Mother thankfully wasn't disappeared beneath our manor. No secret lair with glass coffin (at least yet).
She was laid in a hospital bed in what was once their master suite.
I didn't know where father slept. Perhaps on the sitting area of their suite on a couch, or in a chair overlooking his wife.
Every morning before my tutors arrived, I came to their room and greeted my mother with a kiss on the cheek.
Every afternoon after lunch I would come up and tell her about my lessons, leaving a kiss on her cheek.
Every evening before bed I would say good night to both my parents giving them kisses on the cheeks.
I'd kneel before my father and hold his hands, "Papa, we will find out how to heal mama together. Please, don't do anything rash."
I wasn't sure how well the kiss could gradually heal wounds placed by magic. Nor if it would help my father's broken heart but I still tried.
It was a week that I was barred from them, that her vitals dipped and when my father let me in I didn't immediately notice how he watched me instead of her, as I kissed her cheek her vitals went back to a safer register.
"Your kisses make your mother feel better." His deep voice sounded in the room after mother's attending physician left the room.
"Maybe they are magic." I gave a secret smile as I held my mom's hand.
"Maybe they are." His gaze, I could feel at the back of my head. I knew he believed in magic. I knew he had done a paternity and maternity test when I broke my arm when I was 8 (a home invasion from one of father's competitor's agents). Just as I knew that he'd checked with Colt Fathom only to find that Felix's DNA also was altered. Something I didn't need to change records, with my hacking skills thankfully; it would seem senti-made kids had different DNA to their parents.
It was around this time that my father shifted his obsessiveness toward making me the perfect face for his brand.
But not completely gone were the days of his lovable protectiveness even if his controlling ways started surfacing more.
The day came where I was taken to the photography studio at Agreste company, before I could even be put into the clothes. I stood firm and refused.
My bodyguards tried to block me.
I glared, "Don't make me mad, you think you should fear my father but you've never seen me mad." They looked at each other before shaking their heads at me, "Take me to my father, I will take the blame. I will protect you if he turns in anger towards you, this I promise on my honor as my mother's daughter and as an Agreste."
After some more cajoling I found myself bursting open my father's office doors. He was in a conference call with investors abroad. I stood in front of his desk, angled out of sight from the camera of the big screen in front of him. I stood ramrod straight and stared at him until he concluded his call and looked up at me.
"Yes, Adrianne, what can I help you with?"
"I will not become the public face of this company."
"Oh really?" He leaned back in his chair, his hands steepled, "And why is that?"
"I will not become a doll you dress up and plaster across the world."
He gave a simpering smile as if he'd discovered what irritated me, but he had no idea.
"I will not paint that big of a target on the back of Agreste."
He leaned forward on his desk, "You could see it as a protection."
"Becoming a model for this company is not what I should be using my spare time with. I should instead be training to take over this company when you are ready to hand it to me. I should be learning the ins and outs of Agreste. I should be taken alongside you in meetings, learning about our investors and our allies."
"I see." An unbidden smile twitched at the corners of my father's mouth. "And what about the public view of Agreste?"
"We make calculated appearances together, easing the idea into the public's eyes. Instead of a child working beyond what an adult should making appearances across the world, we will make appearances at strategic places meeting the right people at the right time."
Something the system had not informed me of, perhaps its last tongue-in-cheek joke in my defense was how big this new world I found myself in. It had two 'fictional' worlds within one. Thankfully I had a sprinkle of knowledge about the other I wasn't informed about, but I knew I'd cross paths with some important figures later on if Father allowed me on the path I suggested.
"You've thought this through." Her father eyed her, his smile fully on his lips now, his gaze calculating.
I nodded, "In regards to my protection, Gorilla, Bernard, Alarie and Moreau have been doing their job perfectly. I also have several safeguards in place beyond them."
"Really? Would you let me on them?"
"Oh Papa, you were the one who told me never to show your full hand to anyone."
We used to play cards in his office during his lunch, him 'teaching' me how to keep a poker face while playing (unknowing I had perfected mine far before his time).
He threw his head back and let out a loud throaty laugh. I smiled seeing him laugh. It had been a long time since I'd heard him laugh. Not since before Mama had gotten sick.
"Just so." He smiled at me, "So, what is your first task as my heiress?"
I took my bag from Moreau, who handed to me as I held my hand out to her, before going to take one of the chairs across from my father and placing it a near him. Near enough so I could see his work but not close enough to get in the way.
"Now I watch."