68 Prewar Operations 3

I faced the roof of my bed in the familiar guest room I was in a few days earlier when I was locked in by Robert.

Since the castle wasn't fit for habitation anymore ever since the northern quarters were burnt down, Lucius and Belle immediately arranged us to live in the imperial castle until the teleportation gate had enough energy to teleport us back to school.

"What?" I groaned when I noticed Luke towering over my bed.

"It's time for the war conference," Luke replied as he spotted me in my 'inner-wear'.

I was wearing a cotton white nightgown which would be considered as normal pyjamas in the modern districts like the third district.

However, it would be considered to be inner-wear in conservative districts such as the fifth district.

"Do I have to go?" I complained as I wanted few more minutes of sleep.

I should have gotten more sleep yesterday, but Lucius and Belle stormed into the waiting room in the imperial castle where the knights escorted us from the burnt down castle.

"I heard what happened," Belle looked relieved when she spotted that none of us were injured.

"Nothing much happened anyways," I commented as Cillian, Luke, Belle and Lucius all looked at me at once.

"I can't tell you how sorry the Suilett and Roselia family are to you Cillian," Lucius apologized to Cillian.

"We'll make sure that this never happens again," Luke added as he tightly held my hand.

"It's fine, I'm the one who followed Luke and Rike here," Cillian formally accepted their apology.

Belle ordered a knight to escort Cillian to the best guest room available in the palace as we remained in the room when Cillian left to retire to his room.

"So I heard that you stayed at the rebel's place when you weren't in the castle," Lucius started off intimidatingly.

"I did and it was way better than being confined in the castle," I complained.

In the castle, I was always being carefully watched by Luke and Cillian or the knights in their stead. I had almost no freedom to do what I really wanted to do and I had to pretend like I was the perfect lady from the 'Roselia' family like I did in formal events at school.

I got to explore the market and the carnival during the short time I was away from the castle and Jinny gave me money that I was free to use to buy anything I wanted.

In the first district, Luke had control over most of the points we earned and the money in my bank account.

However, since most of the money in my bank account came from Luke's family and the points were mostly gathered from Luke's hard work, I didn't mind that he controlled how it was used.

I had forgotten how it felt to be able to use money for whatever I really wanted to buy because I never really had the chance ever since I woke up as 'Rika'.

"And I told you that we would like you to be able to explore the fifth district. But it's way too dangerous at this-"

"It's always dangerous! It's dangerous in the first district. It's also dangerous in the second district, the third district, and the sixth district!" I interrupted Lucius.

"Rika!" Luke shouted while shaking me in frustration.

"Then what are we supposed to do? Are we supposed to watch you disappear from us all the sudden like that time you got heavily injured in the third district? Or the other time where we couldn't find you in the first district even with the extensive help from people in our inner circle? And the other time where we didn't know if you would be safely able to come back from the sixth district?" Luke spilled out all my episodes where I always got in trouble when I wasn't physically in school.

Lucius stepped back from Luke's sudden outburst of emotions. Belle tried to calm Luke down as she handed him a cup of tea.

Luke accepted the cup of tea as he elegantly sat down on the couch as Lucius patted his back.

Luke regained his cool composure quickly as he lost it from my comment.

"Luke is just disappointed in himself that he couldn't keep you safe during those times," Belle explained to me.

I did know how much Luke cared about me, but sometimes, it was just way too much. It became constricting.

Dealing with Luke himself was bad enough, but when everyone started to worry about 'my safety' like Lucius, Charles and Ben, more of my freedom became compressed.

I got that everyone in their 'inner circle' looked out for each other, but it seemed a bit extreme sometimes.

"But, I always come back relatively unharmed though," I whimpered from the unfairness that I was always the 'bad one' for not listening to Luke.

Before Luke 'lost it' again, Belle led Luke out of the room while Lucius started to scold me again for the entire night.

That's how I only got three hours of sleep last night from Lucius' lecture that seemed like it would never come to an end. Maybe Lucius was the reason why Luke was strict with himself.

If I had an older brother that would give me long lectures for every single mistake I made, I wouldn't dare to make another mistake again.

Luke started to pull my bed sheets that I tightly clutched onto as I pleaded for ten more minutes of sleep.

When I was finally fully awake, I found myself already dressed and ready to go with Luke waiting outside my door and the maids smiling in satisfaction.

"The relatives of the Suilett family is coming in," the messenger announced as Luke escorted me into the war room.

I step into the bright room where all the top figures in the country have gathered to prevent the war.