Summer Start (6) - Alex's POV

"Fairies are easy to scam," Rika rolled on Luke's bed.

"You should go to bed," Luke couldn't disagree.

"I'm already in your bed," she pouted.

Luke sent me an apologetic glance, canceling our plans for the night. As I gave them some space, he was busy trying to put her back to sleep. Recently, it was hard to determine whether some of her childish actions were an act. She claimed she was lowering our expectations on purpose, but a single glance could tell she despised studying. The tantrums she threw weren't ordinary, taking a large amount of patience to tolerate them.

Uncle carried her to her bedroom after the sword spars were finished, lifting her out of the crib usually used on babies less than a year old. It was spelled to lure them to sleep and calm them down. Nobody placed a child inside unless they severely misbehaved, and caused a ruckus. But after Rika struggled to graduate, our family couldn't treat her more than a toddler. At the same time, her ability to earn a large amount of money was surprising, claiming we were incompetent to not know anything.

"We can move our plans to tomorrow," I suggested.

Luke shot a thankful look to me, staying silent to not wake her. I returned to my bedroom, preparing for the next family event my granduncle had planned. This was part of the training the heirs had to go through. Although shattering the illusions weren't easy, my eyes managed to see past them, getting the look of approval from my parents. Watching Luke go through a similar level of difficulty, he easily finished them within a few minutes.

It wasn't surprising, he had a high level of attention to the details, experience from taking care of Rika. The screen soon switched onto the next stage, displaying Rika eating some cake inside the garden. Unlike us, she wasn't told she was taking a test, and was confusedly woken early in the morning. Hers was much easier than ours, testing lighter illusions. Charles' father disguised himself as a stranger, immersing himself into his role before approaching her.

"Can I join you?" He kindly smiled.

"I don't mind," Rika didn't pay attention to him.

Instead of doing anything, Rika continued to order more plates of desserts, looking bored. The test wasn't progressing, making Charles' father take further actions. He asked, "Is it fine if I take some slices?"

"Order your own, it takes a few minutes for them to come," she coldly passed him the tablet.

"You wouldn't steal them from me, would you?" Rika was protective of her food.

"Aren't you curious who I am?" He tried to give her some hints.

"I'm not," she pulled her plates closer to her.

"Isn't it strange that someone you don't know is here?" Charles' father nearly gave her the answer.

"I don't care. People come in and out all the time," Rika was focused on her cakes.

"Who are those people?" He attempted to dig deeper.

"Why do I have to tell you? What will you give me in exchange?" She was calculating.

"I can offer you better desserts, my mansion is near here," he threw a bait.

"Are you wealthier than the Roselia family? Or are you related to fairies? You don't resemble them. There's no way you have better desserts," Rika scoffed.

"But I can follow you. Do you know a way out of this place?" She displayed interest.

"Would it be wise to follow strangers?" He was slightly surprised.

"You seem like a decent person. If you were able to trespass into here, it means you have a certain level of skills. You're not the first person I followed out," she revealed.

"You mean the same situation happened in the past?" Charles' father realized.

"Similar enough. What passage did you use?" Rika whispered.

"I managed to rework the gates," he quickly created a cover.

"What tools did you use? I want some tips," her eyes lightly sparkled.

"I used these," he showed his screen to her.

"How did you use those machines? They didn't work in the past. I tried every combination," she started to become suspicious.

"How did you gain access to them?" He abandoned the test, getting worried.

"I worked with my past kidnappers to break the gates and barriers before. My team had around six members who graduated from third and fourth university re-coding the entire thing," she recalled.

"You should get started, someone will eventually notice. I can help cover for you," she urged him.

Both uncle and aunt seemed taken aback, watching Rika help her potential kidnapper. Meanwhile, Luke discovered the reason she got kidnapped very easily. Granduncle sent a message to Charles' father to stop the test, having him reveal his true identity. However, Rika believed it was a disguise, and began kicking Charles' father to work faster.

"I told you I would help cover for you. Don't waste your mana, I have experience in these kinds of things. Do you want to land in jail?" She pushed him closer to the gate.

"You can tell me what organization you come from later, I expect you to be competent enough to have those blindfolds and handkerchiefs with you," she added.

Everyone in the family was stunned, drowning the entire room into silence. Later in the day, Charles' father asked my uncle, "how did you educate your child? She pushes strangers to kidnap her and trusts them very easily."