Chapter 405 - Finale of the Circus (4) - Shelly's POV

I never regretted helping Ellen regain some of their family wealth. She was my best friend since the beginning of entering kindergarten in the school system we attended. While she tried to hide how her family was declining to me and Rika, I couldn't bear to see her suffer under the new pressures on her shoulders. This was why I suggested to my parents to work on one project with them together.

Since my engagement to Alex, my family exclusively worked with them for everything. I thought one project wouldn't make a difference. The partner system matched people based on politics and power to collect more wealth. My family gave away most of their prized businesses to the Monete family for the exchange of using their connections. The connections that the Monete family possessed made us get better deals and projects, creating many businesses almost as good as the ones we gave away.

But I didn't think his entire family would take it as a sign of betrayal. While Rika was included in many conversations, none of them took a single glance at me. After Lucius and Belle, the main protagonists of the event, she was in the centre of attention with Luke, Alex and Julian. Wanting to join in as well, I commented on one of the topics, "The tower seems to have changed very much."

However, the entire table went silent, all eyes on me, wondering why an unwanted person was chiming in. I stiffened, wondering what I did wrong. It was only when Rika commented about the strawberry shortcake, the table went back to its festive mood again. Sitting across from me was Yulee, who got the same treatment as me. She wasn't included as well, choosing to pick on her food while staying silent.

Rising together when everyone rose from their seats, the servants escorted me and Yulee to a bedroom on a different floor from the rest of them. Clenching the edge of my dress, I wondered why we were being treated so differently. Looking at Yulee for the answers, she didn't look upset as I was. Instead, she focused on how she would spend the extra time before dinner time.

"Since this is your first time, I can tell you inside my room," she opened the door.

I stiffened while entering her bedroom, wondering if this wasn't the first time that she was treated this way. Sitting on the couch across from her, she sighed, "it's because they don't trust us yet. They think we can use any information from their discussions to our advantage by telling our parents about them."

"But you're engaged to Julian?" I didn't understand.

"It doesn't matter to them," she played with her nails.

"What about Rika?" I recalled how warmly they included her.

Although I knew that Rika would never do it, she could report the information to her other fractions. She didn't have anything holding her back, not coming from the first district. But hating going to fraction meetings, Luke was the only one who attended for the both of them on the scheduled dates.

"She's different. She's one of them and the Roselia family practically raised her as their own. You know she can't do anything without getting permission from their family," Yulee noticed.

I nodded my head since I knew Rika couldn't do anything without Luke's permission. Sometimes I pitied my friend, unable to leave the Roselia family mansions outside of school. While I enjoyed my time with Ellen in the second district before the competition started, she was locked inside her room. Luke didn't like having Rika out of his sight, always checking up on her.

Even Alex considered her as family, coldly telling me I could leave if I wanted. We ignored each other in our dorm room in school while hanging out with different people outside of class. Sometimes I thought he could be closer to Rika than me. When Luke couldn't watch over Rika, Alex would take care of her in his place. After Luke didn't get any of his calls a week ago, he immediately left the Monete family mansion, not trusting Rika to look over the Roselia family mansion alone.

Sighing while heading to the dining room around dinner time, I noticed Rika on the floor above me. She wore a gorgeous dress that came out from an exclusive boutique from the previous week. Her doll-like appearance made me admire her beauty with the accessories that matched them. Behind her were many servants carrying boxes of more clothes from the most prestigious stores, only able to shop with a membership there.

Although Rika hated wearing the clothes bought by Luke, I always admired her clothes. Even I couldn't match the items in her closet when I walked into her dorm room. Every article of clothing was frequently updated, costing an expensive amount of money even for my family. Stiffening when Alex was coming down the stairs in my direction, he noticed me staring at her.

"I chose her necklace," he proudly looked at his successful purchase.

Alex had never bought me anything before just as I never have done it for him. Our relationship together was purely transactional, unlike how he cared for his cousins. Whenever Rika made a blunder, impacting the image of our fraction, he worked hard with Luke to cover for her. However, I knew if I made the same mistake, he wouldn't ever let me go for it.