66 Prewar Operations 1

I found myself at the other side of the big gates of Belle's dreary castle.

"Lady Rika!" The head maid spotted me in filthy commoner clothes from my great adventure in the carnival.

"Let's get you changed," The head maid pushed me towards my suite in the castle as the other maids made preparations for me take a bath.

I soaked in the familiar hot water with flower petals inside that gave off a great scent. The servants carefully washed my hair with luxurious oils and detangled the hideous mess that was the result of staying in Jinny's house for a few days.

Before meeting Luke and Cillian in the big meeting room in the castle, the servants helped me change into lacy yellow dress that reached my knees that was had great volume with a great amount of frills.

"We could have met in the dining room as usual," I complained to Luke and Cillian.

"We decided to meet here since you don't seem to understand the perilous situation in the fifth district," Luke gestured me to sit beside him.

I sat down on the chair that was furthest away from him as the table was big enough to fit twenty chairs.

Luke got up and moved his stuff to sit beside me in response as he abandoned Cillian that sat a long way across from us.

"So what is this meeting for?" I glanced at both Cillian and Luke.

"The teleportation gate in the castle will have enough power to get us to the first district at midnight," Cillian started off.

"I suggest for us to stay near the teleportation gate for the rest of the day today so we can use the gate as soon as it is ready for activation." Cillian proposed to Luke as if he was hinting to us get out of here before I got into more trouble.

Luke nodded to indicate that he agreed with the plan.

Since the meeting was over, I got up to head to the kitchen.

However, Luke followed me into the kitchen with me as he tightly held my hand as if he could lose me anytime.

"Why are you following me?" I asked Luke when he followed me into the garden, my room and finally the kitchen.

"I left you alone for a minute and you were gone for three days!" Luke dispelled his worry and anger towards me.

"You know this wouldn't have happened if you let me out of the castle for like a minute," I countered back.

"You know how dangerous the fifth district is right now!" Luke yelled back the same words as Lucius.

"Here's your strawberry pie, lady Rika." A kitchen maid interrupted us.

I thanked the servant as Luke carried my strawberry pie while dragging me into a private room.

"Why do you care about me so much?" I questioned Luke while recalling what Lucius said to me earlier this morning.

I still didn't believe that I would have to marry Luke in the future as most partners did in the first district. I originally came from the third district anyways and all the partners that married each other came from the first district.

"It's because you are part of my family. I care for you and clean up after all your messes because we're a family together," Luke answered as if it was the most obvious thing.

"I know you don't fully understand this concept yet and I don't blame you because you're not originally from the first district. However, I hope that someday, you will," Luke sadly smiled.

I could not stay angry at Luke, even though I have resented him for having to follow his strict standards of the 'lady of the Roselia house' before. He honestly thought that I was already part of the Roselia family and I couldn't deny it.

I stayed in his house for the holidays when I couldn't go back to the third district. We almost spent all our free time together in school and Roselia was already the middle part of my full name.

I looked outside the window to put an end to our awkward conversation as I saw a faint wall of smoke coming from outside.

'Is that smoke I'm smelling?' I glanced at Luke as he agreed the sudden smell of smoke was strong.

A frantic knock from a servant confirmed our suspicions.

"Lady Rika and young master Luke, you must evacuate from the castle! There is a fire in the northern part of the servants corner." The servant yelled from the other side of the door.

When we ran out the room, the fire had engulfed the entire part of the northern section where we currently were.

I coughed from the smoke as Luke tried to calmly guide me outside while quickly looking for the safest exits as he grabbed tightly onto my hand.

Since we were in such a precarious situation, I used my mana to form oxygen bubbles around our heads so that we wouldn't suffer from the smoke.

Luke and I tumbled onto the ground as Luke pushed me to the side to avoid a wooden beam that was falling down from above that supported the infrastructure of the castle.

Gradually, more wooden beams swallowed by the fire came toppling down from above while we almost made it to the exit.

"Rika!" Luke screamed in terror as he aggressively pulled my hand to pull me out of the castle.

I looked up to see a wooden beam engulfed in fire that was not even a half a metre away from my head just above the exit.