Chapter 555 - Melting into Spring (4)

"Another day of going outside," I laid out my terms.

"We can make it two days of going outside in total," Luke's grandfather agreed.

"I purchased the portals," I kept things vague.

"You have their money?" He was surprised.

None of them knew the money I used came from them. It was better not to tell them about how I exchanged the currencies since they could demand that they were the owners. Seeing how they considered the information to be valuable, I could use it against them later. Exposing everything today would mean I would have less power in the future.

"How else would I purchase them?" I remained ignorant..

"You went to their dimension once," William knew from the reports.

"Who knows?" I hinted I went more than once.

"You went there several times," Luke's grandfather realized.

"I have portals," I bluffed.

Luke appeared stunned since we were mostly together all the time. We grew up together, living in the same dorm for around ten years, performing all our missions together and sat beside each other in class. Although we didn't spend as much time between us in elementary school, we only briefly separated during break time. I still had to find out a way to avoid him once I returned to school, the club room not a private place anymore.

"How many more days do you want?" He was making a concession.

"This is as far as I'm willing to share," I declined his offer.

"Unless you extend the offer to the rest of the weekends and holidays," I knew he wouldn't accept this.

"You can tell us next time. We're still working on the issue with the media leakage so we can't extent the offer," Luke's grandfather decided to stop for now.

Luke dragged me into the teleportation gate once grandfather signalled to us that we could leave. I was surprised when I found myself back at the Suilett family mansion instead of the one owned by the Roselia family. I knew this was where I would be spending my time for another month from listening to some of their discussions. Charles was the one who filled me in, "the Suilett family is known for their anti-mana tools."

"Does it have something to do with how you were treated better than Shelly?" I wondered if the relationship was different between the people in the top-ranking families.

"You didn't tell her anything about this?" Charles turned to Luke.

"I was going to when she turned a little older," Luke explained.

I knew Luke was concealing all these kinds of information from me while expecting me to tell him everything about me. It was unfair how it wasn't a two-way deal. I was always left out on what seemed to be common sense to others. This was why I was more unwilling to tell him about my secrets. I only confessed everything when I was forced with no other option.

"Everyone from the top five ranking families are related in some kind of way. We're all family. We secretly work together while commanding our own fractions," Charles gave a brief summary.

"Even Ben?" I wondered.

"The heir of the Nuelle family and I are second cousins," Alex revealed.

"Is that why you're usually secretive of those swords around others?" I recalled the special swords only the heirs could carry.

"You cannot tell anyone about those swords," Luke reminded me.

"But it's just a sword. You take it out during a fight anyways," I was confused.

"We only take them out in front of you," Alex pointed out.

"Can I get my own sword?" I wanted my own for emergencies.

"You won't even be able to use it. How will you be able to learn all the skills with your weak body?" Charles exposed everyone's thoughts.

"I'm not that weak. I can run around the entire mansion without getting tired," I had used heal on myself earlier today.

"You're going to faint Rika and the sword is too heavy for you," Luke disapproved.

Unfortunately, I could notice Charles and Alex increasingly treating me as if I was helpless, experiencing being inside my body for a brief period. While Luke had always tried to prevent me from doing things that he disapproved. This was exactly why I felt so suffocated all the time, getting harshly scolded whenever I helped save everyone from danger. Making me more frustrated when no one would do anything if someone else did the same things as me.

Since I expected them to stay inside the mansion, I couldn't predict that we would go shopping the next day, having Shelly join our group from my pestering. I grimaced while scanning everything inside the store, evident that Luke was making all the purchases for me. I didn't understand why I needed more clothes when my size bȧrėly changed. My closets were filled with accessories and shoes to the brim in the mansions. Only the ones in school had disappeared from Charlotte stealing them.

I sighed as Charles passed me five dresses for me to wear that he chose for me. They were definitely enjoying this, choosing the most uncomfortable ones. In exchange for giving me the freedom to move around the mansion, I didn't have a choice but to try on everything they asked. It was definitely going to be more of a pain later on, watching them join Luke's hobby of coordinating everything I wore.

"When are we leaving?" I ġrȯȧnėd.

"We're going to the next store after an hour," Luke created a tight schedule.