Chapter 206 - Recovering (7) - Shelly's POV

I continued to pour more trials of intensive medicine on the boy on the metal table. Even though I have never done experimentations on humans, I hardened my heart to save my best friend. I was glad Luke shut Rika into the other room. How could I let her watch what I was doing? I knew she would never approve even if it meant she would die as a result.

I shook my head to Sienna as she wrote down that this bottle was a failure. It was the third day we were trying to heal the boy by testing different kinds of medicine. I sighed as things were starting to look more hopeless as the days went on. The boy's condition didn't improve at all compared to using disinfectants like Luke did on Rika.

When I first met Rika in my early childhood, I didn't think anything of her. I just knew I would have to get close to the fiancée of the Roselia family heir since we would become family later on. As long as I was a part of an elite family, I would never get to choose who my friends would be. I have long given up on the notion of true friends as I was separated from people in other classes as soon as I was born.

My mother disapproved when I played with dolls with her subordinate's child in the brief moment she was gone. I still remember her cold eyes as her warm smile disappeared for the first time. I was three when she confiscated all my toys for not acting according to my status. Ever since then, I locked my feelings and acted according to my family's wishes to see their smiles.

My first meeting with Rika wasn't different from my meeting with Ellen. We politely said our greetings and formed our fraction together as our families expected us to. Maybe I expected different back then since we were told she came from the third district. Her flaming red hair was the only thing fascinating about her since only people from the lower districts had such bright coloured hair.

But when we moved into the cafeteria, her perfect etiquette shattered as she began revealing her strained relationship with her partner. No one ever revealed that their relationship with their partner wasn't the best. I hid my surprise as I sipped my tea until the cup was emptied. Unknowingly, I started to agree with her as her questions went on about the current system.

I kept on telling myself every day that I was lucky to have Alex as my partner. My family almost had a big celebration when we were paired together by the counsel when I turned four. Normally, if you didn't have close connections to the top five most powerful families, it wouldn't be possible to have even business deals with them. However, I was born with a little more affluent amount of mana than all the other members in my family.

It was just barely enough to contend against other families with our business deals going extremely well lately. Although my family mansion wasn't dirty, it never sparkled like diamonds. My mother made sure the servants cleaned our mansion so that not a tiny spectacle of dust slipped through her eyes before Alex and his mother came to greet our family. That was when I knew that very important guests were visiting our house.

Alex's mother, Juliana was astoundingly beautiful. She appeared like an elegant doll as she held onto her son's hand. Although she wore very simple clothes, it appeared as if the clothes were flowing along every one of her movements like a fluttering ball gown. I did hear that the more you encountered powerful people; you would admire their otherworldly beauty.

I stared at her lovely face until my mother squeezed my hand to stop staring. This was the family I was getting engaged to. A boy that appeared like an angel with his beautiful amethyst eyes that drew you in and his fairy-like mother. But I soon discovered looks aren't everything when we moved into the school dormitories together in September.

The beautiful boy liked to have an extremely tidy room to the point he would get annoyed when something was out of place. He was also diligent in earning points to meet his family's expectations of him. It wasn't like I didn't study, but he was a robot that only knew how to eat, sleep and study. And he expected me to do the same as I silently cried in my pillow while following his orders during the day.

My enthusiastic mother also fervently began investing in my appearance so that I would not be overshined by my partner. Piles of clothing, accessories and shoes were delivered to the dorm room every week even when I would have no chance to wear them. During the rare weekends we were given time off, I visited the salon to maintain my hair and nails done. When I looked in the mirror, I couldn't help gasping as I started to resemble the fairy-like lady.

My hair was flattened and stayed in one place. My skin glittered with all the extensive cream and care. I sparkled from head to toe with the soft fabric I wore that fluttered with my every movement. I pinched myself as I appeared like I turned into a princess in fairy tales. Was this really me?