Chapter 638 - Opportunity (7) - Alex's POV

Many memories began to pour inside my head once Rika passed me a dazzling diamond gem. It started from a few days ago, Micah telling Luke to plan a funeral. Soon shifting to the time Rika trembled in fear as she hinted, she was getting hunted to death. She looked at me in disappointment when I became confused why she was telling me a person was after her. Reversing the time to the previous day, someone was chasing her as she tried to escape by digging holes and using the rope.

The most horrifying part was when she was helplessly hung on the wall as knives and forks targeted her. Her desperate screams for help as she discovered holes in her limbs, slowly lifting her head like she had given up on life. No one could sanely watch her getting brutally tortured, wincing every time she pleaded to be more generous on the attacks. All the important guests Rika had offended, switched to fear for her, forgetting about her past actions.

"This is inhumane," A guest slightly shuddered.

"We will have to cancel our business deals with your family," she turned to Haruka.

"As the host, you should fulfill your duties," another guest suggested.

"Nothing will change even if I interfere. Do you not see my fraction member unable to move?" Haruka gestured to us.

"You are a heartless person," she seemed disgusted.

"I offer you my condolences," a guest turned to me.

Tears began to fill my eyes, remembering everything Rika went through for us. It was a struggle to face Rika, the spoiled girl that always caused trouble. Although Luke was good at controlling his emotions, his face was drenched with tears. He tightly hugged Rika, recollecting similar memories as me. Luke never expected anything in return from Rika, sacrificing his time and energy for her.

However, I had to admit his years of raising Rika had paid off. No one gave up a legendary item that allowed you to return from the dead. It was hard to tell if even uncle and aunt would go to this extent for their son. Luke had no one but Rika who was willing to get hunted to death for him. When Micah went through the extremely high death rates, Luke was more unwilling to let go of Rika. She truly risked everything for us.

If I had to choose the two people who cared for me the most, it had to be Luke and Rika. My parents saw me more as their heir rather than their son, only caring for me as part of their duty. Since both our parents were busy, I spent most of my time with Luke until he got partnered with Rika. Our days were filled with listening to the tutors, preparing us for kindergarten. My mother was close with my aunt, creating our schedules together.

My relationship with Michelle was equally as transactional as my parents had with each other. We strictly created lines not to cross with each other. This was normal, the counsel creating the matches. I had to admit Rika was separately closer to Michelle and me than the relationship I had with my own partner. Michelle would never cry for me like Rika did. But she would cry for Rika if anything happened to her.

"Can you let me go now?" Rika asked Luke.

"I still have to collect more herbs. They're only inside the garden for a limited amount of time," she explained.

"The trial is still continuing for her. She has to synthesize more items as the price for the pearl and the diamond," Micah revealed.

Rika's control was utterly awful, wasting all the precious herbs we picked. Once she was freed from Luke, she dragged Ethan to the garden with us to gather more herbs. She yelled at Ethan to start working to repay her for the elixirs she forced him to take. Meanwhile, she ate some slices of cake as she watched us. She used a spoon instead of a fork, no one forcing her to use the other cutlery, knowing the horrible story behind it.

"You guys are slow," she urged us to work faster.

"You don't owe her anything," Ethan wondered why we weren't complaining.

"It's faster if we do it for her," I knew how slow her pace was.

"Does she usually treat you like this?" Ethan slightly pitied us.

"She's the baby in our family. What else do we expect from her?" I sighed.

"Does Rika usually treat you like this?" Luke repeated the question to Ethan.

"She's been like this since elementary school," he recalled.

"How did you become close with Rika?" I couldn't see any connections between them.

"We had similar interests," Ethan seemed unwilling to reveal anything.

"We still have five more sections to visit!" Rika pushed us.

"I get it! Start your synthesizing, doesn't it take you forever to succeed?" Ethan yelled back.

"You should try it with your own hands! It's harder than it looks," Rika frowned.