"I only consider one person as my family in this district and it's you," Luke honestly admitted as if there was nothing wrong with that fact.
I sighed with great disappointment as my anger washed away.
I was not married to Luke yet, so it made sense. Maybe it was just my delusion that Luke would consider my parents as family as well.
I was glad that my marriage to Luke was not certain. I felt that we were too young to even consider the idea of marriage at this age. Who knows what will happen when we grow up?
It was dangerous of me to acknowledge my engagement to Luke. What was I thinking?
* * *
Unfortunately, my days in my parent's house went by too fast.
I currently stood in one of Luke's numerous mansions. However, this mansion seemed to look like the main house as it looked more splendid and larger than all the other ones I visited.
A servant smoothly guided us into a vivid parlour decorated with all colours of roses bred for their fragrant scent. The table was already set for a miniature tea party as a young college aged lady sat in one of the silken white chairs.
The delicate lady's blond hair drifted down to her tiny waist as she wore a light dress decorated with diamonds.
She smiled when she noticed Luke and I coming into the parlor.
A young man that looked like he was of a similar age as the lady sat beside the lady with a warm smile.
His blue eyes brightened from our appearance as he whispered softly into the lady's ear as she nodded.
"You must be Rika," The lady sweetly tried to initiate the conversation when we sat in our respective seats.
"I am," I frankly responded.
"I am Joanna de Roselia and this is my husband, William de Roselia." Joanna introduced herself and her husband.
"How old are you?" I asked her since they looked very young.
Luke instantly gave me a stabbing glare as if to warn me of something.
"My husband and I are both turning fifty-four this year," Joanna's smile got brighter.
"No way!" I gasped while looking shocked.
"You look like you're both in your early twenties," I commented.
Joanna laughed as if it was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard.
William put his teacup down for the first time as he gave the same dazzling smile as Luke when he found the situation was troublesome.
'What's wrong?' I quickly threw a silent glance to Luke.
Luke sighed as he looked downcast after my comment.
"Your partner is sure unique," William finally spoke.
"She is," Luke admitted.
"Quite deserving of the assignment Will and I just decided to give," Joanna elegantly got up from her chair.
Joanna got out her marble by using mana for it to come out from thin air.
The projection instantly lighted up to show the schedule for the next three days.
No wonder he said that there would be no time to study for our exam during our stay here!
Was it like this every time he visited his parents? Maybe that was why Luke was strangely quieter and controlled every aspect of his movements and words very tightly as if he was walking on a thin tightrope.
"I brought some tutors to our house today for help!" Joanna excitedly declared as she clasped her hands together.
"They will be in the rooms indicated in the schedule."
Joanna got up as she gracefully exited the parlour to return to her work.
William stayed behind as if he wanted to observe us for a longer time.
However, no matter how much they pressure me. There was no way I was going through this schedule!
"I believe I have the right to refuse," I directly made eye contact with Luke's father.
Luke tugged on my dress for me to stop.
But the schedule had already instantly changed into a more hell-like one than before that I would never be able to predict it was even possible to create.
Luke sighed as I ignored him.
"I am only engaged to Luke. I am not married to him yet, which means that I have the right to refuse, although Luke may not be able to." I declared.
William cruely smiled, "You're engaged to the heir of the Roselia family. Of course you'll get married."
William left the parlour with great amusement in his eyes as the schedule changed one more time.
I didn't even bother to look at the schedule to see how much worse it became.
"Let's go Rika," Luke grumbled while dragging me to the first item in the schedule.
"I don't-"
"Please Rika, before it gets any worse," Luke started to plead.
'Like how could Luke's family use the space-time rooms in their mansion to make Luke and I study for the length of an entire year!' I silently screamed while being miserably dragged by Luke.
For the first time, I saw Luke trembling from genuine fear in his parent's mansion. Maybe I should have taken that as a sign earlier on to stay quiet.
I would meet with Luke parent's at lunch time again today, but before that, I would spend an entire year to complete that schedule!