Chapter 260 - Girl in Love (1)

I slightly faltered as I walked towards the entrance of the Pelargonium family's mansion. Getting changed inside the hover car was no easy task. Although my hair stayed the same, I wore a majestic pastel blue dress decorated with dazzling white embroidery, embedding in white gold. I was just glad it was less puffy than the other one as it dripped down to my knees.

Yulee and Jules stood separately like there were two entrances. Yulee stood in front of the entrance to the outdoor area while Jules stood in front of the grand entrance of his mansion. It was like they predicted that the guests wouldn't want to stay inside for the entire time.

In a way, I was impressed that they already thought of something the neutral fraction wasn't able to predict. The snow naturally fell into the barrier, something that the barrier usually blocked. However, I didn't feel cold like they had manipulated the ones that came inside. I wondered if it was because of the snow, but I couldn't find a single place that didn't sparkle from the sunlight.

"You're here!" Shelly walked towards me.

"I am," I separated from Luke to hug Shelly.

We arrived a bit late as we spent a bit more time at Ben's mansion than we were supposed to. Shelly let me go when my stomach grumbled, showing it already digested everything I ate for breakfast. I wondered if they would be serving lunch soon.

"Lunch was served just before you came," Shelly frowned.

What? There was no way I could skip lunch today. The last event sucked almost all of my energy out of me. Did Luke know we would be skipping lunch with the schedule he came up with? Was that why he ate some of my portion during breakfast?

I walked into the banquet hall with Shelly. There had to be a buffet table somewhere. Ben's mansion was the only exception last year that didn't have one. My eyes glittered as there was a whole section dedicated to sliced pieces of strawberry shortcake. And none of them were touched by the guests from the power play!

"Are you sure?" Shelly reminded me of the power struggle present in the hall.

'We're in the same fraction, does it matter?" I whispered back.

I brushed off Shelly's worries, grabbing a small plate that was the size of my hand. I smiled as I took a bite of the shortcake. If I ate a few plates on the table, it would perfectly make up for my lost lunch. It was such a pity that food was considered to be part of the decorations here. But it was fortunate how I had the whole table for myself.

"I didn't think they were edible since no one went near the table," the same girl appeared to grab a plate.

I stopped smiling as I didn't think she would follow me here. I scanned the area if her brother was here and my shoulders almost crumbled when he socialized alone with his partner in the opposite end of the hall. I guessed she chose to listen to my warning.

"These are really good!" She grabbed another plate.

In no time, half of the table filled with cake was toppled with empty plates. Seeing that there was no more food, she quickly moved onto the bite-sized desserts on the opposite end. My lunch was now gone as she consumed the food at a scarily fast pace.

However, when her brother started talking to another girl, she immediately dashed to abandon the table to listen to their conversation. This was more than having an extreme case of adoring her brother. Unfortunately, Alex walked towards us as soon as she left. His eyes slightly widened from the table, empty of its luscious food. It was obvious that no one expected the table to be touched by the guests.

"It wasn't me. It was one of the guests," I appeared unconvincing as I held a plate in one of my hands.

Shelly nodded to agree, even though it was clear he didn't believe us. Alex ordered the servants to remove the empty plates and replace the food. I sighed in relief as they really thought of everything that could happen.

"Ri-ka," Alex took a glance at my plate.

I quickly gobbled up the remainder of my cake, afraid that he would take it away from me. I passed the plate to one of the servants to get rid of the evidence as I swallowed the delicious cream that melted inside my mouth. It was clear that Alex wouldn't let me near the buffet table in the future, I needed to get my source of energy when I could.

"What do you want me to do?" I felt like I was getting falsely accused.

"Luke wanted me to keep an eye on you when I could," Alex grimaced.

I wondered how many people Luke asked with the same request. I turned to bump into the girl's brother as he bumped into a decoration behind him in return. I wondered why he would come near the buffet table. Alex took a step back, putting the guest first while thinking the same thing.

"I heard from my partner that you know me?" He brushed off the snow that fell onto him.

"You told her to stay a distance away from me, saying I was a target for something," he explained.