Wealth (3)

My hair was transformed into pretty side braids entangled with jeweled hair clips within minutes. And when my mom entered the room, she instantly stared at my new hairstyle like she was impressed, "did you do this on your own?"

"I don't have any control over my hair. Luke always arranges everything," I shook my head.

"You did the braids?" My mom turned to Luke.

"My cousin does the drying, brushing and the styling," Alex went into the details.

My mom was shocked, and viewed Luke in a new light. The perfect time to complain about all the petty accessories I had to wear while on the same topic. I began to pull them out, "it's not only my hair. I have to wear all these annoying accessories."

"You wear this much?" My dad stared at the small pile.

"I told you not to take them off," Luke began to put them on me again.

My family fascinatedly watched Luke skillfully restyling my hair since I made the braids messy. I sighed as they gazed at him with more approval than ever, getting the opposite effect I wanted. Eventually, my grandma asked, "what do you not do for her? You feed her for every meal and manage her hair for her. I wouldn't be surprised if you helped her change into her dresses."

"Rika can't change on her own. My cousin helps her when the servants are not present," Alex agreed.

"I can change on my own. It's just that you won't let me," I defended myself.

"You really do everything for Rika," my mom was touched by Luke.

Why was everyone on his side again? It was disappointing, and dejecting when he managed to persuade them into allowing the dining table to be used as a place to study. They were bringing the same miserable study sessions here!

However, my saving grace came from them being forced to shrink the usual time by at least half the amount, needing to blend in with this district. Before they could start, I tugged on his shirt, "I need some sleep. You didn't let me have any last night."

"I can give you seven hours. We can't skip a day," Luke studied my condition.

Although I remembered sleeping inside my bed, when I woke, I found myself sitting in his lap, and covered by a blanket. Looking around my surroundings, the dining room table was in front of me, and the time on the clock showed more than eight hours had passed.

When he noticed my clear eyes, he placed me on the chair beside him, and opened the workbook where we left off. Not wasting a second, he went straight into the material.

"How many chapters are we doing?" I sulked.

"We don't have the normal study rooms here. At most, a few chapters," Luke predicted.

I instantly brightened, and nearly cried tears of joy from having the study session unbelievably shortened. I made the best decision by staying, and was more motivated to get this over with.

It was hard to prevent my smile from coming out. It was a maximum six hours of suffering per day compared to the usual thirty to forty hours. The information easily flowed inside my brain, allowing us to progress further than what would normally take us five hours. As I listened attentively to their explanations, both of them were surprised by my new attitude.

"We won't be that behind at this rate," Alex seemed relieved.

"If you continue to listen to us, we can shrink the hours even after we return," he tried to keep me motivated.

This place was heaven. I was probably going to be able to get proper sleep again with the schedule being this loose. There was only studying, no instruments, mana control lessons nor dance anymore.

Since I was in a better mood, it wasn't hard to follow everything they demanded, which was much less than usual. We could have had a better relationship from the start if we always lived this way together. The peaceful atmosphere continued until grandma joined us for breakfast, "it's time for you to earn your keep. I don't want your money, I want help in harvesting the vegetables and fruits."

"Which plot do you want us to harvest?" Luke accepted the request.

"I can show you," she led us to her field.

I studied the small area, full of strawberry bushes. This would be easy to shake out, a simple spell would be able to complete the task within a minute. Instantly getting the hint to distract grandma, I pretended to be curious about the blueberries, a distance away from the assigned area. I made my eyes slightly glitter, "this is the first time I get to see how the fruits are grown."

"You've never seen something like this before? Not even on the television?" She didn't believe me.

"I'm always confined. I don't get to see entertainment devices like the television. The places I can visit are limited," I sadly turned away.

"I only know everything through books," I was forced to learn by the school.

"You're surrounded by wealth," she didn't pity me.

"I like your house better than the usual places I stay. Before you asked us, I was tempted to ask you for the same thing. It seemed fun to do," I was telling the truth.

"My favorite fruit is strawberries," I added.

"You can eat some for lunch," she offered.

"You have to help me hide it from them. They won't ever allow me to eat them," I whispered.

"I also wanted to eat your cooking, but I can't with them around," I lowered my voice further.

