The Lancer

Scrubbing, sweeping, serving, dusting and laundry were only a few of the daily tasks Mia now had to complete. Her nails were broken, her hands were dry and her feet were covered in blisters. Long red cuts and welts decorated her back as a result of whippings. The ankle-length black and white maid uniform was difficult for her to move around it and often got in her way as she carried out her chores. Duchess Telna had also forbidden her from interacting with anyone unless they initiated conversation, and even then, anyone that wasn't also a servant was not allowed a response.

Meals were eaten alone in the wine cellar, which was now Mia's new bedroom, and consisted of scraps from everyone else's meals. It had only been five days since Atlier departed, two of which Mia had spent in the cellar without food or water as Duchess Telna had demanded the day he left.

Duchess Telna was relentless in her goal to 'teach' Mia how to be a proper servant. Mia grew up doing housework and chores with her grandfather and she was pretty good at them. Of course, Duchess Telna managed to always find something wrong with what she did though.

Mia served the guests with perfection? Guess again. She breathed too loudly, causing the food to get cooler faster. Did she scrub the floors as hard as she could and make sure they were sparkling clean? Yes, but how dare she not be able to clean the 'age' off the wood and make it look like it was freshly laid down.

Living with her grandfather was no walk in the park due to his age and lack of income, but she at least had a warm and safe place to sleep, warm food in her belly and love to get her through the most difficult of days. Without Atlier or Tina here, there was none of that.

"Nine more days, Mia. Just hold out for nine more days and then Atlier will be back." She said to herself as she lay atop a pile of rags in the cellar. "There's no way Atlier will let this continue."

Mia curled up into a tight ball, hugging her arms tightly to her chest in an attempt to conserve her heat, and drifted off into a deep sleep.

The scent of pancakes and bacon tickled Mia's nose. Her nose twitched a few times before she opened up her eyes. Light filtered in through the windows and Mia sat up, looking around. Across the room was a white desk with a pink desktop covered in cute post-it notes. Textbooks lined the shelves above it, and organization supplies neatly lined the back of the desk. To her side was a white dresser with a silver framed mirror above it, make-up and trinkets decorated its top in organized chaos.

Next to the door where the white paneled doors to her closet and laying on top of her was her favorite sunflower blanket. Mia stretched and rubbed her eyes as she got out of bed. She stared at herself in the mirror, her blonde hair was messy and she was wearing a pair of fuzzy lavender plaid pajamas. "Mmmmm~" she put her hands on her back and stretched backwards, leaning her head back.

She walked out of her bedroom to find her grandfather setting the table with breakfast. "Morning Grandpa~" she yawned as she stretched again, this time spreading her arms out to the sky.

"Good morning Mia. How did you sleep?" He smiled, his eyes twinkling as the light caught on them and his gray hair was in as much of a state of disarray as Mia's. He wore a long green robe with gray sweat pants on underneath. He patted the table next to one of the plates, motioning for Mia to sit down, as he turned to bring the stack of pancakes over.

"It was really great. I don't even remember falling asleep or what I was doing before bed. I had a weird dream though." Mia sat down and placed a napkin over her lap as she picked a few pieces of bacon off the plate in front of her.

"What was your dream about? I had a nightmare that you went missing and were found dead. It felt so real I had to keep checking on you throughout the night to make sure you were still there." He shook his head with a frown, deep wrinkles appearing on his forehead as he furrowed his eyebrows.

"I had a dream that I went back in time and I fell in love with a rich Duke and I ended up becoming a servant. They treated me really terribly too." Mia instantly placed her fork under two pancakes as soon as her grandfather placed the plate down and lifted them onto her plate.

"Uh-oh, does Lance have competition?" He laughed heartily as he began piling food onto his own plate. "You see? I told you those romance movies you always watch were no good! How is Lance-y boy anyways? I haven't seen him around recently."

