Fantasies are Not Reality (10)

"I have you take you with me to this event today," Luke held a dress for me to wear.

"Can't you go alone?" I was still inside my blankets.

"It's a mandatory meeting led by Haruka," Luke tried to pull away my blankets.

"It's not even 5AM yet," I wasn't willing to let go of my blankets.

"I can't leave you alone when most of the people I can trust are also going to this event," Luke sighed.

I wondered why, today out of all the days, all the four fractions we were in, decided to create an event for them to collaborate on something together. It couldn't be it was because Luke and I were in all of them, they were becoming closer to each other. Their political agendas had to be different since they were all on the different ends on that spectrum.

Luke began to pull on my arms to drag me out of the bed. He also helped me change into a gorgeous silky dress that drifted down my legs. Unnecessary accessories were added to my hair, neck and wrists. He gave me the most uncomfortable long boots with small heels on the bottom. Eliza looked at the dress in a whole other way, being inside one of them before.

"You can't leave the venue. You also can't touch any of the food and you have to stay around the people in our inner circle. If you want to rest, you'll have to come to me and I'll ask for a spare room," Luke went over everything he could think of at the moment.

"Otherwise, you'll have to stay next to my side if you break any of these rules. Do you understand Rika?" He checked with me.

"I really can't eat anything?" My stomach grumbled from missing breakfast and dinner last night.

"You know it has to do with the power play," he repeated that same sentence multiple times.

I started to relax once I separated from him inside the banquet hall. I walked to Sienna, seeing she was hungry as well. We nodded our heads together as we tried to come up with a plan to sneak in some bites of the delicious strawberry shortcake. I silently tried to pick up a fork while looking around if anyone was watching.

However, I froze, dropping my fork when Luke spun to where I was, the buffet table. Sienna started to pity me as he grabbed my hand to drag me to his side. For the entire time at the event, he kept a close eye on me, not letting me out of his sight for more than a meter away. My cheeks hurt from all those fake smiles as I wasn't interested in how everyone was curious about the rumors of the Roselia and Nuelle families working on something together.

"Rika," he turned to me when I took a tiny step back.

I miserably nodded my head as I took a step forward from his warnings. I didn't even break any of his rules, touching the fork didn't count. Before the scene started to get worse from me begging him to not drop by his mansion, I quickly turned the screen off. Unfortunately, Eliza was already starting to look at me in a new light.

"It's not that bad," I hoped her love would be strong enough.

We blinked, waking up from using the memorila, getting up from laying down on the carpeted floors together. I unconsciously hugged myself, trying to convince myself that I was fine now since I was here with them. Eliza groaned as she stretched her arms while her fantasies of Luke had shattered from the experience.

"Luke likes taking care of people," she didn't believe her own words.

"He does, you guys will be perfect together," I added.

"It'll get better after we marry each other," she tried to convince herself.

I guiltily turned away from her as I remembered the contract that they wanted me to sign before our marriage together. I held out my hands as I slightly looked up at her to give me the head gear. Eliza, who noticed I was still hiding things, narrowed her eyes to tell me to spit the rest out.

"It's nothing much," I gestured for her to give me the console.

"Only this last thing," she placed it behind her back.

"The Roselia family has a requirement that anybody who marries into the family signs a contract," I decided to keep things as vague as possible.

"What's in that contract?" she waited for me to continue.

"You just need some permission from the Roselia family for some things. You know just most of the stuff you already saw after you graduate from school. It's just in the longer term with a little bit more restrictions. But you love him, don't you? These kinds of things don't matter to you," I hoped it wouldn't matter to her.

"You mean the Roselia family will control your entire future," Elise gasped, realizing what their intentions were.

"Eliza doesn't care about these kinds of things. You and Luke will be perfect for each other. You don't like playing these games anyways. You said you liked the food he ate. You guys have the same tastes!" I tried to hush Elise.

"I don't know," Eliza muttered.

"I think I'll need to think about this," she wavered.