to boarding school unless we both won't be able to see the unveiling of the moving pictures," he said watching her intently for any signs that she was no longer interested in taking him.
"Moving pictures?," thought Sahana as she tried her best to put together the tiny bits of information that he had given her.
She was about to give up out of frustration and just ask what the hell he was talking about when she was surprised to hear Panita speak as she turned to look at Sahana speaking gently in a very dignified manner.
"I have no idea why you would agree to take him. The theatre is a boring place. I haven't been there but from what I've heard about it, it's nothing special. I would rather visit the new high-end restaurant that recently opened on Darwin's street. " said Panita butting into their conversation.
Sahana was about to reply when Jaiya beat her to it.
"Don't listen to her Sahana, some of my friends have gone with their parents and they said it was mighty fun,"
" Yes...for children of the commoners. You are a Duke's son, you shouldn't be attending such things," Panita continued as if her main purpose in the carriage was to annoy Jaiya.
But all he did was gasp in surprise before speaking.
"You aren't supposed to call them that. They are to be called normal Citizens and you are wrong anyone can go to the newly built theatre even a duke's son," Jaiya said slightly raising his voice. His cheeks were already turning slightly red and that just made him look exceptionally cute.
Sahana couldn't help but wonder how handsome he would look when he got older.
Panita was about to speak up again when the duke interjected this time around.
"It's okay, We'll be at the banquet hall soon. I do not want you to upset Jaiya," he said beaming at his son with a huge smile on his face. It was easy for Sahana to tell how much the duke adored him.
"If Sahana is able to take you, she can. I would have taken you myself but I do not have time to do that," he said stretching out his hand to ruffle his black hair, before parting it to the side.
"Dad," he whined, pulling his head away.
"My hair will become unruly if you keep doing that," he said trying to style his hair back to the way it was.
"It doesn't matter," said Sahana easily placing her hand on his head to ruffle his hair again since she was sitting right beside him.
"You'll still look good, either way,"
"Does this mean you'll still take me?" He asked not bothering to remove her hand since his sister was trying to pat his hair down after running her hands through it.
"Of course, since I already promised, I won't go back on my word," she said trying to resist the urge to pull him closer and hug him.
Unlike him, she couldn't in any way afford to ruin anything about her appearance. Even a small wrinkle would be judged in the gathering she was about to attend.
She had read enough books to have a vague idea of the kind of perfect image she needed to show since she was basically the star of the show.
As the Carriage got closer to the destination and started to gently slow down Sahana started to feel a little anxious but wasn't entirely bothered.
"I'm the duke's eldest daughter," she thought, trying to calm her nerves down.
"How badly can this banquet go? "