Mia swallowed the food in her mouth and rubbed her head, "He's really busy with a big project lately so we haven't been communicating that much. It's a very important project too, you know, final year and all. Grandpa! Don't just eat pancakes, eat some fruit too, why did you even bother cutting some up if you weren't going to have any?" She placed a few oranges slices and grapes on his plate and jabbed her fork in the air at him menacingly, as if to say 'eat it OR ELSE'.

He lifted his hands in the air in defeat and made sure to eat all of the fruits she'd placed for him before resuming his pancakes. Mia also popped a grape in her mouth as he continued their conversation, "Well, the next time you talk to him give him my regards and tell him I miss him."

Mia nodded and smiled. "I have a date with him tonight. Fingers crossed he didn't forget!" Her grandfather and Lance both had an interesting hobby – plant racing. The two would often plant a seed of the same flower or vegetable into a pot on the same day and race to see who's who grow the tallest, the fastest. It was one of the most boring activities ever to Mia, but she loved that they had created a game between them and had something to bond over. Ever since her parents died, it had just been her and her grandfather. He was very old and had already been on retirement since he never expected that he would have to take in his 7 year old granddaughter and raise her.

Initially, Mia's uncle was supposed to take custody of her but he was only 22 years old at the time, and reveling in the bachelor life-style. Mia's grandfather felt that it wasn't a good idea for her to live with him, so her grandfather temporarily took custody. Then, temporary became permanent as her uncle's partying bachelor days continued. She rarely even saw her uncle at all now.

That night Mia and Lance sat at the bar with a group of their friends. It wasn't exactly the date she'd planned for, but at least they were together and having a good time.

Lance leaned against the bar and took a few shots of vodka all the while their friends chanted his name. Mia sat beside him with her elbows on the bar, holding up her head with her hands. "Be careful you guys! Don't encourage him too much, he still has a lot of work to do."

"Boo! Mia don't be such a bore! The guys' gotta let loose! Why don't you take some shots too!" One of their friends said. Before she knew it, all of their friends were now chanting her name as shots were placed in front of her. She glanced at Lance, who shrugged his shoulders. Laughing nervously, she held her hands up, "Alright, alright! I'm doing it!" With that she downed the alcohol as fast as she could, resulting in cheers from their friends. Her face distorted as she then started feeling rather sick. Shots weren't her thing, she preferred slow sipping on a cocktail and on rare occasions - a beer.

Lance nudged her arm and smirked, handing her another shot. "Yeah Lance buddy! That's the spirit, tell ya wife to let her hair down! Let's go blondie!"

"She's not my wife yet. Though I do want to see her wild side before that happens." He smirked again and leaned back, crossing his arms.

"Oh, please you're both disgusting. Mia, if you don't want to drink anymore you don't have to, don't let them bully you!" One of the females smacked both Lance and their other friend in the stomach and put her arm around Mia's shoulder. Mia shook her head, "No they're right! It's our final year. Lance and I are going to get married soon, I should enjoy this time while I can!"

The loud cheering from their friends faded to the sound of someone vomiting into a bush. Oh wait, it was Mia herself. Lance held her hair back and waved goodbye to their friends as they left to continue their night. "Tsk. You didn't even get up on any tables and dance or anything."

Mia stood up and stumbled a bit, wiping her mouth with the back of her head, "I am dancing right now! For you! For only you, my soon-to-be husband~" She leaned against his chest and played with his bottom lip with her finger.

"Yeah right. Let's go, your grandfather will kill me if I don't get you home safe and sound."

"Awwww grandpa! I love my grandpa!"

Mia sat up in her bed and looked at her surroundings as she rubbed one of her eyes. She was back in the cellar. She scratched her head. It was a combination of a dream and a memory. Part of it was real at one time and part of it was just her imagination. Then, Atlier came to mind. How well he treats her, and how much affectionate he is with her. Lance didn't even care about her safety or her well-being, he didn't love her at all.