"That's ridiculous, I'll make sure they won't be able to do anything when I give them to you," she didn't believe me.

"We're finished with the harvest," Luke interrupted us.

"We can give you an explanation on how we organized everything," he led us to the plot.

We walked to face the harvested strawberries inside the provided containers. My grandma was impressed after inspecting the bushes to find only the unripe ones were left behind. At first, she couldn't believe they managed to finish inside three minutes. Once she returned to us, Luke explained, "we sorted them based on their quality. The A grade can be sold for raw, B for processed jams and C as intermediate ingredients. This will maximize your profits."

"I will take your recommendation," she noted inside her head.

"It's like it wouldn't take you much time to harvest my entire field," she scoffed at the idea.

"It will take us an hour at most. Do you want them to be harvested right now?" Luke took it as a request.

"Why not?" Grandma dared them.

Like before, I tried to keep my grandma away from them as Luke had already drawn the pathway they were going to take. Setting my screen so only I could see it, I read the messages to give her an explanation. Arriving at the blueberry field again, I repeated, "they sorted everything into different grades again. These are their recommendations on how they could be used."

"I don't see any signs of the machines being used," she inspected the fields again.

"Although we've never harvested fruits and vegetables, we picked herbs before," I shrugged.

When Luke and Alex joined us from finishing early, the rest of the time was spent on explaining how they did everything. Surprisingly, they left grandma with no work to do until they grew back.

As she listened to their forecasts and suggestions to help with the growth, her perception of us changed. It was lunch time once we returned to the house, and grandma kept her promise by handing me the strawberries.

"This is your reward for helping out," she thanked me.

"It's fine, we don't need anything in return," Luke took the bowl away.

"Not even one strawberry?" I pulled out my pitiful eyes.

"I can give you better ones when we return to the first district," he returned the bowl to her.

"What if I want to eat these ones?" I refused.

"You'll get a stomach ache. You know the way they were grown," he began to lecture.

My grandma stiffened as Luke pointed out all the faults in the strawberries. From the bacteria living inside them to the bugs slightly eating the exterior. The saliva coming from them to the rotten soil and fertilizers used. All the pesticides and the harmful chemicals inside them. This basically meant he didn't trust any raw ingredient coming from the third district. As usual, my ears hurt, tempting me to cover them when over ten minutes passed.

"I get it, you can stop with the lecturing," I gave into him.

"You should know this by now," Alex supported Luke.

However, it didn't mean I gave up on the rest of grandma's cooking. She prepared some blueberry pies for me, and they were already placed on the table.

All I had to do was muster enough courage to pick up the fork as I slowly stepped towards the table. Maybe I was desperate to escape from my controlled diet, I was able to use the fork while my hands shook. And without any hesitation, I took a bite, and was immediately impressed with the softness without the technology from the first district.

"Don't swallow it, spit it out," Luke was surprised.

I knew he didn't expect me to use the fork. He immediately dashed to me, and hit my back to get the food out. Grandma's eyes went large, watching him begin another lecture in addition to making me suffer under him. My eyes slowly welled with tears, and my back was sore and tired of coughing to get the rest of the remains out. My only saving grace was Alex not joining in, knowing his hits would be stronger. I whimpered, "it's just a bite."

"You should know what a bite could do to you," he was merciless.

Luke stopped when I managed to throw up the same portion inside the fork. He was making such a big deal, nothing happened when I sneakily ate the junk food from this district. My eyes glint with irritation, facing the usual plates after he cleaned the mess. Although my appetite had vanished, I didn't have a choice but to eat the food on the spoons he urged me to accept. Unlike before, grandma gazed at me with pity present in her eyes.

"This is why you have to give them to me in secret," I whispered to her when I finished my meal.

"My poor health is a lie. They don't trust anything here," I added.

"I can give you some pies when I assign them to do some housework," grandma agreed.

I nodded to approve the plan. Who would actually get sick over some pies? My grandma raised normal fruits and vegetables, the same way as my previous world. I watched my family use the dining table after us after setting the table. It has been a while since I have seen a whole chicken or large ribs. When my mom placed the fried food, it was taking all my efforts not to cry, noticing the delicious dripping oil.

"This is too much!" I shouted at them.

"Why are you eating all the food that I actually want to eat?" I struggled to hide the unfairness.