The Musician (1)

"Luke!" I blurted as soon as I rose from my bed.

"I already sent your parents back to their house," he placed his book down.

"How old am I?" I decided to slowly tread on the topic.

"Thirteen," he measured my temperature, wondering if there were other things he missed.

"When did I first meet you?" I continued.

"When you were three years old," he answered.

"So we've been together for around ten years," I didn't know it had been that long already.

I hoped he got the hint that people had to change from the course of ten years. However, he had always treated me the same whether it was then or now in the present. Luke sighed as he noticed that I wanted to tell him something with my vague words.

"So you're trying to tell me you're different from when we first met?" he instantly realized.

I nodded my head, he understood quicker than I thought he would.

"Of course, you're different. Do you see me treating you the same as back then?"

I started to go through all my memories in my head. While he was gentle to the Rika who cried all the time in the memorila, he never accepted my tears once we entered elementary school. No matter what kind of a big scene I made, he always dragged me to wherever he wanted to take me. He had no tolerance for any complaining unless it was something related to my health.

His patience became thinner throughout the years as more things he let go for the previous years couldn't be done for this year. Only the horrible study sessions remained the same. With all the piling accidents increasing ever since we entered middle school, he became even stricter. He had to watch out for more things while encountering unimaginable events oozing with danger.

"I'm grown up now," I told him I didn't need his extensive guidance anymore.

I didn't need him to lecture me on everything. Sometimes, I would find signs of other people in school, slouching by one millimetre and no one pointed it out. But if I did it, I would have endless nags from him to fix it for days. If other people sliced their food in an odd angle, everyone would go on eating in the cafeteria like nothing had happened. For me, Luke would make me practice slicing the food in a perfect angle that made me sick of eating in general.

This was part of the reason why I didn't like eating fancy food in general. I always kept the minimal standard of etiquette since he would make me practice until I had it ingrained with me. He was never generous with second time mistakes so that there would be no chances of making the same mistakes again.

Luke stayed silent, not believing my words. He went back to reading his book. I felt frustrated with the double standards he had for me compared to others. I knew it was because I was a part of the Roselia family, but it was still too harsh. Maybe I could change his mind by starting to act differently now that I knew.

"My memories are all back," I let him know these side effects won't continue anymore.

"Then we can start working on those pieces you played today," he flipped a page in his book.

I squeezed my hands, knowing he wanted me to practice them until everything was perfect. I wouldn't be able to go anywhere tomorrow unless I placed the time-space settings on. But I needed to show him that I wouldn't complain over something like this, making me look more reliable.

"When should I wake up tomorrow to start practicing them?" I tried to show him my new mindset.

"As soon as you're done with this round of medicine. Maybe around 5AM?" Luke wanted me to already be in the practice room by then.

This was no different than being in school. It was getting harder to maintain my smile since he was taking advantage of my new mindset immediately. Maybe if my parents visit me tomorrow, I would be free by then. I set an alarm on my marble and decided to sleep while I could. There was a chance I would barely get any decent sleep tomorrow.

I groaned while putting my alarm off near the end of 4AM. I sluggishly got out of my bed, called for the servants to help me change into the outfit Luke had already prepared. All the machines were already placed towards the back of the room while he was gone from this room. He was probably inside the practice room, waiting for me to come.

When I opened the door, he had all the pieces I played yesterday open on the stand. On the small table was another bottle of medicine, resembling the ones he forced me to drink from the past few days. Before he asked for me to drink it, I grabbed the bottle to chug it, getting it over with. I frowned as I hated the thick taste even though it was creamy.

"Your parents are visiting in the afternoon today. Here's the schedule before they visit," he handed to me.

I gulped as this was harder than I thought it would be. He was using the time-space rooms to his advantage while there was no break to be seen.